Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Well. Good morning everyone, and welcome. Issues and updates. On May 5th, 2026, County Administrator Gary Smith, would you please call the roll for us? Yes. Thank you. Chair. Roll call. Commissioner West here. Commissioner Schroeder. Commissioner. Helm. Here. Commissioner Sarvis. Present. Chair. Roberts here. Thank you. Gary, we now introduce our first agenda item today. Thank you. First up is health. Housing and Human Services has an item for consent agenda this Thursday because it is something new or different or involves general funds. I bring it to you first at issues, to have a brief conversation to see if you're okay to move it to the consent agenda. So that is what this item is. The actual title is approval of a personal services contract with Health Management Associates to conduct an organizational assessment and fiscal sustainability analysis. Total agreement value is $249,500 for two years. Funding is through $124,750 of interest income within the Department of Health, Housing and Human Services and $124,750 of budgeted county general funds. Mary Rumba, director of Health and Human Services. Go ahead. Good morning, Chair Roberts and commissioners. So I am here today to provide an overview of the organizational assessment and fiscal sustainability sustainability analysis that has is hoping to undergo. So in 2023, we did adopt a strategic action plan. And a key piece of that plan was looking at how we operate as a cohesive department and how we align the work we do to better serve the members of our community. Additionally, since that time, funding uncertainty has also come into play as well as policy changes. This has highlighted the importance of being both a stable and nimble organization in the face of policy and fiscal change. Earlier this year, we released a request for proposals to seek a qualified vendor to guide this assessment.

We received 21 proposals and an RFP team of eight staff selected Health Management Associates, Incorporated. The goal of the assessment is to modernize the department's organizational and internal systems for effective, efficient and resilient services to foster financial sustainability and strength through the development of financial analysis and evaluation of potential revenue sources, and to align, where possible, programmatic work across divisions to ensure equitable delivery of services. The assessment and analysis will take up to two years and will result in a revised Administrative Services Framework and a program delivery structure to be recommended in the summer and fall of 27, with implementation, planning and support through June of 28. Staff engagement will be key to this this assessment. We are committed to ensuring that department staff serve as key collaborators, providing insight into how programs have been historically structured and funded, how community and fiscal conditions are shifting, and what internal changes would be most practical and sustainable. To date, our communication efforts have included two virtual information sessions for staff that occurred in January, where we shared the goals and outcomes of conducting this process. We followed up with a Frequently Asked Questions document specific to the questions that were asked by staff during the sessions. We are providing monthly updates via email newsletter, and all of these materials are actually on our healthcare SharePoint site that all staff have access to. We'll continue to provide both presentations and written updates through the life of this assessment. Finally, as part of this process, will be forming a stakeholder advisory panel that will include staff and community partners that will serve in a consultant role, offering feedback on priorities, emerging findings and draft recommendations. I will also be keeping County Administrator Schmidt updated,

and any significant changes to staffing, programs or organizational structure will be communicated to staff and this board and will follow any relevant language in the collective bargaining agreements. I'm happy to answer any questions. All right. Any questions? Colleagues. You want to go? Go ahead. I see you. Why? Why? Mary. Why? Okay. Just. Just. I love all this. Yes. It's all very. Yeah. Why? And so when my constituents ask me, why are we spending $250,000 to figure out if we should hire fire people or something? I mean, isn't that kind of what it boils down to? No. I mean, our hope is to actually retain as really to retain our organizational staffing model. But but frankly, we are a large department with with six distinct divisions. We have maybe four divisions doing very similar work, and it's not aligned. And so when you all think about H3, you think about me as a large department because that's what I am. But underneath it, there's a lot of lines of business and some of those lines of business. This is not about trying to downsize the workforce, but it's actually about trying to align better so that we don't have a line of business doing this thing that is actually applicable to another division. So it's things like around, you know, compliance for example, or prevention. We have four different divisions doing prevention. We try to bring them together but they're not. But they're because of the way we were just structured. So it's our opportunity to actually be organizationally a little bit more lean and wise, streamlining and more efficiency. That's correct. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. And if I could just add Commissioner Helm, frankly, we could probably do it. But I'm also a little biased, right. And so having somebody come in and say, hey, when we look

at your organizational chart or your organization, you know, your organization and the work that's happening, having an objective person provide that feedback is going to be much better than us trying to do it in house. Cool. Thank you. Yeah, thanks. Commissioner West, have we ever done this before? We've done a similar thing. So, you know, now that we have the Housing and Community Development Division, we brought in an outside consultant to help us think about, oh, we have the housing authority, which is its own, you know, entity. But we have all of this now work to do within housing. And it wasn't really organized. So we have we do have experience of doing this work, but not at the department level. This is a bit of a bigger undertaking for sure. Okay. And are we going to be able to show that if we make this investment in this strategic plan, with this, with whoever that third party is, that we will have a greater savings and a better operating department overall, is that. Can we show that is our way to show that that will be our hope. And that's the reason it's both the organizational assessment, but it's really also the fiscal sustainability piece. We can no longer we you know, my department. It gets a little less than 3% of county general fund. And that continues to shrink. We can no longer. So so programs that are highly dependent upon county general fund that is not no longer a sustainable model for us. So we need that evaluation to better understand how do we continue to be fiscally sound in light of all of the challenges that we have around revenue? Okay. So that will be we will be able to show that commissioner list. It's a it's a it's a sizable chunk for consulting. Yeah yeah yeah I guess that's the price tag is a little. But you know, if I want to make sure that we're completely effective

and efficient and streamlined in a way that gives you the resources you need to be able to help move a very large department in that direction. I believe that maybe the new CFA agreement between counties and the state also impacts some funding. We have the administration doing whatever the administration is going to do. And and in D.C. that impacts counties. We have a state in a budget crisis. So I appreciate that, but I am a little shocked by the price tag. Okay. Thank you, Commissioner Sarvis. And then Gary. Yeah, I just want to just say I think the last paragraph on the on the packet or the first page where it starts at the words due to ongoing. I think that says it all for me as far as rationalizing what we're doing and why we're doing it. And, you know, just I, I think that we all talk about the economics, whether it's our household or it's government or where we work or whatnot, and how big a pressure that is. But I think that sometimes we don't know how it's going to materialize. And when it comes to an organization the size of ours that's going to show up and we need we need to be able to, number one, identify how to best serve our constituents out there, which we that's what we all care about. And at the same time, recognizing that the changes around us due to economics are a reality and how we navigate that. But they're going to show up and show up in ways that might be painful or it might be different. And so how we do it and how we do it in a way that we keep the morality understanding. And also, I think the buy in and ownership of all the people in the county, our great staff and the county understand that we are in a changing environment. We must adjust. And how do we do this all together? Okay. Thank you. Gary. Other departments have done this. This is not just age three. The sheriff's office, transportation and development, my office. This is, in my opinion, a good investment for long term financial savings and structural savings. And as Mary mentioned, it's over two years.

