Journal of Proceedings

Missoula City Council

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Council Chambers (in person) or TEAMS (virtually)
Attend in person: City Council Chambers, 140 W Pine, Missoula MT
Members Present:
  • Stacie Anderson, 
  • Mirtha Becerra, 
  • Daniel Carlino, 
  • John P. Contos, 
  • Sierra Farmer, 
  • Gwen Jones, 
  • Kristen Jordan, 
  • Mike Nugent, 
  • Jennifer Savage, 
  • Amber Sherrill, 
  • Sandra Vasecka, 
  • and Heidi West
Administration Present:
  • Marty Rehbein
  • and Jim Nugent, City Attorney

1.

  

The virtual meeting of the Missoula City Council was called to order by Mayor Hess at 6:00 PM.

3.

  

Mayor Jordan Hess Our next item is public comment on non-agenda items.  We have a lot of people in the public today so I'm going to touch on this briefly.  So, this is an opportunity to comment on items that are not listed elsewhere on our agenda.  I understand that several people might be here to comment about the authorized campsite transitioning to the emergency winter shelter tonight and that is not an action item before the Council tonight.  So, if you're here to comment about that, this would be the appropriate time to do that.  So, feel free to come on up, state your name for the record, and please keep your comments to up to around 3 minutes.  Mr. Hunt.

Kevin Hunt My name is Kevin Hunt.  I live at 308 Parkside Lane and the first thing I'd like to say is that I, I highly object to the disingenuous manner in which certain members of the Council and the Mayor are insisting that that the closure of the authorized campsite is not before, it's not an action item.  I've heard that you rely on this a lot, you bring out this phrase, but this isn't really an action item.  Like who are you, who do you think you're fooling? You're not fooling anybody.  At the committee meetings on Wednesday when it was brought up, oh no, this, we're not now I wonder you know chairman West now keep in mind now we're not really voting on whether or not we're going to close, close to the authorized campsite even though what you had in front of you the documents you had in front of you on that and the other two motions were a staff report indicating the City had decided to close the authorized campsite because it could not be operated safely throughout the winter, it was mentioned in the written report as well.  And it was stated by the witnesses, your staff witnesses who testified in front of you, but we're not really we're not really closing because it has nothing to do with closing the campsite.  And then to break these matters down into three separate agenda items, the contract for security services at the winter filter and the contract with Black Knight and then the one month extension of Rogers International to provide one month additional security service.  Again, who do you think you're fooling if you only are extending Rogers International for one month to provide the security services at the authorized campsite and you can't have the authorized campsite without some security services there.  Again, who the hell do you think you're fooling by saying that you're not, you're not deciding whether to close the campsite?  That's absolutely ludicrous and the, the degree to which this Council majority continues to insult the intelligence of citizens has just got me fed up to here.  And that's why I'm your weekly nuisance; that's why I'm your Monday night annoyance and that's why I'm going to keep being your Monday night and noise and I'm going to be speaking on this or matters related to it again when it does come up under these three items because it is germane and it is in front of you and despite any efforts to try to put people through cattle shoots and atomize their thoughts and break things into individual little motions that are spoon fed to you to make by staff, that isn't going to work tonight because there's people here and we're going to speak and we're going to speak about what you're actually deciding on.  If you want to you want to call people out of order feel free to call people out of order and you might have to call in that security because I for one I'm not going to leave, and I won't stop speaking if I'm called out order for that.  This is, this this kind of foolery that's been going on, I thought was over and I thought that under a new regime, we wouldn't have any of this anymore.  Boy was I wrong, boy was I ever wrong.  I'll have more to say about it.  Thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess So to clarify, our rules have, are pretty clear around public comment and I'm providing this as an opportunity I provided that introductory statement as an opportunity for folks to provide additional comment.  There are three agenda items that are related on the agenda tonight and so if you avail yourself of all the public comment opportunities, there are now four opportunities to comment on this topic.  So, we will stick to those rules that I outlined, and I appreciate everyone's cooperation with that.  Please.

Heather Hayes Well thank you very much, I'm going to take up one of those spaces.  Hello again, ladies and gentlemen of the Council.  My name is Heather Hayes and I'm a resident of the ACS on Clark.

Mayor Jordan Hess We've got an audio echo out here.

Marty Rehbein I just muted the person who has had their microphone unmuted and was interrupting.

Mayor Jordan Hess You can go ahead with your comment.

Heather Hayes It has been my home for almost a year now and as you may remember, I came before you last week regarding the November 16th decision to shut us down.  Now since I spoke before you last, it has become clear to me that there is a rift between us,  we the houseless community and you Missoula’s many business owners and influential people in our local government.  You simply don't know us.  You see us as a nuisance, a blight on your beautiful city, a faceless group of people who struggle you'd rather not focus on because it makes you uncomfortable.  And I get it, I do, if given the choice I would give anything to be working again like I had when I worked at the Oxford for six years and lived in a place at the Howard's Apartments, both places not far from here.  Yes, I was a taxpaying citizen once, I really was and I longed to get a life like that back more than you know, so do all of the residents of the ACS, the almost 40 people who reside there.  These are things that most of you don't know, and that lack of awareness is what causes this rift between us.  Well I'm here today to attempt to begin to repair that rift.  I had each of my fellow residents read a short two-part statement, I won't read them now, but first about what the ACS means to them and second what they are facing this winter if you shut us down.  A lot of them don't know where they're going to go.  They can't access the services at the warming shelter or Johnson's or the Pov, they've been kicked out of all those places and out here in the winter, I'm sure you know how brutal it is you all live here.  People die out there on the streets, it is real as it gets.  From what I understood from attending the last meeting is that you didn't think the ACS can safely be run through the winter, but think about this every one of the people living there now have survived a number of years on the streets, in the winter without a place like the ACS to go.  Now, it's my belief that together we can create a cost-effective safe solution here that takes care of all concerns of both parties.  We can utilize energy assistance groups like LIHWAP to help with heat through the winter and most residents already know to stock up on blankets and warm clothing by the time the weather gets cold.  And organizations like the HOT team provide things like hand warmers, scarves and beanies.  Also a couple of local churches like River of Life have been amazing in their ability to come with a smile and a kind word as they dispense things like hot coffee, tea, and food, all of this is done already.  Now, it's my understanding that a couple of our amenities which the site receives regularly are donated by certain partner groups in our community.  I'd like to say a heartful thanks to Outback’s septic services, Culligan Water, and Republic Services waste disposal, and a man who comes all the way from Seeley Lake to deliver us firewood to keep us warm and to cook.  All of these amazing folks are a vital part in running our site.  So, thank you from all of the residents at ACS to them.  Now, as the holiday season approaches and Christmas gets closer, everyone gets excited for all the holidays.  Most of you will have family visit from all over to celebrate Christmas this year.  What most of you won't be thinking about, however, is how differently the season affects the homeless community.  Because for us, it's a time of depression, missing family or our kids that we won't be able to see.  It's very lonely out there during the cold months for us.  We at the ACS have, in the past year, formed a community there.  We take care of each other.  When times get rough, we help everyone get through.  Now I've taken up enough of your time, so I'm going to wrap this up by telling you what the ACS means to me.  In the past year, the ACS had given me many things like a legal place for me to stay without the constant turmoil of having to move to a different spot all the time, a place where if I'm not feeling well doctors and nurses can come to me right on site and give me and others the medical care we need, a place where I can access resources I might need in my fight to return to a normal life, but most importantly, in the past year with the ACS has given me is a home.  Please people of this amazing City, will you give 40 good people our Christmas wish this holiday season don't take her home from us and we will all show you why it was the right decision to let us keep it.  Thanks for your time.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you for your comment.  So, I, we appreciate the comments and, and we're grateful for you being here.  We don't applaud on any issue because it, we want a safe space for everyone on controversial issues, and so I ask you to please refrain from applause but, but thank you for being here.  Go ahead.

Damian Mears Hi, my name is Damian Mears, and this is my colleague, Stanley.  We have noticed, I'm originally from here in Missoula; he's from Darby.  We've noticed the population of homeless it has been increasing and we thought we could provide some information that could probably cause a solution idea for you guys, if you guys are open to it.  So, our idea was, so as you guys know you guys, the City owns the Sleepy Inn.  If we were to have it renovated, we could have it open to a shelter for a cafe and food and a place to sleep and showers, and to help homeless people to get back on their feet.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks for your comments.  Additional public comment?

[unannounced public speaker] Also I have a question there's still more pertaining to stopping or yeah stopping, what was it?  What are you? From running for Mayor and if not then could there be one.  And also on second, on the second topic all of you remember me from last Wednesday in which I compared this choice or whatever it was 10.1C I think or was it D or was it 10.4?  I don't know, to Amber Heard-Johnny Depp to trial, comparing you to her and him to them.  And that's all I'm going to say about this topic.

Mayor Jordan Hess Yep.  Additional public comment tonight?  And that was Chester Sipes for the record.

Taylor Curry and Hannah Merrick Hi, hello, my name is Taylor Curry.  I'm Hannah Merrick.  And we are the liaisons from the Associate Students of the University of Montana, specifically the political action committee and we just want to introduce ourselves because we'll be the connection between you and a lot of the political action taking place on campus over the next several months, and we look forward to fostering that bond and continuing that work with you.  Thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks for coming down tonight.  Additional public comments?

Ms. Wyman [inaudible] Wyman and I'm a resident at the ACS.  I just wanted to really urge you to consider what's going on at the ACS and the fact that I made it all last winter without a heater, and I was just fine.  I was the first person to move into the camp.  I moved out of the warming shelter and into the camp in January because the warming shelter is obviously, I feel like kind of there's just like not enough space for everybody there really….And it's just at least at the ACS, you can have your own little spot you know.  There's just a lot of things that and benefits that the ACS has to keeping open.  And mostly just that I don't know, I feel like if they're saying that it's not safe for people to make it over the winter that's absolutely untrue because I mean I made it all last winter me and my buddy Tim we made it all last winter.  We dug ourselves out a spot in the middle of January and made ourselves at home.  There's a lot of people that are there right now that are just really, I don't know, they're just accepting defeat without any sort of due process you know and, and I just don't understand like why it's being shut down less than a year after it opened.  That doesn't make any sense to me, especially considering the fact that they're citing funding you know what I mean like, and I feel like you know it's, it's people's lives and stability that that that's interrupting and as a homeless person like I know I need stability to make it out of these situations, but if I don't get have that it's not going to happen.  You know what I mean and, and you and when the camp opened, they said they wanted us to be using more resources and to develop trust between the City and the homeless people but like shutting it down less than a year after it opened that's, that's taking the resource that you were we were given and swiping it right out from underneath our feet and sending us right back to the place that we so desperately needed to get out of you know what I mean, and I feel like there's a lot more individual attention at a campsite situation like that rather than at the warming shelter.  I just know that some of the Poverello’s procedures and the way that they deal with some things is not what some people need to be around and I just would really urge you to consider keeping it open because it's very, very important to all of us individually to have our, our stability and to continue having a chance to get out of there and also to possibly like come with an end game because when the ACS opened, there was no end game, there's no help out of being homeless in that situation, it's just another stagnant group of homeless people.  If you go to the Poverello, you never see anybody graduate the Pov, it’s always just the same group of people there and it would just be nice for everybody to have like more of an option to get out of there.  And so I appreciate your, your consideration.  Thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks for your comments tonight.  Anyone else?

Chris Marcis Hello, my name is Chris Marcis.  I'd like to thank you all for your time.  I, I live at the camp as well.  I know I was down at TSOS and temporary, I did a lot of overtime.  I was happily employed, and it was a temporary.  I had no place to go after my time and come up.  I'm employed now and my, my, my employer is really bummed.  He’s struggling so hard to get employees at all, let alone one that wants to keep going.  Right now, I don't know, I've never been on Johnson Street.  I've never seen Johnson Street.  I've definitely seen the Poverello, I'm thankful for its service that it is.  I know it's a struggle.  I am so happy that my now ex-wife is indoors, my son is indoors.  With my son being indoors, I care so much less about me, but I do want to succeed in my life.  I had a very hard day at work, and you know it's not the greatest living in a tent and doing what you can do but some of us down there, we, we need it we need this place.  We need to be able to cook.  We need to be able to sleep.  You know, I cannot hold down my job from what I understand of you know 11 o'clock check-in.  My boss is cool enough to pick me up at 7:30 in the morning.  I mean we're all busting logs and we're splitting logs and we're working.  Not all of us work down there, not all of us can work down there, but there are employed people down there and there are also employers who are losing employees if this goes down this way.  And you know whatever happens, happens, but some of us don't really like to give up, especially without a fight.  This Camp is helping us and a lot of people.  I'm not sure and how everybody needs individual help, I don't know but I know the ability to know where my sleeping bag is.  I've been on and off again homeless it's like Denver and Dallas, to, to hold down and maintain a job has been murder.  The first time I've seen an authorized campsite, I was like wow really.  You know, I'm using my bivouac and a tree line trying to figure out how to keep you know enough stuff going on, but either way, I have appreciated the time that I've had there.  I've had some heal up time.  I've had an amputation to deal with on my main hand.  I never gave, had the chance to heal.  You know, I got finally enough too to where I could barely write a letter to this place, for this place.  You know, I'm, I'm able to work, I'm happy to work, I'm happy to have more pride, just having a paycheck, but so I would like to thank you for your time and let you know that some of the people down there are employed and they're happy to be employed and we don't know how to keep our jobs if this closes up.  So, thank you for your time.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you for your comment.  Anyone else tonight?

Taylor McDermott My name is Taylor McDermott.  I'm a resident and homeowner here in the City of Missoula.  I've been here since 2017 when I came here for college, and I've seen the houseless population increase over time and not really seen resources for their circumstances to change.  And while I've never experienced homelessness, I imagine what it would have been like to recover from my eating disorder without four walls around me, without heat, without friends, without a job, without healthcare, without resources, paperwork, a framework or a city to care about me.  And whatever you do, I'm asking that you put yourself as best you can in another person's shoes and imagine the worst thing that's ever happened to you and if you would have gotten through it while you were living outside, and I want you to really, really sit with that feeling and then I want you to do something for these people.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.  Anyone else?

Kathy Glover Hello everyone.  As you all know, my name is Kathy Glover and first before I start with what I'd like to share with you tonight I'd like to thank each for being here and listening to our comments and so hopefully we can find a resolution for the ACS.  Now to start off with, we were at the City Council, or I was along with somebody else.  We went to City Council meeting the other day and we got to speak, and as you know I have cats, so therefore I'm not allowed to stay at the warming shelter because my cat is an excessive meower, very vocal, but we have held a couple of meetings since we met here and we have talked about different things that we could do to resolve any issues that might be playing a part in the ACS staying open.  Some of those would be that we could go about and find some funding within the community, through donations much like basically what the students get to find donations to help us.  We could talk to people.  We could also go about and find out like who, who was doing the funding for us prior to the City stepping back and that way we can maybe talk to them and see if they are willing to continue, some of them….Culligan Water was providing some of our water for us.  We have a wood supply that comes in so that we had to wood burn for cooking and just to help us stay warm.  We could talk to those folks and see you know to, if they're willing to continue to donate some of the time and energy to us, and you know and have faith in us, that we can make this work.  We've, we've talked about you know if need be, we could maybe possibly find a different location that might possibly already have like running water, you know facilities things going that way.  And so, I think that, and I know that we're not necessarily here to change, well yeah we are, we are here to change your mind about closing the ACS, but we, we're not asking you guys to necessarily stay on board unless you really want to.  We, we're asking the City to give us a chance to show that we can do it too because we do have a plan of actions.  We have a strategy in place that we can pursue further if given the opportunity for us to be able to stay open a little longer and there are many of us, although some of us can go like I said before to the shelter into the warming shelter and the Poverello.  There are, there are a lot of us that really cannot for one reason or another, mine has been explained already but some people happen to find other areas of Montana to go to or even some of them go out of state in order to be able to have some place where they can stay warm.  And so, I would just basically and I’m not really sure how to word this, so bear with me.  I would just really encourage you to reconsider things a little bit and give us an opportunity to show that we can stand up and take care of ourselves somewhat, even though we're homeless, that we can you know contact resources and get some help hopefully.  I don't know what else really to say in that area but I'm just, I'm just in a really big loss because if, if things don't work out to where we can maybe keep a campsite, there's a lot of us who are going to be put right back into the same position that we bring prior to the campsite opening and so I just think that if you could give us a chance to contact resources and then see what's available to us then, I think that many people can make this work and not only work for us to look very good in the City.  We've talked about permits.  We've talked about possibly pooling some of our money together because some of us do get a check every month, to help with the necessities such as the utility bill, the firewood bill, things along that line.  And so, I, I guess basically what, what I'm asking is for you guys just to give us an opportunity and a little more time so that we can benefit from it instead of taking a step back.  We need to be able to move forward and not step backwards.  You know and if you close just on us, then we're going to end up stepping backwards because we have a very short window here in which to show that we can meet the guidelines and such.  We've talked about you know staying in regulation with the fire marshal, laws, and stuff like that and so, I really feel that it's important that we don't lose the campsite.  And so, so I just asked that you guys just really look at this as a whole and I know that you guys aren’t homeless, but look at it from our perspective because we may be homeless in a sense like that, but we have come to make the campsite our home.  We all live in tents there and our tents are our homes.  When I go out and about, and I speak to people and I say well I gotta go home to check on my cats because my tent that is my home, that is where I live, that is my house that is my home and I cherish it for everything that is.  And I just would hope that if you guys were ever in a position that you didn't have a place to live, a house, with work concrete whatever surrounding you to protect you from the elements that there would be a campsite such as ACS that you could go to, to at least get out the elements of the weather, winter is here, it’s coming and it's going to get colder.  This is Montana, it's not one of the warmest states in the states.  So, you know, I just, I don't really know what else to say that I didn't say the other day.  I just would like to encourage you to just give us a chance, give us an opportunity to show that we can make the proper contacts and connections within the community to continue just to make it work, even if the City is stepping back.  I have faith that we as a unit at ACS can make it work.  We've talked about changing the name to something that's a little more unique, I guess.  I have personally come up with a couple names, but we haven't really delivered on that as much, but you know some of us have come up with a couple of interesting names.  So, you know, we just, we just need an opportunity to be able to show you that even if it's the City stepping back, that we can make this work because we can make it work for us and we, we've agreed a lot of us to put on jump into the site that we have with each other because some of us do having differences, we've agreed to set those things aside.  Thank you.  I just, I just hope that you guys will just hear our comments and take interest in what we really truly have to say in our hearts because this is our home and we don't want to lose our home, it means a lot to us.  We've benefited from it, we've, it's been a roller coaster ride I kid you not, but we have benefited from it.  I am a better person because I have a place I can call home.  I don't have to worry about living into a bridge and I feel safer.  I feel more secure, and I can sleep at night without having to worry about somebody coming up behind me and stabbing me or raping me.  So, by just, I don't know, I know that you're not here to change your mind to anything but I'm hoping there's something that we say that will actually help you change your mind maybe.  That’s about all I can say, I don't know what else to say.  Again, thank you for listening to our comments, we really appreciate it.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you for coming down and thank you for your comments tonight.  Thank you for coming down tonight and thank you for your comments, I appreciate it very much.

Travis Mateer Hi, my name is Travis Mateer, and I'm going to keep my comment to 3 minutes, probably even less.  I think what you're seeing tonight is the result of creating false hope that people actually believe the rhetoric the last decade which encompasses the 10-year plan to end homelessness.  And so, I think it's a problem when people believe the rhetoric and when the rhetoric so further deviates from the reality on the ground.  I'm actually not going to support the, the site that was created and wasn't really thought through with short-term COVID money.  I'm, I know you guys are preparing for the, the five million mill levy to fail and it's going to fail because EMT people and fire people, their jobs are getting more violent.  Hospital people, their jobs are getting more violent and when I have a mentally unstable woman come into the art studio where I have, where I'm living okay and I'm trying to get the crime victims advocate office to help me, I realize there's not funding to help me get an order of protection against a dangerous person okay.  So, it's getting violent out there for a lot of people and I know there's going to be some people who want to tug on your heartstrings tonight and that's, that's fine.  They're living difficult lives, a lot more difficult than mine because I'm a privileged white man.  I fully acknowledge that okay, but we need to be smart with our resources.  We need to let people know if we have actual treatment options and if we have actual consequences.  So, when someone pulls a machete out downtown, okay, we don't need good guys with guns, we need actual reality checks from our elected leaders, okay about what we can actually do to help people or hold them accountable if they're dangerous in using meth.  Thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks.  Additional comments?

[unannounced public speaker] We're going to talk about security later?

Mayor Jordan Hess We're talking about security later on, on the agenda….Additional general?  Additional general comments?  Anyone online tonight? I have Kat Kelly.  Kat, you should be able to unmute yourself.

Kat Kelly Awesome, thank you.  I’m here also as a resident of Ward 4 and a person who works in the housing justice in Missoula, to also speak in favor of extending the ACS contract, even just to the end of the year.  We've seen all across Missoula that 30 days is not enough time for even those with ample resource and connection to find housing.  I've had plenty of co-workers have to leave their jobs because they were in that situation and so those at the ACS, many of whom have spoken today, to find housing or a reasonable alternative for themselves to meet their needs within just 30 days is not enough time.  So, I'm here to support those folks and to say that please extend the contract for all reasonable services at this site and to support our unhoused neighbors.  Thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.  Anyone else tonight?

Zuri Moreno Good evening City Council.  Oh goodness, I, well first thanks for still doing virtual testimony, sometimes it throws me off a little bit.  My name is Zuri Moreno, my pronouns are they/them.  Oh I hope this will stay, maybe I broke it…. And I'm a resident of Ward 1.  I'm here to speak against the recent decision to close the authorized campsite by mid-November.  I think we've heard enough from folks this evening why that will be detrimental to community members who are staying there currently, and I think that we all agree here that Missoula is in a housing crisis and four to five weeks is woefully not enough time for those with access to resources to find new housing options, let alone folks in our community with limited resources and high barriers to accessing and finding other housing options.  So, I urge the Council to extend all services at the ACS.  I'm actually asking you all to do it through the spring because we are in a housing crisis.  We are in a services crisis and yes we are hopefully going to be funding some of those things, but we haven't found those solutions yet.  So, I want you all to trust the folks who have come here from the ACS site and listen to them when they say they have solutions and listen to what those solutions are and work with them to create a space where they can find stability.  I think that if the Council continues on this path of closing the ACS, in a matter of weeks, our community will likely see urban camping increase, which would result in additional strain on all City resources and additional interface between police and those currently living without housing.  And I know no one here wants more interface between police and folks who are living without housing.  I also want to thank everyone who has come and shared their story, all the service providers and volunteers and community members who are currently working hard to support ACS residents in finding other housing options.  They all deserve your support too.  The best way to show them support is by giving residents and advocates more time to find other housing options for folks currently on site.  As temperature, temperatures drop, it would seem a heartless decision on your parts to continue with this course of action.  I urge Council to keep the ACS site until next spring or at least until all residents are able to find another place to stay.  Thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you for your comments.  I have an online comment, Diane Stensland-Bickers.  Diane, you should be able to comment.  Diane are you able to unmute? 

Diane Stensland-Bickers There we go, finally, I was able to do it.

Mayor Jordan Hess Yep, we can hear you now…

Diane Stensland-Bickers I would just like to agree with the former caller.  I'll keep it sweet and simple.  Thank you.  Good night.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.  Anyone else tonight?

Beverly Hi, my name is Beverly.  Yeah, I'd like to echo a lot of what's already been said tonight and say that opening the emergency shelter is not a transition, it's not a viable alternative to this campsite.  There's a reduced like storage capacity for people's homes, like people's supplies, people's goods.  They can't cook there like this is a huge step backwards and I think calling it a transition to the emergency shelter is a misnomer, like there are so many people who live at the ACS who are either like not able or unwilling to go live there because it's not a place that they can actually call home, and I would urge you to extend that deadline.  Like it is unethical to close this place that is people's homes right before the onset of winter.  We should be providing the service year round and at least through the winter.  So, please, please consider changing that 30-day notice.  Thanks.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.  Anyone else tonight?

Joshua McGreevy Hello, my name is Joshua McGreevy.  I stay at the shelter or the campsite.  I moved here back in June, and I originally came from Bozeman they shut down everything out there and they try to force everyone into the shelters and being a recovered alcoholic, I don't like shelters with drugs and alcohol and everything, so I walked here to Missoula, and I've been here since June.  We've grown in relationships and if you shut it down, the people with dogs as well who stay there, we kind of work as a oneness in community where everyone kind of puts in everything to everyone else.  So, everyone puts in their food stamps, their money, everything is to provide for everyone else.  It's not about individuals, it's all about this oneness and community and if it shuts down I might just grab two bags and start walking to the next place because I don't no idea where I'm gonna go because I don't feel safe being around the drugs and the alcohol.  That’s my comment, thank you very much.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.  Thanks for your comments.

