Board vote sanctions
new methadone clinic

MARYSVILLE (3/5/03) -- Yuba County supervisors voted, 3-2, to have the state, not the county, monitor a controversial methadone clinic in Linda.

The ordinarily routine bureaucratic decision escalated into an ideological skirmish when Supervisor Mary Jane Griego lobbied to open it up to wider debate over whether the county needed a second addict treatment center -- in her district, to boot.

An existing methadone clinic located about a mile away was already certified to treat up to 300 patients," with about 100 of the treatment "slots" still unoccupied.

The proposed second clinic would add perhaps another 100 "slots," according to applicant Roberta Klopf.

Supervisors backing the second clinic claimed it was a private business outside the county's control, and, besides, it was a done deal, since the only issue was who would monitor it.

But "the county has some say-so" in the placement of such socially sensitive businesses, Griego argued, likening it to the more common review process for liquor licenses.

The new clinic would be in the same location, have several of the same employees and cater to many of the same patients as a predecessor methadone clinic that was closed for alleged Medi-Cal fraud.

The defunct Behavioral Health of Marysville methadone closed last year as its owners were being prosecuted in a case still pending in Sacramento County Superior Court.

Former BH employees and ex-patients spoke in support of recreating the clinic, saying it made treatment more accessible to poor people living on the south side of the Yuba.

"Transportation is a problem," said Dan McAllister, citing many carless patients missing treatments because they could not walk over the E Street Bridge to Aegis, the larger established methadone clinic in downtown Marysville.

Ex-patients praised "Bertie" -- that is, Roberta Klopf, who worked at BH before its closure -- and the previous staff at the now-closed clinic for providing more personalized services.

Calling BH a "mom and pop' methadone clinic, former BH patient Wayne Delong recalled, "We were like a little family there."

Methadone clinics in Yuba County have historically served clients in Yuba, Sutter and surrounding counties.

Currently, 57 percent of Aegis's 200 active patients spring from Yuba County, 27 percent from Sutter and the rest from elsewhere, said Aegis spokesman Stephen J. Maulhardt.

Investigative reports in the Medi-Cal fraud case claimed that BH was allegedly billing the state for hour-long counseling sessions while counselors were really only talking with recipients for the few minutes it took to dispense their doses.

The out-numbered opponents mainly argued that the additional treatment "slots" were not needed and the location in a North Beale Road strip mall might inhibit commercial growth.

Supervisors Don Schrader and Bill Simmons said they backed the clinic because it represented competition and consumer choice and was therefore "just good business."

"And I'm pro-choice," Simmons said.

Griego and Hal Stocker voted against it.

Before recessing Griego explained her demand for debate came after she saw the clinic "coming in under the board's radar" and escaping public debate.

Joan Hoss, the drug and alcohol program director that oversaw the application, retorted that the supervisors had not directed her to give special notice of such an item.

Besides, she said, "I wasn't aware it would be controversial."