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Moses Lake council signals sleep-center closure by June 30 as residents, service providers urge alternatives
Summary
After public comments and council discussion, the mayor said the city elected a 'tier 1' approach focusing on core services and indicated the sleep center will close June 30. Dozens of residents, business owners and service providers urged alternatives including treatment pathways, detox access and continued harm-reduction tools such as Narcan.
City officials in Moses Lake told residents on April 22 that the municipal approach to homelessness will prioritize core services — police, fire, streets, parks and utilities — and that the city has elected a “tier 1” posture that includes ending the current sleep-center operation on June 30.
Pamela Ackerman, a Moses Lake resident who addressed the council during citizen communications, asked directly: “What is the city council doing to address substance abuse in Moses Lake?” The question began a prolonged public-comment sequence that focused on the future of the city-operated sleep center, harm reduction tools and the availability of treatment and detox resources.
The council’s mayor said the city held a special meeting to evaluate options and “elected to go with tier 1, which would be that the city focuses primarily on what are called core services.” He added that, while the county and state provide some of the current funding, the council believed the city must prioritize core municipal services and would examine related ordinances and enforcement ahead of the sleep center’s planned June 30 closing.
Speakers at the meeting represented a wide range of views:
- Vaughn Blethon (listed in the record as Von Blevin) of Moses Lake, a longtime volunteer with the Grant County Homeless Task Force, asked councilors to assure “the dignity of every person” and urged coordinated planning involving county and state agencies and churches.
- Alan Heroux, representing the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce, said the business community supported the council’s decision and credited signatures on a petition asking to close the sleep center.
- Alicia DeLuigi and several other residents warned the council to plan for the people who will be displaced if the sleep center ends, asking “where are we going to put them?” and pointing to potential costs if people are criminalized or detained.
- Multiple speakers urged continued availability of Narcan (naloxone) and harm-reduction services. David Chapman Sanders and Karl (Carl) Meyer, both with lived experience of homelessness and addiction, said removing naloxone would cause needless deaths; Chapman Sanders described being revived from a fentanyl overdose and credited local recovery housing (Oxford House) with his long-term recovery.
- Business owners and downtown merchants raised concerns about concentrated street-level impacts, illegal camping, and downtown parking that affects customers.
Several speakers described the sleep center as a limited but useful step in stabilizing people while they pursue longer-term treatment or housing options; others said the center’s capacity (speakers cited roughly 28–30 beds) covers only a small portion of the county’s unhoused population.
Council members and staff clarified funding sources during the meeting. Council Member Martinez said the city was passing through grant funds the county receives from the state, and that those funds would keep the sleep center operating through June 30. City staff reiterated that the city did not directly fund sleep-center operations beyond pass-through grants.
Speakers repeatedly urged more local detox capacity and treatment pathways. Several residents said existing local recovery housing (Oxford House) and small nonprofit efforts help but are insufficient to absorb the scale of need without coordinated regional support.
Mayor's office remarks stressed the complexity of the issue and that the city will continue working with county, state and nonprofit partners. He also said the administration expected broader federal and national enforcement and supply-side measures to affect local fentanyl availability over time.
No formal council vote to terminate the sleep center was recorded on the meeting floor; the mayor and city staff announced an administrative decision to adopt a tier-1 core-services posture and publicly stated the sleep center is scheduled to close June 30. The council scheduled an executive session at the end of the meeting and said it would further examine enforcement, code changes and intergovernmental coordination in the weeks before June 30.
Public commenters urged the council to pursue clearer transition plans to treatment and detox resources, more coordination with county services and nonprofits, and continuing access to life-saving tools such as naloxone.