Maggie Bornstein Thanks so much.  For the record, my name is Maggie Bornstein.  I come here to talk about a lot of things, and I think I've never felt more devastated by such a choice made by our local government and to think that something so heinous could happen and be purported by people that I believed the best to be capable of.  On my way here, I was listening to music and I said to Daniel, oh this song would be so lovely and my mom would love it so much, but my mom doesn't listen to music anymore after my sister died experiencing homelessness, and to speak about this makes my shoulders go up and to speak about this so intimately makes my shoulders go up but I, I think that you can glean from the folks who are here that this is a persistent reality in our community.  And I am so grateful for the stories and experiences people have shared and again mine is micro compared to the people who are living in our community experiencing homelessness every day.  I think I'm particularly disappointed because in the meetings I followed the City Council has pointed to the lack of running water and heating at the ACS as a reason for the closure, but the ACS has been in operation for many months and that was not a deterring factor at all and held no relevance clearly to the City Council because they made no progress on establishing running water or heating mechanisms for residents of the ACS.  I would also like to speak to the intersections that people here have spoken to within their own lives and also bring light that this is domestic violence awareness month, and I will also express I'm quite disappointed by the City Council's lack of acknowledgment of that reality, as we are halfway through the month.  If I've missed that, my apologies, but I have not seen any acknowledgment of that and I think that for people, people here have spoken to their experiences that congregate shelters don't particularly work for people, people seeking stability but also people exiting unsafe situations or come with traumatic experience, one of them being domestic and sexual violence.  And so, to force folks into a congregate shelter facility, particularly people with those experiences and as somebody who has worked with survivors, I just know that that's not, not a reality that folks are capable of feeling safe within, as well as disability.  We know there's a really huge overlap in disability and, and homelessness in our community and so to expect people to be able to get back and forth between a warming shelter, it is just not a reality when we've heard about such success when it happens that service providers are able to meet people where they're at directly at the ACS.  And so again, I am so grateful for all the people who've come and spoken to their very real experiences and I'm hopeful that the city staff can work with City leadership.  This is an opportunity for genuine real leadership, and I would really like to see it from all of you, now more than ever, to really address this critical need that is eminent.  So, thank you so much for letting me speak.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks for your comments.  Anyone else?

Hannah Kosel Hello, my name is Hannah Kosel.  I’m a resident of Ward 6.  I spoke last week in committee on this topic feeling really frustrated and angry at our City's budget priorities.  Today, I speak to you with a pit in my stomach that has only grown since coming into this room but has been here since I first heard of the closure of the ACS.  My frustration has evolved into deep disappointment and my anger into sorrow.  I fear the future that many of the residents will face if there's no further action taking in these next few weeks to provide transition support for the residents.  I know that within the past few months it was announced that the Poverello Center will be housing veterans in the new units at the Clark Fork Inn, it's really exciting and also acknowledging the displacement of the current tenants that live there some of the lowest rent that exists in our town today and so therefore relocation funds and a lengthy timeline of over a year has been given to these residents to be a buffer in this housing search.  However, tonight you're hearing from residents in a neighborhood of over 60 residents, in contrast, they received a timeline of just 5 weeks to move from their sites.  As a result, many social service providers have sacrificed time outside of their positions to advocate for residents and creatively come up with solutions alongside residents that are consistently dismissed by members of this Council and by city staff.  I hear concerns from you all in winterization of the campsite and from residents as well.  This is really valid, as current codes only allow minimal shelter to be built on each site and then the residents have done the best they can to stay warm with the limitations present.  Just like last night at the camp, a resident checked in to see if turning on his generator would be too loud and interrupt my conversation with others.  Of course, it wouldn't and I admired the resourcefulness of the residents and ask for the City to help in transition to a new space with water and electric hookups, or at the very least update zoning and code so that the site and the residents can create the structures that they need to survive the winter.  In addition, I would ask that the winterized shelters from the temporary safe outdoor space be reserved from the residents of this site once the TSOS location is changed.  We are fortunate enough to tout the stats that there have been no deaths due to a winter exposure the past two years.  One of these being a year in which the ACS was open and many of the folks here today were living at.  Even when these sites were not winterized to their mass capacity, the medical site staff that is on site five days a week has helped tremendously to keep this haunting data at zero.  Now residents will change locations, spreading into hidden spots of our city to avoid being criminalized for existing in public with nowhere to go.  I hope with every ounce of my body that the crisis service levy passes this fall and if it does, great but then again our crisis response teams will have an even harder time reaching out to those who need support throughout the winter months because of this displacement.  We will once again extend and exhaust our resources by not funding the shelters that currently exist.  I'm appalled that the City thought they could close the site down quietly and it hurts even more to see that there's been a little done to repair the harm that has been caused.  I ask that each Council member here today thoroughly verifies all the solutions that have been brought to and thought out by City staff.  I ask that you look through our budget carefully to fund the extension of staffing and services through at least the spring, and I ask that you take to heart the testimonies of residents that you hear today.  No one is here to make a grander political statement.  No one is here to determine the good or bad members of Council; folks are simply here asking you to let them keep their homes or at the very least provide more support with the impossible ask that they have been given by you.  I believe that each of you care deeply about your community, otherwise, you would never subduct yourself to meet weekly meetings here in this position with such crucial power and decisions and I ask that you come together to create the solutions that keep pushing Missoula forward for all of our neighbors.  Thank you for your time.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks for your comments.  Anyone else?

Lindsay Nugent Good evening.  My name is Lindsay Nugent and I'm a resident of Ward 3.  I'm deeply concerned about the sudden announcement to close the ACS and give residents only 5 weeks to find a new place to sleep at night.  We all know Missoula is in a housing crisis and to do this to our neighbors just as the freezing weather sets in would be extremely unjust.  I won't pretend to know what faith the members of the City Council abide by, but I do know that bettering our community and caring for the folks who live here is a common goal of all of us.  My faith teaches that whatever you do for the least of our brothers and sisters, you did for me.  I hope that we can all see our common humanity and our neighbors here tonight and that our City Council does the right thing and reconsiders the decision to force residents to vacate the ACS.  Thank you so much for your time.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you, thanks for your comments.  Anyone else?

Bree West Hi, my name is Bree West.  I'm a nurse at the Poverello but what I have to say today doesn't reflect, it's on my own behalf, not the Poverello or PHC but I am going to reference my work.  I am like truly heartbroken to hear that ACS is closing.  I think it's been a wonderful resource in the community for so many people and as like many people have come and said today how much it is their home and how much it means to them.  I know that the Poverello and the J Street warming shelter have a lot of rules and restrictions for folks, and they're not able to meet them sometimes or they're not able to go there because it's a trigger for them for substance use issues or any other.  There's so many numbers of issues that prevent them from going to J Street or the Poverello, and I think ACS has been amazing in allowing those folks to have a space where they've really thrived, and I've seen many folks get out of homelessness.  They've been able to connect with their medical providers better by being at ACS because it's a safe place for them where they feel welcome.  And I know that there's a lot of concerns with keeping ACS open and the decision to close it, but I just urge you all to think about creating resources for these folks rather than only having the warming Street or the Poverello as an option since that's not an option for many of them.  And so, I would love to see ACS kept open until there are suitable resources for these folks and that they have a home and can be there, and I would hate to see folks this place, needing to leave the city just because there's not a place for them to go, especially the folks that we're working with medical wise and trying to keep continuity of care.  A lot of people, I think, would leave for the winter and then be back in the summer and would have I like missed a lot of their medical care treatment that we're currently working on with them.  So, thank you for allowing me to speak tonight.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.  Thanks for your comments.  Anyone else tonight?

[unannounced public speaker] I know I already spoke but….

Mayor Jordan Hess We only go once…..

[unannounced public speaker] Two people on the waiting room that….

Mayor Jordan Hess I’m gonna get to them in a minute, okay thanks…..Anyone else in the room?

Jessica Monis-Hernandez Hello, my name is Jessica Monis-Hernandez.  I'm a social service worker in the community and I'm just here to simply amplify the voices of the lived experiences that are here and those working very closely with the solutions that are trying to be created.  I think having a diverse variety of solutions to housing is important.  I work mostly with youth who may be houseless or in group homes that's my connection to this whole whirlwind of social services but just trying to think of at least extending the closure, giving people time to work together.  Something I love about Missoula is how collaborative we are how, many organizations and people get together to help each other, and I think with time, more good could come from that.  So, thank you for letting me speak.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.  Anyone else tonight?

Christopher Yenever So, my name is Christopher Yenever if anybody wants to you know solve a little bit of a homeless problem, I do enjoy going to the UC and the U of M library to charge my phone and read, but oh I trying to figure out the calculus to this.  I suppose it's because as winter is coming along there will be less of a general population of homeless in town.  So, there won't be as much of a need for other sites plus migratory national populations, some dangerous individuals, some other people who just prefer to be somewhere else during the winter, but I'll just expand a little bit on the general theory called the broken windows theory by Malcolm something Tadwell is a turning point book.  Well the broken theory, broken window theory goes that, as there are resources in town that are being destroyed, people generally rely on officials to get things done and that in itself is something, and as there are more resources put into things, it cost a little bit more.  People are generally unattracted to sites such as places with broken windows, people attracted to sites with broken windows are generally not the people there to fix them, and I guess there's another avenue to that.  Let's see, a broken window allows for let's see a bureaucrat to write regulation thus making further broken windows more expensive on the general population not on well I guess there would be a you know criminal charges or so if anybody gets caught.  So, let's see, I guess it's just sort of the malaise of the elective process that we might want to ponder a little bit.  Yeah let's see, a broken window would create opportunities for bureaucracy and regulations and well I suppose if this chat saved you may want to go over it.  That's about all I have.  I do want to come back later for security comments.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.  Next, in the virtual room, I've got Izzy Milch.

Izzy Milch Hey, my name is Izzy Milch.  I am a resident of Ward 3, and I am here to also ask you to find a solution to the proposed authorized campsite closure that doesn't lead to the swift and cruel eviction of the ACS's current residents.  By forcing the residents to leave the space so soon, you're forcing them to search for stable housing in a tight market under impossible circumstances just as winter weather approaches.  In the last month, I've heard multiple City officials and service providers speak with pride to the fact that to our knowledge not a single individual died of exposure in Missoula last winter.  This is progress we should be proud of and progress that this decision will directly jeopardize.  The authorized campsite came about because of a need in our community that has not gone away, and as you've heard from residents tonight a lot of the people there have nowhere else to go.  I ask you to listen to and respect the people living in this space and do anything in your power to give them more time.  Extending all services at the ACS through January, if not longer, will allow service providers and residents alike crucial time to access safe shelter.  Thank you, that's all I got to say.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you for your comments.  And also online, I have Katie Jacket or Jakay.  You should be able to unmute.

Katie Jakay Yeah, hi.  My name is Katie Jakay.  I am a resident of Ward 3 and I'm also asking you to keep the ACS open for the winter.  I think it's really important here that we respect the self-determination of the residents, the residents themselves like they you know they've determined for themselves that this is the best place for them, and this is the safest place for them, and this is where they want to be for the winter.  And we should do whatever we can and make that happen for them and that you know the solution to there not being enough services there for the winter is not shutting it down and preventing less services but in fact providing more services.  We know there is power on site, but the residents aren't allowed to use power and there's a water main on site, but it's not hooked up to allow the residents to use water.  So, those are the kind of solutions that we should look for and I ask that, I mean truly I can't imagine like anything that should be more important to you right now.  This is really people's lives on the line, and these are some of the most marginalized and oppressed and harmed people in our community and they should be the center.  Like whenever you're making decisions about anything that we do for the city like these people really should be the center because justice does not trickle down, it only grows up.  And so, whenever you're making decisions, I want you to think about these people and center them, because if we solve this we can solve other things but like nothing is ever going to get better if we decide that there's certain people that are, that we don't care about, that we're going to throw away, that we're going to like make decisions kind of behind closed doors and kind of sneaky and hope people don't see.  That's just, it's inhumane and it's cruel and it's purposeful and it's intentional and so I hope that you find a solution that is humane, and I hope you really think about this, and this is at the top of your priority list.  Thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks for your comments.  Anyone else in the room or online?

Josh Decker Hi, I'm Josh Decker a resident of Ward 1.  Let’s see, I oppose the closure of the ACS.  I think you should fund it through spring, if not indefinitely.  I want to take a little bit of a different frame; I think that the ACS remaining open is an opportunity for you as Council to model good behavior for landlords because like it or not, you are landlords of this site.  While you might maintain that folks at this site don't have a lease agreement, they signed a handbook, they live by a series of responsibilities, and that is an agreement they made with you.  And so, you can proceed in this way, which will have the additional effect of the tragedy that we have heard illuminated in many different ways tonight of writing a carte blanche check to every other landlord in town to behave in exactly the same way as you're behaving now.  And we can't have that and maintain the vibrance of our community.  Be good landlords in this situation.  Be the one, be the landlords that you say are out there like unicorns in our community helping folks out.  Thanks for your time.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.  Anyone else tonight?

Alex Catlitz Hey, my name is Alex Catlitz.  I, I'm a Missoula resident and I, I came a few months back in the spring asking for additional funding this winter for the Johnson Street warming shelter, which thank you all so much for you know stepping up and listening to us talk then and I hope you'll hear us now.  One thing that stuck with me and I wish I could put a name to who said it, but y'all expressed your thanks for a group of us that came to be a part of these in-person sessions and, and share our opinions because since COVID, people haven't been coming to these, to these meetings and expressing their opinions, so you haven't been able to hear from your community as much.  And I think, if anything we've done tonight, we've expressed our opinions.  I think we've had you know more people than I've ever seen at a City Council meeting, where people stand up and share how passionate they are about this, this topic and so I urge you all to listen to your, your community as we, as we're doing our very best to show, show our, let you hear our voices and had I known about this sooner, I wish I could have been here to express earlier in hopes to you know help share what our community actually feels.  And so, I just would like to put that bug in your ear and just remind you of the, the words that stuck with me from, from this spring, so thank you very much.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.  And anyone else tonight?

Andi Hoelzel Hi, Andi Hoelzel, Ward 2.  Everyone else in this room did such an excellent job of expressing the reasons that it's absurd to make a decision last week to close the authorized camp site, and expect folks to move in such a short amount of time, and we all know none of the folks who live there are finding adequate housing in that amount of time.  So, it's not worth talking about whether that's enough time at all.  Many of those folks probably wouldn't be able to find adequate housing in this town if they had a whole year.  Why?  Because this town is a really hard place to find housing.  I heard a lot of residents talk about how they're employed, how they're working towards solutions, how they're working in this community manner out at the ACS, and I think that's really wonderful, but I also don't think it matters at all.  Because you don't have to be employed or decent or working together as a community to deserve things like housing and healthcare and food and basic human decency and respect.  So, I don't actually care if anybody in this room is employed, they still deserve housing, they still deserve safety.  Honestly, I have come to this Council so many times and heard so many things about the priorities and the budget and your budget reflects your priorities.  It is unequivocally clear that this Council has a priority for policing the people in this City and not for housing the people in this City.  There are ways that you can listen to the residents and what they need.  They've done more than any developer who's come in front of this Council has ever had to do in terms of begging you, literally standing here begging you to hear them.  While this Council bends over backwards time and time again for wealthy developers when they show up here asking for something.  It's embarrassing and it is so devastating.  I want to be surprised; I am kind of surprised because there's a relatively new Council here, but I am so disappointed.  I would love for each of the members of Council to talk about how many rental properties they own, how many of those are short-term rentals.  Let's put that out in public, let's put that out for everyone who votes for you to know because there are people in this room who cannot afford one place to live.  So, if you have one that is a profit-making endeavor for you, that's a problem and we should all know about it.  Mr. Mayor I would also really appreciate if you would be clear about the other opportunities for public comment regarding security because I have seen a Council agenda a hundred thousand times in my life and the way that the security items on this agenda are written appear to me in previous times that I've come to Council to not be times when public comment is authorized.  So, I, I did hear you indicate that we would get an opportunity to comment at that time and I will.  Thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.  Just to clarify, those opportunities are under committee reports items 10.4.B, 10.4.C, and 10.4.D, and we do always take public comment on, on those items.  Anyone else tonight?

Laurel Hess Hello, my name is Laurel Hess and I live in Ward 3.  I'm a direct service provider here in Missoula used to work in finding housing for folks and just want to reiterate what other people have said about a 30-day notice is not doable at all.  Beyond that, I think it's important to listen to residents when they define what is housing to them and what makes them feel safe, and other options, other shelters really aren't options for a lot of these people and to disregard them identifying that and where they can be safe is, it's disrespectful and we need to listen when people bring that information to the table, including solutions.  And I would like to see people be more collaborative, more curious, ask questions about what people need instead of just making decisions, and I think that extent, giving service providers more time, at least through January if not until spring and look, being creative, using other options, looking at what's going to happen with the winterized tents for TSOS for example and listening to what folks have already done who moved there last winter and how they survived instead of just making decisions that you know we don't have the infrastructure to make a winter shelter or a winter campsite work.  So, please listen to residents, please listen to service providers, extend the contracts, and give folks more time.  Thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.

Winnie Lohoff Hello, my name is Winnie Lohoff.  I spoke in front of you all on Wednesday and I'm here again.  We have a pretty amazing crew; thank you everyone for being here.  I just wanted to give the reality of housing in Missoula.  I've been performing housing navigation for the past 2 years.  I've housed a number of people, specifically I was able to house someone who's been houseless for 23 years, 3 weeks ago because of ACS.  It was also because of TSOS and the Poverello and the hot team, but at the end it was because of ACS.  I, at one point, between my client being in TSOS and ACS, he was one of the first people at ACS, he was living in the woods and weekly, I would have to put my boots on and tromp into the mountain to find him and make sure that we could get him signing paperwork, and it was easier because when he lit when you live out in the boonies and you have to walk everywhere and you have to wait 2 hours for a bus and then another hour and then another half an hour, it's not feasible to be able to get to a meeting on time.  Yeah because of ACS, I was able to house someone and on average, it takes about 6 months for me to house someone.  It’s, I can't do it in a month and in the next 5 weeks, I will be down at ACS every single day helping the residents, if they want, doing housing navigation.  So, that means I am there from about 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. with paperwork.  We are buying people birth certificates, IDs, helping them get social security cards.  Because ACS is there, because it has an address, I'm able to put my resident down as housed because frankly them being houseless or not, is not many people's business, that's something that's very personal, but it's also because I've had landlords tell me your client is houseless I'm shredding their application right now.  I've had people tell me that and that is some of the most heartbreaking things I have ever heard is one it's one of the reasons I have thought about quitting my job.  It is the reason I have cried in my office, so I can call my client and say hey they, they denied you just because you don't have housing well they because you don't have housing history.  I can't tell my client the reason, but with ACS, I can tell my client, hey you've had housing for the past 10 months you have a step ahead and that is such a major difference.  I really hope that ACS stays open.  If we can't keep it open forever, at least until the Trinity project opens, [inaudible] housing voucher prioritized apartments are opening up in February and a lot of the residents at ACS will qualify for those.  We just need some time, we really need some time, and we need some compassion.  Thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you. 

Blaine Hi everyone, my name is Blaine.  I am here speaking tonight on behalf of just myself, as a neighbor from Ward 3, and I work at Partnership Health but reference that work, I'm not speaking for Partnership Health tonight.  Just to riff off of Winnie for a sec.  Yeah, so I have a job because Partnership partnered with the City to prioritize our most vulnerable residents and getting what are called permanent supportive housing vouchers and working in to get them basically into Trinity because you can look around and you can work for months and it's almost impossible to find folks who are, who are going to like rent to a lot of the folks that I'm working with, they're that discriminated against.  And so, currently I have at least 4 people who are lined up to very, almost certainly get into the Trinity who are living at ACS.  That work will be severely disrupted with the closure of ACS.  And in addition to that, like Guy and Donnie, for example, the site managers, I've used them multiple times as references in applications for folks because there's a, there's an address there and that's how it works.  I wanted to reference the Missoula Strategic Plan and specifically the part where it says how to use this plan and the safety and wellness section.  Providing life-saving services to Missoula’s most vulnerable citizens and partnering with our community organizations to ensure adequate shelter for people during the winter months.  And I wanted to go to the flip side of our, of some of our very hot summer months.  There was a very elderly gentleman who lived out there and I'm fortunate enough to work with the registered nurse on my team and a retired army medic, and the site managers who are, who are there were able to see that he was struggling and in distress.  They called my team members, Rachel and Chaz.  They showed up and Rachel was able to see that he was in severe risk of dehydration and death.  She called emergency services, and they were able to respond and so without this network that has, that's going on with these partners with their Community organizations, without my co-worker Rachel and Chaz, without Guy and Donnie being down there, without the community of neighbors watching out for each other, it's possible that this individual would have would have died that day, and it's the flip side for winter.  Closing ACS is not going to increase the likelihood, it's not going to decrease the likelihood that people will survive the winter, it's going to increase the likelihood that people will die for that very reason, that the community response is not intact, that people aren't, don't have eyes on each other for the same reason that we live in neighborhoods and we're safer together.  And so, when we talk about closing ACS, we talk about lots of different community partners like the, like the Poverello, like open Aid Alliance, like Hope Rescue, like the site managers who have worked their asses off, even individual Rogers security have huge hearts and they have helped tremendously and try to give back to residents.  And so, when ACS opened, J Street was pretty much already full.  The Pov, the usual thing, is still turning away 30 people a day, TSOS as of May has had a waiting list of 70 people, and since it's open, we've been, before we've opened, we've known all these problems we're bringing up.  On the first week I was there, Rachel, my co-worker, just looked at someone's rash and it's like yeah if we just had showers, we'd probably be able to deal with this.  So, like, we've known about the problems, and we've been slugging it out with the residents, primarily the residents, but everyone else involved to try and solve them the whole time, bringing them up, telling them that they're there, and that's what we're gonna continue to try and do.  And I think we, we really need the City, we hope that the City can come back to the table and help create that transition plan with the rest of the folks, centering the residence and trying to yeah keep working out these hard problems.  Thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.  And anyone else tonight?

Kate Morris Hi, my name is Kate Morris and I'm a resident of Ward 3.  The last time I spoke to all of you was 2 years ago and it was virtual, and it was about the same issue of housing.  And, in fact, I think you've heard from a lot of people who you've been hearing from for multiple years about the housing issue.  These are people who vote for you again and again, we pay taxes, we live here, none of that should matter, and I want to remind you all about space.  This town has made so much money in the last two years because we have space to offer people who can afford to live here and have their space.  And I used to work in homeless shelters and what you don't find there is space.  You have a tiny little box where you can lay your sleeping bag on the floor right next to another body, you have a tiny little locker area where you can put as much of your belongings as you could take with you right next to everybody else's stuff.  A lot of the issues that arise, where people can't stay in the shelters anymore is because they don't have enough space to be themselves, and then they, they get into fights and arguments.  How many of you would hate to have a roommate right now?  How many of you almost lost your minds when your children are home and you had to educate them?  Having space is really important and the people at ACS have the space they need to have the lives that they want, and to close it now and to force them into places where because of the cold they're going to have more cramped spaces, they're going to be more susceptible to diseases, health risks, temperamental issues, mental breakdowns because I get claustrophobic and I need my space and it's something that's been really hard for me as a Missoula resident, is in order to afford my space and I think a lot of the people in this room also are working on that, you've heard a lot of that here too.  So, when you think about how much money this City has made on the space that we can offer the people who can afford it, the least we can do is to afford space that we have to the people who already have it and wait for someplace else to happen, give them the time they need, and give them the weather that they need to make that transition because it's so cold.  When I used to, I used to work at the Pov when it was up by on by Pine Street or Spruce, and I lost people, and it was hard for me; it doesn't need to be that way.  Thanks.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.  Anyone else tonight?  Anyone online?  Cassandra Larson, online, you should be able to unmute now.   Sandra, are you able to unmute?  Ms. Rehbein, could you list out the phone numbers again?

Marty Rehbein Absolutely, I was just calling them back up.  Okay, so if you're having trouble with your audio, here is a phone number you might want to write down, even if you don't think you're going to have problems with your audio, 406-384-6960.  That is 406-384-6960; the conference ID that you will want to use is 387736445 and the # sign, and you can raise your hand by dialing *5 and *6 on your phone will mute and then mute it. 

Mayor Jordan Hess We will wait just a moment in case Cassandra, if you want to try giving us a call.  In the meantime, if anyone else in the room has additional comment, we can do that as well.  Okay, we'll move on, but I'll keep watching for a phone attendee.  Okay, one last call for general public comment.  Seeing none, we can move on to our schedule of committee meetings.

Public Safety, Health and Operations Committee, October 19, 10:00 – 10:55 a.m.

Housing, Redevelopment and Community Programs Committee, October 19, 11:10 a.m. – 12:10 p.m.

Public Works and Mobility Committee, October 19, 1:00 – 2:45 p.m.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you Ms. Rehbein.  We have some change, some committee membership appointees since we have a new Council member.  President Jones.

Alderperson Jones Thank you.  I wanted to appoint Sierra Farmer to all committees.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.  That’s in order and I’ll just note that we, we still do not have any phone participants, so we'll move on to our consent agenda items.

