Commissioner Shull's interview by the slavic Community

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The Clackamas County Board of Commissioners voted to re-allocate $5 million from the Sheriff's General Budget allocation in order to help pay for Clackamas' new Court House.  (Sheriff Bradenburg's photo above here.)

Here's the link to the Sheriff's letter of Opposition to the County's budget re-allocation:    

https://www.clackamas.us/sheriff/2023-05-19-CCSONR-SheriffsMessage.html

Here's the link to Oregon Public Broadcasting's reporting on this budget tug-a-war:    

https://www.opb.org/article/2023/05/23/clackamas-county-sheriff-budget-courthouse/

(Chair Tootie Smith's above here.)

In defense of the Clackamas County Commissioners voting to re-allocate $5 million from the Sheriff's department to help pay for the much needed new Court House:  

 (1) The Clackamas Sheriff department under Bradenburg has the tendency to pad its budget by carrying year-over-year, unfilled staff vacancies.  The Commissioners, who need desperately to find monies for replacing a faltering Court House, are only asking the Sheriff to not fill these continually unfilled Sheriff department vacancies.

(2)  The Clackamas Sheriff Department just had a windfall of $22 million per year provided by voters passing an extra Sheriff property tax levy.  I guess the Sheriff would rather the County Commissioners ask property taxpayers for even more money to pay for another facet of public safety - the New County Court House.

Here's why Clackamas County is replacing the old Court House:

Built in 1936, the current courthouse was designed to serve a population of less than 50,000 and can no longer adequately serve a population of 420,000 that continues to grow. The current courthouse is functionally obsolete, poses significant safety risks and contributes to delays in justice.

(posted by Elvis Clark on May 26, 2023.)

 The above clip and its continuation to right here is Clackamas County  Government Board Chair's reasons for voting against moving forward on Clackamas County government's buying the Quality Inn Motel on Sunnyside Road (next door to Clackamas Town Center Mall) and turning it into a motel housing homeless folks with drug addictions).

I believe Chair Tootie smith makes the right decision to vote against creating a motel to house those afflicted with drug addiction.  The plan was to offer treatment to these addicted tenants, but there was no guarantee these tenants would act civilly and accept the treatment services.

The things Chair Smith's critics (on the left) are missing is that Clackamas spends $3 million currently giving motel shelter to those homeless which are NOT afflicted with drug addiction and other behavioral issues.  These critics assume that the Quality Inn was to serve Clackamas' current County sheltered  people; but this was not to be the case per plan.

(posted by Elvis Clark on April 15, 2023)

Meanwhile, I plan to investigate the claim/survey that some 68% of Clackamas residents wanted the County to buy the Quality Inn Motel and convert it to a motel for the drug addicted.  I seriously doubt that this survey asked the right question of those surveyed.  But I am looking into this claim/survey; and will report back this next week.

Chair Smith (above) voted against Clackamas County buying the Quality -Inn Motel on Sunny Side Road and turning it into a shelter for homeless people with addictions.  It would have used state monies for buying the motel and Metro regional government monies for providing addiction treatment services.

"Progressive" Mayors like Milwaukie's Mayor Batey have since criticized Chair Smith for rejecting the County buying what was to become an addict motel.  This criticism seems very unfair, because  if you remember;  Clackamas County Voters voted against Metro regional government's funding for homeless services but it is only because Multnomah and Washington Counties voted and approved Metro's homeless services measure that the Addict Motel is made possible.

Clackamas County per its last homeless count (ealy 2023) actually sees a decrease in homelessness in the County;  whereas Washington County and Multnomah County both see increases in homelessness.  I know for sure that Multnomah County has increased its sepnding on homelessness much more so than Clackamas County.

It could be a case in which if "you don't build it, they won't come."

Then you also have to say to yourself maybe Mayor Batey should offer to have an addict motel located in her Island Station neighborhood,

(posted by Elvis Clark on April 8, 2023)

Chair Tootie Smith went from being the third yes vote (against Two NO votes) for buying the Quality Inn motel on Sunnyside Road...to now being the third and deciding vote against buying this Motel (to have been turned by the County into a homeless shelter for drug addicted homeless people).  It would have had what is called wrap around services to offer drug addiction treatment and turning lives away from drugs (at least that is the ideal, although practice often does not live up to such ideals).

The state of Oregon would have paid the cost of the motel purchase and Metro would have funded the operating costs.  It is part of a state program called Project Turnkey.

