Will bi-county fights delay opening of long-awaited crisis recovery center?
Even as the Tri-Cities area’s first recovery center moves closer to opening, disagreements between county leaders is throwing a wrench into how the facility will operate.
But Benton County has a plan to ensure it opens this spring.
The growing rift between Benton and Franklin counties has led to uncertainty over agreements and contracted payments. Now Benton County, which owns the center and has paid for most of it, is moving to sign a contract with Comprehensive Healthcare without Franklin as a direct partner.
This week’s decision will mean Franklin County leaders will need to sign their own agreement with Comprehensive for reimbursement services for drug and alcohol addiction treatment and crisis mental health care.
It doesn’t mean Franklin County and Pasco residents will be turned away, but their leaders will have much less input in decisions going forward. Their residents might also get less support when it comes to seeking services, if they choose to forego partnering with Comprehensive.
Franklin County Commission Chairman Rocky Mullen felt that the move was retaliatory.
“(It) seems kind of like blatant disrespect to us because we simply ask questions,” Mullen said during their Wednesday meeting.
Last month Franklin County leaders put a pause on millions of dollars in contracted funding for the recovery center, and broke their juvenile services contract with no notice.
The recovery center, called the Columbia Valley Center for Recovery, is on track to open within a few months.
The total project is nearing $50 million in committed funds. Most of the $42.5 million already secured came from local and state money.
That includes a high-end estimate of $27 million for the construction of the first phase of the facility, which is currently expected to wrap up under budget next month.
What it means for Franklin Co. patients?
Benton County Deputy Administrator Matt Rasmussen told the Tri-City Herald in an email that while the recovery center will still prioritize Tri-City residents when it comes to waitlists, it could slow down or complicate the admission process for Pasco and Franklin County patients.
Benton County’s recovery funds can’t be used for Franklin County residents, so those who are uninsured or without an ability to pay may not be able to get services or it may take longer for Comprehensive to determine if they’re able to help them through charity funds. Rasmussen said some state funding is also available, but it’s limited.
“We hope that Franklin will enter into their own agreement to help cover the costs of their residents who cannot pay otherwise,” he said. “In the end we believe having separate agreements can still work. It also gives Franklin County compete control over what services they want to support and how much they are willing to spend to do that.”
Franklin County leaders discussed Wednesday the idea of reserving a set number of beds under a possible contract. Representatives from Comprehensive said that could be possible with all but the 23-hour crisis and sobering component.
Policy and public safety
Benton County Commission Chairman Michael Alvarez said at their Tuesday meeting that the center is a matter of public safety, intended to give all local law enforcement agencies the ability to divert a patient to somewhere they can get proper care instead of taking them to jail or burdening the emergency room.
“It’s a benefit, it’s a domino effect,” Alvarez said. “It helps everyone in the community.”
Franklin County and Pasco law enforcement and EMS leaders have been active members of the Benton-Franklin Behavioral Health Advisory Committee, which steers the direction of the center.
Alvarez said this was another example of the growing risk of doing business with their neighbor, and while he considers Franklin’s leaders to be friends, he doesn’t want to see his constituents suffer from the fallout of sudden contract breaks.
“I get along with their commissioners. I’m friends with them, but on policy I don’t want to fall off a cliff,” he said.
Last summer, Franklin County abruptly pulled out of its human services contract with Benton, but they were able to negotiate a more orderly exit.
Then in December, Franklin leaders suddenly voted to sever their 10-year juvenile services contract with no notice or public discussion.
The counties are now suing each other over it.
Recovery center dispute
Franklin County Commissioner Stephen Bauman has taken the lead in dealing with the complexities of the recovery center, but Benton County leaders say he has mischaracterized conversations and not shown up to meetings when information he asked for was to be presented.
At issue is what the facility will cost to run.
This is a nuanced question that Comprehensive cannot give a firm answer for because of the way occupancy fluctuates and Medicaid and insurance reimbursements work, say officials.
Rasmussen told his commissioners Tuesday it was important to note that when Franklin County signed a contract last year for optional “betterments” at the facility, they asked for a stipulation that didn’t hold them to paying operational costs. The improvements ranged from adding a commercial kitchen and more single in-patient rooms to other enhancements.
