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| October 13, 2016 Shelton Mason County Journal |  |
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Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016 -Shelton-Mason County Journal- Page A-lg
continued from page A- 1
"It's a divergent for law enforcement
from jails," said Terri Jeffreys, a Mason
County commissioner who sits on the
Thurston-Mason Behavioral Health
Organization, or BHO, board. "It's a
place for people with mental health is-
sues where they can stabilize and get
back on track with treatment or medi-
cation."
The facility would require a 72-hour
involuntary stay, during which pa-
tients would meet with a case manager
to determine the root of the issue, and
work toward stabilization and rehabili-
tation.
Law enforcement could take those
who had committed minor crimes, such
as thefts or trespassing, due to mental
illness to the facility, which would free
up jail space and law enforcement's
time, Jeffreys said.
"We've gotten to the point that law
enforcement unfortunately has to treat
this," she said.
Jeffreys_ said the grant is enough to
pay to renovate an existing building.
Now the question is: Where can they
put it?
The commissioner said the BHO is
in search of an at least 7,500:square-
foot building that already has sprin-
klers installed.
Jeffreys added the building should
be close to services, such as case man-
agement services and medical care of
some kind.
"The hardest part is going to be find-
ing that existing facility," she said.
Jeffreys recommended the former
Mason PUD 3 building on the corner of
Journal file photo by Brianna Loper
The Thurston-Mason Behavioral Health Organization opened a mental
health triage center last month in Thurston County. The group hopes to
open a similar facility in Mason County using a $965,000 grant from the
Legislature.
Cota and Third streets, with Jeffreys' proposal. When the coun-
Jeffreys said BHO members previ- ty commissioner presented her plan to
ously toured the building, adding that the City of Shelton, City Commissioner
the size and layout of the building is Kathy McDowell said while she sup-
ideal, ported the triage center, she didn't like
The second floor could be later the proposedlocation.
turned into a detoxification center, McDowell said her concerns center
which would be ideal, since the nearest around the location being one block
detox centers are in Centralia and Port from the downtown shopping district
Angeles, Jeffreys said. and one street over from a residential
There have been no discussions with area.
PUD 3 regarding the building, Jeffreys "I totally understand that this is
added, something desperately needed, but I'm
Some people have expressed concernconcerned with the location," she said
in an interview. "This has nothing to do
with safety."
McDowell said she does not have an
alternate location in mind.
Jeffreys said she has met with Mc-
Dowell to discuss her concerns.
"These people are already on the
streets in Shelton," Jeffreys said. "We
want to take them offthe streets, to an
extent."
A similar triage center funded by
the BHO partially opened in Thurston
County last month.
The 10-bed triage center is located
at 3285 Ferguson St. in Tumwater,
but is currently only a voluntary tri-
age center, Jeffreys said, meaning law
enforcement cannot bring people to the
center without the person's consent.
The BHO is still working with the
Thurston County Superior Court to ar-
range a way to get court orders to al-
low patients to be kept longer than 72
hours if necessary.
Jeffreys said, ideally, the triage cen-
ter would have someone on site autho-
rized to give court orders to keep pa-
tients longer than 72 hours on a case-
by-case basis.
Jeffreys said the BHO plans to host
public sessions "at some point" to get
feedback on placement of the center.
She added that the organization
hopes to have a request for proposal
completed by the end of the year, with
construction beginning after the New
Year.
"We appreciate the strong support
of the Thurston-Mason Behavioral
Health Organization," she said. "We're
meeting the mental health needs head
on as fast as we can."
2017
continued from page A- 1
counties within the state of Washington.
.According to county commission chair Terri Jeffreys,
those comparable counties include Clallam, Cowlitz,
Grays Harbor, Island, Jefferson, Lewis and Skit.
"The elected official salary review has been driv-
ing towards comparable counties," Pinter told the
Journal. "Those would be other counties with a simi-
lar size population, with similar demographics and
wage-earning capacity and using those as a bench
mark as an average of their salaries."
Jeffreys added that having a comparable tax base
from which to draw upon also helps in defining a com-
parable county.
Preliminary budget requests by county depart-
ments for 2017 have come in totaling $8 million more
than the county has to spend. According to Pinter,
last yea s gap was $3.9 million, or roughly half of
this year's disparity.
"We use comparisons for our union negotiations
for county contracts," Jeffreys said. "By taking a took
at it as with comparable counties, we're trying to be
more consistent with employee salaries."
In 2001, the county commission established an an-
nual 3 percent raise for itself and mandated that full-
time elected officials be paid 95 percent of a county
commissioner's salary. The lone exception was the
sheriff, who was paid on a unique scald. This calen-
dar year, Mason County Sheriff Casey Salisbury is
earning about 22 percent more than the county com-
missioners he answers to.
From 2009 to 2013, salary increases were sus-
pended for all elected officials excluding county cam-
missioners as Mason County, along with the rest of
the country, attempted to climb out from under the
recession. During the past three years, Pinter said,
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elected official salaries received minor increases that
mirrored the escalation in cost of living.
"I'm very thankful and actually awed that our
elected officials were willing to suffer a salary freeze
during the recession," Jeffreys said. "But I think look-
ing at salaries this way will be more reflective of fair-
ness. When we compare ourselves with comparable
counties, we're finally comparing apples to apples."
Using an average of the salaries of elected offi-
cials from comparable counties might make sense to
those tasked with finalizing next year's budget, but
it hasn't been met with approval across the board
from all those to be affected.
"As far as the feedback we've received, the only
negative has been in a very generic sense that it's
been requested we consider the level of e 'perience
and the responsibilities of elected officials," Jeffreys
said.
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