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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/25/2022/S/ Christian Clegg Staff: Committee Members: Christian Clegg, City Manager Councilmember, Ken Weir – Chair Anthony Valdez, Assistant to the City Manager Councilmember, Patty Gray Crystal Rubio, Administrative Analyst III Councilmember, Eric Arias Regular Meeting of the Homelessness Ad Hoc Committee of the City Council – City of Bakersfield Tuesday, February 22, 2022 12:00 p.m. City Hall North, First Floor, Conference Room A 1600 Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield CA 93301 Agenda Summary Report The meeting was convened at 12:03 p.m. 1. ROLL CALL Committee Members: Councilmember, Ken Weir, Chair Councilmember, Patty Gray Councilmember, Eric Arias City Staff: Christian Clegg, City Manager Anthony Valdez, Assistant to the City Manager Joseph Conroy, Communication Coordinator Crystal Rubio, Administrative Analyst Josh Rudnick, Deputy City Attorney Brent Stratton, Bakersfield Police, Assistant Chief Jeff Burdick, Bakersfield Police, Lieutenant John Frando, Bakersfield Fire Department, Chief Paul Saldana, Economic and Development Services Nina Carter, Homeless Services Principal Additional Attendees: Members of the public 2. PUBLIC STATEMENT There were no public statements. Ad Hoc on Homelessness Committee February 22, 2022 Agenda Summary Report Page 2 3. ADOPTION OF THE JANUARY 25, 2022 AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT The report was adopted as submitted. 4. STAFF REPORTS Assistant to the City Manager Valdez reviewed monthly staff reports from the three largest contractors in homeless services, Flood Ministries, Mercy House and Bakersfield Homeless Center. Valdez highlighted the extension of contract with Flood Ministries to include a team that is dedicated to the river area. Mercy House saw dip in attendance due to shelter in placedue to increase in COVID numbers in January. Once shelter in place was lifted, the number rose to capacity once again. Committee member Arias asked if Flood Ministries numbers represent both city and county area. City Manager Clegg clarified that Flood Ministries is working throughout the entire river area irrespective of jurisdiction. 5. NEW BUSINESS A.Presentation by Kern County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services (BHRS) regarding mental health and substance programming for homeless individuals in the City of Bakersfield – Presenters: BHRS Director of Behavioral Health Services Stacy Kuwahara BRHS Director Stacy Kuwahara provided a PowerPoint presentation providing an overview of Mental Health Plan for Kern County and their role as both mental health plan and provider. Mandated services include Medi-Cal beneficiaries and children and adults with serious mental illness and substance use disorders. Director Kuwahara provided committee members a general overview of where funding for services come from and how they structure and allocate those funds, as well as Behavioral Health & Recovery Services to homeless. Expansion opportunities that include BPD-Kern BHRS co-response for homeless outreach and homeless court was also shared with committee members. Committee member Gray inquired about detox beds mandated services and what is being done to provide those services. Kuwahara indicated that there are no detox beds available in Kern County for Medi-Cal beneficiaries. Medical detox are primarily accessible by private insurance. However, there are recovery stations utilized by the Bakersfield Police Department (BPD) and Flood Services available and if they required emergency medical services would be sent to hospital for emergency services. Additionally, information was provided on limitation on involuntary treatment and services. Ad Hoc on Homelessness Committee February 22, 2022 Agenda Summary Report Page 3 Committee member Arias thanked BHRS for their hard work and proactive approach in meeting the behavioral health needs of our community. He inquired about the estimated timeframe for Assisted Outpatient Treatment Team, from the time an individual qualifies for the program to when they begin to receive services to better understand if there is any fault in the process that could be improved at a local level. Director Kuwahara will provided additional information at a later meeting but stated that those that AOTT have successfully engaged. She also expressed her gratitude with the collaboration between City and available partners, most notably the recent the homeless outreach between BPD and Kern BHRS. Committee Chair Weir asked how success is measured when operating with such constraints and with so many programs. Director Kuwahara shared that the measured level of success will vary depending on the focus of each interested party. However, with the aide of a new electronic health record would allow a better analytical response with more measurable success. 6. COMMITTEE COMMENTS No committee comments 7.ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 1:03 p.m.