This was something Franklin approached Benton about pitching in on after hearing from constituents.
Now, Franklin County paused the final payment of about $2.7 million, which would be due once the facility has its certificate of occupancy in the next month or two.
Benton County leaders say they received no actual notification of this, and Alvarez pushed Franklin County Administrator Brian Dansel at the advisory committee meeting last week to give them a straight answer.
While Franklin leaders said they had a better understanding of the cost and bed space issues Wednesday, they didn’t indicate if they were planning to unfreeze the improvements payment before it comes due.
Comprehensive Healthcare expects to be able to move in and begin training by mid-March, according to the most recent update from the committee.
Services are expected to start with a limited number of beds open in May and ramp up to full capacity by late summer. A grand opening ceremony is tentatively scheduled for mid-April.
What are the estimated costs?
Despite not being obligated to pay operational costs, Franklin County has made it a sticking point.
Rasmussen said in a letter to Franklin County that while they may not have received the answer they want, Benton County has tried to work with them.
“Mr. Bauman may not have liked the answers he got from me because we did not have solid information to give him. But not liking the answers is not the same as not being given answers,” Rasmussen wrote. “We provided the best numbers we had at the time which was from the original proposal provided by Comprehensive Healthcare for operating the facility.”
What Franklin County has received is a best-and-worst case scenario range. Rasmussen noted that Dansel requested this information from the advisory committee at its November meeting, but no one from Franklin County leadership attended the December meeting where it was presented.
The worst case, 48% occupancy and only 75% reimbursement, would cost the facility $5.7 million a year, which Benton County says falls within their ability to cover with the mental health sales tax.
Comprehensive believes it is more likely, based on their other sites across Washington state, that the facility will break even or actually make money. At the best case scenario, 74% occupancy and 92% reimbursement, they would net about $1.5 million per year.
Discussion during Wednesday’s Franklin County meeting revolved around dispelling misunderstandings of how the reimbursement will work, and the differences in costs between running the recovery center compared to a much more expensive hospital environment.
Bauman said he was “caught off guard” by the decision to move forward with separate contracts in response to Franklin leaders freezing the committed betterments funding.
Benton County also plans to help supplement some of the costs for residents who don’t have insurance of Medicaid.
As they move into the final phase of contract negotiations, they are discussing helping cover the first 24 hours of care for uninsured patients to offset Comprehensive’s “charity pay” costs.
Benton County Commissioner Jerome Delvin said the counties helping support recovery costs was always the plan, noting that both passed 0.01 cents mental health sales taxes for that purpose. That money can only be spent on mental health or substance use disorder related programs, such as recovery court or treatment facilities.
They also receive opioid lawsuit settlement funds, which most partners have earmarked for the recovery center.
“The concept of that recovery center … is that no one is refused at the door, they show up, they’re taken in, and they figure out the pay,” Delvin said.
“Why have a recovery center if you’re refusing people? We’re only asking Franklin County to pay for Franklin County residents, they’re not 50-50 operational costs of that facility, whereas Benton County is taking (care of) the majority,” he said.
Representatives from the advisory committee plan met with Franklin County leaders this week to try and answer any outstanding questions.
Benton’s leaders agreed that while they hope Franklin County continues to support the recovery center, the safest path for everyone is to have separate contracts directly with Comprehensive Healthcare.
They directed staff to reach out to Franklin County to learn more about their plans.
“Do you want to be part of this agreement for the benefit of Franklin County residents? How do you expect to cover the cost of Franklin County residents?” Delvin said. “I just want some kind of a statement out there that Franklin County has to make a decision, ‘What are you going to do?’”
Other counties and cities can also partner with the provider for similar reimbursement agreements.
While Franklin County was discussing the idea of building their own sobering center in 2024, they dropped that conversation altogether and have not publicly discussed it since.
Lourdes had offered to partner with the county and put the center at property it owns, saving them construction costs. That discussion fell through because the commissioners felt the location was a safety concern because it was too close to the Franklin County Courthouse.
This story was originally published January 16, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
