The Tri-County Board recently awarded a contract to Brumbaugh Construction of Arcanum to build the 14,617-square-foot administration and training center on land it owns along County Road 25A between Troy and Piqua.
The land was purchased for a planned One Wellness Place, a one stop shop concept for behavioral and social services rolled out in early 2017. A proposal to raise $6 million for One Wellness Place eventually was set aside as project costs grew over time to a high of nearly $14 million and the way services provided changed in part due to COVID-19.
While a number of agencies at first were on board with the One Wellness Place concept that changed, too, over time. In addition to Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health Services offices, the new structure will provide partner agency space for Community Housing of Darke, Miami and Shelby counties, NAMI of Darke, Miami and Shelby counties and the Miami County Family and Children First Council.
It also will offer hoteling space, or offices that can be reserved and used, by behavioral health and related agencies on an occasional and as-needed basis.
Funding for this project will come from various sources. While the funding formula is approximate at this time, Brad Reed, Tri-County director of community resource development, provided an approximate breakdown:
--- $500,000 in state capital allocation; $500,000+ in the building fund at the Troy Foundation; $250,000+ in other gifts directed to the board, some of which has been spent on non-capital research and development for the project; about $300,000 in uncollected pledges, most pending start of construction; and the balance to be paid from Tri-County Board reserves.
The Tri-County Board’s offices now are located in leased space at the Stouder Center in the former Stouder Memorial Hospital in Troy.
Along with working to provide a new home for its offices and training, the Tri-County Board has been looking at how services are provided. That exploration was impacted directly by COVID-19, Reed said.
“Centralized locations that drew large numbers of people suddenly couldn’t operate. Providers had to pivot to providing services using telehealth and other remote technologies, to mobilizing their workforces and meeting clients where they are. Many of these changes proved to be more efficient, and improved interagency cooperation,” he said.
Some of the changes in providing services made in the past year plus will be temporary but others will stick, Reed said.
“We are continuing to expand the number of points of access to services – the number and geographic distribution of where clients can be served. The distributed services model enables us to deploy resources across all three counties we serve,” he said.
The construction of the administration and training center project is expected to take about one year.
For more information on The Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health Services visit www.tcbmds.org.
Contact this contributing writer at nancykburr@aol.com
About the Author