City council members butt heads over iNetMed mental health services proposal

LAS CRUCES - A city council work session devolved into confusion Monday during a discussion about a proposal to help law enforcement and fire teams handle mental health crisis calls.

The confusion started when Mayor Ken Miyagishima mentioned he'd placed discussion of the proposal on the work session agenda because it had never come before the council, and needed to before the council could vote on it. Also, Miyagishima said he was unfamiliar with the proposal until very recently.

"All I'm trying to do is be transparent to the council," Miyagishima said. "I just barely heard of this a few weeks ago."

District 1 Councilor Kasandra Gandara, a licensed social worker with a wealth of behavioral health work experience, said she was "stunned" by the mayor's comments, since she's been promoting the proposal for months and spearheaded it through "countless conversations" with city staff, county staff and behavioral health providers.

The proposal is from iNetMed Rx2 Inc., a local psychiatric services clinic. They've submitted a proposal to the city to provide outreach and services to "super users" of the mental health system, mobile crisis intervention and outpatient care to residents with mental health conditions.

It's meant as a way to assist and relieve law enforcement and firefighters who respond to a large number of mental health-related calls.

The proposal has been a topic of discussion at county commission meetings about the county's Crisis Triage Center. The proposal also surfaced during a June city council work session on policing. It even made the front page of the Sun-News in July.

Want the best local government coverage? Sign up for a subscription today.

Miyagishima seemed to be under the impression the proposal was ready to be approved by the council. In fact, Interim City Manager David Maestas said the proposal was actually still going through the procurement process and a contract wasn't close to being awarded.

Still, Miyagishima had a few concerns: the cost of the proposed services, sole sourcing of the contract and whether the city could enlist other local governments to get involved in developing a broader scope of behavioral health services, echoing the city's idea to create a behavioral health district.

The mayor said iNetMed co-operators David and Jo Velasquez said they were estimating 45 percent of services would be paid for using Medicaid. The remainder, "we're going to figure that out," Miyagishima said.

The mayor said the estimated cost of the contract would be $1.176 million, or $98,000 a month.

"I don't profess to be an expert in procurement. None at all," the mayor said. "But what's concerning to me is the amount of this contract."

More city news: After concerns about lack of auditor, some voices call for community oversight of police

Miyagishima said his concern was procedural and not based on his opinion of the services being proposed. He said he was bothered since it hadn't come before the council.

Miyagishima warned against speaking in specifics about the proposal in case it went out to bid. He said he wasn't sure if the proposal would meet the requirements to get an exemption from the bidding process and be allowed to be sole sourced. City Attorney Jennifer Vega-Brown said she would review that.

"I don't want what appears to be the best company to do this (to) now be disqualified because they're intermingling," the mayor said.

"To sit here and hear that some of our people are not aware that it's been vetted, and they thought sole source provider was the best way to move this, I'm stunned, actually shocked that this has happened," Gandara said.

Gandara said she's kept the mayor and council in the loop as the proposal has moved through the procurement process. She hasn't read the full proposal, she said, since she wanted the whole council to hear it at the same time.

Miyagishima asked how she couldn't have possibly read the proposal since she had provided an executive summary to the mayor. Gandara said it was provided by Jo Velasquez and still hasn't read the full proposal.

"You never have discussed with me iNetMed specifically," Miyagishima said. "Please do not tell me that you have because I have not. I did not get this from the city."

"I thought I had been very clear with you and council at the opportunities that I have been presented with in terms of the conversations and this," Gandara said. "I was waiting for staff to bring it to us."

Others are reading: Building permit fee hikes could be approved as council comes to consensus

Maestas said the review of the sole sourcing was underway, and apologized if it seemed like the city had moved further on the proposal than it seemed. He said the city wasn't anywhere near awarding a potential contract.

Still, several other councilors stressed the need for the services iNetMed proposes to offer in the city, especially at a time when many are calling for the reallocation of funds from police department budgets toward other, nonpolicing public safety methods.

District 6 Councilor Yvonne Flores said iNetMed "hit the nail on the head" with their approach to mental health services. Flores said a behavioral health district and iNetMed's services wouldn't be mutually exclusive, in her view.

"It is very clear that this is something that we absolutely need," District 4 Councilor Johana Bencomo said.

Michael McDevitt can be reached at 575-202-3205, mmcdevitt@lcsun-news.com or @MikeMcDTweets on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: City council members butt heads over iNetMed mental health services proposal

___

(c)2020 the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.)

Visit the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.) at www.lcsun-news.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.