Crye remains uncertain about Shasta’s proposed True North facility, despite growing local support

In separate meetings today, both Shasta and Tehama supervisors discussed True North, a proposed regional behavioral health facility that could come to the North State. 

The facility, which has been christened True North, would be built and operated by Signature Healthcare Services, but only if a request for about $165 million in state Prop. 1 funding is approved this spring. The private psychiatric healthcare company Signature, which operates a number of other behavioral health facilities across the nation and the state has pledged to add an additional approximately $41 million to build the facility. They’re also committing to operating it for the next 30 years. 

The campus’ planned capacity will include 72 inpatient beds and an additional 32 outpatient clients, organized into a number of separate facilities such as crisis stabilization, social rehabilitation, and a psychiatric unit. Organizers have developed the facility plan in an effort to prevent those experiencing mental health and substance use crises from continuing to languish in emergency rooms and jails as they await stabilization, detoxification and treatment.

Almost 70 leaders and organizations across the North State have issued letters of support for the proposed facility as of this week. But today, Shasta County Board Chair Kevin Crye continued to push back during a board discussion, saying he’ll want more assurances about True North before supporting it. 

Supervisor Corkey Harmon, who voted along with Crye and Supervisor Chris Kelstrom to send a letter to the state opposing the project last month, said today he’s changed his mind. He reframed his former opposition as mere uncertainty, saying with more information he’s now decided to support True North. He’s the fourth supervisor to support the project leaving Crye as the only outlier.

At Supervisor Matt Plummer’s suggestion, all five supervisors voted to bring back the idea of issuing a letter of support from the board as part of a future agenda. Crye said he’d want the letter to document his continuing concerns about the project, especially that any county costs incurred by the facility would be offset by Signature. Plummer supported that idea, assuring that documentation he’s reviewed so far shows the facility will save the county funds. 

Crye also said he wants guarantees that the facility will prioritize local community members with behavioral health needs. As Health and Human Services Agency Director Christy Coleman noted during her comments to the board, Signature could prioritize beds for the county, but only if the county decides to contract for those beds, paying a set fee to hold priority beds for county patients whether they’re used or not.

Organizers are currently hoping to build the facility on a McConnell-owned parcel in the City of Shasta Lake, but must pass planning and rezoning hurdles first. Signature is in the process of buying the parcel with the deal contingent on the award of state funds. 

Last week, City of Shasta Lake Manager Jessaca Lugo put out a press release informing the public that while city staff have participated in preliminary conversations with proponents for the project, no formal development application has been submitted to the city so far. She said city staff are committed to remaining neutral on the project until a complete application has been both submitted and fully evaluated by city staff. That process, Lugo emphasized, will provide the public with an opportunity for input.

More information provided at town hall 

Last night, a town hall on the Truth North project was held at Dignity Health Connected Living. The team behind True North, CEO of Arch Collaborative, Kimberly Johnson, and Signature’s Senior Vice President, Alan Eaks, provided presentations to the public. 

Johnson started by explaining how Prop.1 funding for mental health facilities works, noting the exact amounts of True North’s expected costs and outlining previous stakeholder engagement efforts. Eaks emphasized that True North will be a secure facility, that patients who come from outside the county will be transported back to their counties of origin on discharge and that the facility is designed to save the county money.

After their presentations, Supervisor Plummer moderated a panel of community experts. Participants included Arch Collaborative’s Johnson as well as HHSA Director Coleman, Partnership Health Plan Vice Chair Dean Germano, psychiatrist Michelle Sagar, Hill Country CEO Jo Campbell, Dignity Health Senior Director of Emergency and Critical Care Services Greta Hill, Shasta Undersheriff Gene Randall, Dr. Doug McMullin, and Patrick Comstock, Deputy Director of Operations at the Sierra-Sacramento Valley Emergency Medical Services Agency. 

Some of the group responded to questions around what some referred to as the three pillars of community support for those with mental health and substance use challenges. They include a safe person to contact, a safe person to respond, and a safe place to go. Campbell of Hill country told the public that the community is succeeding at the first and second pillars of care, but lacks options beyond local emergency rooms and the jail to meet the third pillar, a safe place to go. True North, she said, would help fill that gap. 

Experts on the panel shared personal stories about how the lack of behavioral health facilities like True North has impacted their clients. In response to a prompt from Dr. McMullin, Dignity’s Hill acknowledged that at Mercy Medical Center, psychiatric patients have at times waited a month or more in the ER before finally being able to be released to an appropriate psychiatric placement. 

In turn, Dr. Sager discussed the impact on her patients when one family member is sent out of the county for behavioral health care — complicating family members’ ability to engage in the process of their loved one’s care and recovery, increasing strain on patients and reducing the likelihood of long-term treatment success. 

Tehama supervisors also have their eyes on True North 

Last month after the Shasta board issued a letter of opposition to the project, Tehama supervisors expressed their eagerness to find a home for the project in their county, if needed. Today in Red Bluff,Arch Collaborative CEO Johnson provided an informational presentation on True North for the Tehama board. 

Though Arch Collaborative and Signature are currently focused on building True North in the City of Shasta Lake, Johnson has said that if those plans fall through, the collaborative is open to other options for placement within the North State, including in Tehama. 

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