Public commenters urge review of Benton County homeless plan and local naloxone pickup sites

Two members of the public used the council's comment period to urge council attention to homelessness planning and overdose prevention.

Kyle Sullivan, director of human services for Benton County, said the county's five‑year homeless housing plan is in final draft and that Commerce granted an extension to April; he said the plan is open for public comment and that Tony Lehman represented Richland on the steering committee. "The plan actually was due in December, but because of some issues that we had to work out at the county level ... Commerce granted that (extension) to April," Sullivan said, and encouraged local review and direct contact if council or residents had questions.

Shelly Little, a Richland resident and public health nurse with the overdose prevention and response program, asked the city to host naloxone (Narcan) pickup sites — suggesting the library or community center — and said the health district could stock weekly doses received from the Washington State Department of Health. She also urged Richland Police and Fire to contribute nonfatal and fatal overdose data to the national OD MAP system so outreach can be better targeted: "We're asking that Richland Police and Fire consider inputting data into this system and that would help our community providers identify where the needs are in Richland," Little said.

Council acknowledged the comments and indicated follow‑up with staff and regional partners; the meeting did not record a formal direction beyond offering staff follow‑up.