The Bridge Center has finalized its contract with RI International, but it’s still a couple of weeks away from selecting a location for the long-planned mental health diversion facility.
Officials previously told Daily Report that negotiating a contract with the Phoenix-based RI International was one of the few remaining hurdles it needed to clear before identifying and announcing a site—a task Charlotte Claiborne, the center’s executive director, confirms they’re on track to complete by the end of the month.
“We’re in talks with multiple entities,” Claiborne says. “It’s based on what’s most cost-effective for the parish, but we also have to make sure we’re giving taxpayers what they wanted.”
Baton Rouge General’s Mid City campus has long been considered the frontrunner, though Claiborne declines to say whether it remains the top choice. BRG CEO Edgardo Tenreiro couldn’t be reached for comment before this morning’s deadline. But officials also toured the former Dollar General location at 3939 Choctaw Drive, while another office building in Mid City is also on the table.
Under the terms of the contract, which was finalized at the end of the year, RI International will provide crisis stabilization services for the center utilizing the Crisis Now model—an approach to crisis care that aims to prevent suicide and help those in distress in real time—along with other programs for a period of five years.
Though estimated at $30 million, there’s technically no set dollar amount attached to the deal; instead, the service provider will be paid based on the total in collections the city-parish gets each year from the 1.5-mill property tax voters approved in late 2018 to fund the center (anticipated at $6 million annually), minus the center’s general operating expenses for the year, which Claiborne says have not yet been determined.
Claiborne says the facility hasn’t yet received the tax proceeds scheduled to flow this month, but expects them to come soon.
The Bridge Center executive committee is meeting today at noon in the offices of Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson LLP, on the 23rd floor of One American Place, located at 301 Main Street downtown. The pre-scheduled meeting, which occurs every other month, is open to the public.
