HHAND Commission Monthly Meeting January 2026

Our first hand commission meeting of 2026. To order. Uh, thanks everyone for being here. We'll go ahead and quickly start with introductions. I'll start with myself.

Hi everyone, I'm Dave Rittenberg, uh, commissioner. To my left, Marvin Johnson, commissioner. Citizen, citizen, citizen Duke. Uh, Frankie Dahl, commission staffer. Faculty Community Development Specialist with CSD.

Jedra Lay, uh, Community Assistance Program Manager, uh, Anchorage Health Department. Valerie Mayhew, Anchorage Health Department staff for CSD. Uh, Lila Taylor, I'm the Housing Services Manager for Health Department. McKenna Bacon, I am the Research Analyst for the Housing Homelessness Services here at Health Department. And then online, just going in order as I see them, we got Jessica.

Jessica Parks, Commissioner. And we have Laura. Laura Raines, Commissioner. And we have Kimberly. Kimberly White, Program Manager for Housing and Homelessness, Anchorage Health Department.

And we have Michelle. Good afternoon, Michelle Baker, Commissioner. All right, thank you everyone for being here. Moving into to the agendas on the other side of the page. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda?

And we're thin in the room here, so we'll probably be depending on people online as well. She got it. OK, we have a motion to approve from—. Was that Jessica? Michelle.

I'll second, though. And a second from Dr. Johnson.

Any, um, any discussion? Anything we want to move around on the agenda? Table? Add?

Anything, anything, anything?

Any opposition to approving the agenda as written? Going once.

Going twice. And the agenda is approved. Thank you, everybody. Hi, Thea. Thank you for joining us.

No, that's OK. And then moving on to the approval of the minutes, can I get a motion to approve? The minutes from the December meeting. I move to approve the minutes. Thank you, Dr. Johnson. Can I get a second online?

I'll second. And a second from Laura. Um, take a moment to look over the minutes again. Thank you to Frankie for putting them together.

Any edits, adjustments?

Seeing head shaking online, that's a good sign. Any opposition to approving the minutes as written? Going once, going twice. Seeing and hearing none, minutes are approved. Uh, moving on to disclosures.

Do we have any disclosures from commissioners?

Okay, great. Moving on to an action item. Excellent. I love these. Review and approve changes to the Hand Commission rules and procedures.

You should all have received a handout. Thank you for distributing it. Thank you, Frankie. Thank you so much. With track changes.

Commissioners who are online, the one that is on the agenda packet, the one that's in the agenda packet PDF on the website does not have track changes. It just has highlighted areas where the changes are made. If you want one that has track changes, that PDF should be in your emails.

And, uh, even though she's not here, I believe it was DeShanae that made these changes, so thank you to her for putting pen to paper and working on this.

Any discussion? Do we have a motion? We don't have a motion. So I would entertain a motion to approve the changes to the Hand Commission Rules and Procedures. I will make that motion to approve the changes.

Approve, adopt, whichever one is proper. The changes to the Hand Commission rules of procedure. And a second. Yes, second. We have a second in the room from Dr. Johnson.

Okay, now we open it for discussion. Fun part.

Anyone want to start the discussion?

Jessica. Not necessarily a discussion item, but I just wanted to echo the appreciation for Shané going through and making these edits and updates. I think it was something that just needed to be done, and I appreciate her taking that initiative and getting it done.

I think my only comments would be in under the quorum setting.

We have quorum is considered to be a majority. We've established that a quorum is 5 because our Commission has 9 seats. Because it has 9, would we want to explicitly say instead of a majority, because is it, is it a majority of the filled seats or the majority of the seats that the majority of the seats that are available. Yeah, no matter what, it's quorum will always be 5 for this commission because there are 19. OK, so my suggestion here would be rather than say majority, specifically say 5 seats.

So I would— oh man, what's the—. What's—. How would Robert's Rules want us to do this? What? Move to amend.

OK, can I do a couple of amendments all in one? OK, so that would be my first thing is instead of saying majority, we just be specific about that and say that's 5 members.

So we would strike, strike most often and strike the majority of members within a group or organization and just say the quorum is considered to be 5 commissioners.

Um, and then I would also just sort of ask the body's thoughts about requiring we cancel after 10 minutes. Um, I think we're asking my opinion, which I don't know if anyone is, but I'm going to give it anyway. I think I'd rather leave some flexibility in there and have the ability to cancel at the direction of the chair or something like that. Because if we know that, oh, we have 4 people here, but Jessica is going to be half an hour late, I don't actually want to be required to cancel after 10 minutes when we know, you know, so-and-so is going to show up late, give us a quorum. So I like being able to cancel, but not necessarily being required to cancel after 10 minutes.

So I would propose that we just strike that cancellation. And I believe elsewhere we say that the meeting can be canceled. That might be correct there. Or to say, Lacking a quorum, a meeting will be canceled at the direction of the chair.

Another way to do that would be to have it be implicit, but then you have the option to ignore that rule if a chair is present. Since something that this talks about as well is if the chair and the vice chair aren't there, then you guys have to elect who the chair is without starting the meeting.

Yeah, I think, um, a couple things. I think the, um, the best way to express what David is trying to do here would just, I think, be to say a meeting may be canceled after 10 minutes if a quorum can't be established, um, subject to the judgment of the chair or something like that. And that And then, yeah, um, you probably would be best to have some sort of language to address the issue that Tom brought up, because if you have a, a set of commissioners that's less than the quorum, it does not include the chair or vice chair, um, the— these procedures don't really give you the option because you're, um You're supposed to elect the chair, but you also can't convene the meeting— but you can't convene the meeting without a chair. Um, so is the bigger issue not having a quorum there or not having a chair or vice chair? Not having a quorum.

Not having a quorum. Because you can't— then you can't officially take any action, including electing the temporary chair who could convene the meeting. Who could cancel the meeting. So I think what you might— what, what you might want to put is If there's not a quorum and there's not a chair or vice chair, the meetings are—. I think it's after 10 minutes or something like that.

Yeah, but then if the chair or vice chair is there, they have the option or their discretion. Yeah. Jessica asked if they— if just changing the wording from will to may would help that. It would help, but yeah, I think you— and you know, you don't have to address this explicitly just to create ambiguity there in the event you don't have a chair or vice chair present. So, yeah, just something, something to think about.

So I, I like what you just said, and striking under quorum, striking will and changing that to may be canceled after 10 minutes of a quorum is not— cannot be established. And then if quorum is not met, several consequences arise.

I like the first one, no binding decisions. The meeting cannot make any binding decisions or take or, and any votes taken are invalid. I don't love requiring the meeting to be rescheduled. So I would say we may want to strike that.

And just, we would just skip the meeting that month. I don't necessarily think we must require the meeting to be rescheduled. So I would strike that.

And then I think the third line is redundant to the first line. Nullification of actions. And yet, uh, the first line says any, um, that they cannot take any binding actions and any votes are invalid, and then it nullifies. And so I just think that's redundant. We don't usually need that third one, that third bullet point there.

So I would propose we strike that.

