Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Behavioral Health topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Snoqualmie committee discusses restoring mental-health professional role; staff outlines costs and funding options
Summary
Committee reviewed data on crisis-intervention calls and involuntary commitments, heard cost estimates ($151k–$184k) to restore a mental-health professional/community co-responder post, and discussed funding options including a competitive state grant, a 0.1% public-safety sales tax, or reallocating services.
The Snoqualmie Public Safety Committee on Dec. 1 discussed restoring a mental-health professional (MHP) or behavioral health specialist to assist police with crisis-intervention calls and follow-up services.
Chief Jerese said the department responds to crisis-intervention calls and is aiming for 100% compliance with the 40-hour Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) class (currently just over 50% completed). He reported historical crisis-call volumes for Snoqualmie of 354 in 2023 and 351 in 2024; for 2025 he cited roughly 30 calls coded as crisis dispatches so far and about 73 reportable incidents overall. He said the MHP position was filled in September 2024 but was underutilized because of leave.
Jerese said involuntary commitments rose to 17 so far in 2025 (7 in 2024; 12 in 2023) and that some of those are repeat individuals. He described partnerships used during the MHP vacancy — recovery navigators, mobile crisis teams, Eastside Fire’s integrated health care response unit and other resources — and said officers have taken on additional crisis duties while training and partner programs are used to follow up.
City administrator Drew presented estimated 2026 full costs for adding an MHP: a Level 1 mental-health professional/community co-responder at about $151,000 and a Level 2 at about $184,000 (figures include wages, benefits and vehicle charges). He outlined three broad funding “lanes” for council consideration: enhancing revenues (including the 0.1% public-safety enhancement sales tax and a competitive state grant program), economic development to expand revenues, or optimizing levels of service (reallocating existing positions or exploring revenue-generating measures such as speed safety cameras).
Council members generally supported training and recovery partnerships and said they preferred to wait for more complete data and budget review before restoring the position. Several members said staff should revisit the matter next year after providing additional information on program costs, caseload trends and potential grant applications.
Next steps: staff will refine cost and caseload data and return with a recommendation and potential funding approaches.