5.

  

Mayor Jordan Hess Items on our consent agenda were approved unanimously in City Council committees.  We save time on Monday nights by voting on those items as a package.  Ms. Rehbein will read the list aloud so that anyone in the room or anyone watching online will know what we're voting on and of course the supporting materials for those items are available attached to the agenda.  Ms. Rehbein.

Mayor Jordan Hess Is there any public comment on the consent agenda?  Seeing none, I'll check online, and I don't see any online either.  Any questions or comments from Council members?  All right seeing none, we can have a roll call vote.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you and the consent agenda is approved.

  • AYES: (12)Alderperson Anderson, Alderperson Becerra, Alderperson Carlino, Alderperson Contos, Sierra Farmer, Alderperson Jones, Alderperson Jordan, Alderperson Nugent, Alderperson Savage, Alderperson Sherrill, Alderperson Vasecka, and Alderperson West
    Vote result: Approved (12 to 0)
  • Confirm the Mayor’s appointment of Julia McCarthy McLaverty to the Cemetery Board to fill a vacated term beginning immediately and expiring on April 30, 2023.

    Vote result: Approved
  • Adopt a resolution requesting that the Montana Department of Transportation distribute the City of Missoula’s 2022 allocated share of Bridge and Road Safety and Accountability Act (BaRSAA) funds, committing to the City’s contribution of five percent in matching funds, and authorizing the Mayor or other staff to execute further documents as may be necessary for the distribution of funds.

    Vote result: Approved
  • Approve and authorize the Mayor to sign Appendix C to the State Maintenance Agreement with the Montana Department of Transportation for the Russell and 3rd Street Intersection Project cost reimbursement of $62,134.00.

    Vote result: Approved
  • Adopt a resolution of the Missoula City Council to repeal resolution number 7801 entitled “A resolution of the Missoula City Council expressing support for the Human Rights Campaign’s important work and authorizing the creation of a Domestic Partnership Registry”.

    Vote result: Approved
  • Approve and authorize the Mayor to sign the FY 2023 Community Justice Department Agreement to provide crime victim advocate and healthy relationships services in the amount of $195,377.00.

    Vote result: Approved

Mayor Jordan Hess We do have one special proclamation and that is…..

 

WHEREAS, osteoporosis is the weakening condition of the bones, which occurs when you lose too much bone, make too little, or both; and WHEREAS, American Bone Health and the International Osteoporosis Foundation report that worldwide one in two women and one in four men above the age of 50 are going to experience a bone fracture in their lifetime furthermore 25% of hip fracture patients die within a year leading to the question can osteoporosis be prevented; and WHEREAS, a first step, regardless of age or health is to ensure a bone healthy lifestyle including regular weight bearing and muscle strengthening exercise, a nutritious diet and, and avoiding unhealthy habits; and WHEREAS, October 20th is World Osteoporosis Day and marks a year-long campaign dedicated to raising global awareness of the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of osteoporosis, aiming to make osteoporosis and fracture prevention a health priority by reaching out to healthcare professionals, the media, policymakers, and the public at large; and WHEREAS, in recent years, thousands of people have experienced increased bone density from osteogenic loading, which is a system of four devices that trigger the body's natural adaptive response to stimulate significant growth of new bone.  Osteogenic loading is available in Missoula and is being utilized worldwide.  Now, therefore, I, Jordan Hess, Mayor of the City of Missoula in the State of Montana hereby recognize the 20th day of October 2022 as Osteogenic Loading Day.

Mayor Jordan Hess We have no further special proclamations.

8.

  

9.

  

10.

  

Mayor Jordan Hess We do have the four committee reports and I'm sensing desire around the horseshoe for a brief, for a brief recess, so we will recess and be back we will recess, and we'll be back in order at 7:45 p.m.

Mayor Jordan Hess Okay, we'll be back in order.  Thank you everyone.  We can move on to the committee reports portion of our agenda and items listed under committee reports were approved in City Council committees, but we're not unanimously approved, so, we'll, we'll work through these.  We have four of them tonight.  They're all from the Housing, Redevelopment, and Community Programs committee and I'll take motions for these items from Ms. West.  So, our first item is an appointment to the Affordable Housing Resident Oversight Committee and our standard procedure here is to check to see if there are any additional staff information, I doubt that there is in this case, but Ms. Rehbein, I'd defer to you if there was.

Marty Rehbein I don't have anything.  Thanks.

Mayor Jordan Hess Any, any questions from Council members?  Ms. Savage.

Alderperson Savage When is it appropriate, should, are we going to have questions for each one or are we voting on these separately?  How is this going to go?

Mayor Jordan Hess We're going to take these separately and vote on each of them.  So, this is just for the affordable housing resident oversight committee.  So, seeing no questions, I'll take a motion Ms. West.

Alderperson West All right, so the motion is to Appoint Julie Pavlish to serve as a regular member on the Affordable Housing Resident Oversight Committee, beginning immediately and ending on May 31, 2023, fulfilling the remainder of a vacated term, for the seat designated housing and real estate.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you, the motion is in order.  So, any public comment?  Seeing none, I'll check online and seeing no online public comment, any Council, any Council comment?  Ms. West.

Alderperson West I just wanted to point out that if you followed the committee meeting on Wednesday that we, we’re interviewing for two positions.  One of our interviewees couldn't attend, so that part of our process is being held open and we will finalize interviewing in committee this Wednesday.  And as far as Julie goes, she is an amazing, qualified candidate who has a background in personal finance, specifically trying to prepare people for home ownership and I think she will be a great addition to this team.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you Ms. West.  Additional comment?  Ms. Anderson.

Alderperson Anderson Yes, thanks so much.  I just want to take a quick moment to thank everyone else who applied in the interview and interviewed.  We had several folks who really brought a variety of knowledge, and the vote was split, which is why it's on the committee reports today, but we continue to be a very fortunate community to have so many people who are willing to give of their time, to serve on these volunteer committees.  So, thanks so much.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.  Seeing no further comment, we can have a roll call vote.

  • Moved by:Alderperson West

    Appoint Julie Pavlish to serve as a regular member on the Affordable Housing Resident Oversight Committee, beginning immediately and ending on May 31, 2023, fulfilling the remainder of a vacated term, housing/real estate seat.

    AYES: (12)Alderperson Becerra, Alderperson Carlino, Alderperson Contos, Sierra Farmer, Alderperson Jones, Alderperson Jordan, Alderperson Nugent, Alderperson Savage, Alderperson Sherrill, Alderperson Vasecka, Alderperson West, and Alderperson Anderson
    Vote result: Approved (12 to 0)

Mayor Jordan Hess So, our next three items, we'll take up in the order listed.  The first one is the contract for the Emergency Winter Shelter, the second is the contract for Operations Shelter Security Services, and the third is the amendment to the security contract with Rogers International.  I, before we do that, I want to offer a few overarching remarks.  I want to thank everyone for, for being here tonight.  I want to thank everyone for, for showing up to comment.  I want to thank everyone for engaging.  I want to thank everyone for being what, part of what makes Missoula the place that we love, which is a place that is a community where we care about one another and where we, where we work to lift up members of our community.  I also want to acknowledge that our work, the continuum of work that we do around houselessness is complex and it is challenging, and success is not linear.  We have triumphs and we have setbacks and one thing that anyone who's heard me talk much about this will has heard me say over and over and over again is that we iterate, and we improve.  Just a few years ago, we didn't have a winter shelter, we didn't have an Emergency Winter Shelter and a group of, of City officials and County officials were in a conference room trying to figure out how to, how to get some place open for the weekend.  We had an overnight shelter, but we didn't have a daytime warming shelter and we were trying to figure out how to get some place open on a weekend that was 15 or 20 degrees below zero, and Mr. Decker was there, and members of the community were there and we, we pulled together and we got the Mountain Line transfer center opened for a weekend as a stop gap measure to save lives.  And I can't say for certain, but I can, I, I believe that that absolutely saved lives because of our collective commitment to one another and because of the work that we did to serve those in our community.  Our and, and we, we haven't, we've had an Emergency Winter Shelter for a few years now and to the best of our knowledge, we have not, as several people have pointed out, we have not had any Missoulians die from exposure and that is a testament to that to that work and to that that iteration and that Improvement of our work and that's a testament to the good people in this room who work on these issues and it's a testament to the good people and city staff who work on these issues, and it's a testament to our service providers and it's a testament to our caring community, and our current work is far from perfect.  It is nowhere near perfect.  There is room for improvement and there is room to iterate and there's room to make it better, and we, that, what I commit to right now is that we continue to iterate, and we continue to make our work better.  I also want to acknowledge that closing the ACS is a heartbreaking outcome.  It is a devastating outcome and it is an outcome that affects, that has real impacts on the lives of people in our community and I want to acknowledge that, that we are making a decision that is in, in, in transitioning the ACS to the Emergency Winter Shelter, we are making a decision that has real outcomes on the lives of the people in our community that we serve, and that is that is devastating.  So, I just want to acknowledge that.  If the crisis intervention levy passes this November, we'll have a stable, long-term funding source upon which we can do some long-range planning, but the city and the county set up the authorized camping site as an emergency author, as an emergency option during the pandemic around the time of prohibition of elite of the illegal camping under the Reserve Street Bridge.  And we did that as a stop gap measure, and it was always contemplated to be temporary.  And if I were to stand up here today and say anything other than that it was always contemplated to be temporary, I would be lying to you.  It was always contemplated to be a temporary measure to get us through to another time, and that is not to say that there is, that, that we can't acknowledge the, the, that that hasn't that that outcome has a consequence.  We, as a City, remain committed to supporting the ACS residents, the staff, the providers throughout this transition.  We are meeting with providers, and we are working to make this as, as smooth as possible, and I recognize that that is not that that's not good enough for a lot of the people in the room here tonight, but we are working on doing that and that work will continue, and we will continue to work with providers.  We will continue to work with anyone who has suggestions on how to make, on how to make this transition as smooth as possible.  We are, we are balancing the needs of hundreds of houseless individuals in our community including, including those that are served at the ACS.  So, I acknowledge, I acknowledge all of that and I wanted to put that out there as a as a prelude to our items tonight.  We'll move on to the, the contract for the Emergency Winter Shelter, and I will turn it over to Ms. Pehan for any additional staff information on this item.  Ms. Pehan.

Eran Pehan Good evening, Eran Pehan with Community Planning, Development and Innovation.  We do not have any additional information or presentation to share with Council on the item before you regarding the contract for Emergency Winter Shelter, but are happy to answer any questions you may have.

Mayor Jordan Hess Okay, thank you.  Next up, so, we’ll take questions from Council next.  Ms. Jones.

Alderperson Jones Thanks Eran.  I did have some questions for you, just to get some clarity on some items.  Can you tell us how many people are currently at, staying at the authorized campsite please?

Eran Pehan Yeah, absolutely.  It varies day by day, but over the, we were at about 60 individuals and that has decreased over the last month or so, and I believe we are now hovering just a little under 50.

Alderperson Jones Can I follow up?  I've got several questions.

Mayor Jordan Hess Follow up, go ahead.

Alderperson Jones Okay thanks.  And with the Emergency Winter Shelter that we will be opening at the end of October on Johnson Street, what is the capacity?  How many people can stay there?

Eran Pehan So last season and I believe it will be the same in this coming season, the Johnson Street Shelter can accommodate about 130 to 140 individuals.  Much of that cap is in regards to staffing and configuration of the site as well.  I believe if we used all the spaces, we could probably use or, we could probably increase that by a little bit more but we, we simply have never needed to.  The shelter has never operated at full capacity before, it's gotten high on a handful of really cold nights, but nowhere close to full capacity for this season.

Alderperson Jones Thanks.  A couple more?  And I know staff has talked about the challenge of hiring staff to work at the Emergency Winter Shelter and the ACS, and this summer, I think for about four weeks, the ACS was not staffed.  We just did not have anyone out there other than Roger's security.  Can you talk a little bit about?  It's my understanding, is it's really the same group that we pull from to staff these places and that if they're both open at the same time they basically compete with one another.

Eran Pehan That is our primary fear.  You know, we did explore we, we have turned every stone over in terms of thinking of ways to continue to operate ACS, absent a 24-hour a day security presence, we would need to hire somewhere between six and eight additional full-time employees to run what is a 24-hour a day shelter operation.  In our conversations with our partners, they are facing extreme challenges in staffing their shelter facilities, as well.  You know, the Poverello Center is currently recruiting and attempting to hire staff to open up the Johnson Street facility and it is a, it's a very challenging employment market and we are hiring from the same pool of individuals.  We were unable to fill all of our authorized campsite coordinator positions.  We were able to hire two individuals, we needed three to four and after several rounds of recruitment, we just could not fill those positions and those were at wages and City benefits that I believe, believe we're higher, are higher than what our partners are paying.  And so, we do believe that that would create competition and filling those essential positions for Emergency Winter Shelter.

Alderperson Jones Thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks.  Next, I have Mr. Carlino for questions.

Alderperson Carlino Yeah for questions, I was, is it true to say that last winter the ACS was completely full with a wait list as the emergency shelter was open and also almost full

Eran Pehan I, I wouldn't say that that's an accurate statement.  We opened up the authorized campsite, we kind of phased it open over the course of several months and we opened with a lower capacity than what we ended with and partially that was because we opened during a very cold winter season and we learned very quickly that the site was not equipped to safely house folks during that cold winter season, in terms of ensuring adequate access to heat, water and other, other aspects.  So, we didn't really get up to full capacity at ACS, I think, until late spring, early summer.  I don't believe that at our regular winter shelter at ACS that transitioning residents who, who prefer to go and agree to go to the Emergency Winter Shelter would create a situation where they are over capacity.  We've, we've looked at those numbers, we've spoken with the Poverello Center, and others, and if this winter season looks like last, I don't think will be in that situation.

Mayor Jordan Hess Do you have a followup?

Alderperson Carlino Yes.

Mayor Jordan Hess Go ahead. 

Alderperson Carlino And is it true that we have almost $900,000.00 of surplus ARPA funds/pandemic relief funds left over right now?

Eran Pehan I would defer to our CAO, Dale Bickell, on that.

Mayor Jordan Hess Mr. Bickell.

Dale Bickell Good evening.  Can you hear me okay?

Mayor Jordan Hess Yes.

Dale Bickell We do, yes, at the end of the budget year, we had approximately $900,000.00 of, of ARPA, unspent ARPA monies that have been, that were officially uncommitted at the end of the budget year.  A couple of reasons for that, you know one is because the community has been very reliant on Emergency Winter Shelter and a lot of operation shelter programs, we wanted to have some, some funding left over for that coming into the next year and we are also you know at our, at our minimums at this budget year, at our, at our cash reserve policy and because we're still having a lot of inflationary pressures.  It acts, it acts as, as a as a potential relief for, for things that might happen next.

Mayor Jordan Hess Followup?  Go ahead.

Alderperson Carlino Yeah and when the federal government distributed ARPA pandemic relief funds to different municipalities, was it their intention to spend millions on revenue loss and millions on private security forces or was the intention to help people who had been negatively affected by the pandemic?

Dale Bickell Mayor Hess, I can answer that?

Mayor Jordan Hess Sure, go ahead.

Dale Bickell Yeah, so you know, the one thing about the ARPA dollars is that it gave, it gave broad authority to local governments to spend the money as they see fit for their community, whether all of the items you mentioned there were eligible under ARPA and it is and it was the City Council that approved those expenditures.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.  Ms. Sherrill.

Alderperson Sherrill Yeah thanks and I have a couple questions, if that's okay?  First, I appreciate Ms. Jones’ question about the staffing of the two sites because that's something that I know that we talked about in the committee.  Do you Eran, could you speak to, and I realized that the temporary safe outdoor shelter is a collaboration between the County, Hope Rescue Mission, and the United Way, but there are going to be some additional structures there?  And I do appreciate there was a woman that made a comment about what is, what's happening with some of those, those tents and I think that's, I, I appreciate you bringing that up.  I, I know this is not a city project, this is a county project but if you have any information on those two things since we are talking about different options for housing through the winter, I'd like to hear them.

Eran Pehan Yeah, absolutely.  The temporary safe outdoor space is relocating, as we know. adjacent to the Trinity Development on Mullan, and they do have some expanded sites with that relocation.  The temporary safe outdoor space does maintain a hearty wait list and so it could very well be that members, residents of ACS today. are on that wait list and are in line for or eligible for one of the expanded units that will come as a byproduct of that relocation, but we, I don't think we'll see a dramatic increase in availability as a result of that move.  We do know that we have other opportunities coming online in the near future as well with the opening of the first phase of units through Bellagio and of course the upcoming units, 30 of which are reserved for folks living on the streets or houseless community and that will be coming online in the springs, so those aren't immediate answers, but they are real answers to houseless experience, which is a home.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Sherrill.

Alderperson Sherrill Thanks.  Could you also speak to, I know that the Johnson Street Shelter is 24 hours, could you speak to the, there was some comments brought up about the storage area for people's belongings, as well as kind of access to food because that was brought up as well?

Eran Pehan Yeah, storage is very challenging across the board and it's something I think I talked about daily during my tenure, decade long tenure as Director of the Poverello Center.  What I can say is that Johnson Street does provide some limited storage and they do provide access to food and sack lunches.  It's not the same level of access that an individual sitting at the Poverello Center receives in terms of a locked locker for their gear and several warm meals a day but those are services that Johnson Street provides.  We are also working with providers including the mobile care team at Partnership Health Center, the Poverello Center and others on trying to create some unique solutions for storage for the current residents of ACS.  And so, we're trying to bridge that gap for them and try to identify storage, working with folks who have pets, and we know barriers present to having them go to the Poverello Center or Emergency Winter Shelter at Johnson Street.  One thing that I heard mentioned earlier tonight as well is what about those individuals who can't go to Johnson Street or the Poverello Center because they have what's called an out status?  And one thing we did talk about as a group of providers when we started to talk about the barriers and challenges at ACS that may need to lead towards closure is providing folks a clean slate, and Jill Bonny, the Executive Director of the Poverello Center and their Shelter Director, Claire Bopp, I know that that's a conversation they're having about how to allow folks a clean slate to come to Johnson and start fresh and have an opportunity to access shelter there.  And so, I think that's an important part of the conversation, to not walk into it assuming that that folks can't access services.  The Pov and their homeless outreach team are working with residents at ACS to try to provide some education and break down some of those barriers and make sure that they also understand that they can come and start fresh with a clean slate as well. 

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Sherrill.

Alderperson Sherrill Can I have another followup?

Mayor Jordan Hess Go ahead.

Alderperson Sherrill So, at the Johnson Street Shelter, is there, you know there were also some questions around medical care, and you know helping with getting having an address, getting an ID, the things that we know are barriers to finding employment and finding housing?  Could you speak to that please?

Eran Pehan Yeah, the Johnson Street Shelter provides all the same benefits that ACS provided, in that, in that realm, an address where an individual can receive mail, someplace where the Community Care Team with Partnership Health Center can meet with folks, can ensure they get access to their medication, can help transport to doctor's appointments.  And so, that, that is still a really essential component of care that people can receive at the Johnson Street Shelter.  The difference there, of course, is that it's not year-round and so they can receive that from November until April of each year and then we are in the same situation that we are in with ACS, that it is designed as a temporary solution to weather related concerns, but those are important conversations that we're having in the provider community and conversations that will be informed by what our community decides to do around the Crisis Services Levy as well and, and hopefully will lead to a broader conversation about how we maintain a year round solution to this problem and not a variety of temporary, weather-based solutions.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Sherrill, a followup?

Alderperson Sherrill I’ll ask one more.  I'm sure other people have questions as well.  Also, is, is there any assistance for moving from ACS?  Could you speak to that?

Eran Pehan Yeah, so again, we're working with our partners to provide assistance in the form of physical assistance, transportation and again working towards storage of gear.  We also have financial assistance for individuals who, who may need that, as well as who may have an opportunity to look at housing or who are in need of down payment assistance and things like that.  And so, we do have some funds set aside and we're working with our providers to try to determine the best way to get those funds to residents that they can assist.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.  Ms. Becerra, next.

Alderperson Becerra Thank you Mr. Mayor.  I have a couple of questions.  The first one is, how much does it cost to run the ACS on a monthly basis?

Eran Pehan That's a great question and I don't have that figure in front of me but it's, it's very expensive.  I would say that it cost on average between about $80,000.00 and $90,000.00 per month to run.  The, the bulk of that goes of course towards security services and staffing for the site and then we also have costs related to portable bathrooms, water delivery, supplies and such.

Alderperson Becerra Thank you.  My next question is, how much does it cost to run the winter shelter on a monthly basis?

Eran Pehan It’s actually a quite similar cost looking at about $80,000.00 a month to staff the facility, and the reason for that is that it actually doesn't cost much less to staff an intense facility for 40 people than it does for 140.  And so, we're really still looking at oftentimes the same staffing ratio and again the more expensive provision of 24/7 security staffing that we've had to rely on at the authorized campsite because we could not hire staff to staff it in that 24 hour a day capacity.  And so, we are serving double or triple the number of folks in the Emergency Winter Shelter for about the same monthly operational costs.

Alderperson Becerra Thanks.  Just a couple of more.  Is the funding to cover either one of the operations ARPA funds right now or is that a combination?

Eran Pehan Correct.  The funds that we are allocating towards the Emergency Winter Shelter this year and that we have been allocating towards the authorized campsite come from a combination of CARES Act funds and ARPA funds.

Alderperson Becerra Okay.  And lastly, will the staff that is currently employed at the ACS, work at the weather shelter?  Is that what's being contemplated?

Eran Pehan Yeah, so we would like to utilize, we have two authorized campsite coordinators Donnie and Guy who have done a phenomenal job in the last few months since they've joined our team.  Our goal is to have them continue on and support the broader system, providing support to Emergency Winter Shelter, continuing to support those residents throughout the transition and after the transition occurs and continuing to work with our providers on what we know are going to be ongoing continued conversations about again how we move towards a more sustainable year-round approach to providing life-saving services.

Alderperson Becerra Thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks.  Next, Ms. Savage.

Alderperson Savage Thank you Mr. Mayor.  I have a few questions as well.  I don't know if this question is better for you Eran or if it's better for you, Mr. Mayor, but I wonder if someone could talk a little bit about the process about how this decision was made?  This was a staff and administrative decision and not one that this Council made, and I think we need to draw that distinction really clearly and I know it came up in committee, but I'd like it on the record tonight as well.  I know that there have been months and months of meetings and so, I just would like a little clarity on how that came about.

Mayor Jordan Hess Sure, I can take a, an initial run at that and then Ms. Pehan can, can maybe fill in from the staff perspective?  And frankly, it was the decision you know as I mentioned already the, the budget, the adopted budget had funding for the authorized campsite the budget the Council voted on had had funding for the authorized campsite through this fall.  And staff, and, and myself and, and partners, were meeting to discuss what options exist for us and, and explore alternatives.  Our staff explored a number of alternatives, a number of, of options that, that you know ranging from, from extending the authorized campsite to attempting to add you know add infrastructure to it and ultimately, the, the staff perspective and, and I agreed was that it is completely untenable to run that service the way that it is run in in the winter with, with, in inclement weather with, with lack of infrastructure, with lack of access to water, with lack of services.  It was never designed for that, and it was never it was never built for that, and it would be, it was it was my determination that it would be untenable to, to attempt to extend that that for the for the winter.  We had a conversation with partners which included the Poverello Center and Hope Rescue Mission and Partnership Health Center, where we solicited feedback and requested any additional ideas that they might, that we may have left on the table.  And the general, I can't speak for the folks around that table, but the general, the general sentiment around that table and as I understand it, was that there were there were no options that were, that were tenable, there was no way to extend the service.  The, the partners were unable to take it over, the partners and, and the City didn't have a magic silver bullet to, to solve the problems that we're experiencing.  Ms. Pehan, do you want to add any more to that ?

Eran Pehan The only, that was a very thorough summary.  The only thing I would add is, is the history around how he moved into this space.  So, the City stepped in as, as the service provider really at the authorized campsite very tentatively.  We knew that we lacked the experience as an organization and the administrative infrastructure to run a shelter well.  Having, having spent a decade of my life operating a shelter, I, I know how deep that experience and infrastructure needs to be to do it well and we knew that we lacked that.  At that point in time, we, we did have vigorous conversations with our service providers and nobody was in a position to step up and do that work for very understandable reasons, the same things we're struggling with today, a lack of a sustainable long-term budgetary source and the staffing and to do it well that we were just in a period in COVID and now still coming out of COVID, where hiring people was extremely challenging, and, and we've struggled with that for the entire eight, nine months that we've operated the authorized campsite.  And we, we did pull those providers back together again in the last month, as Mayor Hess alluded to, to again have those conversations and, and learn that the same barriers had not changed for the providers and continued to present for the City.  And so, it's not, not without lots of hard conversations that we came to the recommendation that we simply did not have the employees or the budget or the infrastructure to be able to continue to operate the site safely.

Mayor Jordan Hess Any followup? 

