Douglas County Board of Commissioners

First up is Board of Equalization. Consent agenda approved

Now onto the regular agenda. On consent are two amendments to agreements with Sarpy County to mutually house juveniles at both counties’ facilities. The Board delayed voting on these last week

Comm Mike Friend said he thought the Sept 30 end of the agreement should be extended to January to allow for the transition to the new juvenile center.

Friend said he wants to give Sarpy County more leeway to make plans.

Comm PJ Morgan said they could compromise by extending it to November 30.

Friend said that isn’t a bad idea, but he wants input from the rest of the Board

Comm Chris Rodgers said both counties are aware of the situation. He said November deadline is fine, but September gives Douglas County more time to process juveniles

Friend moved to remove the amendments to vote separately, which passed 7-0.

Motion to extend the deadline to Nov 3 passed 4-3.

Chair Mary Ann Borgeson and Comm Chris Rodgers voted against. I couldn’t hear who the third no vote was

Items as amended were approved 5-2, Borgeson and Rodgers voting no

Next are a series of public hearings on zoning/planning issues. First is a final plat for a farmstead lot at 10707 N 300th St., approved

Rezone from an agricultural district to a rural residential district for the same lot was also approved

Final plat and rezone for 1 Mcartor Acres at 14606
N 264th Street, Valley, NE were approved

Special use permit to operate a short-term rental residence (AirBnB) at 1160 Campanile Road, Waterloo approved. Environmental Services Director Kent Holms said they will be restricted to 10 guests at a time

Next is an item to move forward with the proposed mental health facility.

Comm Morgan made a motion to remove the part of the resolution calling for the relocation of community mental health, and instead going forward with just the new mental health treatment unit connected to the jail.

Comm Maureen Boyle said her only issue with the resolution as written is that she wants more details on the cost

She said the county has an obligation to those struggling with both mental illness and incarceration and this plan helps them address that population

Comm Roger Garcia said if they had $10 million or so more ARPA funds, he’d probably vote yes. He said there’s a possibility for the state to match funding, so waiting could give them time to secure that

Garcia said they have time to delay the project since the county has until December 2026 to spend ARPA funds

Comm Friend said he isn’t confident that the project will only cost $60 million, which is what the county plans to allocate.

Comm Morgan said the proposal as-is doesn’t help address the homeless situation. He said there could be a way to expand services by partnering with the state, neighboring counties, Nebraska Medicine or private foundations

Comm Jim Cavanaugh said putting mental health patients on the same campus as a county jail would stigmatize mental health treatment.

“We don’t make people with any other disability go to the jail campus to get their services,” he said. “We treat them on our health campus.”

Cavanaugh said ARPA requires a comparison with two alternatives, which hasn’t happened for this project.

He said there are “hoops to jump through” on compliance with ARPA guidelines, even if they only move forward with the corrections aspect

Chair Morgeson said the experts are recommending that they do go in this direction. She said the incarcerated population with mental health issues and the homeless population deserve better.

She said there will still be flexibility if they move forward today

Former Omaha Mayor Hal Daub said its a risk to use ARPA for this project. He also reiterated the stigma concerns

Daub said he believes there will be a recession soon, which will restrain the county’s budget

Luis Jimenez said Deloitte, who the county contracted to consult on ARPA guidelines, should be at these meetings to speak on the issue

Tim Heller, who said his son has schizo-affective disorder, said he strongly supports the expansion to the county jail, but the correction system shouldn’t be the largest mental health provider in the state

*Borgeson

Nicole Claire said a mental health facility on the jail campus would create more stigma. She said it would increase feelings of guilt and anxiety

Jaquala Yarbro said the county should take advantage of the resources we already have.

Former State Senator Ernie Chambers said “labels kill,” and nothing should be done to conflate mental health and criminality

“Let them go to 42nd Street and be treated as those of our brothers and sisters who are not as fortunate as we are,” Chambers said.

Pierce Carpenter said the county should avoid spending money bc of the nation’s financial situation.

Chair Borgeson said the state had the opportunity to provide counties with funding to address mental illness but they didn’t take it. She said county staff has worked hard for years to improve mental health services

She said she’s frustrated that politics keep getting in the way.
“I will not let the last 14 months of work by our staff…to leave this room with the negative hanging that they didn’t do their job.”

Now the Board will consider Morgan’s amendment to the resolution, which would go forward with the expansion to the county jail but keep community mental health at the Douglas County Health Center on 42nd Street

Borgeson said if the amendment passes, they’d still need to fix the dollar amounts in the resolution

Morgan said they could bring back a new resolution next week

Morgan withdrew his amendment. Instead, they will vote on the resolution as-is. If denied, the Board will bring forward a new resolution

Resolution to move forward with the new mental health facility failed 2-5, Borgeson and Rodgers voted yes.

The Board decided to take a 5 minute recess

5 minutes became 10. We’re back, and next up is a budget presentation by the Douglas County Court Adminstrator

The department is requesting a budget of $715,000, which is $80,000 higher than the targeted amount

Ron Murtaugh said the increase is to compensate court-appointed attorneys.

Comm Cavanaugh said the request is “more than responsible”

Next is a budget presentation by the sheriff’s department

The department is requesting more than $860,000 over the targeted amount. Sheriff Aaron Hanson said the increase comes from “needs” rather than “wants,” and there are other needs that they didn’t decide to request this budget cycle

He said they are focusing more on mental health going forward

Hanson said they are going to create a behavioral health unit comprised of a sergeant and a civilian mental health professional

He said they will save costs by keeping people out of county corrections

The requested budget is $22.3 million. Chief William Rinn said population is growing in western Douglas County, which gives them more responsibilities

The sheriff’s office takes up about 7% of the general fund, and 4% of the entire county budget.

Rinn said almost the entire budget goes toward personnel costs. He said they need to plan for big raises in the upcoming fiscal year

He said they were able to keep non-wage spending down, but they can’t reallocate that money

Rinn said they were budgeted for 148 sworn officers, but they never met that number and they’ve struggled get people through the training academy

Training takes at least a year. He said they’ve compensated with larger training classes, so they plan on filling those budgeted spots this year

Rinn said a lion share of the requested increase will go toward personnel associated with the justice center/youth and family support center

On the behavioral health unit, Rinn said they expect some grant funding, but they want to go ahead and make it happen

Kris Peterson, who oversees court services for the sheriff’s office, said they are implementing a new system to have two deputies to escort juveniles to courtrooms

He said they only have six deputies for security at the DC criminal justice center, which may not be enough to respond to duress calls

Rinn said it’s difficult to recruit trainees from outside the state bc of the training process

Comm Maureen Boyle said there could still be some room to trim the budget.

With the grants they expect, the increase to the sheriff’s budget would be $606,000

The last item is to fill a vacancy to the Visitors Promotion Council. There are two finalists: Jason Fisher from the Lund Company or Kristi Jokela from Omaha Marriott Regency

The Board voted to appoint Kristi Jokela

The Board went into executive session at 1:13 p.m.

Today’s Child and Youth Services Committee meeting was cancelled bc the Board meeting ran late