Chaotic process, uncertain outcome as Shasta supervisor attempts to sideline behavioral health proposal
Shasta County supervisors voted to oppose a community-led proposal for a behavioral health facility project. The collaborative behind the initiative could still move ahead.
“I want no chance that the state – by any maneuvering, jockeying, dealings – will think that we want any part of this,” Shasta County Board Chair Kevin Crye said at the end of a tense special county meeting held today, Oct. 24.
He was talking about a grant proposal by a collaborative group hoping to gain $150 million in state Prop. 1 funding for a proposed regional behavioral health facility dubbed True North.
Crye called the special meeting just days before the state grant deadline for Prop. 1 funds, despite having known about the True North project for many months. By his own admission, the meeting was a last minute attempt to prevent a collaborative group from accessing state funding for the project. He expressed concerns about the facility drawing in people with mental health challenges from surrounding counties and creating new costs for the county if it went forward.
As the board debated about whether to support, oppose or remain neutral on the project, Crye recounted a biblical story about killing one’s enemies, indicating that he opposes the project because he doesn’t want to “entertain what is evil, what is wrong.”
“If there’s any way, shape or form, any glimmer that we can kill this now — I don’t want to entertain it. I want to put it down. I want to put it down so it never infects our county,” Crye said emphatically as angry cries rang out from frustrated constituents in the crowd. Attendees included community leaders, healthcare providers and parents of those with significant mental health challenges some of whom spoke during the meeting.
The group hoping to access the state funds includes the nonprofit Arch Collaborative, the for profit behavioral healthcare provider Signature Healthcare Services and an advisory group of community health leaders known as SHARC – the Shasta Health and Redesign Collaborative.
According to a press release from the group last month, the money would be used to build a facility that would serve the North State area and provide, “rapid triage, crisis stabilization, detoxification, complex and urgent care beds for all ages,” as well as inpatient psychiatric care. Signature Healthcare Services would own and operate the facility.
A letter of opposition to the project was presented at the meeting by Health and Human Services Agency Director Christy Coleman, whose public statements included a number of assertions that she did not back with data or documentation.
She frequently repeated a claim that her support was required in order for the collaboration to apply for the grant, something that publicly posted grant materials appear to contradict. Coleman also initially claimed that she had not been involved in the project before acknowledging in response to questioning that her team had been involved on her behalf for many months.
After hours of contentious comment and debate, the board voted 3/2 to release a letter of opposition to the project. Crye led the effort with Supervisor Chris Kelstrom questioning why the board could not remain neutral on the matter before agreeing to go along with the vote. While Supervisor Corkey Harmon barely spoke during the multi-hour meeting he also eventually voted to oppose the project.
It’s not yet clear whether Signature Healthcare will continue to move forward with an application for Prop. 1 funds given the letter of opposition. Arch Collaborative said the private healthcare provider will announce its decision next Tuesday, Oct. 28, the day the grant proposal is due.
Matt Plummer is one of two supervisors who opposed today’s vote. He said he hopes Signature Healthcare Services will continue to stay engaged despite what happened this week.
“I’m embarrassed for Shasta County,” Plummer said, describing the way the county went out about expressing opposition to the project as a “huge demonstration of disrespect.” After calling the meeting only days before the grant deadline, Plummer said, the county did not notify the collaborative group behind the proposal that they were on the meeting agenda. In the case of Signature Healthcare Services, the supervisor continued, that meant leaving out a private behavioral health company willing to invest $50 million of its own funds to draw in an additional $150 million in Prop. 1 funds to benefit Shasta County.
“And that to me,” Plummer told Shasta Scout after the meeting, his voice raw with emotion, “is kind of unimaginable in the level of dishonor and disrespect that that demonstrates. It sends a message that [organizations] can give… months to a project and then at the 11th hour we will try to undermine and submarine you.”