It's not just to do the study is to help implement it. If me and you in the board agree to that. Thank you. Yeah. I just want to take a moment and actually thank Mary for your willingness to take this on, because oftentimes changes people are reluctant to do change and also applaud you for having an outside entity look at it, because we do bring our own bias into it. And and I've experienced having somebody come in and assessment and it gave us really some efficiencies. We reallocated staff to other areas to utilize their talent that they're better at and move folks in better positions that met their job description. So. I think it's great. I think it will improve the efficiency of the organization and give you a good kind of overall assessment. So I applaud you for stepping up and taking this on. So unless there's any objections, this will go on the consent agenda. I don't see any objections. Martha, did you have anything I didn't want to know. I think all right. So this will be on our business meeting Thursday, May 7th. And again, thanks so much, Mary. Thank you. Gary. What's next? Great. Thank you. Next, the Clackamas County crisis and support line update. There's been some swirling out there, and I just asked Mary, let's clear the clear the record of what's actually going on with our crisis line. So, Mary, go ahead please. Thank you again. Mary Rambai H3 director. So this actually in some some ways actually just fits somewhat nicely into our last conversation as well. So for decades, Clackamas County has we have staffed the 24 over seven crisis line by county staff, except overnight and on weekends. It's always been done by a third third party vendor. Previously, lines for life. And since 2024, it's been answered by Multnomah County Crisis Line. Counties and community mental health programs

are just required to ensure that there is a crisis line. So more and more, because of the cost of these lines, counties are actually moving to just referring folks to 908, which is both a federal federal line, but it also has local Oregon funding for that. Line 988 is actually answered by lines for life here in Oregon. So as we are, as we have had to adjust to the county financial assistance agreement, as you all know, I was in front of you quite a bit last year. There have been a lot of shifts in priorities for the funding that we receive with primarily, primarily the funding priorities going to the aid in assist civil commitment and mobile crisis response. So our behavioral health director, Karen Kern, and her team has had to really look very closely at the funding that is available and make some hard decisions on continuing to use the funding for the priority areas. And where can we shift a requirement, which is the county crisis line, to potentially, in this case, to Multnomah County full time. So the current agreement with Multnomah County, in which they answer after hours in on weekends and holidays, does allow with mutual agreement for them to answer outside of those agreed upon hours. And as a result of the funding decisions and looking at the priorities, the decision had been that three employees who are part of our crisis team would be part of our workforce reduction, unfortunately, and that resulted in then not having the minimum staffing required to answer the county crisis line. So with all the moving parts of staff being notified of their workforce reduction, their ability to assert their bumping rights and then their placement, it sort of sped up a little faster than we would have hoped.

The transition to moving the crisis line full time, 24 over seven to Multnomah County. To answer, I should also note that no Noma County have for several years also answered also answers Washington's counties 24 over seven. So really what we're creating is a tri county line. Now for the caller. It is seamless. They still call 503 6558585. That is our county crisis line. They will continue to call that line. So really for the community nothing has changed. What has changed is that Monday through Friday, that line is now answered by a Multnomah County team, not our own county crisis staff. And I will acknowledge having been part of that division for a decade. It is a loss. It is a loss. There is something about our own staff knowing, knowing our community, and we are very committed to Multnomah County. Also understanding the resources that exist in our community. So unfortunately, with the pace of the changes that were happening around staffing, we really miss the opportunity to proactively come in front of this board to give you an update on what was happening with the crisis and support line, and unfortunately, at a candidates forum, some misinformation was was stated. Commissioner Sarvis had the courtesy to give me a heads up about that. I was able then to understand where we were in the process of moving the line full time to Multnomah County. So because the contract did allow us to ask for the line to be answered outside of the scheduled hours, that line did turn over. On April 15th. We will be bringing a contract amendment forward to this board to talk about the change in scope and compensation, actually to to talk about organizational reassessment.

This will be a cost savings of about $500,000 to move the line full time to Multnomah County. So we will be providing additional information. So I'm really here to to update you in our community about what's really happening behind the scenes and to also, just on behalf of apologize that we did not get that communication in front of you all in a more timely manner. All right. Thank you. Commissioner has a question just real quick. I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding, but the way it was presented at this forum was that the line was closed or not functioning. And I think that was a, you know, probably an honest misunderstanding. But that said, there was no interruption of service. That's correct. There was. We have gone back and there was absolutely no interruption of service. And what I did is I while that was being I actually called the number and the line picked up. So I had stated it clarified for the record that at least so now it was operational. But thank you for the works and I'm glad the line was still available and was not interrupted. That's correct. Commissioner Wes, Commissioner, I appreciate you being gracious. I just don't believe that that candidate was acting in good faith. Nor is that her record. My question is around lines for life. Phenomenal organization. They do amazing work. Are we still engaged with them at all? Do I know there are nonprofit? Do we do do local counties pay to work with them or why are we not working with them now? I really trust their competency and their reputation is impeccable, and I could speak to the relationship we once had with lines for life. Yeah, absolutely. When when we first started our relationship with lines for life, they were not answering very many lines. And so there was this ability for them to really get to know Clackamas County and the resources and as you know, lines for life, amazing organization.

We absolutely still have a relationship with them. They they, you know, that we worked with them to launch the senior loneliness line that now the state funds. So that was our project with them. Very proud of that. And now they're answering 988. They're answering other local jurisdictions lines. They're answering veterans line their answering senior lonely loneliness line. And it's everybody is trained to answer all of those lines. And so what happened over time, Commissioner West, was that we were not quite getting that individualized service. So, for example, as we were rolling Mobile Crisis out, somebody would call their asking for mobile crisis. They live in Clackamas County. Oh, I'm so sorry. They don't have mobile crisis response. Well, and so what was happening over time was that we were just getting enough concerns and complaints that we really had to have sort of a hard conversation and really had support from their executive leadership. We were very transparent that our intent was to move to Multnomah County. They know that Multnomah County also answers for their own line, but for also Washington County. And they said, we've always sort of wondered why there wasn't just like a tri county line. So we absolutely continue to believe in everything lines for life does. They do amazing work. And we just weren't getting the specialized service that we had been. We had grown used to. Okay. And then my other question is in the memo I have here, this change results in a cost saving of more than 500,000 for the division to address financial challenges, and that is because we're transitioning the lines now full time to Multnomah County and 500,000 500,000. But the county, at least I believe, with Clackamas County residents, does not have the strong confidence maybe in in much of this arena. Now, there are not everything's the same. Not every single aspect in which we work is the same. And I want to make sure, and I am concerned that we're losing

maybe a little bit of like that local oversight or how we still providing oversight, even though it's not us hands on doing it right now, I'm just a little itchy and little a little bit suspect and want to make sure we address the track record in some areas of the county in this space. I don't know about this. I don't want the line to be shut down. I want our residents to get great access to care when they call and services. Can you kind of speak to that dynamic? Yeah. So we I would agree. Now Multnomah has been answering the line since 2024. We've actually only had two complaints. And that was 24 since 24. And that was actually by the same call taker. And that has since been resolved. So we actually have not received the number of complaints that we were actually receiving when it was the other vendor. We have current metrics in the contract. And additionally, once we amend the contract, we're in process of amendment. We actually will be adding additional metrics. So regular conversation and communication with County. Really when you hear some of the maybe criticisms of what's happening within Multnomah County, it's never about their crisis. It's not about the crisis line. It's doing it's doing good work. And are they answering for most of the tri county area? They are now. They are now. So all Washington County also. Okay. Yeah. And does that include our rural areas, not just the metro boundaries. So within the tri county, even the rural parts of the tri county area, and their goal is always to resolve the issue and provide whatever support. And these are all trained clinicians answering the line. So the goal is to to resolve the call at at that level. And then if they actually need a mobile crisis response, they transfer the call to our local mobile crisis response team, County, those are county employees. And we respond to to all of the jurisdiction of Clackamas County. Terrific. Thank you for answering my questions. Yeah. Of course. All right.

