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County to retool
kids' mental health program
By Erica Molina
Johnson / El Paso Times
Article
Launched:10/10/2006 12:00:54 AM MDT
The Border
Children's Mental Health Collaborative will undergo a reorganization
that will include trimming program budgets and collapsing and
downgrading positions, County Commissioners Court decided Monday.
"I hope this
fixes it," Commissioner Miguel Teran said. "The way I see it, the
program has to continue. Apparently, there's more to this than I
suspect."
After more than
two hours of discussion, Teran voted in favor of the reorganization,
as did County Judge Dolores Briones and Commissioner Larry Medina.
Commissioners Betti Flores and Dan Haggerty voted against it.
The changes will
include trimming the group's budget, including office supplies and
travel expenses; downgrading positions to be in line with job
requirements; and consolidating two full-time positions into one,
which would still fulfill the requirements of the $9.3 million,
six-year grant from the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services
Administration.
Briones said she
also wanted the organization to work to find more grants.
All employees
will be asked to reapply for their positions.
Briones said the
reorganization would save the county about $103,000 in local match
requirements.
Flores and
Haggerty had asked the court to wait to decide whether to reorganize
until after the administration releases a report on the group's
performance in the next few weeks.
Commissioners
were told 68 children have been served by the collaborative in its
first four years, with 34 children still receiving care.
"Obviously this
reorganization brings the budget to a manageable level," Teran said.
"It cuts our potential contribution from $103,000 to zero."
Rosemary Neill,
governmental liaison to the grant and director of the county Family
and Community Services, gave commissioners a background of the
collaborative and the grant.
She said that
before the collaborative was established, many of El Paso's severely
mentally and emotionally disturbed children were being sent to
facilities in other parts of the state. The collaborative aimed to
instead keep them in special foster homes in the city.
The grant
originally paid $3 for every $1 contributed by the county, but that
has now changed to $1 for every $2 contributed by the county.
To make up for an
approximately $100,000 shortfall, Neill and Briones began looking at
areas of the collaborative that could be cut or changed.
"There are
dollars that have to be taken across the board, including salaries
for staff," Neill said. "We regret that."
Mary Ann Landon,
the mother of a child who received services from the collaborative
who also currently serves on the collaborative, was happy about the
decision.
"I think it's
excellent. We need to support and to increase services for these
families and youth," she said. "That's why these children are being
sent out of town."
More than a dozen
local children are at residential treatment facilities elsewhere in
the state.
Haggerty said he
was disappointed by the reorganization's passage.
"I think it was a
quick fix," he said. "I think this could cost the county a lot more
money in the future."
Erica Molina
Johnson may be reached at
emolina@elpasotimes.com.
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