So Dave, I'm sorry, where did we land on, um, that line where meeting may be canceled after 10 minutes, the quorum cannot be established? Were we going to add anything about if there— sorry, if there is no chair or vice chair present and meeting and there is no quorum, then meeting will automatically be canceled? Did you want to explicitly add that, or just—. Where would we add that? Just directly actually add it in that same section that you just struck the items from, but the consequence did not have a good— in fact, you might even put the line about the meeting may be cancelled after 10 minutes.

So a meeting may be cancelled after 10 minutes if a quorum cannot be established. Then after 10 minutes it's automatically cancelled since you guys can't elect a chair.

Yeah, yeah, so meeting may be canceled after 10 minutes of quorum. I'm just thinking right Jessica put some verbiage in. Thank you, Jessica. Let's see what you wrote. Sorry, sometimes it's easier just to type it.

Yeah, what Jed was mentioning Um, yeah, about specifying that you have to meet quorum in order to elect a temporary chair, would it be clear just to add a sentence right there that says that? Or do you think it's implied? But it doesn't, it doesn't address the full issue because then, um, the, um, there's like, there's, there's the quorum issue and then there's the presence of chair and vice chair. They're kind of separate things. So the question is what happens when both of those are the case.

Um, so this language would address one of those, but, uh, but you need something else to address the other. So do we just want to do first bullet is that a meeting may be canceled after 10 minutes if a quorum cannot be established, subject to the judgment of the chair. And then the second bullet would be if a quorum is not established and there is no chair or vice chair present, then after 10 minutes the meeting will be automatically canceled. That sounds good to me. Other commissioners, thoughts on that?

No worries.

Hi, Julie. Hi. I'll go back to sharing this And then moving on to resolutions, if we're ready.

Are we—. We still need to—. Are you getting a vote to approve those changes in the document? Oh, in the document. Because we're doing multiple amendments.

Oh, I see. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The resolution's ending in the document. Um, um, I would strike— so in the second line, strike the and change and replace that with a commissioner, and then strike the secretary as well. Um, strike and the secretary because we don't have a secretary.

And then other than that, those are all my, my comments, and I think we're good to go. Okay, then I think you just make a motion to amend it. Yes. That's just described. Yeah, I will.

So I would make a motion. No, before you do, there's another allusion to a secretary. Oh yeah, and remove secretary there as well where Frankie highlighted. Thank you. Good catch.

Do I have to say all of that or can I just say as amended? I think you have to say that you're okay. I'm going to try and remember all—. You don't have to list them all, just it's on the record. Yeah, so I, I would move to amend the original motion.

Yeah, the original motion to reflect the changes of specifically stating that a quorum is 5 commissioners. Instead of a majority. Um, striking most often, striking, yeah, yeah, striking most often and striking the majority of members within a group of organization, replacing that with the quorum is considered to be 5 commissioners. Um, in the next line, striking will for may, replacing it with may, and saying a meeting may be canceled after 10 minutes if a quorum is not established, subject to the judgment of the chair, and adding a line saying a meeting will be canceled if after 10 minutes A quorum is not established and there is no chair or vice chair present. And then striking bullet points 2 and 3 under consequences.

And then under resolutions in the second line, striking the word the and replacing it with a. And then striking the reference to the secretary in the same paragraph, and then striking the reference to the secretary under the agenda paragraph. Can I get a second? Second. Second.

I get a second from Dr. Marvin in the room. Uh, any discussion on the amendment any opposition to the motion? Any opposition to—. We would be approving the secondary motion. Yeah.

Any opposition to approving the amendment? Seeing and hearing none, the amendment is approved. Yay.

Now we're back to the original motion.

Do I need another vote? I don't need another motion. The motion is still on the table. You could just ask if there's any further discussion. Any further discussion on the original motion?

Any opposition to approving the original motion as amended?

Seeing and hearing none, the original motion is approved as amended. Look at that, Commissioners, another action item under our belt. That's, that's an update to the rules and two resolutions. Great job. Way to kick the year off.

Thank you, everyone. And again, thank you to Ishanae for getting us started on this. Now we're on item F, informational item, ongoing business. We have an update from the mayor's office. Hello, Thea, how are you?

Good, good. I'm good. Good. Lots happening as always. So it's been real cold.

As everyone knows, and now it's real snowy. Um, so we, during December, kind of steadily were adding beds at shelter to try to keep up with demand. And then right over, um, holidays, probably starting at Christmas Eve, maybe, we added some additional space, um, to provide some overflow from the safety center. Because our Reno Safety Center is really where we, uh, try to keep as much availability as we can for people to go in 24/7, um, and any kind of first responder drop-offs. So we've had a couple times over the last few weeks where that was really getting maxed out, um, and then of course with the really cold temperatures we just had, we wanted to make sure we had that space available.

So, um, we've had that second location open. It'll probably close next week. Um, and then we are, uh, we'll be figuring out— I mean, basically we're just monitoring day to day to try and make sure we're keeping up with demand. Resource Navigation Center. That's been going for about a month now, that kind of coordinated daily work.

So we're really, you know, trying to grow it. And the vision is that we really have more providers present, you know, on a daily basis, both at Beans and at Third Ave, so that we can kind of immediately connect people to resources. And in the really cold weather, Beans has been seeing a lot of folks.

So we're kind of right now trying to make sure we're getting enough people there to connect and find out what people need and help them get where on a daily basis. I mean, I have to say that as we've been going out to kind of check out on, you know, reports of a camp here or someone there, we're often not finding that many people in those locations still. We know we have a couple places where we still have people hunkered down, but I think we more have people around downtown, kind of out on the streets. So we've really been stepping up the engagement there because obviously people are super vulnerable and it's just cold. Um, the health department, also the clinical services team, have been really, uh, stepping up their outreach to try and address people's, um, cold injury and other kinds of, uh, medical needs and just really do that kind of triage and getting people, um, where they need to go.

Um, we on the micro units, we, uh, have another 8 units that are, uh, being built at the warehouse right now. I think they're probably done, and their plan is to get those out onto the site next week, weather willing. And then we just are waiting for one insurance document so that we can get the operator contract moving forward to the assembly. So we're still crossing fingers, hoping we'll be moving people in this month into those, uh, 32 units. And then from there, having kind of like wrapped up that project, we really want to, you know, reaching out to all our faith community partners, you know, social service partners, whoever might want to also consider adding some micro units at their location.

So we'll be trying to increase that as we go. Um, and then kind of our focus for 2026 will really be on How do we best serve people with really complicated sets of needs? So that's often who we see in our shelters, who we see on the street, are people who have a real mix of medical, behavioral, other types of needs. And clearly those are hardest to serve and often where we don't have enough capacity. So that's one big focus for this year.

And then another one is just really kind of taking that one step up from the micro unit. How do we create more like quick housing units that are very accessible to people, whether that's little tiny homes or little tiny triplexes or more, uh, rentals or even, um, you know, other micro unit locations?

That's a pretty good summary of where we're at right now. And, um, question: are you guys— are You still in the confidential negotiations phase, or can you announce who the contractor is? We still are being— this one piece of paper, and then we'll have our intent to award published, and then everyone will know who it is. Yeah, hopefully we will have in the next couple of days. Um, I spoke with their point of contact today, and they are waiting to get those, I think, 2 or 3 documents from their person, so he's working on it.

