Citizens’ outcry dooms crisis center

Citing concerns about facility security, neighborhood safety, plummeting property values and possible future expansion of CREOKS Behavioral Health Services’ assessment and treatment programs, more than 50 Sallisaw residents jammed the City Council Chambers for a public hearing at Tuesday night’s city planning commission meeting regarding a proposed overnight behavioral crisis treatment center to declare with one voice, not in my backyard.

“I think I’m hearing some double-speak here,” said Buck Buchanan in response to a CREOKS presentation about the merits of the Sallisaw facility and its proposed overnight treatment program, which includes voluntary as well as involuntary commitment for those experiencing a psychiatric or a substance abuse crisis. “I taught handling of the mentally ill for the Department of Public Safety, and I’m not understanding everything that’s coming outta your mouth. Therefore, I would be very much against it because of the taxation it puts on the police department, taxation it puts on the individuals who live [in the neighborhood] and the sheriff’s department.

“If somebody doesn’t make it outta there — and the greater the desperation, the greater the effort there is to leave — I’ve seen it at the penitentiary, the riot in 1972. This is something that I don’t think you know what you’re dealing with. You may know mental health, but you don’t know incarceration. People get desperate, and when they get desperate, they do desperate things. I do not want to violate somebody’s civil rights, but I do not want my civil rights violated by a person who should be in a locked, secure facility,” Buchanan said, rebutting assurances about security at the facility and neighborhood safety.

Those who opposed introducing an overnight, short-term residential treatment facility in Sallisaw made sure the commissioners knew that while most agreed the services CREOKS provides are not only necessary but also important, they would not stand for “these type of people” or “undesirables” in their neighborhood.

By the end of the public hearing at the commission’s monthly meeting, Commissioner Scott Looper made a motion to deny the request by CREOKS to rezone property at 1108 N. Wheeler Avenue (U.S. 59) from commercial office district (C-1) to highway commercial and commercial recreation (C-4). Commissioner Crystal Sides seconded Looper’s motion, and the motion to deny the rezoning — without which the crisis treatment center was doomed — passed unanimously.

If the rezoning had been approved, CREOKS intended to address what it termed “a huge need” in Sequoyah County by introducing a crisis center that would provide overnight, short-term care.

CREOKS makes its case

Prior to the commissioners’ vote, however, a CREOKS representative offered a compelling case for establishing a center to treat those in crisis.

“Historically, CREOKS is your certified community mental health center,” Brian Ormsby, senior director of crisis services for CREOKS, told the commissioners and neighborhood residents. “One of the things that we’re charged with is to provide crisis services for both mental health and substance abuse for individuals that present in this county. Specifically here in Sallisaw, in 2022, we had roughly 2,000 assessments that we made as an organization across our seven counties that we’re responsible for. About 14% of those [2,000] assessments came from Sequoyah County [which is 280]. So there’s a huge need in your community for a crisis center. The plan is to build a four-bed, four-chair unit, and it will provide better services on this side of the state, because it’s very lacking.

“What typically happens is that we have to transport those individuals across the state to whatever facility to get these individuals the assistance that they need. By building one here, locally, we can help the citizens that are from your community get help that they need quicker, and then get them back in the community as quickly as possible,” Ormsby explained.

CREOKS proposed four beds for residential treatment, and four chairs, which are for 24 hours “if a person just maybe needs a cooling down period, then we can discharge them back into the community. If not, then we can put them into a longer term situation.”

Ormsby presented a comprehensive explanation of the process CREOKS follows in assessing those in crisis.

“If a person meets criteria — we’re looking for suicidal, homicidal, severe aggression, decompensating to the point where they cannot commit to safety within the community — or if we are concerned that the person can’t maintain safety in the community, that they will decompensate, then we ask them to do a voluntary admission,” Ormsby told the commissioners. “If the answer is yes, then we admit them to the same facility that we would if someone says no. If they say no, then an emergency detention is placed on that individual. It’s 120 hours, not to exceed five business days, then if the person stabilizes, we get them back in the community as quickly as possible. If not, then we’ll seek court commit, and we’ll get a court committal for 30 days.” Escape among citizens’ concerns

But citizen concerns prevailed regarding security at the facility and speculation of what might occur if someone were to leave the facility without authorization or supervision. Ormsby countered with assurances that failed to assuage residents’ fears.

