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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-11-10 Government Operations Committee Minutes Government Operations Committee November 10, 2009 Minutes Councilor Attendance: Wheeler, Blanchette, Gratwick, Nealley Staff Attendance: Barrett, Farrar, Gastia, Yardley, Nicklas, Cyr, Courtney, Douglas, McNeil Others: Rev. Carlson, Dennis Marble, Advocates for the Homeless, Eric Russell, BDN Committee Chair Wheeler opened the meeting at 5:00 p.m. The agenda items were taken out of sequence. 1. Discussion of Issues and Challenges Surrounding Bangor’s Homeless Population Yardley updated the Committee on what is being seen and the concern regarding homelessness. Early this summer meetings were held to look at issues on the waterfront with some particular locations. Unfortunately before much was accomplished, there was a tragedy on the waterfront. These meeting were with local and statewide stakeholders to begin discussing the issues of homelessness and Bangor’s inadequate resources to deal with the homeless population. The staff does not have any recommendations, but he spoke about how his department deals with homelessness. Park Woods is the transitional housing project and during the last 2 months 168 people were housed in 49 households. The Shelter Plus Care program provides housing subsidies designed to meet the needs of the homeless who have mental health and substance abuse issues and/or disabilities. This program provides 140 households containing 148 people housing. In addition, through General Assistance, in the last 2 months H&CS issued housing vouchers to people living at Acadia Recovery in the amount of $9,943.00; Bangor Homeless Shelter received $19,688.00 and Shaw House received $3,300.00. He pointed these figures out in order to show the significant responsibility Bangor has in dealing with the homeless. Many of the folks that are in need of support and protection due to disabilities and/or substance abuse issues are not able to navigate the General Assistance program. General Assistance requires that individuals account for all of their resources and how they expend their money. Many of these folks cannot do that month to month so they become ineligible for General Assistance. Chief Gastia then spoke about how the Police Department becomes involved. Throughout the year his department receives complaints from individuals as well as businesses because of some of the homeless population creating makeshift campsites in certain areas in the city and some being very visible to the public. The department also gets complaints from business owners because homeless people are entering into the entryway of their business at night and sleep. Complaints are also received for homeless people sleeping under bridges. The Department investigates these complaints and then contacts the appropriate resources to find more suitable resources for them but often times do not have a great deal of success. During the winter, these problems become more exacerbated. When they can’t find any other alternatives, the homeless typically come to the Police Department in search of resources, but the department does not have any. When these individuals come to the department, staff has 2 alternatives: one is to allow them to sleep in the entryway of the department and the other is to turn them out into the cold. This year the department began seeing people that wanted to stay in the lobby of the Police Department in early September. Gastia passed around a picture of the lobby last Sunday night at about 8:30 p.m. The picture shows individuals sleeping in the lobby of the Police Department. He explained that this becomes a problem particularly when customers visit the department with other problems and sometimes those customers have children with them. Gastia and Yardley have been working together to find some alternatives. They have come up empty handed and they expect this situation to get worse with the economy the way it is going. On top of this situation, Bangor has a growing number of sex offenders in the City and a number of them belong to the Homeless community. As of last week, Gastia said that there were 25 out of 200+ sex offenders who listed their address as the Homeless Shelter or 179 Indiana Ave., which is the ARC. Gastia feels that this problem will get worse with lack of beds available. There is a network within this state and beyond, which informs the homeless that Bangor is the place to come because the City has shelter and room for the homeless. Yardley added that Maine Housing requires that all of the shelters provide a Homeless Management Information System report. This report indicates that in the first 9 months of 2008 there were 932 unduplicated clients in Bangor with 163 of them staying in more than one shelter during that period. During the same period of time, in 2009 there were 1001 unduplicated clients with 153 of them staying in more than one shelter during that period in Bangor. The average bed night per client went from 33 in 2008 to 38.5 in 2009. This shows that there are more homeless individuals and they are staying longer. In Bangor in 2008 there were 30,700 bed nights. One year later for the same period of time that number was up 25% to 38,494 bed nights. These are only the folks that get in and does not account for those that stay on the streets. Gastia found through surveying, that many of the homeless people came to Bangor because they were directed to Bangor. He spoke about a registered sex offender that came to Bangor from another southern state 1 ½ weeks ago who was given a plane ticket to come to Bangor. It is known that other municipalities do not allow sex offenders in the shelters and they are told that they will be accepted in Bangor. In the past the ARC would not refuse anyone and did not close their doors. If they did not have any available beds people were allowed to come in and sit in chairs for the night. That is no longer the case. They