So great, he's hoping he'll have it to us like in the next day or two. Great, yeah, just, just curiosity. Any other questions from commissioners? Nothing.

All right, we are blazing through this agenda. Um, update from Housing and Homelessness.

Um, everything I had, Thea already said. So, get up on the record. All of what she said.

Great. Jed? All right, um, we have a lot of stuff going on. It's been a little slower than it had been for a while there when we were doing this rental system and a bunch of additional stuff, but we are moving along. We did get our 2025 grants from HUD signed and in place, so we are ready to start rolling out for those projects.

We did get 2025 grants in place during 2025 this year. This first time in several years that's been the case. It was December, but still, we did get them. So we'll be ready to roll out those projects, We've got some exciting stuff in the works for some of that funding, and we are also starting the process of our 2026 action plan. So, um, Thea and I have been talking a little about priority types of projects that we might want to put out RFPs for, um, what the needs are that we're going to try to address using our funding specifically.

So some of the things that she mentioned may be things that we we put out an RFP looking for projects to fund. And if other people have ideas of types of projects that are needed that we could do in the housing and community development space, let us know, including public services. We also have a portion we can do for public services, and, um, you know, we're interested in hearing the community's So, um, let us know, um, and we'll have some, um, proposals or requests for proposals coming out, um, once we decide which types of projects we're going to prioritize this year. I think that's all I— those are the main things. We got other stuff going on, but those are the main things I think that are going to be interesting this year.

Any, any questions from commissioners?

Okay, great. Well, exciting because we have a good chunk of time for this next conversation, which I'm excited for. So I guess I can sort of tee it off mainly by just reading a little handout that we have, and then Thea, I would invite you if you have anything else to add. Are the questions— They are stapled to the very back of Commissioner Wenzel's. Projecting them off the—.

Up on the screen. So, um, there's been a request to get some guidance, um, um, you know, um, from the Hand Commission to the mayor's office, um, to address basic needs for people who are unhoused, especially those who are unsheltered. Um, goal being to help people meet their basic needs such as clothing, food, water, and make connections to resources to meet other needs such as shelter, treatment, and housing. And so there's a number of questions posed in front of the commission right now that I'm excited to discuss. Uh, one, which locations and ways of distribution are best to connect with people who are unsheltered?

Two, are there privately owned locations that can host pop-ups or other community events? 3, What can help coordinate the many— who can help coordinate the many groups that would like to donate and distribute supplies, food, and other resources? And 4, coordinated outreach— BEANS, 3RNC, Safety Center, and MOA-operated shelters— it's a network that connects to housing, treatment, and shelter. So how do we best connect people to this network? So what I would like to kind of structure this conversation a little bit is, one, um, first sort of go around and give commissioners an opportunity, um, to provide their initial answers to this question.

And then we have some members of the public here that if, um, um, if those members would like to weigh in on those questions, give them an opportunity to do so at that time, um, and then bring the conversation back to commissioners, um, um, after we hear from, uh, you know, Jamie, if you have something you'd like to say, or Duke as well, um, and then sort of bring that back to sort of commissioner discussion. We have time, maybe open it up a little bit more at the end. So that's kind of what I was thinking for a format, um, But that's only one person's idea, and I'm open to if anyone else has thoughts on that.

Seeing and hearing none, I guess we'll just sort of open this up, you know, to any commissioners who would like to speak to any or all of these questions.

And give all commissioners an opportunity to speak and then open it up to some of our members of the public and then bring it back. So, um, who wants to kick us off?

I can start. Thank you. All right, so I really, uh, didn't focus on the questions. I know we got them, but I was focusing on the basic needs and just kind of hearing from, uh, the folks that kind of live out there. Um, they're looking for basic needs of like, um, really like more porta-potties out there.

Um, of course, um, all kind of warm weather gear, socks, gloves, etc. Um, and then a major thing that they talk about is just security of their items. And stuff like that. So I don't know how we do that, but I'm just saying that that's a need out here. And, um, I was working with ANC to see, uh, about like expanding a mobile medical unit because a lot of them probably need to sit in the hot air and stuff like that.

So, and that's all I So I'd like to address those, these questions here. I was focused on basic needs. Yeah, excellent thing. And then I'd also invite you, Thea, if you have clarifying questions, well, because this is kind of direction and advice coming to you. If you have clarifying questions, please feel free to chime in.

Other commissioners want to chime in?

Julie. Uh, yes, hello. Um, I'll see if I can unraise my hand. Um, I had a couple thoughts about locations and, um, to distribute things. And, uh, one idea is Central Lutheran Church, um, as a place to distribute things every Thursday.

To Otter Day, there's a really big event that happens there with an AA meeting and a barbecue. It's called Eddie's Barbecue. There's a foot and wound clinic, so that might be a good chance to do other outreach. There's usually 75 to 100 people that come through. So that was just a thought.

We're talking— when I say we, Central Lutheran is talking with a group that's doing some soup kitchens to maybe have that service at Central. And then one of our guests who's moved out and lives in the Spenarda area has talked about a lot of people that are in need there, so I'm just throwing this out as like a brainstorm. Um, Center Bowl is a location. I don't—. I haven't talked to anyone there, but one of our guests works there.

And just thinking of a parking lot that maybe there could be a pop-up place. I don't know, I was just throwing out an idea. Um, so that's kind of some thoughts. Thinking of different locations, but I don't know. Thank you, Julie.

Jessica, we can—. Oh, sure, we have some. So, Julie, when you're talking about Spinard and Center Bowl, um, the, the, like, the reason you're putting out Center Bowl is because it's just, just because of the location, or are there other things happening at Center Bowl that you think would be like good draws? Well, it has to do a lot with our guest who's moved out. So we did have a guest in our backyard that's moved out.

He works at Thunder Bowl, and so that would be my connection to find out. And he has talked with us and in our backyard about that he sees the need of people on the street in that area when he walks to work back in Fort Worth. So that was the reason. I mean, I have not officially talked to anyone, but I just thought there are people that walk around in that area that are walking to keep warm, um, and maybe the owner of that would be willing to, um, have a pop-up up there. So that was just a thought.

Yeah.

Any other No, sorry. Okay, uh, thank you, Julie. Okay, Jessica, I see your hands up.

Say that, um, from a couple summers ago when we were doing a lot of pop-ups throughout the summer, and then like I guess spring and fall too, um, finding a location to host them wasn't usually the problem. Like, very rarely did I get told no when I was looking for a place to have a pop-up. It was much more likely that we would have too many people that wanted to—. Don't—. Like, it was the coordination side that was the real challenge.

Finding the locations wasn't as big of a challenge there.

I really think some of the The problems with the coordination—. Oh, can everyone else hear me? Yep. Hmm, shoot, I'm sorry, Julie. But I think a big part of it is that coordination.

