In the wake of impending staff cuts at Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, a Douglas County commissioner is pushing for the county to reduce the center’s rent and potentially boost its funding to ensure its doors don’t close.
Gene Dorsey, a Democrat elected in November 2024 to represent District 4, previously served on the center’s board of directors and is an advocate for mental health services.
Bert Nash earlier the same day announced plans to cut 6% to 8% of its staff, cut certain staff salaries and offer voluntary early retirement for eligible employees as it’s facing a projected $3 million loss this year. Read more about that at this link.
At the end of Wednesday’s commission meeting, Dorsey called for the county to revise its lease agreement with Bert Nash for the Treatment and Recovery Center building to $1 per year.
“Help cannot wait till the budget cycle, but must be placed on next week’s agenda to utilize some of the $15 million in sales tax revenue for the good of the community,” Dorsey said, referring to the county’s quarter-cent behavioral health sales tax that county voters approved in 2018.
Dorsey said the center’s endowment had approved a cash transfer of $1.35 million to the center last week, but that was practically all the unencumbered reserve money in the endowment. He asked his fellow commissioners to ask Bert Nash’s executives to come to their next meeting, which will be Wednesday, May 28, to discuss “an appropriate plan of action.”
“If we all work together, we can ensure the upcoming 75th anniversary of Bert Nash will be only one in a string of milestones stretching far … into the future for the community,” Dorsey said.
Other commissioners hesitated.
“Bert Nash has a director and a board and an endowment and a lot of supporters, and they have not asked for this,” Commissioner Karen Willey said. “I’m great to have them come and have a public conversation, if they’re ready to have a public conversation … I’m very uncomfortable to talk about their finances without them here to explain things or give a counterpoint.”
Commission Chair Patrick Kelly said he was concerned about creating an emergency budget process about a month before the county’s regular annual budget process begins.
“I don’t think that is recognizing all of the stressors that are happening to all of the community partners out there,” Kelly said. “… I’m comfortable staying in our space right now and understanding how we’re spending our money. I’m not comfortable with directing Bert Nash to come here and make a request just yet.”
Dorsey responded that “it’s not our money, it’s taxpayer money.”
County Administrator Sarah Plinsky said she planned to go into detail about the behavioral health sales tax fund and how that money is spent during the commission’s June 11 work session, which will include a broader overview of the budget.
Plinsky said that in the past, commissions have directed her to use the sales tax funds only for one-time capital expenses, and that is the direction she’s followed.
Bert Nash is funded by both property tax and sales tax revenues from the county because they received property tax funding prior to voters’ approval of the sales tax. Plinsky and Willey said any changes to that should be discussed as part of the broader budget and with the context of other community partners that receive funding from the county.
Dorsey said he was concerned Bert Nash won’t have the funds to make payroll, and he wanted an answer about that from the center as soon as next week. He said it affects the community.
But Kelly voiced concerns about “demanding that they come talk to us.”
“That doesn’t that doesn’t sit well with me, and I think they have a responsibility to their board, their fundraising, their governance, that if we start — that changes that partnership relationship significantly if we start saying it’s our responsibility to make sure that their doors don’t close,” Kelly said.
Plinsky said she would ask Patrick Schmitz, Bert Nash CEO, if he would like to come update the commission on the situation on May 28. But she said she needed more time to prepare for a financial discussion of the budget and the behavioral health projects fund.
The commission’s meeting agenda will be posted to the county’s online portal at this link on Thursday. Plinsky said if Bert Nash executives want to come present to the commission, she will include that on the meeting agenda.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
More coverage:
Nathan Kramer / Lawrence Times
Molly Adams / Lawrence TimesDouglas County commissioner pushes to increase funding for Bert Nash amid center’s financial crisis
Get mental health help in Lawrence
These resources are available 24/7 if you or someone you know needs immediate mental health help:
• Douglas County Treatment and Recovery Center: 785-843-9192; 1000 W. Second St. in Lawrence; trcdgks.org
• Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center: 785-843-9192; bertnash.org
• HeadQuarters Kansas: 785-841-2345; hqkansas.org
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Dial 988; veterans, press 1
• SAMHSA Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator and Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357)
Latest Lawrence news:
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