December 12, 2019 — With one contract to build psychiatric facilities pending approval and a new proposal on the table, the Board of Supervisors began to approach the idea of a business plan for Measure B this week. .
Measure B, the voter initiative to impose a half cent sales tax to fund mental health facilities and treatment, has raised about ten and a half million dollars so far. Last month, the board narrowly voted to conditionally approve a $3.3 million contract from architect Nacht and Lewis for three types of psychiatric facilities. That contract includes remodeling three homes for critical residential treatment units, or CRTs, around the county. Now it appears that a state agency, which awarded the county a half million dollar grant for just such a facility, has requested that the CRT be built on the Orchard Avenue site in Ukiah. And final approval of the architect’s contract is contingent on approval by the full Measure B committee, which meets later this month.
Jason Wells, the president of Adventist Health in Mendocino County, presented the board and the committee with another set of considerations. Wells wrote that he expects Adventist to start managing the Mendocino Coast District Hospital on January 6. If a vote in March approves the plan, Adventist Health will operate the Coast Hospital under the terms of a thirty-year lease. Wells proposed to designate ten beds at the Coast Hospital for mental health acute inpatient treatment, which he says would be like a Puff, or psychiatric health facility, but with a full suite of medical care available. He also asked the Measure B committee to consider funding a remodel of a wing at the Adventist Hospital in Ukiah for an additional six beds dedicated to psychiatric patients.
The cost of future operations, including staffing, has not yet been determined. CEO Carmel Angelo told the board that they would have to decide exactly what’s being discussed before anyone can say how much it will cost.
Supervisors voted unanimously to direct the executive office to perform operational feasibilit of proposed Measure B facilities, based on that day’s discussion.