SR 09-13-2022 5F
City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: September 13, 2022
Agenda Item: 5.F
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Andy Agle, Director, Community Services Department, Housing and Human
Services
Subject: Award Bid #314 to Initium Health for Development of a Comprehensive
Behavioral Health Strategy
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Award Bid #314 to Initium Health for the development of a comprehensive
behavioral health strategy; and
2. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute an agreement with Initium
Health for two years for a total amount not to exceed $250,000, with future-year
funding contingent on Council budget approval.
Summary
Providing access to behavioral healthcare is a core component in the City’s strategies
and Council priorities of both addressing homelessness and maintaining clean and safe
public spaces. While behavioral health is one of the Four Pillars of the Council-adopted
strategy to address homelessness (Attachment A), both housed and unhoused Santa
Monicans alike suffer from significant rates of behavioral health concerns. In response
to these unmet needs, City Council set aside $250,000 in American Rescue Plan Act
funding (Attachment B) to advance this priority.
The City sought an expert team to develop a comprehensive behavioral health strategy
that would identify system gaps, community priorities for the types of services needed,
and recommendations for short- and long-term steps to meet those needs. The strategy
would be built upon a robust community engagement process. A key outcome of the
process would be to gather input on possible locations for, and the types of services
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and populations that could be served by a 24/7 behavioral health model to fill a critical
gap in the continuum of behavioral healthcare services locally, providing a much-
needed safe landing between crisis response and long-term treatment within Santa
Monica borders. Due to resourcing and licensing constraints, the needs of the
community may not be met with a single location or in a single project. Rather, the
strategy may include several phases to develop a campus or cluster of facilities that can
operate in coordination, serve different populations, and provide different levels of care.
The expert team will assess up to five City-selected sites and develop operating plans
and cost estimates for each.
The City released the behavioral health feasibility study request for proposals (RFP) on
March 15, 2022 and received two proposals by the May 24th closing date. After review
by a team of community experts and interdepartmental staff, staff recommends that the
City enter into a contract with Initium Health, a public-benefit corporation, for an amount
not to exceed $250,000 for a two-year term.
Discussion
Because behavioral health is central to our wellbeing and has a direct impact on an
individual’s ability to work, learn, and care for themselves and others, the City has
developed and expanded collaborative partnerships to address the complex behavioral
health needs of its residents. Such programs deliver integrated services right where
people are – in their homes, public spaces, jails, hospitals, schools, and other
institutions.
Through the RFP, the City sought an expert team to guide a community engagement
process to inform a comprehensive behavioral health strategy, including assessing the
feasibility of a 24/7 model. Community input would shape the operating priorities of a
24/7 model including the types of services provided, the populations to be served, and
an assessment of the pros and cons of locally based/local-serving resources versus
partnering with other local jurisdictions on a larger, regional facility.
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Contingent upon Council approval, Initium would begin an estimated twelve-month
scope of work, beginning with a community engagement process that is developed in
partnership with an interdepartmental project committee. Community engagement
would take 4-6 months to conduct and synthesize the collected input into priorities and
preliminary recommendations. As part of the engagement process, Initium would seek
feedback from the community on available sites. The following six months would be
spent researching and analyzing local and regional data, in addition to community input,
to draft a local behavioral health strategy, including materials and documents that could
be used to seek funding for portions of the plan. Concurrently, Initium would be
conducting a site analysis for up to five City-selected locations for the feasibility of a
24/7 strategy. Throughout the process, Initium and staff will keep Council informed,
share findings from the community engagement process, return to Council for approval
of the behavioral health strategy, and present final recommendations for Council
consideration.
The City released the behavioral health strategy RFP on March 15, 2022, and the RFP
was open through May 24, 2022. The RFP received 552 views and 30 vendors
downloaded the documents. Four applications were started, and two were completed
and submitted by the closing date.
Vendor Selection:
Bidder Recommendation
Best Qualified Firm Initium Health
Evaluation Criteria Qualifications/Experience/Technical Competence/Key
Personnel; Previous Community Engagement Experience;
Stability/References; Ability to Meet Project Work
Plan/Timeliness; Cost of Services/Cost Control; Value
Add/Breadth of Service.
