Behavioral health organization sued over fears of new location for Colville crisis center

A behavioral health organization is being sued by a Colville motel owner wary of the stabilization services the group plans to move closer to his business through a $2 million state grant.

The lawsuit was filed on July 29 by Benny’s Colville Inn owner Andy Hydorn. A copy of the complaint details concerns with NEW Alliance’s relocation of its 13-bed crisis stabilization facility from behind the organization’s main office to right next to the main office because of the negative experiences he’s had over the years.

NEW Alliance was approved to receive $2 million from the Washington State Department of Commerce earlier in July for the relocation of the crisis stabilization facility; however, the issue came after, when the organization requested a zoning adjustment from the City of Colville for a conditional use permit application. This allows them to provide services to individuals who are experiencing a behavioral health crisis.

Although the city approved it, Hydorn voiced his concerns during a Colville Zoning Board of Adjustment meeting on July 9. The document of that meeting states that he lives at the hotel and has surveillance on the property because of past issues.

He claims in his argument that he has “watched a lot of people come from the facility across the street” and is worried about his clientele that come from out of town and are “exposed” to the people the facility is treating.

In that same meeting, David Nielsen, executive director of NEW alliance, said the facility has been around since 2001 and gradually increased to 13 beds from four. He said the alliance has served over 1,300 individuals since it opened and wants to continue to help those in crisis, which is why they applied for the grant in the first place, according to court documents.

“Our plan is to turn that into recovery housing that is coming out of an inpatient drug and alcohol treatment facility that needs sober housing,” Nielsen said at the July 9 meeting.

Eleven percent are said to arrive from Ferry County, 5% from Lincoln County, 5.5% from both Pend Oreille and Spokane counties, and 72% from Stevens, Nielsen said, according to court documents.

Kathleen Stone, a former registered nurse for the Alliance Evaluation and Treatment Facility, said that’s not the case.

Stone wrote an opinion piece published Nov. 3 about her experience at the facility, where she states that the majority of patients come from outside of Stevens and neighboring counties. She noted there were occasions where she was “encouraged to fill the beds with marginally appropriate patients because of the unwritten understanding that we needed 12 or more clients at any given time to cover the operating costs of the facility.”

Although she didn’t work directly in the crisis facility, she said the evaluation and treatment center had many patients who weren’t from the area and would get dispatched to the crisis facility after their treatment.

She fears that the rezoning of the crisis facility will bring in people from all over the place.

“Having people force the building and rezoning to allow for facilities that are not necessary for our small community just for the states to try to offload their people from all over the place and infiltrate them into the smaller towns. That’s what I feel is happening,” Stone said.

Around the same time her opinion piece was published, over 100 residents rallied against behavioral facilities in the area, arguing that behavioral health facilities aren’t the right fit for a “small conservative town.”

But not everybody has been against the grant.

Ginger Colvin, a substance -use disorder counselor, said she was recommended to stay at the crisis facility for four days in 2008 after multiple suicide attempts.

She is a firm believer the crisis facility saved her life.

“A doctor that I went to had recommended and told me, ‘There’s a crisis house in Colville I think would be a good place for you to go. Would you be interested in that?’ And I looked at my mom, and I said, ‘Yeah, absolutely,’ because I knew if I didn’t get to a place, I may very well follow through on my suicide attempts,” Colvin said. “One time was gonna end up being successful.”

Colvin said Stevens County is underserved when it comes to mental health resources and she’s confused on why people are fighting this one, although she thinks people might be concerned through looking at the state of Oregon’s drug epidemic.

“I think so much of that comes from the fear of Colville turning into what happened in Oregon, but we have to remember Oregon legalized all substances, so that’s a little different situation than what we have,” Colvin said.

Oregon has since recriminalized some drug possession.

The Colville City Council passed a six-month moratorium on behavioral health facility applications last month. Nielsen said in an interview with The Spokesman-Review in November that because the conditional -use permit was approved, the moratorium didn’t affect them.

However, the outcome of the lawsuit might change that.

Hydorn said he can’t speak on the lawsuit. Nielsen did not respond to requests for comment.

The next motion hearing will be Jan. 28.