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Clackamas County directs staff to explore syringe disposal boxes, seeks legal review of buffer ordinance
Summary
After weeks of policy sessions, the board unanimously directed staff to study placing public syringe collection and disposal boxes across the county and asked county counsel to research legal issues including ADA implications and examples from other jurisdictions.
Clackamas County commissioners on July 14 voted unanimously to direct staff to further explore adding public syringe collection and disposal boxes at strategic locations and to request additional research and legal analysis on a draft ordinance that would regulate syringe service programs (SSPs), including possible 1,000-foot buffers from schools.
Mary Rumbaugh (Health, Housing & Human Services) and Andrew Naylor (assistant county counsel) summarized draft ordinance language, noting earlier versions focused on mobile SSPs but the latest draft discusses both fixed and mobile locations and includes a series of exemptions (for example, for medical facilities or public-health emergencies) intended to provide flexibility. Naylor said exemptions and code-enforcement language would need refinement and that a final ordinance would require first and second readings.
Rumbaugh said enforcement was envisioned to fall to the public-health environmental health team, which could require shifting staff capacity and might delay other programs. She also said opioid settlement funds would not be an allowable source for ordinance enforcement.
Commissioners discussed legal risk, pointing to an ACLU letter to Multnomah County after that county adopted a similar buffer ordinance, and asked counsel to research ADA implications, likely litigation risk and examples from other states and municipalities. Andrew Naylor said the legal landscape on ADA challenges is unsettled and that the ACLU letter suggests potential litigation is possible.
Commissioner Savas moved to direct staff to explore public syringe collection and disposal boxes throughout the county; the board approved the motion 5-0. A second motion to have staff and county counsel study national examples, reach out to groups such as the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions and clarify legal issues (including ADA implications) also passed 5-0.
What happens next: Staff and counsel will return with research, examples and legal analysis and with proposals for disposal-box deployment; staff also suggested looking to NACO, SAMHSA and drug-policy research groups for models and best practices.
(Provenance: ordinance discussion introduced SEG 1278; motions recorded SEG 1932'SEG 1976.)