I just wanted to make a comment about the behavioral health unit and your response. And just as recently as yesterday, I had a parent concern about their adolescent with some suicidal ideation and other issues. And and I just can't emphasize enough that that the more we have boots on the ground, the folks in that unit, they're the ones that are going to the home, spending hours helping families navigate this very complicated system. So I want my colleagues to know I'm like a big advocate of any opportunity we can to expand that unit or step it up even more. I know they're doing a great job and are really in need in our community, so I get a lot of positive feedback on their relationship with BHO and just wanted to express that. So kind of a reminder for everyone. The public again can call the crisis and support line the numbers the same. It's (503)■655-8585 and today's again information only, and we'll go ahead and move on. And again, thank you for all your good work, Gary. Thank you, thank you. Next advisory board and commission appointments Andrew. Go ahead please. Mr. chair, the Clackamas Workforce Partnership currently has four openings under the Workforce and Innovation Opportunity Act. These seats are reserved for business, labor and economic representatives. Recruitment opened to the public in February of 2026 and closed in April. The recommendation is as follows. Jonathan Owens to a first term ending May of 2029. Rachel Russell to a first term ending May of 2029. James King to a first term ending May of 2029. And Matt Lorenzen completing a term ending October of 2027. The board could select other candidates or require further recruitment. Mr. chair. Thank you. All right, commissioners, anyone want to make a motion on this?

I move, we approve the slate. Second. All right. Commissioner Savas has moved to appoint Jonathan Owens, Rachel Russo, James King, Matt Lorenzen to the Clackamas Workforce Partnership Board has been seconded by Commissioner Helm. Any further discussion? Seeing none. Clerk. We please call the poll Commissioner West high Commissioner Schrader I Commissioner helm I Commissioner Sarvis. Hi, Mr. chair, a motion passes 5 to 0, Mr. Chair. All right. Thank you. Gary. What's next? Thank you. Next is the planning commission. Potential applicant interviews. The county planning commission is one of the advisory boards. You have asked to interview the candidates before you make a final appointment decision. There are two seats open on the county's planning commission. There was a recruitment that is already been completed. There are a total of six applicants. Two of those positions are. The two of those positions are filled by incumbents who are also applying for reappointment. They are Gerald Murphy and Luis Lopez. So my question is to two. Two questions. One. Do you just want to appoint Gerald and Louise and be done with it, or would you like to interview the six applicants, and if so, would two of you identify who would like to make those interviews? All right. That's go ahead, Commissioner. Home. I would be fine to reappoint the two incumbents and do interviews on the other. No, there's no there's only two open seats. Reappoint the 00000. Well, now I have a hesitation. Some of these people have been on this for a long time, and I sometimes think we need to open it up to other people. So I would be I think I would be inclined to open it up for interviews. Okay. Okay. All right. Others thoughts? Commissioner Sarvis, I'll just say that

both the Planning Commission and the Budget Committee are probably the most important committees as it relates to advice or advisement and advisory capacity and helping us along. So along with any kind of appointments or opportunities where it's opened up, I've always wished to participate in the discussion or screening or, you know, conversations to help make a recommendation. That said, it's also also very a lot of work, and some of these people have acquired skills and demonstrated the work ethic. And so it's. You know, I'm always inclined to if they're there, they're working and they want to they want to reapply. And I'm inclined to reappoint that's just where I stand. Just knowing the nature of the work. So that's that's Paul's opinion. All right. Commissioner Schrader, I think we should open it up for interviews. I'm okay with that. I think we should open it up for interviews because they are significant. And we can we may want to, after the interview, keep the same people. Just wait and see. That's great. Thank you, Mr. West. I mean, we don't know who applied, right? Did anybody even apply? And I don't know if we have the opportunity ever. So maybe somebody that's phenomenal applies. That would be a new voice, a new person on there. There's a balance there to keep that opportunity for people to serve. But I don't I don't know all the applicants. You know, this was vetted pretty closely by staff that works in this area. We have a pretty good team that's well experienced right now that does this. So I don't have the I don't have I don't disagree, but I don't have the information to make a switch away from these appointed members. So I'm going to support the slate as the motion was made.

But I do hope that we also look what we have six applicants. Right. But I thought this as I moved to a point, right. No, there's there's no motion here. My question is do you want to interview the six applicants for just directly appoint the two incumbent? I read that I'm on the wrong page anyways, but yeah, I would agree that I don't want to be the one that interviews are seven does. I don't have the bandwidth right now, but I think that that's fine. If we do go ahead and interview those individuals for that issue. So just to be clear, you're saying open it up. Or if we have six applicants currently no, no, we're we're confused. Gary, could you repeat. Let's start over. So you have two choices. I'm asking for one. I'm seeking 1 or 2 of you to interview six applicants. The recruitments closed. Six applicants. Second choice. You just directly appoint the two incumbents who have also applied the two incumbents. Well, that's kind of what I was getting at, is we have two incumbents that we can directly apply to fill the slot. Right. Or we can. Okay. That's right. Yeah. So I'm sorry I wasn't super clear either. Right. But it is following my train of thought. I'm going to let me. I still don't know if I understand you, but my understanding is we have two people that we could slot in right now that have the experience that have already served. We have a total of six applicants, right? So if a total of six applicants and we can open it up and interview everybody. Or just reappoint or just reappoint, I know, but I don't move now. Commissioner Helm has me thinking, well, I want to come back to her in a minute, but let me think now that all my cobwebs are dusted off, let me. Okay. Let me are you know, one thing that I and I don't I don't disagree. These these are experienced people. They've been on these committees. I know Murphy's been on this for a lot of years. Yeah. I don't know Louise real well. And this is not a personal thing. I just think sometimes we don't when we get this many applicants, we don't open it

up to new voices and to people who maybe, you know, I don't know, just I don't want to always be seen as like, oh, here's two incumbents. This is making our life easy. Rubber stamp it and just push it through. Right. We've got four different applicants that that want to do this. So I think we should give them the opportunity to at least explain why I don't mind interviewing them. Our other one went pretty fast. They were 15 minute interviews on zoom. I don't know if it would be done the same way, but it went pretty fast and you'll get a real good feel real quick. Whether people have the knowledge and the expertise. But that's just me. I just think sometimes we're quick to just go take the easy route and appoint the other people. I these people do a phenomenal job and no, no disagreement there. I just we have new applicants and I think we ought to give them the time of day. So I think if I hear you correctly, you're, you're you want to open it up and you're willing to be on that selection process. Correct? I'm fine. I'm willing to open it up. And I heard you say you're willing to make sure to open it up. Is that correct? I'm okay. And I'll get back to you now. Correct. I'm trying to get down. If there's like applicants that have exceptional merit and we really should consider them. I mean, I don't I haven't seen those applications. I know that I don't have the bandwidth right now to do the additional interviews, but if someone else is willing to do it, I guess I'm going to kind of lean towards Commissioner Sarvis here on this one where getting it done. But I don't know, I don't I'm kind of ambivalent about this a little bit, but. Well, if we do open it up, I'm willing to be part of it. You'll be part of the interview aspect of it. It sounds like