have a capacity limit now and close their door when they are full. This has pushed the overflow back out onto the street. Rev. Carlson serves as President of the Penobscot Community Healthcare which has a homeless program and is located on Summer Street across from the Police Station. It is able to provide services for homeless folks that end up in Bangor. He spoke about a meeting he had with the Chief Psychiatrist Officer and the CEO at Penobscot Community Healthcare and are currently in collaboration with Acadia Hospital to talk about ways in which they might be providing more services at the ARC. Rev. Carlson gave a little history about how he became involved and how he worked together with others to help solve an issue that was facing the Bangor Police Department many years ago. People with alcohol or drug abuse issues ended up in the County Jail not because they committed a crime, but because they were difficult to deal with and no other place to go. At that time the Hope House was established for these individuals. Much later Acadia took it over and worked with not only the substance abuse, but the behavior side of it as well. He said that due to the State’s budget crisis, it is important to continue to be aware of the problem and their commitment is to continue to work to solve these issues. One of the things the Chief talked about was the sex offenders and Rev. Carlson has significant concerns with that as well. The law states that as long as you are in licensed abuse program confidentiality laws by statute is value added. They cannot even tell others if someone is there. By separating what happens in treatment from a shelter, the law requirements change. Dennis Marble, the Director of the Homeless Shelter, said that until it can be measured who has left Bangor or Maine to go to other shelters, the homeless is not a one way street. He thinks that people have left the area and gone to Arizona and others have come in. Bangor is a service center with a lot of family breakdown and access to instant gratification, such as money and drugs. Without clear public policy as to what to do in many circumstances of behavior that seems to be driven by a disability, there are consequences on the community. He feels that it is not the role of the Police Department to be an emergency shelter at night. He said that the shelter relies on the Police about 3 times a week to help remove someone or to help keep someone away. The shelter has protection orders on approximately 3 people currently and he stresses that he values and respect the relationship between the shelter and the Police Department. Marble said that the shelter is full and plans to add 3 to 5 cots beginning st December 1 to the TV room. They currently have 2 paid staff members on each night and anymore than the 33 plus an additional 3 to 5 quickly becomes unsafe. The shelter had one accident within the last 2 years that resulted in a death and he does not want a second one. There is a little funding coming in again this year from Maine Housing. He is asking that an Emergency Winter Plan be coordinated with the crisis program over seen by the Community Health and Counseling Services. That may be a quick fix for someone in the lobby. The intention is, if it was the same as last year, to make short term arrangements with local motels at certain rates. Last year it was designed for women and children and could be a temporary and brief fix during the winter. He thanked the Committee for being open to this discussion and open to the information. Responding to Nealley, Yardley said there is a committee in Bangor that consisted of himself and the Chief along with others that have been meeting regularly since this summer. The Monday of Thanksgiving week there will be a meeting with a group of social service agency and faith-based community folks to look at ways to partner in a meaningful way to respond to this issue. Yardley said there is a lot of effort and attention going into this issue, but it is not always as coordinated and efficient as it could be. Yardley spoke of the situation in Portland that has between 180 to 250 people sleeping 18 inches apart on mats in shelters and an overflow in the soup kitchens. He struggles with the way Portland is responding by allowing anyone that wants to be inside to have that option and thinks that should be commended; however, he is unsure that 18 inches apart on a mat is good public policy either. Nealley stated that because this is a City problem it is necessary to stay informed and involved. He asked that updates be brought back to this Committee in the future. Gratwick emphasized the desire to have thoughts and ideas on how to handle this situation brought back to the Committee and stated that even though this is an impossible situation it still needs action. If something is tried this year and not successful, another idea will be tried the following year. Mr. Pickering urged people to bring in the legislators and ask them what cuts they plan to make and why. He also said that he is very proud of the Police Department in the City of Bangor because he remembers walking his two dogs around 5:30 a.m. and within the space of about ½ hour he was stopped 3 times to ask about 2 other individuals that had mental health issues. 