You know, we've been doing some of it right now with people who have things that they want to donate and they're not sure where to take them. We keep a list of places where people can donate items, you know, in terms of these places are clothing closets, these places are shelters that need blankets, you know, like that kind of running list. And if someone doesn't know, they can just drop it off here and we sort through it and give it to someone. But that's not something we could really do sustainably as the coalition. So I think figuring out how you have the central location where people drop things off, coordinating someone to sort through them.

Um, as many times as you tell people things need to be clean and gently used, you're gonna get dirty, stained, ripped, gross things. You're gonna have to go through it and, you know, throw some things away. Um, and then figuring out how to get it to the pop-up or to the location that's distributing it. And that, I think, is where Laura, and I think I saw Dishnay hop on. Yes, I'm here.

And Michelle.

Provider agency, when I reached out to some of our programs in terms of locations, I know that some of you and places like that where customers can go to, you know, pick up some of these basic needs. And I don't Laura? Hi, yeah, I am right with Jessica on the same wavelength. So the thing that keeps coming to mind with me is that the, the parceling through and determining what donations are good donations is, is not a quick task. It is a thing that as an organization that accepts a lot of donations, we do have to spend a good amount of time going through what's good, what's not, washing things that should have already been washed.

So I think there's— this is like a two-part piece in my mind, or like the struggle I see with this, maybe growth point I see in this, trying to change some of my language. Anyway, so part of the like growth point I see in having this conversation is the like this seems to me like a two-part, like, communication and, um, and like, uh, organization piece, right? So like, this is— people need to have the information to know where it's going to be, even if there's multiple locations happening potentially. Um, but then like, there has to be somebody who navigates all the like the planning, the organizing, the setting up, the managing volunteers. So this is like, I'm thinking through the like, what is the actual capacity of this?

And I love it and I want to make it happen. Don't hear me wrong on that. But like the, the human power and the like operations piece of it is the thing flowing through my head.

Yeah, I would say, do any follow-up there? I would chime in there as well. I, you know, I agree that I see this as kind of twofold, maybe even threefold. There's the collection of the stuff and the sorting through the stuff, and, you know, that's really the hard part. The distribution piece is relatively easy because that's something that you can easily find organizations or volunteers to be able to do.

But then there's also the communication to the community about what's going to be available there. So it's almost, you know, it's a little bit challenging because it's multiple different organizations that we're talking about or multiple different locations. So it almost seems like there needs to be like a a central clearinghouse or an individual that's either housed in an organization or housed in the health department or community or whatever that's able to sort of be that, that sort of central pivot point for it. You know, as far as locations, I think wherever we can couple meeting basic needs basic needs with access to deeper level services. You know, I think, I think oftentimes part of our philosophy at the Resource Center is the basic needs get you in the door, right?

And that's what attracts people down to the space. The connection to deeper services gets you out the door, right? And so whenever we can, we can connect those basic needs services to deeper level service. So, you know, 3RNC would be a good location for that. Um, you know, I think for, for, you know, we've talked about food and some of our challenges with that there, but as far as warm weather gear, you know, and other things, it absolutely can be, can be a space for that.

Um, I would also be curious about talking to community councils, and there's a lot of business owners or people that may have a parking lot or people that may have a property that would be willing to, um, to host a pop-up. Um, I think I kind of already talked about who can help coordinate the, the groups. Like, that's, that's the rub. That's the hard part is, is, um, you know, CSS can coordinate the stuff for CSS and ACH can coordinate the stuff for ACH and the web can coordinate stuff for the web, but if there's something that's sort of like rolling or moving to different locations, you need kind of like an independent person that's going to be able to say this group's going to the web today and then they're going to 3R&C tomorrow and they're going to ACH the next day. And so that's— that I think we can solve that issue, you know, that's the person that connects with Duke and says, Duke, here's where you can go and serve food the next day.

Yeah, and then, and then I think, you know, best connecting people to that network, one is, is, you know, people come in to meet their basic needs and to make sure people have the ability to do that, and then really trusting and encouraging the providers that are there to engage people actively in those digital services. So that would be sort of my take there. And then we have, uh, Shané.

Thanks. Can you guys hear me? So I guess I had a question. So are we looking for— and I saw the questions that were listed out there, um, are we looking for— because I thought the navigation center handled a lot of the things other than collection of items. Are we looking— I guess I was a little— I have a question on what exactly are we looking for, or what is the question regarding additional locations that are not available today?

What exactly is the question? And I guess that would be out to Thea. Do you want to just start with what 3RNC can and can't do? Yeah, sure. Um, yeah, I think it'll start with, you know, 3RNC is, it's a hub for people to access multiple services all under one roof.

We have a menu of services there from, um, you know, being able to charge your phone and, um, take a shower. And like, those are kind of the basic need services that get people in the door. And then we have connection to partners. I think as far as, you know, some of this like cold weather gear and distribution of supplies, that's definitely something that's up our alley.

Where we kind of come up with our limit is in becoming a food security site and doing feeding. That was one of the agreements that we made with the neighborhood when we opened up 3RNC that becoming a warming center, providing regular meals there, or putting shelter beds. It's kind of a non-starter for the Fairview Community Council and that neighborhood there. And so that was part of the agreement that we entered in with them about opening 3RNC. I think, you know, I'll take take a stab at the question and then ask you to chime in.

The question is, there's lots of individuals in the community that want to help, but right now it's kind of scattered, right? It's, it's, we have groups that are serving meals and we have groups that are showing up and trying to distribute food or cold weather gear, and there's no there's a lot of energy and effort and goodwill, and we will get much farther and be more effective if we're able to coordinate it in a way that really gets the most bang for our buck. Yeah, because I think there's a lot of people, and there's all different There's different kinds of people that want to help with different levels of skill and live with different levels of comfort. So there's a, there's a fair number of people who contact me who, you know, they're maybe part of a congregation. There's a lot of people interested in being supportive, but they're not skilled or comfortable going and actually doing like the work that like Jamie does or that, you know, the Dukes group does, like, or that any of you do.

Like that's not their area. But how do I channel all the goodwill and energy and resources that they have into the network that can get them to the people that actually need it? Because otherwise, I think what happens— I think it, you know, I think as we all know, it, it seems like it should be real simple to help people, but it's not. Like, there's a lot of ways it can go wrong. And I mean, I think we're always trying to figure out that conundrum, right?

And so I think sometimes when people with really good intentions are doing things They also can be, I mean, there's just 100 ways things go wrong sometimes. So, and I don't mean for the people doing the good. I mean, sometimes the people are trying to help, like, it can just go south. So I guess that's, that's, I think my reason for bringing all these questions to you is really like, what's the best way for me to respond? And it's not just me, but other people, you know, like, like Kim Waller, our Chief Equity Officer, gets a lot of these.

You know, this interest, and we've generated a lot too. We've gone out and asked communities like, how do you want to be engaged? Like, how can you be engaged? And we have some suggestions for them. We would like them to do micro units.

We would like them to, you know, do designated parking, for example, or even emergency shelter. Like, we have a way for them to do that. But sometimes they come back to us and say, well, actually, really what we want to do is hand out emergency packs. Or we've got plugs, you know, and so how do I best connect those folks with the people who really actually need the things that they're getting? That's my number one.

