People gather Thursday at the Waterville Area Soup Kitchen in Waterville. The City Council adopted a plan this week to provide services to the homeless during the winter months. The plan includes expanding the soup kitchen’s operating hours, which must be approved by the soup kitchen’s board of directors. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel
WATERVILLE — The City Council voted Wednesday night to postpone indefinitely a proposal to buy yurts for homeless people on the riverfront and, instead, adopt a plan to set up a temporary warming shelter during harsh winter weather and take further steps to help those without a place to live.
Mayor Jay Coelho proposed at the Oct. 17 council meeting that the city spend up to $10,000 to buy 10 yurts, which he described as sturdy canvas tents.
Earlier this week, Coelho said he pitched the idea to get officials talking seriously about the local homeless crisis. The mayor urged councilors Wednesday to discard the idea in favor of longer-term solutions, saying installing yurts would pose a liability for the city.
“Vote it down,” Coelho said.
Councilors voted 6-1 to postpone indefinitely the plan to buy yurts, with Councilor Claude Francke, D-Ward 6, the lone dissenter. The council then voted 7-0 to adopt an “unhoused winter season recommendation plan,” submitted by police Chief William Bonney, fire Chief Shawn Esler and the city administration.
The plan was developed after city officials and others met Oct. 31 to discuss steps to help the homeless, including extending the hours of the Waterville Area Soup Kitchen, especially between noon and 8 p.m.; getting other municipalities involved in developing a long-term plan because homelessness is a regional issue; continuing to rely on the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter to provide a frontline warming center for the homeless; and developing an approach with public safety and the homeless shelter to handle unhoused people who do not receive services because they have fallen through the cracks.
The plan also recommends using 46 Front St., the new City Council chamber building, as a temporary emergency shelter during serious weather-related emergencies, and training community members to operate an emergency shelter, with homeless shelter officials providing the training.
Bonney said volunteers are needed to help with the emergency shelter and help staff the soup kitchen so it can be open additional hours as a place for people to be warm.
“We see the Waterville Area Soup Kitchen just as an absolutely necessary ally in this issue,” Bonney said.
The board overseeing operations for the soup kitchen would need to approve any expansion of operating hours.
Council Chairwoman Rebecca Green, D-Ward 4, said Todd Stevens, the city’s community outreach coordinator, has been working with homeless people to help them connect to services.
“That should continue,” Green said.
The plan calls for exploring options through the homeless shelter to provide outreach services intended to find sustainable housing, and engaging with community partners and philanthropic groups to identify funding outside of taxation.
Jessica Dixon, left, and Angela Leary package and serve food Thursday at the Waterville Area Soup Kitchen in Waterville. The City Council adopted a plan this week to provide services to the homeless during the winter months. The plan includes expanding the soup kitchen’s operating hours, which must be approved by the soup kitchen’s board of directors. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel
It recommends the city consider helping to fund the soup kitchen, and says officials will bring forward a request to design an emergency and disaster shelter that would include a public safety substation.
Coelho, whose term as mayor will conclude Jan. 2, when Councilor Mike Morris, D-Ward 5, is to take office, announced he has sturdy canvas tents arriving this week, and anyone who is in an emergency situation and needs a tent should contact him.
“Please get hold of me,” Coelho said. “Do not wait.”
Katie Spencer White, executive director of the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter, said the shelter’s warming center is open 24 hours, with 20 beds available, and 15 people used them Tuesday night.
She said the shelter has few barriers that prevent people from staying there. It also has programs, including a diversion program to help people stay housed if they are in danger of losing housing, and a rapid rehousing program to help those who have become homeless connect quickly with area landlords.
In other matters Wednesday, the council held a lengthy discussion on whether to continue allowing remote access to council meetings or terminate such access. The discussion was prompted by a recent incident where someone had made racist comments while speaking remotely during a Planning Board meeting. The person’s face was not visible on the screen.
City Manager Bryan Kaenrath said many communities in Maine no longer have hybrid meetings. It has become too easy for someone behind a black screen to make inappropriate comments, Kaenrath said, and the question should be raised about whether remote meetings have outlived their usefulness.
Coelho was adamant that remote access to meetings is important and eliminating it is not the answer. He said technology is here to stay.
“We can’t run and hide every time somebody says something vile to us, because they win,” Coelho said.
Anna Holdener, who heads the South End Neighborhood Association, agreed, saying allowing remote access to meetings is important for those with mobility or transportation issues.
Asked for his thoughts, Bonney said he consulted with a deputy district attorney, and while certain speech is unacceptable, no crime was committed during the recent Planning Board meeting.
“Hate speech is often protected speech for a variety of reasons,” Bonney said. “Unfortunately, if there’s no crime, there’s no process for me to follow through.”
Councilors directed Kaenrath to investigate options for further vetting those who register to speak remotely at meetings. City Solicitor William A. Lee III suggested getting a person’s name, address and greater verification of who the person is.
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