County sheriff can later bring it back for consideration; county administrator urges rethinking of behavioral health component

By Nick Morgan, Rogue Valley Times

With two highlighting a need to clarify a nebulous behavioral health component and one trusting the $32,000 survey results indicating narrow voter support, the Jackson County commissioners opted not to move forward with the next steps needed to form a tax district that would fund the construction and operation costs of a new jail.

But county Sheriff Nathan Sickler can bring the proposal back to the commissioners for consideration at a later date.

During a Tuesday work session, Commissioner Rick Dyer moved to table the proposal for a new jail facility, and Commissioner Dave Dotterrer seconded, both expressing hope of developing a firmer idea of the services that an as-yet-undefined, independently run behavioral health treatment facility, stationed on land adjacent to a new jail, could provide in partnership with law enforcement.

Commissioner Colleen Roberts saw tabling the motion, rather than voting it down, as a distinction without a difference. She opted to go with the results of the $32,000 survey, which showed only narrow circumstances in which a measure could pass and many pockets of resistance.

“I would not refer it (to voters),” Roberts said. “If we’re going to pay for a survey, my view is we rely on the results of that survey.”

In tabling the decision, the jail proposal will not move forward at this time. County Administrator Danny Jordan clarified that the intent of the motion was to hold off “because you feel there’s footwork to be done.”

He asked whether county staff would need to be involved in next steps. 

“When I talked to the sheriff, he said there may be some legislators who are interested in working to put funds together for that,” Jordan said. “And I think the goal here is, if we can get the funds together for it, and we can get an agency that agrees to do it, then that helps bring forward the proposal for a new jail.”

Jordan encouraged the sheriff and commissioners to rethink the mental health component, believing it is “being added in to get people to vote” for the proposal, but that it’s “based on some misunderstanding.”

He said the misunderstanding exists because, for decades, the county was responsible for behavioral health until the state changed the format and put the responsibility on coordinated care organizations. The county became the local mental health provider only for planning purposes and serving indigent clients — a small percentage Jordan described as “around 3% of all of the clients that are served in Jackson County.”

“Then, on top of that, we have the responsibility for people when they’re in jail,” Jordan said.

Jordan said he believes commissioners and the sheriff are “going the wrong way on this,” and that they need to explain what they can do for jail inmates and how it differs from services for people who are out of custody and enjoy treatment autonomy.

“I think when you come at this with cross-purposes, and you perpetuate the misunderstanding rather than clarify and separate it, I believe it’s a manipulation of the public, and I believe it’s not telling them the truth,” Jordan said.

Dyer said he talked to research manager Tony Iaccarino at DHM Research, and that Iaccarino said the facility’s component was “pivotal” in the survey for improving the bond’s chances.

“When I spoke to him, that facility was one of the key issues,” Dyer said. “He says, if you want to overcome and be able to move the needle on this, that’s a key and integral part.”

County Counsel Joel Benton told commissioners that he also talked to DHM Research, and the recommendation he took away from them was that they would need to engage not only with the city councils that would need to agree with the proposed law enforcement district, but also the broader community.

“I think a lot of what the board is discussing is talking to the community,” Benton said.

Capt. Josh Aldrich, the county jail commander, told commissioners that upcoming drug-deflection programming through Oregon House Bill 4002, which made funding available for fentanyl treatment within jail, may cause confusion in the general public in the months ahead.

“We just had this recent passage of the Medicaid waiver for those people who are incarcerated,” Aldrich said. “I think there are a lot of pieces coming together right now and over the next six months to a year that the community is going to be real confused if we don’t delineate what our responsibilities are.”

Reach reporter Nick Morgan at [email protected] or 458-488-2036. This story first appeared in the Rogue Valley Times.