“This is a once in a generation opportunity where you have three things aligning,” Plummer said. “Massive amounts of state funding, one of the largest psychiatric providers in the country willing to come to Shasta County and invest their own money and a local organization and collective who had the capacity and ability to put together a compelling application.”
Explaining how he believes HHSA has “essentially relinquished its role in driving vision for the future of the behavioral health of the community” Plummer also expressed concern about the impact on other organizations considering projects in the county, including the nonprofit Amity Foundation which could launch an alternative custody facility on newly-leased land.
In a conversation after the meeting, Supervisor Allen Long agreed broadly with Plummer’s sentiments about the approach that was taken to opposing the project, saying that this week’s actions show the importance of choosing elected leaders wisely at the polls.
“The board makeup determines the decisions we make and I’m very concerned about that,” Long said. “I ran for that reason — to get back on track with real problem solving for our community. To me it’s common sense but we don’t seem to get there often. We go to ideological grandstanding and start talking about things we don’t have any jurisdiction over and we don’t seem to come up with solutions to real problems.”
“Elections matter,” Long said. “And future governance will continue if the board makeup stays the same.”
Do you have information or a correction to share? Email us here: editor@shastascout.org.
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Let’s see, why would Crye oppose something like this?
Could it be because it would be a challenge to his proposed medical campus? Could it also be because there’s a lot of grant money here, and he won’t be involved to claim his piece of the pie?
Within a few weeks of people not getting snap many are going to have an even harder time in the world, especially those on the streets. Eating healthily and regularly is important for human brain function and even more so for those with mental health issues that already struggle to relate with the general public. I bet the same people opposing this will be the first to complain when desperation kicks in for the many people already on the edge and struggling to keep food on the table for their family and make rent and pay for life in general especially with the holidays coming up when suicide rates already go up. I fully expect a much higher need for care for even the “mainstream” people who are barely getting by and absolutely more will resort to shoplifting and other petty crimes out of even more severe desperation and hunger. I really do not comprehend the cruel, callous, MAGA version of christianity at all and actually don’t want to! But HEY don’t despair fellow Americans, Venezuela is getting a 40 billion dollar bailout and their citizens won’t be hungry and there is a grand golden ballroom crowdsourced by tech billionaire broligarchs going up over the newly remodeled bunker under what used to be the East Wing of OUR White House and Project 2025 IS getting all of their wishlist accomplished so I guess they all feel good about themselves and will be saying “Merry Christmas” to each other and celebrating New Years in grand style while the peons lose what little they have, starve and unalive themselves. So much for the party of family &”pro-life” ..
How are they going to implement SB43 which they have put off using until the last possible moment? I have a family member who met the criteria to be conserved under it and really needed the help it provides to stabilize their life and remove them from criminal justice system but they refused because as it stands there are NO long-term facilities locally, so we send OUR “problems” to other counties. This is the height of ignorance. The same people who bitch nonstop about the “homeless”, many if not most of whom are struggling with addiction and mental health struggles refuse to fund solutions. The current method of sending often seriously mentally ill people to jail after leaving them on the streets to commit nuisance crimes is a waste of law enforcements money and time as well as emergency room resources. I don’t know the exact costs but I’m sure if someone did the research and added up all of the costs including incidental like transporting people to far away counties and paying more for services that COULD be provided here, having this type of facility available locally would save the county a whole lot of money both short and long term also it creates employment for locals.
Maybe this project is something Crye opposes because he is in desperate need of it.
If you have family members in need of complex mental health (drug, alcohol) services; you may want to live in a location with extensive resources to meet that need. I would recommend living in the Bay area. They have excess capacity with those services and a strong mental health network. “If you need to swim then don’t live in the desert.”
