Board of Supervisors County of El Dorado John Hidahl*

The Board of Supervisors agrees with the finding. Delays in processing P-Card transactions cause additional work and expense for the

County. The Board of Supervisors agrees with the finding.

will continue to evaluate PERT expansion needs. The Board of Supervisors disagrees partially with this finding. The Mental Health Service Act (MHSA) Psychiatric Emergency Response Team (PERT) Project funds one full time equivalent (FTE) Sheriff Deputy and one FTE Mental Health Clinician. Both of these positions are stationed on the West Slope. However, during the course of operations, the PERT team may respond, and has responded, to other locations in the County. The team may respond elsewhere if authorized to do so by law enforcement protocols (e.g. into the City of Placerville, the City of South Lake Tahoe, and the unincorporated areas of the County including those in the Tahoe Basin). To address the potential need for additional rapid response to crisis calls in South Lake Tahoe, Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA)/Behavioral Health Division, instituted a "PERT-lite" program specifically for South Lake Tahoe. HHSA Mental Health Clinicians are available to consult with law enforcement, both in the field and from the telephone. Unfortunately, this service is not being utilized in South Lake Tahoe. While Behavioral Health recognizes the daily crisis call volume is low, especially when compared to the West Slope, it is unclear if the low utilization of the PERT-lite service is due only to low volume crisis calls or due to a lack of participation in the program by South Lake Tahoe Police Department. The MHSA Project Team continues to evaluate PERT expansion needs, as well as evaluating the available funding for program expansion. The Fiscal Year 2020-21 MHSA Plan proposes funding one additional Mental Health Clinician if it is determined to be needed and funding is available. Additionally, the Sheriff’s Office would need to direct funding for an additional Deputy (approximately $195,000), or the Police Department(s) will need to direct funding for Officer(s) (annual cost unknown) to participate. 20-0959 A 4 of 6 With only one team (consisting of one Sheriff Deputy and one Mental Health Clinician), the annual cost for this program is approximately $330,000, which is roughly 25% of the entire annual allocation of the MHSA Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) component funding. If MHSA funded two Mental Health Clinicians and two Deputies, it will likely mean that other MHSA PEI projects must be reduced or discontinued. These options will be taken to stakeholders for input during the Community Program Planning Process for the next MHSA Annual Update, which will commence in the Fall of 2020. Further, the Grand Jury report acknowledges that two teams dedicated to the West Slope would allow for expansion on the days and hours PERT would be available for dispatch to call upon. Therefore, it is likely a full-time PERT team dedicated solely to South Lake Tahoe is not needed. At this time, many PERT calls are handled via telephone due to COVID-19 precautions, which can be done regardless of the slope on which the Mental Health Clinician is located.