Douglas County Commissioners approved funding for multiple items at their meeting Wednesday, including continuing a program that employs people with lived experience with homelessness and substance use disorder at organizations across the county.
The commission approved a $231,000 budget for the 2027 Peer Fellow program, which employs people with lived experience in areas including homelessness, food insecurity and behavioral health crises.
They are employed by organizations like Just Food, Tenants to Homeowners and Artists Helping the Homeless.
The item was originally on the consent agenda, but was pulled at the request of Commissioner Gene Dorsey, who asked about the peer fellows’ salaries.
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Bob Tryanski, the county’s director of behavioral health projects, clarified that the county’s budget for each peer fellow is not their full salary, as many of them also receive funding from other sources. Plus, different organizations have different pay scales and benefits, he said.
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The budget also funds a position to help launch Anchor Pointe, which is a planned “clubhouse model” program offering employment opportunities and community connection for people with mental illness or substance use disorders.
The commission also approved reallocating some substance use treatment funds.
The county provides funding to various organizations that assist with substance use disorder treatment, including DCCCA and Mirror Inc.
Wednesday’s action shifted more money to those two organizations, Tryanski said. The shift did not increase or decrease the overall funding the county is providing for substance use treatment.
The money was shifted away from the county’s peer first and social detox coordination program. According to the meeting agenda, the county is in the process of shifting funds away from that program and instead to support multiple agencies working to coordinate peer-first response and enhance response availability on weekends.
Tryanski said the county would revert the funding levels for DCCCA and Mirror Inc. back to their original levels for the 2027 budget, with the possibility of making adjustments again if needed later in 2027.
“I am, for one, very grateful to our partners for their flexibility and their willingness to discuss changes which impact the bottom line on where we are at the beginning of the year and where we are at the end of the year,” Tryanski said.
Also on Wednesday, the commission approved a five-year, $1.6 million contract with Axon Enterprise Inc.
Axon provides the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office with in-car cameras, body cameras, video storage, Tasers and interview room recording.
The new contract will allow continued access to software and maintenance for this equipment, plus will fund upgrades and replacements for body cameras, Tasers and the interview room recording system.
The commission approved the contract as part of the consent agenda, which is a list of items generally approved under a single vote without discussion.
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Cuyler Dunn (he/him), staff reporter, has worked with The Lawrence Times since April 2022. He can be reached at [email protected].
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