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2004-767-Minutes for Meeting April 21,2004 Recorded 5/11/2004COUNTY OFFICIAL TES NANCYUBLANKENSHIP, COUNTY CLERKDS CJ 100061 COMMISSIONERS' JOURNAL 1111111111�ItlIIIAIIIII �IIIIm011f.1171 Po DESCHUTES COUNTY CLERK CERTIFICATE PAGE This page must be included if document is re-recorded. Do Not remove from original document. Deschutes County Board of Commissioners 1130 NW Harriman St., Bend, OR 97701-1947 (541) 388-6570 - Fax (541) 388-4752 - www.deschutes.org MINUTES OF PUBLIC INFORMATIONAL MEETING ON PROPOSED USES OF REGIONAL WORK CENTER WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2004 Commissioners' Hearing Room - Administration Building - 1130 NW Harriman St., Bend The purpose of this informational meeting was to provide information on proposed uses of the now -vacant Regional Work Center. The two separate and distinct uses of the Center as proposed are: ■ Bethlehem Inn housing for the homeless; and ■ Transitional housing for prisoners who have been released from custody. Present were Commissioners Michael M. Daly, Dennis R. Luke and Tom De Wolf. Also present were Becky Jackson, Director of Parole & Probation; Scott Morgan, President of the Bethlehem Inn Board of Directors; Liz Hitt, Acting Director of the Inn; and approximately thirty other citizens. No representatives of the media were in attendance. Becky Jackson opened the meeting at 6:05 p. m. She asked that anyone who wished to speak or who might have a question to please sign in and be sure to use a microphone. (A copy of the sign -in sheet is attached as Exhibit A.) Becky Jackson drew a sketch of the location of the Jail, the Regional Work Center and other local buildings for the audience. There were no handouts distributed at this time. She asked the audience to sign up to speak; and also introduced the Commissioners at this time. BECKY JACKSON: I want to thank all of you for coming. I would like an opportunity to explain to you what the building in question was constructed for, what it has been used for, and what we intend or are proposing to use it for. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 1 of 58 Pages Then Scott Morgan, who is the president of the Bethlehem Inn board of directors, will talk a little bit about Bethlehem Inn's piece of this project. We will then open it up for questions, and if you do want to ask a question, you'll need to come up and sit at the table and identify yourself. Either Scott or I should be able to answer your question, or perhaps we will call on someone else who is here that may be able to answer it for it. Our plan is to wrap this up by 7:30 so that everyone can get home. The first floor of the building is proposed to be used for this. That entire area is called the Deschutes County Public Safety Campus. All of the buildings there were constructed for some sort of criminal justice purpose. The jail was built first about seven years ago. The Sheriff s Office was built next, followed by the Juvenile Department and then our facility. We've been there for about six years. The second floor of our building is entirely Parole and Probation offices. The first floor of the building is made up of four twenty -bed dormitories. Just so you'll know a little bit about what goes on in our office building, we supervise about 1,400 adult offenders who have been convicted of anything from drunk driving to murder. These are individuals who either went to court and received probation from the judge initially, or else they were sent to prison, and the manner in which they came out was under what is called post -prison supervision. Those are the individuals that we surpervise, and except for our satellite offices in La Pine and Redmond, all of those 1,400 offenders come in to our office at least once a month to report to their Parole and Probation Officer. Some of them walk to the building; some ride bikes; some people have vehicles and valid drivers' licenses. Just so you know what currently is happening in our building, and what has been happening since we moved out there six years ago. Again, the first floor of the building is called the Regional Work Center. The building was constructed with funds provided by the State of Oregon Department of Corrections. The State provided those funds in conjunction with Senate Bill 1145, which said that any felon who receives a jail sentence of one year or less, instead of going to prison like they would have done previously, would instead serve the time in the local county jail. Because there wasn't capacity in the jail for that many individuals, the State provided money to all of the counties to construct facilities. So Deschutes County partnered with Crook, Jefferson and Harney counties to construct the Regional Work Center. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 2 of 58 Pages The Work Center was in use until April 2003, when the Sheriff shut it down because he simply didn't have funding to keep operating it. Inmates were either returned to the jail or simply released with their files stamped, "sentence served". The only criteria in terms of inmates being transferred from the jail to the Regional Work Center was that they didn't have any charges pending. It didn't matter what kind of crime they had been convicted of The eighty inmates that were in the Regional Work Center had been convicted on anything from drunk driving to sex offenses, property offenses or drug offenses. That gives you a little history about the building and the Public Safety Campus, about what we do in Parole and Probation, and what the building was constructed for and has been used for until last April. Now to talk a little bit about our proposal. When an individual is sent to prison, they are required by Oregon law to return to the county of conviction. The reason that law was passed was because years ago, we had three adult penal institutions in Oregon — the Oregon State Penitentiary, the Oregon State Correctional Institution, and the Oregon Women's Correctional Center. All three of them were in Salem. When individuals were sentenced to one of those facilities, their significant other or their families moved to Salem so that visiting was easier. During the course of their living in Salem, the kids would become established in school, and jobs would be obtained. When inmates were released from one of those facilities, they wanted to live in Salem. So, Marion County successfully lobbied for this law. We have on average about eight to ten inmates a month being released from adult institutions in Oregon who are required by law to return to Deschutes County. Often if they have been incarcerated for more than a year or so, any resources that they had in terms of employment or a resident are no longer available to them. What we have is a situation where a Parole Officer has to go to the Greyhound bus depot about 9:00 on Friday night to pick up an inmate who has just been released from an institution. They have only the clothes that they are wearing, and generally don't have any financial resources, a job or transportation. And up until we are able to provide housing for them, the very best we can do is to purchase a room in a local motel that rents by the week or month. Those situations are terrible. The environment generally in those kinds of motels typically includes domestic violence and some drug activity going on; so it's very difficult for someone coming out of an institution who is trying to make changes in their life to do it in that kind of environment. But that's all we have to offer them. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 3 of 58 Pages Many Parole and Probation Offices around the State do provide transitional housing for offenders. We refer to it as transition as the period of time between inmates being released back to the community where they are required to go, and getting involved in a treatment program as required, getting a job, a place to live, and that kind of thing. So, we are proposing to use one of the twenty bed dormitories in the Work Center for transitional housing for offenders. We anticipate that at any one time we will probably not have any more than ten offenders housed in the transitional housing dormitories. Again, these are individuals who, if they had the financial ability, could rent the house or apartment next door to you. There are no restrictions as to where a newly released offender can live. Once they serve their sentence, they have a right to live wherever they wish. The only exception to that would be if a sex offender living in proximity to a school. We anticipate that the housing we hope to provide there for newly released inmates would be for males only. We really don't have a need for housing for female offenders, because there are a couple of very good resource programs in town that assist females with housing. So that's not an issue for us. We anticipate allowing offenders to stay probably up to sixty days, until they obtain a job and can save enough money to rent an apartment, or make some kind of acquaintance in town that will provide them with some kind of a residence. There will be very strict rules in regard to the transitional housing dormitory, relating to curfew, items that can be brought in, visitors and those kinds of things. We are hiring staff who will be supervising in the dormitories during the evening hours. During the daytime, as of today we moved some staff into the first floor of the building. They will be providing oversight during the daytime. Those are the high points and details of what our proposal is for transitional housing for offenders. Because this building has three other dormitories in it — DENNIS LUKE (off microphone): What kind of supervision do they get when they're staying in the motels? JACKSON: Not much. Each of our Parole and Probation Officers has about sixty individuals on their caseload. When someone is newly released from prison, we try to have several contacts with them a week, but sometimes it is difficult to catch them at home; they should be out looking for work. So one of the positive things about having them in our building is that we will be able to keep a closer eye on them. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 4 of 58 Pages There are three additional dormitories, plus a classroom and some office space in the building. We felt that it was very wasteful to not use that for something. We began looking around for someone that we could partner with in terms of using this very valuable space. We settled on Bethlehem Inn, and Scott Morgan, who is the president of the board of directors is going to tell you a little bit about the program that they are planning in the facility. SCOTT MORGAN: I want to thank all of you for coming tonight, and Becky for giving a little bit of history of what is going on in the area, specifically with the Parole and Probation facility. I don't know if any of you are familiar with Bethlehem Inn. It has been around the community for five or six years now. Until this point, it has been a roving homeless shelter in that we have opened up in the winter months beginning sometime in November. Mostly the churches in town would house the homeless shelter. We'd pick up our stuff every week or two and move the shelter from one church to the next. We've been serving meals there, and have had volunteers from the community help out there. Last year we had about 3,500 volunteers from this community working at Bethlehem Inn. Bethlehem Inn was founded six years ago, and was only going to be a short-term solution to the homeless problem in Bend. The Salvation Army had a big grant that they were going to use to build their own 80 -bed shelter. They ended up losing that funding. Bethlehem Inn was initially going to be a short-term solution; but now we are the only emergency shelter in Central Oregon. The Board of Directors in the last couple of years has been looking at the program and coming to the realization that we are the only emergency shelter in town. So, rather than closing our doors or continuing to do what we are doing — because we have really outgrown the church model. When I got involved four years ago, we had an average of twenty people staying there each night. This past year we had eight guests some nights staying with us. Some of the churches in town can handle that kind of volume, but some of the smaller churches in town were overwhelmed. What the community started telling us was that it is a wonderful program, but it can no longer be done in the churches. It had outgrown this. The need for a homeless shelter in Bend has outgrown the transitional, roving shelter model. We had to go out in the community and find a permanent facility. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 5 of 58 Pages As a Board member — and all of us are volunteer Board members and are not being paid to do this; we have other lives with families and jobs — this is just something that we do on the side, but we have a heart for the homeless. We went out in the community and started looking at different facilities in town where we could house a homeless shelter. We looked at warehouses and met with the City about different zoning opportunities. About two months ago Becky got in touch with us about the vacant facility that we created as a work release center. It has a kitchen and lavatory facilities, and classrooms and a dormitory already set up. She asked if we wanted to partner on this, and move Bethlehem Inn away from its roving nature into this facility. So, that's a little history about of where we came from and where we are today. Our idea is to have sixty people maximum in our shelter. Of that, we have some in the emergency shelter role. Bethlehem Inn has been until now an emergency shelter in that we haven't had any programs to help people who are interested in getting out of homelessness. One of the goals for this facility is to be able to offer services through other organizations in town to help those people get out of homelessness, to get drug or alcohol counseling, mental health counseling, get job skills training, and job placement. So we are probably talking about maybe thirty people of the sixty will be in a program that is probably going to run six to nine months to help them rehabilitate themselves to get out of the homelessness situation. The other people are going to be in what we call the emergency shelter. They are going to be passing through town. They'll stay with us maybe a week and we'll send them out the door. If they are going to stay more than a week, they need to be enrolled in a program to get themselves out of this scenario. We are going to be looking at partnering with the hospitality industry in town to help get some job skills training. We've got what we think are some proactive ideas on how to help these people. It is only growing in Deschutes County. At any one time there are over 1,000 people here who are homeless. Bethlehem Inn has served a good purpose, but it is time for us to go to a more permanent facility. Again, our goal in this is to have about sixty people maximum, and will be running 24/7. Again, if they are in the emergency shelter scenario, there will be shuttles like we have now from the churches, to Safeway and the library. They hang around downtown and try to stay out of trouble, and come back to the church. It's the same scenario here. We will drop them off at a couple places in town, and in the evening we will pick them up, bring them back to the building, serve them dinner and bed them down. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 6 of 58 Pages The other people who are going to be a part of the rehabilitation program are going to be with us during the day, getting computer training, drug and alcohol counseling, and trying to get their lives back in shape so we can get them into a job, into their own housing, and integrated back into the community. For the people involved in the emergency shelter part of the program, they'll show up at 6:00 in the evening. Once they are in, they are there for the night. There won't be people leaving to go party or whatever. There's no leaving the facility after that. At 7:00 the next morning, they have had breakfast and they are on a van on their way to Safeway or downtown for the day. There are not going to be people just hanging around the building during the day. The people who are at the building are going to be involved in a variety of different programs, and it will be a very structured scenario. They'll be in classes, or helping around the shelter with cleaning and cooking, doing laundry and that kind of stuff. It's not a situation where people would be hanging around the building and coming and going as they please. JACKSON: One of the things that we want to be sure that you know is that this is a very expensive building. Anytime that you are housing inmates you have to have special toilets and special sinks, and so on. As a result, the first floor of the building has a lot of expensive equipment in it, and it was constructed for the purpose of a work release center. Work release centers are very valuable, and give inmates who are about to be released back into the community an opportunity to obtain a job, develop some relationships in the community, to start saving money, and preparing for their actual release into the community. Everyone in our office, the Commissioners and others feel very strongly that the building should be used for what it was intended. As a result, should the Sheriff be able to reopen the Work Center, he would give us ninety days' notice and we would have to close down our transitional housing dormitory, and Bethlehem Inn would have to find another place to go. The first floor would revert a Work Center for eighty inmates. So, when that might occur, I don't think there's any way to predict. I think the Sheriff has said that even if the upcoming levy passes, it would only allow him to maintain current jail services and not reopen the Work Center. LUKE (off microphone): At the next legislative session, they'll have to try to come with funding for it. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 7 of 58 Pages AUDIENCE MEMBER (off microphone): Will there be a curfew for the offenders? JACKSON: We've discussed that. 11:00 P.M. is when we will require them to be in the facility. AUDIENCE (off microphone): Before then, they'll be running around my backyard. JACKSON: Again, yet is important to remember that these are individuals who have completed their sentence. They have a right, whether we like it or not, to be in the community. They can live anywhere they wish. (Audience comments, off microphone) JACKSON: If you want to ask questions, please come up and sit down at the microphone. LIZ HITT: A big part of what's going to make the difference here for Bethlehem Inn at this new facility is, as Scott Morgan mentioned, the day programs. You can't move people from a state of homelessness to wholeness with employment and a place to live if every morning at 7 a.m. you make them leave and they aren't allowed to come back. What this facility will offer them finally is an opportunity and accountability, where they are going to be able to move into a job in the community. These people are already your neighbors. They already live next door to you. It is still surprising to me how many of our homeless brothers and sisters live right next door to you; you just don't know it. There are tents down the street; they are in the community now. What we are offering them is a stable place to check in and do some job searching; it will develop over the summer. And I, as the interim director of the program, encourage you to come and visit us. We will be there are summer, developing programs. This is your neighborhood, and I encourage you to come down and visit us. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 8 of 58 Pages We'll have an open house on June 19, a Saturday afternoon; and we will have folks from the community come in. It's not geared so much as an open house for the homeless population, although I hope some of them come and visit; it's for you, so you can see what we're about and who we are. This is a great vested interest for the homeless community. You'll be getting a flyer. AUDIENCE MEMBER (off microphone): So this is already a done deal, then. TOM DE WOLF : The thing that I'd like to point out is that this has been under discussion for a couple of months. There are three Commissioners here tonight because this is a critically important issue to us. Over the last several years, I have learned things that I wish I didn't know about my community. I had a guy several years ago performing an obscene act on my front porch in front of my two youngest daughters. I didn't know we had sex offenders here. This was at 2:30 in the morning. By 3:00 we had the police there with a book full of mug shots. It was a real eye-opener for me. I used to run a lot and train to run marathons, and would see tents, tarps or sleeping bags out in the woods where people were living. It was the first time I really understood what was going on. And having been in this position I have learned just how serious the homeless problem is in our community, and how serious the hunger problem is. It is dramatic. Having to face and deal with this issue is something that we as a community simply can't close our eyes to. This is a proposal that I have been very skeptical of. Like a few years ago, when we actually installed a branch of the Boys and Girls Club in one of the pods of the Juvenile facility, I was really skeptical of that. We forced these folks to come back again and again, modifying their proposal so that not only is it working the best for the Bethlehem Inn and for the Parole and Probation Department, but working the best for County government and the community at large. Is this a done deal? I would say that if I heard concerns tonight that I wasn't already aware of or don't believe have been addressed, I am open to having my mind changed. This absolutely is not a permanent deal, because this will be reopened some day as a Regional Work Center. In that case, we will have eighty people in there who are also leaving that facility to go to work; they are also in our communities and neighborhoods, and have been for several years. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 9 of 58 Pages So, you still have that same opportunity just as I do where I live, and elsewhere. We all face these same issues with folks. I just as soon prefer not to deal with them. I don't have a lot of sympathy for that guy on my front porch. I understand these concerns. The one thing that I will say tonight is that I know this is really important to folks who live in this neighborhood. The one thing that we are going to require is that we all keep our emotions in check to the point where we do need to come up and be on a microphone; state your name, and make your concerns known or ask your questions. We're taping this whole proceeding, which is part of what we do as a public entity here. That's my request of you. One at a time, and not shouting things out, and that we conduct this in a calm fashion and respect each other. JACKSON: I think we are ready to open it up for questions. I misspoke. I'm very fortunate to have several members of our department here, and some are individuals who have worked very hard on this project. They tell me that the curfew is 9:00 p.m., not 11 p.m. MORGAN: To clarify something, our proposal for Bethlehem Inn is that we would not open up our facility until sometime in the early fall, probably October or November. We're looking at a budget of probably $240,000 a year to run the shelter. We've gone from a budget of about $75,000 to $240,000. We've got a lot of work to do before we open to not only put together the policies and procedures, as well as the programs; we've got a ton of money to gather. We're not talking about opening up our part of it until the fall. HITT: Regarding the guy on the front porch — it's critical I think to understand, and let's be very clear about this — our population does not come to us with a proven past of criminal misconduct. When the Work Release Center was open, over several years, they were folks who were there because of past misconduct. They have already been in your neighborhood, and 1,400 people check in each month who do have a proven record of past misconduct. This is a huge misconception of the homeless community. The homeless man who was killed the other night shows that more often that not they are a victim of crime. I'm not saying that we do not have part of our population that has had trouble in the past. That's a given in any homeless community. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 10 of 58 Pages A lot of our people simply lost their jobs. They live paycheck to paycheck, and lost their jobs and then their homes. That is a big part of our community. A lot of these men and women have just had some problems, lost their jobs and their homes. A big portion of them have never had a criminal past. They already live in your community. These 1,400 folks who are coming to see Becky's people every day are people who have unfortunately had trouble in the past. I don't want us to misunderstand and think that what happens here and in other places result from the homeless community. They are often the victims of crimes, not the ones committing them. GARY CONNOWAY: I'm a Board member of Bethlehem Inn. I've been with the Inn since its start here. I was a volunteer the first night it opened. We had five people who were carefully selected to sleep inside people's church home. That first year I learned my conception of who homeless people are, those who live in the community and have for as long as I have lived here, are not the people we see in the shelter. The guy with the sticks on his back and pushing a cart, you never see those people in the shelter. This year we opened the shelter and had eighteen children the first week. That's who we are serving, and that's who comes to the Inn. We have people who are on parole in the shelter. We have people who are victims, men and women. But they are there because it is a safe place to sleep. It's safe. That's what we want for your neighborhood. That's what we are about. JACKSON: It occurred to me that maybe some of you who have been fortunate enough to not have connections with the criminal justice system might not realize what the Work Release Center is about. What happened in the Work Release Center for the past six years, until last April, is that the eighty inmates housed there would get up each morning and would either get on their bikes or they would walk down to Jamison Street. They would then be picked up by a coworker or an employer. In the evening they would be dropped off and walked back to the Work Center. I wanted to clarify that the Work Center was not used as a place where the eighty inmates were locked inside all day long. They went out, worked at jobs and returned at night. That was the purpose of the building being constructed, and that is what it was used for until the Sheriff was forced to close it last April. That's what it will be used for again when the Sheriff is able to reopen it. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 11 of 58 Pages TYLER PERRIGAN: I live on Lava Crest, right by the Sheriff station. One of my concerns is, if the parolees or homeless are turned away because of drugs or alcohol, is there going to be some kind of a shuttle that will get them out of the area? Or will they just go where they want? If they are on drugs or alcohol, they are probably going to get angry, and have impaired judgment, and we have kids and families there. The last thing we want is our kids or wives to have to deal with this. JACKSON: I can address what will happen with the transitional housing offenders. Any offender in the transitional housing dormitory who returns under the influence of alcohol or drugs will be taken directly to jail. We have the ability as Parole and Probation Officers to arrest individuals under our supervision and to lodge them in jail. That is absolutely what would happen with one of our offenders. MORGAN: Typically we do turn people away, but not very often. Most of our people want to be there, warm and safe. On the rare occasion that this happens, we do turn them away. If we are out away from town, we try to provide them a ride back to town. Typically if they are inebriated they could become hostile, which means there would be a police response. Where they go is beyond our control. Our goal is not to release them to your backyard. That is our goal. I don't know what we can do, and we'll have to explore where we can send them. If we turn them loose, they'll be in somebody's back yard. We will have further conversation on that issue. It's a valid issue. If they are drinking or whatever, they will be in someone's community that night. We'll try to figure out a way so that they aren't in your community. LUKE: We keep talking about what happens if they come here. Currently eight or ten offenders are going into motels each month. What happens if they come back to their motel drunk, or get drunk in the motel? Is there supervision there? JACKSON: Again, each Officer has about sixty people on their caseload. Due to budget cuts, we're all working 36 hours instead of 40 with a corresponding pay cut. So, although our staff do home visits on weekends and in the evening, obviously they can't be everywhere all the time. If they are made aware of the situation, and law enforcement and 9-1-1 have all of our Probation Officers' home phone numbers, they will certainly respond to that. But, again, if it is occurring at a local motel where we now place our folks, we may not even become aware of the situation. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 12 of 58 Pages KEITH RASMUSSEN: I live on Lava Crest as well. Regarding the difference in our neighborhood is that it is a really closed in area, with not many major thoroughfares. My concern is the same thing. If we've got people using alcohol or whatever, they don't have a lot of places to go. Our neighborhood is expanding quite a bit with a lot of building, and most are entry-level homes with lots of families. My other question is for Bethlehem Inn. You said you are shuttling people in and out. Are there many who have their own cars and drive also? HITT: No. A lot of our population is, as you can imagine, without transportation. But we have always had a shuttle available, and are looking into a van right now, and own a really big bus. If people are out finding jobs, we're going to get them on the bus and drop them off in town, and pick them at night. Some of them have bicycles and they ride around town on their own. But they don't typically have their own transportation. RASMUSSEN: My main concern with the transitional housing is that we have had experiences in the past. I have lived next to jails and transitional housing in the past. I've seen a lot less problems with a formal jail facility than with transitional housing. I've had my wife followed by people living in transitional housing, and it's not what I want to see in my neighborhood. That's not why I moved there. That's my major concern. We're in a closed -in area, and all of these people will be funneled into the neighborhood. I don't believe in the philosophy of "not in my backyard". When I moved in I was under the impression that the j ail is there. But I think this should be spread out and looked at in a different location that might be more reasonable. DEWOLF: I'll just tell you from my perspective, this is a terrific point. Before we finalize this, we will have a solution to that issue. I hadn't thought of that before, people being released who are under the influence of some intoxicant. We will address that issue before this moves forward. No question. RASMUSSEN: We've got Harvest Park that's coming here soon, and I want to be able to turn my kids lose in the park to play. I don't want to worry about people hanging out. I don't want to generalize, either. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 13 of 58 Pages DEWOLF: Recognize that we have people on parole and probation coming into the area all the time right now. They are reporting in. Anytime you walk upstairs in the building you will see people sitting around, waiting to see their P.O. Those folks are there. You've got juveniles at the Juvenile Facility coming in and out every single day, and also offenders. So, that reality exists for the Work Center. Our goal and responsibility is to make sure that those folks coming in and out of the facility, whoever they are, don't impact your neighborhood. ERIC SMITH: I live on Lava Crest. First of all, your new program sounds wonderful. I have two questions for Bethlehem Inn. I work at the swim pool in the morning, and we deal with people that you brought in for showers. Yes, you have the ones who are trying to get back on their feet, and that's a great program. Your second program, the emergency housing, did you address a curfew for them? HITT: There's always a curfew. In the last five years, we open our doors at 6:00 p.m. Once you're in, you're in; and you aren't allowed to leave the facility. That's an agreement that they sign. All of our guests sign a document saying these are the rules and I understand the rules. We're very strict. We're a lot stricter than other programs throughout the state. (Audience chatter. Unintelligible) DEWOLF: What if they arrive later? HITT: It's 6:30 if there's a line. In the past we have made some exceptions if someone is at an AA meeting, an NA meeting, or a sponsor picks them up. They have to sign out, and state when the meeting ends and when you'll be back. They are there, because they know there's a lot of trouble if they don't follow the rules outlined for them. And once they are in for the night, they're in. What's going to be great about this new facility is that maybe we will be hosting some of these meetings right there. So they wouldn't even have to leave for that. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 14 of 58 Pages Now if they are working, we sure aren't going to stop anybody from going to work. We have some folks who have paper routes and that type of thing. Someone comes and picks them up, they check out, and check back in. And we monitor that. I have no trouble making a phone call asking if someone was really at work. And that's going to be something we can do now, too.. MORGAN: I think what the question really is, will it be a free-for-all, with people coming and going twenty-four hours a day and nobody knows what's going on. That's definitely not going to happen. SMITH: My second question is, at the pool the rules were simple; but we would still have a large number of people doing just simple infractions that we had to deal with to incidents dealing with children at the pool. What assurances will we get that these people are going to be taken care of? MORGAN: It won't be a free for all. SMITH: Rules were simple at the pool, but sometimes there were still infractions and incidents. What assurances can you offer that these people will be taken care of? CONNOWAY: The difference here is monitoring. When they're at the pool, they are in a public facility with different rules than when they are in our facility, with our staff. If we had the ability to have somebody on staff at the pool, which was a great service to the Inn over the five years. You served upwards of 200 and some people a year with free showers, and this was great. That will be happening in our facility. We're talking about the people who are our guests, which are about 1/10 of the homeless population, if we follow COCAAN's figures. At maximum, we are at about 1/10 of the homeless population. The 90% of those people are still in the community, still in the library and still at the swimming pool. Control is what we bring to this issue. When we move into this building, we bring control to our program — more control than we've had in the past. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 15 of 58 Pages We are hoping that brings a measure of security for everybody. We, on average, had about 250 to 300 badges like this out for a season. Our permanent eviction, which means that they crossed the boundaries, has probably run at 3% of that. That's not a very high infraction rate. We've had individual problems, but we run a program with volunteers from the churches. This runs from my daughter, when she was helping me with this program, starting when she was about eight years old. Other people bring their children, and we have Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and others who help to deal with these people. It's a safe population to deal with the way we do it. (Audience comments, off microphone) SMITH: We have people who go through the locker rooms. I'm a supervisor there and am around all of the time. We'd have the same bunch that we'd have to tell not to smoke in front of the doors every day, and they'd tell us they didn't know the rules. They were asked to not come back eventually. But we also had an incident in one of the locker rooms with a child. It wouldn't be something that I would want in my neighborhood, honestly. This was someone who was coming to the pool from Bethlehem Inn daily, and one day decided to do what he did. MORGAN: Let me answer that in a couple of ways. First of all, the program as it stands now has no accountability to it, in that you can come at the beginning of the year, and you could be there until we closed in April. As long as you didn't cause any problems with Bethlehem Inn, you were welcome to stay all year. There were no requirements on these people at all, just stay out of trouble. That has been one of the problems, as we have enabled some of this behavior with this continuous handout and propping some of these people up. With this new facility, there will be a lot more accountability associated with their stay with us. The people who are not following the rules and staying in the program will be gone. Now, gone — I don't know where they will be, but they won't be welcome to stay at the Inn anymore. So we're not going to have this continual group of people like you are describing hanging around the Inn. There will be a lot of accountability, and if they don't like that, they'll get a week at the Inn and then will have to move on. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 16 of 58 Pages Now, I don't know where the "move on" is going to be. But they won't be at Bethlehem Inn. We will have a different level of accountability with the program. The second point is, we're going to be right next door to the Sheriff s Office. It's the same thing with the people who will be in Becky's transitional housing scenario. The people who are coming out of prison and want to get back on their feet aren't going to be housing themselves in the basement of the Parole Officers' office. It will be the people who are trying to get themselves back on their feet, and wanting to stay out of trouble who will be staying there. It's the same thing with the people of Bethlehem Inn. They're not coming down to sit right next to the Sheriffs Office and commit some crime. DEWOLF: That's the point that I really wanted to emphasize here. This is right next to the Sheriffs Office, and that is a distinct deterrent to the people in the facility, but it is also an advantage in quick response, assuming that the levy passes in May. And in addition to that, we already have had eighty people living in this facility that have proven themselves to be criminals. Here we've got maybe ten or so in the transitional housing, and another group — in any crowd, and I'm not going to point out anybody here — there's somebody who has been arrested before. This just happens. But the majority of the people in the facility are not going to be those kinds of folks. So, it is right next to the Sheriff s Office and the Jail, with quick response times. JACKSON: Before another question — and this lady in the sweater has got to be next, because she's had her hand up for a while — one of the things I neglected to mention is that for those of you who live along Britta Street or Poe Sholes, you probably see a lot of Sheriff s Office vehicles driving by. One of the reasons that you do is that the Sheriff s Office's vehicle maintenance shop and fuel pumps are located right next door to our department. So there is a lot of law enforcement vehicle traffic down the street. One of the things that we intend to do in terms of our transitional housing is to ask our Sheriff s Deputies when they are in the building or in the vicinity to walk through the transitional housing dorm. We want to have the offenders who are staying there know that there is a law enforcement presence, and it may occur at midnight or 2:00 a.m. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 17 of 58 Pages SCOTT GILLESPIE: I live on NW Morgan Loop, about two blocks from the proposed facility. My first question is kind of a secondary question for the gentleman in the green shirt (Commissioner DeWoo. Is this going to go in as of right now, or is it not. I'm looking for a "yes" or "no" answer. DEWOLF: The answer would be "yes", unless we come up with a reason not to. We've got a population that we need to deal with. As it stands right now, what I'm looking for from you and others in the room is if there is a better way to deal with this population than what we're proposing. We are always looking for better ways to do things. Right now we have a facility in which we can have better control over the folks that we are dealing with than we currently do, in both of these situations. Having more control over this population protects our community better. So, if nothing comes up here tonight that tells me that this isn't going to work, or that there is a better idea with which to deal with it, then, yes. That would be the answer. LUKE: Becky has put together a business plan. We revised that plan and we're in the fourth revision now. There was an idea back here that had a lot of merit, and we can add that to the business plan. We want to make sure this plan addresses everybody's concerns, as far as we can do it. Is it going to go in there? It is my hope that it does. Do we want to have things in the business plan, the operating rules, that make you more comfortable? We'll do everything we can. GILLESPIE: What other facilities were looked at for this. Does the County have any other location? Are there any other vacant buildings? LUKE: This building is secure. It has the janitorial facilities, the showers — GILLESPIE: That's not what I asked. LUKE: This is what the County has. Bethlehem Inn has been looking. Hopefully what this does — Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 18 of 58 Pages GILLESPIE: There aren't any other buildings? LUKE: Hopefully what this does — GILLESPIE: Will you please answer my question. I RNJ:1 And I will. What this does, we hope, is to allow Bethlehem Inn a period of time to raise money so they can find another building. They have been unable to. The County right now puts people in transitional housing in motels. Becky has a certain amount of money that she can use, and most of that is gone, so we can't even do that. So the County does not have another building that can be used for transitional housing, except the jail. GILLESPIE: There are no other County buildings that are vacant right now. LUKE: None. GILLESPIE: None at all. LUKE: None at all. GILLESPIE: I have a few other questions then. How come nobody in Chestnut Park was notified about this meeting? Because I found out about it in a roundabout way. JACKSON: I can tell you that I went to the Community Development Department, which is a County agency located right next door, and I asked them to give me the names and addresses of every property owner within a quarter -mile radius of our building. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 19 of 58 Pages As a result of the list that they gave us, about two weeks ago we sent out about 150 letters. We received a few back for incorrect addresses. I received a call from the president of maybe the O.B. Riley Road Homeowners Association, who hadn't gotten one. After we talked a little further, he indicated that his residence was further than 1/4 mile away. Are you a property owner within 1/4 -mile radius? GILLESPIE: Yes, a few blocks. I have lived there for a little over a month. JACKSON: That could be the problem. DEWOLF: It probably just hasn't made it into the system. GILLESPIE: I switched my mailing address over a month ago. I've been receiving mail at that address for a month and a half. So if you mailed it two weeks ago, it would have come to me. LUKE: I believe the Assessor's Office is a couple of months behind on property records, and they're doing their best to catch up. JACKSON: There was some concern about that, so we did also do a press release that went to all of the media in Central Oregon. I know it has been on KBND radio, bend.com, and in the Bulletin. DEWOLF: We're glad you did find out. We did our best. GILLESPIE: One final thing, I guess. What percentage of incarcerates recommit? At least half of them will do something again and get thrown back in jail. It's the people they hang out with. I know a lot of people here have heard the term "thick as thieves". Crackheads don't hang out with nuns; they hang out with crackheads. That's only going to bring more people to that neighborhood on foot who are looking to do something. Maybe they aren't on the program, but still, I've got to lock my doors and keep my garage door rolled down the whole time. I see kids running around everywhere. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 20 of 58 Pages JACKSON: The Juvenile Department, as you know — GILLESPIE: People come there once a month, and then they leave. They go home. They go away. They don't go downstairs and take a nap, or go hang around outside and . have a cigarette. They go away. Here they are just going to hang around outside. Or, if a park goes in, they'll hang out in the park with everybody's kids. They're going to walk by my house. DEWOLF: Is that it? GILLESPIE: Obviously. DEWOLF: I'm trying to be really respectful here. If you've got another question, go ahead. She's been waiting, too, and wants to ask some questions. JODY ARBAK: I also live on NW Morgan Loop, which is just a little bit south of where the building is. My concern is that there are a lot of children in the area, and our bus stop is Britta and Poe Sholes. What assurances do we have that our children are going to be safe waiting at that bus stop. Because many mornings there are no parents there, and the kids just wait for their bus to come. All of the inmates or the transitional housing people or the homeless people aren't allowed to go walk around and that type of thing, they're going to be shuttled from location to location. That's what I worry about, our children standing there for their bus. Anybody could come by. JACKSON: Jody, I have to tell you that can happen anywhere. I understand that. But when there is a great proportion of "them" type of people in our neighborhood, the possibility seems to be a lot greater. That's what I'm concerned about. There are so many children in the neighborhood. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 21 of 58 Pages My other concern is, if there are going to be sex offenders housed there, we are going to be notified of this, correct? JACKSON: First of all, let me tell you that I appreciate your concern. I've seen the bus stop when I go to work in the morning. We actually have an employee in our office whose child catches the bus there. So I'm very familiar with that. And I really think that the risk to children is going to be less under our proposal than when the building was filled with eighty jail inmates who walked down the road every day. So, I would ask you to keep that in mind. There were sex offenders in the building when it was used as a regional work center. ARBAK: But was the neighborhood notified? Isn't that a law? JACKSON: Not while they are incarcerated. There aren't laws in terms of notification in that case. There are laws in terms of notification when an offender has been released. And what the law requires our office to do is a risk assessment to determine the level of risk that the particular sex offender presents to the community. And depending upon the level of risk, which is determined by whether there are victims outside the family. You should know that we have right now in Deschutes County over 1,400 offenders who come to visit us each month at the building, and have been doing that for six years. About 160 of those have been convicted of sex offenses. They served their time, and whether any of us like it or not, they have a right to be in the community. Again, the law makes no provisions for people being notified when a sex offender is an inmate. So you would not have been notified when the facility was used as a work center and — So let me understand this. Are the people in transitional housing still in jail? JACKSON: No, they're — Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 22 of 58 Pages ARBAK: So they are out of jail, and they are trying to go look for a job and find somewhere to live, that type of thing. JACKSON: Correct. KOREENA CROWSON: I live on Lava Crest also. They've made reference to, there are already criminals going in and out of the Parole offices all day. Those people want to go there and get the heck out. They don't want to hang around. These people are actually being shuttled in and out. So I was wondering, I heard that you select them, that there is a selective process for the people who are allowed into Bethlehem Inn. What is that selection process? HITT: Well, when — CROWSON: And the people that are turned away, where do they go if they aren't selected. HITT: St. Vincent de Paul, which is down on Third Street, has been a great partner with Bethlehem Inn since our inception. Our clients or guests, 99% of them, first go to St. Vincent de Paul and meet with some wonderful people there who run the outfit, and spend a half hour or how ever long it takes. They assess the need. It has been a huge relief for us to have them do that. They talk about their past, and their work history and — CROWSON: Do they do a background check on them? HITT: A criminal background check? No. What we have done ourselves it the past is attempt to do that. As you can imagine, it gets very expensive to — CROWSON: And when you are spending all this money to house them, that's coming out of taxpayer dollars. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 23 of 58 Pages HITT: No, we are not funding to any degree by taxpayers. We are an independent, small non-profit 501(c)(3), and do not use taxpayer money. Now we'll take donations from anybody, but we do not use taxpayer dollars to fund this program. (Audience comments, unintelligible.) HITT: Yes, we are. We'll be paying rent. This is not your County dollar that we're getting to use this facility. We are paying for this. This is part of the reason our budget has changed and gone from $75,000 to $230,000 a year. We've got to raise that money, and are working very hard to do that right now. CROWSON: So there aren't background checks done. It's just their word, what they say. HITT: Part of understanding the homeless population is, this is a very good program to be a part of. And once you've been a part of this program for a while, it's always amazing to me that people know that if we find out they told us something that turns out to be false, they could be evicted from the program. They do not want that to happen. Part of our population this year was a two-month old. Also, women and men, families, with eight and nine year olds. A good portion of them just lost their job. They don't have a criminal background. We don't have the capability at this point to do a thorough background check on all of our population. CROWSON: I would also like to address the man in green who said about quick response. It takes fifteen minutes to a half-hour to get a response on our block. So, it's not fast. You think we live right behind there and it would be in minutes, but it's not. DEWOLF: To be honest with you, you're in the City, so if you call 9-1-1 the immediate response is coming from the City Police, not the Sheriff right there. But the fact that the Sheriff s Office is in that area, they can jump on that quickly if there is a major issue taking place. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 24 of 58 Pages The thing to keep in mind is that having P.O.'s in the same building with these folks, and the fact that we've got people who have the authority to arrest people, people who do carry weapons with them, this is not the kind of place that people are going to have the proclivity to jump your fence and do something in your back yard. This is a much more controlled environment than we currently have. I don't know how many of you read that there is going to be a whole series of articles on sex offenders in the paper in May. It will flat out scare all of us. If you put a little red dot where all of these folks live, we'll have red dots all over this community. It's going to cause anybody who has had to deal with this issue to churn all over again. The fact is, these people are in our community. And how can we best protect ourselves and hopefully give some of these folks a hand up so they can get out of that kind of lifestyle, clean themselves up if drugs and alcohol are destroying their marriages and their families, and their ability to find work. And they end up going out and committing crimes in neighborhoods or stores or whatever. How can we help some of these folks out of that. To my way of thinking, it's being in a more secure facility, which is what this whole campus is designed for, to be that secure place. Can I promise you that nothing is going to ever happen, anymore than I can promise myself that I'll never have somebody steal the stereo out of my car or — CROWSON: You aren't knowingly bringing in people like this. DEWOLF: You're right. And let me speak one more to that. One of the things that finally pushed me over to allow a Boys and Girls Club in the Juvenile facility — that really made me nervous. Their first proposal was to put a pool table in there. You know what I thought of? Arnold Swartzenegger in Terminator 2, and what he did with the pool table. That idea was scratched. Part of what we are looking for is these kinds of ideas. These kids are going to be out in the community. By having the Boys and Girls Club in one of the pods of the Juvenile facility, we then know who they are and what they'll be when they get out. They are already going to be joining the Boys and Girls Club, but now we know who they are and the kind of offenses they have committed. We're going to know who their P.O. is. It's a much more controlled environment that way. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 25 of 58 Pages What we are trying to do is maintain as much control as we can over this population to keep them from offending. If we have to do that with a carrot or a stick, one way or the other we will. There are no guarantees for any of us. You're right, you live right across the street from it. No question. CROWSON: They're right there, concentrated into one place. DEWOLF: That's true, but there were more people in there before, and will have again in the future when this reopens as a Regional Work Center. CROWSON: But they were under lock and key. DEWOLF: They were not under lock and key. They were walking around in your neighborhood. They were on the street and already were offenders. (Lots of background conversations, off microphone) CROWSON: I have one more question about the hours. You said something about them being locked in at a certain time. They physically can't go out? MORGAN: The only way they can go out is in the back in a fenced area to smoke. CROWSON: Then they are released in the morning and you disburse them out. So how is that bringing them into a facility and helping them better themselves when they are all being loaded up and dropped off around town, to vandalize the Juniper Park swimming pool, when there are very simple rules. I don't understand. JACKSON: I think you misunderstood. Bethlehem Inn is revamping their program over the summer to include this accountability piece that will involve the homeless staying in the facility to attend treatment and life skills training, and so forth. So they are discontinuing turning them out into the community during the day. Did I represent this correctly? Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 26 of 58 Pages HITT: Yes. What we've done the research on, by just talking with Becky's folks and how they work their program, they have a day reporting center. And our folks will have to report at 8:00 and will be required to go out and look for three jobs, and we'll verify they are doing that during the day. There will be food handlers' classes, AA and NA classes, and that's what is going to make the difference. That's what we've been doing, shutting our doors at 7:00 a.m. because the churches have other things going on, and told the people to find someplace else to be, see you at 6:00. That will be different with this program. As far as walking around the neighborhood, which is always a concern, if you offer people a shuttle ride, they will take it. That will make a difference, too. They don't tend to want to just walk around the neighborhood. They want to be somewhere. Now, that's been the library for five years. (Audience comment, off microphone) HITT: There were some specific events that the library addressed by taking away the benches. That's what will make this program great; there will be accountability finally. They won't be allowed to just hang out. LESLIE MINOR: I have property on Morgan Loop. We're all addressing a lot of issues of what can happen. My question is, one the program is in place, I think that the transitional people will be more of an issue than the homeless people. But if there is suddenly a higher incidence in the neighborhood of mail being taken, cars being broken into, people being approached, what program will be in place at that point to help the neighbors. Who can they call to say that there are issues and how will they be helped. JACKSON: I think if that occurs, we would certainly look at that and probably reevaluate our use of the building. But, again, what I ask that you keep in mind is that if for some reason our proposal doesn't go forth, or even if it does, at some point this building is going to again have eighty inmates in it, who leave the facility every morning and walk down the street, and do the same thing at night. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 27 of 58 Pages So, again, I'd ask you to keep that in mind, the original intention of the facility. If we discover that there is an extraordinary incidence of theft or other inappropriate activities in the community, we will definitely reevaluate it. LUKE: We could have another public meeting perhaps ninety days after the program is in place. MINOR: Well, I would hope that if it reverted back to the eighty inmates in there that they would still have a program in place to help the community with those problems. JACKSON: I'd have to let you take that up with the Sheriff at that point. GILLESPIE: To reiterate what she just said, it's a luxury that you guys have in that you have accountability for the people who come in and don't follow the rules. I think all of us here can agree that we'd like to see the same type of thing. If this isn't working out, you don't have the same type of accountability to us that you have with your guests or the transitional people. We know that government organizations reevaluating something doesn't mean much. I would really like to see something in place so that if we have issues or something comes up, it is a little more proactive, something is there for us to get real action out of that. We are all concerned and they are valid concerns. I also wanted to agree with this gentleman as far as notification of this. Up until a few months ago, I was a board member of Boyd Acres Neighborhood Association. I didn't hear about this through the Association. I know they were notified, but it wasn't until late in the process. I would have loved to have the chance to come when the decision was being made, and I didn't get that opportunity. (Lots of audience conversation.) ADRIAN SMIGAJ: I'm building one on Poe Sholes and one on Morgan Loop. I actually wanted to make a point about whether someone would actually be messing around with the Sheriffs Department right there. Actually I have already had some incidents on these houses that I am building. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 28 of 58 Pages And since I'm there during the day, I see what goes on around there. I've been approached by people who are stoned, drunk, whatever. The Sheriff s Department is right there. So it kind of shoots a hole in your analogy there that they won't do anything. They are. DEWOLF: Are these people who are coming out of the Parole Office — SMIGAJ: They are moving around the whole area. I've seen people pull right out of that facility and go down the road, and half a block away they are flooring it, screaming around. We have beer bottles flung all over the place. We already have another issue in our subdivision with something else there, that Scott has been approached on his property. The question is, why is this happening if it's not going to happen? DEWOLF: The reality is, when I was remodeling my house we had all of the ladders stolen one night, and I lived there. I respect the fact that this happens, and it happens all over the community. No question. Especially construction sites. I had a drunk guy living two doors down from me. I was walking my little eight-year-old down the street and this guy has his arms wrapped around a tree, puking his guts out in his front yard. None of us like to see this in our neighborhood. No question. The issue that you are raising here is a good one; how do we deal with this. I don't think this proposal is strong enough yet in answering that. That's something that we will address in this; how do we respond, because we do have issues. Part of it is talking with our Sheriffs Office and Police Department on what can be done to make sure there's a quick response if you need it. Particularly, the first three months of this program, what can we do to increase the patrols, to keep on top of this and watch it as closely as we can, and having you obviously being our eyes and ears out there for the kinds things that we need to watch out for. I don't think that is addressed strongly enough in this proposal yet. SMIGAJ: So this proposal is not a deal in concrete yet, yes or no? Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 29 of 58 Pages DEWOLF: No. When I've got somebody saying, I want a yes or no answer, I will answer that. What I am saying, and what I thought we were clear about, is what we are trying to help make sure that what is implemented is the best that it can be. We've gotten two or three ideas here tonight that either we hadn't thought of or hadn't thought about thoroughly enough. We will modify this proposal. What we are trying to do is create a set of programs here that will work well, in a controlled environment, that will be safer than it has been in the past with the previous program that was there. That's our goal. And like Dennis said earlier, our goal is to make this happen, because we believe it will be a better environment for us to have control over this population. By giving us these thoughts tonight, and others that may come up — get a hold of us and let us know. I mean, do we need to set up some kind of fund to respond to somebody's broken fence and things, dealing with insurance companies, I don't know. But those kinds of ideas are the things we want to include in making sure the proposal is as safe as it can be for all of you and the others who aren't here tonight. VICKIE OLSEN: First of all, I wanted to express my real concern about this neighborhood. I mean, they weren't even contacted. If you can't even follow through and contact the necessary neighbors that have a vested interest, I'm concerned whether or not you really will follow through. JACKSON: I can assure you that letters were sent to the 150 property owners on the list that Community Development gave us. I can only assume that the Assessor is behind. What I can tell you is that — OLSEN: You did an adequate job. What you had to do. JACKSON: We certainly didn't purposely not notify anybody. OLSEN: I think that more could have been done to notify people there. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 30 of 58 Pages JACKSON: Do you have a suggestion for me? We will hold another meeting. OLSEN: Door to door. The mail is one thing. That's just my opinion. Somebody mentioned a follow-up meeting. That's initially why I grabbed this microphone. Also, are there laws regarding schools? I mean, Sagebrush School is around the corner. And Acrovision is there with children coming and going. Has that been taken into consideration? The bus stop is a biggie, too. I don't live there. We have invested in some four- plexes there. Selfishly I could ask if a tenant will remain there. I'm concerned about my retirement investment that we finally went out on a limb and did. I know that is selfish. JACKSON: But it is your concern. OLSEN: It's reality with a lot of people here. But, seriously, the schools. JACKSON: In response to your question, there is no legislation, laws or ordinances that prevent people who have completed their sentence from living anyplace they can afford to live. I used to be a property owned in Starwood, which is a nice subdivision off Tumalo Road. Living across from me was an individual who we had under supervision for a sex offense. So once a person has completed their sentence, they have a right to live wherever they wish. There are some restrictions in terms of distance from schools in regard to convicted sex offenders only. I would like to ask Charity Hobold, one of our Parole and Probation Officers who is here tonight, to speak. She has a specialized caseload; she supervises only sex offenders. I'm going to ask her to respond to that question. CHARITY HOBOLD: The law addresses predatory sex offenders only. There's a small percentage of our 160 sex offenders we have under our caseloads that are considered predatory by the Parole Board or the Probation Department. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 31 of 58 Pages What the law says is that if you have somebody who has been determined to be either a sexually violent, dangerous sex offender or a predatory offender, if you are going to allow them to live near where children are the primary occupants, you must first inform that facility or whatever it is that you intend to let them live there, and give them a say in that. It is fairly vague. Each County usually develops its own policy on how near that is. For example, if I get a release plan for somebody coming out of prison who has been determined predatory and he wants to live near a school, school bus stop or daycare center, no. We check all of that stuff out, but only for the predatory offenders. There is no law that restricts the other 130 from living where they choose to live. JACKSON: And I'm not aware of any county, city or state laws that have any statements about homeless shelters, in terms of restricting them from any particular place. HOBOLD: I can tell you that we supervise our sex offenders very strictly. And if I have a non -predatory sex offender wanting to live, for example, over on Purcell where there's a lot of HUD housing, I would not allow him to live there, even if he's not a predatory sex offender. All of them have conditions to have no contact with minor children without written permission of their P.O. or therapist. If you put an offender in a position where he can hardly avoid the contact, you are setting them up to violate. You're putting both parties in a dangerous situation. So, we don't allow that. We polygraph them on a regular basis, because we know we can't follow them all around. They are in treatment. If they are not in treatment or they are not abiding by the rules, they are in jail. We have extremely low recidivism rate for sex offenders in Deschutes County. I've been supervising caseloads for twelve years now, of only sex offenders. I can only think of two who have reoffended sexually in those twelve years. The sex offenders that you should really be more worried about are the ones we don't know about yet. They are the ones who don't have to register, and don't have a P.O. who's watching them, and they aren't being polygraphed and aren't being treated. The ones that we know about are safer than the ones that we don't know about. We try our best to make sure that this is how it remains. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 32 of 58 Pages LUKE: If you didn't get a mailing, please be sure to sign up on the sheet. JACKSON: If I could just say one thing. I think someone asked about recidivism, and I forgot to answer because I got sidetracked. Even though we are Deschutes County Parole & Probation, we are still affiliated with the State of Oregon Department of Corrections. They have performance measures that we are required to meet in exchange for the operating dollars that they give us. One of the performance measures that we have is recidivism. When you ask a question about recidivism, you always want to ask what the definition is. Because everybody's definition is different. For some people, recidivism is being arrested for any kind of a crime within one year. It's different everywhere. According to the Oregon Department of Corrections, their definition of recidivism is a new felony conviction within three years of either being placed under probation supervision, or being released from prison. Every six months every county Parole & Probation office in the state gets their recidivism statistics, and they divide it into probationers — again, those people who didn't go to prison. In court, the Judge said, I think you should have the opportunity to stay in the community; you're going to be supervised by a Parole or Probation officer; and here are the things you can't do; and here are the things you must do, such as community service, getting your G.E.D., going to alcohol treatment. In Deschutes County the recidivism rate for people coming out of the institution on parole is 29%. For probationers who didn't go to prison to begin with, the recidivism rate in Deschutes County is 27%. We do very well in that regard. As a result of some recent requests from the Bulletin for information about sex offenders, we asked the Department of Corrections to pull out of those Deschutes County recidivism statistics the statistics for sex offenders only. They were exactly half. In other words, sex offenders who were in prison and came out on parole had a recidivism rate of about 14%; and for sex offenders who were placed on probation, it was about 13%. I didn't mean to not answer this question. CHAD CARLSON: I also live on Lava Crest. I've got a wife, a young boy and a 13 -year-old. Your answer was, they sign their name in and they can go in and sleep or whatever they do in there for twelve hours. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 33 of 58 Pages HITT: For the emergency housing part of the program. They don't leave the facility at night. CARLSON: Who is to stop them from going out the door? HITT: At night? We've been doing this for five years. We've learned a lot along the way. Our guest population doesn't leave at 2:00 a.m. Just recently we have actually changed those rules and made them tighter. Once they are in the facility, they are in there for the rest of the night until the morning when they get on the shuttle bus. Having this facility is only going to allow us to tighten those rules and have more control. What we had been doing for five years was just putting them out the door at 7:00 a.m. That's what is changing. Is that what you are asking? CARLSON: You didn't answer my question at all. Who is going to stop them from going out the door, if they want to leave that facility. Who is going to tell them that they can't? HITT: That's our job. This is not an unsupervised facility. It never has been. We would stop them from going outside. Now, these people are not incarcerated. They have the right to be in the community; they are here now. But they don't exit our facility no matter where we are in the middle of the night. If they did, they would no longer be welcome. You are looking very frustrated, so I'm trying to make sure that we are answering your question. CARLSON: You aren't answering my question. MORGAN: They are not under any contract. They can leave just like you and I can walk out the door at night. CARLSON: With you and the offenders who are going to be in there, are they under lock and key at night? Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 34 of 58 Pages JACKSON: No. They've completed their sentences. They're not locked up; we don't have the right to do that. CARLSON: The eighty people who will be back in there when the Sheriffs levy does pass — I hope everybody votes for it. DEWOLF: It will not reopen if the levy passes. CARLSON: My question to you is, they are locked and under key? JACKSON: In the night only. We have another staff here, Tanner Wark, who is one of our Parole & Probation officers. He actually used to work for the Sheriff s Office, and actually has worked in the Regional Work Center when it had inmates in it. I'm going to let him answer these questions. TANNER WARK: When the Work Center was open, often an inmate could run out of the building, because they were not locked in. They had the same chance of victimizing your community as any of the people who will be in the transitional program now. AUDIENCE MEMBER (off microphone): The community wasn't there then. WARK: Right, but the jail and the building were. If that happened, a warrant was issued and 9-1-1 was called. If someone doesn't show up for the transitional housing, the P.O. will be called and warrants could be issued. There is an accountability issue. Because these people are not incarcerated, we don't have the right to lock them up. JACKSON: You made a valid point; you weren't there then. That is so true. We've been out there for six or seven years. Actually, it is a change for all of us. It was bare property around it. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 35 of 58 Pages Again, we are talking about a public safety campus that was built for the purpose of housing adult and juvenile offenders. It's quite a bit of a change for us, too. I can only hope that anyone who built or purchased property out there did their homework and found out what we were all about first. You are shaking your head that you didn't, and I'm sorry. You know, this was the purpose of the public safety campus. KEITHA BAXTER: I live on Lava Crest, and I'm a widow. I wanted to ask you, in your article in the March 30 paper, you said, "the work center stands near the county jail and juvenile correctional facility, west of Highway 97 in north Bend. Hopefully people moved in with the understanding of what these buildings were intended for." I've lived there three years, and there has never been anything given to me about what these buildings were used for. These people lived there thirty-two years, and we were never advised. JACKSON: There were public hearings — LUKE: I was a State Representative when we went through the land use process on this, and attended a lot of the meetings. Lt. Johnston is out here, too, and he was there. I attended the public hearings. They were in the areas, and were well attended. This was before these houses moved in so close; the neighbors were further away than most of you, but they were at that meeting, expressing the same concerns about the jail and the Sheriff s Office there, and the whole complex. There were extensive public meetings before the City of Bend and Deschutes County approved that; and then by a vote of the people. The people voted to pass the bonds to build the buildings there. There was extensive publicity on that. BAXTER: I knew the jail and the Juvenile buildings were there, and have no problem with that. But at no time did I know there was going to be a correctional facility or a home for homeless. As she said, hopefully people knew about this when they moved in. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 36 of 58 Pages JACKSON: Ma'am, I think what I was trying to say was that people knew that our office, located behind the jail and next door to Juvenile, was Parole & Probation offices and an eighty bed work center. BAXTER: People like myself that came in from out of the area three years ago, didn't know. JACKSON: It's been there for six or seven years now. MIKE JOHNSTON: I've been with the Sheriff s Office for twenty-eight years. Initially when they built the whole campus, they built the jail firsts, then the Sheriffs Office, Juvenile, and Parole & Probation and Search and Rescue. We actually have had relatively few problems out of the work center when it was open. If they did run away, 9-1-1 was called immediately for a response from the deputies in the area and the City police, because it is in the City of Bend. BAXTER: How many people who live in that subdivision that are here knew there were eighty people housed over there? LUKE: Your Realtor should have told you about it. BAXTER: My daughter was the Realtor. That's why I'm asking the question. She said they were not informed. We knew the buildings were there, but not what on besides the jail and the Juvenile. JACKSON: Correct me if I am wrong, but wouldn't it be the buyer's responsibility to find out what is in the neighborhood? BAXTER: I called, and they told me about the Juvenile center and the correctional facility. I called the City. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 37 of 58 Pages JACKSON: It was there, and there is a sign out in front that says "Parole and Probation". (Audience member speaking; unintelligible) JACKSON: Do I understand that you'd be more comfortable with the eighty jail inmates in there on work release? AUDIENCE MEMBER (off microphone): Absolutely. I've lived next to jails before, and there is a lot less problems than with transitional housing. JACKSON: But there were escapes, when it was a work release center. BAXTER: I do have another question. I would like to know how each of you would feel if it came in your neighborhood. JACKSON: I think I already mentioned to you, I have had offenders living in my neighborhood. I guess because of my work, I understand that whether I like it or not, people have a right after they finish their sentence to live where they wish. AUDIENCE MEMBER (off microphone): One or two at a time. Not a whole bunch. BAXTER: I have a brother in Michigan who is a convicted pedophile, four different times in the last ten years. And he has great restrictions. JACKSON: And so do the sex offenders that we supervise. MORGAN: I would like to answer that question real quick, from the Bethlehem Inn standpoint. We understand what you guys are going through. That's why we volunteer our time to put this shelter together, to make this a better community. Instead of just having people living everywhere, under bridges, in the parking lots, out in the forest — Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 38 of 58 Pages BAXTER: Don't you think they still will? MORGAN: Sure, of course they will. We're only going to house sixty people. There are 900 homeless people in Deschutes County. We're just trying to do our part — BAXTER: Maybe Bend is too good to them. WOMAN (did not identify herselo: I'd like to make a statement. We lived in our property before the jail was built, and we were one of the ones who attended many of the meetings. We have a question about accountability and the response time of the Sheriff s office. When it was built, they told us that we would be notified immediately if anybody got out. Well, somebody got out and we were told at 2:00 in the afternoon when the Sheriffs Deputy came to our door. He had been out since early morning. So I'm afraid the same thing is going to happen with the people that you will have in the facility. JACKSON: I'm going to let Lt. Johnston address the issue of escapes when it was used by the Sheriffs Office as a work center. WOMAN: We also found a blanket in our pasture where someone was there all night. They said someone would come right away. JACKSON: I want to clarify any misconceptions that if we begin using this facility for transitional housing, we would not be notifying any neighbors of someone who didn't return to the facility. They have finished their sentence. JOHNSTON: Originally that area was in the County, but was annexed into the City. I want to be straight up with you. We have patrol areas. We have Sisters, Redmond, Bend and La Pine. On a full night, we have eleven people. We try to divide them up so there is no one in an area alone. It can take a little while before somebody gets there. Hopefully since you are in the City now, they might not have to respond from thirty miles away. We hope the response is quicker. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 39 of 58 Pages All I can tell you is now, if there is an escape from the jail, they call 9-1-1 immediately and we go from there. As she said, these are not incarcerated inmates. If they leave, they leave. Then P & P will have to deal with them later. I'm sure that if they don't play by the rules, they'll get ejected. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Part of what she was saying was the accountability. We were told that we would be notified if there was an escape, right away. We were not notified. It was a big screw -up on your part. JACKSON: Ma'am, please let me clarify. When the first floor of the building was used as a work center, it was a part of the jail under the Sheriff s Office. We share the building but we are a separate independent department. In regard to any escape that occurred when it was used by the Sheriff s Office and you weren't notified, I'd like to direct that question to Lt. Johnston. I can't answer it. I don't know. I don't work for the Sheriff s Office. AUDIENCE MEMBER: What we've been asking lately is for your accountability. It hasn't been so good in the past. JACKSON: Parole and Probation's accountability? AUDIENCE MEMBER: The whole safety complex. I'm saying, what would it take? Are you going to wait for a child to be abused in the community before you say, yeah, we really ought to rethink this. What kind of incidents are going to happen, because the people from Bethlehem Inn as I understand it, they're not going to stay there in that building, working on a computer or getting jobs all day. They will want to leave. And you have them under control when they are in your building. But there is no control, this is not a neighborhood of wealthy people, there are no security systems, they are not under anybody's eye, people are at work during the day. They're under control in the building only, not at all in this little neighborhood. And when we ask for accountability, it hasn't been that great in the past. Like the gentleman said here, you can't just explain rules to some of these people because they just don't get it. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 40 of 58 Pages Then they'll be in the neighborhood, there's not a quick response time, and we shouldn't have to field the liability and the pressure because of what you are doing. JACKSON: I guess I just have to remind you that we do have 1,400 offenders under supervision in Deschutes County. They come and go five days a week to our office, and that was the purpose of our building when it was constructed over six years ago. The ten transitional offenders will not be there during the day. They will either be working or doing community service for the privilege of having housing. AUDIENCE MEMBER: What will it take to change your mind? What kind of accident or incident is going to happen in the neighborhood for you to go, well, that's really enough. JACKSON: I'm not sure how anyone can answer that question. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Is Tom willing to park his car over there to see what happens to it? DEWOLF: The reality of this situation is, do we as a community take care of these people or do we not. One way or another, these folks are in our community. We either have them in a situation where we have more control, or less control, or no control. (Comment from audience. Unintelligible.) JACKSON: But does anybody have control over anyone else in the community? (Comments from audience. Off microphone; unintelligible.) DEWOLF: I suspect that when this evening is over, there are going to be people walking out of here at least as concerned as when they arrived. I do respect that. I'm not sure that I can offer, or Becky can offer, or anyone else can offer any words that are going to take all of that concern away. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 41 of 58 Pages If eight months after this thing opens we haven't had a single incident, everybody will feel a little bit better. If during that time we have had an incident, then you are all going to be knocking on my door and Becky's door, and we are going to deal with it. The thing about being elected that I hate is that I'm so accessible. And I deal with these issues, and I'm here responsible to you in a way that a whole lot of people never have to deal with. What I'm telling you is from my perspective, I'm absolutely doing my best to insure that we put in a program that is going to work to the best of our ability. Can I guarantee it will be perfect? No more than I can guarantee that my car isn't going to get hit by some idiot in a parking lot, who will drive away and leave me stuck with it. (Comments from audience. Off microphone; unintelligible) DEWOLF: You know what? We're always taking a certain degree of responsibility for the actions that we take and the choices we make. I have certain choices that I have to make that affect a lot more people than other folks have to take. And I accept that responsibility. If it goes badly, I have to accept that responsibility. Which is why I have been somewhat skeptical. When Becky first came to us with this project, I thought she was kidding. It was her perseverance, and Bethlehem Inn's perseverance and their putting up with all of our questions that got the proposal to where it is today. Now more issues have been raised that will become part of their challenge to meet those issues before we are going allow this facility to open in this manner. That's all I can tell you. We are doing our best, and it is my firm belief that by having these people under supervision, in this facility, is better than not having them there. (Comments from audience. Off microphone; unintelligible) MARLA GREEN: We have duplexes across from the Juvenile center. We did our research. I want to respond to that. I visited the Juvenile facility and talked with Kelly Jacobs, and was told repeatedly what a safe, secure place this was, and that all of the places on this block were locked. In fact, Kelly lived in one of our duplexes. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 42 of 58 Pages I guess I'm concerned also about one thing you said, that you might have a fund for incidences that would happen. What about a fund for if our property values go down because, like the lady over there, it's her retirement. And if we can't get renters, we can't make the payments, and will go bankrupt. And I have a big heart for the homeless, and a lot of empathy. We've helped at our church with the Bethlehem Inn, and I think it is a wonderful program. But, how about an industrial area? How about a building like this where there are no children living around? I appreciate what you had to say about your wonderful recidivism rates, but it doesn't bear up with the literature on rehabilitation for sex offenders, unless you do some kind of surgery or hormonal changes. My understanding is that the rates are bad. JACKSON: I'd invite you to come to the office sometime and talk with us, and we'll talk with you about our treatment program and exactly what occurs in terms of sex offenders. LUKE: From a rental owner's standpoint, I live on Reed Market Road. And in the last couple of years they've built a very nice apartment house across from me. I noticed that there were police cars there quite often. So I called Chief Andy Jordan, and asked what was going on. He said there was drug dealing going in there, and when they move out others move in. This isn't restricted to one area of town. We've got problems all over this town, and all over the County. Mike (Johnston) can tell you about the meth labs they break up and the other things that go on in all neighborhoods. As a landlord, there is nothing that keeps somebody from renting your unit and manufacturing meth there; and you talk about shutting down a unit. GREEN: I'd just like to respond to that. We were actually told that this was the most secure place we could actually build, because the Sheriff and the State Police are right there. Who is going to build a meth lab across the street from them? JACKSON: You'd be surprised. They rent motel rooms and make it in the bathtub. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 43 of 58 Pages AUDIENCE MEMBER: I'm just sitting here and am really concerned and very skeptical. I can tell you one thing. I'm going to contact Bethlehem Inn, and I'm going to start volunteering. I think that's something that we, as a community, if we're that concerned, let's get involved with Bethlehem Inn so we have a say and can oversee what's going on. I do feel it's a done deal, whether or not they want to admit it. That's what I'm personally going to do, get myself more involved because I am concerned about my security and my retirement investment. JACKSON: I would expand on that. For anyone who would like to volunteer in our department, we have a very difficult job, as you've heard me say previously. Each of our Parole and Probation Officers has 60 individuals who they are responsible for supervising. We've had reduced funds and only work 36 hours a week now. As a result of that, we rely on people in the community who would like to help us. We would be glad to give you something to do that would be both important and rewarding. By all means, we'd welcome you. AUDIENCE MEMBER: I have three kids that catch the bus at that bus stop. We're already watching over our shoulders because there is a halfway house behind our house, and we have juveniles who sit on the corner and smoke cigarettes, and then go into the department. And you talk about your curfews, what time you have to be in, but it sounds like they can leave whenever they want. What time are they allowed to leave? HITT: Most of them, for the past five years, they've had to be out at 7:00 a.m. The folks that would be in the part of the program that would actually move them into a different state of living will have different times. They have to be there at 8:00, and report for duty, and look at their job task list. And then we're going to have a vehicle. They get in the vehicle and go down to a fixed place downtown, and go job hunting. We will, for accountability reasons, be verifying that. They will have to do that, just like they do now in day reporting for Parole and Probation. AUDIENCE MEMBER: I understand. I'm not worried about the people who get bussed. It's the people who are in an emergency situation and they want to leave. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 44 of 58 Pages HITT: Oh, 7:00 a.m. AUDIENCE MEMBER: That's the same time my daughter is catching the bus. HITT: But these folks get on our shuttle and go downtown, as they have been doing for five years. JACKSON: Do you let just anybody walk away from the facility? HITT: Yes, they can. Some of them have bicycles, and some do have a vehicle. I can tell you that traditionally they don't want to just hang out in your neighborhood because there's nothing to do. Normally they want to go downtown. They go to Royal Blend, the library, Safeway. The library deals with a lot of the people who won't be in this program. CONNOLLY: There are two places that you haven't mentioned where a lot of our population goes. They go to the employment centers. We take them out at 5:00 a.m. to Labor Ready and places like that. A lot of our folks do work at whatever labor they can get. And the ones that leave our facility willingly early are gone to work. They're not going to be in your neighborhood. I raised five children next to Juniper Park. Let me tell you, that was not a cakewalk. And that was when Bend was small. AUDIENCE MEMBER: What about the parole people? JACKSON: Again, they are either going to be required to be looking for work, and we will transport them from our facility into town; or they will be working, and therefore going to work; or else they will be doing community service in lieu of the privilege of staying in the facility. So, they'll be transported away from the facility into town. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 45 of 58 Pages MORGAN: You guys are bringing up some great points tonight. We didn't come here thinking that we had 99.9% of the answers. We thought we had a good portion of this covered. I personally appreciate you guys bringing this stuff up. Like the Commissioner said, we're going to go back and revise our business plan to incorporate some of the things that you're saying. Clearly, the accountability, from our standpoint anyway, for the Bethlehem Inn guests, when they are coming and going and the accountability that is associated with that needs to be taken up a couple of notches. We're more than willing to do this. We're here to serve the community. We're all volunteers with families and full-time jobs. We're not getting paid to stand up here in front of you guys and try to pitch the Bethlehem Inn. We're trying to do this to better the community. So, if you guys have some input that we need to hear, then we're all ears. And we'll amend our program to fit whatever is best for the community. We appreciate your concerns about it. I have a five, seven and nine year old kids at home. I'm with you on that. AUDIENCE MEMBER: I've worked in the past with the homeless, and volunteered in our church with Bethlehem Inn, too. So I'm familiar with the program. I've worked with Healy Heights and their transitional housing program. And I would say that it is naive to not do background checks. It's $15, and you can get a contract with the folks who do it, and you can get criminal and credit checks. If these are folks who are really earnest about staying there, they would agree to allow it. HITT: We've been told we can't do this anymore. A few months ago it became a problem for the Bend Police Department. I wish we had someone from there here tonight to talk about this. For $15, it's been our understanding that a criminal background check is more complicated. JOHNSTON: I believe it is against the law. HITT: That's why it changed. Our former director was very adamant, and worked with the Bend PD, and then he was told that they couldn't do that for us anymore. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 46 of 58 Pages JACKSON: But we can. It's a workload issue, but actually one of the Commissioners, maybe Commissioner Luke, brought this up about a month ago. As a result of that, our office, due to the nature of our work, has access to LEDS, which is the Law Enforcement Data System. You plug in a person's name and date of birth, and you get back any criminal history that they've ever accumulated, including arrests. Liz shared with us that Bend PD was doing that for them. We called LEDS, and Bend PD couldn't do it since it was a violation of the LEDS policy; but if the Bethlehem Inn guests will be in our facility, we can do it for you. We'll probably have to talk about the workload part of it. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Can I add something to that? I would propose that because LEDS has a narrow focus, you need to do a three -state search. It costs $15. And I don't know that LEDS does that, but we did California, Oregon and Washington. It provides you with all sorts of information that helps them solve problems in their lives. If you were to rely on their information, they don't recognize or realize that they've had evictions that go against them for renting in the future. These are things they can try to address. HITT: I had no idea it was $15. That's not the number that was brought to us. Whether we pay for it, or Becky's willing to help us out, or we do a 50/50 agreement. We have worked as an organization for the past five years because we have an incredible partnership with this community. Our door is always open. You can come in and visit with us. We're not going to have overnight guests in this facility until the fall, so we have all summer to get things in place — shuttling people out of the neighborhood, setting up a program to do background checks, and other things. I really encourage you, as the woman here said, to volunteer. Come and visit us. I will be there. We are going to have regular business hours. Come and talk about your thoughts, ideas and frustrations. It's a very sincere attitude that we have with the community. Anytime the library or the pool has had a problem, I've been on the phone with the supervisor, Mark Mercer, several times. The pool was overloaded this year, unfortunately. Now that's going to change, too, and they'll be in a structured program. Come and talk with us. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 47 of 58 Pages AUDIENCE MEMBER: My second thought is that for those who live in Chestnut Park, attend your neighborhood association meeting. Let's start a neighborhood watch so that we can take the initiative and protect ourselves. I know a lot of folks work during the day, but there are also folks who work off shifts. That is a very proactive approach. I think in any neighborhood being accountable to each other is always helpful. AUDIENCE MEMBER (off microphone): If you do a background check and find out something, what then? Could you say, sorry, you're not welcome here? LUKE: Mike Johnston has said twice that it is against the law to run background checks, according to the LEDS rules. JACKSON: Mike, we called LEDS and told them our proposal. We got a written response from them that said we could do it. We could have them sign a release form. DEWOLF: We will definitely look into this. No question. JACKSON: We have talked about the background check issue. The Commissioners are adamant that if somebody has an outstanding warrant for their arrest, they may not be housed in the County facility. DEWOLF: We'll put them next door in the jail. JACKSON: The police would be called if there is a warrant. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Behind the Juvenile Department, there's a section that needs to be foot patrolled or checked every so often, because it's almost like a park setting. You can only see it if you turn your head as you are driving down Poe Sholes. You've got people coming and going, and they may say that they are going somewhere and then turn right in there where you can't see them. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 48 of 58 Pages JACKSON: Work release inmates always stopped there to smoke on their way to work and their way back in. Just to give you a heads up when the building is used for the work release center. AUDIENCE MEMBER: But at night, if they don't make it back on time or are not allowed in, they find out they broke a rule. HITT: They are supposed to call us if they are going to be late. We have in place some very strict policies. If they are going to be late, they are to call us. They know they have to check in. AUDIENCE MEMBER: That's an area that should have someone walk over that mound there to see what's going on. AUDIENCE MEMBER: I have just a little bit of information for our neighbors. We were at lunch today, and Les Stiles was there. And my husband talked with him. He told him that he is on record saying that he is completely opposed to this. Also, one of his concerns is the fact that there are families with small children in the building with people who have been paroled for sex offenses or whatever. We need to use him as our resource. If we are really that adamant against this, he needs to be our resource and we need to use him. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Bethlehem Inn, you said they'll have things for them to do during the day. What about the teenagers? HITT: They are in school — AUDIENCE MEMBER: During the summer? Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 49 of 58 Pages HITT: We won't be in there this summer, so that will give us a whole year to refine the program. Your input will make a big impact on what that program will be. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Will 100% of those in the facility be looking for jobs? HITT: We will develop this over the summer. There will be a small part of the population using the emergency shelter. We do have families there who, for instance, have their car break down. They need a place to stay for a night or two. The bulk of the population will be in what we call the next steps program, where they will be required to have three job contacts a day and that type of thing. That's our goal for the entire program. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Dad goes out to look for a job, and mom stays home with the kids, and the teenagers go out walking through the neighborhood during the day when everybody's at work. The majority of crimes are committed by juveniles, the petty crimes. MORGAN: First, it's not our intent to be a program for families. Our intent there is to move them to one of the other programs in the community that is better suited to families. Healy Heights is one of them, but not the only one. We're not geared to deal with a family environment. We're talking about a segregated population of men and women separately, so families are not an issue in this case. We probably should look at that eventually, but we are not anticipating taking on a family in that manner. It is beyond our capabilities to deal with that type of arrangement. AUDIENCE MEMBER: I was wondering if the homeowners association and maybe the owners of the larger parcels around the area could be involved in this, so that you could run your proposal by the association for review; and also send it out to the majority of the larger parcel owners. The same thing with the incarcerates. If there's a program, could we see what their schedule is, what they are supposed to be doing and what you proposed that they do. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 50 of 58 Pages JACKSON: Again, they aren't incarcerated. That's important to remember. DEWOLF: I think as a follow-up to this, let these folks go back and do their homework, and in a few weeks come back with a modified proposal. I think we can have copies of the actual proposal here for you all to take and peruse. Believe it or not, I hope most people believe that this has been very helpful to these two organizations in coming up with some better ideas on how to deal with things. This is a new deal for us. Lane County has been doing it for twenty years. We haven't. Probably many of you haven't had dinner tonight, so we want to get wrapped up here. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Then, can I get a yes or no answer? DEWOLF: I thought I was absolutely clear. I said yes, we'll come back in a few weeks with a modified plan, and will bring it here so you can have it. Yes, yes, yes. AUDIENCE MEMBER: That's not what I asked. DEWOLF: What did you ask? AUDIENCE MEMBER: Can the homeowners association and the owners of larger parcels have it mailed to them so they can review it. Is that a true yes? DEWOLF: Yes. As long as the information is provided to us. I don't know who they are. I get a little offended when I get accused of things like that. I'm a human being, too, and I have feelings. And I'm telling you I'm doing the best that I can here. If you'll give us addresses for these folks, it would help. AUDIENCE: I suggest that you not just send it to the tax rolls, but to the actual parcels, to the occupants. Sometimes the owner lives somewhere else, but the people who are actually being affected live there. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 51 of 58 Pages JACKSON: If any one you didn't get a notice, or if you know someone who didn't, please put it on the list. Tom and I have just made the decision that our department and Bethlehem Inn will be sitting down in the next week or two to brainstorm the issues you brought up, and come up with some solutions. We will have another meeting, in this room if it's available, and will present modifications or additions to what we have now. Please be sure to give your name and address on the list. DEWOLF: If there is a key person in a neighborhood, let us know. We don't deal with neighborhood associations at the County. I understand the City has a variety of neighborhood associations. If you can help us with that, please do. If you can have additional meetings outside of this so you can brainstorm together, maybe you will come up with other ideas. AUDIENCE MEMBER: A really good forum for that would be the Boyd Acres Neighborhood Association. It's brand new in the last year. It encompasses most of the north side of Bend. AUDIENCE MEMBER (off microphone): One thing that you touched on briefly was a victims' assistance type of fund. We have outbuildings with old doors, and they wouldn't be safe against people who are trying to get in. And fencing is $12 a linear foot. The property owner shouldn't have to bear this cost. It's not my program that's going to cause this problem. DEWOLF: I spoke out of turn. We've got a whole budget process here. I know that there are no funds for this. I mean, we're trying to fund the Sheriffs Office. My apologies for giving the false impression that we are going to set up a fund where we'll pay for fences and doors. I can tell you that will not happen. I am willing to consider a variety of things, if there is something financial that we can talk about. I just don't want to give a false impression here. We've got people out on Millican Road that want us to fence the entire area that is open rangeland. There are a lot of requests out there for a lot of things related to safety issues. My apologies for giving a false impression earlier. I shouldn't have done that. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 52 of 58 Pages AUDIENCE MEMBER: Mr. DeWolf, I have a question regarding the fact that when this proposal was brought to you, you laughed about it. And it was astronomical to you. So, what was it that they changed in this that we were never made aware of in this process that made you change your mind to be somewhat supportive of the fact that this is going into our community. DEWOLF: I'm not always great at choosing my words. Like many of us do, I just say what comes out too quickly sometimes. I don't want to give the impression that anything that these folks brought forward to me I laughed off. That's a false impression. When this proposal was brought forward, the first concern was, this is a work release center and it will eventually be reopened as that, with offenders, up to eighty of them, at any given time. That's what it was built for. My initial concerns were, the State has the authority to say whether it can be used for this purpose. They went and spoke with the State and they gave their permission. That was a big hurdle. The next one is all of the issues related to how the two proposals will work together. I didn't laugh it off. They are serious people wanting to do a serious job, and my job is to enable them to do that the best that they can. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Another question that I have that I would like as follow-up from you guys is, do other counties in the State have a program like this? I want to know statistics, if they are actually in neighborhoods, how many occurrences of incidents happened with these people committing offenses against their homes, their cars, and their children. I'd like to know what the statistics are for other facilities. JACKSON: I can tell you that the other counties in Oregon that provide transitional housing for offenders are Baker, Lane, Benton, Clackamas, Washington, and maybe more. Those are off the top of my head. What I can't tell you is whether they have had an increase in inappropriate activity in the community. What I would be happy to give you, if you'd give me your mailing address, is the names and phone numbers of my counterparts in all the other counties in Oregon. I'm sure they would be happy to answer that question for you. Obviously, they would have that information. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 53 of 58 Pages AUDIENCE MEMBER: Would they be straightforward or would it be better to pull police records for those neighborhoods? You see what I mean, I kind of feel that your response to us is, tough crap. And I want to know what happens in these other neighborhoods. It's not tough crap. We all live here, and this is huge to us. JACKSON: I have to tell you, I don't know what I've said or done, or if it's my body language or what, to give you that idea. I've spent my entire career working with criminals. They are a very difficult population, and many of them are very unpleasant, and many of them have committed atrocious acts against other human beings. But, again, I would tell you that our building was constructed for the purpose of housing inmates. I don't know what to tell you. It's not as if you have had your home there for years and we're coming along and saying whether you like it or not we're plopping this down. This has been our work, and the purpose of the facility — AUDIENCE MEMBER: There were still checks and balances for that. They still had to check in every night, and probably were drug tested regularly, and they were under lock and key with a guard with a gun every night. These people, you know, if they get a wild hair at night, the Bethlehem Inn can't keep them there, as with your program. You've made that very apparent. In the motels they stay in, there's one. This is a place where you are going to condense them in one place. That's not okay to me. JACKSON: I can't imagine why my counterpart in other counties would want to mislead you about what is happening there with their transitional housing. Again, if you provide me with your name and address, I'd be happy to give you their names and phone numbers. I'd like to introduce Scott McGuire. Scott now works with monitoring the behavior of people who have committed non -person to person misdemeanors. I suppose many of you operate under the assumption that anybody who is placed under probation gets supervised, and that's not the case. Unfortunately the State provides us funding only for supervising felons. And because we feel a grave responsibility to the community in terms of people who have been convicted of misdemeanor sex offenses and misdemeanor family violence offenses, we supervise those folks. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 54 of 58 Pages But there is a whole group of people in your community who have committed theft, attempted vehicle theft and those kinds of things that we simply don't have the ability to supervise. So, Scott's group provides some of that monitoring. He is in a unique position because he was formerly an employee of the Sheriff s Office when the first floor of our building was used as the regional work center. There was an inpatient treatment program for offenders within that facility, and Scott was a therapist there. I didn't know he was going to be here tonight, but I'm glad he is. SCOTT MCGUIRE: I've got kind of a unique perspective about this whole deal. I live right across the street. I'm Vickie's renter. I worked for five years in this building, and I can tell you as a neighbor of yours, I am much more comfortable with the accountability that these folks are talking about than the accountability that went on in that building for five years, and will go on there again if and when it becomes a work center. You had people leaving all of the time from there. You didn't have people getting shuttled out. We did have a treatment program there, and had maybe up to twenty folks, so there was some accountability. But the other sixty or more — and it was greater than eighty at that time — those folks left there all the time, on their bicycles, on foot, or whatever. It's been closed for some time so those of you who just recently moved in didn't see it when it was a work center, and you had a big population of incarcerated people. It's not even the same population that Becky is talking about. They were able to leave on work release, and left every day, and were as thick as thieves. Believe me, when you have that many folks who are incarcerated leaving there, you've got folks picking them up who you don't necessarily want in your neighborhood. You've got a much greater accountability gig going on with what these folks are offering than you did for the previous five years up to April 30 of last year. I speak from experience, and also because I live across the street. I'm much more comfortable with what is coming now than what may come back eventually. I have a fourteen -year-old son, but he doesn't wait at the bus stop. But what I can tell you is, the population going by that bus stop will be a lot different when this becomes a work center again. I think that's what Becky has been trying to say. This has always been a work center. It's always been where eighty incarcerated inmates were housed, the majority of which left there every morning. Some of them worked swing shift and came back at 2:00 a.m. And we did have graveyard shift workers there. So there was this constant flow. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 55 of 58 Pages AUDIENCE MEMBER: And if they don't show up, the police are notified immediately. That won't be the case for the others. (Off microphone; hard to hear.) MCGUIRE: I understand that. My point is, as someone who has had experience at that building for five years when it was a work center, and who now lives across the street, I am much more comfortable with what is coming down the pike with Bethlehem Inn than I would be were it to become a work center again. That's my point. AUDIENCE MEMBER: I have a question for the Commissioners. Have you run this by County Counsel to determine what the liability would be? LUKE: Absolutely. Again, Becky put together a business plan once we got permission from the State. Actually, the first floor of the building belongs to the State of Oregon because they sold the bonds. We worked with our Risk Management and Legal Counsel, and the business plan was revised. We'll be in the fifth revision soon. The short answer is yes. But our Risk Management Department looks at all the risk the County has. We're self-insured in a lot of areas, and Risk Management doesn't sign off on things very easily. They actually put some things in the business plan, as did the attorney and the Commissioners; and we'll have some more from the meeting tonight. AUDIENCE MEMBER (off microphone): When is the next meeting? JACKSON: I think both groups need to review the suggestions and issues brought up tonight, separately and then together. We want to have something put into writing for you at the next meeting. It will probably be three weeks to a month. (Audience comment, unintelligible, off microphone.) LUKE: Becky's business cards are right up here, with her mailing address and e-mail address. If you'd like to take one and send her suggestions, feel free to do so. We take public comments all the time. That's what we do. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 56 of 58 Pages DEWOLF: We'll do our best to let people know. (Audience member, unintelligible, off microphone.) JACKSON: I don't mean to be rude, but I don't know any mechanism for us to know who the residents are. Our business is supervising offenders, and it is hard for us to spend time going door to door. (Audience comments. Unintelligible.) LUKE: Community Development does mailings all the time. They take their information from the tax mailing list, but it's about three months behind on sales transactions due to software conversions. (Audience comments. Unintelligible) HITT: I will go door to door. I have two godchildren who live on Lava Crest, ages three and five, and completely understand your concerns. It's not that big of a neighborhood. I will take on this responsibility of letting you know when the next meeting is. Becky's people have a huge workload, and we have the time to do this right now. She has responsibilities that we don't have. We will probably reach a larger area than this, and will post the information at new homes as well. You will know. LUKE: Does the homeowners association have a newsletter? AUDIENCE MEMBER: Their first meeting is next week. AUDIENCE MEMBER: I have one more thing for Bethlehem Inn. What about cars coming in? We're hearing more and more about that. Many of them do have cars, but most of them can't afford car insurance. My concern is bringing a lot of these people into our neighborhood with uninsured drivers and kids running around. Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 57 of 58 Pages HITT: I would imagine that there are already a lot of people in your neighborhood who don't have insurance. Maybe they got a DUI last year and can't afford it. I know insurance is expensive. There have been times in my life that I had a hard time paying for it. And I think there are a lot of people in my neighborhood who don't have insurance, and one of them ran into my house and kept on going. A large part of our population does not drive. LUKE: I went to Sisters a few nights ago for the Sheriffs town hall there. On the way there, two of the Sheriff s Deputies had a guy pulled over. He had a beautiful newer pickup. I asked them later what the deal was. They said the guy was driving while suspended, and had no insurance. So you never know who doesn't have insurance. They're all over the place. At this time, Becky Jackson thanked everyone for coming to the meeting. (Audience discussion off microphone.) Being no further testimony or comments formally made, the meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m. DATED this 21St Day of April 2004 for the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners. i ael M. Day, hair i/�, I ATTEST: Tom Recording Secretary Attachment: Exhibit A: Sign -in Sheet to Testify (I page) z Q ioner Wolf, Commissioner Minutes of Public Informational Meeting Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Proposed Uses of Regional Work Center Page 58 of 58 Pages 0 N d L V Q N N �L CL Q E QiU A -6x � My (a L C ! 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