Alderperson Savage Yes.  So, it is fair to say that you all did consider in the timing of this like the, the fact that it's October and we're coming into a winter, it sounds like the discussions were around not enough stopping not enough funding to go through the winter.  So, that has been up for discussion?

Mayor Jordan Hess Yes, absolutely, and, and also the, the opening of the Emergency Winter Shelter and creating, creating overlap and a buffer.  That was very much part of that discussion.

Eran Pehan And, and I, I would just add that, that I think we pushed it as far as we could and probably further than, than we comfortably could have from a budgetary perspective and a staffing perspective as well, knowing that we needed to get as close as we could to the opening of Emergency Winter Shelter and provide adequate overlap between transitioning away from ACS and closing that site and opening Emergency Winter Shelter to allow people some time,  I acknowledge not enough, never enough time, but some time to make that decision to transfer over to Emergency Winter Shelter or if that's not a viable option for them to work with staff at ACS and other providers on what might be an exception.

Alderperson Savage May I have a followup?

Mayor Jordan Hess Go ahead.

Alderperson Savage So, just to put an extremely fine point on it then.  If this body were to vote down 10.4.B, 10.4.C and 10.4.D, the ACS is still going to close on November 16, 2022?

Mayor Jordan Hess You know the fastest way to close, to close the ACS, would be to vote down 10.4.C and 10.4.D.  That’s, that is not a service that we can run without, without security at this time.  10.4.B, I think, I don't think that necessarily has a bearing on, on the ACS, but, but the other two certainly do.

Alderperson Savage Okay.  And then last followup….If, in terms of if these, these motions, if we vote on these motions tonight, if, if we wanted to keep it open longer what is the process by which we would need to, what would we need to do to make that happen?

Mayor Jordan Hess As Council?

Alderperson Savage As Council….

Mayor Jordan Hess You know…..

Alderperson Savage Procedurally, I’m asking like process-wise, like procedurally….

Mayor Jordan Hess Yeah, I mean, I think that would be I think that would be a policy statement of Council on a budget amendment.

Alderperson Savage Thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Yeah.  Mr. Nugent.

Alderperson Mike Nugent Thank you Mr. Mayor, I have several questions.  First, one of my questions Councilwoman Sherrill already asked about the, what we're going to do with the, the current tents and platforms in the current TSOS.  I might have missed it, but what is the current projected opening date for the new TSOS?

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Pehan, can you take that one.

Eran Pehan Yeah, I, I don't have the actual date in front of me.  I can confirm that with the county tomorrow and follow up with you via email, but I believe it is late fall.

Mayor Jordan Hess Followup?

Alderperson Mike Nugent If, if, if there are member or if there are residents of the ACS that are in line to go to TSOS, is their way to accommodate them somewhere in the interim?  Like if, if ACS closes on November 15, 2022, and TSOS doesn't open until December 1, 2022….

Eran Pehan You know, we are working …..

Alderperson Mike Nugent Are there alternative options?

Eran Pehan Sorry…We are working very closely with the Hope Rescue Mission who is the operational partner for the temporary safe outdoor space and so, we can bring that question back to them.  I, I do know that they, they're very involved in in supporting ACS residents through the transition.  And so, if there is an instance where there is just simply a gap of a few weeks to a month, we can, we can work with them to figure out how to minimize them and maybe provide that individual a space to be in the interim.

Alderperson Mike Nugent Thanks.  A few more questions?

Mayor Jordan Hess Go ahead Mr. Nugent.

Alderperson Mike Nugent Given my, my involvement with the United Way, I'm most familiar with TSOS and I, I really think that that's a great model.  My question is we've heard a lot about concerns over safety and health issues and infrastructure and all the above at the ACS.  Do we have any estimate of what it would cost to bring the ACS up to acceptable health and safety standards?  In its current format.

Eran Pehan Yeah, that, that's a wonderful question.  We have some limitations there.  I will say that a good majority of the lot that the authorized camp site currently sits on is in the flood plain.  We know, we believe that even more of that lot will move into the flood plain with the updated mapping that is occurring right now at DNRC and FEMA.  That prevents us from creating some of the more physical, long-term infrastructure that the temporary safe outdoor space will have, things like running water lines and putting semi-permanent or temporary structures on the site right now.  Tents are the only thing that we can allow for within a flood plain.  We cannot put any semi-permanent or permanent infrastructure, so we have those limitations.  Let's just assume that those limitations are put aside, maybe not as much moves into the flood plain as we believe will with the updated mapping project.  We have run some real preliminary numbers around infrastructure things like pulling the water line to the site and bringing in some of those basic utilities, and that will cost over $100,000.00, which, which if we were able to operate the site long term might be a good investment, but again with the, with the floodplain issues. we have there we, we're not we know today that only about half of the site could be considered for that type of development and we actually think that that percentage is going to decrease within the next year with those updated maps.

Mayor Jordan Hess Mr. Nugent, any follow-ups?

Alderperson Mike Nugent Only a few more.

Mayor Jordan Hess Go ahead.

Mayor Jordan Hess I promise….I think that I know the answer to this question is no, but I feel it should be answered on the record or at least we should put it out there.  Do you have any idea when the Poverello Center will be able to return to normal capacity or at least increase their capacity?

Eran Pehan That's something we've been following really closely as well, and for those not as familiar, the Poverello Center was routinely, prior to the pandemic sleeping upwards of 150, sometimes 175 individuals per night during the coldest winter months.  That capacity was halved during the pandemic to I think a maximum capacity of about 80 individuals a night and they have maintained that capacity based on the recommendation of the CDC.  We don't see that changing anytime in the foreseeable future.  I know that their director Jill Bonny was communicating with the Health Department and looking at those recommendations just last week to try to see if they could increase even by a little bit or start to incrementally increase to make more space available, and so it's something we're constantly talking with providers and with the Poverello Center about, but there isn't a foreseeable date when we think that will happen.

Alderperson Mike Nugent We've talked about security many times and at different points and committee meetings.  If we did not pay for security in our operation shelter locations, would they be able to function at the level they are at as far as service numbers?

Eran Pehan Well, as it applies to the authorized campsite and our last 30 days of operation there, if we do not extend the Rogers contract, we will essentially need to stop security services at that site immediately, and we only have the ability to have staffing at that site incrementally throughout the day with the two employees that we have working today, and so, we would have to make a decision to leave that site completely unstaffed and unmanned for the bulk of the day, 16 or more hours, overnights and weekends or we would have to choose to immediately close that site.  As it applies to our other sites identified in the contract and under the operation shelter banner, security has proven a very effective and supportive presence.  We heard earlier this year in, in a survey of the neighborhood and of residents of the sites that have a security presence that there is a mixed response.  Security makes some folks feel uneasy and it makes other folks feel very safe.  What we know is, it has allowed us to address some issues that are happening adjacent to those sites with neighbors and the neighborhood and area businesses, which have allowed us to keep those sites open and get more general support from the community and keeping those sites open.  As we've heard from some residents of those sites, it has also dramatically increased safety and their feeling of safety when accessing services from that program.  And so, I think at this point in time, it's something that residents of the program, staff of the program, and the larger community have come to expect, and I think it would be very difficult for us to remove that and have those programs operate, operate as successfully and achieve the outcomes that we're seeing them achieve today.

Alderperson Mike Nugent Great, thank you.  A quick followup of that.  We did, we have heard from several individuals over the last several months that disagree with the, the stance and security.  Is it still the general consensus of the providers and the partners at these facilities that the security plan the city has in place is the best avenue forward?

Eran Pehan I believe that to be true.  You know, we’ve worked really hard with providers over the last year to right size that security presence, to make sure it was just enough and not too much and I think we have gotten to a really good place with that where both staff and residents of programs, those accessing services at programs are feeling the support is there when they want it, but they're not feeling that there's too much of it or that it's an intimidating presence.  And so, I think we've, we've gotten to that place of fine-tuning that to, to make sure that it is more beneficial than it is concerning to those who matter most, which are those accessing services at those locations.

Alderperson Mike Nugent Last question…

Mayor Jordan Hess Go ahead.

Alderperson Mike Nugent For now…. You mentioned earlier, down the road it would be ideal to have a year-round long-term solution.  We obviously have the Villagio units coming on, the Trinity project coming on, the 30 transitional housing coming on, and several other investments in the community.  So with all that in mind, what, what does a year-round, long-term solution look like?

Eran Pehan That’s, that's a really good question and, and I think we just can't answer that right now because I think that answer has to come from those with lived experience in the community and our providers who have deep knowledge about our current system.  I think one thing that we're really eager for as well as the results of an evaluation of our 10-year plan to end homelessness, which are currently in motion, we're working with a firm to do an evaluation of the actions that we've taken today, prioritizing and elevating the voices of people with lived experience in that conversation and to identify the gaps that still remain in our system and are preventing us from achieving our goal of making sure homelessness is rare, brief, and one time only.  And that evaluation will be wrapping up at the end of this year and we'll have recommendations out this spring and I, I feel like we really need again to have those deep conversations with folks with lived experience and our service providers who are the experts in this community, and we need to have that, that research that tells us where are there still gaps and where are we missing the mark.  I think that will define whether a year, a secondary year-round solution and if so what that year-round solution looks like.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks.

Alderperson Mike Nugent Thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Next, Ms. Anderson.

Alderperson Anderson Thank you so much Mr. Mayor.  My question is for Mr. Bickell in regards to the budget and the remaining ARPA funds.  I think he's still here, there he is okay.  Mr. Bickell, you alluded to from comments earlier or questions from Council members that we do have a remaining allotment of or a remaining amount of money in our ARPA funding.  How have we operated all of the resources, ACS, Emergency Winter Shelter, and all the various components to our continuum of care over the last couple years?  What were the funding mechanisms for that?

Dale Bickell Yeah, thanks for the question.  We've used a variety of grant sources.  You know, all of these, all of these operation shelter programs are a partnership between the City and Missoula County.  So, not only have the ARPA dollars been used for that, but other special COVID related CDBG dollars, CARES Act dollars, and all of these fundings, when you add it all up between you know the three shelters and the Community Care team out of Partnership Health Center, security, the whole operation shelter budget is about three million dollars annually that it costs now, but that, and we've done that through all these one-time sources, that as the pandemic here winds down that we are, that is starting to dry up.  We, we did, you know intentionally at the end of the budget process protect some of that you know for to try to make sure we had some ability to continue some of the barebones programs, if we don't have a permanent source but that's, that's where we're at.

Alderperson Anderson May I have a followup? 

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Anderson.

Alderperson Anderson Okay.  I think the important points that I heard you say were that the majority of the funding that we have used up to this point to operate all of the services up over the last couple years have been one time sources and we do not have a dedicated revenue source to continue this moving on in the, in, beyond the end of the ARPA dollars, correct?

Dale Bickell Yes, that's, that's correct.

Alderperson Anderson Right.  So, it would be safe to say that if the crisis levy does not pass, we will not have a continued funding source and the only remaining source of funding we would have to operate anything next winter would be the remaining $900,000.00 that we're holding over or there are no holding over is not the right word, the remaining $900,000.00 we have from the allotted amount of ARPA funds that we were given in the beginning?

Dale Bickell That’s right.  You know, because the you know the, you know, we have limited ability under current property tax law to raise general fund dollars. which is would be the source for this.  And so, the other, the other alternative would be to redo services in other areas.

Alderperson Anderson Thank you.  And may I have one more followup?

Mayor Jordan Hess Go ahead Ms. Anderson.

Alderperson Anderson Thank you.  And in regards to revenue loss being an allocated ARPA funding, that, if my understanding is correct from conversations over the last couple years, is that actually went to pay for the additional overtime that our first responders accrued during the pandemic because they were you know, they didn't get to work from home many of them got sick and they were recruiting quite a bit of overtime, so we were able to backfill our general fund budget with those ARPA dollars to cover the cost of our first responders for their time in you know still serving the community and operating clinics to give, they helped with COVID clinics and shots and, and testing sites, and things like.  That, that was what the quote-unquote revenue loss is, was that backfilling of that accrued cost, correct?

Dale Bickell Yeah, back filling with those costs, reimbursements to the health department for pandemic response, a lot, you know a lot of those pandemic expenses and, and you know there, a lot of that is referred to as revenue loss in our budget documents because that is what the American Rescue Plan Act called, called it and it was to reimburse local governments for those lost revenues and, and in fact the, the rule was very broad.  They essentially created what I called a standard deduction, so up to, you could designate as much as 10 million dollars as revenue loss of your ARPA and then use it for those for really any general government purposes.  You know, and I would direct people to our budget documents and our and our and we have an ARPA website that has a detail of where our FY22 dollars specifically went on that.

Alderperson Anderson Great and may I have one final question?

Mayor Jordan Hess Go ahead.

Alderperson Anderson And we have until, when we were given the ARPA dollars, we had, it was expected that it would be doled out over a course of years.  We have until what budget cycle to allocate the remainder of those dollars and then actually spend them?

Dale Bickell FY24 is the deadline for allocation and, and if it wasn’t committed, we have until 2026, I they're once they're committed we have until 2026, I believe were those dates.

Alderperson Anderson Thank you so much.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks.  Ms. Jordan.

Alderperson Kristen Jordan Thank you.  I have a couple questions.  The first one, I'm just wondering you know as it relates to representative democracy and having the right people at the table to make decisions, I'm wondering were any of the residents from the ACS at the decision-making table when it was decided to close it down?

Mayor Jordan Hess No.

Alderperson Kristen Jordan That’s unfortunate.  My next question is, how much will it cost an indirect and direct costs to close the ACS before adequate housing is found for its current residents?  So, I'm thinking about the increase in police patrols to move campers, we heard today in a different meeting that they're overstaffed enough, that they can't provide adequate protection in a neighborhood that's having some increased criminal activity.  We're going to see more ER visits.  It's going to take more time for our frontline service providers to find their clients and it's going to be, you know, there's going to be an inevitable demand on our criminal justice system, just to name a few of these direct and indirect costs and I'm wondering if anybody can speak to how much we’re going to pay in these direct and indirect costs in closing the ACS that we could potentially save if we kept the ACS open?

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Pehan or Mr. Bickell?

Eran Pehan I can, I can attempt to respond.  I, I think we just, we don't have those figures.  I don't think we've ever really had those clear figures.  You know, we could speculate, and we could make a lot of assumptions about folks landing in the ER or ending up in, in our criminal justice system, but it, we would be doing just that, speculating.  I think what we do know is that we're working very hard to make sure that doesn't happen and to work with the 40 or so folks who are at the authorized campsite to figure out if a transition to Emergency Winter Shelter supports them.  And in that instance, I would say that we would see the exact same cost to the community that we're currently seeing at the authorized campsite, that wouldn't result in an increased cost to the community because it's a very similar level of service.  For those folks who aren't well served by Emergency Winter Shelter, we're working to identify other opportunities and other, other options for them, acknowledging those are going to be limited and for that group of individuals, we could potentially see an increased cost to the community but putting any dollar amount to that would be really speculative.

Alderperson Kristen Jordan Yeah, thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Okay, there's no one else in the question queue.  Any additional questions before we move on?  Okay, so this is on the motion regarding or the pending motion regarding the contract for the Emergency Winter Shelter.  I'd entertain a motion, Ms. West.

Alderperson West Thank you.  So, this motion is to authorize the Mayor to sign and execute an agreement with The Poverello Center for the provision of Emergency Winter Shelter services not to exceed $350,000.00 funded by the City of Missoula.

Mayor Jordan Hess And that motion is in order.  Well take public comment next.  So, if you'd like to make comment on this, you can come on up.  This is just on the motion to authorize the winter shelter.

[unannounced speaker] Pronouns they/them.  I, I just want to thank Councilperson Jordan for expressing what I was sitting back here feeling this whole time.  I keep hearing we asked partners for feedback, we asked providers for feedback, all these people are at the table.  The number one thing in all community work that I have learned that I have taught to students is that the people who are impacted are the people who need to be at the table.  And the fact is in every single one of these conversations until the committee hearing last week, until tonight, the people who are most impacted were not present and it's because they were not invited.  They were not invited by the people with power; that's you all, you all, and the providers who are professionals, who are paid to do this work.  The people whose lives are actually being impacted were not invited.  They were not brought to the table.  I’d also like to say that Mr. Mayor, you kept saying that this was always intended to be a temporary stop gap measure, so were the security forces that you have extended now a plan to extend at least once have also extended another time because the last time I brought concerns to this Council about those security forces, I was told that they were going to be reevaluated and that it was temporary but yet here tonight on this agenda is a move to extend those services.  So, it seems to me that it's also possible to extend other services that were always intended to be temporary, and actually lastly, I will say given that all of those things are intended to be temporary, given that you know that in a year, you're going to close this facility, what is happening besides these huge housing projects that honestly are not enough in terms of the, the ratio of actually affordable units, it's not enough and we all know that.  Besides those that are so far out, what is happening to ensure that people have the resources that they need, that they have the access.  And one more thing actually, I'm so tired of hearing about where the money is coming from and what the budget is because you consistently find more money for the police, you constantly find more money for the police in the general fund, yet you don't have enough money to fully fund the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, you don't have enough money to extend the ACS, you don't have enough money, you don't have enough money, you don't have enough money, yeah….

[unknown speaker] Point of order…..

Mayor Jordan Hess Yeah, we don't applaud folks, I, regardless of the, of and we do that we do that to create a safe space on other items.  I understand there's a lot of consensus in the audience tonight but that's, that's our rules and we'll recess the meeting if it happens again.  Additional comments?

Maggie Bornstein Sure again, Maggie Bornstein here.  Again speaking of rules, sorry to wave my arms, but during the budget process, there were a number of times where public comment was almost overlooked, it is like I think you're working a long night so totally understandable, but I think it's really critical as Andie mentioned that right people have, have say in stake in all of this work.  I have a lot to say, and I had nothing to say when I came in and a lot of it is based off of the comments that were given by Councils and some of the comments that were given by Eran Pehan, and I mean no insult to Eran.  I'm sure that Eran works very hard and, and provides really important work to the city but I was really concerned with Eran’s inability to speak to what year-long plan would look like to address homelessness, given that that is the charge of, of that office and agency.  And I think that in my experience hearing like oh we're working so closely with providers we're working so closely with providers, people who are agency level who are making agency level decisions are often in disagreement with the people who are actually doing the very work and we saw that with a number of people who are represented here who work in a number of different agencies and entities.  I, myself have worked with families experiencing, experiencing homelessness here in Missoula and I could there's a certain degree of disagreement and policies and procedures and best practices, namely around what Andie has elevated as that the people who have lived experiences are being discluded from an opportunity to have what they know to work best for themselves, and their lives and their families reflected in organizational policies.  I also was really disappointed that after all of such incredible comment that was given tonight, I felt like a lot of people left and it seemed like the approach was to ask questions to distance yourselves from this really critical issue that you have to make decisions about, and you can't question yourself out of accountability.  And again, some of the answers to Eran's question, I can speak to Councilman Carlino's question about the capacity of the shelters.  We don't, we didn't have numbers on that and that I think is very vague to say that the ACS is operating at a non-full current capacity, but we don't know what that looked like it could be below it could like very close to below what it is now, and we don't really have answers to address that.  I will also say there is really ample research to drive your decisions out there and what is not quality research is a survey that was given to the folks who reside at the ACS.  I studied sociology, that is my background and I had to take intensive courses on research methods.  The first thing I said when I saw that research is oh I couldn't turn that into a class and still pass and I know that Councilwoman Jordan has also addressed the fact that that survey was given in a leading way and thus precludes a lot of really important feedback, but there is peer-reviewed data that speaks to how private security threatens the lives of people who are experiencing homelessness, there's global data, there's data from within the United States.  Some of the data that I was looking at earlier was from a New York City shelter where they found that private security forces, this one was specifically about Allied Security, which is a national corporation actually was involved in an often instigated violence in that shelter facility and while I'd like to think that people in our community are the best of the best and I really do believe that it's not that I like say I like to think that I really do believe that, but there's data and research to show that we're setting ourselves up for really dangerous opportunities.  I'd really also like to know, I wish Eran was here to answer how much it would cost to operate the ACS without private security.  I know we'll talk more about private security later and I also have some questions about Mayor Hess and I'm candidly super disappointed.  It seems like you were in long ongoing conversations about this, and it seems like we could have potentially given more notice to folks or made this decision earlier, which really would have helped out those partners and providers that were chatting about so much tonight.  I mean I'm curious also about the relocation funding that Eran addressed.  I'm not sure if it's coming from the City.  I know Councilwoman Becerra mentioned that around the Front Street development.  Again, I have worked with the coordinated entry system I'm aware of basically every private community fund in this community because I worked with families experiencing homelessness and I'm wondering where those dollars are coming from.   Are they Cares Act dollars?  Are they ARPA dollars or are they coming from the service providers that it seems like we've kind of failed by then perhaps asking them to, to facilitate this quick timeline and then again where are these dollars coming from?  There's not a lot of certainty and I really appreciate the clarification for Mayor Hess that, that this decision is a decision that has been made not by the Council, but it seems like you within staff and I think that all of us here have spoken extensively about the gravity of this decision.  I know it's not lost on you but I, I think that that's something that you'll really have to answer to within this community because as I said earlier within the research and data land, there is research and data to point to increased costs and burden on our medical system, increase costs in our criminal justice system.  In Montana, we're looking at increasing the financial and jail time penalties for a number of different crimes, which target those who are experiencing homelessness and in addition to the data that exists already around the links between criminalization on poverty and homelessness.  You know all of that is available for us to know and understand that there is perhaps never a more awful time to make this decision where we're increasing the opportunity of criminalizing poverty in our community and so I have a lot to say and I know that was kind of all over the place, so thanks for listening but I just think I'm I have so much to say because I didn't get really any answers and feel a lot of concern about the city leadership within that office which is addressing this.  So, thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks.  Anyone else tonight?

[unknown speaker] [inaudible]….. actually that's posing question format because I have no idea how to propose it as a statement.  What are the costs to the City regarding ACS given both the private and public options to security saving the public more than the private?

Mayor Jordan Hess And we don't do a back and forth during public comment but someone from the Council can, can ask your question at the end of the public comment.

[unknown speaker] Like I said, ask it all you want and public….. no, never mind.  I was going to say something that's going to insult you but ……

Mayor Jordan Hess I’m used to it.

[unknown speaker] [inaudible] ….. you're available, I think they'd say ask it.

Mayor Jordan Hess Any additional comments tonight?

Kevin Hunt Kevin Hunt, 308 Parkside Lane.  I first want to say those were just really great comments by Ms. Bornstein and she had to cover a lot of ground, the same reason I'm going to be up here three times and cover a lot of ground because these are all inextricably wedded and intertwined and, and a classic way whether it's intentional or not, but the way things work generally in, in governments and, and you know bureaucracies is to get to get an agenda through you break it into as small the parts as you possibly can, you atomize them into different committees if you can.  That's, that's, that's the best trick, but if you can't do that, you just atomize the whole thing and then you would limit you know really strictly limit comment to each little aspect, which in reality you can't do one of these things without affecting the other two.  And so, what, what's going to have to happen if. if something's got to be done, a lot of the questions that have been asked by some of the Council people too have been designed to like force bad force Hobbesian choices.  Well but if we don't do this, this boogeyman is over here well guess what you don't have to have the boogeyman anywhere and you know I, I would suggest that before coming to each Council meeting that each, each Councilor and the Mayor take a look at our articles two and three of, of the City Charter just, just to kind of you know get into your minds what your authority and powers are.  Article 2, section 1 makes clear, the legislative authority of the City is, is the City Council and has the authority to act or such ordinances and resolutions necessary for the protection and benefit of the people's health, welfare, and security.  The City Council shall be the policy-making body of the City of Missoula.  We move on to the duties of the Mayor, article 3, section 4 duties of the Mayor.  Well, the Mayor shall execute all the ordinances and resolutions passed by the Council and shall execute all agreements and documents, and in addition to shall supervise all the City departments.  Then there's some stuff about making appointments and this and that.  So, I, I appreciate the fact Mr. interim Mayor that you, you did come forward and, and kind of take responsibility for having made this decision which everyone said wasn't being made before but in listening to Councilor Savage what I hear is that's now becoming a cop-out for the rest of you….Oh,  oh but we're not really making this decision, the Mayor made it and, and staff made it and, and it was based on, on this the budget running out and we we can't do anything but you know right here in your rules you know you follow Mason's rules and you have your own rules and I'd like to draw your attention to rule 11, which you followed tonight by having immediately after these committee reports.  What's the next item on your agenda?  New business….what can you do under new business?  You can make a motion.  What can you do under these items?  Any, any one of these items if you don't want to wait till new business.  Well someone, one of you or two of you maybe I, I doubt there'll be more than that many votes for it could if you want to handle it now could make a substitute motion.  You know, there's nothing in your rules or in the City Charter that says it's the job of the City Council to wait for someone on staff or for the Mayor to hand right or to write out a motion for you and spoon feed it for you and that you can't do anything else but vote yes or no on that.  There's nothing in there like look there's nothing like that in there…Nope, you have full plenary authority just like any other City Council.  Imagine that you're holding a lot of power and all I hear all the time is we can't do…..