it's already been opened up, to be honest with you in a sense, but I can see the nuance here opening up meaning as opposed to just interviewing them simply reappoint. And it could be that we interview the six and we reappoint the two could not have been ruled out, so it gives a more fair shake. I'm not one way or another, but you know, if we all have a pen within the time to do the interviews for six people and, you know, sounds like Commissioner Helms willing to to join me in that, I'm fine with that. Do we need. I think we got there. I have I have what I need, so yeah. Commissioner Savage also just made sure interview the six applicants. Okay. Thank you. I wish to go. Thank you. Next item. Review of your board business meeting agenda for this Thursday, May 7th, 2026 at 10 a.m. you will have public communication a presentation declaring May as Older Americans Month in Clackamas County Public Hearing. Second reading of an ordinance to amend the county code regarding road use, and then a small consent agenda for the Board of County Commissioners. If you have any questions on these items, would you please let me know and I will answer them or have staff in the room to answer it for you on Thursday. Final item today is Commissioner Communications. All right. We're going to be coming back this afternoon. So I also want to give Commissioner a chance to make any comments if they'd like. Commissioner Schrader, I'll start with you. Yeah. I attended the all things garbage the other day with I'm on the committee for the waste reduction analysis, the things that are going on at Metro. And we're a little worried. We're a little worried about it because it sounds as if we have done some pushback saying, you know, private, that putting it more, they already have Metro staff at work at some of these stations, but at least how I'm understanding it, they're talking about increasing that.

And I think if the model isn't broken, I don't know why why they're doing that. But it was an interesting discussion and I give a lot of credit to Christine Lewis. She runs a great meeting. I did it via zoom, which made it a little difficult because we had to put up sticky notes to get our feedback up there, but I managed to email those in. So I fulfilled my my duties. And tomorrow, actually no Thursday I'm going to be touring Hope's Garden, and I think that's because of you. Mr.. We love them, Commissioner. Yeah, I know you do. And so I'm looking forward to taking a look and seeing what they're doing to help. They help young mothers, do they not homeless women. They house them for a couple of years and make sure that their babies and them are taken care of at the very beginning stages of the baby's life, and mother being new mothers. So really, just to hold a lot of babies in Sri Lanka, that's going to be looking forward to that one. And I'm not really gonna like that. But and that's about all I have right now. So okay. Thank you. Commissioner. Commissioner Sarvis well, first of all, Gary, you have some draft letters on there. You can have Andrew pass out, start out with there's kind of a I learned here that the Trimet board is going to be going on a retreat here and a next week or two, and there's been a vacancy on the Trimet board, specifically the Clackamas County District seven seat. There have been some significant policy discussions and direction given the Trimet staff without a Clackamas County representative at the at the table that's concerning. And the way it's poised right now, the retreat will happen without a clock was kind of representative. I think that's a that's a maybe injustice is the wrong word.

But before you as a draft and I would you know, we can either say yes to it today or approve it because it's brand new. We didn't have we didn't post it, but I would like to at least seek approval to send it out on Thursday and make an adjustment on the agenda for public notice standpoint. Our staff have gone over this a couple times, so I think this is the final iteration. But if you're if you would entrust me to make any other tweaks or suggestions between now and Thursday and again, you'll see the final draft on Thursday. But here's a rough sketch of what it looks like and again, expressing urgency that the governor act. And also, you all may recall here several months ago, we we and some of the mayors advocated for Jeff Goodman because because of his financial background, that he would be an ideal candidate to serve this in this vacancy on the Met board. So it kind of renews that. And a well, makes a statement. I think this would be good to get on the record, more importantly, that we have not had a Clackamas County voice at this table for a too long of a period of time. So I think it's imperative we act now. I 100% agree, and I may be the reason they've alienated Clackamas County. So I do believe Jeff Goodman would be perfect on this board. Are you all okay with just as presented? Just put it on the agenda. Any tweaks? If you want to again, just authorize me a little bit to make an adjustment if we need to if staff sees a little snafu and then again, you'll see the final version on Thursday. Gary, I guess the concern I have is just the public notice piece of it and making sure we're abiding by all the guidelines set forth, and I, I know this is kind of a last minute deal.

I kind of wonder why it wasn't brought forward sooner. And I mean, just I'm just trying to follow protocol. Thank you. So from a process standpoint, I ask that you not approve this until Thursday at your business meeting. We'll post it online today. I think what Commissioner Sarvis is asking, you want to show it to you? This just came up last night, so we didn't. That's why we didn't notice it. But if you have suggestions, let staff know. We'll have it on Thursdays. Business meeting agenda for your approval. And that way we have a problem. Will probably notice it. Does that work? Yeah, that's exactly what I'm asking for. Okay, I totally support it. No changes. Yeah that's great. Great. Thank you so much. So now to my comments. I just want to say that it has been a pretty dynamic week or two in communicating with the public. And, you know, it's also a period of time. And what a lot of information out there and a political season is sometimes has some partial truths or misunderstandings and misinformation, however you want to characterize it. But that that being said, I think it's, you know, at least from a transportation pass standpoint, that on the ballot is a measure from Odot. And I think that that is poised to, you know, that initiative is the referral will be the referral will be approved, meaning the voters will probably say no to the increases in the gas tax and so on. So I think that's the writing's on the wall and that degree, I don't see a lot of energy around educating people on this as much as I thought there may be. But nonetheless, transportation issues come up and how we're funded or how we're not funded and inaccuracies. And I said, I sit on the committee, I chair the region one act. This did not come up in that place, but I'm just going to give you a thumbnail sketch of how my week looks. I had that meeting, which took a lot of prep and work for last night. This afternoon I won't be able to join you.

I'll be in a meeting which is the Public Transit Advisory Committee, so I'll be in a zoom meeting. As a statewide committee, I represent the counties, the counties. As an AOC rep on Wednesday, I'll be in Albany with the OTC and the chairs and Act chairs, which I am one of. So I'll be there all day, most of the day tomorrow. And then on Thursday we have C4 in the evening, which is kind of transportation, but it'll actually be hosted in Milwaukee. And the there will be a the moderate income presentation of that policy. And we received a letter from the mayor about some nuances to that. And I would like our legal and financial staff to analyze what those impacts are. Will there or are there not any liabilities or costs for the county to help the smaller jurisdictions with some of the pieces as as stated in the letter? And I won't go into detail there. But, you know, it's been last week. It was very busy. This week is very busy. A number of things that are on people's minds as well as housing and so forth. So I'll leave it there and save my comments. My remaining comments for Thursday. Sure. It's all yours. Thank you, Commissioner West. Nothing to really add this week. Yeah. Thanks, Commissioner. Commissioner Hill yeah, Thursday I, I was on the AOC audit committee and. Oh yeah, it was very it was actually very interesting, believe it or not. And I just am happy to report that AOC is doing a fantastic job with their books. They're squeaky clean. And yeah, it was kind of a fascinating little process to be part of. I am a new grandmother with well, I'm not a new grandmother. I'm a grandmother of a new granddaughter. On Thursday evening.

