Chelan County’s newly formed mental health intervention service will be located inside the sheriff’s office after a vote by county commissioners on Monday.
The 2-1 vote means the department known as the Behavioral Health Unit will be overseen by the sheriff’s office, which Commissioner Bob Bugert sees as an appropriate move.
“That sounds like the most cost-effective and most efficient approach,” Bugert said.
Bugert and Commissioner Tiffany Gering said they spoke with Behavioral Health Unit (BHU) program manager Anna Johnson and Chelan County Sheriff’s Chief of Patrol Adam Musgrove about where the BHU should be located.
Both Johnson and Musgrove have been heavily involved in creating the unit.
Commissioner Kevin Overbay was the only one to vote against the measure, saying BHU fills a need that goes beyond the scope of law enforcement.
“BHU is reaching out to people, doing wellness checks on people who may be experiencing a crisis situation or going into a crisis situation where the police aren’t even called,” Overbay said.
The BHU currently has two employees and is led by mental health specialist Anna Gonzalez.
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Commissioners also signed a $180,000 contract with Beacon Health Options, which specializes in clinical mental health and substance use disorder. Beacon awarded the county BHU $180,000 in grant dollars to be split over two years.
The money is being used to build the local program and has included adding an outreach case manager to the program in addition to Gonzalez.
Additionally, two more hires at BHU will be brought on board quickly, with one person scheduled to start next Monday, while the other will start in two weeks.
After Monday’s vote, commissioners believe they will need to quickly formalize the unit’s location with the sheriff’s office to avoid complications in the system.
Commissioners also envision a regional referral center being created and built at some point to house behavioral health patients.
Overbay said the center should be independent and separate from the sheriff’s office with its own board of directors.
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