“You may want to live in a location….” Well, I guess that would be about 70,000 on Medicaid, about 32,000 on SNAP, etc, and after all, K. Crye says, “If you weren’t born in Anerson, you should move.” BTW, due to Trump, there is NO “excess capacity” for any form of mental health, or for that matter, any health services in the USA. The Big Beautiful Bill and Project 2025 are cutting tens of millions off both programs. So maybe move to Canada? Oh, Trump says he wants to annex Canada as the 51st state. Here’s a thought: if you like fascism, try Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, how about North Korea led by Kim Jong-un (the guy Trump wrote “Love Letters” to), or Russia? Good luck splitting the state in two like C. Street and P. Plum advocate. Or how about this… it would be much easier to get rid of our local and national fascist thinking politicians? They are becoming about as anti-American as their hero, Orbán.
This site does not allow the posting of Holy Scripture? Your just like a newscafe, You learn that at Bethel Annelise?
Hey Chris. Every single post is moderated, including yours, including the ones with Bible verses. And since we’re humans who also take some time off on the weekend sometimes it takes us a few hours to approve comments. They’re all there now, never fear.
“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
Dear Kevin Crye,
“Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
To loose the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the [c]heavy burdens,
To let the oppressed go free,
And that you break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
And that you bring to your house the poor who are [d]cast out;
When you see the naked, that you cover him,
And not hide yourself from your own flesh?
Isaiah 58
Kevin Crye doesn’t seem to understand that we aren’t a theocracy! He gave his account of what The Bible does and doesn’t condone, during his unethical attempt to divert citizens attention away from the business of the Shasta County Board of Supervisors—religious texts shouldn’t be used as a basis or justification of public policy. Ever.
It does seem blasphemous that Crye would recite the Bible, given his role in the cryptic manipulation of the whole Francescut-Curtis ROV debacle and other little white lies that he told while he snuck around the country trying to recast past election results by taking his cues from a “multiple BK-filing flim flam man” (AKA Mike Lindell). That theatrical performance should have won him a Tony Award as the “best performance by a supervisor while conducting a fake hearing with intent to ramrod a predetermined outcome”. On further thought, since that performance was a collaboration, the award should be for the best play of the year. That way, all the actors can share this dubious honor.
The display of Crey’s belligerent ignorance, Dr. Mu’s willingness to submit to Crye—saying, “I endorsed it for the last 6 months, but last night…”—and even Christy Coleman’s sparse knowledge of the Mental Health Service Act, California’s Specialty Mental Health Plan, and the Lanterman–Petris–Short Act, along with how the Proposition 1 mandates change in the Medi-Cal landscape, is dangerous for Shasta County citizens. Dangerous, but not unexpected. After all, MAGA supervisors replaced the previous popular, non-political Health Officer with MAGA-compliant COVID conspiracy theorist Mu and then installed unpopular Crye-compliant Coleman as Health and Human Services Director, both barely qualified for their roles, not to mention Crye’s attempt to install secessionist, Mr. YMCA Street as a Health Consultant who intends to build the Crye Medical Center. The highlight of yesterday’s meeting was when MAGA Crye invoked a biblical story reminiscent of white Christo Fascism political violence, from Joshua 10:16-43, (where Joshua killed five kings with his sword through the back of the head and impaled them on poles), while decreeing, “If there’s any way, shape or form, any glimmer that we can kill this now” he will do so “I don’t want to entertain it,”—it referring to the possibility of providing badly needed mental health treatment to tens of thousands of citizens using state and private funding, not county funds. Time will tell whether Crye succeeded in killing the community-supported project, or not. Meanwhile, Shasta County’s suicide rate is the highest in California, more than double the state average, at least 21% of the county’s population has a diagnosable mental illness, the ER’s and Jails will remain packed with mental health clients, and nearly half of Shasta County residents still have a substance use disorder. Thank Crye, Corky, and Kelstorm for helping to make and keep Shasta County sick.
His actions show that he does not care about the best interest of regular citizens, just himself.
I am ashamed that he’s representing our county. He does not have our best interest and he only votes for what is in HIS best interest.
We were so close last time to voting him out. Wake up people.