Oh my God, little Ida Joy joined us Thursday night, so yay! And everything went well. So excited for that. And then yesterday, Commissioner Sarvis and I attended a kind of a new group. We brought together state legislators, staff, US city, Happy Valley Metro for the Sunrise Project, and we kind of want to create a kitchen, kitchen table or small coalition however you want to. However you want to frame it, to talk about how important the momentum that we have on the sunrise corridor is, and group our voices so that at the state level, when they're they're representing us in Salem, they're aware of how important it is that we get this moving. So we've already addressed it in D.C. you and I were there last month, but we want our local leaders to be very aware. And they're not some of them are newer. So it was a really good conversation. I think we had. And they did have some really good questions. And I hope to have their support so that we can we can move this project forward. Great. So that's it Jeff okay. All right. I, I don't have too much. I do want to follow up with you two ladies on kind of this Metro garbage issue, which is kind of intrigues me. Just because the cost of living is already so much, I get concerned about any kind of increase for folks. So I'll follow up with you on that. And I had a medical procedure and I was off. And I want to thank Martha for stepping up and helping to cover everything. So I'll give it back to you. So anyway, I just wanted to say thanks and appreciate all the staff kind of helping fill the holes who I was gone. So thank you very much. So this will conclude our administrator issues and updates. And thank you for joining us this morning.

We'll be back here at 130 for the afternoon session. It's live chair. All right. Thank you. Well good afternoon everyone. Welcome to this policy session on May 5th, 2026, County Administrator Gary Schmitt, would you please call the roll? Yes. Thank you. Chair. Commissioner Sarvis is at a regional transportation meeting and will not be here for this session. Roll call. Commissioner. Helm here. Commissioner Schrader here. Commissioner West here. Chair Roberts here. Thank you. Gary, you want to introduce our first agenda item? Yes. Thank you. Chair. The first session today is a presentation from our guest, the mayor of Portland Mayor Wilson, to discuss regional coordination and a recent letter he had sent to the board. And with him is Skyler Bracher Knapp, who is the director of Portland Solutions. I know, chair, you wanted to say a few words. Yeah, just first of all, I wanted to extend a thank you and welcome at the very same time that we appreciate you coming to Miss County. And I know my colleagues, I think except for Martha mayor, you've taken the time to meet with each one of us. And I'm going to be very direct and very honest that that I felt your presentation was very powerful. I can see you have a heart and a passion for addressing this issue. And I what I was also impressed with is I also feel like you're making progress, and many people I believe aren't really familiar with some of the progress you made. I was one of them. And so I took a chair. Word. As as I mentioned, after we had met. I spent I spent more time downtown Portland to kind of see with my own eyes about the improvement. And I can say that, yes, it has improved. And I felt like it was also important for the citizens of Clackamas County to hear kind of what you've been doing. And I thought nothing better than the person that's responsible for it is

would be the best at presenting it. So with that, I'll go ahead and turn it over to you. And I sure my colleagues are going to have some questions and comments later. So you're the floor is yours. The chair. Roberts, thank you for this courtesy and I appreciate it. And commissioners, thank you for this hospitality. I'd like to introduce Skyler Napper Knapp. She is the director of Portland Solutions, which has really been at the center point of Portland's. Focus on homelessness and the response and the systems that she brought together, really across all of the different bureaus and such. She's here to help me answer questions, but what I'd like to do is just frame it. I've got about 9 or 10 slides. I'd like to just go over kind of the arc of where we were. And as we begin, I just want to thank you for the opportunity to provide this report in our mission to turn Portland around. We have three key strategies. Number one is to end unsheltered homelessness. Number two is to reduce the burden on our public safety system. Number three, achieving those two, we then revitalize our economy and improve livability for everybody in the city. And in response to that first key strategy, I've distilled ending unsheltered homelessness into a six point plan that we've been unfolding methodically over this past year. It's a goal number one, we've ended tent distribution in Multnomah County until April of last year. So far as we know, Multnomah County was the only municipality in the country with a tent distribution program. May 2023 through May 2024, they distributed 30,000 tents and tarps throughout our community. I'm grateful for the county's action to end this practice, and I'd also ask that you support this standard that

no service providers funded by your dollars distribute tents. I say that only in that we have to focus on a tri county response to ending unsheltered homelessness. We can't do it in one jurisdiction, one county. We're in a silo at all anymore. And so we're really trying to create practices that are holistic, that really are regional focused to provide care for our community members. The good thing is, is that Portland is doing its part by providing a better option than a tent or a tarp, but we need these uniform solutions throughout our entire region. Goal number two loved one reunification. Some of you might have heard the story of Giovanni, the gentleman of the photos. Suffering from mental illness. He was stuck on Portland streets and didn't call home because he thought his mother would be mad at him. We flew his pastor from Brooklyn, New York to Portland so he could escape the streets, and also the pastor escorted him home to the arms of his mother. And we made that reunion happen by simply asking him the question. You see, we were holding him hostage on the streets of Portland only because he didn't have the resources to get home, and we didn't ask the questions that we needed to ask. And I share this with you, because reunification so valuable, it's housing, but it's housing with a loved one, a social network, not just in a shelter, not in a permanent supportive housing or one of our affordable housing. It's the best type of housing. And when you look at the reunification that we've done today, 400 in county, and we only just started in the third quarter of last year, our goal this year is 700 souls to be reconnected with their loved ones. And we know we can achieve this because annually, Phoenix has a 10% effective reunion rate for their entire homeless population. Boston has an 8% rate and is near functional zero

in ending unsheltered homelessness. And for folks with more complex needs and barriers, such as outstanding misdemeanors or warrants, we are setting up a system to clear those within hours instead of weeks. And I've been meeting with the presiding judges and judges to help us through. And I'm happy to say that Clackamas Counties successful Clean Slate program is the motto in which we're following as well. So you can see there's some real harmony and program sharing that we're working on with. And I'd like you to just compliment Amanda Wall, who's that caretaker of the system. She's doing a great job. Number three, sheltered housing strike team. That is a program we set up almost within months of my taking office. It's exactly what it is. It's focusing on shelter, moving to housing. But we need to do it and take action. One of the clear goals that we set out for this was to add 1500 shelter beds by November, by the end of November, December 1st, because we wanted to be ready for winter, we knew it was coming and when it got cold out, we did not want anybody to suffer and die, certainly not because of hypothermia. I'm happy to say we achieve that goal. It was the fastest shelter system set up for that size in America. It was treating a crisis like a crisis and recognizing we're never going to leave people on the streets of Portland ever again. I'd like to share a case study while I'm on. This goal is Agape Village, and I'm happy to say that Matt Hough, who's the executive director, is with us sitting in the room here with us. Matt. Agape village is a shelter that is 1.5 miles away from the county line. It's accessible between Multnomah and Clackamas County by bike, Path and Max. Guests receive service from providers in both counties. 23% of the regular shelter guests at our shelter stay during

