MARSHALL — Mental health resources are an important need for children and families in southwest Minnesota, Jerry Bottelberghe said. But for kids and youth who need residential treatment, placements are hard to come by — they may end up having to travel to facilities far away or even out of state.

Bottelberghe, a licensed professional counselor in Minneota, is leading a project to add a new option in the area. The goal would be to build a 15-bed residential facility for children ages 6 to 13, he told Lyon County commissioners.

“The big stumbling block now is looking for funding,” Bottelberghe said. “I’m asking, would the county be interested in supporting this project?”

In a presentation to commissioners on Tuesday, Bottelberghe outlined the plan for the facility, which would be called A Caring Place, according to a written proposal the county board received.

While commissioners said they supported the idea of having more mental health treatment options in the region, they wanted more operational and financial details before they would consider contributing funding to the project.

Bottelberghe said he has worked with both children and teens in his counseling practice, and discovered “there was a great need in this part of Minnesota” for access to residential mental health treatment services for youth.

Bottelberghe said the plan for A Caring Place would be to build a state-certified, secure residential care center in the area. The facility would have 15 beds and focus on working with children ages 6-13. The center would be a private facility overseen by an advisory board, he said.

Bottelberghe said he has been working with state licensing on the project, as well as members of area health and mental health partnerships, law enforcement and clergy. After working with an engineer for building plans, Bottelberghe estimated the cost of the project would be about $2.4 million. According to the project proposal, the treatment center could be built in nine months after meeting a $1.4 million startup threshold.

Bottelberghe said he had sent letters seeking funding support from Minnesota counties.

“I’m slowly getting responses back,” he said. However, he acknowledged that this is a difficult time for counties setting their budgets over the next year or two. “We know the finances are very, very tight.”

Commissioners and representatives of Southwest Health and Human Services agreed there was a need for more local mental health treatment options for children and youth.

“We’ve been providing logistical information to Jerry,” said SWHHS Director Beth Wilms. Wilms said there are few out-of-home placements for mental health treatment available in southwest Minnesota, and some children have had to go to treatment centers out of state — one as far away as Arkansas.

Commissioners said they did have questions about aspects of Bottelberghe’s proposal, however. For mental health care facilities in Minnesota, “The hard part is finding staff,” said Commissioner Charlie Sanow. He said he would like to see how Bottelberghe’s business plan would handle staffing, so the facility would not sit empty after it was built.

“That is a big concern,” Bottelberghe said.

Sanow also suggested that Bottelberghe talk to Southwest Health and Human Services about the proposal.

“Maybe the conversation would be better there,” he said. For example, by working with SWHHS, they might be able to work out a more equitable way to provide funding support among the agency’s member counties in the region.

Commissioner Rick Anderson said counties might find it helpful if Bottelberghe had information on operating costs for the facility, or topics like security or followup with residents. Bottelberghe’s written proposal also said that Minnesota counties that donate $30,000 or more to the project would be granted up to 20 days of free referral services, but both Anderson and Wilms said it might not be possible for a treatment facility to guarantee referrals for a specific county.

Bottelberghe said he appreciated the feedback from commissioners and Wilms. While there was a long way to go on the project, he said, “We’ve got to start somewhere.”

“We appreciate the work you’re doing on this,” said Commissioner Gary Crowley.