Washington County Homeless Project Chair Robin Bozian, right, speaks about the homeless drop-in center the group runs on Front Street as supporters and others listen during a Marietta City Council Planning, Zoning, Housing and Annexation Committee meeting Tuesday night. (Photo by Michelle Dillon)

MARIETTA — Marietta City Council continued its discussion Tuesday on possibly requiring security at the homeless drop-in center on Front Street and banning camping on city-owned property.

During a Planning, Zoning, Annexation and Housing (PZAH) Committee meeting Tuesday evening, Ward 2 Councilman and PZAH Chair Bret Allphin said council needs to discuss how to address the need for security in the subrecipient agreement for the Washington County Homeless Project’s homeless drop-in center and a possible ban on camping.

The city provides money from its Community Development Block Grant funds to the homeless project through the subrecipient agreement to help with the rent of the center, Allphin said, and the city is “under the gun to take action” on the agreement to not “be afoul of (the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development).”

Allphin said he will be asking for legislation tonight for the subrecipient agreement. He clarified after the meeting that the legislation will be for a general outline of what would be in the agreement and that the agreement itself is not yet ready. He said the discussion of security will be included in the subrecipient agreement.

The discussion over security at the center began at a Sept. 3 PZAH Committee and Public Land and Buildings Committee joint meeting during which business owners shared concerns about the behavior of people at the center, including noise, people yelling or cursing, people bothering business’ employee, people camping at or behind businesses on Front and Second streets and more.

Council then held a Sept. 23 PZAH Committee and Public Land and Buildings Committee joint meeting at which it discussed possible legislation to ban camping on public property in Marietta and to require in the homeless project’s subrecipient agreement, which is up for renewal, that they have a security person at the center.

Allphin also said during the Tuesday night meeting that he received a draft of legislation for the camping ban but that he is not in a hurry to pass the legislation. He said he wanted to make a time on the record to begin the conversation about the camping ban.

Allphin shared information about a possible solution to the security concerns related to the center. He said Mayor Joshua Schlicher, City Safety Service Director Steven Wetz, City Development Director Geoff Schenkel and Police Chief Katie Warden came up with an idea to provide Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training to the staff of the center.

“They’ll be able to identify and provide that to staff there for free,” Allphin said.

He also said he is going to ask for a 45-day observation/comment period during which security in the agreement and the details of the agreement can be worked out.

Allphin said he is confident they will be able to come to an agreement in the 45 days.

During the meeting, Washington County Homeless Project Chair Robin Bozian and Interim Onsite Supervisor Susan Arnold shared information about what the center does and how many people it serves.

“The first thing I thought was important was to give you a better sense of what it is that we do … because it was apparent to me from some of the council members’ comments that perhaps they didn’t understand some of the things that we did,” Bozian said.

The center provides meals, showers and laundry daily and provides clients help with applying for a Social Security card, applying for Social Security, housing applications, job applications, applying for SNAP or a medical card, obtaining ID cards, and the center works with many community groups to provide these services, according to Arnold.

“Our goal on a daily basis is to provide a safe and family-like environment. We welcome everyone that enters,” she said.

The center had a total of 647 visits in September and this included 109 showers, washing 40 loads of laundry, providing 35 people with clothing and providing resources to 31 clients, Arnold said.

The center was visited in September by 76 distinct individuals, according to Arnold, and Bozian said of the people the center helps, 50-60% are homeless meaning they are sleeping outside, in cars or in alleyways and about 35% are in unstable situations or right on the edge of being homeless.

“We do have many success stories,” Arnold said. “Today before I came here I helped one of our homeless women move into her apartment. We’ve been working for two weeks to get her off the streets … So our results are good. We work from the heart.”

Several volunteers and Washington County Homeless Project board members also spoke during the meeting in support of the center. Project board member Megan Barker, who also works for the Salvation Army on Front Street, said: “Homelessness is not a new problem for Marietta. It’s been around long before the drop-in center was open. It existed long before I started my work in the Salvation Army.”