the night returned to Clackamas County during the day. These include Clackamas County Service Center and Father's Heart, who are here with us as well today for Gap Village Tiny Home Program, 25% of the program participants come from Clackamas County, and 30% of those who successfully moved into housing have done so in Clackamas County. So we have a shared system together, and currently they are providing housing and retention services to 15 people living in Clackamas County. We are tied at the hip. We are one one region. And a quote from Matt, quote, the people we serve do not care about county lines. They simply go where they can get food, support and find community. And those services are never restricted. Next slide. Goal number four. In 2017, the first year that the county began managing Portland's emergency shelter system, as this slide illustrates, there was only a few people who stayed over a year. 13 souls were in a shelter for over a year. Today, there's hundreds that are living in shelter but was designed for a short stay in an emergency situation. However, applying housing first assertive engagement techniques, we must shift our system and our approach to a rapid exit mindset. Rapid exit mindset has a zero cost implement with potential for significantly improving outcomes in cities and counties using assertive engagement. They have far fewer people suffering and dying on their streets. For example, unsheltered homelessness has remained relatively steady in Clackamas and Washington counties over the years in Clackamas County. And based on your point in time since 2017, homelessness has increased by 135 souls in Multnomah County. Over that same time frame, it's increased 4900.

How does Multnomah County compare nationally? In Boise, they have about 200 people living unsheltered in Boston, about the same in Washington, D.C. they have about 700 in Philadelphia, 700 as well in Philadelphia. The point to note in Boston is, is Boston's about the same size as Portland, and Philadelphia is twice the size. They have significantly lower levels of unsheltered homelessness because of the systems that they have. Here is the new assertive engagement guidelines that we're putting in place for the city's 24 hour shelters. And we're asking them to do the same for their system, that there are participant engagement requirements, that we're engaging with the individuals and we're helping them through the system, not allowing them to say stay and wait when they're ready. But being active in that partnership. Nightly bed utilization rates. We need those individuals to be in those beds, not dual residents where they're in an encampment or living outside and using the shelter for a shower or food or laundry or whatever the case may be, and stay limits. Our shelters that we have, the 24 hour shelters that were set up in the last year or two, have 120 day stay limit that are trauma informed. If somebody doesn't have the mental acuity to engage in the program, that's okay. But we have a program. We're expecting the program to be followed because we want to help that person on their journey to housing, recognizing that shelter is only a stopping location, a life saving response. And these steps that I outline have zero cost to implement but improve outcomes dramatically. And I say this how do you double the effectiveness of a single bed? You move somebody through the system twice as fast. Next slide. And bottlenecks have consequences. Every person stuck in the shelter system denies a bed for the next person who needs it in 2017. As this slide illustrates, the average length of stay in

Multnomah County emergency Shelter system was 23 days. Today it's 77 days. If we had the same throughput as we did in 2017, we wouldn't need any new shelters at all. For those that are sitting and or suffering on the street tonight, if you're worried about my new shelter plan at the city warehousing people instead of moving them through the system, look at the numbers. We have already been doing that and using nationally recognized assertive engagement best practices. It's time to unstick our systems for the benefit of everybody both Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington County. Next slide brings me to goal number five. Portland has reestablished community standards on safety, health and sanitation in our city. When we choose not to enforce existing policies, we create new policies. If I, as the mayor, walk by an encampment and don't do something to care for the person, then I've created a policy in which that encampment is legal. It's perceived. If I walk by somebody lying on the street, incapacitated, and I walk by them and do nothing, I've showed my citizens that that's normal, that that's acceptable, that that's the new policy. I've explained my entire city that that's no longer normal in Portland. It's not normal in Boston, in Boise, in Clackamas County. It's not going to be normal in Portland. So we're changing our real policies and perceived policies to make sure that we're moving to the work, and we're caring for people. Many of these unwritten policies of non enforcement are unfair to those who play by the rules, contribute to the community and respect their neighbors. Worst, it means we expose people to harm by leaving them in terrible conditions. So I've reestablished those community standards on public safety and sanitation. And for example, we can't afford to continue to remove 10 million pounds of trash every year from our city streets. The Statue of Liberty weighs 440,000 pounds. We dispose of the equivalent

amount of that every two weeks in Portland. The majority of that is coming from encampments. We all know the terrible toll the scars is on neighborhoods and businesses, and that's why we're increasing encampment outreach and enforcing existing laws and rules. Now that we have shelter capacity, as of December 1st, we have a shelter bed for every person, every night, for every person who's ready to come inside. Additionally, Portland has become a place where people bring habitable RVs and try to live in them, despite there being no R-V hookups anywhere, closest one is in Tigard. I'm glad that you had mentioned that after I and I said to you, chair that drive through Portland Drive, Marine Drive, Sandy Boulevard, Foster Boulevard, you will be hard pressed to find an RV. And that is essentially the case when I took office and I would say one year ago in April, we towed about 30 to 40 RVs. This past April, a few days ago, 114 nobody is going to be helped. And unsheltered homelessness has got to address that. Safety issues and RVs pose a significant safety issue not only to the inhabitants, but our community as well. I'm happy to say we're we're really moving to the work and making significant changes with that. And finally, we must adopt a person down mentality. A few months ago, a Portland was found dead on the sidewalk with hundreds of people walking and driving by, and he had been there for days. It's not moral or normal to walk past someone who is in such distress when they are down on the ground. When we see it, we must rush resources, ask them what they need, but also tell them that this is not acceptable or safe in our city. Assertive engagement I want to help you. What does it look like? But you can't stay here. But in Portland now we have a better place than here. We have shelters, day shelters, night shelters, AA na, you name it. We're ready to care for that person.

Whatever they choose, whatever they want, we will provide that service. But lying on the street, incapacitate or in a tent is no longer tolerated. Nor is it going to be a positive outcome for everybody, anybody. And so we're really addressing that safety and care in our community. Next slide. And that really results to a change in our our focus on November 1st, with shelter now readily available for any Portland who wanted, we began enforcing our camping ordinances. We put together care teams where officers were used to security guards for our camp removals. We no longer do it. An officer is teamed up with an outreach worker, is teamed up with camp removal, and we go into the encampments together. And the first thing we do is we check and we see if the person has a warrant. If so, we want to help them in so they can address what's keeping them on the street. What I've explained to others is warrants are no longer meaningless in Portland, and court dates are no longer optional. We're here to help them in. The justice system is really designed to help people through the system and to provide needs. Skyler's and her team are there on every Friday during the court to make sure that we're working with the judges to connect people with services, and oftentimes the judges will work with us to reduce those misdemeanor charges or citations, so long as we're helping person and or a person navigate the system for care that benefits all of Portlanders. Now, I know that this is difficult to see, but it's a dashboard that we set up because we wanted the community members to show the support we're providing our citizens, and 20% of those contacted with our care teams are arrested. It was far more than we ever thought would be the case. But what really is important of this information is to know that because we're offering connections and we're also doing our camp enforcements, is 30% of the people we contact now except shelter prior to November 1st.

