Franklin leaders make good on $5.4M recovery center promise. Is a contract next?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Franklin County paid the frozen second half of a $5.4M pledge.
- The county discussed being a third-party partner contracted with Comprehensive Healthcare.
- Commissioners want contract terms covering staffing, patient priority, and accountability.
Franklin County leaders are making good on a multi-million dollar promise to help pay for quality of life improvements at the Tri-Cities’ new recovery center.
The Columbia Valley Center for Recovery is a first of its kind public facility in the area intended to help patients with mental health and addiction care regardless of their ability to pay.
The commissioners also discussed last week some requirements they want to see put in place for a potential contract.
The county will be a third-party partner, contracted directly with Comprehensive Healthcare, so there is no set timetable on how quickly those negotiations need to happen. A state licensing issue due to the center’s address changing has led to a delay in opening.
Benton County hopes they’ll get approval for it to open by the end of May
Until a contract is passed though, it could limit the services available to uninsured Franklin County and Pasco residents, and take law enforcement and first responders longer to drop off patients.
Several members of the public spoke at the meeting to encourage the county to move forward with a partnership.
Funding recovery center add-ons
The county froze the second half of a $5.4 million payment earlier this year because commissioners wanted more information about operations at the recovery center, which is owned by Benton County.
Commissioner Stephen Bauman met with leaders from the bi-county Behavioral Health Advisory Committee and Benton County leaders to address their concerns and said earlier this month he felt like the board was satisfied enough to move forward.
“This is a critical and needed facility in our community ... I believe it’s necessary, and I believe it will be helpful,” he said. “As far as what the next steps look like, I’m not sure, but I believe this is a step in that process.”
The “betterments” are an $11 million package of improvements split by the counties to pay for things like a commercial kitchen which will be run by Opportunity Kitchen and a family room for patients to visit with loved ones. They were items recommended by the advisory committee to help make the environment more conducive to healing.
After making the payment, Franklin County will have about $8 million left in its mental health fund, which is largely paid for through a .01 cent sales tax.
Some money from property tax and opioid settlements also feed into it. The sales tax raises roughly $3 million per year, according to discussion at the meeting.
That tax can be used to pay for mental health and substance abuse related salaries and programs.
County Administrator Brian Dansel said they currently use it to fund therapeutic and veterans courts and parts of costs and salaries for some corrections department, public defense and probation employees related to mental health.
It also helps pay for Special Olympics through Arc of Tri-Cities, he said.
Chairman Rocky Mullen also wanted to clear up social media confusion about how much was in the fund, saying he’d seen wrong numbers ranging from $27 million to $50 million.
It’s likely those posters were confusing the construction costs of the facility, which ranged from $23 to $27 million in direct costs for the main recovery center area. All in, with items such as the betterments, planned recovery housing and other initiatives, more than $50 million has been allocated from local, state and federal funding.
Contract concerns
Commissioners laid out some concerns they’d like a potential contract to address, ranging from staffing to ensuring Tri-City patients are prioritized. Several members of the advisory committee were in attendance.
One concern was about the amount of staffing needed, with Commissioner Clint Didier saying he wanted to see that the facility was running well before ramping up to more than 100 employees.
Most of that staff is already in place though, as the center was supposed to open May 1. Comprehensive Healthcare has said full staffing will likely be around 150 employees, and is planning a tiered opening of services, so that remaining staffing could be one area of focus in a contract
The center already has a waitlist of patients who are seeking treatment as soon as the license to open is approved.
The commissioners also wanted guarantees that the county’s funding wouldn’t be used to pay for people coming in from other parts of the state. Didier said he believes the facility is going to be a “magnet” for uninsured people from other areas.
“We are in desperate need of a facility like this, but as we have been told we are not going to be the sole occupants,” he said. “This is going to be open to the state, we are not going to be able to deny anybody access to this from the state, the whole state.”
“And as far as a contract, I’m going to demand accountability because Commissioner Bauman has been at the table, and he has brought many concerns to us about the people who are going to run this,” Didier continued. “And believe you me, I am going to demand accountability, and I do not want to see 100 people hired right off the bat when we do not have that many people to put in this facility right off the bat.”
Didier said he will be following the facility closely to ensure taxpayers are getting their money’s worth and Tri-City families are prioritized.
“I’m not going to let the taxpayers of Franklin County pay for something if it’s not going to work, I want it to be proven that it’s going to work for the constituents and the people of these two counties.”
“When one family is denied access because the place is full, you’re going to hear me loud and clear. I’m going to be screaming from the top of my lungs because (Trevor) should have been saved.”
Comprehensive Healthcare assured them last week that there is a robust system in place to identify someone’s true place of residence.
In Benton County, there will be a fund set up to offset costs for patients who do not have an ability to pay. Once Comprehensive Healthcare has exhausted all other options for payment, including charity care or grants, that fund would cover an uninsured patient.
Franklin County could set up a similar program that puts aside a fixed dollar amount annually.
