Cedar Recovery’s attempt to build a Methadone Clinic in Putnam County has been stalled by an ongoing lawsuit with the county.
Putnam County filed suit against Cedar Recovery and the Tennessee Health Facilities Commission in October. Cedar Recovery Chief Strategy Officer Paul Trivette said the lawsuit has put Cedar Recovery in a waiting game.
“We have actually been kind of, just kind of sitting on it a little bit,” Trivette said. “Nothing has prohibited us from opening, but right now we are looking at and strongly considering beginning the buildout process of that facility, and looking at moving our office space opioid treatment program to there as well.”
Trivette said Cedar Recovery has a court hearing on June 20 in Putnam County to determine where the overall case will be heard.
Trivette said the longer this lawsuit goes on, the longer the opioid epidemic is going to continue in Putnam County.
“We really believe that we are gonna prevail in this case,” Trivette said. “We think we are substantially likely to prevail given that even on the day of our certificate of need hearing, we were the only case that was heard that all three criteria were met. All the other Certificate of Need cases that day, there was different things that were not met in other applications, and so we know the need is overwhelmingly met.”
Trivette said the groundwork for a methadone clinic has already been laid in Putnam County, and it would not make any sense for Cedar Recovery to back out and let someone who is not in the community run the clinic.
Trivette said there is no timeline for the end of the lawsuit.
“I don’t know how much this is gonna cost the county and how much the county is going to invest into this process of this appeal,” Trivette said. “I don’t know how much they would invest into another certificate of need process either if that were to come back up, but you know, we are invested in seeing this thing to the finish line and that’s why we believe we need to go ahead and get the program open because the certificate of need was already granted. We know the need is there. There’s evidence of that, and so that we can start helping these folks, so that we can continue along this process. That’s what I believe our goal is gonna be over the next six to ten months.”
Trivette said though there is a difference in opinion on the methadone clinic, he still believes the county leadership is made up of good people. Trivette said Cedar Recovery will still be a good community partner once it is all settled.
In August, Cedar Recovery received a certificate of need to open a methadone clinic on Burgess Falls Road, just outside the Cookeville City Limits.
