{"id":23934,"date":"2025-01-21T23:31:58","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T06:31:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-adopts-former-county-crisis-intervention-program\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:45:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:45:15","slug":"mancos-adopts-former-county-crisis-intervention-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-adopts-former-county-crisis-intervention-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Mancos adopts former county crisis intervention program"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Charlee
Charlee Sharp, a certified addiction specialist, and Quinn Deffenbaugh gear up and ready to respond to a noncriminal call, as part of the Community Intervention Program. (Haley Leonard-Saunders\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

At the Mancos Town Board meeting Jan. 8, the five trustees unanimously agreed to approve the town\u2019s adoption of a crisis intervention program that had been under county control.<\/p>\n

In that same motion, the trustees agreed to donate $10,000 to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMancos needs it,\u201d said Mancos Town Administrator Heather Alvarez. \u201cIf we\u2019ve got to keep a countywide program just for the benefit of people in Mancos, we will.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Mancos
Mancos Town Administrator Heather Alvarez.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

That program, the Community Intervention Program, sends a behavioral health clinician and an EMT to noncriminal calls in lieu of law enforcement \u2013 think substance abuse or behavioral health crises.<\/p>\n

As of Dec. 11, the CIP team had responded to 2,460 calls since it started two years ago.<\/p>\n

Mancos Town Marshal Justen Goodall, who had the initial idea to start the program, said it takes a load off law enforcement time-wise and liability-wise.<\/p>\n

\"Mancos
Mancos Town Marshal Justen Goodall.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cLaw Enforcement is liable civilly and criminally when responding to and interacting with a subject in crisis,\u201d Goodall said in an email. \u201cIf an officer uses deadly force instead of deescalation, they can be prosecuted criminally, and the individual officer and department sued civilly.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where the need for the Community Intervention Program comes in: \u201cIt allows for mental health clinicians to work with the subject in crisis and law enforcement is there for scene safety only,\u201d Goodall said.<\/p>\n

From the program\u2019s official start in May 2022, then, it has operated as a collaboration.<\/p>\n

\"Officials
Officials from Montezuma County, law enforcement, area towns, Axis Health and public health celebrated the launch of the Community Intervention Program on May 2, 2022. (Journal file photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Axis Health Systems has provided behavioral health clinicians; Cortez Fire Protection District, EMTs. The county\u2019s three municipalities \u2013 Cortez, Mancos and Dolores \u2013 provided funding \u2013 $177,000, $32,000, and $18,500, respectively \u2013 at the start, to support it.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the county assumed the role as its fiscal agent and paid $292,000 in ARPA funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe county did not provide any additional funding,\u201d said Montezuma County Public Information Officer Vicki Shaffer in an email.<\/p>\n

And so even though it was almost entirely grant-funded, the program was set to end on Dec. 31, as the county didn\u2019t re-up its contracts with Cortez Fire and Axis Health.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe county never intended to run the program indefinitely,\u201d Shaffer said.<\/p>\n

The program began under the county\u2019s Office of Emergency Management, and switched to the Public Health Department in 2023, Shaffer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe purpose of the Public Health Department is education and prevention, not response. The Community Intervention Program does not fit within those goals. Likewise, it did not fit within Emergency Management, whose purview includes planning for and mitigation of disasters,\u201d Shaffer said.<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma
Montezuma County Commissioner Jim Candelaria.<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Additionally, Montezuma County Commissioner Jim Candelaria said it\u2019s hard to quantify the success of a program like this one since much of the information and data detailing it is confidential.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, the program is outside the county\u2019s statutory requirements, which are things it must fund, Candelaria said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe gave it a shot, now we\u2019re passing it on,\u201d said Candelaria. \u201cAs funding dwindles, we have to evaluate what we can and cannot do.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so the county worked with Mancos and passed over all the program\u2019s equipment \u2013 namely the Mercedes van \u2013 to help in the transition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019d be really hard to do this without that,\u201d said Mancos Mayor Cindy Simpson of the equipment when the town agreed to take over the program at its board meeting.<\/p>\n

How\u2019s the Community Intervention Program funded?<\/div>\n

As it stands, the program is fully funded through July 1.<\/p>\n

The SouthWest Opioid Response District awarded the program $77,548 of opioid settlement dollars, which covers the cost of Cortez Fire\u2019s EMTs.<\/p>\n

Behavioral Health Administration money that Axis reallocated will cover the cost of its behavioral health clinicians through June 20, said Haley Leonard-Saunders, Axis Health System\u2019s public information officer. She has worked on CIP from its start.<\/p>\n

\"Haley
Haley Leonard-Saunders, the public information officer for Axis Health Systems.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Alvarez said they\u2019re also in the process of setting up an online donation platform, and, Leonard-Saunders said they\u2019ve identified 18 possible funding sources.<\/p>\n

All things considered, Alvarez said, \u201cI\u2019m not sure it\u2019ll cost the town anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

And if it does, in the MOU\u2019s Alvarez used her \u201cadministrative discretion\u201d to sign at year\u2019s end to save the program, Mancos has an \u201cout\u201d in the event it can\u2019t come up with funding for the latter part of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust want you to know you\u2019re not trapped by the fact that I went rogue and signed some MOU\u2019s at the end of December,\u201d Alvarez said with a laugh at the board meeting.<\/p>\n

But the departments involved \u2013 Axis Health, Cortez Fire and the town of Mancos \u2013 are confident they\u2019re eligible for grants that\u2019ll keep the program going in a town that, pre-audit, is working with $2,082,979 in 2025, compared with the county\u2019s preaudited budget of $26,079,052.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur budget is nothing to write home about,\u201d Alvarez said.<\/p>\n

Yet, when she heard the program might be discontinued at year\u2019s end, \u201cI said, what do I need to do to keep it going.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe scrambled to save it,\u201d Alvarez said.<\/p>\n

Shaffer said the only cost to the county in covering this program was \u201cthe time of those working on the program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nobody in Mancos will be billing the program for their administrative time, Goodall said.<\/p>\n

When the program started and was put under the county\u2019s Office of Emergency Management, Emergency Manager Jim Spratlen oversaw it and \u201cdid not bill CIP for his hours,\u201d Shaffer said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because, when Spratlen oversaw it, American Rescue Plan Act money funded the program, she said.<\/p>\n

In 2023, when Public Health took over the program, it was grant-funded, and Health Director Bobbi Lock and Assistant Director Laurel Shafer billed CIP for their time.<\/p>\n

For the year, they charged $16,593 and $11,375, respectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cHealth department employee salaries were not increased to oversee the program,\u201d Shaffer wrote in an email. \u201cSome hours were billed to the CIP.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma
Montezuma County Public Health Director Bobbi Lock (right) and Assistant Director Laurel Shafer (left).<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Public Health Department got an additional $26,609 to cover indirect costs, which is \u201ca set amount \u2026 in a grant that the administration of that grant can charge to the grant to cover costs that are not specified in the grant,\u201d Shaffer said in an email. \u201cThese costs include items that are the cost of doing business \u2013 phones, lights, office supplies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Public Health Department declined to talk with The Journal<\/em> for this article, saying they could speak only with the county\u2019s public information officer.<\/p>\n