Project Turnkey comes under the Federal government notion called "Home First." which says you first house the addicted homeless in a permanent shelter building like a motel before the addicted seek to get treatment and are off drugs.  The Home First Policy has been pursued by the City of Portland and other large cities with dubious results.  Yet the state of Oregon, Governor Kotek, and Metro regional government continue to pursue "Home First" permanent public housing as a solution to a large share of the Metro area's homeless population -the drug addicted.  The following link: reports on Chair Smith's reversal against Clackamas' first Project Turnkey project:    

https://www.kgw.com/video/news/local/gov-tina-kotek-reacts-to-reversal-vote-decision-of-chair-tootie-smith-for-planned-transitional-housing-facility-in-clackamas/283-a4644520-39c9-4759-8325-fea7ce1cc097

A little "inside baseball" for you:  The Clackamas Republican party censored Chair Smith after she voted Yes to approve the homeless shelter-motel purchase (Project Turnkey).   The Party censored Smith for her original Yes Vote for buying this Project Turnkey project. Chair Smith is a Republican, and without support from her local Republican party, her re-election in 2024 becomes very doubtful.

(posted by Elvis Clark on March 24, 2023)

Governor Kotek continues to believe spending more on housing the addicted will solve the homeless problem.  

But seeing how such an approach in the Multnomah County has only led to an increase in Multnomah County's homeless population, you have to question the sanity of policies such as Project Turnkey as does radio show host Lars Larson write in the following link:    

https://oregoncatalyst.com/66986-lars-larson-bad-news-koteks-passed-housing-plan.html

Commissioner Schrader who is one of the two remaining yes votes for buying the Quality Inn Motel for conversion to homeless shelter points to the success of Clackamas' Veteran Pod shelter complex.  But the thing to note is that Pod shelters do not qualify for Metro's homeless fund.  So, motels and pods are like comparing apples with oranges.

Commissioner Shull (one of the three NO votes now) is promoting the idea of Treatment First for the drug addicted homeless.  Treatment First would seem to need a new funding program than that offered by Metro and state governments.

Economist Eric Fruits writes on the serious shortcomings of Home First Policies, like Project Turnkey, in the following link: 

https://www.portlandtribune.com/opinion/fruits-outdated-theories-lead-to-doomed-policies-on-homelessness/article_a640cdd4-85dc-57da-b4b7-f4a94464a8ad.html

Given the tens of millions of dollars Clackamas County government is slated to receive from  Metro taxes, there would seem to be more than adequate funds available to remove unauthorized homeless encampments in Clackamas County,

If you spend $100,000 building a new shelter for each shelter-less, homeless person; 327 homeless means; you have more than enough funds to take unauthorized homeless off the street.

Of course, you would still have to design a homeless sheltering program so as to not entice more homeless folks to move to Clackamas -in pursuit of free shelter.

You also have to demand those getting these public shelter accommodations to "clean up" and get treated if drug addicted.  And nudge them to pursue self-sufficiency, including gainful employment, if capable of such self sufficiency.

(posted by Elvis Clark on May 13, 2022) 

Clackamas Sheriff Bradenburg is wanting to add 16 patrol officers to her Sheriff Office's staffing.  But a study that the Sheriff Office itself commissioned in 2021 says only 6 more patrol officers are needed.

The Study finds that County jails could use more staffing.  Three questions I would have about the Sheriff's staffing and budget are: 

 (1) Aren't there unfilled vacancies already receiving budget monies in the Sheriff's office, that could fill the need without additional personnel funding?

 (2)  Couldn't the Sheriff transfer some of the drug enforcement personnel currently on her staff to these other areas of jail and patrol officers?  Drug enforcement became less useful I believe with the effective decriminalization of small amounts of drug possession, Measure 110 approved by voters in the 2020 General Election, that is; and yet the Sheriff did not reduce staffing of the County's drug enforcement unit in the aftermath of Measure 110's voter Approval.

  (3)  Is there a need to re-allocate some Sheriff Office funding provided by the County government's general fund budget to the District Attorney's(DA) Office to provide more Public Defenders within the DA Office; so that crimes can be fully prosecuted - instead of releasing some of those suspected of a crime - releasing them because there is a shortage of available public defenders to adjudicate the crime and its suspect?

(posted by Elvis Clark on May 13, 2022)