Yeah, I want to pause at this point and give an option, give an opportunity for Jamie and Duke to chime in. Do either one of you want to contribute to the conversation?

Permission. Permission. A couple of pages back, there's a couple of things that I don't really want to contradict what has been said, but I will explain myself. A center drop-off point probably would work on some level, but I'll give an example. Like, at the Warm-Up Center, Judith Mack helps me with a lot of clothing, and she's gone into the Warm-Up Center where they keep all the clothes, and she opens the door and there are these big piles of garbage bags full of clothes, various assortments and stuff.

It's a mess because they've allowed people to go in there and they, they kind of just do this, and there's no order one or two of the people that work there either are not, you know, staffed decently, so it's kind of a waste. And I'll do another example. At Centennial Park, the community was coming out to the campground giving tents and sleeping bags and other clothing and food and all kinds of stuff. It was getting to the campers. Salvation Army came in there, said, oh, stop coming out here 'Give them stuff.

We've got to take it to our donation center.' Well, they take it to the donation center, and then all of a sudden, lo and behold, none of this stuff was coming back to the campground, you know. And, um, in your situation where people are enthusiastic about it, um, I think mutual aid has its, has its points. Um, you know, there are 45 people signed up to my volunteer WhatsApp group chat, and, um, we communicate through that. And we also have a kind of a shared Google Doc that we organize who's bringing what to our two days of feeding people at the Lutheran Food Bank and on Sundays at the town square. Um, There is an issue with distribution, right?

My—. You can't walk through my living room right now because we got mass donations of coats and other items that we are giving out, and, and people are coming forward. Uh, I have had some bad donations, but for the most part, people bring me good stuff. And this is another issue, it's like people make the party, all right? So if you just invite the public, bring your stuff, you're going to get a lot of bad actors.

And they, they, well, they should be grateful for this, you know, holy soccer, whatever. And a lot of people have this attitude, you know. And, and so in our organization, we're about generosity and about quality. And, um, and, and, and so we, we have a higher standard We're not limited to a budget. You know, it's like there we go over and beyond.

We have half and half for the coffee. We have good coffee. We've got, you know, good ingredients and, and, and that's an important thing to us. And it doesn't cost anyone a dime. Getting bang for your buck, it, it kind of reminds me of a pragmatic mindset, you know, pragmatism.

Seems to— well, that makes sense, that's rational. Well, a lot of times, you know, you fix one thing, you break another. And, uh, you, you have to give people freedom to do what they want and to plug in the way they want. So the first tenet is stop telling people what to do and let them find their niche in the process, and then take their energy Like some people have pile fabric, other people know how to sew. We have teams of people making hats and head warmers.

You know, somebody has meat, they don't cook, but somebody makes soup, that kind of thing. So we partner people with each other. And, you know, when people serve, they change their mind about not wanting to serve because that's really the best part of it is the being out there and meeting people and, and understanding what their situation is. And that to me, I think, is probably the most redeeming quality of this work, is going out there and, and getting away from the rhetoric of it, going out there and seeing, you know, the, the lived experience. So, um, you know, that's— those are my immediate thoughts.

We are having trouble finding people because because the camps have been invaded and it's been scattershot everywhere. So that's why, sorry to say, we're still at Town Square. We want to change that. We want to, you know, make you happy because I know you're not happy with us being there.

The Lutheran Church, working with Theresa Brown from Acre Gardens, she does a free produce thing in this fall. It was super successful. She's got connections, and, uh, farmers out in the valley have literally given her tons of root vegetables that she gives out. She does little cooking demonstrations, and people have lined up for that as well. So there's a lot of creative things that we can do and making it fun.

But here's number one: nobody wants homeless people around their place, right? You say it's an easy thing to, to find locations. You know, it's not. Well, you know, The town square is one example. You know, if we set up at Cronos Farms, which seems like a pretty good place, it's so cold people aren't really walking around.

The church that meets at the library has— rents the library for a couple hours and serves breakfast. But maybe we could, you know, tag along with them and, you know, they could get a break on rental or something like that. We served the warm-up shelter at the bus transit center last night, and because nobody knew that we were gonna do that, they were kind of being told to call the cops and get us out of there. And we finally found a place where we could be, and we served fresh salmon rice and dinner to about 30, 35 people. And hopefully that made the night inside that place, you know, go a little smoother.

So we're, we're trying to find locations where people are at. If we went to the Park Strip, you know, we may not find the people. We went to Lutheran Church like third Thursday, is that right? Third Saturday. Third Saturday.

We'd be open to that too, um, but that, that is kind of an issue for us because we have so many people wanting to help and we got a lot of food on the next two days. And I feel like—. Just—. Can I respond to that? Yeah, yes, please.

And I feel like, um, just like connecting some of the things that people are talking about, like, I, I 100% agree that people are are making their own choices. And the, you know, kind of system that we're trying to manage, part of the, like, values embedded in it, in my mind, is we're trying to create multiple different options and pathways. Because in the end, you know, people are going to choose what they're going to choose to do. But I think people— we're all making our choices within a set of conditions, right? So, you know, The reason Town Square is a little bit problematic is partly because over the last, I guess, all the way through last summer, so maybe the last 6 months or so, um, as like both outreach teams but also the park ambassadors and others like really engaged with people that were hanging out at Town Square every day, what we learned was there was like some real kind of dangerous criminal behavior that was like coming to them there.

And, you know, different things happen. Somebody got arrested— not one of the people at Dunsborough, but one of the criminals got arrested— and that actually changed the environment there. And then people all of a sudden wanted to not be there as much. So I think part of what I'm trying to get at inarticulately is, like, I think we want to be mindful about where we're drawing people to, because sometimes we're attracting people to places where people that are going to prey on them will come. And that is a constant pattern.

So I mean, that's in a way what really spurred on a lot of the abatement also, is because, you know, for example, Davis became really unsafe to the point where all the outreach teams wouldn't go in there anymore. And I mean, not everybody Jamie was still going, the whole team would still go, but like a lot of people wouldn't go into the park anymore, and it wasn't a good scene. Yeah, so I mean, I guess I understand, but at the same time, if not the town square, we find like a physical place somewhere else, then, then the people might go to the Park Strip, but then we're out in the wind and not really that protected. We're only there for an hour. Yeah, so that's what I'm wondering actually.

Is like with all this is like, you know, you just mentioned the church running Mountain View Library. Is that what you're saying? Yes. And, you know, like I wonder if we can, like, can we do a pop-up at, you know, Spinnard Rec in the parking lot, or can we do one at the library in the common room, or, you know, can we actually use some municipal services? And I think the thing for like on the municipality side is to is there somebody there organizing and kind of like caring for the space and the scene, you know?

And church is paying for the security guard, and I think they're also paying the rent for those two columns, right? I mean, and I feel like that's something we could work on. Yeah, that would be a great— that would be an easy, easy thing to give them, uh, some, because they're looking to have a place. But what happens is one of the 2 of the people in the congregation make breakfast. Oh, this is Pastor Phil's church?

Yes. Oh, got it. They lay it all out and invite, you know, a lot of people come in just for the breakfast. And the problem with me is I'm not ready. I can't be there earlier in the day, so 2:30.

