County cuts the cord with Lifeways
By Terry Murry on Wednesday, June 16th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PENDLETON – The Umatilla County Board of Commissioners has finalized its endorsement of Community Counseling Solutions to operate mental health and substance abuse disorder services. Lifeways, the current mental health services provider, protested the decision, but Chairman George Murdock said the board wasn’t influenced to change its original intent.
“We’re happy with the decision,” Murdock said. “We’ve gotten lots and lots of concerns from people over the years suggesting that perhaps we ought to explore other options. Since we have started to do that, all of them have come back to us with enthusiasm about the new direction we might go.”
Murdock said that the fact that CCS already supplies services to Morrow, Wheeler, Grant and Gilliam counties also helps.
“We also feel that having a more local firm, without a focus on Malheur County and Idaho, will ultimately provide better services for the residents of Umatilla County,” Murdock said.
The decision was made at the commissioners’ meeting this morning (Wednesday).
