Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-0604 Study Session MIN CITY OF ASHLAND CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION MINUTES Monday, June 4, 2018 Council Chambers, 1175 E. Main Street Mayor Stromberg called the Study Session to order at 5:33 PM Councilor Slattery, Councilor Morris, Councilor Bachman, Councilor Seffinger, Councilor Rosenthal and Councilor Jensen were present. 1. Public Input (15 min) None. II. Annual Winter Shelter Report and Discussion (40 min) Heidi Parker and Phil Johncock presented Council with the Annual Winter Shelter Report (see attached). Mr. Johncock went over the Winter Shelter Intake survey. He spoke that next they plan on collecting more data from each guest. Ms. Parker spoke that the 2017-18 season officially ended the first week of April. She gave a brief history of the Shelter. Items discussed were: • Number of guests. • Number of volunteers. • Volunteer training. • Shelter location and days. • Rules for the guests. • The need for a single large location. • Disruptive behavior from the guests. Ms. Parker thanked the Mayor, Council and Staff. She also thanked all who donated food, clothing and blankets. She spoke how compassionate the Ashland Police Department responded to the guests. Ms. Parker explained they had an agreement with the hospital for those in need would be given a bus pass to be sent to the shelter. Interim City Administrator, Adam Hanks gave a Staff report. He spoke that the Ad-Hoc Committee had their first meeting. Items discussed were: • I low many nights to have the shelter open. • Location options. • Timelines to move forward with solutions. • Set a time to discuss budget options. • Conditional Use Permit requirements and timelines A letter was submitted into the record regarding homeless issues from Reverend Richenda Fairhurst (see attached). III. Senior Issues Ad-Hoc Committee Scope Discussion (30 min) Mr. Hanks gave a Staff report. Items discussed were: • The Senior Program Ad-Hoc Committee (SPAC). • Scope/responsibilities of the SPAC, Council and Parks and Recreation. • Percentage of seniors in the Community. • Education needed on issues that are the most concerning such as transportation and housing codes. Parks Commissioner, Mike Gardiner spoke to the importance of working together. He spoke that once the Senior Superintendent gets on board he or she can be more than just a Parks representative and work with Council on the Senior issues. Slattery spoke to the need in identifying the issues first. Council discussed the importance of communication and the scope of work for the Senior Superintendent. Council discussed the responsibility of the Council for senior issues. It was decided for Staff to bring this item back to a future agenda. IV. Updates from the City Administrator (5 min) Mr. Hanks went over minor chanoes to the Look Ahead. The Study Session was adjourned at 7:10 PM Respectfully submitted by: City Recorder, Melissa Huhtala Attest: tip---. May romberg it i Note: Topic times are estimates and subject to modification at the meeting In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if you need special assistance to participate in this meeting, please contact the City Administrator's office at (541) 488-6002 (TTY phone number 1-800-735- 2900). Notification 72 hours prior to the meeting will enable the City to make reasonable arrangements to ensure accessibility to the meeting (28 CFR 35.102-35.104 ADA Title I). ASHLAND HOMELESS SURVEY FINDINGS MAY SURPRISE YOU Here are a few highlights from our first ever Intake Interviews of 57 Ashland Homeless Shelter guests, conducted this past winter over 6 evenings at the shelters by one of our volunteers, a psychologist, after being urged by Dale, one of our more experienced guests, to illustrate the value of collecting data for informational purposes. I When asked IF they moved to Ashland because of the services here, every homeless person interviewed said: "NO". Likewise, 75% said they became homeless in Oregon, (98% of these local). The following data illustrates the severity of the Ashland homeless crisis for our un-housed guests: • 54% are disabled • The average length of time being homeless is 46.6 months • The average age is 44.2. The youngest is 23. The oldest is 72. • 28% are considered "chronically homeless" (at least 4 years) • 25% are female • 17.5% are veterans Many people believe that the homeless should be most interested in getting a job or finding a house. To guests, it's much more immediate like, "what's for dinner?" In the freezing cold of winter nights, the biggest challenge, they tell us is: "getting and staying warm." Collected & compiled December 2017 & January 2018 by: Kacky Hoffman, Volunteer & Phil Johncock, Consultant & Volunteer An open letter to the people and leaders of Ashland and the Rogue Valley: We, the Interfaith Clergy Circle of Ashland, Oregon, raise a call to action on behalf of our homeless and at-risk neighbors here in Ashland and beyond. We are one neighborhood, one community, stretching town to town across the Rogue Valley. We call all people of good heart to come together to cultivate compassion for each other, rich and poor, young and wise, hopeful and despairing. We recognize a deep and growing need in our community for all to have access to clean water, sustaining food, safe shelter, and basic medical care. "You have within you more love than you could ever understand. " Rumi We entreat those with comfort to give comfort to those in need. We entreat those with full bellies to fill the bellies of the hungry. We entreat those with safe shelter free of fear or cold or heat or harm to share in the building of a place of shelter