OMAHA- The Douglas County Board announced it will be holding a string of town hall meetings pertaining to a new mental health facility in the area. The funding would come from COVID recovery money with a cap of $55 million.

At the meetings, the board will present findings from the first phase of a consultant’s study for such a facility, and ask for public input on those findings.

The board has not actually voted on building a facility, but they did vote to hire another consultant to begin phase 2 of the study.

“The board has agreed to move forward on to Phase Two to determine which option we want to potentially look at,” Douglas County Board Chair Mary Ann Borgeson said.

The initial phase of the study suggested the County Board could consider two options to address needs of the county’s Corrections Department and Community Mental Health Center.

One option is a combined mental health facility, with a secure area for jail inmates and an unsecured portion for people from the general public. The other option is two separate, stand-alone facilities: one for the Community Mental Health Center, and one for the Corrections Department. Both options would include outpatient treatment and other services.

The upcoming town hall meetings can be found above in the "Upcoming Important Dates and Events" section.

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