‘Mismanagement’? Pierce exec forced to declare emergency to save homelessness response
Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier has declared a state of emergency to prevent a lapse in funding for a system that serves as the “front door” to the county’s homelessness response. County Council members who have previously decried the executive’s process for funding homeless services are blaming his office for a near collapse of the system.
The county’s Coordinated Entry system serves as a unified entry point for thousands of folks experiencing homelessness. It relies on contracted community service providers to process and refer people and families to services and supports they need when facing homelessness.
According to data from the county’s Human Services department, Coordinated Entry had an average annual operating cost of about $1.6 million from 2017 to 2021. In May, one service provider contracted to intake people into Coordinated Entry estimated more than 1,000 people enter the system on a monthly basis.
The contracts for service providers comprising Coordinated Entry were set to expire at midnight Aug. 31, with no renewal in place.
According to Pierce County Council spokesperson Bryan Dominique, without an emergency declaration, the Human Services department would have had to let those contracts remain expired and go through a new procurement process to get the Coordinated Entry system back up and running.
“This action waives procurement and contracting bidding processes so that emergency contracts can be immediately executed while Human Services conducts a new competitive procurement, as required by law,” Libby Catalinich, a spokesperson for the Executive’s Office, told The News Tribune on Sept. 4. “Without the Executive’s action, services would have been interrupted while a competitive process was conducted.”
Catalinich said no additional funding is required by this action.
According to Catalinich, the Human Services and Finance Departments have been directed to “expedite the competitive procurement process” so that long term agreements will be in place within a 120-day period.
The county’s Human Services department has not responded to a request for clarification on the circumstances that led to the failed renewal of contracts.
Dammeier, a Republican, declared the emergency Sept. 3. He has previously told The News Tribune he would not declare a state of emergency related to homelessness, despite requests from some council members to do so.
“Frankly, it’s unacceptable that we got to this point,” said County Council member Marty Campbell, D-District 5, in a statement regarding the emergency declaration. “We’ve been asking for months what is going on with the Coordinated Entry contracts and received assurances it was being handled. Clearly, it was not.”
Council member Ryan Mello, D-District 4, who has previously opposed the executive’s funding-procurement process, told The News Tribune the funding lapse was due to “dysfunction and mismanagement” from the Executive’s Office. Mello is running against Republican Kelly Chambers to replace Dammeier, who is term-limited.
A decree previously issued by the executive instituted a funding-procurement process in which the executive branch requests service providers and selects applications for funding.
When asked previously by The News Tribune why the funding process works the way it does, a spokesperson from the Executive’s Office provided a memo the executive sent to the council on Nov. 9, 2023. The memo was in regards to an ordinance the executive vetoed which would have created a special fund for the council to administer money to community organizations for services.
“Our county code requires competitive contracting. This promotes fairness, fiscal responsibility, and public trust by ensuring taxpayer dollars are awarded based on professional merit rather than political influence,” the memo read. “This is important because the best vendors are often not the best-connected vendors. Competitive, professionally administered processes give everyone a fair shake.”
On Sept. 4, Mello, told The News Tribune he feels the executive’s decree had a cynical intent.
“He did it in order to consolidate power, authority, and to limit the legislative branch,” he said in an interview. “But he did not think it through. The impact is what you see happening now.”
Mello said the emergency declaration allows for the existing contracts the county has with Coordinated Entry service providers to be extended through the year, with Human Services having to put out new notices for funding availability in the meantime for service providers to reapply to.
Mello called it “disingenuous” for the executive to advocate for a competitive procurement process when now contracts will be awarded through a rushed “fire drill” evaluation.
“More robust contract monitoring is being implemented to avoid situations like this from reoccurring and that all contracting is conducted in accordance with the Prosecuting Attorney’s legal opinion,” Catalinich told The News Tribune.
This story was originally published September 5, 2024 at 5:15 AM.
