Palm Beach County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to help fund a $60 million mental health and substance use crisis center. But after an emotional and contentious public meeting, many questions remain.
The center will be primarily funded, built and operated by the Health Care District of Palm Beach County. The behavioral health facility will include primary and 24/7 care, and in-patient and outpatient services.
The vote comes after the Health Care District, a taxpayer-supported agency, requested the county honor its 2021 commitment to set aside $10 million in COVID relief funds to go toward the center.
The 60,000-square-foot facility is part of a years-long, countywide effort to address and build adequate support for adults and children experiencing mental distress without heavily relying on jails or the state's Baker Act.
“This is in addition to the existing resources in the community,” said Health Care District CEO Darcy Davis. “We're trying to alleviate some of the pressure on those existing resources so that they can continue to do the good work that they're already doing."
But commissioners raised an alarm over why it could take nearly five years before opening he center, which will be known as the central receiving facility.
Commissioner Marci Woodward called the construction timeline "very concerning” and “unacceptable” given the county funds were approved for the project four years ago.
“We need this as quickly as possible and not to have it drag out,” she added.
The commission and county staff will host a workshop with the Health Care District and other community health stakeholders to help shorten the project timeline and discuss how grants or other outside funds could support annual operating costs.
Families show support, express grief
Tuesday's meeting included teary-eyed residents, elected officials, police and health professionals who came to support the project.
Many voiced concerns over the urgent need to address mental health service gaps created by several facility closures, including the 2019 shuttering of the Jerome Golden Center for Behavioral Health.
Despite its $116.5 billion budget, the state is ranked near the bottom in per capita mental health funding, noted new Commissioner Bobby Powell, a former state senator.
Lady Goldwire, a lifelong county resident, said her son, Donnell — a former football standout— was receiving care at Jerome Golden Center. When the facility closed, he spiraled out of control.
He “suffers from a brain disorder” and has “been hospitalized 87 times” since the closure, Goldwire told the commission as she held back tears. “There’s been times when I could not find him.”
Goldwire said her son is now in the St .Lucie County Jail on a loitering charge. She said it's one of the few places where he can receive consistent mental health treatment because "local hospitals have labeled him a drain on their resources.”
State Rep. Mike Caruso spoke during public comments, sharing similar personal sentiments. He described how his son, Michael Randolph, who had an athletic scholarship to the University of Florida, couldn’t manage his bipolar schizophrenia.
“ After about seven years, it got so bad I had to Baker Act him,” Caruso said. “That's the hardest thing for a parent to do is call the police on your son and have him put into a mental hospital.”
Tony Spatera, assistant chief with the West Palm Beach Police Department, supported the project because officers are left to “deal with the whole gamut of [mental health] issues.”
“ This central receiving facility is absolutely necessary. The revolving door of arrest and Baker Act and emergency department trips are heartbreaking," he said.
The district partnered with a Denver-based consulting firm, whose feasibility study showed that almost all mental health patients can be stabilized outside of hospitals.
A successful implementation of the plan will ultimately need coordination among all behavioral health providers across the county, CEO Darcy Davis said.
Two location options
The facility will cost the Health Care District $30 million a year to operate, but officials are still in search of a location. They expect the multilevel facility to be built on 6 to 8 acres.
Davis said the district narrowed down 18 property options down to two — one owned by the agency in Riviera Beach and the other a private, undeveloped property north of Southern Boulevard.
The latter “seems very promising,” Davis said.
In the meantime, a feasibility study for the properties will measure the “compatibility with the adjacent use, environmental studies, specific site cost estimates and various development plans,” she said.
Commissioners are calling for expedited construction permitting once all details are finalized.
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