Spokane County sheriff's office seeks board acceptance of two-year subaward to fund clinicians riding with deputies

Undersheriff Kevin Ritchie told the Board of County Commissioners on Oct. 28 that Spokane County has executed a subaward agreement with Frontier Behavioral Health to fund clinicians who respond alongside deputies to behavioral-health crises. The agreement covers a two-year period and totals about $630,000, Ritchie said, to fund three clinicians who will ride with deputies and to contribute toward program administration and supervision.

The arrangement is part of the county's WASPIC behavioral-health grant, which has supported clinician co-response to crisis calls for several years. Ritchie told commissioners Frontier (referred to in the packet) has been operating with deputies since July while the final paperwork cleared."It's ... the sub award agreement for accepting the contract with Frontier Behavioral Health to provide clinicians who respond with our deputies to those crisis calls," Ritchie said.

Commissioners did not take a roll-call vote during the briefing; the matter was presented to the board for acceptance and will be placed on the board's legislative consent calendar in the ordinary course. The presentation identified the primary budget and term information but did not show a line-item breakdown of the $630,000 in the briefing transcript.

If the board approves the subaward on the consent or legislative agenda, the county will continue the model in which mental-health clinicians collaborate directly with law enforcement on crisis responses, a model officials described as established in the county for multiple years.