“When they get admitted to a facility, the only rights that they’re losing is the ability to leave. They maintain all the other rights, like to communicate with the outside, family be involved, stuff like that. But it is a locked facility. The only way you can get in and out of it is if you have a badge or if someone lets you out. It is a locked facility, and they stay there until they are better to leave,” Ormsby assured.

“We’re a 24/7, 365 facility. There’s always staff there. We have access to licensed mental health practitioners, we have access to doctors, to nurses 24/7. So there’s lots of individuals that are watching to make sure that they are safe.

“When someone is committed, we do one of two things. We either perform a suicidal ideation check list or a homicidal ideation check list, because those are the two components we’re looking for. When persons are discharged, we also do both of those to ensure that when they’re going back into the community, that they’re meeting the eligibility to be returned into the community safely,” Ormsby explained.

Ormsby then enlisted Sallisaw Police Chief Terry Franklin to confirm the need for a crisis treatment center in Sequoyah County, and explain the role of police officers in intervening in instances of mental health and substance abuse crises.

But after Franklin detailed how his officers assess individuals and refer them to a counselor for evaluation as needed, he offered his opinion.

“I think we need mental health issues taken care of all over the country, [but] I’m not a big supporter of this facility in our neighborhoods,” Franklin said. “It’s got as many negatives as positives, the way I look at it.” Commitment procedure explained Then the police chief asked Ormsby to explain to the commissioners and residents how voluntary commitment works.

“ The criteria for admission is that the person is considered a danger to self or others, or that they’ve decompensated to the point where they’re not safe to be in the environment. So they’re saying to us, ‘I know that I need help, and I want to come in and get help’,” Ormsby said.

“But for us to release them, we also have to say that they’re safe to go back into the community. So we still perform those same assessments that we do for people that are detained before they can leave. So we’re ensuring that those individuals meet that eligibility before they’re able to go back into the community, regardless of whether they’re voluntary or involuntary. A person that is voluntary, could be turned into an involuntary [commitment] if they’re demanding to leave but they’re not safe.”

But Sides still expressed concern. “I think we do need something in Sequoyah County like this. But we live around that facility. All of these people that are here, they all live within hundreds of feet around that facility. They’ve all got kids; we’ve all got kids, grandkids. We wanna know how safe it is. What happens if somebody escapes?” she asked.

Ormsby assured Sides that law enforcement would immediately be alerted, but maintained that escape is virtually impossible.

“I can tell you that [escape is] very difficult to do. The doors have magnets that take 1,500 pounds of dynamic pressure to open.”

But Buchanan, a retired Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper, still had concerns.

“If you take this person, and they decide that they want to change their mind [about voluntary commitment], why could you not have more than just a locked door to keep them behind?” he asked Ormsby.

Then he clarified what he believed CREOKS had avoided saying.

“Once a person is deprived of their freedom, they are ‘arrested.’ When you keep them in custody, they are ‘ incarcerated’,” he said with articulated emphasis.

In remarks by other citizens, which were limited to two minutes each, common themes revolved around security, safety, possible expansion from a facility with four beds to one with as many as 100 beds and the negative impact the center would have on property values.

Bryan Duke, pastor at Apostolic Faith Church Trinity, expressed concern about the safety of children at AFC’s private school.

“I understand these type of people do need help. The whole community feels the same way,” he said, but suggested that CREOKS should find a “better, more safe location.”

Tommy Taylor, a member at AFC, echoed Duke’s remarks, and encouraged commissioners to “consider our town’s voices.” Other business tabled

In other agenda items, consideration of a preliminary plat presentation for Sallisaw Acres, an addition to the city by Cherokee Nation Housing Authority, was tabled because obstacles to commission approval identified at previous meetings are still being addressed by developers.

The plat was first presented to the planning commission for approval in August 2022, but was rejected until several concerns related to drainage, easements and other aspects were resolved. Commission approval has been on hold for five months. When the plat is approved, it will be forwarded to the Sallisaw City Commission for final approval.

The property is located west of J.T. Stites and south of Cherokee Avenue. The intent is for construction of two- and three-unit housing.