City Council

City Hall City of Olympia 601 4th Avenue E Olympia, WA 98501 Information: 360.753.8447 Meeting Minutes City Council Monday, January 6, 2014 5:30 PM Thurston County Court House, 2000 Lakeridge Dr. SW, Bldg. 1, Room 280 Special Meeting with Board of County Health 1. ROLL CALL Olympia City Council Mayor Stephen H. Buxbaum Mayor Pro Tem Nathaniel Jones Councilmember Steve Langer Councilmember Cheryl Selby Councilmember Julie Hankins Councilmember Jeannine Roe Councilmember Jim Cooper County Commissioners Commissioner Karen Valenzuela Commissioner Cathy Wolfe Commissioner Sandra Romero Staff Olympia City Manager Steve Hall County Manager Cliff Moore County Public Health and Social Services Director Don Sloma County Public Health and Social Services Chemical Dependency Program Manager Joe Avalos 2. BUSINESS ITEM 2.A 14-0022 Discussion of Needle Exchange Program and Drug Use Problems Discussion points included the following: · Concerns and public perception about increased drug use in downtown Olympia that makes the public unwilling to participate in activities like shopping, entertainment, and business activities. · Concerns about the increase of syringes found in alleys, parks and public bathrooms and impact of the Syringe Exchange organized by Thurston County Public Health & Social Services. · Need to understand what is currently being done, challenges that are known City of Olympia Page 1 City Council Meeting Minutes January 6, 2014 and the benefits of a collective impact to approach the problem in numerous and different ways and not with any silver bullet. · Numerous budget cuts at the federal and state level have impacted counties and cities with reduced funding for enforcement, treatment and the causes of addiction. Local governments are feeling the impact of low cost available drugs, especially heroin. · Multiple successful state efforts to reduce the abuse of prescription drugs by regulating prescriptions at the prescriber level have had the unintended consequence of more people moving to heroin as an alternate to prescription opiates. · Treatment infrastructure, low reimbursement rates for treatment, and workforce shortages have also contributed to the lack of available treatment on demand. · Continued erosion of funds for treatment, low cost housing, youth unemployment opportunities and the transition to the Affordable Healthcare Act are factors. · Addiction is the central issue of Public Health in the form of alcohol, drugs (legal and illegal), caffeine, fats and sugar. Several ideas were discussed including: The value of ongoing workgroups that are tackling parts of the problem and the desire to work together under a common umbrella like: · Thurston Thrives o Engage workforce development to add chemical dependency certification programs o Continue the Thurston County Syringe Exchange Program and add additional disposal bins around the City o Increase the methadone cap from 400-650 and recruit more local buprenorphone prescribers o Increase the detox capacity at St. Pete’s o Build a sobering center o Purchase more inpatient beds o Education o Environmental health · Thurston County Home Consortium o Continue to look at the impacts of homelessness and joblessness · Thurston County Intensive Case Management · Thurston County Drug Action Team o Increase treatment options · Community Action Council · Olympia Downtown Association o Expand the downtown ambassadors · City of Olympia o Planned environmental Improvement o Alcohol Impact Area o Increase walking patrols with the City of Olympia police · Thurston County Law & Justice Council City of Olympia Page 2 City Council Meeting Minutes January 6, 2014 o Community corrections -Spokane model Other ideas: · Approach the legislature about funding issues · Sheriff’s department wants to ask for more tax revenues from alcohol and marijuana sales · Move TST funds away from Thurston County · Look at other needle exchange programs operating in the county and understand the impact Next Steps: Another meeting will be scheduled to discuss this issue, and stakeholders for specific work groups (or existing coalitions) will be decided. The discussion was completed. 3. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m. City of Olympia Page 3