Coos County approves lease and startup funding for ADAPT-run sobering center at county jail

Coos County commissioners on Feb. 4 approved a five-year lease of about 3,700 square feet inside the county jail to ADAPT to operate a sobering center and approved related funding agreements to get the center started.

The action followed presentations from county staff and behavioral-health partners about the center’s role in taking intoxicated people off the streets and connecting them with treatment. Commissioners approved the lease (monthly rent: $1,000) for space formerly used for juvenile detention and authorized a county operational agreement committing settlement and legislative funds to support the project.

Nut graf: County officials said the sobering center is intended to reduce arrests and repeated calls for service by providing a place to safely hold and begin treatment for people who are highly intoxicated; the county plans to use opioid-settlement money and a one-time legislative grant to underwrite initial operations while ADAPT establishes services.

Colton, a county staff member who presented the lease and related paperwork, said the arrangement had been several months in the making and described the space as “formerly used for juvenile detention” that ADAPT would convert for sobering-center operations. David Gills, behavioral-health staff, told the board ADAPT is an approved alcohol and drug treatment provider with prior sobering-center experience in Douglas County and “they have all the protocols and procedures in place.”

Coos County’s operational agreement commits $300,000 for the first fiscal year and $250,000 per year thereafter under a five-year arrangement; commissioners also approved a subgrant that will pass through a separate $400,000 legislative award administered by Coos Health & Wellness to ADAPT to support start-up costs. County Treasurer Megan Sims asked only where the rent revenue would be recorded; staff said that detail would be determined and reported later.

Sheriff (Coos County) described the sobering center as a tool for addressing “more minor” alcohol- or drug-related incidents that currently consume law-enforcement time and jail capacity. “Instead of bringing them to the jail, they can bring them to the sobering center and then write a report, write a citation, or bring them to jail, book them, then bring them down to the sobering center instead of just letting people go onto the street,” the sheriff said. He said the center would also increase access to treatment and could reduce repeat nuisance behavior.

County officials credited long-running advocacy by local partners for the center. Colton and others singled out Ross Acker, who formerly worked at Coos Health & Wellness and helped push the idea for years. “Without him, we would not have had this happen,” a commissioner said during the discussion.

Commissioners approved three separate items related to the center: the lease of jail space to ADAPT, a county operational agreement to dedicate settlement funds to operations, and a subgrant agreement to pass through legislative funds. Each motion passed by voice vote; no roll-call tallies were recorded in the meeting minutes.

Ending: ADAPT will need to finish modifications to the jail space before the center opens; county staff said commissioners and other officials will be invited to a site tour in advance of a public opening.