[unknown speaker] Point of order……

Kevin Hunt Well, so here have, here we have and I'm still going to try to point out….

Mayor Jordan Hess When a point of order is called, it is the duty of the chair to resolve the point of order before we continue.  So, if you'd bear with me for a moment.  The comments are supposed to be germane to the topic and I've given quite a bit of latitude on time and on topic tonight, and I'd ask that you wrap them up with regard to the….

Kevin Hunt I will wrap them up and it is very germane.  As I tried to point out at the beginning, you cannot address one of these without it affecting the other two.  My suggestion is that there be an either a third motion or a substitute motion and that that would be to do the following.  To, as a substitute, if you do it as a substitute motion it would be as an alternative to, to the next three or if you do it as an additional motion, you could do another as a third motion and the, the object of this would be to you know do, do the fun thing for the for the winter shoulder and to direct you. Mr. Mayor, to if you go ahead and execute these two agreements that you have here on the next two items, but to also direct you to open negotiations with Black Knight to also to roll in ACS security into its contract beginning when the 30-day extension expires on, on the Rogers International and then to you know to come back with, with, with that.   I understand that has to go back through committee and there has to be a public hearing on it but that is not a problem if you pass the other two which is your little stop gap for now but you but you still have the ability to keep the ACS open and to provide security for it and to address this issue with an up or down vote by this Council on use of those extra ARPA funds.  That's a way out, it's clear, it's right here.  There's no reason you can't do it and the fact that people don't necessarily know parliamentary procedure and don't understand how much power they have because it got so surrendered over the last 16 years, that's not a reason not to do it now.  I want to thank you Mr. Mayor also for the all the great work that's been done up to the present time on this issue and I would like to submit.  However, the problem isn't that it wasn't enough and wasn't good enough, the problem is it's absolutely irrelevant to the problem we're facing now.  We're trying to deal, we're trying to solve a human problem here, not whether people feel good or bad sitting up in front of this audience.  Thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you sir.  Additional comments tonight?

Christopher Yeniver Greetings, my name is Christopher Yeniver, that’s y-e-n-i-v-e-r.  So, I need to keep this a little logical.  So, there are those who are a bit organized in life and those who are a bit disorganized.  This disorganized can't live up to standards and the organized do live up to standards and that cost them dearly.  And so as a committee of voters and the elect, we spend a lot of time and these costs rise during this time, but these costs come from sales and properties and income, and I have increased those costs myself.  I have a, well last week Rogers International might be paying an employee of theirs collateral for my action and I am currently not going to sign a plea deal or plead guilty, instead those costs are going to have to be paid out from somewhere, I assume the City of Missoula but I wouldn't believe the City of Missoula would pay the security company for this incident, yet the costs are still there and now I guess I'm expected to pay a little bit of that back.  So, the broken window remains… that is the Poverello and that is the Turning Point by Malcolm Gladwell and I would just like to say for the officers here today that we shouldn't defund the police, that'd be ridiculous, instead I'm wondering if that what is it the pandemic relief fund could be just sent back to the feds and then you wouldn't have to abide by pandemic rules and maybe increase the size of the Poverello population perhaps if you're not following pandemic rules and just give them the money back, just surrender it.  I suppose that's about all I have to say, I'll just head out the door.  Thanks.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.  Anyone else on the Emergency Winter Shelter contract?  Come on up.

[unknown speaker ] I’m going to keep this really short because I've never been here before.  I don’t feel it’s really my place to take up a lot of time.

Mayor Jordan Hess Could you get your name for the record as well please?

William Spector My name is William Spector.  I live in Ward 3.  I think that's how new I am.  I'm like I don't really know the Ward that well, embarrassing right?  So, I guess I'm reflecting that.  I see a lot of embarrassment here tonight from people who maybe didn't expect this kind of response from an action that can't be defended morally, logically, and financially, as far as I can tell.  It seems to be absolutely no reason that you people would carry through with this action after the level of emotion you've seen tonight, you've seen financial appeals.  They tried to speak the language of the technocrats and the bureaucrats where everything is about money.  It doesn't seem like that works either.  So, at a certain point, what are the people gathered in this room here tonight to do if you continue to let people die on the streets?  Because I'm pretty tired of it myself and I might be new to this scene, the actual organized political scene here in Missoula, but I stand on the shoulders of giants because I learned from people in this town how to organize and I haven't really put the muscle into it before but tonight the embarrassment and just the shame, it's just shameful what I see from ….I know you people are volunteers and I respect it but my God it's just the excuses is just unbelievable in the circular logic and just the lack of honesty and integrity has upset me deeply.  I don't know, I didn’t write any of this down, this is from my heart, but I would like you all to do better and I'd like to stop hearing excuses as my friends die on the streets in this town.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.  Anyone else?  Oh, come on up. 

Joshua McGreevy My name is Joshua McGreevy.  I stay at the ASC campsite.  If it does get shut down, what would be a possibility of possibly opening it just a field or a piece of land that we could possibly go and set up our tents and govern ourselves, which is something I was thinking about?  Just in case they shut down… because I know camping right now, as it is, will be arrested and put in jail if we camp in town limits.  So, these three only options, the only options we have available, so I was thinking maybe just to possibly a plot of land that we can go and go in ourselves and stay and not be prosecuted or offend attacked for trying to stay out on the streets.

Mayor Jordan Hess We’ll be in touch and have a discussion around options.  Thanks.  Anyone else?

Bree West Hey my name is Bree West again.  I was just coming to say when considering opening the winter shelter, I think it would be important to also, I know we can't do back and forth, but just places when people get on and out or are sick for example COVID where they're able like where they're able to stay since they can't go to the Pov or J Street Shelter if they do have COVID or they are placed on an out.  So, it'd be great to know that when passing this.  Thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.  Anyone else?  Seeing none and for the record, nobody online.  We have a motion, we've had public comment, we'll have comments from Council, and then the vote on this motion.  And I have Mr. Carlino followed by Ms. Jordan.

Alderperson Carlino I appreciate everybody coming out to speak tonight and speaking last Wednesday on this.  A lot of the ACS residents told us why they can't stay at the Emergency Winter Shelter and why it's not an alternative, but why we would need both and you know some of those were from substance use or having a pet or you know all the all sorts of different reasons on why we should have some place for everybody to be able to go and have a safe space to themselves.  I hope that this is the part of the meeting where all of us tell our plans to keep the ACS open and talk about how we're gonna get that done together.  And earlier today, I sent a referral to everybody on the Council and Mayor's office and City Clerks to try and have a hold a public hearing on putting some of the surplus ARPA funds towards keeping the ACS open.  So, I hope that we can work together to see that referral come before us before the ACS closes.  Housing needs to be a human right in Missoula and it's up to us around this, around here and the people in our community who are organizing to make that true.  The only humane thing to do right now is to is to band together and keep the ACS open and to ensure that not only keeping it open that we provide running water, we've had plenty of time to make that happen, provide warmth, and provide a way for people to find permanent housing whatever they would like that to be.  We have plenty of money to do that; there was no lack of money in this city.  Not only do we have surplus ARPA funds, we've doubled our police, yearly police budget over the past 12 years, we've doubled that while our population has only gone up less than 15%.  And whether or not the crisis levy gets passed, we need, these are things that we need to fund every year.  There's no if, if we, if it doesn't get passed and we spend the surplus, some of the surplus ARPA funds this year, we still need to find a way to fund these things every year and to say that we can't spend the surplus ARPA funds now to hold it on for next year, would be, it's just, this doesn't make sense because we need to find some if the crisis levy doesn't pass, we need to find a way to fund these things every single year, not just next year since… So, I hope that everybody listens to the community, listens to the members of ACS who are asking us to, to not displace them, and to keep the ACS open.  So, I hope we listen to them by you know helping me with my referral or somebody else write a referral to keep the ACS open or I hope that we see the Mayor's office make an order to put money towards this and keep the ACS open.  We have the power to do that so we should do it.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Jordan.

Alderperson Kristen Jordan Thank you.  You know, I know the votes tonight are not related to the closure of the ACS but they all dance around the fact that it is closing.  The decision to close the ACS was done without consultation.  Most of us on Council didn't know until last Wednesday that residents had about a month to find new accommodation.  I'm on Council and I feel powerless in protecting citizens of the ACS who are my constituents.  When you come to speak, using your expertise as someone with lived experience, I will listen to you with an open heart, and I'll hold space for you by maintaining eye contact because you matter.  Simply because it was only ever meant to be a temporary does not mean that we have to be insensitive to finding a better closing date.  We could find the funds to keep it open.  As an example, on budget night, we were able to find $45,000.00 to buy a motorcycle for the police after hours of discussion related to not having additional funding for the Mobile Support Team.  We're simply kicking the can further down the block.  We know it's going to be cheaper and more effective from a service provider perspective to keep the ACS open for all the reasons we heard tonight and more, including less pressure on police to move campers living in non-designated places, ease of case management for all of our frontline service providers who are so incredibly dedicated.  I am so grateful for the service of our frontline service providers who are going to have to track clients down and scramble to find them a place to live.  We're going to use….. sorry I've just lost my place…. it's going to be a greater pressure on the jail and ER services.  Does everybody know that it costs $140.00 a night of your tax dollars to keep somebody in the jail?  It’s gonna get expensive and a basic ER charge, walking in the doors, at least $1,500.00.  Perhaps, we could find and retain staff if we paid more.  Perhaps we could find room in the budget if we asked our department directors to participate in zero balanced budgeting and exercise they're opposed to because it would take too much of their time.  We'll be paying whether we keep the ACS open or not, but one option works better for most, for our most vulnerable populations.  We're failing them by closing the ACS.  If it were important to all of us, we would keep it open and find the funds.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Sherrill.

Alderperson Sherrill I actually have a question, is that appropriate this time?

Mayor Jordan Hess Go ahead.

Alderperson Sherrill Is Eran still on here?

Mayor Jordan Hess Yes, it looks like it.

Alderperson Sherrill I’m, I'm actually curious about the question that, I don't remember your name, I'm sorry but the nurse here asked around the plans for COVID and the Emergency Winter Shelter.  Do we, what are the plans for that?  Do you, do you know?  Could you?

Eran Pehan I, I don't know what the Poverello Center's plans are for if an individual residing at Emergency Winter Shelter test COVID positive.  I know last year that individuals who tested COVID positive needed to quarantine or isolate outside of the facility.  It's been several years since we had a non-congregate quarantine in isolation facility or services provided by the Sleepy Inn, and we have tried to bridge that gap with short hotel room stays, as needed, during that period and I'm not sure how impactful that was last winter, but we can check in with the Poverello Center to see if special planning needs to be created for this upcoming season around that.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks.

Alderperson Sherrill May I make, just a followup comment?

Mayor Jordan Hess Go ahead.

Alderperson Sherrill I, I think that that's, that's an important question that I think we don't need to answer right at this moment because we're, we're voting on opening the shelter and the contract for the emergency shelter at this moment, but definitely something I would like to, to know more about because unfortunately for all of us that's still an issue.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Vasecka.

Alderperson Vasecka Thank you.  So, I'm going to comment on, on the vote that we have at hand here.  I did want to thank everybody for coming and and giving their lived experiences and their comments tonight.  I apologize I'm not there in person I needed to watch my kiddo tonight, but I, I am going to be voting against the Johnson Street Shelter this evening because I have had multiple residents, neighbors of that area reach out to me about inappropriate behavior, frankly unlawful behavior, defecation in yards, vandalism, theft, drug use, alcohol use, all sorts of unsafe behavior in that neighborhood.  And it, it does suck that the, the actions of the few ruin it for the many, but I do need to speak up for my neighbors for this one and so I will, I will not be supporting this portion of the vote tonight.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you Ms. Vasecka.  Ms. Jones.

Alderperson Jones Thanks.  Thank you to everyone who came down tonight and all of your comments.  I've heard a lot of different comments tonight about how much Council has and has not thought about this and how many meetings there were and there weren't and the executive branch their involvement and all this, I can tell you that I think people in local government in Missoula think a lot about this and work a lot on this.  And if we had more money and more options and more tools, we would do a lot more, but we try and do as much as we can with what we have.  We have an Emergency Winter Shelter that has been tipped up for the last two years that has provided more capacity; we never had anything like that before.  In Helena, my understanding is, they provide between 20 to 30 beds, that's it for the entire community.  We've got the Poverello; we've got the Emergency Winter Shelter.  I know we have more need; we continue to work on it, but we're voting on the Emergency Winter Shelter tonight.  It has had impacts on the neighborhood; I've sat through a lot of those meetings too.  The ACS has had a lot of impacts on neighboring businesses; I've sat through a lot of those meetings too.  These are hard things, they're hard things to do well enough so that it works for everybody, and I think that's our goal.  So, I will be voting for the Emergency Winter Shelter tonight.  I think it does need security; I would not tip these up without security and we'll be having that conversation next.  There are people at the ACS, if it shuts down, they were, they're going to have to move, they're going to have to relocate.  The Emergency Winter Shelter has twice the capacity of what the ACS is currently holding.  It has the alcohol and drug barriers that were referenced tonight.  I think we should be really clear on that; it is behavior based and everyone has a clean slate every year to go back there, and if they behave sufficiently to get along with everyone, even if they're using some drugs or alcohol, they get to stay.  So, there are options there.  It's not perfect and I know people have issues that make it very difficult to be in these situations, but it's what we've got right now and I also feel very strongly that until we know what tools we have into the future, it is important to be setting some of this money aside so that we have some flexibility, not for this winter, but for next winter to be able to do something instead of nothing.  And I hear a lot tonight about how much money we have all over the place, I sat through a meeting today where people want more police presence in the neighborhood surrounding the Pov, not security, but police, police presence.  So, there's a lot of competing needs here and I think people on this Council do the best we can with what we have.  So, I'm supporting it tonight.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Anderson.

Alderperson Anderson Thanks so much Mr. Mayor.  I'm just quickly going to say that I am excited to vote and support the winter shelter.  I was on Council that winter that the Mayor referenced where literally I think it was a Wednesday night and we were looking at the forecast and realizing that temperatures were going to dip to a dangerous level and people were scrambling.  The fact that we have the winter shelter, regardless of all the other things is, it saves lives it's 130 beds for people to be inside away from the elements and, and we have come a long ways, and a lot of that has come because we have been given opportunities to fund things with Cares Act dollars and ARPA dollars and things that we didn't have before.  The conversations for funding the original, you know, the weekend at the Transit Center where Councilwoman Jones and I were literally making sandwiches, to now having a shelter and a provider and meals and it has you know it is a full wrap around service.  Is it enough?  No.  Can we always be doing more?  Yes.  Is it always a balance?  Yeah and but I think that we're sort of with all the other conversations kind of missing the point that this is a really good thing that we're providing for our community and, and I'm concerned about how if the levy does not pass how we continue to fund this moving forward.  So, I'm excited for all the energy around addressing issues of our houseless neighbors and I hope that that energy will translate into you know getting out and you know getting the word out and….Because I don't know if the levy doesn't pass, how we continue to fund this vital service of a winter shelter that has proven to save lives in Missoula over the last few years.  So, I think, right now, we're talking about that and I'm happy to support it.  I think it's a good use of ARPA dollars.  We've addressed a lot of the issues the neighborhood has brought up, it's not perfect, but it is saving lives and it is putting a roof over people's head in our community, in a place where has inclement weather is unpredictable.  So, happy to support it.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you Ms. Anderson.  I don't have anyone else on the speaker list.  Anyone else?  Ms. West.

Alderperson West I just really want to extend my thanks to the Poverello for being an amazing community partner in this effort and being available to staff this resource 24/7, and to operate a site that is lower barrier than their main site.  I feel like this is getting lost in this conversation and I am actually unclear whether we have support for this from folks who have commented.  So, I just want to say thanks to the Pov.

Mayor Jordan Hess Mr. Nugent.

Alderperson Mike Nugent Thank you Mr. Mayor.  I, I appreciate everyone's comments around the table, and I appreciate everybody who's coming to discuss this.  I've wrote a lot of notes down for people's comments and they seem to be more aimed towards the next two, but I did want to speak quickly.  You know, I’ve been on Council for 10 months and it's very interesting the ebbs and flows of public comments on how business is done, and I will tell you it's the first time I've heard people criticize the Council for asking questions during the public period of asking questions.  We get to ask questions either at Council meetings or committee meetings; those are those are the public opportunities.  So, if we want these conversations to be public, that's the time to do it and I actually enjoyed a lot of the questions, as they went around the table from, from all the different angles because I learned things and I've wrote two pages of notes based on your comments and those questions, and I, you know, I don't know, I don't know what we're supposed to do on that front.  The other thing that I think in these big conversations where people like to throw around that there's all this money.  If, if the money is not public, we, we don't have anything to do with it so that's one, but two if there's public money and we talk about things like we're going to save money here by doing this or something like that, unless we could specifically say we're going to cut, cut from this budget and here's how, it's just a talking point.  Like we need specifics, like if we're going to move money from one place to another, we need specifics.  So, when we say, the police budget has gone up, what we're really say, what we're really saying there is if we don't fund the police at the current level, we're firing police officers and I think that we just need to acknowledge that.  Like, when we talk about that, that's what we're saying and I know people fall on all the different sides of this, but I don't think it does any good to just say, we could cut this from here because that would impact our service.  Like, we would need to actually know what that means, and I just feel like that's important for this conversation.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you Mr. Nugent.  Anyone else?  Ms. Savage.

Alderperson Savage Thank you.  I just kind of want to follow up on what Mr. Nugent said, and to be clear, I was asking the question about the closure of the ACS to literally get an answer.  I wanted to know, is that something that was in our decision making space or was it something in a staff and administrative decision-making space?  I also wanted it on the record because we did have very long conversations in committee on Wednesday, but not always do people sort of go back or sit and listen to you know our long committee meetings.  I also wanted it on the record to know what the process was and the reason for that is because there have been many, many months of meetings discussing the ACS and not all Council people are in all of those meetings all the time, and so I wanted to be clear about what was talked about.  Did we talk about timing?  Did we talk about winter?  Did we talk about all of the other options?  So, that's why I asked the question just, just to get that out there, and I am going to support this particular resolution because I do support the winter shelter and I do support the Pov, and so, that's kind of where that lands.  And I think that sometimes it gets frustrating when we, it, we sort of get accused of subterfuge or something and it's like truly, no we are taking this piece by piece because we have to take it piece by piece.  Thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Mr. Carlino.

Alderperson Carlino Yeah, I guess I just wanted to say that public commenters are allowed to comment whatever they want, and we should not be trying to cut people's comments off and not criticize people for saying their opinion during the public commenting session.  And my real issue is that we have people coming here asking us to help them not be displaced, asking us to help them have a place to live, and you want to comment on something that is irrelevant to this.  What we should be commenting on is, is how we're going to help ensure that these people have somewhere to live, and yes I support the Emergency Winter Shelter, but you know what's really on the line as well, is the ACS and making sure that those people are not displaced.  So, why don't we talk about that?

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Vasecka.

Alderperson Vasecka Thanks.  I wanted to agree with Mr. Nugent and Miss Savage and a lot of what Mr. Carlino was saying just now.  I did want to point out that when the ACS was first integrated into the community, I was wondering why Council didn't get a vote on that to, to see if we could vote Yes or No to see if the ACS was going to be in be in our community.  So, since we didn't get a vote on that, I, I think I mean what's really fair and what's not fair, but I don't think that we should get a vote on whether to shut it down.  I don't really know where I'm going with this, but it was just really interesting because a lot of the neighbors were, were experiencing a lot of frustration with the ACS in the beginning and since we didn't get a vote to put it in or put it out or not have, it, it's….I don't know, I don't know where I was going with this but I just wanted to point it out that we didn't get a vote to put it in, so I guess we don't get a vote to take it out.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks.  Ms. West.

Alderperson West Thanks.  Since we keep mentioning the funding of the ACS, I hope I can explain briefly state law and why we cannot bring a budget amendment at this moment.  So, it is accurate to say that it is not represented in our City Council rules or in our City Charter, but where you can find the rules that govern budget amendments is Montana Code annotated Title VII, Chapter 6, Part 4021.  This very distinctly spells out the process that we need to go through for budget amendments; it requires proper public notice and transparency.  We cannot bring a budget amendment to the floor tonight; that is not an option in front of us. and I think it is disingenuous to keep stating that that is an option.  So, I would really appreciate it if we stayed in our decision space that is in front of us at this time.

Mayor Jordan Hess Mr. Carlino.

Alderperson Carlino Yeah, I think that's pretty crystal clear.  I guess I'm just wanting us to address the people that are asking us to have somewhere to live, but the referral I wrote, it was to keep the ACS open and by using some of the surplus ARPA funds.  So, we just need to hold a public hearing but yes that can't be decided on tonight, but I think tonight we could at least acknowledge the people that came here asking us to have somewhere to live.

Mayor Jordan Hess Any further comments from the Council?  Seeing none, we can have a roll call vote on the motion to authorize the contract for the Emergency Winter Shelter.  Ms. Rehbein.

  • Moved by:Alderperson West

    Authorize the Mayor to sign and execute an agreement with The Poverello Center for the provision of Emergency Winter Shelter services not to exceed $350,000 funded by the City of Missoula.

    AYES: (11)Alderperson Carlino, Alderperson Contos, Sierra Farmer, Alderperson Jones, Alderperson Jordan, Alderperson Nugent, Alderperson Savage, Alderperson Sherrill, Alderperson West, Alderperson Anderson, and Alderperson Becerra
    NAYS: (1)Alderperson Vasecka
    Vote result: Approved (11 to 1)

Mayor Jordan Hess And we can move on to the Contract for Operation Shelter Security Services.  Again, I'll go back to Ms. Pehan to see if we have any additional information regarding the proposed contract with Black Knight Security.  Ms. Pehan. 

Eran Pehan Good evening, Eran Pehan with CPDI.  Staff has no additional information or presentation to provide on the topic, but are happy to answer any questions you may have.

Mayor Jordan Hess And start questions with Mr. Carlino.

Alderperson Carlino So, with Black Knight, is it true to say that they sent a false statement of compliance to the State of Montana when the complaint came up about them not having the manager on duty? 

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Pehan.

Eran Pehan I, I can't speculate on whether or not their submission was accurate or inaccurate.  I would just point back to testimony that Black Knight provided to you all in committee last week.

Mayor Jordan Hess Okay.  Mr. Carlino.

Alderperson Carlino Is it correct to say that Black Knight security was put on probation for one year from the State of Montana because they had two security officers, armed security officers working without proper licensing?

Eran Pehan Yeah, again, I, I can't speak to the details of that matter.  I do know that Black Knight spoke to the details of that matter on Wednesday and so I would again refer back to the conversation that occurred in committee.

Mayor Jordan Hess Any additional questions?  Mr. Nugent was that a question or?  Okay.  Anyone else?  Okay.  So at this point, we'll follow the same procedure.  We’ll take a motion from Ms. West on item 10.4.C.

Alderperson West All right, the motion is to authorize the Mayor to sign and execute a contract with Black Knight Security & Investigations for shelter services in an amount not to exceed $500,000.00, overlapping with and enhancing the existing services already being provided by Black Knight for the City of Missoula Parks and Recreation, Parking Commission, and City Hall.

Mayor Jordan Hess That motion is in order.  Public comment at this time, anyone like to comment on, on this motion?  Come on up.

