BEND, OR -- A month after the final participants in Deschutes County’s drug court graduated, Bend City Councilors are asking what’s needed to bring back the diversion program. During a presentation on local public safety this week, Councilor Anthony Broadman asked, "If there’s a promise of resurrecting it, or what we would need to do?" District Attorney Steve Gunnels replied, "I would say not a promise. There’s a hope of resurrecting it." Gunnels worked with the drug court for more than 20 years and said, "It’s hard for me to accept Adult Treatment Court shutting down. And I don’t accept that it’s going to shut down permanently."

He calls the program a success, "We’ve had a lot of people get their lives turned around so that they’re good parents for their children, they are productive members of our community, they’ve got jobs, they’re staying clean and they’re raising children to adulthood. Which, for some of the participants in our program who have got it turned it around, is a little miracle."

But, Gennels says, it boils down to staffing. "When the former Adult Treatment Court coordinator left to go to another job in the Willamette Valley, there was an opening. The courts went through a series of interviews of potential applicants and there were none who were able to fill that role." Gunnels added, "There’s also an issue with finding a treatment provider who can meet the very high standards of the Adult Treatment Court program." He says Measure 110 also played a small role.

Mayor Melanie Kebler tells KBND News the City Council wants the program resurrected, "We’re happy to take action there where we can, and help with that."