Municipal Code SMMC 2.24.190
RFPs Received
Initium Health Deloitte Consulting LLP
RFP Data
Posted On Posted On
Advertised In
(City Charter & SMMC)
Vendors
Downloaded
Date Publicly
Opened
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3/15/2022 City's Online
Bidding Site Santa Monica Daily Press 30 5/24/22
Best Bidder Justification
Based on the evaluation criteria, and criteria in SMMC 2.24.190, staff recommends
Initium as the best qualified firm to conduct community engagement, develop a
comprehensive local behavioral health strategy, and assess the feasibility of a 24/7
behavioral health center to serve the local community including estimates on capital costs,
operating costs, and potential sources of funding. Initium proposes an exceptionally
diverse team of experts in various elements of healthcare and behavioral healthcare that
will be necessary and relevant to this scope of work. Initium recently successfully
completed a very similar multi-jurisdictional scope of work in New Mexico and consulted in
the design of a $20m recovery housing campus in Ohio. Initium’s cost proposal is also
highly competitive and cost-effective.
A team of three community experts and three interdepartmental staff reviewed both
eligible proposals. As a result of the review process, and pursuant to SMMC § 2.24.190,
staff recommends the selection of Initium Health, a Colorado-based public benefit
corporation, to conduct community engagement, develop a comprehensive behavioral
health strategy that aligns with community-identified priorities, and assess the feasibility of
a 24/7 behavioral health center to serve the local community including site assessment of
up to five specific locations. The assessments would include estimates of capital costs,
operating costs, and potential sources of funding.
Staff recommends Initium Health as the most qualified bidder with the most cost-effective
application to complete the proposed scope of work. Initium recently completed a very
similar scope of work for the City of Clovis, New Mexico in a regional collaboration that
included a community engagement process that encompassed four counties and three
cities, a systems gap analysis, and comparative analysis of system performance using
local and regional data to develop a set of recommendations that included a feasibility
assessment for a 96-bed facility.
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Initium also worked with the City of Clovis to secure a grant to initiate the project. In
another project, Initium was brought in by Google affiliate Verily to inform the design of
their flagship recovery housing campus in Ohio, named One Fifteen after the number of
people who died of overdoses every day across the country in 2016. Using international
data and best practices to use architecture specifically to support recovery, Initium created
layouts that are patient-focused, not staff-focused, that transformed institutional settings
into recovery settings, while balancing safety and security.
Past Council Actions
Meeting Date Description
3/26/2019
(Attachment A)
City Council adopts Four Pillar strategy to address homelessness
4/13/2021
(Attachment B)
City Council approved the allocation of $250,000 in one-time funds
to support efforts to pursue non-congregate shelter and behavioral
health priorities as part of the City’s American Rescue Plan Act
(ARPA) spending plan.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Staff seeks authority to approve funding from the “ARPA-Homelessness Feasibility”
account to award a contractual services agreement with Initium Health to conduct
community engagement, develop a comprehensive behavioral health strategy, and
conduct a feasibility assessment for a 24/7 behavioral health center to serve local
needs.
Contract Request
Request
Amount
FY 2022-23 Budget
Department/CIP Account #
Total Contract
Amount
$250,000 01400009.552010.99067 $250,000
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Prepared By: Margaret Willis, Administrator
Approved
Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. March 26, 2019 Staff Report (web link)
B. April 13, 2021 Staff Report (web link)
C. OAKS FORM_Initium Health
D. Written Comments
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CITY OF SANTA MONICA
OAKS INITIATIVE NOTICE
NOTICE TO APPLICANTS, BIDDERS, PROPOSERS
AND OTHERS SEEKING DISCRETIONARY PERMITS, CONTRACTS,
OR OTHER BENEFITS FROM THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA
Santa Monica’s voters adopted a City Charter amendment commonly known as
the Oaks Initiative. The Oaks Initiative requires the City to provide this notice and
information about the Initiative’s requirements. You may obtain a full copy of the Initiative’s
text from the City Clerk.
This information is required by City Charter Article XXII—Taxpayer Protection. It
prohibits a public official from receiving, and a person or entity from conferring, specified
personal benefits or campaign advantages from a person or entity after the official votes,
or otherwise takes official action, to award a “public benefit” to that person or entity. The
prohibition applies within and outside of the geographical boundaries of Santa Monica.
All persons or entities applying or receiving public benefits from the City of Santa
Monica shall provide the names of trustees, directors, partners, and officers, and names
of persons with more than a 10% equity, participation or revenue interest. An exception
exists for persons serving in those capacities as volunteers, without compensation, for
organizations exempt from income taxes under Section 501(c)(3), (4), or (6), of the
Internal Revenue Code. However, this exception does not apply if the organization is a
political committee or controls political committees. Examples of a “public benefit” include
public contracts to provide goods or services worth more than $25,000 or a land use
approval worth more than $25,000 over a 12-month period.
