I’ve finally caught a breather, and can post today’s candidate responses. (Also, be sure to head back to yesterday’s slate, as I’ve added candidate Tamara DeRidder. She jumped into that race mid-question cycle, so I gave her an extension.)

This week’s question:

Multnomah County is facing an $18 million budget shortfall, which will make it exceedingly difficult to provide adequate mental health, drug treatment, and addiction services. Though social services aren’t under the city’s jurisdiction, the issue impacts our city. How would you, as a city commissioner, find creative ways to fill the gap?

Chris Smith got back to me first…

Chris Smith
Position sought: Commissioner #1
Website: citizensmith.us
Public financing status: Filed request for certification on Wednesday

Simply saying “it’s not the City’s problem” is not just irresponsible morally but also fiscally. If the safety net of critical social services has gaping holes in it, the City often winds up paying through provision of emergency services. Often this means paying more than what non-crisis delivery of the services would cost.

But neither can we simply pick up the cost for whatever the County chooses not to pay for. What is required is to work hand-in-hand with the County early in the budget process and to hold the County accountable for its budget choices. If the County is going to ask the City to pick up part of the load, the County needs to expect that the City is going to ask for justification for the County’s priorities. If I were negotiating with the County as Commissioner, I would insist on an early, open and frank dialog throughout the budget development process. And even as I extended a helping hand to the County, I’d be asking tough questions and expecting good answers.

Jeff Bissonnette
Position sought: Commissioner #1
Website: portlandersforjeff.com
Public financing status: Filed request for certification today

The City of Portland's relationship to Multnomah County needs to be defined by one word: partnership. Fingerpointing and saying "that's not the city's job" is not a satisfactory way of operating. The city and the county's constituencies are marked by a great deal of overlap and both entities need to work together to ensure that their residents are well-served.

There are examples of coordination of services happening already. Commissioner Leonard's Project 57 initiative to provide city funding for jail beds within the county jail structure is one such example. The City and County need to work together to find ways to collaborate to deliver services effectively and efficiently. For instance, within the City's mission of providing affordable housing to reduce homelessness, we need to coordinate resources to address mental health and drug treatment where that is an issue in preventing Portland residents from maintaining stable housing. Potentially, there are opportunities where it would be appropriate for the city to provide resources to expand mental health and drug treatment services

As another example, the city and the county currently collaborate on a Portland Multnomah Progress Board which establishes and monitors benchmarks in key areas to ensure efficient and effective use of resources to meet shared goals. Although apparently not very active in recent years, the Progress Board needs to be a forum where the city and the county can coordinate services, identify areas where resources are lacking and figure out how to put resources into those areas.

A second area where the city and county need to focus together is that of untapped resources. During my years as a social service advocate, part of my role was to work with constituencies to bring federal resources into play by accessing federal nutrition programs and coordinating those programs with ongoing services. For example, instituting a school breakfast program or a summer feeding program helped to expand dollars flowing into community institutions and supported existing program goals for education or other support services. The city and the county need to explore how to bring either federal or state resources to bear to meet existing needs and look for ways for one to help the other in accessing those resources.

Finally, there is a strong network of private, nonprofit social service organizations working to meet the very needs on which both the city and county are focused and are working with the very people both the city and county are trying to help. The city-county partnership needs to include these organizations as well so that private dollars can be brought to bear on local needs. The city and county can work together to support the organizations as they develop foundation grant requests or private donor relationships. In this way, still more resources can be accessed to address pressing social needs in a coordinated manner. Again, partnership and coordination on shared goals must be at the heart of the effort.

John Branam
Position sought: Commissioner #1
Website: john4pdx.org
Public financing status: Filed request for certification on Tuesday

Yes, it is unfortunate that Multnomah County again faces a budget shortfall. The county’s ability to address our city’s social service needs has been significantly compromised after eight consecutive years of budget cuts. Given the essential nature of these services, our city council should work in partnership with the county to create strategic solutions that meet the prioritized needs of our citizens.

While the city and the county have distinct core missions, both bodies currently address certain issues. City council should consider taking the lead on such issues while the county focuses its energy on providing its unique services. For example, Hooper Detox center is currently run by the county. This holding facility for intoxicated individuals acts in concert with our police and public safety efforts. In fact, the City previously funded and ran the center. Were the city and county to put the $1.5 million-a-year center under the police bureau, the county would be able to use its resources on other services. The City would also be able to create efficiencies by incorporating this public safety work into their portfolio.

The city can also use its infrastructure development efforts to support social service needs. Urban Renewal Areas allow PDC to make crucial capital improvements – but they also divert funds from the city and county’s general funds (about $16 million for the county/year). With leadership from City Council, during the River District URA extension discussion, PDC could help alleviate some of the pressure on the county’s budget. By choosing to make capital investments that would help the county reduce its annual investment in facility maintenance, City Council could free up $3-4 million for the county to meet its social services responsibilities. Again, this investment would be a “win-win” for the city and county.

