City Council to discuss homeless issue

kerryinbox
Dec 27, 2021
2 min read

Baker City Council members will have a public work session Wednesday, Dec. 29 to discuss the homeless situation, and the recent conversation among Baker County Commissioners about potentially opening a temporary warming shelter in the city. Wednesday’s work session will start at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 1655 First St. Work sessions are open to the public but the purpose is for discussion only, and councilors will not make any decisions.

Mayor Kerry McQuisten suggested during the Council’s Dec. 14 meeting that councilors schedule the work session for Dec. 29. The work session was prompted by the county commissioners’ Dec. 1 meeting, when the three commissioners concluded that Baker City needs a temporary shelter, which would be open from the evening through the morning.

Commissioners did not discuss a specific site for a shelter. Commission Chairman Bill Harvey, who spearheaded the discussion, proposed a two-pronged strategy — first, find a temporary site for a shelter for this winter, then look into a longer term facility. Commissioners also mentioned the need to coordinate with the city and other local agencies.

In a message to the Baker City Herald on Monday morning, Dec. 27, McQuisten wrote, in response to a question about Wednesday’s work session: “We hope to learn what the commissioners are thinking regarding warming stations and shelters. The City hasn’t been part of that communication, and we need to be.”

Wednesday’s work session will happen during what’s likely to be the coldest week of 2021. The temperature dipped to 6 degrees on Monday at the Baker City Airport; the coldest temperature so far in 2021 was 5 degrees, in February. The National Weather Service is forecasting temperatures to dip to near zero later this week.

Baker City Police Chief Ty Duby said in November that the city’s homeless population has grown over the past few years. He cited his own observations, as well as reports from police officers and from the public. Duby also said he plans to ask the City Council to approve an ordinance limiting where, and when, people can camp on public property within the city limits. Duby said he was prompted to act by a bill that the Oregon Legislature passed earlier this year and that Oregon Gov. Kate Brown signed into law on June 23.

The law — introduced as House Bill 3115 and passed by the Democratic majorities in both the state House and Senate — is based on a 2019 federal court ruling in a Boise case that in effect prohibited cities and counties from making it illegal for people to sleep outdoors in public spaces if the jurisdiction doesn’t provide indoor alternatives.

Baker County’s two state legislators, Sen. Lynn Findley, R-Vale, and Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane, both voted against the bill. The new Oregon law states that cities or counties which have ordinances that regulate “the acts of sitting, lying, sleeping or keeping warm and dry outdoors on public property that is open to the public must be objectively reasonable as to time, place and manner with regards to persons experiencing homelessness.”