Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome. It is time now for our community connection right here on K one, the one you trust. And we're having a little bit of a problem with our camera here today thanks to the storm. We've got some we've got some things that are kind of got us on freeze for a little bit, but we do have the audio portion. We have Quinn Chipper in with us here from Republicans
and other conservatives Washington County. And also we have Tom with us, Tom, former mayor, how you doing.
I'm good.
Well, We've got a nice little topic to t F today and I sure hope the folks were talking about have found some shelter in this storm today.
Yes, because we are talking about Unsheltered Homeless task Force and this is going to be our topic at our ROCWC meeting next Tuesday evening at Christ and Second. And to start with, I never complained about the rain in Oklahoma. I'm grateful for it, but there are people that have challenges because they aren't sheltered. And so Aeron Kirkpatrick is a city councilman who is on the task force.
Tom is very active with it.
And we are going to have a bit of a panel next Tuesday, and Tom is here to tell us some about the task force. It's history, where they're at, kind of where they're going next. So I'm just going to turn with you, Tom, and I'm going to start chatting away.
Thank you. Good boarding. We chaded a little bit before. I hope I can get it all in this time.
That's right.
You know, the council formed this committee I think started before the last election and the concept of it and it got formalized recently. And you know, part of Aaron Kirkpatrick, you mentioned him. Part of his campaign was the Highway to homeless I can't remember the name of it. Yeah, yeah, but yeah, out of homelessness. And his concept is that, you know, you give everybody the tools to get out of homelessness, or you know, we don't.
We don't want that to be in our community.
If you don't want to get help to get out of it, we want to provide help.
And I tell you that, I'll jump around a little bit, but.
The the number one thing that has come out of this for me is two parts. One is that our homeless population is primarily local people. It's not that we don't have people that come here, but they are typically transient, they don't stay. And then number two is that we have a wonderful support structure, and some of the perceptions of our support structure in town I don't think are accurate.
It's it's been very enlightening to me to listen to the people from say Dobu Mission, Lighthouse Be the Light, other organizations also that they are They're more realistic, they have more tons of compassion, but they also don't want to be taken advantage of by people. So I've been very heartened about the way they run their operations. And it is so difficult to go even to a fundraiser and listen to someone talk for twenty thirty minutes to
get a feel for how they really are. But in this committee where we sit into our meetings every other week, we've got to know each other.
We've had real conversations, and.
That we really have a great support structure and a great number of organizations to provide assistance to all types of needy people in town.
I know one of the goals in setting up the task force was to have a variety of people participating. I believe there is a formerly homeless person on the task Force, people who have a business, maybe they're affected by the homeless population in some way. That's obviously the service obviously the service agents and others. So it's a really interesting group of people who come to the table.
I just want to back up on one comment you made, Tom, because there was this perception that people are being busted here from outside, and I think you've kind of busted that myth in some of the statistics.
That you've gained.
I'm not going to say that doesn't happen.
Yeah, I'll agree with that, yes.
But.
Everyone on the task forces to say no, one is denied that that has happened. But the statistics show that our homeless homeless population is you know, sixty percent local people and long term local people five plus years and some of them their whole lives. So and so we've also seen some good data the people, like I said earlier, the people who do come in, they don't stay here.
They're they're they're transient. And I mean, I.
You want to have good support structures. I mean this is now I'm talking about committee, but you want to have good support structures to help those who want and need help. And and I mean, let's throw everything we can to help them get out of this situation get
back to being productive citizens in our community. That's it's awesome to get that to transition the uh, you know, the ones that are wanting to do criminal acts and things that the damage, I mean one of the big things for me and I got on it because of private property rights and the and the the damage we've had to some of our properties.
But you know, the Pathfinder.
Park phase wanted a fantastic park structure in Bartlesville, and there are people who don't feel safe using it because of this.
There's other that say, oh, it's not a problem.
