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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-04-22 PSCC Minutes Minutes of LPSCC Meeting Tuesday, January 4, 2022 Page 1 of 4 A meeting of the Local Public Safety Coordinating Council was held at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 4, 2022 via Zoom virtual meeting platform X Anthony DeBone, County Commissioner Phil Chang, County Commissioner X Deevy Holcomb, Community Justice X Judge Wells Ashby (Chair) X Nick Lelack, County Administrator (Vice Chair) Roberto Robles, Oregon State Police Shane Nelson, Deschutes County Sheriff X Keith Witcosky, City of Redmond Mgr. X Sara Crosswhite, 9-1-1 Operations X John Hummel, District Attorney X Thomas Spear, Defense Attorney X Erin Taylor, Citizen Member X Erik Kropp, Interim Health Services Director and Deputy County Administrator X Mike Krantz, Bend Police Chief X Angie Curtis, Court Administrator Donna McClung, Oregon Youth Authority Cory Darling, Sunriver Police Chief Gil Levy, KIDS Center Melanie Kebler, Bend City Council X Devin Lewis, Redmond Police Chief X Donna Mills, Citizen Member Also present were: Ron Williams, Director of Outreach, Health Justice Recovery Alliance; Tera Hurst, Health Justice Recovery Alliance; Devon Downeysmith, Health Justice Recovery Alliance; Janice Garceau, Deputy Director, Health services; Sonya Littledeer-Evans, Community Justice Deputy Director; Trevor Stephens, Management Analyst; Tanner Wark, Community Justice Deputy Director; Carol Martin, BOCC Administrative Assistant. __________________________________ 1. CALL TO ORDER & INTRODUCTIONS: Judge Ashby called the meeting to order at 3:30pm. Introductions were made for the record. LOCAL PUBLIC SAFETY COORDINATING COUNCIL Minutes of Meeting Minutes of PSCC Meeting Tuesday, January 4, 2022 Page 2 of 4 2. APPROVAL OF PSCC MEETING MINUTES: Action: Donna Mills made a motion to approve the minutes of November 2, 2021. Motion was supported by John Hummel. Motion carried. 3. PUBLIC COMMENT: None presented. 4. MEMBERSHIP: Chair Ashby, recognized new RPD Chief Devin Lewis and welcomed him to the Council during the meeting. 5. DRUG ADDICTION TREATMENT & RECOVERY ACT UPDATE: Judge Ashby welcomed Ron Williams, the Director of the Health Justice Recovery Alliance. Mr. Williams introduced Tera Hurst, the Deputy Director, and Devon Downeysmith. They presented the Health Justice Recovery Alliance (HJRA) and explained that it is dedicated to Measure 110 and Senate Bill 755 and works with many organizations (listed on the briefing paper). They detailed the timeline, described the process for people to access it: - Person receives a citation from the police - Can call the hotline to get the fee waived - Is screened to a program and path for recovery - Verification can then be passed to the court (this will eventually be e-filed direct to the court when the software is available) They described what the law does and doesn’t do and clarified what it strengthened. Measure 110 funding to Oregon communities totals $302 million, of which $30 million has already been allocated so far by the Oversight and Accountability Council as there was a significant need during the pandemic. For the $278 million remaining there have been requests for $388 million and approvals will proceed during 2022. There have been 9 applications for Behavioral Health Resource Network (BHRNs) funding from Deschutes County. BHRN’s are being established from January 1, 2022 and hope to be in place by March 2022. In answer to a question, Ms. Hurst recognized the national staffing shortage and noted that new hires are being offered a living wage and enhanced benefits to be competitive in the field. Janice Garceau noted that competitive rates and benefits are being offered to lower-level non-traditional peer support employees. Angie Curtis noted that 70% of citations issued thus far have resulted in FTA. Chief Krantz noted that the bill has reduced ability of law enforcement to provide accountability for drug possession and other behaviors associated with drug possession that are still occurring. Mr. Williams noted that citations and calls to hotlines are not the most important metric of the bill, but that there is also a need to get the message out that there that this is an alternative, if people are willing, to the criminal route following a citation. Further discussion around outreach and how it can be provided to offer peer support to aid with not only treatment, but housing, medical and job search can all be addressed through frontline contacting. Although there is limited way for traditional law Minutes of PSCC Meeting Tuesday, January 4, 2022 Page 3 of 4 enforcement methods to hold people accountable to treatment, this is what the program is working towards. HRJA staff continually shared that M110 at its heart is more about expanding treatment options for people with addiction, wherever they are at in the recovery process, with the idea that both less people over time will become involved in activities or behaviors that draw need for law enforcement, and that with additional treatment resources right now, alternatives to law enforcement involvement can be made possible. Judge Ashby shared that there is a tension in the bill insofar as it envisions a state with less need for law enforcement, but placed law enforcement, including the courts, right in the middle of the bill in terms of citations, fees and court filings. He thanked Mr. Williams and his team for the presentation and appreciated their information today. Mr. Williams thanked the meeting for having the Health Justice Recovery Alliance and would welcome Council member’s enquiries at any time. 6. MEASURE 110 AND SENATE BILL 755 ROUNDTABLE Chair Ashby noted that as a lot of the discussion was had during the presentation and question and answer session, Ms. Holcomb would revisit the formerly planned roundtable for the February meeting. Roundtable participants shared one last thought each: Ms. Garceau – looking forward to expanding funding pool and is hopeful of the direction funding taking (not “new shiny things” but supporting existing resources and networks for expansion). She expressed concern that housing remains a major barrier and that the measure’s funding for that specific support is not sufficient. Mr. Hummel – highlighted Judge Ashby’s earlier comment and believes the conversation is worth having: should law enforcement be completely removed from the equation? And that the discussion needs to includes realistic understanding of the poor results law enforcement involved has historically shown with addiction reduction. Mr. Wark – asked that the OAC and state clearly identify metrics for success to ensure transparency and recognized that addiction recovery is very difficult. It might be difficult to say that law enforcement has performed poorly until we know if other means are more successful at engaging folks in treatment to the point of sobriety and/or full recovery. 7. OTHER BUSINESS: Deevy Holcomb briefed the Council that there had recently been a good article in the Bulletin on a Justice Re-investment Program for a new pre-trial group that the PSCC had passed. She is happy to send the link to the story if members would like to see it. Here is link to article https://www.bendbulletin.com/localstate/la-pine-woman-experienced- radical-transformation-in-pandemic/article_a2dec7be-5f5a-11ec-acf8- 3f2701142d5a.html Erik Kropp noted that he will be taking on the role of Interim Health Services Director from the start of the year while they recruit to fill Dr. Conway’s position.