CLARKSVILLE, TN – A public meeting will be held on Thursday, Jan. 15, at Madison Street United Methodist Church, 300 Commerce St., to discuss the City of Clarksville’s potential purchase of The Well. The meeting will take place at 6 p.m.
This will be the second public meeting regarding this property acquisition. While originally planned to be held at The Well, the meeting has been moved to Madison Street UMC in order to accommodate a larger audience.
What to expect: Discussion, not debate
At this meeting, organizers will be focusing on the following topics:
- What a responsible, well-managed location looks like
- Criteria and conditions rather than a single vote
- The differences between support services and sheltering.
This will not be an open meeting, but instead, guests will be seated at round tables and will work together to design what they believe a “good location” looks like.
The goal of this meeting is not to debate whether people should be helped.
Input from this meeting will directly inform potential location standards and operational requirements for the future of The Well.
Rules for public meeting
While strong opinions are welcome and encouraged at this meeting, it is vital that those opinions be voiced in a way that allows for a productive discussion.
In order to ensure a productive meeting, the following ground rules will be in effect for this meeting:
- Respectful language only.
- Speak from personal experience.
- No personal attacks.
- Focus on conditions, impacts, and solutions.
- Time-limit requirements will be in place and enforced equally.
- Just like the rules of our emergency shelter, guests under the influence of alcohol will not be permitted into the meeting.
- Knives or weapons of any kind will not be permitted.