I don't know, but I know there's people that have said it's not safe or they don't feel safe, and you know, we're we're working to make sure that that
is not the case. You know, we've had tons of public bathrooms in park areas destroyed or you know, people try to live in them and you know that's not what they're for and it's illegal to do so, and it always has been illegal to do so so anyway, so that that's, uh, you know, we want I think that those facilities, you know, park facilities and public facilities.
You tell me if I'm wrong, but I think they are there for the benefit and use of our citizens, the tax paying citizens of Bartlesville, and if there's a element that's making it to where we can't utilize and
enjoy those facilities, then it needs change. And so that that has been That was sort of the first part of the task force, you know, and and so we've we've moved past that now and we're getting more into the Honestly, the more difficult discussion with the agencies that provide support to these individuals is you know, how to coordinate those services and how to make sure they're not taking advantage of but at the same time properly utilized.
So there's some great conversations going on around that.
Part of it is maybe.
Getting on a universal or everybody using the same software.
I think Charity Tracker is.
One of them, and there's another United US I think was another one that was brought up by the school system at our last meeting. So you know, if you can get say sixty seventy percent of the.
Nonprofits in town utilizing something like that, so they can see how.
Their services are being utilized by individuals and make sure someone's not getting the same of us over and over again there and you know.
Taking advantage of them. Miss you know so well.
I know one goal is to help people move.
Above and beyond their circumstance, whatever that sort of thing is. And because there are a lot of mental health issues, other health issues, and a grand health is involved. When we were in still Water, we used Charity Tracker and launched When we launched Charity Tracker and still Water, it was the second largest network in the entire United States, and in the end we had over sixty agencies, churches,
public schools, the hospital. It became very, very broad based over several years, and it became a way for.
People to, like I said, to coordinate.
We don't want wasted resources. We generally want to help people. And just finding that right tool for Bartlesville, whether it's Charity Track or something else, I think it's going to be a key. So I'm glad to know that y'all are exploring those kinds of coordination options.
I don't want to waste our time here to discuss it, but I highly recommend that you either I know you have a conflict to attend or meetings. So I put that in an email that Elaine or Mike could deliver to the committee members the story of Stillwater, because I think the agencies need to hear the success side of it.
There, there's it's it's going to be work for them.
It's going to cost somebody some money, charity trackers, expensive software package.
So, Tom, if I can ask you a question, is part of the goal of the committee here not to reinvent the wheel. Are we looking at things that are already on the books that may have been forgotten in regards to how we accommodate or deal with folks who may be just living in sheltered or perhaps trespassing.
So, if you're talking about the city ordinances, yes, there there are existence.
We are reviewing those to make sure we're not going to reinvent something.
Right.
No, and and so there's also been a lot of
national attention brought to homelesseners. Uh you go to the extreme areas in the in Oregon and uh, Seattle and places like that, and they've uh, there's there's been some towns, not Portland, but towns outside of Portland that have taken some pretty strong lines during drawn some strong and some of those ordinances have been challenged all the way up to the Supreme Court, so we know what we'll stand the test and what won't because some of those ordinances
have been tested. So we've proposed an ordinance, uh, and what it is is an amendment to the existing ordinance. Just like you said that that we believe, you know, I shouldn't say we, but the attorneys that have reviewed it believed that it would withstand any tests. If you've you've opened a little door, so I'll walk through it.
Sorry, that's fine.
There's uh, there's been a lot of talk, especially on social media about finding homeless people five hundred dollars a day for you know, I guess being homelessly people can't see my quote marks in the in the air. But that's just not how that ordinance reads. It's not uh, the intent. It's not how our current police presence and utilization or our municipal court are using the ordnance. And the current ordinance has the one that's on the books currently,
not the one we proposed. It has the ability to find for certain activities, and what we're proposing to refine it is to take into what you see, taking account what you see in normal or current day activity. So example that would be camping when that the current ordinance was written many years ago. You know, camping on public areas was not a thing. It just wasn't a problem.
