Leaders in Cuyahoga County say they鈥檝e reached a tentative agreement to move forward with a long-planned behavioral health crisis center in Cleveland.
The Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Cuyahoga County, known as the ADAMHS Board, and the nonprofit provider The Centers announced the breakthrough Tuesday evening in a joint statement.
Both organizations declined interview requests but said they plan to share more details with the public and community stakeholders in the coming weeks.
The agreement allows both organizations to move ahead with finalizing plans for the crisis center, according to the statement. The facility would give people experiencing a mental health or substance use emergency a place to receive immediate care outside hospital emergency rooms or jail.
鈥淏y working together, we are ensuring that individuals in our community have a safe, dignified place to receive care when they need it most," said Jason Joyce, CEO of the county ADAMHS Board, and Eric Morse, president and CEO of The Centers, in the statement.
Officials said key financial and operational details are still being worked out, including exploring ways to reduce financial risk tied to federal pandemic relief funds and to secure additional support from county opioid settlement dollars.
The ADAMHS Board of Cuyahoga County cancelled its special board meeting planned for Wednesday. The Centers had been planning to present its case for funding.
The ADAMHS Board had initially pledged about $10 million a year to run the facility. But its new CEO, Jason Joyce, later said the board鈥檚 current budget cannot support the cost without cutting funding to other mental health providers in the county.
The Centers then revised its operating budget for the facility and lowered its request to about $6 million annually, saying if the ADAMHS Board pulled out, it could jeopardize millions of dollars in federal pandemic relief funding and local opioid settlement money that had been designated for the center.
