Elizabeth Marshall, Property Manager for the Palace Apartments, said she really appreciated the Business Improvement District (BID) officers and that she rarely had to call 911 for assistance. There had been an uptick in the amount of graffiti downtown and she appreciated the help with that.
Mayor Engen spoke about the things that the group should take into account for the next year.
- As the pandemic had been winding down he was starting to see cracks or gaps in the system and it would be important to start working together to solve those issues.
-The city and county have been able to add resources for major and day to day issues.
- The city and county were attempting to deal with illegal camping in a productive way, more information would be coming, the city and county are looking at hiring someone to help address the problem but hiring is tough right now.
- John congratulated Amy Allison Thompson of the Poverello Center and expressed gratitude for her advocacy. He also recognized Jill Bonny as the Poverello's new director.
-The city was working to add three elected, full time judges because of changes at the legislative level. There would be opportunity to continue working with the judicial branch.
Ethan Lehrman, from municipal court, stated that the court was gradually doing more and more in person. He believes the technology they've added will most likely remain as an option for accessibility to the court. Holding jury trials in the council chambers had worked well. He commended his staff for staying in the building and working during the pandemic.
Amy Allison Thompson, of the Poverello Center, introduced Jill Bonny, the new director that would be replacing her. Amy will be at the Poverello Center until the end of July. Sheltering during the winter was successful. There were more homeless pushed outside since the Poverello was allowing only half capacity through the pandemic. They have been full every night.
Ryan Kamura of the police department noted that he was working on the graffiti problem and it was not going away for some reason.
Ryan Boyd of the Salvation Army said that they are able to provide people with rental assistance and mortgage assistance, plus they were also helping with transportation.
Theresa Williams said that the Crisis Intervention Team just finished up it's CIT Academy and 33 people from all backgrounds are now trained. They also completed Mental Health First Aid training for detention officers. They want to get another person trained as a facilitator.
Heidi Bakula briefly discussed recording and streaming MDAC meetings to YouTube and Escribe.
Linda McCarthy asked if anyone knew if the Rainbow Family would be coming back. Amy Allison Thompson said she would ask around and get back to Linda. Linda asked Doug Cook about his experiences working with BID. Theresa Williams said that he had not had much time on the street, he had been working with the Mobile Support Team (MST).
Doug Cook said the program in Missoula was a pilot program and was similar to the one in Spokane. More people really need to be involved in the program.
Linda also mentioned that she was grateful to have two downtown police officers, seven days per week. It has made a huge difference.
Jay Gillhouse said he was new to the BID position and that Doug really helped him build relationships to create a long-term solution. CIT academy also helped him change his focus on how to proceed.