And this change, the connection to shelter and the acceptance was was significantly less. Do you see compassion and accountability? Accountability are not opposites. They are partners in helping a person through that journey from unsheltered homelessness to shelter to eventually housing, which is what our overall goal is. And I think you share that same focus. I also say that when it comes to community standards is hospital dumping. It's a real practice in Portland, and we found circumstances where hospitals in other counties in our own county were just dumping people in parks because they had nowhere else to send these individuals. We've been quick. I've sent cease and desist, and I've been very clear. If this continues, we will sue you. We are here to care for Portlanders. Nobody dumps people in Portland. And I often go back to one of the statements my team member says Portland is no longer the nation's solution to homelessness. We're here to care for everybody. However, we have to make sure that we're carrying through our jurisdiction and helping other jurisdictions with that as well. And number six, it brings us to what the really focus is. And that's housing because homelessness is a housing problem. Full stop. What I'm doing in the sixth, the five items I just noticed, that's just triage, that's just trying to help somebody into life saving shelter. But in Portland, our council and I have worked extremely hard. We removed all system development charges on the next 5000 new homes. So we've essentially abated $100 million, up to $100 million in developer costs to get building. Now, because we believe in Portland and it's working. We're opening up our affordable housing, which has a 7.4% vacancy rate because a safety and livability. I have public safety teams that are working to make those properties safer, and we're working on that every single week. So where we had a shelter strike

team, we're really focusing and leaning on the housing strike team because our goal is to have a system that is housing people with dignity and decency. And I'm happy to say that that new initiative we're focusing on right now is moving forward fast. You know, that really completes the overall presentation, but it does allow me to kind of lean into this conversation, this privilege. Just sitting here before you, a chair is wonderful. The commissioners, I just want to thank you for the privilege, because I think we've kind of created this humanitarian crisis in silos. Portland now has in our region, in the tri county region, 87% of our homelessness. But I just want to let you know it's a shared concern. I'm here before you because as I look at our county lines, I notice Portland's jurisdiction encroaches in the Clackamas County. So these are your citizens as much as my citizens. They are your county residents as much as my city residents. And so I think we have a real focus on shared vision, shared priorities. We certainly have shared scarcities together. And my hope is just to work with you as we kind of merge our systems and focus on a holistic approach, as our residents don't look at county lines, but we're here to care for the person, to really reduce unsheltered homelessness, to eventually reduce homelessness, to just provide livability and economic viability. Because tourism is such a huge part of your revenue here in Clackamas County. And when people don't want to come to Portland, whether it's through the state or the nation, we all get hurt because essentially we want them to come and enjoy the beautiful mountains, water and geography that is Clackamas County as well. So thank you for this opportunity. All right. Thank you. I'm going to give my colleagues questions or thoughts.

Go ahead, Commissioner Helm. Yeah I after I had lunch with you, Mayor Wilson, I came back. We spoke about this and I said your your enthusiasm is infectious. I love that you are approaching this in a way that is with compassion. I know you have a really, really hard job ahead of you, and it's not going to happen real fast. And I know you're trying to speed it up, but I just do have a couple of questions. So when you talk about the reunification, the slide had 400 for 45 states. Is that. That's correct. So and then there was 159. What is the percentage of our population homeless population after reunification. Do you know that number? I would say that. You mean the homeless population of. Yeah. For reunification compared to the 159 compared to how many? I think maybe I'll just start with numbers. So 159. Well that's from January 1st of this year. Of this year. Okay. 400 to date. And we started right around July, August on mass. And we have 23 different referral partners now. And it's increasing. So the more we're able to get that this resource is available just call 311. And the beauty about this is, Commissioner, is that we have partnerships with our federal partners, TSA. Once we have somebody, we'll have them on a Delta flight in a matter of hours, so long as we can connect them with a mother, a brother, a loved one, and confirm that that person is ready and willing. But we're connecting people with treatment systems throughout, all for all four corners of our nation. It's really quite amazing. Right? Okay. And then another question, if I could this of course, since since your ask before, this is like a big conversation with our constituents. I have heard from people and I go to downtown Portland a lot. I support downtown Portland and I love to eat out, so it's one of my go to places. So I love it.

I believe in it. It will come back. The gateway area east of 205 is lined with RVs still. So that's we forgotten that area or is it? Are we just moving them from Marine Drive to Gleason Halsey or. I'm surprised you say that I was in Gateway on Sunday and the Oregon clinic is was struggling Oregon clinics right there at the Gateway Transit Mall. There wasn't a single RV along 95th and Pacific, and I went into gateway. It wasn't a single RV. I was driving through with my wife and she and I, because we've been doing this for the last year, and she and I were absolutely amazed. Not a single one. And so if there is, if you know a place or whatever, let me know. But I drove down foster the other day, not a single vehicle on foster. There was one on Marine Drive on Sunday, one, but a year's a year's time. I mean, it was. Oh, it was, it was, it was, it was. But I think I'm talking more east. I think as we're going near Gresham, I. Yeah, I know and I know that we're concentrating near like the major thoroughfares and stuff, but yeah, I just it's just keep that in mind. Yeah. Thank you. I think, Commissioner, I will just share. Skyler. Director, Portland Solutions I think one piece we are fully kind of responsive to reports. So if you do see something or you're constituency something, even when they're just in Multnomah County or Portland, we would love to hear about that because we're able now. Our RV towing program partnered with our outreach team and police is actually responding within about a week time, which is a lot faster than it has been in the past. So I think we're trying to really get on top of the responsiveness to reports. Okay. And then my final question is, as you say, you are, you are making arrests in some of these camps or with the homeless people. You're making arrests are going to jail. Then what happens? Go ahead. Thank you. It depends on the charge.

If it's somebody who isn't meeting their parole probation, then they are being transferred to whatever jurisdiction. When we just started it, I found, you know, I went out with the officers and the care teams because I wanted to see how it was working. We had one young man who had a gun charge from Washington County, and so he had to go face up with that gun charge in Washington County. And we'll talk with the different jurisdictions. I mean, we're working with DEA went with I'm sure he's involved. We let those counties make that determination. But if it's a low level misdemeanor, it's probably going to be a release right away. But more importantly, it requires to go before judge greenlit judge judge greenlit will review the charges. Schuyler's team is there. And that's the thing. Is the system starting to work again? It just stopped. We weren't even engaging in the encampments. I had two officers get shot 16 weeks ago. Nearly killed both of them. Well, the fellow had been living with a armed robbery warrant in our city for four years in encampments. How many times did our old camp removal process just go move him? But because we never had officers involved, completely changed it. And we now have our neighborhood response teams going with outreach. And we immediately the officers lead. Now they're going in first because we want to make sure that if that person is a warrant, it's time. It's time to address what is keeping you in the encampment. Do you see how we flipped it completely on its head? Haven't done that for a decade. Okay, okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, Commissioner West. Thank you. Chair. Mayor Wilson, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure to get to know you over this. Last year we've had multiple meetings, lunches, and I think we have a lot of common ground. And we both have a big heart for this issue and situation. We both love the city and the metro area and Oregon, but a little bit of the elephant in the room in Clackamas County is the real perception problem. I, as a local, elected to many Clackamas County residents, feels like in Portland

