Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Opioid Response topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Spokane mayor outlines multi-department plan, directs opioid-settlement spending
Summary
Mayor Lisa Brown told a community forum the city is using a mix of emergency orders, pilot programs and opioid-settlement dollars to expand crisis services, treatment access and coordinated regional response to fentanyl and opioid overdose.
Mayor Lisa Brown said the City of Spokane will pursue a citywide, multi-agency approach to reduce deaths and connect people to treatment in response to the opioid and fentanyl crisis. Brown spoke at a public mapping session hosted in City Hall Chambers and said the city will combine emergency actions, pilot programs and targeted spending from the national opioid settlement to expand services.
Brown framed the effort as “all of the above,” saying the city will involve “every department” — including police, fire, housing, legal and public works — and focus on best practices, collaboration, pilot testing and evaluation. “We want to try it on a small scale. And then evaluate. If it’s working, scale it up,” Brown said.
The mayor said the city expects to receive $13,300,000 from an opioid manufacturers-and-distributors settlement spread over 17 years and that early actions used available funds under an emergency declaration to move money quickly. Deputy City Administrator Maggie Yates said the city has already spent or committed early tranches to expand existing programs and fund new interventions the council has approved under that declaration.
Yates listed the first investments: $500,000 to expand the Spokane Fire Department’s CARES social-work team, $500,000 to relaunch a “high utilizer” initiative with Consistent Care, and $125,000 to place a provider with the city’s homeless outreach team. She said the city is proposing further investments, including a data analyst position to track outcomes, funds to develop culturally responsive treatment locally and co-investments with Spokane County to expand sobering beds at STARS.
Brown and Yates said expanding a regional crisis stabilization center and creating an outdoor navigation site are priority next steps. Brown said the navigation site should be accessible by transit, located outside the downtown core, fenced and staffed by service providers to serve people who do not fit existing scattered-site shelters. Yates added the city and county recently approved an interlocal agreement to increase sobering capacity and that further county approval and activation are expected in the summer.
Officials stressed the limits of any single approach and emphasized coordination with nonprofit and federal partners. Brown said the city also partnered with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to fund a special assistant U.S. attorney focused on prosecuting drug supply cases. “It’s gotta be about supply and disrupting the drug market as well as addressing demand and treatment,” she said.
Officials also warned that some proposals depend on state and federal budgets and are therefore uncertain. Yates said state funding is relatively secure for current programs but federal housing- and homelessness-related funding remains uncertain.
Looking ahead, Brown said the city will continue piloting ideas, seeking partnerships with faith communities and other local providers, evaluating results and adjusting investments based on what works.
