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available in the evening and night for them to defecate and urinate. These are our citizens and <br />our veterans under that bridge living in squalor. He stated it is not an issue of making people too <br />comfortable so that they won't leave. He asked why can't we do that until December. <br />Ms. Meyer responded she doesn't know that we cannot do that. <br />Brian Pawlowski, Interim Director of Community Investment, stated if we can get the building <br />up and running before December 1 Sc that is the goal. <br />Committeemember Davis stated recognizing that, we still need to handle the situation for right <br />now. This is making the City look inhumane by not providing a bathroom option to these folks. <br />He stated he is not asking for these toilets to be there forever just until this building goes online. <br />To prevent feces piling up on a key street in and out of our City, we should be able to get some <br />toilets out there. <br />Mr. Pawlowski stated he understands his point and he has been out to the site. He stated he has <br />received a lot of phone calls on this issue from local business owners as well. Our goal is to have <br />an alternative to the current situation. We are happy to look into a temporary solution but we <br />may have some issues legally with where we could install temporary toilets. <br />Committeemember Davis stated it is wonderful that the City has two (2) plans to address this <br />situation long -term, but people are going to the bathroom today. He asked that the Council <br />receive feedback from the Administration on this issue. <br />Councilmember Randy Kelly asked if we know off -hand how many beds through all of the <br />programs we have available and a count for how many people are living on the streets currently. <br />Ms. Meyer responded that the number of beds is in a ballpark around fifty -five (55) to sixty (60) <br />beds and the number of people on the streets fluctuates. While this encampment is the most <br />visible it is not the only one (1). Our homeless population has dropped a little bit recently <br />because of the Veteran's Affair's enormous commitment to getting veterans off the street. We <br />have dropped from around one - hundred (100) individuals to around fifty (5 0) to fifty -five (55). <br />Obviously those numbers fluctuate and we think the number is closer to seventy (70). It is hard <br />to track down everybody. The needle has moved slightly downwards because of the Veteran's <br />Affair's commitment but there are still long -term problems. <br />Committeemember Broden stated she would like to see this on our agenda for future meetings <br />because it is such a critical issue for our community. She stated knowing more about our <br />Administration's dollars and resources going into the various groups for the Council is <br />important. These are members of our community and we have heretofore been in the fore -front <br />with offering services but if we are not in ongoing conversations with all parties involved this <br />will continue to be a problem. We are not there yet with the number of beds available and as a <br />City, both Council and Administration, we need to come up with a better plan and attack on this <br />problem. She stated Community Investment is the right place for this issue as so many <br />organizations are struggling with a decrease in funding from the Federal and State governments. <br />We have to be as smart about this issue as we are for all the other issues we address. <br />5 <br />