Kevin Crye will be on KCNR1460.com tomorrow (Sunday) to explain why he didn’t support sending a letter in support of this project. Tune in at KCNR1460.com—96.5 FM—1460 AM at 8:00 AM to hear how Kevin is looking out for the financial health of Shasta County.
By the way did you know that this $200,000,000–that’s million–project only produces 48 beds? Did you know that this taxpayer funded project (grants) will be privately owned and if this project is not profitable this out of state non profit entity can walk away and leave Shasta County holding the bag? Tune in tomorrow–KCNR1460.com—96.5 FM–1460 AM– at 8:00 AM
BS
Oh yes, please do.
Tune in to hear absolutely absurd reasons not to support a mental health facility in our county.
Tune in to hear people bitching, but who offer no real solutions themselves.
Tune in to miserable people who only want to make everyone else around them miserable.
Go for it. For any honestly independent thinker, you’ll see first hand the BS that is being pushed.
Calling out “taxpayer funded” as if it’s nefarious doesn’t make sense because what’s also taxpayer funded is county mental health. But the current system doesn’t offer crisis stabilization or inpatient psychiatric which counties have to now place out of area with associated costs of transport. Most crisis stabilization starts with detox, which our current county system also doesn’t provide, so it happens at the hospital and the jail. This would alleviate all that. “Only 48 beds”—that’s impatient psych beds which are only *part* of the project. There’s also day treatment, detox, crisis stabilization and all of that needs a roof built over it. Your attempt at a disinformation campaign falls flat. Your claims are a mix of false and misleading, and the community can get their false and misleading information from Kevin Crye & Christy Coleman without your help.
When Moty was recalled, one of the biggest complaints against the Supervisors was the lack of mental health services. Sick people dying on the streets, and family members without support. This anger help elect the current Board majority. Now look at what they’ve just done!
For some reason Supervisor Crye is fanatical about this project failing as he is fanatical about the proposed new medical school being built. His reaction using biblical principles is way over the top, no sin is exhibited in this proposal. FOR YEARS we desperately have needed more mental health services besides contracting Hill Country to handle Reddings mental health crisis’s . Very strange in my opinion…
https://krcrtv.com/news/local/shasta-county-board-explores-new-medical-school-to-address-physician-gap
Says Christan Gardiner “referring to the possibility of providing badly needed mental health treatment to tens of thousands of citizens using state and private funding, not county funds. Time will tell whether Crye succeeded in killing the community-supported project, or not”. I wonder if he knows this is a 48 bed facility.
If talking about “beds,” True North, if used to licensed capacity, could provide over five hundred fifteen thousand five hundred inpatient psychiatric beds over the projected lifetime of the facility. That’s over 515,5000 inpatients served.
Each mental health patient comes from a family, has friends, and contrary to the persistent stigma of lies and misconceptions, most folks with a “mental health disorder” are employed, productive, contributing members of society.
Every mental health client influences all levels of social life—from the micro (individual and family) to mezzo (neighborhoods, schools, organizations, and small communities) to the macro (society, large communities, governments, cultures, and entire social systems). It’s easy to see how just one person in crisis needing services that True North can provide could socially and economically affect many more people than just one client.
But True North is (was?) much more than a 48-bed inpatient hospital that could provide hundreds of direct and indirect jobs while relieving the social and economic stressors in our ER rooms and Jails. True Noth was slated to provide:
Rapid Triage and Crisis Stabilization: Immediate assessment and intervention for individuals experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis.
Inpatient Psychiatric Care: Treatment for patients of all ages, including children and youth, who require 24/7 care.
Residential Treatment: Live-in services for children and youth struggling with behavioral health issues.
Partial Hospitalization: Day treatment programs for patients who need intensive care but do not require an overnight stay.
Social Rehabilitation: Services focused on helping individuals reintegrate into the community.
Detoxification: Medically-supported detox services for people with substance use disorders.
Complex and Urgent Care: Specialized beds for individuals needing more complex and urgent care.
