Political Concerns

Reception to the Recovery Navigator Program was mixed, though in the early stages of the program several stakeholders including Centralia Police Chief Stacy Denham, Commissioners Pollock and Swope, and others were supportive. Initial monthly reports on engaging potential stakeholders were varied from supportive, to hesitant, to uninterested.

Documented below are a few items that I think highlight that the program incurred various issues including but not limited to political obtrusion as the program progressed.

Early Days

The program was brand new and the parties involved were still trying to better understand their responsibilities. However, from fairly early on in the program, we see evidence of some political concerns from the monthly reports from Cascade Community Healthcare (emphasis mine):

June 2022

There are some challenges with engagement and moving forward. I am not sure why law enforcement is hesitant. There are significant staffing issues with Centralia PD and there is an election that may be causing some friction as a Centralia PD officer is running against the sheriff and the east end police are fully in support of Lewis County Sheriff and there has been some private conversation that this could be a barrier. There is also a very real barrier that Chief Sweet has been on vacation and on vacation again from 7.7.22 until 7.18.22. Chief Denham has a police force of 30 and 14 active officers. Time is a significant resource.

July 2022

There does seem to be some tension within the community and with community members related to politics, campaign. There is also challenges with Lewis County BOCC asking questions about homelessness and funding and this is bleeding down to tension in other relationships.

November 2022

Engaging LE other than Centralia PD continues to be challenging as smaller communities and alternative agencies are still not fully committed to the RNP-diversion ideology.

A Notable Change

While the RNP monthly reports contain a lot of ongoing issues of interest that seem to have existed from the very beginning of the program, an RNP Community Stakeholder Meeting document dated Dec 8th, 2022 describes the program this way (emphasis mine):

Chief Denham identified that police are finding RNP helpful and are using it more as a tool/resource. There was specific feedback regarding the appreciation of communication and follow-up that has been happening. Officers appreciate knowing what happened and status of their referrals.

In January of 2023, Gather Church's monthly RNP report expresses the following:

January experienced a bit of a hiccup with a client that, unfortunately, very strongly impacted our ability to collaborate effectively with local LE and had an impact on the OWGs during this month as well. Hopefully we are able to get back to better collaboration and a better understanding of what the program is and isn’t so that we can avoid future hiccups and barriers.

The "hiccup" isn't explained here and between this and Denham's later account, I doubt either party would agree on the specifics. There is a clue in here that does touch on perhaps something deeper at play, namely this line:

Hopefully we are able to get... a better understanding of what the program is and isn’t so that we can avoid future hiccups and barriers

The implication seems to be that the issue revolves around something more than a missed connection or lack of follow-up.

Yet, by January 30th, 2023, in meeting minutes for the Lewis County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) Wrap-Up meeting, we read this:

Homeless services: Commissioner Swope discussed the Recovery Navigator Program and shortfalls of individuals getting the treatment they need. Chief Stacy Denham discussed concerns regarding a lack of services for homeless individuals, including leadership, communication and coordination gaps.

And another month later, we see this February monthly report filed by Cascade Community Healthcare (emphasis mine):

On 2.21.23 Spoke to Police Chief Stacy Denham, he states that he would not be in attending the PCG on 2.23.23 as he has a training in Vancouver he is required to attend. He provided feedback that his officers are not seeing benefit of referrals they submit. Informed Chief Denham that there is a plan to meet with Great Rivers and Gather to examine policies and protocols that need addressed and require more clarification. He states that Centralia Police Department will continue to attend OWG for now. He reports has continued to communicate his concerns about RNP with Centralia City Manager, Centralia Mayor, Centralia City Manager Pro Tem, and County Commissioner Swope. Let him know that we can work with all of those people to communicate successes and challenges and want the program to be successful and all of their support is needed to create a successful program. He states that he wants RNP to work and believes that a program like RNP is needed in the community. Continuing to work with LE and community in a meaningful way is needed and demonstrates trust to have difficult conversations and transparency, needed to grow program and move RNP forward.

On 2.23.23 Chief Denham phoned to states his meeting in Vancouver was cancelled because of weather. He called to ask if he could attend the PCG meeting in person, believing that he may not be welcome. Informed him that he was very welcome and wanted at RNP as LE is a needed relationship to support diverting people from continued criminal involvement.

I did manage to find some text messages between Centralia Mayor Kelly Johnston (green text) and Centralia Police Chief Denham (grey text) that aligns with the sharp turn seen above:

I include these only to note that at the time of these texts, Great Rivers apparently expressed that they were in complete support of Gather and this was disappointing to Denham.

It is also interesting to note that the needle exchange program is brought up. This would become a later target of political attention as I've noted in Episode 22: Syringes, Swope, and Punitive Public Health Policy.

