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WORLAND – With the hope of expanding Lighthouse, Cloud Peak Counseling Center’s crisis prevention and stabilization center, to house more patients, a group of county commissioners, law enforcement, health care professionals and legal professionals met Thursday at the Worland Community Center to discuss Title 25 improvements and the possibility of funding.

Currently, under Title 25, patients entering Lighthouse for care are assessed for possible risk (suicide or self-harm) or alcohol or drug abuse, and held until they have been stabilized or released by court order.

According to Cloud Peak Executive Director Mark Russler, the five-bed Lighthouse center housed almost 70 patients in 2016, from Big Horn, Hot Springs, Park, Fremont and Washakie counties, and currently all five beds are occupied.

Under a plan to expand the facility to a seven-room center, with a social detoxification area and a lockdown area for potentially violent patients, at a projected cost of $97,000, Thursday’s meeting heard from a variety of sources on how the money could be raised, and which counties would benefit.

State Senator Ray Peterson (R-Cowley, SD19) reminded the roundtable group that the state budget is stretched thin, but appropriations sessions start in late December, and he would be willing to sponsor a bill for funding, but “It will go nowhere.” Senator Peterson suggested that if the counties could appropriate $40,000 of the cost, then he would have a better chance of getting the project through appropriations committee.

Peterson also reported that the state’s Title 25 Task Force met Monday, and $90 million had been cut from the State Department of Health, making projects especially hard to fund until state revenue picks resumés.

Chris Newman, senior administrator for the Wyoming Department of Health’s Behavioral Division, echoed Peterson’s budget warning, and remarked that the current waiting list for patients to enter the Wyoming State Hospital in Evanston is full, and that regional facilities Lighthouse are in demand for mental health services.

After law enforcement and health officials from neighboring counties discussed the cost effectiveness of maintaining Lighthouse as an alternative to sending patients to the Wyoming Behavioral Institute (WBI) in Casper, Russler pointed out that per diem spending on patients at Lighthouse was approximately half of that at WBI, at $325 per patient compared to $750.

Fifth Judicial District Court Judge Robert Skar noted that it was worthwhile to seek appropriations because Lighthouse offers the court a choice over both WBI and the State Hospital for patients under court order for treatment.

Washakie County Commissioner Aaron Anderson concluded that the next step would be to work with the City of Worland to get the proper zoning for Lighthouse and any possible expansion, while Commissioner Fred Frandson asked for a commitment from participating counties, since the expenses were fairly-well outlined.

With an eye on working with Sen. Peterson to meet the appropriations deadline of late December, Commissioner Anderson stated that a proposal could be ready for review in November.