by Garth Meyer
Redondo Beach will partner with Hermosa Beach on an outside contract for mental health services, nominally approved by the Redondo city council Tuesday night.
Joy Ford, Redondo Beach city attorney, explained that the program’s intent is to be an alternative to law enforcement, to treat the “whole person.”
Redondo has looked to hire a mental health clinician since April 2024.
After attempts to hire one through the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, Beach Cities Health District (which gave grants for the city’s homeless response for two years), and Los Angeles Centers for Alcohol & Drug Abuse (L.A. CADA), a current grant is about to run out in December if the city does not spend it to hire someone – or file for an extension.
“Clinicians in the entire country are in high demand,” Ford said.
She added that Redondo Beach also considered a city-employed mental health clinician.
“A lot of liability comes with that,” she said. “… I wouldn’t say ‘impossible’ but it would be complicated and difficult.”
Her office eventually contacted Clear Behavioral Health, based in Redondo Beach, and it has agreed to deliver an Alternative Crisis Response (ACR) team made up of a counselor, licensed therapist and project director. Ford is now finalizing terms with them. The city’s Health Net grant of $570,000 is expected to cover one year of the program. Beach Cities Health District has offered office space for the ACR group to serve Redondo and Hermosa.
Hermosa’s current ACR agreement, with L.A. CADA, expires Sept. 30.
Redondo Beach has worked with Clear Behavioral Health since 2019 for mental health and substance abuse counseling for its homeless court participants, led by Ron White of Clear. On Sept. 2, Ford relayed to the Redondo city council that, before the new agreement is signed, Clear made some requests regarding insurance and “mutual indemnity.” The city council agreed: each entity will be liable for its own alleged wrongdoing in the event of a lawsuit.
Alternative Crisis Response will handle non-violent, behavioral and mental health 911 calls with “trauma-informed care, crisis de-escalation, in person intervention and transport to immediate behavioral health services” as described by Ford. Participating may be physical health, behavioral health and substance use professionals to treat the person in “episodes of crisis, with goals of reducing the amount of hospital and emergency room visits, as well as fire and police department involvement.”
Once the agreement with Clear is finalized, it will go to the city council for approval.
The $570,000 Redondo Beach grant is through Health Net. The city attorney’s office is in contact with South Bay Cities Council of Governments about funding the Redondo-Hermosa ACR once this grant runs out.
“The hope is we set an example for other cities to collaborate,” Ford later told Easy Reader.
City Councilman Brad Waller gave his support to the plan.
“When I was interviewing with Police (during the election campaign), they asked what I thought of ‘Defund the Police,’ It’s not defunding the police that was about, it’s finding the right kind of person to do the job,” he said. “I’m surprised and disappointed we have so much trouble finding a provider.”
“I agree with the way you’re leaning to a sole source,” said Mayor Jim Light.
“It’s really going to come down to risk management, said Councilman Chadwick Castle, referring to exposure to liability.
Councilmember Paige Kaluderovic pointed out that, while the ACR project relates to homelessness, it is just a minor part.
“Eighty to ninety percent of our mental health calls go to housed individuals,” she said.
Representatives from the Redondo and Hermosa Beach police departments, Clear, the Redondo Beach City Attorney’s office and Hermosa Beach Interim City Manager Steve Napolitano were expected to meet this week to prepare. ER
Finally, a project that The Beach Cities Health District should really get involved with, not only if funding but possibly resources, personal, even classes and homeless and mental illness support.
This is VERY concerning. BCHD gave grants to the City and in return, the City hired BCHD’s Board Member Martha Koo’s company as a consultant. THIS REEKS OF QUID PRO QUO. Koo and any BCHD member that voted to fund the City of mental health need to resign for creating this buy-off situation for Koo.