More Political Issues

Cascade Community Healthcare continues to note issues in the monthly reports:

February 2023

Lewis County stakeholders have a lot of passion about the program and are heavily invested in RNP and would like the program to be a success in their community. Centralia Police Department have been vocal about how they would like to interact and work with the outreach team, providing an opportunity for the workgroup to look at procedures and protocols, making this a priority in the coming month. Within the vocalization of various stakeholders as RNP grows and the increased focus there is an opportunity to focus on resources that stakeholders can commit from their agencies, with the eyes and support of various county officials, that will support RNP participants and further the message and goals of the program to create safety nets for individuals unable to access services on their own to begin stabilization.

There has been a decline with involvement of law enforcement, referrals from LE has decreased. The prosecutor’s office continues to attend with minimal participation and input, often attending as an observer. Lewis County continues to have strong opinions about RNP and how it should be managed. There is a possibility that RNP is being used as a political tool to address homelessness and other community concerns.

March 2023

There are significant political issues that are impacting RNP, this creates uncertainty about the future of RNP and how people will continue to work with the program. There is pressure being placed by officials to create RNP as a homeless adjunct service and to examine the providers connected to RNP work that has impacted attendance and willingness to discuss issues at OWG.

There is currently a collaboration barrier with Centralia PD as there is a focus on the agency providing outreach and case management. The city of Centralia, specifically Chief Denham, Centralia Mayor, Centralia City Manager and Commissioner Sean Swope have

March 22nd, 2023

Commissioner Swope and Chad Taylor

On March 22nd, Commissioner Sean Swope was a guest on the local radio show KELA's Let's Talk About It with host Chad Taylor, owner and operator of The Chronicle. I've already done an entire episode dedicated to the conversation that took place but here are a few salient points:

• Swope misunderstood and/or misrepresented the contracts he discusses regarding another program that Gather Church had operated. A contract that is specifically under his authority and purview.
• Swope claims that Gather Church may have been committing contractual and billing fraud regarding services that Gather Church didn't provide.
• Over a year later, none of the allegations have been substantiated nor any action taken that would speak to the veracity of the claims.

Besides the accusations of contractual and billing fraud, there are several implications in the conversation between Chad Taylor and Sean Swope that indicate they felt Gather Church was profiting off of these contracts to "buy buildings, turn them into churches". This aligns with a March 10th editorial by Taylor coining the term "poverty pimps". Despite the fact that Gather Church is a non-profit and has a fiduciary responsibility far more limiting than a for-profit company, these same critics seem to lack any concerns that Destination Hope & Recovery, the provider awarded the RNP contract after Gather Church, is actually a for-profit limited liability corporation:

Department of Revenue

Secretary of State

RNP Contract

Lewis County Attention on RNP

April 3rd, 2023

In the meeting minutes for the BOCC Wrap-Up meeting on April 3rd, 2023 (emphasis mine):

Great Rivers Behavioral Health / Boards: Commissioner Swope said he joined a meeting with Trinidad Medina and others from Great Rivers Behavioral Health to discuss the Recovery Navigator program, which involved a $654,000 contract with Gather Church, and to visit Blakeslee Junction to discuss what services are being provided there and at other homeless encampments elsewhere. Commissioner Pollock noted that Cascade was doing the management of the Recovery Navigator program and that Gather Church was leading the services. She said Great Rivers will take back over the administrative duties and will put the services portion back out for bid when the contract with Gather Church ends in June. Commissioner Swope said he wants to ensure that the commissioner who represents Lewis County on the Great Rivers board represents the full board’s stances. He said he doesn’t want Great Rivers Behavioral Health to again contract with Gather Church for Recovery Navigator services

There are some interesting items I would like to draw out of these discussions:

1. Cascade Communtiy Healthcare lost their contract to provide the Project Management for RNP. It was rolled into Great Rivers.
2. Swope explicitly states he doesn't want Great Rivers to contract with Gather Church for the renewal

April 10th, 2023

Great Rivers Behavioral Health: Commissioner Swope discussed concerns regarding outreach and support. He said outlying areas are not being connected to services. He said he would like to submit a records request for the Recovery Navigator program.

April 17th, 2023

(emphasis mine):

Great Rivers Behavioral Health: Commissioner Swope said he was contacted by a business owner who has concerns about the Recovery Navigator program. Commissioner Pollock said there will be a performance evaluation for the group soon. She said the review will take place before the contract for the program ends in June.

This is one of several times that a performance evaluation is mentioned. In this case, Commissioner Pollock was a board member for Great Rivers and she represented Lewis county out of the five counties of the regional Recovery Navigator Program.

It's my understanding that a performance review was supposed to have taken place as far back as December and by the time these meetings took place, nothing had been completed. It was stated in several county meetings, by a Great Rivers board member, that this performance review would be completed before Gather Church's contract was up for renewal.

In May of 2024, a year after all of these meetings, I requested a copy of the Performance Review from Great Rivers. Disappointingly, it appears no review had been conducted:

In my view, this is one of several examples (as I'll note) where the process of accountability was left unexercised and appears to have been abandoned due to political pressure.