In order to facilitate compliance with the requirements of the Oaks Initiative, the City
compiles and maintains certain information. That information includes the name of any
person or persons who is seeking a “public benefit.” If the “public benefit” is sought by an
entity, rather than an individual person, the information includes the name of every person
who is: (a) trustee, (b) director, (c) partner, (d) officer, or has (e) more than a ten percent
interest in the entity. Therefore, if you are seeking a “public benefit” covered by the Oaks
Initiative, you must supply that information on the Oaks Initiative Disclosure Form. This
information must be updated and supplied every 12 months.
5.F.c
Packet Pg. 268 Attachment: OAKS FORM_Initium Health (5300 : Behavioral Health Strategy Development)
CITY OF SANTA MONICA
OAKS INITIATIVE DISCLOSURE FORM
In order to facilitate compliance with the requirements of the Oaks Initiative, the City
compiles and maintains certain information. That information includes the name of any
person or persons who is seeking a “public benefit.” If the “public benefit” is sought by
an entity, rather than an individual person, the information includes the name of every
person who is: (a) trustee, (b) director, (c) partner, (d) officer, or has (e) more than a ten
percent interest in the entity.
Public benefits include:
1.Personal services contracts in excess of $25,000 over any 12-month period;
2.Sale of material, equipment or supplies to the City in excess of $25,000 over a 12-
month period;
3.Purchase, sale or lease of real property to or from the City in excess of $25,000
over a 12- month period;
4.Non-competitive franchise awards with gross revenue of $50,000 or more in any
12-month period;
5.Land use variance, special use permit, or other exception to an established land
use plan, where the decision has a value in excess of $25,000;
6.Tax “abatement, exception, or benefit” of a value in excess of $5,000 in any 12-
month period; or
7.Payment of “cash or specie” of a net value to the recipient of $10,000 in any 12-
month period.
Name(s) of persons or entities receiving public benefit:
Name(s) of trustees, directors, partners, and officers:
Name(s) of persons with more than a 10% equity, participation, or revenue interest:
Prepared by: ____________________________Title: __________________________
Signature: ______________________________________ Date: ________________
Email: ____________________________________ Phone: ____________________
FOR CITY USE ONLY:
Bid/PO/Contract # ____________________________ Permit # ___________________________
Initium Health
James Corbett Principal
7/20/22
james@initiumhealth.org 303-928-8511x702
James Corbett, Elise Plakke
Emy Monroe, Joy Choo
James Corbett, Elise Plakke
5.F.c
Packet Pg. 269 Attachment: OAKS FORM_Initium Health (5300 : Behavioral Health Strategy Development)
1
Vernice Hankins
From:Ellen Hannan <elhasm@gmail.com>
Sent:Saturday, September 10, 2022 7:59 PM
To:David White; Council Mailbox; councilmtgitems
Subject:Item F for September 13,2022 City Council Agenda
EXTERNAL
Dear City Staff and City Council:
September 10,2022
You have already squander the $1 Million Dollars Bloomberg Well Being Funds, the opportunity to use the vast fund
raising ability of Providence / St Johns' Medical Center and the state resources of UCLA Medical Center Center as sources
for the needs of the RESIDENTS of Santa Monica. Santa Monica needs a 50 bed MENTAL HEALTH FACILITY.
Please spend some time researching the difference between Behavioral Health and Mental Health Care.
Since 2011 I have attended the meetings between Santa Monica Mid City Neighbors and St Johns' and later Providence
St Johns'. At every yearly meeting the urgent need for mental health care in our community was discussed. Their staff
acknowledged this and reported to us their Emergency Room needs and lack of follow up care for their patients. Still in
their planning for a new massive building site the concept of Mental Health Care was ignored by your staff, Planning
Commission and you the City Council.
Now a 2 year plan to review the failed programs for the homeless is somehow the solution. Tell me how this provides
help for the people who live and pay taxes here and also suffer from mental health issues of depression, Bipolar
Disorders, Postpartum distress, drug addiction and many other psychoses. Why are we again being ignored? Most of our
residents have health insurance which covers a 90 day stay for evaluation and treatment of mental health services. But
there is NO facility in our area for even an evaluation and short term stay. Our families are in grave distress.
Why is it that the Cities of Palm Desert and Desert Hot Springs have new inpatient short term centers? Maybe you
should take a field trip?
We do not need a 2 year study of homelessness. We have failed. The short term band aid approach the City has used
cannot help. It is a very complicated and long term problem which one City in this county cannot solve.
I urge you to think about your priority on Item F. I urge you to research the planning of Palm Springs and Desert Hot
Springs.
Ellen Hannan
1218 9th St #6
Santa Monica CA 90401
Item 5.F 09/13/22
1 of 1 Item 5.F 09/13/22
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Packet Pg. 270 Attachment: Written Comments (5300 : Behavioral Health Strategy Development)