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Meeting Date:	11/28/2022
Mental Health Unit OT Grant Award Acceptance by Webb Co. Sheriff's Office
Submitted for:	Martin Cuellar	Submitted By:	Anita Guerra
Department:	Sheriff

Subject:

Discussion and possible action to authorize the acceptance of a grant award from the Office of the Governor Criminal Justice Division in the amount of $35,815.92 as developed, written, and submitted by and for the Webb County Sheriff's Office for overtime and applicable fringe benefits for members of the Mental Health Unit to provide mental health services; and authorizing the Webb County Judge to execute all relevant documents; and any other matters incident thereto. This grant does not require any type of match; and, thus will have no impact to the general fund. All required documents were sent for review through the Economic Development Department and the solicitation is compliant with the Webb County Single Point of Contact (SPOC) procedures. [Requested by Martin Cuellar, Webb County Sheriff; Grant Fund #2738]

Issue: The local Laredo/Webb County community continues to constitute a medically and mental health underserved area, which requires mentally ill youth and adults to travel to out-of-town facilities in order to receive these needed mental health services.

Solution: Grant award to provide training and consultant services to provide supplemental instruction on responding to crisis intervention/mental health matters for the officers of the Webb County Sheriff's Office as well as overtime and applicable fringe benefits for the Mental Health Unit to transport mental health patients to these out-of-town facilities so that they may receive the care that they require.

Result: Grant funding will allow officers of the Sheriff's Office to receive supplemental training on crisis intervention and members of the Mental Health Unit to undertake complex and time consuming activities and requirements, including execution of court orders, mental health commitments, and the actual transports to out-of-town mental health facilities, so that the mentally ill patients, their families, and the overall community can be better served.

Background:

Locally, there are very limited in-patient treatment/beds for mental health patients (only 16 beds) for a Laredo/Webb County population of over a quarter of a million.

Previous Court Action:

The court authorized the submission and acceptance of this grant these last couple of years.

Fiscal Impact

Budget Account Number:	2738
Funding Source:	Grant Revenue
Balance:	Various
Financial Impact:
$35,815.92 grant funding for OT/Applicable FB for Mental Health Unit. Thus, there will be no impact to the general fund.