Supervisors waive first reading of needle ban

OROVILLE >> The Butte County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday to waive the first reading of an ordinance to ban needle exchange and distribution programs within the unincorporated areas of the county.

The board discussed the item for approximately 30 minutes after Butte County Public Health Director Danette York gave a presentation to the board on the history of syringe access programs, how they intersect with substance use disorders and communicable diseases, and offered a public health perspective on why public health jurisdictions nationwide support syringe programs.

The action comes at a time when there are currently no active needle distribution or exchange programs in the county. In August 2020, a settlement was reached in a lawsuit against the Northern Valley Harm Reduction Coalition’s needle access program, putting an immediate end to the group’s syringe distributions in Chico which primarily took place at Humboldt Park.

Butte County Public Health made a version of the presentation to several groups in late 2019, York said, when the NVHRC program was still active.

“Not to say that they’re all perfect, or that the one that was being done in Chico, was being done either appropriately or inappropriately,” York said. “I want to make sure that everyone understands I’m not trying to argue there wasn’t a needle problem, because obviously due to the number of comments that (were) received, it was definitely, at the minimum, a perceived problem.”

Supervisor Tod Kimmelshue, who ran in District 4 ahead of the March 2020 Primary Election, said during the campaign he and his family knocked on nearly 7,000 doors in the district, and said “overwhelmingly” the issue that came up most frequently was needle programs and the disposal of needles.

“Unfortunately, the disposal of those needles in public areas, they felt their safety was inhibited by that,” said Kimmelshue, whose district includes southern portions of Chico.

After York’s presentation and more discussion among the board, with County Counsel Bruce Alpert weighing in on the legality of the ordinance and how it relates to state codes, Supervisor Doug Teeter motioned to adopt the ordinance as it was written in the staff report, and said a provider is always welcome to back to the board in the future.

“A responsible provider of this program should be able to come back, I think, in front of this board and propose a system that is publicly reviewed,” Teeter said. “That’s what I think went wrong with the prior one, is they just started handing out stuff the way they thought was the right way, and public opinion, I believe, showed otherwise.”

Supervisor Debra Lucero said she had concerns with the most recent program when it began operating in a public park, though also noted the program “wasn’t given any public health space or true partnership” when it first launched.

“I think a program like this is really doomed to fail if it isn’t a public-private partnership,” Lucero said. “People should not be given needles in a park. It’s just not a good idea. But I don’t want to blame this on anyone or condemn the program; these were all volunteers who were trying to do a good thing, trying to keep people safe from the very things that our health director has outlined.”

Both Lucero and Supervisor Tami Ritter were in favor of a new needle program coming back one year from now for the board to review. That part wasn’t included in Teeter’s motion, however, Chief Administrative Officer Andy Pickett said staff can begin establishing baseline data and provide a report for the board in one year, independent of the motion passed on Tuesday.

Other business

For the fourth time over the last year, and first with the new board, another discussion took place during Tuesday’s meeting on the PG&E Settlement Fund and how the county will direct those funds.

The PG& E Settlement Fund was created in July 2020 after the county received a $252 million settlement from the utility company found responsible for starting the Camp Fire. County staff previously presented to the board examples of how the funds could be used in county stability, hazard mitigation and recovery efforts.

Among the details discussed were five county stability initiatives staff asked the board to consider directing the funds to:

• Up to $22 million for property tax backfill

• $8 million general fund reserve

• $5 million Camp Fire audit reserve

• $900,000 to pay off the Bangor Fire Station debt • $20 million for safety pension trust and cash flow for prepayment

Initially, Supervisor and Board Chair Bill Connelly said he was not in favor of these initiatives, however, a compromise was eventually reached, with a motion from Teeter, to approve the first three initiatives and return the final two to the board at a later date. Ritter then made a motion in favor of the $20 million for safety pension trust and cash flow for prepayment. Both motions passed unanimously.

The board also approved a contract amendment with Quincy Engineering Inc. for the Midway Bridge Replacement Project to increase the contract by $179,600, not- to- exceed $2,487,511, which Department of Public Works Director Joshua Pack recommended during the meeting.