Workforce Development: Programs to help train and develop the local behavioral health workforce.
But Crye, Kelstorm, and Corky, in attempting to kill the True North Campus, (paid for by a grant for the State Of California and by Signature Healthcare) have demonstrated not only negligence of duty to Shasta County, but also, in Crye, with his disdain for the community that isn’t pro MAGA, and his Christo-fascist (swords into the heads of his political enemies) thinking, could be argued to constitute malicious malfeasance.
You also said 32k people attended the NoKings flash mob. Your numbers are incorrect and painfully verbose.
Tax payer funded projects reward corporations first, and then possibly the community. It’s good to be suspicious of any healthcare company. Sports Teams and Prisons love to have us pay for their business models.
Hit the road with turning Redding into a more attractive drug rehab center.
About 3000.
It is little wonder that professionals at all levels but particularly in healthcare simply check out our county and see a healthcare backwater. Anti public health, COVID denying, with major mental health care problems but turning down solutions; while Mr Crye touts “My medical school”. God help us.
Anyone else notice that the people who wail and gnash teeth about “evil” are usually the ones who secretly commit the most evil (I.e. “creepy dad” politicians, pastors/priests, podcasters)? I wonder what dark, toe-curling skeletons reside in their closets? Well, as long as we keep buying into these distractions, we will never know. Won’t someone think of the children!?
If this went forward the county was on the hook for providing social services, police, jail and juvenile services for the next 30 years. That includes all the out-of-town mental health patients. The county would have to scrap the Alternative Custody Program to pay for it. In addition, if the patients choose to stay in Redding there is nothing we can do to prevent that. That means the homeless population would double. I don’t think most Shasta County citizens want that.
Lisa: “on the hook for providing social service, police, jail and juveniles services for the next 30 years.” Please cite a source.
“If residents of a psychiatric health facility commit a crime and are not in their home county, they may be taken into custody for assessment and evaluation. Depending on the jurisdiction, they could be detained for up to 72 hours if deemed a danger to themselves or others. If they are found to be incompetent to stand trial, their cases may fall through the cracks, leading to further legal implications. In some cases, individuals may be involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital if it is determined that their mental illness is a contributing factor to their criminal behavior.”
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
The proposed facility will be in operation for an estimated 30 years.
Lisa: Thank you for sharing this information. What I hear you saying is that the county might have to pay the cost of incarceration for up to 72 hours if someone from another county was staying in a psych facility in Shasta and committed a crime there. This is of course what other counties are having to do right now when our community members commit crimes in their facilities. It’s also what we have already have to do in Shasta when someone from another county with concerns for serious mental health needs commits a crime in our local ER or in any other location.
So back to the County process of shipping them off to Shasta County contracted beds in other Counties. Paying staff to transport them to and from. Some transported to Southern California & requiring the driver to not only get per diem` s for the trip but also a motel room. The biggest anti homeless service rant has always been the services available here attract them to us from outside of the area. Lets be honest, they were passing through & were arrested, placed on probation or parole & cannot leave unless they are willing to violate their terms. They also routinely have all of their personal documents taken & tossed or destroyed. They then have to wait around for the “govts help thru local agencies to get them replaced before they can “move along” – with no mailing address. Lets see you get a SSA Card, State ID and a Birth Certificate without having one shred of evidence of who you are are & having no mailbox in order to receive and return time sensitive requests. The claim of the “County” possibly being on the hook for the next 30 years as well as claiming the company who will be running the center may end up going out of business – leaving the County to “take over the services that would bankrupt the County” is 100% grandiose speculation. It is plain and simple catastrophizing in order to elicit gasps and opposition to the project without any basis in fact. The County is MANDATED to provide services the Feds & State mandate them to provide. HOWEVER, the County DOES NOT have to comply with any mandate that the Feds and/or the State DOES NOT FUND. It is really that basic. Another example of the boy who cried wolf.
