The money was supposed to help build the Donahue Behavioral Health Hospital, a 330-bed mental health facility planned for the campus of OSU-OKC. Intended to replace Griffin Memorial Hospital in Norman, Donahue would have increased the state's psychiatric treatment capacity by 100 beds and offered immediate recovery services for people experiencing mental health crises.
The project was originally expected to cost nearly $150 million and be operational next year. The state legislature ponied up $87 million in pandemic relief funding, Oklahoma City contributed $1 million from Oklahoma City and Oklahoma County pitched in its $1.5 million.
But it's not happening. A year after breaking ground on the project, the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS) announced it could not afford to complete the hospital.
In May, the Board of Oklahoma County Commissioners requested the return of the money or an official accounting of how it had been spent. According to their letter from this week, the Board has received neither.
The commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to reiterate their request.
"I'm happy that all the commissioners agree that we need to move forward with this demand letter and try to recoup some of these monies that we've given them," Commissioner Jason Lowe said during the meeting.
The county is giving the troubled state agency flexibility to pay the money back in installments. They are now requiring the return of $750,000 within 20 days, but emphasizing that ODMHSAS still owes the other half of the money eventually.
"While we appreciate your willingness to speak with each office individually and recognize that you have been placed in a difficult position as the Interim Commissioner of ODMHSAS, we must renew our demands for reimbursement," Chairman Myles Davidson wrote in the Board's Aug. 20 letter to ODMHSAS Interim Commissioner Greg Slavonic.
The deadline to spend pandemic relief funds from the American Rescue Plan Act is looming, and the commissioners say they need the money returned quickly so they can address other community needs.
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