Executive Director reports long waitlists, low crisis-residential census and recommends temporary CRU closure

Executive Director Pam Gutierrez briefed trustees on service demand and Crisis Residential Unit (CRU) operations during the July 30 meeting, reporting several sizable waitlists and concerns that the CRU may not meet SB 292 grant metrics without immediate changes.

Gutierrez opened by informing trustees of the death of the Center's former Chief Operating Officer, stating, "Sadly, I wanted to let you all know that our previous Chief Operating Officer, Fanny Wright, passed away after a significant battle with brain cancer." She then provided waitlist counts: the HCS waitlist stood at 3,484; the IDD General Revenue waitlist at 296; Mental Health Adult Services waitlist at 187 (down 26 from June 2026); and Mental Health Child and Adolescent Services waitlist at 5 (down 2 from June).

On the Crisis Residential Unit, Gutierrez presented monthly admissions for Sept 2025 through July 2026 (monthly totals ranged from 5 to 11) and noted the annual SB 292 grant target of 100 unique individuals served (with a 10% variance, minimum 90). The minutes record 87 unique individuals served through the end of July 2026 and state the Center would need to admit an additional 4 to 14 individuals in August 2026 to meet the grant metric. Because many referrals require 24-hour nursing or higher-intensity behavioral-health staffing, she recommended the board consider temporarily closing the CRU, re-utilizing the home for other services, and including a step-down CRU as part of the Meadows assessment co-located with the proposed Diversion Center.

Trustees recorded the Executive Director's recommendations and other program updates (including HHSC Substance Use grant admissions and calendar events) for information; no immediate policy action on CRU operations was taken at this meeting.