Opinion ID: 158786
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Establishment of the Advisory Committee and the Meetings

Text: 9 On January 6, 1994, Leroy Lucero the Executive Director of Crossroads sent several citizens invitations to serve on a newly established Trinidad Area Advisory Committee (the Advisory Board) for the area of Trinidad, Colorado. See id. at 251-53. The invitations were sent to members of the Trinidad Police Department, members of the county Sheriff's Department, members of the Colorado State Patrol, the district attorney, a judge and various city officials, among others. See id. The stated purposes of the Advisory Board were to allow[] the local communities the opportunity to provide input into the service delivery system, to allow[] the advisory members to actively participate in decisions that affect their communities and alcohol and drug services, and to work toward the re-establishment of local Detox services [in Trinidad]. See id. at 251, 272(a). 10 Crossroads gets paid by the government. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 1996, 92.9% of Crossroads revenue came from federal, state or city budgets. See id. at 288 (76.5% from the State of Colorado Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division of the Department of Human Services; 14.7 % from local and city revenues; 1.7% from other federal and state agencies). 11 The Advisory Board meetings addressed efforts to increase utilization of the Pueblo detox facility so that Crossroads could apply to the State to reopen the Trinidad detox facility. For example, at the February 23, 1994 meeting of the Advisory Board, Chief of Police Montoya asked if utilization reached a high sustained level, would the Detox be reopened? to which Mr. Lucero of Crossroads responded, the Board of Directors may consider reopening of residential Detox services in the future depending on high and stable utilization of existing Detox services and the availability of funding. Id. at 258. At the same meeting the Board referred to the prior closing of the Trinidad detox as a crisis, and Mr. Lucero stated that such crisis could only be avoided through the efforts of the Trinidad Advisory Committee. Id. at 259. Chief Montoya responded that he expected to see an increase in referrals to the Pueblo detox in the next few weeks. See id. 12 The next meeting, on March 23, opened with Mr. Lucero presenting the number of referrals from the Trinidad area. See id. at 261. Chief Montoya asked what will it take to re-open a full service detox unit? How long does a client stay in detox? Id. at 261. Mr. Lucero responded that we should have, at a minimum, 50 referrals a month for a full service detox [in Trinidad]. The group shared methods of increasing utilization that had worked in Alamosa, Colorado and Pueblo, and Mr. Lucero concluded, we all need to come together and find solutions to the money problems. Id. at 263. Chief Montoya and Mr. Lucero both agreed it was important not to use a quota system: We cannot use a quota system, said Mr. Lucero. Id. at 263. Admitting quotas needed to be avoided, Chief Montoya maintained, maybe we could re-open a full service detox by all coming together and help to conquer the problem. Id. at 264. 13 At the following meeting, April 27, Chief Montoya announced, in case there was lack of clarity before, that the intent of the group was to re-open the Detox. Id. at 266. Mr. Lucero followed by stating that the main reason for Detox closing was the number of referrals and drop in state funding. Id. He continued that in order to open the detox, referrals must be sustained over a long period . . . [at] approximately 50-60 referrals per month and [with] fiscal support from both city and county. Id. 14 At the May 25 meeting, Chief Montoya again announced that a priority is to return Detox services back to Trinidad . . . . Utilization [of the Pueblo Detox by Trinidad] is up as a result of new policies. Id. at 269. At a meeting on October 19, Mr. Lucero restated the importance of maintaining utilization in order to justify re-opening a detox in Trinidad and complemented the City Police Department on their referrals. Id. at 274. 15