Boulder City Council approved behavioral health response team pilot program

Dec. 9—The Boulder City Council on Thursday night approved tacking a behavioral health response pilot program onto the city's existing co-response program in an effort to help free up police officers' time and allow trained clinicians to respond to non-criminal 911 calls.

The year-long pilot program, which the City Council tentatively renamed Health Equity Assistance Team or HEART, following City Councilmember's Lauren Folkerts' recommendation rather than Community Assistance Response Team, was mostly supported by City Council Thursday night and will begin next year.

The program will include licensed behavioral health clinicians and paramedics who would respond to behavioral health calls, human services calls and medical calls as well as case managers who would handle follow-up cases, said Wendy Schwartz, human services policy manager with Boulder Housing and Human Services.

The city's 2023 budget includes $965,000 for the new pilot program, but an additional $60,000 is needed to fully fund the program, with the biggest cost driver coming from staffing, Schwartz added.

But before ending the discussion on the program, many council members provided feedback on what they want to see after the program kicks off.

City Councilmember Nicole Speer said she wants more clearly defined goals and, after the program starts, metrics for the council to evaluate it before approving its 2024 budget.

"As we're thinking about what the goals are, how will we know that we've been successful when we get to 2024 and how can we help that council expand the program, continue the program, just do parts of it, add to it — whatever it is that that council decides to do?" she asked.

While City Councilmember Rachel Friend questioned the need to have case management included in the program, comparing it to Eugene's existing 24/7 mobile crisis intervention program, Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets, which does not have case managers.

"I am very worried this will be a duplication of services, and I would really want more information before we did it," she said.

At the end of discussion, Schwartz said staff will evaluate CAHOOTS' model to see how much it utilizes case management services from the White Bird Clinic, which founded the program. She added that staff will also add goals recommended by the City Council to the metrics it studies.

In other discussion, Boulder Deputy Police Chief Stephen Redfearn, Boulder Judge Linda Cooke and Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty all provided quarterly updates on their departments Thursday night.

Redfearn discussed several locations in Boulder that have become high crime areas as evidenced by calls for police service and community concern. He also discussed other areas that were high crime areas but have seen reduced crime in recent months. The high crime locations Redfearn mentioned are the Circle K on Canyon Boulevard, the Park-N-Ride on Table Mesa Drive, and the Millennium Hotel. The areas with decreasing calls for service that are still being monitored include the IHOP on 28th Street and the Depot Square Apartments.

In regard to the Circle K, Redfearn said police have been receiving a lot of calls for narcotics trafficking, vehicle theft and weapons. He added that each high crime area is assigned to a commander who works with their team to form a plan to reduce calls for service.

For Depot Square, where a bike "chop shop" was found, Redfearn said police did arrest the two people involved. He added that they were also evicted from their apartment last week.

City Councilmember Tara Winer acknowledged the eviction but asked why it took so long.

Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold said the situation was frustrating for police but that the department is not in charge of the eviction process.

"We spent a ton of resources on this case only to see it just day after day after day not get resolved," she said. "Unfortunately, we weren't in charge of this process. This is a county process."

Mayor Aaron Brockett asked Herold about the next steps following the department's announcement of an internal audit it conducted involving five officers who were investigated by the department. Following the investigation, the Boulder Police Oversight Panel recommended all of the officers be terminated, but Herold disagreed.

Herold said that early next week the department will have a refined analysis of the case.

Boulder City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde added that there is an immediate need to update the panel's ordinance so that panelists have the authority to speak openly about the cases they review. She said other changes will need to be made to the ordinance down the road.

"I think this may be a phased approach where we come to you with some changes that allow for additional transparency that we're all seeking," Rivera-Vandermyde said.

Since the city passed a new ordinance that allows police to address "unreasonable amplified noise" in residential neighborhoods between 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., 15 citations were written between Sept. 1 and Nov. 30, with all but one occurring on the Hill, Cooke said. Those citations came from 12 calls — four between 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. and eight between 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Following the presentation, City Councilmember Matt Benjamin asked Cooke if she foresees citations increasing and then dropping off after students learn about the new daytime noise ordinance.

Cooke said it's too early to predict what will happen but added that she remembers reading one citation where a student said she didn't know she could be ticketed so early in the evening.

"Hopefully she's going to spread that through word of mouth, because that's really how these young adults become aware of this," she said.

Dougherty put an emphasis on the mental health needs in Colorado and Boulder during his presentation, saying he partnered with Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle to form the first mental health diversion program in the state.

"I also believe Boulder County should pursue a ballot initiative for state resources," he said. "Larimer County has done so and I would strongly support such an effort."