Marnie Kyle (one of the assistant county administrators) and Danielle (program lead) presented an update on Washington County’s deflection program, established under Measure 110 reforms. They described program eligibility, partnerships, staffing and early outcomes.

“We now have 31 active participants in our program,” Danielle said, reporting growth since launch and noting roughly 80% of those otherwise eligible have prior criminal justice involvement. The county expanded eligibility in January to include additional possession charges (PCSA) that capture larger quantities of controlled substances while remaining misdemeanor charges.

Staff described operational accomplishments and limits: the program now has 20 formal partnership MOUs with providers (12 of which provide peer‑delivered services), two peer‑support contracts and flexible‑funds contracts to support immediate needs (phones, flexible funding). Staffing includes three funded FTEs (including a 0.8 FTE lieutenant from the sheriff’s office and a District Attorney legal specialist position in recruitment) with three additional hires pending. Staff also said they will create a stand‑alone county fund for deflection to simplify multi‑department billing and accounting.

Presenters and commissioners raised two operational problems for state policymakers: high failure‑to‑appear (FTA) rates that prevent eligible people from entering deflection because they cannot be contacted or miss scheduled court dates, and the fact that many historically prosecuted cases (older convictions) may render people ineligible under narrow eligibility rules even if they would now qualify under reformed law. Commissioners asked staff to provide comparative data across other larger counties and to supply material the county’s government relations team can use in the upcoming legislative session to request funding or statutory fixes.

Staff characterized the program as intentionally small, equitable and scalable: they said they preferred a smaller, functional program that can be expanded rather than a large program that collapses under administrative burden. No board vote was taken; staff sought continued direction and pledged to provide more data for legislative advocacy and to return with updates.