With the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s medication-assisted treatment (MAT) clinic off South Ninth Avenue tentatively ready to begin operations in early 2022, Sequim city councilors on Monday made moves to approve conditions required by the city’s appointed hearing examiner that would allow the facility to open and operate.

Mayor William Armacost was appointed as the council representative on a soon-to-be formed Community Advisory Committee for the clinic.

Councilors voted 4-3 to appoint Armacost, with councilors Rachel Anderson, Tom Ferrell and Brandon Janisse opposed; both Anderson and Ferrell expressed interest in serving on the committee.

Armacost told councilors he is passionate about recovery, that he’s had 18 years of continued sobriety and that he wanted to be involved in seeing how the clinic impacts the community.

He also said he wanted to continue to enhance the relationship between the city and tribe, whom he called an asset.

“Most importantly, we want to keep our residents safe,” Armacost said.

In a letter to Barry Berezowsky, Sequim’s director of community development, Brent Simcosky, the tribe’s health services director, wrote that the advisory committee must “develop a monitoring and evaluation program for the clinic and to develop a contingency plan to identify corrective measures if the clinic causes impacts to public services through increased demands on law enforcement and other emergency services.”

Phil Olbrechts, the city’s appointed hearing examiner, wrote in his decision last December approving the clinic that before occupancy, the committee “will develop a contingency plan that fully identifies potential courses of action and any corrective measures to be taken when monitoring or evaluation indicates expectations and standards are not being met.”

At Monday’s virtual city council meeting, Simcosky said they’ll determine any measurable mitigation necessary to impacts on city services.

Armacost is one of several members of the committee as the designated council member, along with: Berezowsky, the city’s director of community development); Simcosky, the tribe’s director of health services; Sequim Interim City Manager Charisse Deschenes; Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict; Chief of Sequim Police Sheri Crain; a tribal council member (to be determined); Wendy Sisk, a health field official with experience in treating Opioid Use Disorder, and a Sequim resident (to be determined).

Simcosky said the committee will discuss at its first meeting how best to recruit a community member. He suggested interested parties submit a letter in the near future.

The tribe plans to bring awareness to the facility named the Jamestown Healing Clinic through various ads and other community outreach methods, Simcosky said.

The hearing examiner stipulated that the committee will remain in place for three years and meet monthly the first year and decide after that meeting schedules.

Social Services Navigator

Olbrechts also required the tribe and city hire a Social Services Navigator prior to occupancy funded by the tribe through a Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement to provide social service assistance to patients and other persons in need of Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and mental health assistance within the city.

Councilors voted 6-1 — with Janisse opposed — to work with the tribe on a Request for Proposal (RFP) process, with a scope of work agreed on by city and tribal leaders.

Deschenes said the hearing examiner required three years of funding by the tribe for the position up to $100,000 a year, and it’s unclear if it would be funded or required after three years.

“I can tell you we’re committed to funding a social navigator for three years regardless of mitigation (from the committee),” Simcosky said.

“This is a really important time to have whatever the definition is of a social navigator (in relation to behavioral health). I think it’s a good thing for the city of Sequim.”

City staff said funding may continue upon mutual benefit and agreement between the city and tribe.

Deschenes said another option city staff explored was appointing someone in the Sequim Police Department to take on the role, but city leaders felt it was separate from police work they’re trained to do nor an offering the city does.

The clinic

A building permit for the 16,806-square-foot facility was approved June 29, 2020, followed by Olbrechts’ decision to approve the clinic that December and court rulings denied earlier this year against his decision.

Once operating, the clinic’s doctors would dispense daily doses of methadone, Suboxone and Vivitrol for patients with opioid-use disorder while offering wrap-around services such as dental and general health care, behavioral services and child care.

Simcosky told councilors he doesn’t anticipate the clinic seeing patients until at least March 2022.

For more information on the clinic, visit jamestownhealingcampus.org.