So if we were able to kind of extend that into a lunch, then it would be easier for our crew to sort of help. And that would, I think, as long as people come, because we can feed 100 to 150 people, and if 20 people come, you know, it's kind of overkill. And it's happened a few times, but most of the time we think we always bring too much, but we always end up with nothing. So it just, it feels like I There's a lot of irons in the fire. People are helping.

It's not a criticism to what's being done. It's just that somehow, you know, we never announce when we come. We never announce anything. We just come and all of a sudden, boom, they're there. And once they're fed, then they, they go off.

A couple of people hang out, but you know, it's, it's like when they get what they want, then they're off doing whatever they're doing. But the, you know, just people responded really well. I was just on my scooter by myself in October, and within a few weeks when the rescuers came, I started bringing the van and one other person, you know, all of a sudden in a couple of weeks we had 2 dozen, 4 dozen, you know, people. So, and they're all extremely capable able and willing. I like your kind of talk about people do want, and I do think it's going to be the thing that means our community, because things happen positively on both sides of the table.

You know, obviously we're feeding people, but there's, there's a real strong depression going on in our community because they see this stuff and they want to do something about it. And, and It seems like it's a little bit of a trick to engage into the action.

Thank you. Questions for Duke?

Jamie? Uh, going for a while, hours. Uh, so, you know, Duke knows, and so I'm, I'm gonna—. I'll just say We'll keep this part going until 5:20. Sure.

And then we'll do closing comments. Okay, so, uh, yeah, trying to narrow the scope of this thing. So policies, uh, I've spoken to this at length any number of times. Uh, policies determine who lives, who dies, uh, you know, who essentially gets out of homelessness, who doesn't get out of homelessness. And so yeah, there are a lot of things going on there.

Uh, I've seen bad policies and they've sort of been promulgated over the past year. Um, when you displace people endlessly, uh, don't be surprised if you can't find them, or it's not easy to take people, uh, things. Uh, and then it just becomes that much harder because you can't go a million places and it takes time. And then also on top of it, you know, I watched this play out with the typhoon for long situation where they got the gold standard. It was, you know, good care where, uh, you bring the Alaska Airlines Center, the UN Center, uh, you know, and then Red Cross World Health Kitchen, I think it was, and good food, uh, used— not used donations, new donations, uh, stuck in apartment— well, excuse me, stuck in hotels, then put in apartments, and it was treated like disaster relief.

And so the people outside, they're not getting the same standard level of care, which means they don't get things. And then how they are approached is with law enforcement. And, you know, I don't see anybody in this room, uh, who has lived experience, uh, or is, uh, you know, had a certain amount of time outside doing outreach. And that is part of the problem, is people are making decisions on how they see things, not necessarily on how people outside see things. Um, you know, if you see law enforcement You are not going to approach, you're not going to get in the car with law enforcement because if you go into a shelter, first you go into the hotel and then you get kicked right back out because you have a curfew or maybe the staff don't like you.

Then what ends up happening is you are right back outside and you've just gotten into a car with law enforcement or you've just spoken with law enforcement. And so the simple fact of the matter is you're not breaking up any of the criminal element you really think is going to be out there, which you've done. Done, it's made it that much more difficult for people to get things. Uh, you need to separate law enforcement from outreach. It's not right now trauma-informed care, it's trauma-induced care.

And that is part of the problem, is you need to take your health department, you need the fire department, you need somebody who's not a threat to people out there. And you have to pay people to do outreach and not expect a free lunch. This takes time, it takes energy, it takes money, it takes resources, and you need, you need to be, be able to manage it. And I was doing essentially 12 to 14 to 15-hour days when Beans was handing me 130 to 170 meals a day, and I was only getting to certain sections of the town getting people meals. Uh, if you talk about centralized points where you want people to get things, it's not efficient.

Not only that, but the problem is, uh, it takes a certain amount of calories to be able to go from where you're at to get to a point to get food. In that process, somebody may steal your stuff or burn it to the ground. Uh, they're not getting access to healthcare and other things. You need to be able to go out with outreach to identify people actually need care, and then, uh, you know, maybe get somebody to actually physically take them to the hospital because they're not able to do it. And so the HOPE team sort of is, you know, what they, they've been doing is doing that, but by simply having law enforcement attached to it, people are not going to get care because they will back off and will not approach.

Uh, so just to be clear for anyone listening, um, like when I mentioned that we have a morning meeting, um, again, we have about— usually in the room it means there's probably 10 people there, and then on the Teams channel there's another 30, 30. I think today day there was actually 36 people in teams. And out of that group of people, there's one law enforcement officer, which is Officer Ruth Adolph. And, um, in her role at the police department as a member of the HOPE team, she does not do, um, actual enforcement. So she's there to do outreach, engagement.

And even though I think it's absolutely—. Agree with you that, that she Intelligence. I think, I think absolutely agree with you that some people are less comfortable around law enforcement. What we've also learned is that some people very much appreciate developing a relationship with a law enforcement officer because they themselves are victims of crimes, and without that trusted relationship, they're not able to report those crimes or get free from, from that. So I just want to be clear about where I can clarify something because I go go outside.

And I don't mean this badly, okay? I'm just saying that if you interact with law enforcement outside, you can actually end up being, uh, you know, a future victim of a crime because you have. And so, so what I'm saying is you separate law enforcement from outreach. You have the fire department, you have the health department, you pay people like me, you go out, you build the trusted relationships, and then when they trust you, they tell you things, and then it doesn't become you're reporting something to a police officer instead of reporting something to somebody who's a friend who may have the ability to actually tell somebody something if they want it of that person, and you're diffusing it. But that's what we're doing.

But the ANDOC thing is more or less tacking all of these things onto law enforcement operation, and it just is not right. It needs to be done by—. This, this right here is not a conversation. But I'm talking about bringing people basic needs services. If I may, I think you've done a very good job of identifying some of the issues.

What I'm really interested in hearing you speak to are some of your solutions to these questions that are on the table. Yeah, the solutions are, uh, you hire people to do outreach, uh, it has to be similar whether it is to Home Crisis or Home Team, but you strip the law enforcement part from it. You go go outside and meet people on a daily basis, and then you're able to identify people because they're not going to be able to—. How does that leverage the volunteer groups? Okay, so the volunteer groups—.

Donate to provide for this— volunteer isn't necessarily about outreach, it's about leveraging groups that want to help that are not, that are not paid staff, right? We're talking about groups like, like, um, like Duke here and other individuals that are doing clothing drives and doing food drives and warm gear drives. But how do we better coordinate that? Okay, so part, part of what's going on here is people have been spreading things. It doesn't mean they— there are less people out there.

They're just jumping in and out of houses and trap houses. There are any number of ones where I know they're at. But what I'm saying is, uh, if you want to make it easy for a district distribution, you have to have places where people can go without being a criminal. Because right now you can't pitch a tent without being a criminal, and that means you need to do the sanctioned camps. And then you provide people that can get access to things at those locations.