2. Update – Local Government Access Channel Issues Cyr said that she feels there has been significant progress since the last meeting in the middle of October. Staff can clearly see that the majority of the haze is gone from the rebroadcast. The concentration right now is to sharpen the focus. The focus and clarity does not seem to be there as much as staff would like to see. A number of adjustments to the equipment have been done, one of which was the switcher, which is basically where the live feed goes in and is converted into a signal and then is recorded. The V-Bric, which is the recording device, has also been adjusted. Another step that was taken was to go back to all of the equipment and move the one camera that is nearing the end of its life to a spot that is not used as often. Al Douglas has spoken to the City’s vendor and is waiting for them to ship a camera so that staff can try it out. Staff was also able to obtain additional software to increase the quality of the rebroadcast. Douglas is able to play around with the images and the lighting before the file is created that is used to rebroadcast. A great deal of clarity has been the result of this process. A new V-Bric was sent and staff does not see any difference in the old one and this new one. Mike Leonard from Time Warner has given us a contact person from another vendor to look at the City’s overall process and equipment with the emphasis on the video format converter, which captures the color and the black and white balances and distributes them properly. Their opinion is to look at converting our switcher equipment to a Nexus System, which was also the recommendation of Brookside Technology. Cyr explained that right now the cameras hook into the switcher for broadcasting purposes, so staff took the cameras off the switchers and hooked them up directly to the V-Bric. This bypasses a whole piece of equipment and resulted in a much clearer picture. Cyr explained that the Vebric is set up to only allow one camera at a time and staff is looking into whether an adapter is available to plug the 4 cameras into it in hopes that it will pick up the camera that is providing the live feed so it will record properly. Another problem that was happening on occasion was the loss of the audio system. PBC Sound came and replaced and installed a tripping mechanism. It appeared to them that the system was experiencing intermittent and short term shorts within its wiring. They installed this tripping mechanism and since then there have not been any other problems. Responding to Wheeler, Cyr said that the only cost to the City has been staff time. Cyr referred to a discussion that happened in an earlier meeting at which point there was interest in having the ability to receive emails from residents during live meetings. Staff has learned that there is an add on piece of equipment that can be hooked up to the Nexus or the switcher that would allow a scroll across the screen that says questions can be emailed to City Council at citycouncil@bangormaine.gov, for example. This would only be visible during live feeds. This does not look like a very expensive option, but at this point Cyr feel that until it is clear what will be needed in the way of new equipment and a new switcher, it is better to hold off. This piece of equipment is approximately $450 and she also pointed out that the room is wired for Wi-fi and once the switcher issue is resolved, it will not be difficult to add. The Committee thanked the Finance Director for the update and progress. 3. Request to Appropriate BAT Community Connector Capital Funds McNeil noted that a BAT grant will be expiring soon. Staff approached the Maine Department of Transportation to ask them to extend and modify that grant in order for the money to be available for future purchases that were suitable for this particular grant. McNeil reminded the Committee of when City Clerk Dubois was going from department to department looking at record keeping. It was determined that the BAT needed to have some fireproof safes for required record retention. This was going to be addressed in next year’s budget; however, with this grant the purchase of these safes would be eligible through this grant. Another piece of equipment that would fall under the eligibility of this grant is the video surveillance that is needed at Pickering Square. Currently the system in place now does not have the live feed that was supported by telephone lines. At the time, it was very expensive to replace and now they are a little more reasonable. McNeil explained that Park Clemons, the Manager of the Republic Parking, is in the process of upgrading his system and it makes since at this time to tie into that. There is a requirement to support a small percentage of the BAT’s operating funds with security and things that relate to security. Both of these were suggested to the MDOT, who in turn approached the Federal Transit Authority (FTA) and they accepted them. Staff is ready to make these purchases and to move forward. Responding to Wheeler, McNeil said that the total dollar amount is $4,727.82. Of that, 80% would be Federal money at $3,782.82 and the local match would be $945.00 which is in the General Operating budget. A motion was moved and seconded to approve staff’s recommendation to expend certain Federal capital funds to replace the security video system at Pickering Square (BAT hub) and to purchase fireproof file cabinets for the BAT office. 4. Influenza Update Yardley recognized the staff both in the Health & Community Services and throughout the City who stepped up to the plate and delivered two very successful H1N1 and season flu clinic for area school children. He pointed out that the vaccine that was received was targeted for K through 12 age children from both Bangor and the surrounding communities. The way the State approached the N1H1 vaccines, supply was that individual schools could make orders for their populations. Because of the sporadic and uncertain delivery times for vaccines, and the fact that it was not going to come in supplies to allow schools to meet their demands, Bangor was the designated agency because they are part of the Maine Immunization Program. Two weeks ago there was a regularly scheduled planning meeting at 2:00 p.m., but at 1:00 p.m. Bangor received 4,000 doses of N1H1 and by 3:00 p.m. staff had convened all the area Superintendents on a conference call and by 4:00 p.m. there was a plan in place and staff secured the Civic Center for 5 days later. He said that on the first Wednesday the clinic did 3,800 vaccinations. In addition, there were 2,500 seasonal flu vaccines given as well. While there was concern with the overwhelming demand, and at