Will you chip in to support our nonprofit newsroom with a donation today? Yes, I want to support My Lynnwood News!
The Lynnwood City Council at its Monday, Sept. 19, work session discussed using a portion of its $10.9 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money to fund more behavioral health counselors in Lynnwood schools.
Edmonds School District Interim Superintendent Dr. Rebecca Miner spoke with the council about the number of mental health counselors in the district.
This school year, the district has received five new counseling full-time equivalents or FTEs, which refer to counseling hours, not individual counselors. Miner said this could mean the district employs five full-time counselors or 10 part-time counselors who are able to cover more ground.
Each high school in the Lynnwood city limits this year will have 4.5 FTEs available to assist students, the interim superintendent said.
Verdant Health Commission Superintendent Lisa Edwards also gave the council some background information regarding a recent survey that Verdant conducted in Lynnwood. Five hundred residents participated, and Edwards said those surveyed identified mental health as the number-one priority that Verdant focuses on in upcoming years.
Vanessa Villavicencio, the school district’s Center for Human Services mental health director, said that many years ago, Verdant Health had provided a grant allowing five counselors in the school district. Now, she said, she’s been able to place over 30 counselors in the district’s schools, thanks to Verdant funding.
Villavicencio also talked about the possibility of placing the counselors in the district’s new school-based health center at Meadowdale High School, which would not only offer students counseling but also basic health care.
Villavicencio is requesting $628,000 from the council’s ARPA funds, which would provide Lynnwood schools with an additional 2.5 counseling FTEs for the next three school years.
Councilmember Shannon Sessions asked if the health center would only be available to students whose parents have health insurance.
“Because we partnered with Community Health Centers of Snohomish County, they’re a federally qualified health center,” Villavicencio said. “So they are mandated to serve all with or without insurance.”
Sessions also voiced her concerns on the potential for students to receive health care at school that their parents may object to.
“So students can potentially get care and their parents would know nothing about it?” she asked.
Villavicencio said that while the goal is to always involve parents in any health decisions, due to student privacy rights, counselors and other health care professionals are not allowed to release information about the care students receive without their permission.
“Always the goal would be … to include the parents, but sometimes that is just not possible,” she said.
The mental health director said that oftentimes students will come to school counselors seeking help that their parents would not approve of due to cultural, religious or personal beliefs and don’t wish to let their parents know for fear of being punished.
Council President George Hurst asked if the FTEs will float from school to school or if they will stay at specific schools throughout the year. Villavicencio said the counselors will be flexible but will rotate between only a few schools so they can get to know the students there.
The council will vote on the matter at a later meeting.
In other business, Lynnwood Public Works Director Bill Franz and Senior Project Manager Sergey Tarasov gave the council a fourth update on utility rates.
The fourth part of the update focused on the proposed increase in general facility charges for the city’s sewer. According to Tarasov, general facility charges are a one-time fee for hooking up a new building to the existing sewer lines.
“It is basically a buy-in from a new customer that is creating new demand on the sewer system that wasn’t there before,” Franz said in a follow-up email.
Tarasov said the charge is based on an equivalent residential unit (ERU) measurement. This means the amount charged to new buildings is based on what the average residential household uses.
When the charge was first put in place, Franz said it was $2,480 per ERU. However, the system has been substantially upgraded since that time and the new proposed charge is $10,722.
“Just as a guidance, this is the maximum allowable charge,” Tarasov said. “Which means that you can set the charge up to that level and be supportable or below that level, but not above that level.”
Tarasov advised the charge not be set much lower, as the city would quickly start to notice the impacts of lost revenue. However, he said the city could also do a tiered approach, raising the charge in increments over the span of a few years rather than all at once.
A public hearing will be held on the utility rate study at the council’s Oct. 10 meeting. If approved by the council, the new rates and general facility charges will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2023.
During council comments, Councilmember Jim Smith requested that the attorney who conducted an external investigation into allegations made against him attend a future council meeting.
“Councilmembers never got a chance to ask her any questions,” Smith said. “The council has never met her. So I think it is only right to bring it into the sunshine. Bring her in and let’s talk about what went on and discuss the actual accusations and the response to that, which has not been really discussed.”
Smith also suggested another attorney be hired to conduct a second investigation into the accusations. Furthermore, Smith requested that he be able to select the attorney himself, as he felt he should have had a say in who conducted the initial investigation.
“We only got to hear one side,” the councilmember said. “And it was certainly one sided. So I’d like to bring in another attorney and I’d like to be primary in helping select that attorney because we want to have both sides. So I want to balance that lopsidedness.”
No other councilmembers made comments regarding Smith’s requests.
The council also met Board of Ethics applicant Steve Steward, who is seeking the last alternate seat that needs to be filled.
Steward attended the meeting via Zoom and, after some technical difficulties, was able to introduce himself and thank the council for their consideration of his appointment.
–By Lauren Reichenbach
I have a question regarding District 15 and the money they would like for mental health counselors. Where does the money the district receives from the land they lease from Costco, Home Depot and the new apartments that are under construction? Does it go for new schools, the general fund, where? Please let the people in the district know before it is spent.