She said the Salvation Army is surrounded by businesses and has been in the same location on Front Street since the 1950s and they have never received a complaint from their neighbors about their clients. She emphasized these are the same clients served by the center.

“I ‘ve never heard that my clients are loud or that they’re harassing the other clients that visit the businesses on Front Street around me … I’ve never heard maybe Front Street just isn’t the right place for us to be,” Barker said.

She said she is alone at her work 75% of the time and neither she nor the volunteer that works with her have ever felt unsafe or in fear of any of the people they serve.

She said what happens after hours at the Salvation Army she has no control over, just like the center has no control over what happens at its location after hours.

“It sounds like some are trying to lay blame at the feet of the Washington County Homeless Project and the drop-in center for the homeless problem in Marietta,” Barker said. “But as I’ve highlighted, it’s long existed before there ever was a drop-in center. Homelessness can’t be hidden away or tucked someplace where no one ever sees it. It exists. We should focus on more productive ways to help people, not on where the location should be to help those people.”

Bozian expressed willingness for the staff and volunteers to receive the CIT training the city is suggesting. She suggested the city expand the training to business owners on Front Street too.

She also shared some measures the center is taking to improve things. She said they have a security camera in the back of the center and they have identified that underneath the porch the security camera cannot see so they will be putting temporary fencing around the porch.

“We have one person that was the primary problem and created some additional problems and we ended up telling him he was really no longer welcome there,” Bozian said.

She said since he has been gone they have not had people outside the center at night.

Bozian also shared information on the progress of the overnight shelter the homeless project is working on starting at 315 Third Street, saying the center will eventually be moved to Third Street but it can’t be until they have the funding in place for renovations.

Board member Pat Peoples said the estimate for the renovations for the building was $240,000 and almost $100,000 of that is the sprinkler system.

The homeless project is waiting on approval for a matching grant for the renovation and they can’t spend their cash on the renovations right now or they will miss out on some of the grant money, according to Peoples.

American Flags and Poles Owner Sylvi Caporale, who was one of the business owners expressing safety concerns at the Sept. 3 meeting, also spoke Tuesday night. She said that she wants the center to know she is coming “from a love point of view” but she wants to know how business owners fit into the picture with the center and how they should deal with “antisocial behavior.”

“How do I handle that?” she said. “And if you’re inside the building and you don’t know what’s happening outside the building, you can’t do anything about it.”

Ward 4 Councilwoman Erin O’Neill asked Caporale, since she attested to having a good relationship with Arnold, if she would be willing to be a liaison for business owners and the center staff to help “to connect (business owners) and let them know who they need to reach out to if there is a problem.”

Caporale agreed to do this.

The discussion then turned to the possible camping ban. Bozian shared her thoughts on the subject.

“A camping ban – I can understand why people are thinking about that – but its kind of not the right way to go for a variety of reasons,” Bozian said. “If you’re trying to save money, this certainly ain’t it. You’re going to have resources spent with police officers issuing tickets. You’re going to have court time.”

She said the population the center serves does not have the money to pay fines and if they don’t do community service as an alternative then they will be back in court and could end up in jail.

“You’ve then now created a criminal record for somebody who may not otherwise have a criminal record and that impacts their ability to get housing and employment and all those other things for doing nothing other than the fact that they don’t have a house,” she said. “There are lots of other ideas out there.”

Bozian suggested creating a subcommittee with a member of the city, someone from the project, the Salvation Army, Community Action, local police and the medical community to brainstorm about different things to address or reduce camping on public property.

Project Vice chair Steve Porter shared an alternative idea.

“We would propose for consideration that you choose one area that can be agreed upon and make all the other parks and areas off limits (to camping),” he said.

He said the center would register people who want to use the area and there would be rules and regulations that would be enforced and the police would periodically go by and check on things. He also said the center could find an avenue to help pay for porta-potties so they wouldn’t become an issue and they would help suggest regulations for the area.

The next council meeting is 7:30 p.m. today in Room 10 of the Marietta Armory.

Michelle Dillon can be reached at mdillon@newsandsentinel.com