times the line went all the way around the Civic Center and down Buck Street, staff worked together and by noon the was no line outside and only a maximum wait of an hour or less throughout the remainder of the day. During the next clinic that was offered, another 1,800 children were vaccinated. Yardley recognized Patti Hamilton for her efforts not only for the logistics but also for the political side. On Thursday she is meeting with childcare systems and looking at vaccinating the under 5 year- old population. She will meet with the school nurses to look at those children that did not participate in the flu clinics. Yardley pointed out that it is very difficult to plan for the vaccinations with the way the supplies are coming in. Yardley explained that a promise from the State to pay for the expenses would be coming to the schools. The Schools are all supposed to be receiving money for getting the children vaccinated. They all recognize that the real expense comes on the part of Bangor, and because of this, they have said they will deliver Bangor some or all of what they are receiving. Some of those expenses included the rental of the Civic Center, supplies and etc. Responding to Blanchette, Yardley said that the Bangor School System saw a slight elevation with children exposed to the flu/N1H1 this year but not as bad as other schools that have been hit hard. Yardley said that his best guess is that there is an outlay of about 4 or 5 thousand dollars not including the amount of staff time that was required. He estimated that the rental for the Civic Center would be about $2,000 per day, which would include the rental of the chairs and tables. This is by far the biggest expense other than personnel cost and he could not put a dollar amount on that at this point. Blanchette asked if it was possible to have Yardley’s staff come in for recognition in the future. Yardley said he would like to do that but would rather wait until this project is done. He thanked the parents for recognizing the need to have their children vaccinated and waited in line. Yardley said that statistically about 30% to 40% of each schools’ population got vaccinated. 5. Property Assessed Clean Energy Financing Program Barrett spoke about a program in California that he recently became aware of that is designed to assist individuals in installing solar energy installations on their homes. This would then be repaid along with their property tax payments. The reason they did it that way is because solar has a 15 – 20 year payback period and they found it a tremendous obstacle to people investing in their properties with the anticipation of selling their properties within that period of time. After doing some research, Barrett discovered that a number of states have set up similar programs, not necessarily limited to solar, but looking at other alternative energy approaches and/or energy conservation programs. One of Barrett’s concerns that faces Bangor is the relatively old housing stock and many of these older structures are energy inefficient and have not been updated and upgraded to today’s standards. As the cost of energy continues to increase, it puts the housing stock at a market disadvantage. As people are looking for properties one of the things that is requested is the energy bills. This will most likely have an impact on market value and assessed value of those properties in the future. Barrett feels that Bangor faces the same problem in which it is difficult to ask others to invest between $10,000 to $20,000 in energy conservation efforts and then potentially selling their house only 2 – 5 years down the road where the primary benefits go to the subsequent owners. Barrett is interested in getting the Committee’s support in continuing to support this idea of getting the necessary State Legislation passed that would allow Bangor to implement a program like this. This would allow residents to borrow money through the City, most likely through some arrangements with local lending institutions, and then repay those loans via their property taxes over a period of time tied to the return on investment. Barrett referred to the examples that are attached to the memo that show what different states are doing. He pointed out that there would be several issues in setting up a program like this and making it operational, but feels that at this point an approval to go forward is the first step. This would not commit Bangor, but help open the door to the possibilities. Blanchette is concerned about people that are living beyond their means and becoming qualified under state guidelines for poverty abatements. Barrett believes that similar underwriting characteristics to what Bangor has used for Community Development Property Rehabilitation Program would work. This would be a loan that needs qualification first, and would not be a grant, but a separate lien on the property and incorporated within the tax bill so people would be paying it on an annual or semi-annual basis. Gratwick thinks this is a very good idea and feels that Bangor will have a very different housing stock in the future. He asked if MMA would become involved. Barrett feels like the Service Center Coalition would support this because many of those communities face these same issues. He also anticipates that the Legislative Policy Committee would support it as well because it would be a voluntary program. He thinks that approximately 10 states have some form of this program. Bangor would not necessarily focus on solar but possibility with conversion to natural gas, weatherizing, insulating, etc. Barrett explained that one of the advantages of having the ability to lien a property is that it gives a much higher guarantee that the money will eventually be paid. This program will help produce a lower interest rate, and a stronger guarantee of repayment for the lending institute. A motion was made and seconded for approval to go forward. Meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m.