Commissioners concerned about state's mental health shift

ALBANY — Tuesday morning the Linn County Board of Commissioners accepted a $226,089 grant from the Oregon Health Authority to provide local counseling programs for persons with mental illness who have been charged with a crime.

Public Health Director Todd Noble said the funds reflect the state’s efforts to move such programs to local jurisdictions.

The funds are part of a $1.35 billion package approved by the State Legislature in 2021 targeting behavioral health issues.

These funds are part of and “Aid and Assist” category, intended to provide treatment, housing and other support for people who are “not competent to face a criminal proceeding due to the severity of their mental health issue.”

Commissioners Roger Nyquist, Sherrie Sprenger and Will Tucker agreed there has been a major shift in such programs since the state has closed mental health hospitals statewide and reduced the number of in-patient beds available.

Nyquist said former Public Health Director Frank Moore predicted counties would see greater demands for services 15 years ago as the state began hospital closures.

“The state reduced the number of hospital beds and has shifted that burden to local governments,” Nyquist said. “Frank Moore predicted it would lead to increased homelessness and a greater need for local services and duress. We will do the best we can with what we have.”

Nyquist said he is disappointed that there has not been “honest public conversation about how we got to this point.”

He added this isn’t an issue that affects just Linn County.

“It’s not just us, it’s everywhere,” Nyquist said. “We need to press policy makers and let them known what we think is needed.”

Noble called it, “definitely challenging for any community. The state has tried to provide services in a hospital setting and failed. This is an OHA decision.”

Commissioner Tucker said he felt like the county is caught “between a rock and a hard place” on this issue.

“We no longer have the hospitals for people to go to,” Tucker said. “We will need more staff to help out. We didn’t ask for this.”

Tucker compared this to more “unfunded mandates”, an issue over which the county sued the state several years ago.

He said the state’s move to move some drug use crimes from felonies to misdemeanors has basically legalized those drugs and counties are seeing increased crime and mental health issues because of it.

In other business, the commissioners:

• Learned there were 52 births (23 girls and 29 boys) and 105 deaths in the county in July, according to Dr. William Muth, Linn County Health Officer. Smoking tobacco contributed to about 20% of the deaths. There was discussion about several residents who had become sick after either handling chicken or consuming improperly cooked chicken. Dr. Muth said proper hand washing is important after handling poultry and chicken should be cooked to at least 165 degrees internal temperature. Dr. Muth added there have been no reported cases of Monkeypox in Linn County so far.
• Were informed by Environmental Health Manager Shane Sanderson that his staff has been making more in-person visits to food handling establishments. There were 20 inspections of brick and mortar restaurants, 27 temporary restaurants and eight benevolent operations.
• Appointed Bill Kesselring to the Solid Waste Advisory Committee.
• Sold two small pieces of property at sealed bid auction. One piece, about one-third of an acre near Scio, was sold for $1,000 to Kenneth and Rhonda Silveira. The other piece in Brownsville — a fence line — was sold for $1 plus recording fees to Kristin and Nathan Micklewright.
• Approved an agreement with the University of Oklahoma to provide training for students in their Master’s of Social Work program.
• Approved a contract for $758,386 with Bent LLC for the Folsom Bridge replacement project.
• Approved the following First-Time Youth Wage Agreements: Horner Enterprises, O & M Tire Shop, Kirk Century Farms, Miller Grass Seed and Wirth Firms.
• Discussed the upcoming drawdown of Green Peter Reservoir to facilitate salmon planting above the dam per a federal lawsuit decision. The commissioners agreed that the Corps of Engineers should hold public forums in the Sweet Home area about this project.

Media contact: Alex Paul, Linn County Communications Officer, 541-967-3825 or email apaul@co.linn.or.us.