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The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners approved another $1.8 million to finish turning an old print warehouse in Southeast Portland into a temporary center for drug users seeking treatment to avoid jail, almost doubling its cost to $3.8 million.
Without the new money, the county would have to halt construction immediately, officials said at the board’s meeting today. The center is open but needs more work to complete its service offerings.
The original $2 million proved insufficient because there was more asbestos in the building than anticipated. Worse yet, the county had to pay more in overtime and to expedite equipment deliveries to open the center Oct. 14, a month and a half later than planned.
Debate over the new money for the Coordinated Care Pathway Center spurred a familiar—and perhaps final—fight between Chair Jessica Vega Pederson, who wanted to allocate the money, and Commissioner Sharon Meieran, who said she was stunned that costs had risen by so much. (Meieran leaves the board at year’s end, having served the maximum two terms.)
“What the actual F?” Meieran said at the board meeting. “I am shocked by this coming before the board, and I’m trying to gather my thoughts to be able to ask questions and make comments coherently because this is shocking to me.”
All of the $3.8 million comes from state funds appropriated when the Oregon Legislature overturned much of Measure 110, recriminalizing controlled substances that were decriminalized by the measure. To assuage concerns that Oregon was returning to a war on drugs, legislators earmarked millions for “deflection” efforts around the state to keep people arrested for possession from going to jail if they chose to pursue treatment.
As part of that effort, Multnomah County got $25 million to start a deflection program in the temporary space and build a permanent center by 2026.
Meieran was the only commissioner to oppose the new funds. Chair Vega Pederson and Commissioners Julia Brim-Edwards and Shannon Singleton voted in favor. Commissioner Lori Stegmann was absent, attending a National Association of Counties meeting. She, too, leaves the board at year’s end.
Meieran has been a persistent critic of the Coordinated Care Pathway Center, until recently known by the generic term “deflection center.” Other Oregon counties are handling deflection using mobile care units, which is allowed under House Bill 4002, the legislation that undid parts of Measure 110.
“We as a county were never required to open a sobering center,” Meieran, an emergency room doctor who regularly treats homeless people, said. “It was not the choice of the board. It was the choice of the chair. The budget was rushed through, not because it was required to be opened on a certain day but because the chair wanted it to.”
County officials admitted they embarked on the project with incomplete information in order to meet an aggressive timeline. Last summer, the cost was pegged at $2 million.
“We did not have confidence in those numbers,” said Dan Zalkow, director of facilities and real estate for the county. “We had limited knowledge of the building and had not designed the project.”
The county managed to cut some costs to curb the need for new money, Zalkow said. Contractors repaired some of the flooring that was to be replaced, and they chose less expensive finishes.
Regardless of the overruns, Vega Pederson declared the center a success, so far.
“While this has been a big lift, it has been a big leadership milestone for this board,” Vega Pederson said. “Multnomah County has been a statewide leader in responding, providing additional resources and services, working closely with law enforcement, and successfully deflecting people.”
Between Sept. 1, when Multnomah County started deflection with mobile units, and Nov. 15, 127 people chose deflection over jail. Queried by Meieran, county officials said they didn’t have a count of how many of those people went through with seeking treatment after getting a referral to services.