CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The City of Clarksville hosted a second public meeting on Thursday night regarding the potential purchase of The Well property, and this time attendees collaborated in groups to list concerns from their own perspectives, while also providing feedback on how those concerns could be mitigated.
Following a contentious initial public meeting on Jan. 2, last week the City Council postponed the proposed purchase of The Well property, which is planned for a homeless outreach center with expanded services, in order to allow more time for community conversation and input.
Thursday’s public meeting followed a different format and different rules, with attendees seated at tables for small group, solution-based discussions.
Working together and collaborating as a community
Going into the Thursday’s meeting, City Neighborhood and Community Services Director Michelle Austin told Clarksville Now they wanted to address previous feedback.
“We had a lot of concerns and feedback that was shared with us on Jan. 2. We already have some ideas as how to mitigate some of those concerns, but tonight we really want to get that information of expectations from the stakeholders in the community,” Austin said.
To do that, organizers set up an interactive exercise for each table. “Everybody’s going to have a large sheet of paper at their table, they’re going to work together as a table to identify those risks that are most important to them. And then, what they would be expecting from the city, or Urban Ministries to mitigate those risks.”
Austin said a full report of Thursday’s meeting will be put together and shared with those who attended and with the Clarksville City Council. “We want to have that out no later than Thursday afternoon of next week,” she said.
| MORE: Do you support expanding homeless outreach center in downtown Clarksville? | POLL
What are biggest risks, how can they be mitigated?
After working alongside one another at each table, a representative from each group was asked to come up and speak on their group’s top concerns.
Two table groups said the biggest risk with converting The Well into a homeless outreach center is the location. The mitigation they listed was to move it elsewhere entirely.
One group said that working alongside officials that run the Room in the Inn in Nashville would be one way to better understand how the outreach center could be a good neighbor to homeowners, as well as to local businesses.
Austin said the city and Urban Ministries have already collaborated with officials that operate Room in the Inn in Nashville, and they plan to use them as a resource moving forward.
Another table said one perceived risk was the uncertainty behind whether the expanded services would lead to an increase in the homeless population.
24/7 surveillance and security was suggested as a way to mitigate concerns.
End of meeting Q&A: Hours of operation, sex offender registry and more
At the end of the meeting, Austin read and answered additional questions posed by attendees who had written them out on flash cards.
One question was whether the hours of operation have been confirmed. Urban Ministries Executive Director Jodi McBryant said the plan is that they would operate 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. “That’s just regular business, during the day, where they’re doing group activities, life skills learning, meeting with their case managers, while case managers walk them through the processes of getting them what they need to move on into longer-term programming,” McBryant said.
However, when the emergency weather shelter is open, staff will be onsite at all times, as well as shelter monitors and security.
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The next question was how Urban Ministries verifies their clients, specifically, if someone is on the child sex offender registry.
“There are experts that work in those areas that we have very close partnerships with, including the district attorney, who we are talking with tomorrow to talk about some of these types of things. Also, we do verify those who come to our overnight facility, for overnight accommodations. We run them through the process to find out if they have any warrants, anything on file, or are on the sex offender registry list.”
Another question was if there are any studies that show whether homeless services in a location affect property value, crime in the area, and the number of homeless in the area.
Austin said yes there are several studies out there, however, it sways in different directions. “I’m not going to be the person that chooses one thing or another, but I will inform you, and I will include links in the final report that goes out to everyone.”
What do you think about outreach center proposal?
Clarksville Now is conducting an informal online poll about the proposed homelessness outreach center. Readers can participate below (email required):
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