Kevin Hunt Kevin Hunt, Ward 1.  With regard to the question that Councilor Carlino just asked about false statement of compliances being filed by Black Knight security.  I'm looking here now at a copy, a certified copy, on my phone of a final order entered less than two years ago on October 23, 2020 in case numbers 2020 PCP 104 and 220 PCP 105, and this was done to pursue it to a stipulation of facts, meaning that Black Knight ended up admitting all of this.  And you know, this, I'm going to end up asking you to go ahead and approve this but because you know the, the corner everybody's in but you know this I find it just incredible you know to, to have heard last Wednesday that based on oral promises, oral promises by the owners of, of Black Knight that certain things won't happen again.  You're willing to, to increase their authority and their presence and with, with armed guards when the basis of this final order, from less than two years ago was a false certification that they had, they had had a resident manager, a resident supervisor here in Missoula.  Do you know when he moved to Arizona?  Four years earlier, 2016.  So for, so, I don't know if they follow these things annually, if they do, then there's four times they lied.  They lied to the state of Montana, yet the City of Missoula is going to take their oral promise, it won't happen again.  It’s incredible, if I, if I was standing right here as a multiple felon who had been accused of per or been convicted to perjury a hundred times, I'll bet you would factor that into whether you believed what I told you.  This is just unbelievably bad due diligence.  Nonetheless what am I about to do?  I'm about to ask you to go ahead and, and approve this item and to approve the next one, even though Rogers International proved itself to be kind of a terrorist organization and the reason for that is to go back to what I talked about earlier before someone claimed I was not being germane.  And that is that, you can do these, both of these things and you can in fact endeavor to keep the ACS open because notwithstanding what Councilor West said, there's absolutely nothing in that statute that precludes this Council from passing a motion tonight establish that it shall be the policy, the policy of the City of Missoula, that the ACS shall, if at all possible, be kept open through the winter and directing the interim Mayor to reconvene with staff and with these security outfits to provide for the following things.  For Black Knight to roll in security over the ACS as part, to add that into the contract you're about to, to approve and to, to have to try to get that so that that kicks in when the Rogers International one expires.  And you know what, you've got time to do that and Mr. Carlino, in fact already, he's, he's ahead of me on this one, he, he's, he's asked he asked for a referral to be sent to the committee already but you know if somebody, if somebody has you know the gumption to, to not be too you know concerned about you know saying they're going to make a motion tonight that isn't actually already on the agenda, somebody could make that motion.  You could, you could approve both of these and then somebody could make the motion, I'd like to move that that this Council's declare this the policy of the City of Missoula that the ACS will be kept open until spring, if at all possible, and number two, that we direct the interim Mayor Hess to immediately begin work with staff and negotiations with supervisors to do exactly what I, what I mentioned through all the Black Knights operations, you know roll ACS into that as soon as Rogers International expires.  I don't want either of those outfits in Missoula, but you know what are you going to do now?  You know, because you know when it's said that these were always meant to be temporary, that's great but if you don't you know it's fine to say this is a temporary solution, oh by the way we're not going to tell the City Council really what's going on but we're going to have to shut everything down and we're going to do it right before winter comes.  It's like saying that it was, was always meant to be temporary doesn't, it isn't much consolation when you're going to shut these people down.  We're going to snow on the ground before you know before their eviction deadline.  So, this is just, this is ridiculous.  These are all red herrings and so this is the simple thing to do.  This is the easy thing you do.  This is what a student council would do at the high school, this is, this is, this it's that easy it really is honestly it's, it's there's no trick it's that simple.  Go ahead and approve these, these next two items and then go through the process with the referrals and the public hearing to, to also try to, try to roll in that new negotiation with Black Knight or whoever and then that can then that can come back in front of you, you know, and you'll satisfy the state statute, and hopefully it can get done in time.  Maybe it can't, but you already know, you already know that these people don't have enough time as it is.  So, I, you know hearing, hearing arguments about that or just they're going to be lost on me because it's like you know it's just like the wind blowing as far as I concerned.  So, a pretty simple process, anyone can do it.  High school kids do it all the time and I ask that you do it.  Thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Anyone else tonight?  If, if you’d just walk up to the microphone please so we can get you on the, the meeting minutes please. 

[unknown public speaker] If I have a question for Mike Nugent, who will you be referring to when you said attacking the Council?  I’m going to make [inaudible] go first.

Mayor Jordan Hess If you, if you have another question though, I need, we only go once.  So, I need you to get your other question on the record.

[unknown public speaker] Then besides that, I'm going to have to say and what was I talking about before?  About Dragonite, well no, not that many watches and damn…. I don't know. 

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks.  And for the record, that’s Chester Sipes again.  Ms. Bornstein.

Maggie Bornstein Okay thank you so much.  Again, I would like to speak to the private security, and I know that you must be very on track with the items, but I would like to address the comments made by Council member Nugent and Ms. Savage.  I found them to be extremely personal and in reference to something I'd previously addressed, and I was not at all offended by your questions and I would implore the City Council to continue to asking questions again in this realm specifically but on many issues.  But, to my earlier point, I am concerned about when we ask questions to prop up a singular model of, of housing when we've heard from people with lived experience and professionals that there are barriers to other forms of housing.  I felt that many of the questions that were asked to Ms. Pehan were very leading and I found them to not be reflective of a full scope of solutions, which I think both of you would, would agree with that there needs to be more of a spectrum of solutions and so I found that to be pretty hurtful and assumed a lot of my intent.  And so, but to speak to, to the security contract I think it's a false choice.  I think that we hear lots of false choices; we've heard we must sell the Sleepy Inn to provide funding for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.  We hear, we must have security to to provide winter shelter and the ACS, and maintain the Poverello Center's level of service.  I don't think that these are true.  I think that they're coercive.  I think that truly private security is state harm with all hands off, all the benefit of control and potential liability, distancing yourself from that to Council member Nugent’s point about police, right.  I think there are many people who do genuinely believe there are less, there should be less police officers in our community, and I am one of them.  And so, I think again to say that certain Council members comments about the police budget or disingenuous; I don't think that's true and I think it's important that we legitimize the perspectives of a lot of people in our community, and that again people are on a broad spectrum and so I don't think that's a really fair point to make, but again, I would just like to say that private security is damaging, it's dangerous, it's proven to be so within shelter settings and with this extremely vulnerable population and I think the data that the city is not applicable nor should be regarded as really data in this situation.  And so, I know that you'll vote yes on this because you've been given that false choice in me to think that's a, the reality that we have to live within, but it's not, and there are other real answers like hiring more supportive staff to respond to these communities.  Again, I've worked with the homeless community and in Missoula and I didn't need a gun to do it and I actually didn't need like any security to do it.  I only had to wear a panic button because it was connected to a domestic violence shelter, but I felt very safe and actually protected and supported by the people that I had the extreme privilege of working with.  So, I would implore you to think about that and think about what it would perhaps look like to hire people who have lived experience within shelter settings themselves, like the people who stay at the winter shelter or the people who live at the ACS.  Thanks.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks.  Anyone else tonight?

Andi Hoelzel [inaudible] Pronouns they/them, Ward 2.   I agree with a lot of the things that Maggie said about false choices and about the dangers of private security, and many of you know from the very first time that I saw an armed guard across the street from my house, a heavily armed guard, not like a little, I, I don't like any of them but not a little gun like an AR whatever the hell over his shoulder across the street from my house at the park.  Many of you know from that day because I emailed many of you that I am not okay with private security patrolling my neighborhood.  I know that I've heard now from a number of people that there were surveys and that neighbors feel safer.  I would ask that the money that's spent on private security be spent on education.  Council person Jones, I can tell that you don't like what I'm saying, I'm going to ask you to still respectfully listen to me and not make that face at me again.  There are actually conversations that need to be had about what safety is.  If you don't feel safe because somebody's defecating in your front yard, that's actually not an issue of safety.  If you don't feel safe because somebody stole something from your porch or your backyard, that's actually not an issue of safety.  So, what is actually more important is it property in the protection of capital or is it about human beings?  I don't feel safe with private security patrolling my neighborhood.  I don't feel safer, and I do live in the Pov neighborhood.  Many of you are protected from the Pov neighborhood or the J shelter neighborhood or the ACS.  I don't feel I need to be protected from that.  I don't need to be protected from that by living somewhere else.  I don't need to be protected from it by private security officers either.  It's, it's not okay that we have made it absolutely essential that we say yes to a contract with a new security firm because we heard there were concerns about the old security firm and now there are concerns about this one, but we don't seem to be hearing them in order to be able to house people.  It's not okay that we've been set up with this idea that if we don't support this private security firm then we actually don't support the housing options that we're giving to, to people in our community.  This is about a lack of imagination.  What else could safety look like in our community?  ACS shelter residents spoke tonight about the community that they have established, about the way that they have been able to identify needs in their neighbors and, and call for services for that.  Like those are things you can establish in your neighborhood, on your block.  These, there, there are other ways to imagine this than armed security guards.  I don't need a cop literally patrolling, walking the perimeter of my child's elementary school, and I don't need private security guards with automatic weapons walking my neighborhood.  That does not make me feel safer and I'm going to say the same thing again when we talk about Rogers International.  I have interfaced with those people and maybe there are good ones, gosh we always hear that, but I have interfaced with them, and I do not feel safer.  So, the money that you're spending on them is and I'm a resident too and I'm a neighbor too and you all have heard from neighbors that they feel safer.  I would ask you what does safe mean for them?  Really, let's please define the word safe and as a neighbor, I'm telling you I don't feel safer.

Hannah Kosel Hello, Hannah Kosel, Ward 6.  I only live two blocks from the Johnson Street Shelter.  Thank you for supporting it to continue and existing in our neighborhood, excited to welcome the new neighbors and are at the area back again, not as equally thrilled about security that will be patrolling the neighborhood shortly as well.  Just wanted to like point out that this is $500,000.00 to be for security, but we just passed only $350,000.00 for the actual shelter, including staffing and that is ridiculous.  We have heard that staffing the emergency shelter is only about $15.00, some an hour, a livable wage in Missoula is at least $16.00, if not more.  So, I would love for a Council member to maybe ask a question around details around that.  I think if we're having staffing issues then we're not paying them well enough in that service, especially front line services doing the work that many of us are not supporting funds to go to, to support them best.  So, I'd love for some clarification on that.  And yea, I don't know just to echo the reality of my neighborhood is that I walk past the Johnson Street Shelter, I walk past the public park where maybe people are sleeping and staying, and I water my garden and in the middle of the night when it's nighttime because I forgot to do it during the day.  I'll play pickleball down the street during the middle of the daytime.  I will bike home from the bars at night with a really weak light that I should have a better one.  I don't feel unsafe in this area, but security will not make me feel safer in this area.  I feel good because I know my neighbors.  I feel good because I talk to them on the street, despite the fact that we don't have sidewalks on our street.  I was canvassing in the Northside neighborhood the other day, and someone was talking about, they had security concerns about their stuff, things had been stolen, they didn't love that, that's fair, that's not great when you're paying for things and that gets taken.  He said immediately like we need more cops patrolling, and I kind of took a step back, but I was like all right let's have this conversation.  Like I'm not gonna confront this right away and just even in talking to him for a few minutes, he had gone away from even hired police.  He's like actually, I don't really want other people who are not in my neighborhood to come in he was like, but I would love for my community, for the neighbors that I see outside to be watching this better, to be.  It was the people that he already trusted right, these relationships that he'd already developed, and I think that our community is capable of having these decisions and I don't want us to, to dismiss like the ability that we can have to think about other solutions.  I am in disagreement with this, but I thank you for operating the shelter again for another winter.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks.  Anyone else tonight?

[inaudible] Spector Ward 3.  I'm gonna keep this short.  I don't want to echo anything, they put it so eloquently, that I don't have much to add, but I guess I'll boil down what I see and what's happening here with this boat is the choice between a broken model of policing, that obviously doesn't work and a particularly dystopian, laughably dystopian model of it whereas there is no accountability, and it's all dirt, money, and stuff.  And you guys can point to all the things you want about how that's not true, but we all know how this system really works at the end of the day.  We know the value is by which it works and we know those values are reflected in the way we police our communities, and you were just you saw people come up here tonight pour out their hearts and tell you that the ACS has become a community space where people look out for each other and your solution is still let's have men from other places come with guns and sticks to police them, and you apply that in our neighborhoods too.  You invite strangers into our neighborhoods with guns and sticks to beat people and coerce them into doing what you want with your model of control that doesn't work, that's how we ended up here.  So, you can pour more money into this black hole if you want to and you can lose what little ethical standing you might have on this issue, but yeah, I mean it's pretty obvious.  You can choose the future, you can choose an alternative that actually works, or you can dig your own graves proverbially speaking by continuing to do something that doesn't work, and people can continue to suffer and die for it. 

Mayor Jordan Hess Anyone else?  Okay, seeing none and for the record, no one online.  We can now take public or Council comment.  Ms. Vasecka.

Alderperson Vasecka Thanks.  So, I do, I agree with the private security and I, I do hear the concerns of the folks who are not in agreeance with that, and I am open to changing my mind, I'm just not convinced about it yet.  That being said, I do disagree with the ARPA funding that is being used to pay for this because I believe that this was an issue that was before COVID, and I don't think that this is the correct use of those ARPA funds.  So, I will be voting against it, even though I do support the private security firms, if that makes sense?

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks Ms. Vasecka.  Ms. Jordan.

Alderperson Kristen Jordan Thank you.  I just wanted to thank you Andi.  I apologize because I forgot your last name and oh there you are thanks for bringing up the issue of safety and what it actually means.  I think that's a really good question and one that I talked about a lot in my campaign.  Safety is not having somebody defecate in your front yard, that's not a safety issue, that is a gross issue, it's a confronting issue but it doesn't have to do with safety.  Having things stolen is upsetting and it's in it's an invasion, but personal safety is not threatened in those instances, and I think it's really important to as citizens who are interacting with folks at these different centers to really ask ourselves, am I unsafe or do I not like what I'm seeing?  Because it's a really big difference, and do I not like what I'm seeing because it's different, because it's gross or it makes me uncomfortable?  Really important questions to ask, but whether or not it's a safety issue, I think we need to really think really hard about what safety does mean in our community.  When I worked for the county and the criminal justice sphere, we spent so much time talking about what safety means.  It depends on whether you're a police officer or a prosecutor or a judge or a parole officer, safety means something different to everyone, but really, are we threatened?  Is our, is our personal safety being violated when somebody defecates in our front yard?  No, it's gross and it's not okay, and we can work with our neighbors to make sure that they have the facilities and services they need to avoid that type of behavior.  The other thing I'd like to reiterate is that the survey that was sent out by the City to ask about Rogers International was flawed; it was heavily flawed.  It was poorly written.  It was designed for a particular outcome, and we are now using data from that survey to encourage more private security, and I'm frustrated as heck as a policy and data analyst that that survey went out.  It was a poor use of public funds.  It generated inaccurate assumptions and information that is now being used to push the idea that our neighbors feel safer based on certain things.  They had limited choices in that survey to answer correctly and accurately, and so, I think it really the onus is on us as citizens who are probably, you know, not housing affected who can go inside of our front yard and shut the world out, to say am I feeling unsafe or am I just feeling confronted?  Because it's a really big difference that requires a completely different response than one that we're trying to enact with this, with these proposals.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Anderson.

Alderperson Anderson Sorry about that.  Thanks so much.  I will be in favor of this this evening.  Thank you for those who commented.  A couple of things I think that were brought up that I'd like to take this opportunity to address.  The, we actually are splitting the cost of the winter shelter with the county, so the overall operation of it is not $350,000.00; it is double that, but yet we are the ones putting the bill for the security.  The winter shelter does actually employ folks who are houseless and the operations that I think that is a, a great way because to give them you know some on the job or some job experience and, and if they're interested in doing that work but I know that from over conversations last winter that they were working to employ folks with the lived experience.  A couple of other things… the safety thing, you know I think we you know as Mayor Hess commented that that this is all an iterative process, and that this particular security contract is different than our previous security contract.  Now, there are those in our community who do not want any security, and I respect that that feeling.  I also know my dear friend lives on Cooper Street within, right by the Poverello Center and says that she and her husband have seen a dramatic difference in you know the way they are interacting with their community and I have other, and Ward 5 goes up to Johnson Street, and I know that the conversations I've had with my constituents over, compared to the first winner that was opened with no security to last winter when it did have security were dramatically different, but I'm hoping that this new iteration addresses some of the concerns that the community brought up about feeling that it was too heavily presence of a, a security presence.  They're not going to be there full time, it's more of a roving, hopefully not as heavily armed, different employers, different philosophies.  So, trying to balance all of that you know, there, there is not one particular, you know agreement on, on things.  The other thing is, my husband loves to say trust but verify and I think Mike Brady who works for the City, who used to be the police chief is our safety officer and he is working to independently verify every single license of the Rogers security folks.  So, it's not just taking their word for it, we're actually verifying that they have the proper licensing….Black Knight sorry Black Knight… yes, so that yes it's Black Knight going forward, and he is verifying all of that.  So, we're not just taking their word for it we are doing our own internal, as we try to take the feedback, adjust, and move forward.  So, hopefully this will be a better experience for everyone and want to continue to have feedback on it as we continue to iterate moving forward.  So, but for right now, I'm going to support this contract and want to continue to have discussions about it as the new model is rolled out.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks.  Ms. Vasecka.

Alderperson Vasecka Thanks.  I just wanted to quickly and very respectfully disagree with my wardmate about the whole safety issue.  I, I do think it's unsafe if somebody comes onto my property, my private domain, and tries to, to steal something from me.  I, I don't think that I don't know at what length they're going to go to regardless of your houselessness or not regardless of if you're just my neighbor who wants to steal my bike.  I don't know what you're going to to go through to accomplish that feat of stealing my property.  So, I do feel like it is a safety issue, so we do not disagree on that, and I would like to, to have a further conversation with you about it.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks.  Ms. West, I saw your hand up but I'm not sure….

Alderperson West I think Stacie covered things I was going to say…

Mayor Jordan Hess Mr. Nugent.

Alderperson Mike Nugent Thank you Mr. Mayor.  I have said many times in committee meetings and on Council that I, I agree, I would like us to get to a point where we, we don't have security and I think that this step from Rogers to Black Knight is a, is a positive step.  I'd like to see us get to a point where the City can have employees that are most more social service based and, and do all those things, and I think that those are conversations that we want to have and we're talking about strategic planning and doing all that, but just because we want it doesn't mean we can fund it and life gets complicated and I understand that, but I do want to point out just because every time this conversation, passionate things come up.  Many of us have toured these facilities and had residents tell us specifically that the security was one of the reasons they felt comfortable there.  So, when we're talking about lived experiences, their lived experience matters just as much as somebody disagrees and that's the balance that we're in.  Much like the neighborhoods where, you know, one neighbor might like the additional security and one neighbor might not, my understanding is the, the extra patrols are going to drop significantly with, with Black Knight compared to Rogers and I think that's a good thing, but I think that we need to be aware in these conversations when we talk about things being basic human rights and I agree.  I mean people deserve a, a place to stay and it's a, it's a failure of society at a level that goes far beyond Missoula, kind of capitalism is the, the way of the economic structure of the United States and, and that filters itself into all of the things that we deal with but I do think we need to make sure that when we're having these conversations about rights that everybody's rights matter.  And I, I don't agree that that it's not a safety concern if somebody defecates in my front yard.  I think that there are different types of safety concerns, but I don't I don't think that any Missoula resident has to accept that and I, I think that we're getting lost in this conversation by kind of choosing one person's rights over another and I just don't see it that way and I I think that we need to be careful saying that because I would venture to guess that most residents of Missoula, including most the people at the ACS would say, absolutely, under no circumstances is it okay to defecate in somebody's front yard.  So, we need to make sure that we're not grouping that type of behavior with everybody who is there because I think that it perpetuates narratives on, on what houselessness is in Missoula and the vast majority of people who are experiencing houselessness aren't the people who are maybe fitting the stereotypes of homelessness that we like to see.

Mayor Jordan Hess Mr. Carlino.

Alderperson Carlino I guess I'll start by addressing the survey that the City sent out about the private security force.  Only about one-third of people said that it made them feel safer, so two-thirds of people said that didn't say that it made them feel safer, about roughly one-third said neutral, one-third said that it made them safer and roughly one-third said that it made them feel less safe.  So, why did we do a survey if we weren't going to listen to the survey results?  And I'm very concerned about this company hiring people without proper licensing.  Are we just letting anybody walk around and patrol our neighborhoods and streets with guns and have the ability to use force on our neighbors?  Apparently….Yeah, this is just having, hiring private security guards to do patrols around neighborhoods is like hiring a second police force because they're walking around with guns and working to, because they're walking around with guns, and they are acting trying to enforce the law… excuse me.

Mayor Jordan Hess Sorry, continue.

Alderperson Carlino We, it's not between police or private security force, we can come up with public entities to help keep our streets safe and help keep those in the shelters safe.  And there was many people that stayed at the ACS that came on Wednesday and told us that the security doesn't make them feel safe.  There was some of them, this is based off their lived experience, compared it to the Taliban and compared it to and, and many of them talked about how it made them feel less safe, and you know those voices are just as valid.  So, yeah, we need to, I mean, I don't know.  We've, I've been talking about this on the Council floor for nine months why we shouldn't hire private security forces to patrol neighborhoods and that's given us plenty of time to come up with public entities, non-militarized, humane solutions.  We're the government and you know we; we can come up with things like that.  And again, this $500,000.00 that would pay my rent for over 100 years in Missoula, and the fact that we're spending it, blowing all of our ARPA funds on security forces is absolutely insane.  And I move that we send this item back to committee and then that way we can figure out how to ensure that the ACS can be funded in part of the, and part of things like this.

Mayor Jordan Hess Okay.  A motion to send the item back to committee is in order.  Per our rules, since this is a committee report item, it requires a majority vote.  Ms. Rehbein refresh my memory.  This is a debatable motion, correct?

Marty Rehbein [inaudible] but I think a motion to return to committee is debatable.  Jim will correct me if I’m incorrect.

Mayor Jordan Hess So, on the motion to return to committee.  Ms. Becerra, your hand was up before so I’m going to come back to you later unless you wanted to speak on this?  Yeah, okay.  Ms. Vasecka.

Alderperson Vasecka Yeah, I think that we should return this to committee because this is an important vote and I, I think that every Council member should be heard and be comfortable with their vote to make sure that everyone actually does say their piece and even if they disagree with the final outcome, at least they had their opportunity to talk about it.  So, I will be in support of returning it to committee.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. West.

Alderperson West Can I ask a question of staff?

Mayor Jordan Hess Yes, go ahead.

Alderperson West Okay, so my question I think is how the timelines would parallel between the opening of the Emergency Winter Shelter and the hiring of security for that site, should we send it back to committee?  I want to make sure that we aren't delaying options.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Pehan.

Eran Pehan So, so we are working on really tight timelines.  I can't speak with surety, but we have heard, as we've talked about at length tonight, that the hiring environment is very difficult right now.  Black Knight has requested as much lead time as possible to get staff hired, so that they are in place by the time we want to open Emergency Winter Shelter on November 1, 2022.  That’s already really tight and might not be possible, so we just should know that any further delays will impact our ability to have security in place prior to the opening of that particular site, and then to continue to provide the service that is already occurring in the community today, regarding the additional sites outlined in that contract in supporting the broader operation shelter efforts.

Mayor Jordan Hess Anyone else?  I guess I've missed Ms. Becerra on this as well. 

Alderperson Becerra Ms. West asked my questions.

Mayor Jordan Hess Okay.  Any additional comments?  Ms. Jones.

Alderperson Jones I’m not in favor of sending this back to committee.  People have had time to vet it and ask questions in two separate meetings now.  We had a lot of discussion this last spring into early summer on security, extensive direction to staff, and as a result they put out an RFP and we now have a contract, which is less security.  And that, in my mind, is the direction we should be going in and it is a compromise, but we also need security.  I would not feel comfortable having these types of programs without some level of security for the surrounding neighborhood, as well for the, as well as for the program and we've had a lot of testimony regarding that over the last two years.  So, in a perfect world, we wouldn't need security, but we do need security.  I would also point to, it's a section of the contract, the scope of work under paragraph three, all licensing and certification information is to be provided to Mike Brady who will be managing this contract.  So, I don't think we discussed that last Wednesday.  Also, the fact that all of the paperwork will be in order before anyone gets to serve in this role for Black Knight Security.  So, I think we need to keep it on the floor and vote tonight.  I think it would also be a big mistake to open the winter shelter and not have things in place to set the trajectory and create the environment that works for everybody because we spend a huge amount of time backtracking then.  So, I think it's important to get this done tonight.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Vasecka.

Alderperson Vasecka I want to respectfully rebuttal against Ms. Jones there.  We, yeah, we have talked about this in committee before, but I believe that we didn't anticipate how much time that we wanted to discuss these, all these votes last week.  So, I don't think that we had enough, ample time, to fully discuss it and get the questions answered.  So, that is why I'm still going to be in support of this and it was just we didn't realize how much hoopla was going to be about everything.  So, I don't think it was anyone's fault really, but I do think that we need to make sure that these conversations are on the public record and having emails to City staff and phone calls and backdoor discussions, I think that having them on the public record is is really important.  So, that is another reason why I will be in support of this.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. West.

Alderperson West Yeah, I just have a question, what question is unanswered?  And I also kept our committee almost an hour late on Wednesday.  I'm curious, yeah, yeah I'm just a little confused like, which issues we need clarification around exactly?

Mayor Jordan Hess To whom are you directing that question?

Alderperson West I guess, Daniel, you're sending it back to committee, what, what are you unclear about?

Alderperson Carlino I'm, I'm satisfied with the fact that we're not talking about the ACS past the next month when all the ACS well many ACS residents asked us to do what we can to keep it open.  So, I'm hoping we could find a way to if, if we insist on doing private security find a way to ensure that we include the ACS.  I'd prefer not to do private security at all and also, just we were running out of time at the meeting to where you know it felt like there was more unanswered public comments and questions to where I think it would be appropriate to spend more time on this.

Mayor Jordan Hess So, Ms. Pehan, this, this contract with Black Knight does include the ability to serve the ACS or a similar, a similar future iteration, is that correct?

Eran Pehan Correct.  The current contract includes the FTE equivalent that we would need in that roving security presence and so ACS operational or not operational does not impact how this could move ahead.

Mayor Jordan Hess And your staff received four security proposals, and this was the most responsive bidder that, that was, that, that met the needs articulated by staff, correct?

Eran Pehan That, that’s correct and I would go even further to say that this particular vendor shared our philosophy that security should be non-intrusive and should come with a very supportive and compassionate presence, and so we felt like this provider, above and beyond all others, shared our mission and our philosophy and was partnering looking to partner with us and creating a right size security approach that would put the needs of residents and program participants first.