That needed to be and it is today it is a problem that needs to be addressed.
So but I just want to say that there are very very few finds put out for homeless people. It's it's those who uh, continually break the law, those who are in front of the judge on a regular basis, you know, So this this becomes not a homeless or unsheltered issue. It is a criminal issue, and at some point that has to be addressed. So and and I want to make the distinction that those two don't go together, no, uh,
you know. And and I can't tell you the compassion and the understanding that Alan Jinches, our municipal judge, is on the committee, and and he's given very good examples of how he utilizes the ordinances that are currently on the books. We have Sierra Compton, who's the Homeless Unsheltered Liaison with the Barlsfield Police Department.
She's on our committee. You know.
Their their goals are to help these people and help the situation the best they can.
I give the example of.
They discovered a homeless encampment that was quite a mess, as dirty as on.
I can't remember it's public or private property.
But anyway, the judge, instead of finding or doing anything of that nature, he said, we'd like to give you the opportunity to clean it up. We'll get the dumpster, we'll provide coordination with services that are needed. And they took pride the people that they took pride in cleaning up that area, and through that other resources came in and connected with those people and hopefully they're on a better track now.
So hopefully there's.
Also a photo following through that of the before, during, and after, and the judge show me himust be like fifteen or twenty photos of there were a couple that were shown at the city council meeting and it was just you could see the pride in the people's faces or participating.
It's a good collaboration. The judges. He's very fair and reasonable.
But there aren't like five one hundred dollars a day fine is being slapped around the place.
Well the ordan I said, allowed for a per day fine.
That's not there's there's none of that that's.
Not in there.
So but you got to watch it because folks get emotional. And I understand and this is a hot button issue and I get that too, but you have to be accurate if you're going to be spreading things, is spread the truth.
What the people I've talked to, if they take the time to get knowledgeable on it, they understand how it's utilized in the between the police and the judge.
And it's an incentive.
Basically, we don't really want your money, we know what the problem.
Well they don't. Most of them don't have the ability to pay for it.
You know.
It's so it's it's not a it's not a practical way to solve any problems.
So well, and again we're talking about the Unsheltered Homeless Task Force and the topic on Tuesday night we're calling Hope for the homeless, and part of it they are, like I said, about sixty percent of them, or actually people who are not only partions, been here a long time and living is almost for a long time. And they're fellow citizens, you know, neighbors, friends, people's family members,
and we're a community that's very generous and compassionate. And that's something that I think will come through in our panel next week, I'm hoping that we'll get some of those photos to show that particular story to such a great story, and that's going to be a crossing second. Next Tuesday evening is free for everybody can come and it can come come early. Order some great food. Six thirty to seven forty five. We have a hard stop
at seven forty five. Meet some friends, bring some friends, make some friends and.
Join us ROCWC.
Website, sorry, facebook page, ROLCWC or info at ROCWC dot com if people want to reach out.
Very good and once again you're gonna have a panel there.
If you have questions, bring them, yeah, please, And if you.
Have I just maybe even the slightest question to bring it, because you never know, there are a lot of folks who probably have the same question on their mind.
Not everybody is right.
I'm really proudly ask for as time and the work that you all are doing, and I'm staying abreast of that. I'm sorry, I'm at the conflict Nott at tend but you've got a great team and you are making some great strides.
So it's been very heartening the attitude that everybody's come to the table with between the city the police department, of the judge and the service providers. It's been a very positive process for me, and I just really appreciate everybody's attitude towards it, and.
I've heard that from others of the committee as well.
So yeah, well it's great having you in here to have great heaven. You in here quick, and we hope to have everybody back pretty darn soon. We'll look for their updates on this. Make sure you go out Tuesday six o'clock Sturday six but six to eat.
Oh come early to eat, or you can eat during the meeting.
Anyway, thank but anyway, thank you very much for being here with us today.