Lewis County sheriff asks commissioners to terminate reentry demonstration participation, citing Medicaid funding issues

Lewis County Sheriff Chris Sweet told the Board of County Commissioners on March 11 that the county will terminate its agreement to participate in the state's reentry demonstration initiative, citing uncertainty in Medicaid reimbursement and the program's startup costs.

"We have determined that at this current time, it's not feasible, as a business sense, to actually continue this project, with the amount of money that we are going to have to spend to start the program and the resources that we don't currently have," Chief Sweet said.

Sweet said the reentry demonstration began under state law several years ago and that local participation entered through a cohort process with the Health Care Authority for Medicaid reimbursement. He told the commissioners the program had "gradually unfolded to something that we didn't really expect" and that the county would revisit participation if future cohorts or program changes made it financially viable.

Commissioners discussed the decision briefly; the board approved the termination request (resolution 25‑067) as part of a package of deliberation items. The motion to approve the listed deliberation items, including the reentry termination, passed on a recorded voice vote of three ayes and no nays (3‑0).

Sweet also reiterated concerns the county has raised about the state's resumption of Medicaid services and the burden he said falls on local taxpayers when state implementation is delayed.

The termination will remove Lewis County from the current cohort of the reentry demonstration initiative; no alternative reentry program or replacement funding was presented at the meeting. The county did not provide an implementation timeline for winding down remaining reentry demonstration activities during the meeting.