Mayor Jordan Hess And if we don't get this done tonight, we potentially jeopardize the opening of the Emergency Winter Shelter on time?

Eran Pehan That’s accurate and I would also say that it would jeopardize commitments that we have made to this particular neighborhood to open the shelter without that security presence, that has been a big part of that commitment to this neighborhood in operating this for now two seasons in a row and, and I think that that has been a really important part of our partnership with the Franklin to the Fort neighborhood in that service.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. West.

Alderperson West I just would like to point out the obvious that our next agenda item deals with security, specifically at the ACS and that I, I guess, I'm not seeing a direct question.  Yeah, that’s all.

Mayor Jordan Hess Mr. Carlino.

Alderperson Carlino Yeah, thanks for that clarification Eran.  I was wondering if this Black Knight security contract does include the option for the ACS, why are we going with Rogers International?  Why is there a recommended motion to also hire Rogers International for an additional month?

Eran Pehan Yeah and thanks for the opportunity to clarify that.  Black Knight presented to us a different security model, which again pulled security back and had less of a security presence and we felt like was in alignment with our goal.  What that means is that Black Knight does not, their proposal does not offer the provision of 24/7 security presence.  We rely on that today to keep ACS operational.  We do not have operation, operational staff for ACS to support tenants and help maintain rules and expectations of that site, and so if we don't have Rogers to help us through that transition period, we would have to make the decision to lead ACS unstaffed for a huge portion of the day, upwards of 16 hours of the day and, and just have that roving presence or to close ACS early.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Vasecka.

Alderperson Vasecka I really appreciate all the discussion here and after further clarifying, I, I think I changed my mind and I do think it is important that we do make the final vote tonight.  So, I rescind my formal, my former support to send this back to committee and I, I think that we should vote on it tonight.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. West, is your hand up from before?  Okay.  Mr. Carlino.

Alderperson Carlino Yeah with more information that this does include or could include the ACS, I will revoke my motion to send it back to committee.

Mayor Jordan Hess Okay, so we're back to the main motion and I have Ms. Becerra.

Alderperson Becerra Thank you.  I just wanted to comment that I think people have different thresholds for what they perceive as safety, and I also want to say that I think a while ago I asked what public, public security will look like and the answer that I got from staff was that it would, it would take a lot of training and training would take a lot of time and we did not have the luxury of time when trying to address the issues brought up by the neighbors when we were opening both the winter shelter and the ACS.  I toured, I have been to the ACS twice now and on my first tour, which I think Mike Nugent was talking about, I felt really compelled to, to say yes to security even though, as Andi mentioned, I don't appreciate seeing a lot of security patrolling neighborhoods.  I'm not sure that that makes me personally feel safer, but I really appreciated one woman coming to, to us and telling us that she can now sleep through the night at the ACS because she feels safe enough that she's not going to get sexually assaulted.  As a woman, I feel that it is important to provide that safety, not just for the neighbors, but especially and particularly for those who are vulnerable at an ACS or the winter shelter.  I think we have to think about the people there were that we are trying to help when we're talking about security also.  So, I hope that we can get to a model that is different than what we have right now, but I do appreciate the ability and the opportunity to provide safety for people who live at the ACS and at the winter shelter.  Thanks.

Mayor Jordan Hess Okay.  Mr. Carlino.

Alderperson Carlino Yeah, I just want to say that I fully support having staff at the shelters and non-militarized, humane security, but I cannot support private security forces patrolling around the neighborhoods.  So, I'm gonna have to vote no to this and no also to the group that cover their faces while they tore down people's shelters, as well, after this motion.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Anderson.

Alderperson Anderson Thanks so much.  You know, I feel like I keep saying this, but I think it's an important point to reiterate.  A lot of these things, we've talked about wanting to have more permanent solutions, well we don't have a permanent funding source and so we are trying to provide these lifesaving needs and address long-term, systemic societal issues without a permanent funding source.  So, all of these are really complicated problems to solve and if we end up in this position, you know we're all here this time next year and the crisis levy hasn't passed, these will be you know insurmountable conversations because there will be no funding sources.  There will not be an opportunity to think about it in a long-term, permanent infrastructure, how do we build things that are more permanent, how do we you know build out that infrastructure, how do we hire staff trained staff all those things.  So, I mean I appreciate all the work the staff has gone in and to sort of addressing these needs with the funding that we have knowing that there is you know a ticking you know time limit on those funds, and it does present an impediment to building long-term sustainable infrastructure, while we're also waiting for places like the Villagio and the Trinity.  I mean in the next nine months, there's going to be over 400 units of permanently affordable housing available.  Is that going to address everything?  No, but is that going to be for 400 people who get to live in those places, life-changing?  Absolutely.  Will we continue to need to do more work?  Absolutely, after that.  So, I mean, I just you know I really appreciate what Councilman Becerra brought up, I absolutely agree but you know I think that without the dedicated funding, knowing and being able to put long-term plans and I think that Ms. Pehan was you know you know someone pointed out that they felt like her answer was inadequate well it's because she doesn't, you know doesn't know what the future looks like, doesn't know what the fun looks like, can't sort of say well if we have this money this is the long term if we don't have this money this is a long term because it's an unknown question and I think that you know we all have to keep that in mind.  So, thanks.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Vasecka.

Alderperson Vasecka Sorry, I know it's getting late or actually it is late.  I, I wanted to agree with what Ms. Becerra said.  I do absolutely think that on the private security is, is pretty crucial for this because of being a woman myself I have toured those facilities, the ACS and Johnson Street Shelter multiple times and, and I do want the residents there to feel safe.  The reason why I'm going to be not supporting this specific motion tonight is just because I purely disagree with the ARPA funding on it, not that I disagree with the private security.

Mayor Jordan Hess Okay, there's no one else on the speaker list.  One last opportunity, if anyone wants to speak?  Seeing none, we can have a roll call vote.  Ms. Rehbein.

  • Moved by:Alderperson West

    Authorize the Mayor to sign and execute a contract with Black Knight Security & Investigations for shelter services in an amount not to exceed $500,000, overlapping with and enhancing the existing services already being provided by Black Knight for the City of Missoula Parks and Recreation, Parking Commission, and City Hall.

    AYES: (9)Alderperson Contos, Sierra Farmer, Alderperson Jones, Alderperson Nugent, Alderperson Savage, Alderperson Sherrill, Alderperson West, Alderperson Anderson, and Alderperson Becerra
    NAYS: (3)Alderperson Jordan, Alderperson Vasecka, and Alderperson Carlino
    Vote result: Approved (9 to 3)

Mayor Jordan Hess And we can move on to item 10.4.D and this is an amendment to the security contract with Rogers International.  Again, Ms. Pehan for any additional information from staff.

Eran Pehan Staff has no new information or presentation on this item, but are happy to answer questions.

Mayor Jordan Hess Great, questions from Council? Ms. Sherrill.

Alderperson Sherrill I just want to clarify.  Eran, the reason we have Rogers on this is just a continuation of service and that we don't have a contract with Black Knight, so we're just continuing this one month of service from Rogers, right?

Eran Pehan Correct, I might clarify a little.  So, we, we are are hopefully beginning the contract with Rogers International beginning November 1, 2022.  That contract will be in place and will pick up currently served sites under operation shelter like the area adjacent to the Poverello Center, some work within our park systems and other, other areas as identified in the scope of work for that contract.  This amendment for the contract for Rogers is specific to the authorized campsite; it does two things.  One of those is to amend the budget to support services for the remainder of October.  In the current budget, we were overextended in the current budget two to three weeks of reimbursement for costs incurred.  It also extends that through no through November when we know that we will need Rogers on the site there to assist with keeping the site operational with that 24-hour a day security, and then also to continue to support the site and adjacent businesses following the closure when we know that there will still be a lot of individuals in the area, and some may be camping in the area and so, it is specific though to the transition of the authorized campsite and providing those services in that vicinity.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks.  Additional questions? Seeing none, Ms. West,  I'll take a motion.

Alderperson West Thank you.  All right, the last motion of the day is to Authorize the Mayor to sign and execute an amendment to contract A8509 with Rogers International to provide one (1) additional month of security services at the Authorized Camping Site for a total amount not to exceed $130,000.00

Mayor Jordan Hess That motion is in order and now we can go to public comment on this final motion.

Andi Hoelzel Pronouns they/them.  I am exhausted and I'm sure you all are too.  There's a couple of things.  I don't remember the name of the person, former chief of police, I think you said who would be tracking security officers ensuring that they all have proper licenses, etc.  I think that if you have paid attention to policing in this country for any time basically since its inception you know that cops holding cops accountable is actually, well there's a word for it, I can't say, it's not, it's not happening, that's not how accountability happens.  I understand that these are long-term problems and I understand that they require long-term solutions.  I also understand that there's no permanent funding source for this at this time, though I do think that we do seem to find permanent funding sources for other priorities.  I think that matters, but we can't just every meeting say this is a long-term problem that requires long-term solutions.  We actually have to start, right, so let's start spending money, spending the City's money, the County's money working together using all of the partners we keep referring to, to actually start having education campaigns about what unhoused people are dealing with, about what it means to be houseless, about this perception that if you're unhoused you're automatically dangerous, which is a perception held by many of my neighbors and many people throughout Missoula County including, I believe, members of this Council.  Let's do that, if it's, if it requires, it does require that we become a different kind of community that has imagination and that is educated around these issues, but we're not putting the time or the money into these things.  We keep saying that's what it requires, but not doing it.  Security does not keep people from defecating in your front yard, but access to a bathroom might do that.  Tell me how many times you have brought before Council funding or whatever the words are, I'm not on Council I don't know how the policies work I can hear you all saying that, but there are measures to say let's have more public bathrooms, let's have access to public bathrooms year round, let's have them in the middle of the night because that's actually what keeps someone from defecating on your front yard, not a security officer.  So, whether or not you think that's a safety concern that's how that issue gets addressed.  Having all of your basic needs met keeps you from engaging in things like theft.  Typically, people engage in behaviors like this because their basic needs are not met, right?  Safety, violence that occurs, there are other underlying reasons for that that we need to be addressing as a community, all of us.  We need to bring people who are affected by these issues to the table.  I appreciate what Councilperson Nugent said about people saying people also with lived experience saying a different thing.  I appreciate what Councilperson Becerra is saying about a person who's who feels like they can finally sleep through the night because they're not going to be sexually assaulted, trauma is real, yes.  These are community problems that we need to start addressing like a thousand years ago and today.  I really appreciate and am grateful for the funding of the winter shelter again this year.  I was one of the volunteers along with my friend, Josh Decker, and other comrades who actually staffed the Mountain Line bus center during that time, who actually was there serving the food and serving the, the tea and coffee and hot chocolate, and having to utilize police officers when there were no other services and there was violence.  I appreciate that we have funded these services.  I appreciate they exist in this community, but I beg you to have imagination and to stop saying that things that require long-term solutions and start imagining those things, putting them in place today.  Thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.  Mr. Hunt.

Kevin Hunt Kevin Hunt, Ward 1.  I really, I, I could just say ditto, ditto, ditto.  I really resonate with those last comments, and I want to say to Councilor Savage, I'm sorry if I sound like I was like accusing you of, of something you weren't doing.  I was very happy you asked those questions so that it, it became clear how this decision was made, and it was basically made in the dark.  I mean, let's just face it, it was and so, you know, my heart is with is with Councilors Jordan and, and Carlino.  I mean, I don't like these private security firms.  I don't know how many times you know I've said that I've spoken against it.  I've said why.  I also can count, and I can count votes and I also can count days on a calendar and so the, the enemy of the Council has right now, it's no one from the public.  The enemy the Council has, the enemy of the Council right now is time, it's days.  And so, I'm quite certain this next motion will pass even though you know in my heart, I'm against it it's like everybody else and whether it passes or not I would still be asking you to do what I'm about to again ask you to do and that is not just send all the just send, send it back to committee.  I'm asking that somebody make a motion on this Council to say, that would establish that it is the policy, it is the policy of the City of Missoula that if possible that the ACS remain open until spring and that the matter be referred I guess it was the Housing and Redevelopment Committee or whatever to, to discuss those possibilities and to direct the Mayor to immediately open discussions with partners and contractors about that, that possibility.  And that could do such things, as I mentioned before, since I know you're going to approve this funding also you know you could, one, one idea is to if you can get take some of the ARPA money you can add ACS and what Black Knight's doing and they could be then pick that up when the Rogers International one expires and you know it, it's only a temporary solution but you're now come you're coming right up on winter.  So, again, enemy is time, this isn't the time to shut it down man that would have been months ago and speaking of months ago at that marathon budget meeting we had that went to like 1:30 in the morning, then Councilor Hess, I, I do recall that you know, this was a real contentious issue and it was running into the same kinds of atomized line items and back and forth and you, you spoke up and you actually broke the impasse, your honor with my saying that you, you know you would be open you're someone who is going to be open to, to looking at an alternative another way because this contract with Rogers International is coming up on the 31st of, of, of October and I'll look at, I'll on, I'm willing to re-examine this and come up with another way to do it.  Well, we're running out of time.  So, what I suggest you do is you set a policy tonight.  I mean put yourself on the record, people here and they want to actually know how you really feel about it, not why you can do it or maybe we could, no how do you would if you could do it would you do it that's what they want to hear I think more than anything so they don't go out of here completely frustrated and so that's what I'm asking you to do.  Make a motion and pass a motion setting it as City policy, exactly as the City Charter says you can do and are supposed to do.  Set it as City policy to keep that ACS open at least until spring, if it's at all possible, and refer it to the committee, to the, to the Housing and Redevelopment Committee and if it takes a budget amendment fine, you've got time to do that between now and D-Day.  That's what I'm asking you to do, and I bet you it doesn't happen and it's the easiest thing in the world to do and it doesn't cost you time you know that's the other thing.  And speaking of costing dimes, you know it just on this whole point of what does it cost if you don't have that available and, and people are not going through the criminal justice system?  I can tell you, 52 years ago, over a half a century ago you know when marijuana is being debated and this and that.  You know, the average cost for a misdemeanor arrest in the United States 52 years ago was $1,000.00.  Do you think it's gone down?  It's probably a four or five thousand dollar arrest.  I did public defense work for a long, long time and it's you know it.  They just, Oregon just had to they completely dissolved their Public Defense Services Commission because they had one of the best systems in in the country and it's now completely in shambles you know because and that's why they're doing things like decriminalizing a lot of things and, and you know psychedelics and, and this and that because they can't it's, it's bankrupting the system and so that's what you're going to be looking at too and their thing is you know when it said well if we don't if we don't have the ACS we're making people criminals yes you are but you know you might not even have the luxury for those of you who would like to of arresting them because you know there's a paradox here that I think people keep missing and that is under the Boise Decision.  It’s like well if you don't have enough legal spaces for people to camp, you can't arrest them and well you're going to pay a lot of money out of a lawsuit if you, if you, if this is the way we're going to go.  You talk about throwing you know bad a good money after bad just throwing it down, down a hole.  Boy, you're really headed for it in that in that situation.  So again, I'm imploring you, please regardless of how you realize, please set a policy tonight to keep that spot open through spring, if it's possible.  Set it as a policy and then for one thing that's going to hold your feet to the fire isn't it? It's going to, people are going to come and go okay you set a policy, want to see you get it done, how can we do it?  People can try to do it and you've got the time, you've got the time to have a public hearing, you've got a time to do a budget amendment, and not hold on to $900,000.00 of money that you might need after the winter crisis is over.  Your crisis is now, and the crisis is now, is because this wasn't taken care of last spring when the budget was, was under consideration and they're just you just all jammed up.  I understand it but you know coming up all there's a million reasons you can always come up with to say no there's a thousand I mean millions of them.  You know, somebody, somebody here, I think, I think one of you will have the courage to make this motion.  I wouldn't. I would make a side bet with Travis Mateer if he was still here.  I'd make a side bet that one of you will have the courage to move to make that the policy of the City tonight.  I don't know which one is going to be, but I'm, I'm…. Travis if you're listening, I’ll make that bet with you right now.

Mayor Jordan Hess Mr. Hunt, you’re on 7 minutes.

Kevin Hunt Thank you, thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Anyone else tonight?

[unknown public speaker] I also have three points for my closing statement.  One being [inaudible speaking} of the hell and second one being what somebody else said and the third one being that there's plenty of time during the last Wednesday thing and that if, I recall quickly we were running against the clock and there was three more people that wanted to speak for the Wednesday thing.  Speaking of for the thing that somebody else brought up, how many bathrooms are there within downtown area and hopefully that are open 24/7 and/or 365.  And also Community Policy is also a good book, dated but good book [inaudible speaking] stop then the policing.  Thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.  Anyone else?

Maggie Bornstein Thanks.  Maggie Bornstein for the record.  Again really sorry, I know it's late.  I think company project here nor there, I don't think that private security really plays a role.  I really appreciate Councilwoman Anderson, sorry for the rumble for that, even though we don't often agree, I would just like to clarify my I thought the information you provided was helpful in the individualized cycling through of licenses that is going to happen moving forward, but I think my biggest takeaway in addition to I have a lot of takeaways, but leaving this meeting is and I'm really concerned about the CPDI office and and how little Eran could really speak to tonight and, and with specificity to the contract and the in the previous legal violations.  I'm curious about long-term strategies for, for maybe oversight of private security but also again just feeling like that's a half a million dollar contract either happened or it didn't, those violations, and if the City is going to sign a contract at large, if that's something that the person overseeing that should be able to really speak to.  And I think that I hope that's a kind of agreeable point and so in the future, I think it's just really important that when questions are being asked that we're getting clear answers from people who are at agency level within the City making those decisions.  So, I just wanted to say I'm walking away kind of troubled by, by the lack of information and definitive information that was able to be provided by the CPDI office in a number of areas tonight.  Thanks.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks.  Anyone else?

Marcy Hamm My name is Marcy Hamm and last time I was here, I was using a walker, waiting for someone to call and tell me that I had a seat at the table.  I know that's not about this right now.  What this is about and thank you Mr. Carlino because I was here at the end of the night I listened.  I appreciate you giving me that voice last time and for everyone that has been houseless, I appreciate you being that way.  I'm here to say I was at home listening to this thinking oh God what's going on, $130,000.00 for one month, oh my God for one month security oh my God one must security, holy hell.  Five years I was homeless, houseless, I repeat myself houseless.  I had so many knocks at the door, not worried about if someone was going to come and sexually harass me, I had the police officers and you guys are talking about Black Night Security.  Black Knight Security roams wherever they choose to roam, same thing with the other security.  I took a gentleman last year to the homeless center over at Johnson Center.  I went there and I did see those armed guards with the masks all over their face and everything that showed like they were AR Police, SWAT teams.  Oh my goodness and you're giving them that money?  I bet you could train damn 10 people in here within the time limit that you're talking about and besides the potties, the bathroom breaks.  Over by the Missoula Arts Center when I was homeless, houseless.  I'm so angry, I'm so angry, houseless when I was houseless and I needed to use a facility, that facility was locked in the wintertime.  You had to go to a bar, I didn't go to a bar, I have no reason to go to a bar.  I don't, I don't gamble.  I barely smoke pot and that look at this doing a heck of a lot better, thanks to nobody here but myself because I haven't had anyone come and call me, $130,000.00 for one month for that service.  I have a really hard time with that, that's all I had to say came.  I came from home, home.  I’m gonna go home and listen some more.  Good luck with that.  Goodbye.  [inaudible speaking].

Mayor Jordan Hess Anyone else tonight?  Seeing none, we can come back to Council discussion.  Mr. Carlino.

Alderperson Carlino Yeah, I'm really curious what the discussion would be like if it was Donald Trump as president who wanted to hire a bunch of private security guards to patrol around Missoula?  I feel like the reaction would be a lot different.  So, just to clarify, this is a motion to use our some of our pandemic relief funds to again hire a group who covered their faces with masks as they tore down people's shelters in our town and that's what we're using our pandemic relief funds for?  I’m absolutely not voting for Rogers International.  This is, when I ran for Council, I thought we were going to spend a lot of time writing policies, helping it, traffic safety, helping with housing, I didn't realize I was going to spend some much time fighting against a fascist group like this, funded by our pandemic relief funds.  They're wearing masks, tearing down people's shelters, walking around our neighborhoods with weapons.  This is absolutely ridiculous.

Mayor Jordan Hess Further comment?  Mr. Nugent.

Alderperson Mike Nugent I’ll just say that I'm happy that after this month, Rogers International won't have a contract with the city anymore and I think that most of the people in Council feel the same way.  We've heard from staff tonight that, for better or worse, and I think we all would agree it was worse.  Rogers is the de facto staff of the ACS.  The City was slow to hire staff, or they've struggled to fill it, so if we don't extend Rogers a month, we don't have a solution to keep the ACS open even for the last month.  So, I think that, I think that this is all issues that are really in search of solutions that haven't been offered with the details we need on some of the things tonight, but I'm going to vote for Rogers International for them for a month because we've heard that people have nowhere to go and I would actually like us to investigate making sure that if people don't have some place to go and that closes that we can help them and I think that's a conversation that we need to continue to have, but if we don't vote for Rogers International for one more month, we have expedited that timeline in a terrible way.  So, to me there, there is no choice in this.  Rogers International is not a company that I would ever like to see get a City contract again, but I know that every process is open.  I've been very disappointed in a lot of what we've seen; I think that a lot of us have, and I think that we need to make it clear that by understanding the bigger picture of what's going on right now, it does not mean that we support the masks because we don't and many of us have said it, it does not support many of the other things.  So, you know, this is this isn't a time for… Yeah, I'm done .

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Savage.

Alderperson Savage Yeah, I agree with Councilman Nugent.  I, I'm happy to be done with Rogers International after this.  I am going to vote for it reluctantly because I do want the ACS to stay open, and I want that support there.  I was there the day that the woman spoke to Councilwoman Becerra, Councilman Nugent, and I about she had been sexually assaulted and she did feel safe because there was security.  I fully realize and understand and have heard for months from everyone from Joe coming and kept coming to talk to us about Rogers International, to all of the calls and concerns that I've gotten as a Ward 1 rep from people who live around Lowell School and having armed people patrolling their children, like it's not ideal and it's not something that I would necessarily support, but I don't want to see the ACS close even more quickly than it might and I, but so I will vote for this, but again I, I totally agree with Councilman Nugent.  I will be happy to be done with the Rogers International conversation.

Mayor Jordan Hess Mr. Carlino.

Alderperson Carlino Yeah, I guess I'll just rebuttal by saying that I've been speaking on the Council floor against this group for over nine months.  We're the government, we can come up with whatever sort of security presence we would like to see, and it should not be a private armed, militarized security company and especially not a private armed militarized security company that wore masks over their face while they tore down people's campsites, and we've gotten multiple constituents reaching out about excessive use of force from this group.  And you know, if you want to keep the ACS open then let's vote to keep the ACS open, let's not vote to have Rogers for another month.  Like we've got many options here, it's not just between voting for this horrible organization to keep doing what they're doing or closing the ACS, let's come up with a plan together and let's keep the ACS open until the spring or want forever, and upgrade it to make it better, but to just say that we need to hire this group that covers their face with masks and walks around our town with guns, as the only way to keep the ACS open for an extra 17 days, that is absolutely disingenuous and I, I just really I know as a City we've only been doing this private security patrols around neighborhoods for less than a year and I just want it to be known that this is not something that is sustainable.  We're going to keep having more violations of and more pictures like we saw in the Missoulian, if the news reporters are allowed to go out there again, but I just after this first year of private security force patrols, I just want to make sure that we're all on the same page that this doesn't continue again and again and again and maybe we need a new Council to ensure that we don't have private security patrols, but just is very upsetting.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Savage.

Alderperson Savage I forgot to add that I also am just sort of, I guess just a little disappointed that this is, this is our option.  I understand there's sort of a continuity of care thing going on right now, like to keep Rogers here for one more month but since it would have been I, I would have appreciated maybe just I don't know a little more exploration and, and maybe I just don't understand what all happened but we did approve a Black Knight security proposal tonight and it maybe if we could have extended them you know for this next month or something like that, that would have been maybe a better alternative.  I do understand that there are two different models; I get all of that.  It is just disappointing to have to vote to keep a security firm that has, feels like has been problematic even for 30 more days.  And just to go on the record, I'm happy to have the conversation about continuing to keep the ACS open.  I saw your referral and happy to have that conversation and I don't know if it's going to make it onto the Wednesday agenda next week, but, but I do understand that there are reasons that we cannot do it tonight.  You know there are budget amendments, there are other things that are involved and so but I'm happy to continue that conversation.

Mayor Jordan Hess So, the, the reason that there's an extension and not just a transition to the new service is that the model it just doesn't work with our current, with our current staffing model and so, we, we would need, as, Ms. Pehan said, I believe we need 6-8 additional employees to run the actual shelter operations and that's not something that we're able to provide in the short term.  So, the, they're, they're just they're completely incompatible models and so that's, that's the purpose for the extension.  Ms. Jordan.