It's up to you for the providers to provide pathways out. I'll just give you an example right now, okay? And this is not specifically distribution. What I'm saying is, okay, Alex, so tell me, they've introduced a policy now where, uh, they kick you out after 90 days. And so, you know, somebody who's literally trying to get out of it and, uh, employed, and now that he's going to be put back out on the street and he's trying to improve his life.

And so this is part of the problem, is that there just does not seem to be pathways for people to elevate themselves. And so they're right back out there, and so you're cycling through people that have bad experience to go back out. So distribution If you're looking for distribution, you need the sanctioned camps here if you really want to solve the problem. And it's like—. Sanction camps?

Sanction camps. I've tried talking about it, you know, for 5, 6 times. And I know, I know—. I've been to all the meetings and it was a joke. But I'm saying I've gone to any number of meetings and yeah, the point is the political will is not there.

The lawyers are telling people not to do it, but really there's not going to be enough testing and then you need you have an area for people to go, and then you provide opportunities for people. Meanwhile, you improve the standard of care. They can get access to medical care and all of the other things too. And a lot of times what ends up happening is people let their medical problems go, and so they get to a point where they finally decide to go and get care, but it's too late because they never prevented the care. Yeah, that's a question.

So just to be clear, there was a sanctioned camping task force. I think that's what you're talking about, and The report that, that produced is partly what led to us to make the micro units project. And let— like, as I mentioned earlier, like, our next phase of the micro units is to get them in many more locations where people will be comfortable staying. Because— and I think even that, that task force recognized that there isn't a way to be safe in a tent. You can't secure your belongings, you can't secure yourself.

So that's why the micro unit is like a one baby step up from a tent, trying to keep it as low-tech as possible. So just, I just want to be clear that we didn't ignore anything. We didn't— we're not assholes. We didn't like decide not to do stuff. We're doing the things.

The micro units project right now is, uh, is basically attached to substance abuse treatment. The problem with this is, is that there are people they still need to go somewhere without becoming a criminal. And so substance abuse treatment, for anybody who knows, uh, it basically is only successful if the person wants to do it and buys in. And so if you're saying that you can't get housed without doing substance abuse treatment, then they don't go, then they stay outside. It's an option for people, sure, one of many, many options.

But, but the point is, is that there, there are going to be people that are not going to reintegrate back into society, and they need to go somewhere, whether it's for lack of education, criminal background, or something. A lot of times these problems start out and they're born by poverty and lack of economic opportunity. Thanks. We're at 5:20. All right, just want to say I totally agree and understand that the current— like, our micro unit project is a treatment program that's not low barrier, but the point of doing it was to demonstrate to the community that it is quick and cheap to build a micro unit that can do what Julie's project does, and that there are lots of opportunities.

So if you're somebody that can serve people who are the type of folks you're, you're talking about, Jamie, then please like talk to me. I'll even try and get the money from somebody to buy those micrograiners, put them in your parking lot so that you can serve those people. So I don't have parking. I'm not talking about you specifically, but anybody that you know, and, and, and I'm actively beating those bushes. So again, And I guess I'm saying that maybe because I'm with David.

I want to hear solutions. And when you come at me in particular as if I am either an idiot or have bad intentions, it really puts me in opposition to you. And I don't want to be in opposition to you. I know you're a super skilled, committed, like, worthy, active, engaged, valuable person in this. And so I don't want to be in opposition, but I am totally different from you in many ways, but I'm also a valuable person in this group.

So if you can come at me with a sense of mutual value, even if we disagree on many things, I will happily 100% work with you and try to make the things happen. To be clear, I never said anything regarding— I never said the word India in any particular way, and I don't—. But do you care how it's said? I don't think I have the right to respond. We're going to end the conversation there.

We can talk about it. We're going to end the conversation there. Yeah, thank you. All right. Really appreciate the feedback.

I'm going to go back around to commissioners and see if they have any closing thoughts or closing comments on the questions posed in front of the Commission right now. Nothing from Dr. Marvin online. Raise your hand if you have some closing comments.

I see a lot of activity in the chat, so thank you so much. I will condense that and send that out to commissioners. And Frankie will condense that and send that out to commissioners, and then take Luthia up as well.

Any closing comments in the Chat. Okay, nothing online. Um, and I, I think I, I will just say, um, um, whenever we're having these conversations, you know, that it does seem like, you know, a big gargantuan task to coordinate all of this, but then You know, I like to think of what's the low-hanging fruit, and I think potentially there— when I'm thinking of the low-hanging fruit, there's a, there's a lack of information to provide that core to coordinate people. I think what might be helpful in the very short term is one-pager or some sort of document that says that says this organization can receive this type of donation and support this type of activity. This organization can do X, Y, and Z, and this organization can do, you know, A, B, and C. And I think for, for you, Thea, that might be something that you could point to rather than you having to do the coordination yourself.

You know, if there's some sort of, um, uh, directory of, you know, 3RNC can take this donation and do this, the coalition is able to do this, Salvation Army does this, because, because right now all of that exists on everybody's individual websites and the person that is just trying to do the thing that's trying to help and calling the muni, but you all may not be armed with that information. So I think Potentially some of the low-hanging fruit would be to collect all that information and put it into one place. So when someone calls immunity and says, I got clothes I want to go distribute, um, there is— you can connect them with one of the organizations that would be able to do that. I think if there's a, there's a longer conversation around that, but I always I would like to try to get to at least a little bit of an action item out of some of these conversations, and we have a comment on that. Yeah, first of all, I'll volunteer to do the one-pager.

Yay! Second of all, my thought is, is like a mini, like, needs survey of sharing it out on all the different community sites and be like, hey, are you an organization that accepts or distributes donations? If so, who, what, when, where, why, how, and then take that information and we can compile it into a— it probably won't be one page, but sure, a condensed document that we can then mass distribute, um, as a whole to start with and see where that leads us.

Yeah, I think the biggest thing though is just the connecting it to the people that actually need it. I mean, it— like, I don't think there's actually a problem with, like, 3RNC and, and even our shelters receiving donations. Like, like, we kind of have that mapped. I mean, as part of our, you know, all of this stuff. Yeah, we're all the time— I mean, you know, uh, Jessica and Kenny have been working on that.

And, you know, so it's— to me, it's a little bit trickier. It's really more about the people who aren't coming to 3RNC. And see, you know, like right now we've got a lot of people coming to Beans and many of those folks, not, not many, some of them aren't coming to your campus. Yeah, David, right? It's like there's different levels of comfort with different locations.

And so I think that's why the pop-ups or like Jamie's saying, like actually going out is, is really important also. And so I think that's still where I'm a little bit stuck. Like I, I don't think the problem is that, you know, like, we can always send a church to— yeah, send stuff to David. Like, that, that's not a big deal. But it's about connecting with the people that aren't—.

Yeah, like, I mean, I guess I love the thought around, like, how can we add on to, like, what Pastor Phil is doing? Or, like, are there other community locations that we could do pop-ups? Or, like, how can we maximize what Central Lutheran's doing? Or if there's other places places that we're just not getting to? Because like everyone's saying, people don't move around as much in the winter.

