Drafter
Clerk 09/16/2025
Title
AN ORDINANCE relating to department of community and human services contracting capacity; and amending Ordinance 11955, Section 5, as amended, and K.C.C. 2.16.130.
Body
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Ordinance 11955, Section 5, as amended, and K.C.C. 2.16.130 are each hereby amended to read as follows:
A. The department of community and human services is responsible to manage and be fiscally accountable for the children, youth, and young adults division, the behavioral health and recovery division, the developmental disabilities and early childhood supports division, the adult services division, and the housing and community development division.
B. The duties of the children, youth, and young adults division shall include the following:
1. Working in partnership with communities and other funders to develop, support, and provide human services that emphasize prevention, early intervention, and community education, and that strengthen children, youth, young adults, families, and communities in King County; and
2. Managing programs that promote healthy childhood development, enhance youth resiliency, reduce justice system involvement, strengthen families and communities, and ensure all children, youth, and young adults have the opportunity to achieve their full potentials. The division shall also provide staff to support the King County children and youth advisory board.
C. The duties of the behavioral health and recovery division shall, subject to available resources and to its exercise of discretionary prioritization, include the following:
1. Managing and operating a comprehensive continuum of behavioral health services including prevention, mental health, substance use disorder, and co-occurring disorder treatment services for children, youth, and adults who meet eligibility criteria;
2. Managing and operating a twenty-four-hour crisis response system, including civil commitment as a last resort;
3. Selecting appropriate agencies for the provision of behavioral health services and developing, implementing, and monitoring the provision and outcomes of contracted services;
4. Being responsible for resource management of a comprehensive behavioral health system including provision of staff support to appropriate advisory boards, and serving as liaison to federal, state, and other governments and relevant organizations in carrying out planning and allocation processes;
5. Facilitating the continuing availability of appropriate treatment services for eligible individuals with a diagnosis of a mental illness, substance use, or co-occurring disorder; and
6. Developing and maintaining a continuum of appropriate treatment services for eligible individuals.
D. The duties of the developmental disabilities and early childhood supports division shall include the following:
1. Managing and operating a system of services for infant mental health, early childhood development screening, and a system of services for persons with developmental disabilities in accordance with relevant state statutes and county policies and to provide staff support to the King County board for developmental disabilities; and
2. Negotiating, implementing, and monitoring contracts with community agencies for the provision of developmental disabilities and early childhood support services.
E. The duties of the adult services division shall include the following:
1. Working in partnership with communities to develop, support, and provide human services and programs that emphasize health and safety, self-sufficiency, and healthy aging. The programs are to include, but not be limited to, providing employment and training for adults to achieve self-sufficiency, providing supports to survivors of abuse and trauma, and providing health, socialization, and wellness services to promote healthy aging in place;
2. Providing assistance to indigent veterans and their families as authorized by chapter 73.08 RCW; and
3. Providing staff support for the women's advisory board as specified in K.C.C. 2.30.040 and for the veterans, seniors, and human services levy advisory board and its committees consistent with state and county requirements.
F. The duties of the housing and community development division shall include the following:
1. Managing programs that address housing and community development needs, and helping implement improvements identified in subarea and neighborhood plans for low-and-moderate income communities;
2. Administering the county's federal housing, homelessness, and community development moneys and other housing, homelessness, and community development moneys;
3. Developing housing, homelessness, and community development policies and programs to implement the growth management policies throughout King County to provide affordable housing to low-and moderate-income residents; and
4. Providing staff support for the renter's commission as specified in K.C.C. chapter 2.150.
G. The department, beginning on January 1, 2028, shall maintain a contract portfolio comprising not more than five-hundred contract agencies at any given time, unless:
1. The director of the department of community and human services provides electronic notification to the clerk of council, who shall retain and provide an electronic copy to all councilmembers, that identifies the number of additional contractors with whom the department seeks to contract and confirms that the department has staffing capacity to provide the consequent additional contract management and compliance monitoring duties; and 2. The council passes a motion approving the terms identified in the notification letter within thirty days of receipt of the letter.
SECTION 2. The department of community and human services shall, by no later than March 31, 2026, provide a letter to the clerk of the council, who shall retain and provide an electronic copy to all councilmembers, that identifies the implementation plan for achieving the objective, by January 1, 2028, of the department maintaining a contracting portfolio comprising not more than five-hundred contractors at any given time. The plan identified in the letter should, at a minimum, include:
A. A description of the number of contract agencies that the department could cancel, renegotiate, or consolidate;
B. The methods by which the department could reduce the number of contract agencies, including but not limited to, use of master service agreements, use of lead
contract agencies, and a request for statements of qualifications; and
C. Any conditions necessary to implement the plan.