Alderperson Kristen Jordan Yeah, I, I am surprised that we're spending $130,000.00 for one month of service when we're looking to kick out or close the ACS and, and disrupt the lives of 40 plus vulnerable people.  I'd also like to ask or just point out, I'm trying to think of the right phrase, I'm tired.  Using isolated data points, the two proof points, I think is a dangerous and slippery slope.  I think that we've heard from quite a few Council members tonight that they all had a conversation with a woman who is grateful that there's private security there because she is not going to get raped anymore.  This is an isolated bit of data, it's fantastic, it's isolated.  How many different stories do we have to tell in that space?  What is the whole continuum of the data that we need to look at to decide whether or not Rogers is the best service provider?  I just want to caution my colleagues from using isolated bits of data to prove really big points because it's, it's, we got to tell the whole data story and I don't think that that bit tells the whole story.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Jones.

Alderperson Jones Thanks.  Eran, if you are still with us, I was going to have you clarify the $130,000.00 amount that, that is not for one month but my understanding, having asked this question previously, was that it is for, that this contract was under budget, so this completes the data service up to within the additional month and then it's, it's basically thirty thousand dollars every two weeks for Rogers, so it covers the last month and there's a little bit extra built in there just to make sure everything goes smoothly with the businesses and everything in these surrounding areas.  So, I just wanted to, could you just confirm that?  I know it's so late, thank you for still being with us, that this is not just one month, correct?

Eran Pehan Yes, absolution.  My apologies, I had to switch rooms but yes it this accounts for the last two weeks in October which is which is a good portion of that and then, as you said, the remainder of November.  We were conservative and budgeting high on that because we do know that there's going to be a need to have some patrols in the area, as again we shift away from that and that's a commitment we made to those area businesses as well.  And so, we didn't want to have to extend that or I'm sorry expend beyond that and come back to Council yet again, so there is a chance that we will not spend all of that $130,000.00, but  we wanted to budget conservatively to make sure that we had what we needed to effectively transition the site over the course of the next month and a half.

Mayor Jordan Hess Mr. Nugent.

Alderperson Mike Nugent I would just echo Councilwoman Savage's comments that I actually do look forward to having the conversation and I I think it's clear that, that it's an important one even though I don't know that there are any easy answers and I don't know that it's going to have the outcome that people want, but I'm, I'm certainly happy to have that that conversation and I, I really hope that that conversation has actual numbers and actual pieces of information because it feels like sometimes we have conversations on Wednesday and people get worked out and then we have the same conversation on Monday night but no, no suggestions, no new ideas come, it's just the same things and I just, I, I hate the idea that sometimes we're, we're, there are, there are people more focused on social media sound bites than solutions that actually have substance in them, and I think that that's really important in this conversation to have substance.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Jordan.

Alderperson Kristen Jordan Thank you.  I'm just wondering, in light of Ms. Pehan’s clarification, do we need to redo, do we need to amend this motion because it isn't just for a month of security it entails a few different details that aren't captured in this motion

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Rehbein, can you weigh in on that as, as our resident motion expert?

Marty Rehbein We were trying to express on Friday what the cost of the amount was of the contract, and we did not have a lot of staff resources to contact in the City clerk's office because everybody seems to wrap up their day or their week before we get to the agenda on Fridays.  So, our motion reads that you're making an amendment to a contract that you've already approved with Rogers International to provide one additional month of security services, that is true, at the authorized camping site and it makes reference to the not to exceed $130,000.00 and the contract is attached to your packet.  So, if you have an issue with the contract, you could make a motion to amend the contract but the big essence here is to authorize the Mayor to sign and execute the agreement that's attached to the agenda.

Mayor Jordan Hess And to clarify that, the agreement is attached to the agenda and, and would it be helpful to reference that in the motion?  I guess, I guess all of our emotions reference and attachment typically, but would you recommend any additional changes?

Marty Rehbein I don’t think so.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Jordan, does that answer your question?  So, I'm not sure if these hands are still up or up again?  Mr. Nugent.  Okay.  Ms. Sherrill.

Alderperson Sherrill Yeah thanks.  I want to echo many, many of my colleagues that have been speaking.  I, I'm happy to look at the referral, as it comes in.  I agree with Mr. Nugent that it needs to have pretty, pretty clear specifics attached to it pretty clear specifics on where we're going to get the funding and I, I will tell you, I am nervous about, without knowing the outcome of this crisis services levy and having finite money for, for helping those in our community that are less are, are more vulnerable.  I, I'm, I'm hesitant to spend all of that money on this when we're at, when we are, we do have a winter shelter set up and I know it doesn't serve everyone and I heard what people are saying.  I, I want to have creative solutions to deal with this.  By the way, I don't, I, I wish we were in a situation that we did not need private security, as well.  I would love to work toward that but I, I, I think that we need a safety net for future years.  So, I, and you know, when we, will see what happens with the levy.  I, I really hope it passes.  I really hope it gives us opportunity to have creative solutions and to fund creative solutions because you don't pull it off of a tree, you've got to fund it somehow, but I'm, I'm happy to look at it.  I want to tell you that.  I'm happy, I, I want specifics around it.  I want, I want to know the money.  I want to really understand if we're going forward some of the, some of the problems with, with the ACS and, and why some of those decisions were made, but we've got to be able to staff it.  I mean we can't, if we're, if we take the staff from the ACS and we have them at Johnson Street, which we need that to keep people alive this winter, we have to be able to staff it.  So, I, I there are a lot of questions about how that would work in my mind, but I am happy to look at it.

Mayor Jordan Hess Okay.  I'm not seeing…. oh Ms. Savage, I'm sorry.

Alderperson Savage I just had a request that if we, if and when this referral comes to committee, could it be possible to get Ms. Pehan to join us in committee that day as well?  I think just having the, the bigger picture and the larger scope is really helpful in these conversations.

Mayor Jordan Hess Yeah, so absolutely.  We, the administration, will participate in that discussion fully and we'll bring all relevant staff.  The decision that was made at the administrative level was made with you know, with quite a bit of input from providers and, and, and frankly, like I said earlier, we, we sat around and puzzled over how, what, what can we do?  What can we do to keep this open?  And, and the minds at that table didn't have an answer.  I know that Mayor Engen's team and, and throughout the summer, I know, I know President Jones, when she was acting Mayor, was involved in these discussions.  There have been discussions with providers since before the ACS opened and those have been ongoing and those have been frankly the epitome of what I would call creative thinking.  This has been a project that has, that, that was pulled together on very short notice with an abundance of creative thinking and that I think as you see day in and day out on, on Council is what makes our City of Missoula staff so exceptional to work with, is that they are creative thinkers, they are problem solvers, they are they are solution oriented, they want to get to yes.  There are, there is no shortage of heartbreak in within the City of Missoula that we're closing the ACS, that is, it's not something anyone wants to do, it's not something that anybody thinks is the, the best possible option.  It is not for a lack of creativity, and it is not for a lack of, of long-term thinking.  We have a long-term solution on the ballot that was the result of some brainstorming around how do we make this a long-term, how do we make this tenable in the long term?  So, we welcome the conversation; I welcome the conversation.  I and staff will be there, but I, I want to just reiterate that there was a lot of there was a lot of, there's a lot going into this decision, a lot of inputs that that led us to where we are.  Ms. Jordan.

Alderperson Kristen Jordan One more, yes, I’m sorry.  However, disingenuous it's about to sound, I do want to say that I'm incredibly grateful for the hard work of staff.  What I'd like to just remind them of is that we're the ones that are going to lose our jobs if we don't fight for our constituents.  We're the ones that are subjected to the vote and the will of the constituents, which is why I appreciate their hard work and I also appreciate their time in answering our questions and thinking about the things that we bring to them because ultimately, us on Council, are the ones that are going to lose our jobs if we don't advocate for our constituents.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Savage

Alderperson Savage Yeah, in a similar vein, like I am not questioning the work of Staff nor am I questioning really the work of administration, but it was important to me to know how the decision was made and I did not know that walking into these chambers tonight.  And I did not know that the ACS was even on the, to be closed until the 16th, you know on the 16th of November until last Friday when we got our packets before the Wednesday of committee.  So, I mean, I just am asking for greater communication.  We've had a lot going on I mean you know to be clear like our Mayor was sick and then passed away, and we've had to appoint a new Mayor.  We've had to appoint a new Councilperson; it's not like we haven't been doing things.  You know, I mean, but I just would like to say that like you know I was asking the question legit because I didn't I didn't know the answer you know and maybe that's on me and I will take full responsibility for asking the questions that I need to ask and making sure that I'm in the rooms that I need to be in, but with something this big coming into it tonight and or on Wednesday, and the decision had been made.  And so, that's where that's where I would just say moving forward it would be helpful to be looped in.

Mayor Jordan Hess It’s a point well taken.  I don't see any additional hands.  Anything else before we vote?  Okay, we can have a roll call vote Ms. Rehbein.

Marty Rehbein I have a questions.  Did we have a motion?

Mayor Jordan Hess Yes, we do.

Marty Rehbein Okay. 

  • Moved by:Alderperson West

    Authorize the Mayor to sign and execute an amendment to contract A8509 with Rogers International to provide one (1) additional month of security services at the Authorized Camping Site for a total amount not to exceed $130,000. 

    AYES: (10)Sierra Farmer, Alderperson Jones, Alderperson Nugent, Alderperson Savage, Alderperson Sherrill, Alderperson Vasecka, Alderperson West, Alderperson Anderson, Alderperson Becerra, and Alderperson Contos
    NAYS: (2)Alderperson Jordan, and Alderperson Carlino
    Vote result: Approved (10 to 2)

11.

  

12.

  

Mayor Jordan Hess I'll say briefly in communications from the Mayor, welcome to Ms. Farmer.  We have a tradition of, of trial by fire, so you were not spared, but I look forward to working with you and, and I, I'm here as a resource anytime I can help.

Mayor Jordan Hess We can start general comments of City Council with Ms. Vasecka.

Alderperson Vasecka All right, yeah, I wanted to echo the Mayor's sentiments to Ms. Farmer.  I remember my first time on Council it was the Fourth Street vote, so it was trial by fire as well and I also am a resource that you can reach out to anytime.  I usually am there on in person; this was just an anomaly tonight.  I did want to remind folks if I forget, next weekend or next Monday that Halloween is coming up and there, there is a lot of drugs in in the community that are marked as, as candy.  I don't know if it's specifically a Missoula, but I have heard about it throughout the country, so be sure to check your kid, your kiddos candy before you let them just dive right in and, and be vigilant and be safe about it.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks.  Ms. Sherrill.

Alderperson Sherrill Yeah, thanks.  I, I would add to the Halloween piece, to be very aware of driving around neighborhoods.  I mean kids see other kids across the street or a house that looks better than the house beside them and they run across the street.  I've chased kids for, had many years that I changed kids that night.  I, I want to I want to thank the public for their input.  I think this was it was a hard discussion, but I think it was a robust discussion.  You know, we are not the only community that is struggling with this.  At the beginning of COVID, I was reading some article and they said that they were predicting nationally a 40% increase in houselessness in our country overall, a 40% percent increase.  I mean, that at the time panicked me.  You know, I don't think that our numbers show that here in Missoula we have a 40% increase, but we have an increase and we're a community that's struggling along with a lot of other communities in our country.  You know, it, we're, we we are trying to find solutions to this that work for, that take care of our most vulnerable but also work for the neighborhoods that, that we have these shelters in and I, I just, I, I appreciate the staff coming up with solutions.  I appreciate my colleagues including Mr. Carlino for wanting to that for caring about this issue and for bringing the referral, even though I don't know if I'm going to support it when it gets there, but I appreciate you bringing that.  You know, this is a very, very complicated issue to deal with and we're, we're working with, with the money that we have, with the funding that we have, and we are you know I, I, I can't speak for all of my colleagues, but I read as many articles, articles about this as I can get my hands on, and I think most of us do.  So, it is not for lack of caring, if we, we don't have the facilities and the situation that we need right now.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Savage.

Alderperson Savage I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that came out tonight, that might be one of the more full City Council chambers that I've seen since I've been on Council and particularly thankful to the people who came from the ACS and shared their experience.  You know, when I was doing engagement work, that takes a lot of courage and it also takes a lot of sometimes reliving of trauma and sort of telling one story is, is a gift and I do appreciate the time and the effort that everyone took tonight to come and talk to us.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Jordan.

Alderperson Kristen Jordan Other than welcoming Ms. Farmer, I’ll pass tonight.  Thank you.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Farmer.

Alderperson Farmer Yeah thank you.  It’s great to be here, I literally just got here.  I didn't know there'd be so much defecation talk, but I appreciate it.  Yeah, I know that everyone keeps telling me don't worry they're not always like this, but I assure you I'm not afraid, I'm up for the work, and I look forward to working with everyone on these tough issues.  And I also wanted to say, I really appreciate everyone that came out and spoke.  I, I know that is intimidating to be on the other side, so I really do appreciate all the comments and I look forward to the work we're gonna do.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Jones.

Alderperson Jones I will just echo, thank you Amber and Jennifer for your great comments.  I'm not going to repeat all of that; I think you said great things and I really appreciate it and also, also believe in all of that.  I'm going to switch gears and talk about a different topic but still within the theme of housing because I had some really good news for today on a different housing topic.  I wanted to talk about Creekside Apartments, which are located in Hellgate Canyon.  In 2017, Homeword, a local nonprofit, was able to buy those before they went from being affordable housing onto the private market and they used the City as a conduit for the bond to be able to make it all work financially.  That was huge and it was, otherwise, they simply would have gone under the, under the private market and then market rate, instead of affordable housing.  This morning there was a meeting with the Montana Board, let me get it correct, the Montana Board of Housing and Homeword along with the, with some support from City staff applied for low-income housing tax credits to rehabilitate Creekside.  Creekside has 161 units, 298 people live there, it is 60% area median income or lower, and there are parents, children, veterans, workers, and seniors, 25 seniors, 34 people living with a disability, and 92 children live in Creekside.  So, I just want to say that Homeword was successful getting low-income housing tax credits to rehabilitate all 161 units.  This is huge to keep this housing affordable and they were both 4% and 9% low-income housing tax credits.  So, Andrea Davis, Heather McMillan, Emily Harris-Shears, thank you for all of your great work on this.  So, that's a win in the housing column tonight.  I know we've got so much work to do in so many other areas, but I just wanted to share that with you tonight.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks Ms. Jones, excellent news.  Mr. Carlino.

Alderperson Carlino I can pass tonight.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Becerra.

Alderperson Becerra Thanks.  I just want to thank everyone who came here today to advocate for keeping the ACS open.  I think too many people who are not sitting at this table, we might seem like people who are not aware of the issues or don't have the heart to understand what the issue is, and I think that is really far from the truth.  And I think if it was all up to us, we would, if, if there was an easy solution or even a complicated one, we would work to find it.  I think we find ourselves in a, in a really tough spot, but I will continue to look for ways in which we can balance the needs of those who are most vulnerable in our, in our community along with our neighbors.  I mean this with a lot of respect to Mr. Carlino, but you have mentioned several times that it might take a new Council to get to where you want to get on these issues, and I would argue that it is not a new Council but rather Council, a Council member or Council members who bring solutions to the table, implementable and well thought out solutions, and solutions that we can afford and execute.  I'm happy to be one of those Council members but I don't appreciate the comment that a new Council is the one that's going to bring those solutions.  The solution is here, we just have to keep working on it and working on it, in a collaborative way.  I don't think we're gonna get to anywhere if we continue to have Councilmembers work in a vacuum.  So, I'm willing to keep working on it.  Thanks.

Mayor Jordan Hess Mr. Nugent.

Alderperson Mike Nugent Thank you Mr. Mayor.  Thank you Ms. Becerra for those comments.  I would just echo the welcome to Sierra.  You know, I told you last week that once they printed your name tag, you can go back.  So, you know I think, I think it's a lot of fun to be here, but I, I do appreciate one thing that my colleague just said and that is that I think sometimes in the public commented and everything that goes on in the Council mechanisms, people forget like there's, there's no joy and there's no win in, in the ACS closing.  Like there's, there's no positive outcome that any of us, in any way benefit from or like seeing.  We talk a lot about budgeting and finance and stuff like that and because that's the reality, we're spending Missoula residents’ money and we only get so much of it, you know it's dictated by state law, half the rate of inflation.  So, there are limits to what we can do and these solutions, if we don't talk about where's the, where the money's coming from, we're not having a genuine conversation that that respects our residents and I just think that that's good to keep in mind.  I also think that you know both staff and our local nonprofits, Missoula is the leader in serving our residents in the State of Montana.  I don't think there's anybody that comes near the level of services that are in this community and is that enough?  Obviously not because we still have a big problem, but I think that this, again this heated language sometimes throws out all the work and all the effort and we are spending real dollars that our residents pay on this at a higher percentage than anybody else in Montana and I think that that's worth noting.  With that being said, when we talk about long term if anybody listening or out there has examples of other communities in other states that are doing something that's working, send them to us, we’re happy to look at them.  Councilwoman Sherrill mentioned that she reads everything she can find and, and I agree.  I mean if there is a community that's doing something right let's see it and maybe we can replicate it, maybe we can stand it up here.  Yep, that’s all I got tonight. 

Mayor Jordan Hess Mr. Contos.

Alderperson Contos Yes, well I knew we were in for it this evening when I saw a full house, that it was going to be a spirited conversation and evening.  I totally appreciate everybody showing up, I really do.  I mean that says a lot about their concern, they got uncomfortable, they came out here, they spoke.  I think a lot of times, I appreciate situations like that.  I, I think the other side needs to realize, we're not bad guys.  There's a lot going on here, it's a very deep pool and I think somebody mentioned it earlier, there's not a lot of easy answers.  And I think if there can just continue to be the, a spiritedness of wanting and working together, that would be good.  In other words, hold down on some of the emotions.  Thanks.  Oh, not to mention, voting is coming up November 8, 2022.  I think the ballots are out right now for mail-ins.  So, so feel free to fill those out.

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. West.

Alderperson West My ballots arrived yesterday, no, not yesterday Saturday.  This weekend has gone by way too fast.  So, first of all, I want to thank lots of my colleagues for asking really great questions all through the evening.  I think, I think we had a pretty robust discussion and there were many times where I wanted to ask a question or make a statement, but someone had already beat me to it and I appreciate not, not having to talk, but I do have a few things to say.  So, I think it was really valuable that we hear from all of Missoula’s residents and that obviously includes our houseless population and I really want to thank everyone who did join us tonight, as well as on Wednesday.  And I've been thinking a lot about the general theme of the public comment that we heard on Wednesday during our Housing, Redevelopment, and Community Programs committee regarding the plain closure of the Missoula authorized camping site.  That theme continued at tonight's meeting, and it seems to me that the decisions that were in front of our committee both on Wednesday and in front of our body tonight as a whole was either not understood or misrepresented, and I have, we had three items on the agenda tonight related to operations, shelter and the ACS.  To recap, the decision spaces where one (1) to enter into contract with the Poverello to operate the winter shelter;  two (2) to enact, to enter a contract with Black Knight to provide overall operation shelter security; and three (3) a one-month extension for the security at the ACS.  It is true that the ACS site was not opened by a Council action; this site is also not at this moment being closed by a Council action.  I do look forward to having a discussion around the future of the site and that a general and agree that a general conversation on this topic is needed.  I am not a proponent of reactionary, on the floor crafted policy statements and unfunded mandates.  The reason there is so much discussion around money and funding and budget line items is because that is the primary task of what Council is elected to do.  It is also true that none of these decisions made today were to close the site.  One of these decisions, in fact, directly allows us to keep operating, operations going at the ACS for an additional month by exceeding, by extending the need, needed site security.  This allows people an additional month to try and find solutions.  I often speak about the need to organize people into the correct space for the action that is needed at the moment to positively affect their lives.  Having served almost seven years on Council, I believe even more that this, that it is the responsibility of those organizing to direct the limited capacity of people at the margins accurately.  What bothers me most about the conversation over the past week is that people who should understand the decision space of items in front of our body today have intentionally misrepresented our decision space to members of our community that are already at a severe disadvantaged with very limited resources.  I think that this is the most, that this is most disrespectful, disrespectful to the residents that are directly affected by the closure of the space.  For the past few years, practitioners within the housing community have been acknowledging the distinction between a space that is a home and one that is a house by switching the language we use from homelessness to houselessness.  This distinction has been made specifically because there are many spaces that can function as a home that are not houses.  The authorized camping site is a camping site and while it functions as a home for many individuals, that function is not synonymous with providing housing.  It was not intended, nor is it a permanent solution.  Since January, the ACS has functioned as one of the many programs along the housing spectrum that are currently supported by both City and County funding as a part of operation shelter and more broadly as a part of the coordinated entry system.  Sorry, I lost my spot…. I understand that the other available options may not be a perfect fit for everyone who is currently unhoused in our community, but I also trust the experience of our staff during this year and the judgment of our staff when they inform us that the city does not have the capacity to safely operate the site and that it is, especially not safe during the winter months.  The ACS is a recent addition to those services provided in Missoula and it does not function in isolation.  The TSOS is moving to a new site that is more centrally located.  It will have increased capacity with on-site bathrooms, storage, and cooking facilities.  The winter Emergency Shelter is opening and adds considerable sheltering capacity to our community.  It is staffed and open 24/7 and is often not at capacity.  The main Poverello location is still operating at reduced capacity, due to COVID restrictions and it's not known how long those will continue, but when they lift, more beds will also become available.  The Poverello along with 541 Hope operated by The Hope Rescue Mission is one of two official front doors to the Missoula’s coordinated entry system.  This system prioritizes housing for those who are the most vulnerable first.  I just recently sat through a meeting led by City staff that described the coordinated entry system.  The transition to a community-wide, coordinated approach that prioritizes vulnerability first has allowed for intentional resource sharing and collaboration that has not existed previously in our community.  Service providers meet weekly with the City as an active participant to discuss the available options that are available at a given time.  Isay this to primarily highlight and give credit to the many dedicated people who are working toward towards imaginative solutions in this space every single day.  I both want to acknowledge the hard work that is done by your community partners and that these conversations will continue.  They are also by no they are also by no means the only options available because there is a spectrum of housing models that are being employed throughout our community to serve different populations.  Lastly, I want to remind people that they're invited to a joint City-County open house for the Emergency Winter Shelter, Thursday the 27th from 4:00 to 6:30 p.m. at the Johnson Street Community Center located at 1919 North Avenue West.

Alderperson Anderson I guess I’m batting cleanup…

Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Anderson.  Go ahead.

Alderperson Anderson Thank you Mr. Mayor.  Thank you for those thoughtful comments Ms. West.  I always appreciate your comments and advocacy and knowledge that you bring to the subject, and thank you everyone for your comments, questions and for you know I want to echo the thanks for the folks who came here, and it and it does not fall on deaf ears even though we are limited in some of the decisions we are making.  You know, I have had many conversations since last week talking about you know some of the concerns that were brought up by the folks who came at, took time out of their day you know have barriers that many of us do not have to come here and give public comments, so in an effort to try to address that.  And I just quickly want to highlight and I know I’m the last one, so I'm the one that's between you and out the door, but the, the comment around creativity and creative solutions and lack of creative thinking and, and I just, I, that I just want to quickly address because if you look at what a city, a municipality provided for services 10-15 years ago and what the City of Missoula is working to try to provide in terms of services; it is a lot of creative thinking and with you know resources that were not intended to you know are and as Ms. Jones and I have said at nauseum, the level of funding and the type of funding that we as a municipality are getting is constantly constricting but more and more and more has been asked of us.  And we have been trying to every step of the way when we can think of creative solutions and answer those calls to action and try to address those problems.  They by no means are perfect, they don’t’ solve all the problems but there is a lot of creativity happening and I think that Mayor Hess has highlighted as well because if you just look at the things that we have stood up and the services that we are providing well more and more constraints are being put on us.  I’ve had the pleasure of working at multiple levels of government and I love serving even after nights like tonight and the budget till three in the morning at the municipal level because it is the one that is the most closest to the community and it is the you know agency or the governmental entity that is really making you know and putting place the you know parameters that really make a community.  And like Ms. Jones said, we in Missoula are doing so much, we could do so much more but I think it shows the fact that we are willing to do as much as we can with what little we have and that one of the other creative solutions is we're asking you know folks in this community to help dedicate a permanent level of funding through the crisis levy so that we can really address some of the systemic problems.  And so, I think that is another creative solution, it's a hard solution, it's a hard question because we're asking for people for resources, but you know up until now we've been sort of cobbling it together and we know it is not sustainable and it's not working to address everybody's needs.  So, I just want to applaud what I believe is the creative thinking and creative solutions that have come to this point and look forward to the discussions about more creative solutions and thinking going forward.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you Ms. Anderson.

Alderperson Anderson Thank you for the Council members for listening.

Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you. 

Mayor Jordan Hess We have two administratively approved agreements that are noted in the attempts report and but beyond that, no additional miscellaneous communications, reports, or announcements.

15.

  

Mayor Jordan Hess And with no further business, I thank you for your service, and we'll be adjourned.

The meeting adjourned at 11:29 p.m.

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