COUNCIL APPROVES COMMITMENT TO SOBERING CENTER


July 9, 2019 4:50 a.m.
The Roseburg City Council approved a financial commitment for a sobering center at its meeting on Monday night.
Councilors heard from Police Chief Gary Klopfenstein and Dr. Gregory Brigham, Chief Executive Officer of Adapt. Brigham said a sobering center is a facility where someone that is intoxicated would be taken to by police, so they could safely sober up without being taken to jail. Brigham said Adapt has found a building on Diamond Lake Boulevard, next to their Crossroads facility that could be used for the center.
Brigham estimates that it would take $350,000 per year to operate a sobering center, once the building is remodeled and other start-up costs are covered. He said Adapt obtained $250,000 in state funding in 2017 to get a center started. So far Adapt has agreed to contribute $50,000 per year on an annual basis, while Umpqua Health has put in $100,000 for the first year of operation. Klopfenstein asked that the City commit $50,000 on an annual basis, presuming that full operational funding has been identified and committed to by other entities. City Manager Pro-Tem Nikki Messenger said once Roseburg made a commitment, it was likely that smaller cities in the county would agreed to contribute as well.
Klopfenstein said a person found in public that was intoxicated and in need of help, would be ordered to go to the center and taken there by police. Once they had sobered up, they would be returned to where they live or were taken from. He said a similar facility in Grants Pass has had no issues with businesses or residences nearby. Klopfenstein said taking a person to the center, would mean they would not receive a criminal citation, which would be the case if they went to jail.
Councilor Brian Prawitz called the proposal “very exciting”. He said Adapt’s offer to operate it is “very generous”. Councilor Andrea Zielinski said she too was excited about the plan. Councilor Ashley Hicks was strongly against the idea saying the facility could be a “circulating door” with the same people using it frequently. She called the idea to spend the money, a “rabbit hole” and said that those found to be publicly intoxicated should be taken to jail to sober up.
The vote to provide the funding was 5-1.