Finally, collaboration and coordination on a system-wide basis will better leverage resource investments for both the city and county. Coordination of the city’s affordable housing supports, with workforce development resources and the county’s children’s and public health services, will provide both the layering of services we know are powerful poverty reduction strategies while simultaneously helping to reduce redundancies and parallel system development.

Similarly, County Commissioner Jeff Cogan has proposed that the county and city work in partnership, going forward, to determine both the renewal of URAs and the creation of new ones. As a future City Commissioner who believes strongly in collaborative leadership, I believe Commissioner Cogan’s proposal is worth considering in the interest of working to ensure that as a city we are doing everything possible to provide the greatest amount of services and support to the greatest number of people.

Having shared some of these creative ideas, it is critical to note that the county’s funding challenges are more significant than what the City of Portland can solve by simply lending a helping hand. Going forward, it will be important for county leaders to raise their budgetary concerns to the state, a key funder for the county’s social services.

Amanda Fritz
Position sought: Commissioner #1
Website: amandafritzforcitycouncil.com
Public financing status: Certified as a publicly financed candidate

Every evening I work on the inpatient psychiatry unit at OHSU, I realize again that our current "system" is deeply flawed. Gaps and overlaps between City and County functions result in failure to provide help to human beings desperately in need, and failure to operate in a fiscally efficient structure. Taxpayers foot the bills for crisis-intervention hospital stays for uninsured patients, then people are discharged to live on the streets where they can't afford and don't take their medication, and return to the hospital sicker than before.

Too often, people search for "creative" answers while ignoring basic solutions. Portland sometimes suffers from a craving to be "innovative", when what we really need to do is to implement the strategies we already know will work. The City can help the County by prioritizing provision of affordable housing, funding emergency care in the community, and returning more tax revenue to the County by allowing Urban Renewal Areas to end.

When the City has permanent stable funding to meet its responsibility to provide housing, the County will not have to spend so much money on hospitalization. Housing is needed to get a job, housing allows people to spend time in treatment instead of on survival, housing provides a measure of safety, distance from on-street drug dealers, and insulation from the need to "get drunk to stay warm and fall asleep". I will continue to implement the "Housing First" strategy Commissioner Sten has put in place.

Multnomah County should fund community health care clinics to provide emergency services 24/7/366 (this being a Leap Year). Not only is treatment outside of acute care hospitals much less expensive, but also the clients are known to the practitioners so less time, money, and angst is wasted gathering information and performing routine tests that may already have been done multiple times. Although paying for social services and health care is a County responsibility, currently our public safety officers spend huge amounts of time attending to medical and mental health crisis management in Portland. It would be cost-effective for the City to help subsidize emergency services at community care facilities on evenings, nights, and weekends.

As noted in my response to the question on Urban Renewal Areas, spending tax money on projects like the Streetcar takes $19 million per year from the Multnomah County budget. A third way the City can support County programs is to honor target dates for ending revitalized Urban Renewal Areas, so more money is released for County services.

Voters sometimes ask me why electing a psychiatric nurse to the City Council makes sense. On my blog, I answer this question in more depth. Nurses have to be efficient, on task, and goal-directed. When process problems impact our ability to provide services, we identify the issues and work to fix the system. My understanding of the gaps and flaws in City and County services, and how to fix them, is one more reason I ask you to elect me in May.

Charles Lewis
Position sought: Commissioner #1
Website: charleslewis.com
Public financing status: Filed request for certification on Wednesday

Multnomah County is facing a budget crisis, in part, because of actions taken by Portland City Council in the past. City funding mechanisms like Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and Urban Renewal Areas directly impact the county’s main source of income - property taxes - yet the county has very little say on implementing these strategies. The people of Portland are directly impacted by the services the county provides including: health services, county jails, county bridges, animal control, libraries, etc. There has been some criticism of the county’s budget in the past, but I believe that it has taken important steps to get its financial house in order under Ted Wheeler’s leadership. The City of Portland now needs to step and recognize its role in their budget crisis.

The City of Portland not only has a civic responsibility to make up for some of the county’s budget shortfall, but I believe the city has a moral obligation to help the county provide services to our community’s most underserved populations. It is absolutely ridiculous that the City of Portland subsidizes million dollar condos with TIF and Urban Renewal Area money – especially when those subsidizes pull money from the county and services that help low income and middle income people and families.

One of the most important things Portland City Council can do in the future is to involve Multnomah County and our schools in the creation, expansion, or continuation of any Urban Renewal Area. When used properly, Urban Renewal Areas can completely reinvigorate underserved communities. Unfortunately, I believe these incredibly powerful tools have too often been misused to help subsidize “development” that most people cannot afford. Just alleviating blight is not enough. We must use these tools to help Portland’s low and middle income families and individuals. Find out more online at www.CharlesLewis.com