for those in need to rest their burdens, shower, recuperate, and heal from the trauma of living on the street. We entreat the whole community to take the action needed to build, fund, and sustainably operate a shelter for men, women and children, the elderly, open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, local and accessible to those in need. There is a real and sustained need for a shelter where community members and caseworkers can build fruitful relationships; a central location where community can be forged and recovery can begin; a central location where guests can count on a place to sleep, a respite from summer smoke and heat, a warm place to escape the snow and ice, and a place from which sustainable housing can be found and a more stable life can grow. Such a shelter must be in the community it will serve. In a community shelter, caseworkers can be mindful of the needs of the residents of that community-keeping children in school and those in need near their networks of support. Shelter provides the consistent rest and stability for employed adults to responsibly maintain their jobs, even when they don't earn enough money to rent their own residences. Caseworkers must be prepared to offer trained and sustained assistance for those with disabilities and mental illness, and in this way, achievable goals can be set in the healing of illness, addiction, poverty, and abandonment. Food, water, and shelter are universal rights given to every person as a child of God. Such care and provision is a spiritual and moral obligation. The mandates of compassion and care of neighbor unite all faiths, wisdoms, and disciplines. Providing adequate housing to everyone is a religious duty in Judaism. Most famous among these texts is Isaiah's prophetic cry to "take the poor into your homes." For Christians, Jesus says "feed the poor, clothe the naked, comfort the sick." For the spiritual but not religious, we ask: What does the spiritual involve in terms of taking action? How is the Spirit the agent for a better world? For the humanist, we call for action to uplift humanity. "May we resolve to dedicate our life to the service of humankind, and uplift them to Divinity. " Yajur Veda 1 a I We applaud the efforts over many years of the many hundreds of leaders, professionals, and volunteers who have taken action across Ashland and the Rogue Valley to alleviate suffering and build relationships across income levels. As a community, we are all in this together. We share accountability to the life we live and choose. If we walk by the one in need, what are we accountable to? For every person is a person of sacred worth, and every voice deserves to be heard. We believe we are in a time of great opportunity. The need for day and night shelter is clear. We ask for the generosity of the comfortable, the stewardship of the professional, the compassion of the faithful, and the leadership of the political. We need one place. A sustaining place. A transforming place. A uniting place. In the face of years of effort by churches, leaders, and community members, it is unconscionable to imagine November arriving and there still not being a place for our homeless neighbors. We ask for compassion. We call for action. Be a signatory to this letter, donate, or volunteer. Act. For, in a community fractured by want, we must come together as one people, one community, one standard of care, one outpouring of faith. "God loves each of us as if there were only one of us. " St. Augustine Signed, Ashland Interfaith Clergy Circle Rev. Richenda Fairhurst, Senior Pastor, First United Methodist Church of Ashland revrichenda@ashlandmethodist.org Rev. Dan Fowler Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Ashland revfowler@yahoo.com Rabbi Julie Benioff Temple Emek Shalom Rabbi Joshua Boettiger Temple Emek Shalom Rev. Norma J. Burton Unity in Ashland Church Circle of Trust Healing Center Rev. Pandora Canton Chaplain Asante Ashland Community Hospital and Asante Hospice Rev. Sean Parker Dennison, Developmental Minister, Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship E t Rosanna Ferraro-Jensen Chaplain, Asante Hospice The Very Rev. Fr. Tony Hutchinson, SCP, Ph.D. Rector, Trinity Episcopal Church Dean, Southern Oregon Convocation of Episcopal Churches Rev. Christina G. Kukuk First Congregational United Church of Christ (UCC) Rev. Allan Miles Deacon, St. Martin's Episcopal Church Alex Reid and Bob Morse, South Mountain Friends Meeting Shelter Coordinators Rev. Liz Olson, M.Div, BCC Chaplain for Providence Medford Medical Center and Rogue Valley Manor Pioneer Hall overnight host Rev. Paula Sohl, Associate Minister, First Congregational United Church of Christ (UCC) Rabbi David 7aslow Havurah Synagogue The Rev. Meredith Ayer Pech Deacon, Trinity Episcopal Church, Ashland The Rev. Tom Buechele, Priest-in-charge, St. Martin's Episcopal Church, Shady Cove The Rev. Bert A. Anderson, Associate Priest, Trinity Episcopal Church. Addie Green, Citizen, Ashland, Oregon. Patricia Morrison, Clerk, South Mountain Friends Meeting (Quakers) Shirley Patton Member, First Presbyterian Church of Ashland The Rev. Morgan Silbaugh Trinity Episcopal, Ashland t , Marcia Hunter, Member First Presbyterian Church of Ashland The Rev. Mary Piper Episcopal Priest and Chaplain, Ashland Dr. Bruce and Carolyn Johnson Coyote Marie Hunter-ripper Cherokee Traditional Practitioner Member, First United Methodist Church of Ashland. Karen Amarotico, First Presbyterian Church Shelter Coordinator. Virginia King Member, First Presbyterian Church Ashland Margie Lininger, First Presbyterian Church, Ashland Rev. Caren Caldwell United Church of Christ minister, retired i I i I I i