On March 30, Multnomah County temporarily shut down its flagship Behavioral Well being Resource Center downtown that delivers respite to homeless Portlanders.

The county insisted that the closure was prompted by employees education necessary to deal with consumers in mental distress and a require for constructing improvements.

But two hours ahead of county officials are slated to hold a press conference about the center’s reopening, the county sent out a statement altering that story. It wrote that a March 29 complaint had alleged that contracted workers functioning at the center had utilized illicit drugs—what the county referred to as “powder”—onsite. The complaint also alleged employees from 3 diverse contracted organizations had engaged in “inappropriate relationships” with a single one more.

The contractors incorporate DPI Safety, the Mental Well being and Addiction Association of Oregon and janitorial corporation Northwest Achievement.

“Late in the evening on March 29, a Well being Division manager received a complaint raising various difficulties at the Center, such as that employees from every of the 3 contractors was involved in inappropriate relationships with other employees,” the county stated in its statement currently. “The complaint also indicated that contracted employees — without having indicating which contractor—may have utilized ‘powder’—an illicit drug—on web site.”

The closure followed a day soon after county officials received the complaint. When WW initially broke the news of the center’s closure in April, it pressed the county on whether or not any precipitating events had led to the closure.

The county stated no incident had harmed a client.

“We realized there have been some programmatic and infrastructure wants that necessary to be addressed and this is the time to do it. We’re not conscious that any person client’s knowledge is driving this selection,” stated county spokeswoman Julie Sullivan-Springhetti.

When pressed once again, Sullivan-Springhetti stated, “we have incidents each day such as overdoses, overdose correction, and behavioral wellness incidents — as we attempt to serve individuals in our neighborhood with the greatest wants. But we do not have any a single incident of a client getting harmed that prompted the closing.”

At no point did the county mention suspected inappropriate behavior or drug use by contractors.

Earlier this month WW requested emails involving the center’s contractor, the MHAAO, and the county in the two weeks major up to the closure. The county stated currently it will release these records shortly. The records’ impending release comes appropriate as the county announced in its statement that inappropriate behavior by contractors contributed to the closure.

The county says that in the course of the closure employees underwent 90 hours of education and extra safety cameras have been installed. The county is also installing motion sensor technologies that it says will “prevent potentially fatal overdoses in restrooms and showers.”

Capacity at the center will also plummet. Now only 25 individuals will be permitted in the center at any provided time. That is a steep drop from the one hundred permitted inside at a time ahead of the closure. Meanwhile, three,057 individuals are unsheltered across the county on any provided evening.