Nov. 30 – Rogers County receives an additional $289,173 grant from the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse.
That brings the county to a total of $578,346 it can spend to fund a mental health app, a youth diversion specialist for Rogers County Youth Services and two GRAND Mental Health staffers at the county jail.
County spokesperson Diana Dickinson said Monday that the county originally applied for the mental health grant for the 2024 budget year, which ended July 1. Dickinson said the state allowed the county to amend its contract to also pick up the county’s 2025 budget year allocation.
She said the province should use the FY 25 funds for the same purposes for which it agreed to use the FY 24 funds. But since the province only has to pay once to develop the Better Together mental health app, Dickinson said the province will have some excess money to spend.
The Rogers County Commissioners hosted Tulsa web developer Inhouse Web Services, a candidate to develop the app, during their Oct. 22 meeting. Inhouse estimated the cost of designing, creating and launching the app at approximately $20,000.
“The chances are high [the excess is] will be used for a project manager and to increase funding for first responders [mental health crisis] training,” said Dickinson.
Rogers County Youth Services can now begin construction on its new building on South 4130 Road following the commissioners’ Monday meeting.
Commissioners approved a special exception on the platform where RCYS plans to build. Brittany Senters, deputy director of the Rogers County Planning Commission, said the area is zoned agricultural and RCYS must obtain the exception so it can provide outpatient medical services.
The commissioners gave RCYS $800,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to jump-start the project. District 2 Commissioner Steve Hendrix said Herb McSpadden, the organization’s executive director, needs help with additional funding for the new building.
“Youth Services is really doing something here,” District 1 Commissioner Dan DeLozier said. “…This will be a good thing when it’s done.”
Commissioners also entered into an agreement with Patsy Myers, a property owner in northern Rogers County, to enter her property and remove a tree.
“The reason we have to trespass on the property is to keep the tree from falling on a fence,” DeLozier said. “They just built a new fence in the middle of an old, rotten tree, so we’re going to take this tree out to keep it from falling.”
The commissioners took no action to confidentially discuss an ongoing investigation, claim or action after entering the board meeting.
