POUGHKEEPSIE – The Public
Works and Capital Projects Committee of the Dutchess County Legislature
approved over $4.8 million in bonds on Tuesday to pay for reconstruction
of the county’s Mental Hygiene offices to convert them into a crisis
stabilization center.
It is part of the county’s merger of the Health and Mental Hygiene departments. The crisis stabilization center is one component of a universal effort to treat people in crisis quickly and completely and keep them out of the county jail if they were headed there prior to the new program.
County Executive Marcus Molinaro said the overall mental hygiene effort
is making progress.
“Our ability to move forward aggressively with the construction of the crisis stabilization center really does provide us with a very strong, integrated network to focus on prevention, intervention and diversion in the hopes that we can reduce the number of individuals who end up into, either institutional care, limited as it is; end up in a jail setting, more costly and less effective than it is; or worse for everyone, end up in a situation where they take a life or take their life,” Molinaro said.
The full legislature must approve bonding the project before construction can begin.