April/May 2023

Testimonies

On April 24th and May 1st of 2023, two "Wrap-Up" meetings of the Lewis County Board of County Commissioners were recorded containing testimony from two separate individuals regarding the operation of the Recovery Navigator Program under Gather Church. One of them being Centralia Police Chief Stacy Denham.

Based off of what I could find, the last time a "Wrap-Up" meeting was recorded before these two was on Nov 19th, 2020 (during Covid) and there have been none recorded since.

I myself would prefer it if our county would record ALL public meetings having to do with the Board of County Commissioners. Having said that, it appears some meetings can be recorded if a commissioner so desires (in this case, likely Swope). The topic of these meetings appeared to be a part of a larger political effort to have Gather Church's RNP contract removed.

I am not a lawyer, but I would be greatly interested if any of these documented efforts by those targeting Gather Church would raise to the level of Tortious Interference:

Tortious interference, also known as intentional interference with contractual relations, in the common law of torts, occurs when one person intentionally damages someone else's contractual or business relationships with a third party, causing economic harm.

Regarding Accountability

One of the difficulties on this particular topic is that the content is either anecdotal or has much to do with personal health information (PHI). PHI is protected by law and has certain strict requirements about handling, distribution, discussion, and so on, that make it difficult to adjudicate in a public forum. Given both testmonies deal with concerns that fall under PHI, the topic makes it impossible to obtain an accounting from all parties.

Fortunately there is a process built into our health systems that can allow priviledged information like PHI and case management to be reviewed and discussed, where all parties involved can submit their information and details, and the data can be reviewed by an appropriate reviewer or panel. This is the process of filing a medical grievance.

Unfortunately, according to the response from Great Rivers regarding my request to determine if either party that shared their testimony, given the seriousness of the claims, had ever filed a grievance, I was informed that:

Great Rivers did not receive any formal grievances... - Trinidad Medina, Great Rivers BHASO, July 11th, 2023

Furthermore, it is my understanding that, to date, there have been NO grievances filed against the Recovery Navigator Program of Gather Church.

I did discover that Chief Denham had at least discussed his issue with Great Rivers staff way back on Jan 26th, 2023. It would appear that whatever result came of that discussion, he wasn't satisfied.

Regardless, platforming a series of specially recorded testimonies as part of a public campaign regarding accountability for Gather Church, I would expect at a minimum that those same parties would engage the due process specifically created for exercising accountability within our medical and behavioral health systems.

Without a review by an appropriate authority that is legally allowed access to weigh all of the evidence and more importantly, issue penalties and punishments, it quickly becomes an exercise in trying to determine the details while partially blindfolded.

More Monthly Reports

The following are excerpts taken from the Monthly Reports filed by RNP Project Management (Cascade Community Healthcare). Emphasis are mine.

April 2023

There continues to be barriers in communication between project management and RNP service providers. The communication barrier is related to the intense political focus of RNP, misinformation that is circulating the community and levels of uncertainty about roles within the program moving forward.

There is a political focus on the RNP Program and this has created some hesitation regarding participation. There has been less interaction and conversation at OWGs. Trust within the community and within RNP partners needs to be re-established.

May 2023

There continues to be barriers in communication between project management and RNP service providers. The communication barrier is related to the intense political focus of RNP, misinformation that is circulating throughout the community produces tension.

Contract Terminated

On May 15th, 2023, Great Rivers notified Gather Church that they were ending their contract "Termination Without Cause" on August 16th, 2023:

As a side note, Cascade Community Healthcare later requested Denham's support as they desired to apply for the RNP contract. They were not awarded the contract.

I am writing to request a letter of support from you to Support Cascade Community Healthcare to be the service provider for the Recovery Navigator Program in Lewis County. I attended a question and answer session for the Recovery Navigator Program RFP this afternoon and the only other agencies to attend were Love Overwhelming from Cowlitz County and Destination Hope & Recovery (DHR) out of Grays Harbor and Pacific County.

I think that Cascade can do an excellent job in this role as we are familiar with the program, understand the needs of the community, we are from this community, and most important can build and sustain collaborative relationships. You have always been a supporter of the program and of Cascade and I am hoping I can include your support for this proposal.

Conclusion

I think I could venture a few concerns regarding all of the aforementioned data:

1. There was a lot of political activity surrounding the program from the beginning
2. It could be argued that the campaign against Gather Church took a more publicly political turn when it was established that Great Rivers was supportive of their operation
3. No systems of actual accountability by an appropriate authority appear to have been exercised in the ongoing political campaign against Gather Church
4. At least one function of accountability, the performance evaluation, appears to have been aborted or abandoned altogether due to the public politcal pressure.
5. Centralia political representatives had an outsized impact on a contract that ostensibly represented an entire county
6. There doesn't appear to have been any adults in the room from a regional management perspective. Given the ongoing nature of complaints, confusion regarding responsbilities, infighting, and political manuevering that appeared to continue throughout the operation of RNP, I can't help but wonder what value Great Rivers brought to the table.