KETCHIKAN — The Ketchikan City Council on Monday unanimously approved a resolution that could result in the establishment of a “sobering center” at the Fifth Avenue site of the former Ketchikan Regional Youth Facility.
The three-part resolution provides the city’s official support for Akeela Gateway Center for Human Services’ application to the state for a three-year grant to operate a sobering center.
In addition, Resolution 16-2648 commits the city to lease the Fifth Avenue site to Akeela at no cost for three years, and to provide transportation of the “target population from the streets to the sobering center” during that time.
The next step would be, by the end of 2016, the potential award by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services of a grant up to $1 million per year. The project would start Jan. 1, with services being offered starting no later than June 30, according to Akeela’s proposal to the city.
The potential for a facility where inebriated individuals could go or be taken to sober up comes at a time when the community has begun discussing ways to help alleviate homeless and inebriation issues here.
In September, the state announced that it was closing the eight-bed Ketchikan Regional Youth Facility opened in 2002 as a temporary detention center. Upon the KRYF closure, the title for the property, which is located between the hospital and Gateway Center, reverted to city.
Joel Jackson, the regional director of administration for the Akeela Gateway Center in Ketchikan, noted that several factors have come together to make a sobering center a possibility. These include the possibility of a grant and a facility, and an organization in Akeela that is capable of providing that particular service.
“This is really unusual,” Jackson said. “… I don’t think there are very many places in the state right now where people have the opportunity to get funding to meet a need and have a facility.”
During the citizen’s comments portion earlier in Monday’s meeting, Paul Hook voiced support for the resolution, noting that the closure of KAR House resulted in the loss of detox beds in the community.
“We have no place to go for people who are inebriated at night other than sleep under the stars,” Hook said.
Community Member Bud Kenyon said the KRYF was “way overbuilt” for use as a sobering center, and described a situation with a family member in which the only facilities available to meet the needs are the Alaska Psychiatric Institute or Bartlett Regional Hospital. The former KRYF would be better suited for that use.
Community member Wally Klinglehut also said the KRYF was more facility than necessary, and funding could be used for other things.
“Turning that into a detox center is like shooting mice with a shotgun,” he said, adding later that “what you need in Ketchikan is housing, affordable housing, and jobs.”
The Council’s conversation about the resolution included the potential for property title to go to Akeela after three years as requested, and whether the city would be responsible for maintenence costs.
City Manager Karl Amylon, in his memo to the City Council, said staff believed that a decision about the title could be made after the grant ends “when it is established that the sobering center will operate following the closeout of the grant.”
Council Member Dick Coose said the proposed lease document wasn’t clear about who would be responsible for major maintenence for the facility.
“I don’t want to be on the hook for nothing,” Coose said.
Amylon said the proposed lease is modeled after the city’s agreement with Akeela for the Gateway property, and has the city, as the building owner, responsible for anything over $2,000.
However, “the council wants to change those terms, it’s the council’s discretion, and (it can) rewrite the lease accordingly.”
Other discussion about the sobering center included its potential to relieve pressure on the hospital and Ketchikan Correctional Center, and willingness of the Ketchikan Police Department and Ketchikan Fire Department to transport people to the sobering center.
Jackson also said Akeela probably would employ six people at the facility, and other existing Akeela staff would be involved, too.
The City Council voted 7-0 in support of the resolution.
During the council’s nanimous vote to approve the consent agenda, among the items approved in second reading were two ordinances that amend City of Ketchikan code and are intended to improve the ability for local businesses to supply goods and services to the municipality.
The ordinances give the city and Ketchikan Public Utilities the ability to buy up to $50,000 worth of supplies, contractual services, equipment and materials, or buy or contract for up to $50,000 in public improvements, in a single transaction from local businesses without having to have competitive bidding or quotes.
Until now, city purchases of between $10,000 and $50,000 in contractual services, supplies, equipment and materials could occur through competitive bidding or after the city had received three written quotes, according to city information.
The ordinances were in response to an effort by the Greater Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce to enhance local businesses’s ability to provide goods and services to the local municipality.
In early September, chamber representatives presented a set of recommendations for the city to consider. Two of the recommendations presented legal issues, and a third, which sought to factor local business cash donations into preferences for city purchases and contracts, was deemed too difficult for the city to administer. Another recommendation to require City Council approval for any purchase of more than $10,000 from a nonlocal business was believed to have the potential of unnecessarily slowing the city’s procurement process down because the council meets twice a month — and there are no local sources for some of the purchases needed, according to a memo by city Finance Director Bob Newell.
Also announced Monday was the hiring of Lee Gray of Minnesota as the new director of Ketchikan Museums. Gray, who will be replacing former Museum Director Lacey Simpson, is scheduled to start work in early January, according to city information.
• This article first appeared in the Ketchikan Daily News and it is republished here with permission.
