>>Details emerge about new state-run mental hospital set to be built in Sedgwick County

The Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services state has already earmarked $15 million for the project but state officials are expected to make a decision in the next 30-45 days about designating the additional money for the facility.

Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican who sits on the SPARK committee charged with divvying up Kansas’ remaining American Rescue Plan Act dollars, told The Eagle in December that he’s relatively confident the funding will be approved.

“I don’t anticipate that being overly difficult,” Masterson said.

“Everybody wants to see this succeed,” Sedgwick County Manager Tom Stolz said.

“We’re partnering together, and for the first time since we’ve been talking about it, there’s actually some funding being attached.”

Stolz said the additional $25 million will be required for the project to move forward, though.

“Without that extra money, there’s not enough to either build a new building or even renovate an old when we’re talking about a 50- to a 100-bed hospital capacity,” he said.

Sedgwick County’s initial SPARK application called for a 50-bed facility but a joint special committee on mental health beds at the Kansas Legislature last fall recommended expanding that capacity by up to another 50 beds.

Stolz said a memorandum of understanding is being developed between the county and KDADS outlining expectations and responsibilities. He expects that document to go to a county commission vote within the next month.

The county will run architectural design, site location, site acquisition, and request for proposal on building and construction, he said. When the facility is finished, it will be turned over for operation to either state workers or a private company contracting with the state.

Wait lists and understaffing have plagued Kansas’ existing mental hospitals, Osawatomie State Hospital outside the Kansas City area and Larned State Hospital in western Kansas.

County officials maintain the Sedgwick County Jail is serving as the largest mental hospital in the region. Sheriff Jeff Easter has estimated that a third of all inmates in the jail deal with mental health issues.

Stolz said the impact of a new state-run facility on the region would be profound.

“We’re serving not only Sedgwick but Butler and Harvey and our regional county partners around Sedgwick,” Stolz said. “This becomes a state function, and it will help all of our sheriff’s departments and all of our justice systems.”

Responsibilities

If the SPARK committee awards the $25 million for a hospital, the timeline for the project will have to keep up with federal requirements.

A spending plan must be finalized by Dec. 31, 2024 and every dollar must be spent by the end of 2026.

“That sounds like a lot of time but when you’re talking about construction or remodel of a hospital, it’s a fairly short timeline,” Stolz said.

He said the new facility could take any number of forms.

“The goal at the end of the day is to increase the capacity for psychiatric evaluation and treatment in this region, whether that’s a new build, an existing build or a combination, plus let’s find providers within the community who are already providing this service and enhance their ability,” Stolz said.

The county’s original estimate was that a new build would cost $40 million, but Stolz said supply chain issues could raise the price tag.

“Everything is going up 20 to 30 percent,” he said. “I’m not sure that $40 million is accurate anymore. It could be $50. We don’t know.”

KDADS’ prospective 2023-24 budget includes another $15 million for increasing mental health bed capacity in south central Kansas. Stolz said he’s hopeful $15 million could become a regular state appropriation for funding the hospital’s operation.

“Long-term, it’s got to be in a yearly appropriation in the budget, and unless it’s a statute, they don’t necessarily have an obligation to long-term fund this thing,” County Commissioner Jim Howell, a former state legislator, said at a staff meeting last week.

“The fact of the matter is, the state has to fund this,” Stolz said. “It’s not going to do us any good to build a hospital, to build an infrastructure and then not have ongoing operational dollars.

“I believe the state has good will on this, and they have not shown us anything otherwise.”