DATE: July 18, 2023
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Susan L. Holt, Director Department Behavioral Health
SUBJECT: Retroactive Amendment III to Agreement with Fresno County Superintendent of Schools - All 4 Youth Wellness Centers
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute retroactive Amendment III to Agreement with Fresno County Superintendent of Schools to reallocate $851,626 from FY 2023-24 to FY 2022-23, effective March 1, 2023, with no change to the term of September 1, 2020 through December 31, 2026, or compensation maximum of $7,619,403.
REPORT
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. Approval of the recommended action will reallocate funds from FY 2023-24 on to FY 2022-23 to cover additional costs for the Tool Kit project, unexpected repairs to a Wellness Center due to recent floodings and moving architect and construction fees to commence the building of an additional Wellness Center during this FY 2022-23. This item is county wide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Should your Board not approve the recommended actions, the funds would not be carried over and the unexpected costs for the Tool Kit project, unexpected repairs due to floodings would not be covered. The construction of the new Wellness Center would come to halt, resulting in further delay in acquiring more space to serve the FCSS All 4 Youth population.
RETROACTIVE AGREEMENT:
The recommended agreement is retroactive to March 1, 2023. This agreement is funded by grant funds awarded through County’s agreement with Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission (MHSOAC). Any changes to the budget shall be approved through County’s agreement with MHSOAC first. MHSOAC requested a budget modification to reallocate the funds needed to cover the unexpected costs as well as the building construction. Final approval of the budget modification was received on May 2, 2023, which was used to develop the FCSS All 4 Youth Wellness Centers Budget in this Amendment.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. Approval of the recommended action will reallocate $851,626 from FY 2023-24 to FY 2022-23 for an annual maximum compensation of $1,894,458 and no change to the total maximum compensation $7,619,403 which is funded with the Mental Health Student Services Act (MHSSA) grant. Sufficient appropriations and estimated revenues are included within the Department’s Org 5630 FY 2022-23 Adopted Budget and will be included in subsequent budget requests throughout the duration of the term of the agreement. There is currently one outstanding invoice for March 2023.
DISCUSSION:
On June 5, 2018, your Board approved Agreement No. 18-308 with FCSS to provide Mental Health Services Act specialty mental health services and prevention and early intervention services to individuals aged 0-22 and their families, at school sites throughout the County. The goal of this integrated expanded treatment program (collectively referred to as the “All 4 Youth” Program) is to provide one school-based integrated system of care for the behavioral health needs of youth and their families. Services include individual and group therapy, intensive case management, rehabilitation, medication support, and other related mental health services.
In July 2019, the Governor signed Senate Bill 75 (Statutes of 2019, Chapter 75), which created the MHSSA to establish a mental health partnership between county mental health or behavioral health departments and local educational entities for the purpose of increasing access to mental health services in locations that are easily accessible to students and their families. MHSOAC was tasked with awarding grants totaling $75 million over a four-year grant cycle to fund new or existing partnerships. Since the County has an existing partnership with FCSS, the County was eligible to receive a grant amount of $6,000,000.
On December 12, 2019, the Request for Application (RFA) was released from the MHSOAC with a submission deadline of February 28, 2020. The Department and the local education agency, FCSS, collaborated to develop a proposal.
On March 24, 2020, your Board approved the retroactive MHSSA grant application submission to the MHSOAC for the competitive grant opportunity for supplemental funds to the All 4 Youth Program.
On April 23, 2020, the MHSOAC announced the selection of the County as one of the counties awarded with the MHSSA grant.
On August 4, 2020, your Board approved Agreement No. 20-283 (State Agreement 19MHSOAC052) with the MHSOAC to receive competitive grant funds to be passed through to the local education agency and partner, FCSS, to implement the submitted proposal.
On April 13, 2021, your Board approved the Agreement No. No. 21-111 with FCSS to implement the Wellness Center program to fund capital investments and expansion of the prevention and early intervention component in the All 4 Youth Program with the establishment of four Wellness Centers that are strategically placed throughout the County to increase mental health awareness and access.
On August 24, 2021, your Board approved Amendment I to Agreement No 20-283 with the MHSOAC, to move unspent funds to subsequent grant years and extend the term by one year from September 1, 2024 through August 31, 2025 with no change to the compensation maximum.
On August 24, 2021, your Board approved Amendment I to Agreement No. 21-111 with FCSS, to extend the term by one year from September 1, 2024 through August 31, 2025 with no change to the compensation maximum.
On April 18, 2022, the MHSOAC released a Request for Application with a submission deadline of June 24, 2022 for additional grant funding. Fresno County and FCSS worked collaboratively to develop and submit a proposal for two additional Wellness Centers and associated costs totaling $3,101,751.
On July 6, 2022, the MHSOAC announced the selection of the County as one of the counties awarded the additional MHSSA funding in the amount of $1,619,403.
On March 14, 2023, your Board approved the extension of this partnership, reallocated unspent funds from previous Fiscal Year on to current and future years and accepted the additional grant funding to build a new Wellness Center.
There are four existing Wellness Centers, Violet Heintz Educational Academy Wellness Center, Tarpey Wellness Center, Riverdale Wellness Center, and Fowler Wellness Center. The construction of a new Wellness Center was projected for FY 2023-24 and will be located in San Joaquin Elementary. FCSS experienced material delays during the Covid 19 pandemic and was anticipating the same delays. FCSS commenced the project to have the necessary consultations and materials ready. However, they received materials sooner than anticipated and would like to start construction to have the Wellness Center ready for use early into FY 2023-24. As the FCSS All 4 Youth Wellness Center agreement is funded with grant funds received through the MHSAOC agreement, a budget modification request had to be submitted to the MHSOAC first. The budget modification was submitted on April 18, 2023, and final approval was received May 2, 2023.
Approval of the recommend amendment to agreement no. 23-103 will reallocate funds from FY 2023-24 to current FY 2022-23
• to cover unexpected repair costs to Riverdale Wellness Center due to recent floodings. Repairs include storm drainage system, concrete work, utility excavations and landscaping improvements.
• completion of the Tool Kit project: a guide that contains information regarding how the partnership between DBH and FCSS started, how the wellness centers were developed, and how certain strategies have been used along the way. This toolkit will be shared with other counties as a reference guide for developing their own Wellness Centers as well as for public knowledge. DBH and FCSS worked with a contractor who assisted in the development of this toolkit. Funds from the awarded grant were set aside to cover this expense in FY1; however, the DBH/ FCSS/ and Contractor collaboration took longer than anticipated. Final edits were completed in December 2022 and payment needs to be issued to the contractor.
• the early construction of the additional Wellness Center.
OTHER REVIEWING AGENCIES:
The Behavioral Health Board was informed of FCSS All 4 Youth Wellness Center amendment during the May 17, 2023 Behavioral Health Board meeting.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #26, March 14, 2023
BAI #28, August 24, 2021
BAI #35, April 13, 2021
BAI #32, August 4, 2020
BAI #32, March 24, 2020
BAI #9, June 5, 2018
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
On file with Clerk - Amendment III to Agreement with FCSS
CAO ANALYST:
Ronald W. Alexander, Jr