Plan for one-stop-shop for Miami County mental health services abandoned

Credit: Sarah Franks

Credit: Sarah Franks

TROY – The Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health Services abandoned plans for a one-stop shop for providing behavioral and social services after building costs proved too expensive and COVID-19 rendered multiple services in one location unwise.

A building still is planned for land bought for the now canceled One Wellness Place on County Road 25A near Lytle Road between Troy and Piqua.

The building will not be as large and will not serve as home to as many agencies as initially planned in the One Wellness Place concept rolled out in an announced in January 2017, said Brad Reed, Tri-County Board director of community resource development.

The Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health Services operates in Miami, Shelby and Darke counties.

In January, 2017, the project was estimated $6 million using a one-stop shop concept beginning with full assessment of those who entered One Wellness Place’s front door was envisioned. Mark McDaniel, then the Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health Services executive director, said the idea of one-stop service came to him after encountering a family frustrated with going from agency to agency to arrange services for their adult son.

Among agencies involved in the project led by the Tri-County Board were Miami County Public Health, Community Housing, NAMI, Recovery and Wellness and Miami County Recovery Council. Miami County Public Health, no longer part of the project, continues to lease space from the county commissioners in the Hobart Center for County Government in Troy.

By fall of 2019, the Tri-County board was looking at project options after building costs rose over time to $8.5 million, then $11 million and, with the last cost estimate, $13.9 million.

“We wanted to take a step back and look at everything - goals, what has changed in system, what can we meet in terms of those goals, be financially responsible and meet the needs of the individuals we are here to serve. I think we can do that in a fiscally responsible way,” Terri Becker, Tri-County Board executive director, said in fall 2019.

The board this fall authorized Becker to proceed with the building design process, up to and including preparation of a construction bid package, contingent on a satisfactory estimate of probable cost.

“We are moving forward because the board needs an efficient, accessible permanent home, which was the initiation of the project planning as far back as 2012. We are using the building project as a focal point of a broader modernization of the behavioral health system in Miami, Darke and Shelby counties,” Reed said. The agency’s offices now are located in leased space at the Stouder Center in the former Stouder Memorial Hospital in Troy.

Joining Tri-County administration offices and training facilities in the proposed building at this point would be Community Housing, NAMI and the Miami County Families and Children First Council. Hoteling space also would be included for partner agencies as needed.

The one stop shop option proved to be untenable, Reed said.

“Building costs far exceeded projection and ,as it turns out, the COVID pandemic has changed the calculation about having a single facility where a lot of people congregate. We have turned our focus toward a system better distributed throughout the three counties, able to reach people where they are through a variety of strategies we are still developing,” Reed said.

The most recent probable cost estimate was $3.8 million, with a lot of detailed engineering still needed, he said. Funding is expected to come from board capital reserves along with private gifts and state capital funds. Most of the foundations and others who pledged financial support with the announcement of the One Wellness Place concept continue to support a project, Reed said. Talks continue with the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services about what portion of the state capital allocation still is available for the project, he said.

Contact this contributing writer at nancykburr@aol.com

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