Sorry Al Rightythen, this comment was intended for someone else. Guess I wasn’t paying enough attention in this reply went to you by mistake.
Baloney.
Back up that claim with facts. Cite your source please.
Al Rightythen is correct that right now the County often has to ship people off to far away places because there are no beds available locally. And the County is mandated to provide services. We can either send them to a facility far away or we can send them to a facility nearby.
It doesn’t make sense that the County would be on the hook for a private company. It wouldn’t be on the hook for a hospital that closed, so I’d like to know how this is different. The County isn’t the entity that would be accepting the grant. If they were to go out of business we would just be back to our current situation.
What is with Kevin calling this evil? What is with Christy boldface lying? Why do I think neither of them is ashamed?
What is with Dr. Mu either being ignorant or plain unprofessional as a physician? What is with Corkey seeming to not understand any of these complex issues?
With this band of inexperienced, politically driven misfits it appears the County will just keep circling the drain. The wrong people are embarrassed in this scenario.
This is the same Crye that flew on county time to visit Mike Lindell, former crackhead. He was willing to take funds from an election denier, which never came, but doesn’t want to help our mentally ill friends and neighbors. After all the trauma this community has gone through with wildfires, it seems like he would welcome funds to help us.
We will find out what his agenda is at some point. He was so hyper in the meeting I was beginning to think he had joined Lindell in the snow fun. He cannot be trusted. Shasta is becoming a mini D.C.
Crye’s opposition to a potential mental health facility is one of the most absurd things ever. Absolute stupidity and extremely short-sighted.
It is common knowledge that Shasta county has a shortage of mental health resources. This facility would be a huge step forward to address this issue.
It would also benefit Shasta county economically through job creation. Local businesses could also benefit from the increase of dollars that it brings to Shasta county.
If people are actually able to get the mental health help that they need, then this would also be good for public safety and reduce crime.
Bottom line is that Crye’s opposition to this is moronic.
And Corky, you had a drug-related death in your family. Don’t you think there’s a possibility that it could have been prevented if we actually provided adequate resources for people with ongoing mental health issues? Very disappointed in you.
If you have a child in crisis anywhere in Northern California you must drive hours away from home to get help. How many people can afford to do that? Not many. We live in one of the most impoverished areas in the nation. We needed a jail and we need help with our mental illness issues.
So now drug addicts and alcoholics are mentally ill? Oh that’s right, they changed the name to alcohol disorder and drug disorder and now it’s mental disorder.
And of course there’s Nick and his negativity again.
Hey Nick, do you actually offer any solutions at any time??
I mean you sure like to bitch about things and complain but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you offer any solutions to the problems that we face in this county.
And yes Nick, actually a lot of mentally ill people turn to drugs because they know something is wrong and that is their way to cope.
Man, you are so mad at the world that you just want everyone to suffer and no one to get any type of help. You’re a miserable man and you want everyone else to feel as miserable as you.
I pity you.
Dual diagnosis mental health treatment has been a thing since the 1980’s, Nick.
Another project where the taxpayers pay for a project with grants but it is owned by a private entity. Non profits are private entity’s.
Funny. I thought you were all about reducing the size of government and privatizing services.
“Funny. I thought you were all about reducing the size of government and privatizing services.”
so they build a facility using taxpayer money (grants)-receive 100% of their payments by the taxpayers for their clients but it is privately owned and you call this a solution to less government?
Nick: Some of your information is off but regardless how would this situation be fundamentally different than the proposed alternative custody facility which I believe you and others support? I’m really curious about this because I know we oppose government overreach here in Shasta but I’m confused about which government overreach we oppose and why.
Lol, where did I say anything about a solution to less government??
Like Crye’s desire to build a new medical school? Cant have it both ways. And you spamming the radio show Freedom in Action over and over with your “Bees in a Bonnet” radio show on another station is just cheap and tawdry in my opinion
Thank you for being a listener!