Grant bolsters services to mentally ill inmates

Carson City’s Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 Thursday to accept a grant of $248,921 to provide services to the mentally ill who wind up in jail repeatedly.

Sheriff Ken Furlong and Kathy Bartosz of Partnership Carson City said a collaboration and work already under way this year helped secure the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program planning and implementation two-year grant.

“We’re not doing this because we got the money; we got the money because we’re doing this,” Furlong said. Bartosz said the grant would help provide “wraparound services” aimed at helping those showing mental illness and addiction signs who wind up in jail, reducing recidivism.

The goal of the collaboration program and the Forensic Assessment Services Triage Team (FASTT) is a reduction in repeat brushes with the law and enhanced public safety.

On another grant-related matter, the board voted to change the use of some Parks and Recreation Department funds so a project can proceed and the grant in question can be saved.

Transfer of $17,434 from Governors Field and $22,930 from the Rifle and Pistol Range will allow a BMX Track lighting project to go forward, salvaging a $122,721 grant that could otherwise be lost later this year. The BMX Track is at Edmonds Sports Complex.