City-parish officials are moving forward with plans for a crisis stabilization center designed to help the mentally ill get the treatment they need and keep them out of jail or the emergency room, which is all too often where many end up.
At its meeting later today, an item will be introduced to the Metro Council authorizing the mayor to execute a cooperative endeavor agreement with The Bridge Center for Hope, a nonprofit organization that was established by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation. The council will vote on the measure at its Dec. 14 meeting.
Before that happens, however, voters must approve on Dec. 10 a dedicated 1.5-mill property tax, which will generate some $5.8 million a year to operate the center. Advocates of the project say while the center will cost money up front in the early years, it will ultimately save taxpayers some $55 million over the next 10 years in incarceration and health care costs.
As currently envisioned, The Bridge Center for Hope will be a respite center, a first stop where police and first responders can bring those who need to be assessed and stabilized. The program will be voluntary, and, initially at least, the facility will not be licensed to accept patients who are under order of protective custody or have been “committed.”
For now, plans call for The Bridge Center for Hope to have 30 inpatient beds and a staff that includes physicians, mental health professionals, nurse practitioners and a pair of two-member mobile response teams, who will respond to calls for service from law enforcement and transport patients to the facility. It will also have a sobering unit, a detox unit and a longer-term respite center.
A board of directors governs The Bridge Center for Hope. Its executive director is former Lafayette corrections official Rob Reardon.
It’s unclear how willing voters will be to support the millage next month in what is expected to be a low-turnout election. But The Bridge Center for Hope has a broad cross section of support from law enforcement, mental health professionals and corrections officials.
The council will not debate the matter at tonight’s meeting.
In other business, Metro Councilman Buddy Amoroso wants to introduce an ordinance that would relax the parish’s open-container law.
Mayor Kip Holden also is proposing a boost in flood recovery spending of up to $18.1 million, on top of $47 million already authorized in September.
The Metro Council meets at 4 p.m. today at City Hall, 222 St. Louis St.
—Stephanie Riegel