Well, how can we get stuff out there? Our group can shape-shift. So if we go to St. Francis, you know, 120 people, we can provide food for that many. Go downtown, it's only 30 or 40 or 50, you can do that too. Uh, you know, I just received 80 brand new coats.

I'm not bringing all 80 coats to these places and because, you know, they hoard stuff and whatever. And, you know, give the items to police, you know, and kind of judiciously sort this stuff out. And that's part of it. I think the hard part of it is, you know, to not over-provide, you know, like let it rain gloves when you don't need to. Thank you.

Jessica, you had your hand up for a microsecond. I was gonna— I put it in the chat too, but I think so, maybe I think that was McKenna talking. Maybe a second one-pager is the places that are already out there, so you know, the dates and times that different clothing closets are open or food pantries are open or things like that, and then from there figuring out where the gaps are. So is there a certain area of town that doesn't ever have a clothing distribution? Or is there a certain day that never has a clothing distribution?

Or is there a certain type of item that's not getting distributed? And then, and then agree with Jamie, and I think Theo was saying it too, like getting it out the rest of the way. So is that a rotating pop-up? Like, I love the idea of the library, you know, having locations that are in areas that maybe are more accessible to people who are unsheltered that aren't necessarily all the way to their tent. Because I think outreach should be filling that gap.

Outreach should be getting all the way out to someone's tent and gathering that information about what do they need, how do we get it to them. And maybe that's outreach team members going to these clothing closets and saying, I have a person who needs Size 34, 32 pants. Let me go find 5 pairs of them. I think the other thing that I've been realizing recently is that we need a motion to extend by 5 minutes. Well, I think you also need to consider whether or not there's going to be public comment or commissioner comments.

Is that what—. I believe we've satisfied the public. I'd like to say something. Extend by 10 minutes. Can I get a motion to extend by 10 minutes?

I'll move to extend the meeting by 10 minutes to 5:40. Second. Any opposition?

Okay, motion passes. I just want to say that one thing that's been coming up recently is, and the library is a good example, is that where we used to do a lot of outreach because we've had camps where we do people were outside, we now actually need to do a little bit more in-reach. So like, for example, I met with the librarian this week and she would like it if we could figure out how to do more in-reach at Mountain View and Lusak so that people are coming, because they're, they're coming inside, which is great. You're talking about Ray Edstrom? What's that?

Ray Edstrom? No, I'm talking Yeah, you said now if you like, please, please, please talk. Anyway, I'm just saying, I, I— yeah, anyway, so you should talk to him. Okay. Um, so I guess where I'm headed with that is that I think the really key thing, or something that you said, Duke, earlier, which is like part of this is really about mending community, and then David also said, you know, basic needs get you in the door, connections secure, get you out the door.

I guess that's one of the key pieces for me that was in those questions I sent was that I want the basic need to also be an opportunity to get the pathway to all the other things— treatment, shelter, housing, micro units, like whatever we can make available. And so that's, that's important to me too, that we're not just doing the immediate, but we're doing that kind of mending and connecting. Thank you. Shay?

I, I like the idea that Jessica brought up, and I think having that second page, and I really think sponsorship is the way to go. That spread it around the community, just say what you need, come up with a date that you need it, and get— I think using that same approach that we used to use with the cold weather shelter. If you say we need X, Y, and Z on this date, have a sponsor, an organization come and sponsor that date for whatever that is that you need. Let them coordinate whatever it is and say, Will you do this on this date? And just have several different organizations sponsor those activities at whatever location you have.

And if that date is published, then whoever shows up will have access to whatever is there for that date. Thank you. Okay, wonderful conversation, everybody. Appreciate all the engagement. At this point, we're going to move to general public comments.

Duke, do you have general public comments? So, I'm passing to Jamie. I, I might, but I, I, I don't. Right. Okay, thank you.

Just seeing if we got, we got one or two. Trying to get the timer going.

And take it away. So I'll, I'll wait for the gong at the end, but, uh, more or less, I think this This is my last time here. Uh, unfortunately, these sorts of things, like I said, it's a bit of a resume for me, and people talk and they talk, uh, but people aren't really listening. And so the reason why homeless people don't come to these things or come to assembly meetings is because they show up to say things and then they're not really truly listened to. And so they just look at it as a waste of time, they check out.

I've been doing this for like 2 to 3 years doing outreach. I've been paying to do it. And literally, uh, while there are any number of people that are in offices, uh, you know, doing Zoom calls, uh, or showing up occasionally, uh, they're not actually going outside too much. And so the simple fact of the matter is people need help and they're not getting it. And I've been doing this and I'm still not getting any respect for it.

So I don't feel respected and valued. And I think I'm checking out. Uh, I did not call Missy, I know that would be an idiot, but I do believe she's a bit tone deaf. And so I have tried to talk to her any number of times, and I brought Mayor Davis-Clark to try and talk to her one time, and he walked out the door after 5 minutes, uh, because he was trying to explain how you keep people alive. And right now the policies being pushed are punitive ones, and I know I'm not making friends doing this, but unfortunately I've about hit my wit.

Nobody's really listening. So yeah, I wish you luck. That's all I can say. It sounds funny checking out, so thank you.

You're welcome for public comment if you'd like. Yeah, I, I say that, I, you know, I feel Jamie's pain, you know, but you know, sometimes you got to get down off the across because we could use them. And there's times where, you know, we— there's only so much that we can do, and we have to balance this because it is, uh, something that can really suck us in. And when you're out there in the camps, you see these situations take place, it hits your heart pretty hard. You want something done about And I, I think from the perspectives of the city government and stuff, they're, they're, they're having to approach it from a much different perspective.

You know, there's lawyers and there's, there's, you know, there's limitations and different things. But we as kind of, uh, wingnuts out there doing it, you know, we, we are not, we're not limited by that, you know. And it's not to say that they're not doing good by it, but we're, you know We have our strengths, they have theirs, and it would be great to be able to align because I do think we're better together. And, you know, not to take these things too personal and just remember, you know, kind of why you do it in the first place. I respect what you do.

I love you too. I have been met so many wonderful people on both sides of the table. It's been very rewarding, and that's why I keep coming back. And like I said, uh, you know, if somebody were to come to me and say, look, we have this situation, I could get a group and boom, you know, over we go with this stuff. Um, but again, you know, it's, it's, it's all a learning situation.

I like to stay creative with it. You know, we don't have to get dour in it, you know, and just accept our results or, you know, the things that we can't house everybody, but we house some. You know, there are some pluses along the way. It's not like we're not doing any good. So, Thank you, Duke.

I, I appreciate those words, and I think it's important to remember that we are all, we are all trying to row in the same direction, um, and it's not perfect, and some entities and organizations don't have the ability to be as nimble as others, that, that could be frustrating, but everybody is in this room because they care. Um, and, you know, most of, and all of these commissioners have dedicated their career to trying to solve this issue. Um, and I think it's important to not lose sight of that. So with that, um, we'll move to commissioners' comments. Anything online?

We have no reports, and that we are at time, so I motion we will go ahead and adjourn. Thank you everybody, we'll see you again on February 4th. Thanks so much for this really valuable information. Thank you.