we're only two different governments. We're dealing with you, and we have a relationship and common ground, sometimes differences, productive conversations. I serve with you on the Supportive Housing Services Regional Policy and Oversight Committee and how we're going to do better with SHS dollars. We have substantive conversations there and often, and then we have your counsel, who has eroded actively public trust throughout the region. And it makes it harder to see the region recover with headlines every other week or every week regarding regarding the city of Portland, one of the ones that's a little tough for me. It also does touch Clackamas County is we saw the recent scandal of Home Forward. I can tell you over a year ago we had to separate the from home forward, and it was one of the best decisions I think we did as a county. We no longer have any services with them. They were working with us on a property. Since we separated from home forward, we have seen that property rebound and have successes that we hadn't seen until we moved in a different direction. There was real neglect and problems when working with Home Forward, and then we have now seen the CEO, Ivory Matthews, resign from her six figure salary while getting a lovely parachute from the city of Portland for failing, and that erodes a public trust. And I it when we when we also see that home fort has 955 vacant units, 1900 affordable units unfulfilled, we see we're having a housing emergency and homelessness crisis. You guys magically found $106 million of unspent housing dollars. You've made some very tough budget decisions going into this budget shortfall that you have, and it takes about six months to fill a vacancy in a housing

crisis and emergency with Home Forward. I'm trying to get to that point where we can rebuild that public trust. And I know and I think one of those things in Clackamas County is we've shifted away from talking a lot about housing first, because that model, since 2013, across the country has not worked and homelessness has exploded. Under that model, we shifted to a recovery oriented system of care. Now, much of what you talk about when we talk and even here today, I hear that you said it's a housing crisis here today before us. You said this is a homeless crisis, a housing crisis. We believe it's a person. Behavioral health, untreated substance use disorder, trauma and dealt with letting our neighbors language. So we see it differently than a housing crisis. You all have housing. You seem to have found 106 million in unspent dollars. And I know a lot of people are listening to this. How is it a housing crisis and not a behavioral health substance use disorder and untreated trauma crisis? That's not getting people care. They morally deserve? Yeah. I think what you just highlighted, it's a systems crisis. It is not a one smoking gun at all. What we had to do is address it like a crisis. And so you in a crisis, address a triage, do the most amount of good you can for the most amount of people. I had 800 people who died on Portland streets between 23 and 24. If I didn't move forward fast with shelter, I was going to have another 400 people die in 2025. So we acted with precision quickly and went on the offense, and we opened up 1500 beds because we needed to address that suffering. Not only that, a lot of people and the livability and safety is tied to that visible well, it's not just people, unsheltered shelters, people who are homeless as well. So now we're focused on the housing strike team, everything you just mentioned about Home Forward affordable housing. But I want you to know, Commissioner, you are right.

Home Forward is the poster child. But when I looked at our system, it's the entire affordable housing system in Portland. It's not just one provider. I am now listing 20 providers in my housing strike team every week in what's called our Tenant Safety meeting, and I track calls for service versus units. And I put the, the, the biggest offender at the top. And then we attack it through police interventions. There's drug interdiction arresting dealers. We're getting ready to arrest a big time dealer at an affordable housing network in just the next couple of days. It's our fourth big arrest at at our fourth different fordable housing. We have endemic drug use and drug dealing around some of those properties. So I want you to know Portland has to lean in from a safety standpoint. We cannot allow open drug use and open drug dealing in our community with the behavioral health issues that you just mentioned as well, because it's all tied together. So it's not just home forward, it's much bigger than that. Can I ask you a quick question? Is home forward still going to continue to be your housing authority for the city of Portland? Yeah, yeah. I haven't had I haven't even contemplated that. But we need to make it work better, faster, easier and lower cost. And it's not. And so I was very aware of what was going on at home forward. For the last six months, I've been working with every affordable housing there at my table, at my desk, every week, talking about vacancy activations one table 7.4% of our entire portfolio, 22,000 units are empty today. Home forward is one third of it. Yes. But it's it's not just home forward. We have a systemic problem in Portland with how we're managing our affordable housing portfolio. So we need to fix it all. And I'm happy to say Central City concerned the CEOs at my desk. I was at my desk. And it goes on and on and on. We have to address the whole system and we will. Home forward, fortunately, is in the purview of the mayor. I nominate the board. I have a tremendous amount of

power over that board, and I'm going to be using that. I was very aware she she was. Be that as it may, it is what it is. I inherited that, but now we have a new chapter. That chapter started last week and we're going to start fixing it. I'm not running from any of those things you noted, but I think what you mentioned was behavioral health. We have a behavioral health issue, and we are addressing that now through how we fund it through the state federally as well. And we're leaning in on that help as well. The chief and I are working. Chief day and I are working a lot. How can we how can we interdict with those suffering on street and get them to unity? Right now, we're not. We're just leaving people on the street. And that's where that see care connect no more. If somebody is suffering on the street, we need to rush care to that person instead of driving by. We've gotten really good at driving by people, and I'm happy to say we're changing all those behaviors in Portland. It takes time, though, and I love that. One of the big concerns, though, is that there's been, and I get it, why there's been a big focus on shelter housing first for so long, for so long in the region has been promoted, which divested and moved away purposefully from transitional housing. Now Veterans Village would not exist. And a lot of pushback we got for our very own Veterans Village in Clackamas County, which is a part of recovery oriented system of care, was because it was transitional in nature. Our Clackamas Village that we built next door, transitional nature. We've invested in Clackamas County and an entire care continuum that no wrong door and within for 24 months. No matter where you're right, you're going to get the care you need, the urgent acute care all the way from throughput to where we know you're stable. We want to count not just house, but stable and back in community, clean and sober. And so when we do that, we look, we've done that here and we've been very successful. It's not just because we don't have the same numbers of UN success. We have a different policy solution that before you came, mayor. And so my question to you is shelter. Yes. But then where's the real investment for an entire care continuum that meets the individual's needs, where they are in the recovery process? Because we have to have more

than shelter or scattered, a little bit of transitional, we have to have the whole system. So where are those gaps and focuses now? I love that you're asking that. So I'm going to let's do this. Let's take team. Let me handle housing first in just the concept. And then if you handle all the the continuum that we're trying to set up. So I want to talk about Housing First and Housing First works I focus on assertive engagement. What I've noticed with Boston, a big Housing First community and some of these communities I've been to their very successful. It's how you utilize it. And we had Sam in my office. In fact, you have Chris who is in the chamber here right now with us, good friend with Sam. Sam came and he sat in our office. I think it was like six weeks ago. And I said, hey, I want to really tighten this up. I said, Sam, I'm going into encampments with officers. You're going to engage. And he said, that's how it works. Assertive engagement people. You don't let people linger and suffer and die. You rush care to them, but you give them a choice. Hey, I'm going to help you what it look like, but you're not going to be here. I got a day center for you. I got a nighttime shelter. I've got a tiny pod for you. But you're not staying here on our street. So we've changed our whole system to sort of engagement. You only get 130 days in our shelters now. That's it. It's time. But we're going to be all over you. And if you don't have the mental acuity to engage, we're going to do it for you. And we're going to be constantly on you through our case manager. It's time to engage. It's really effective. I don't want to get focused on concepts. I want to get focused on process and programs. And in Portland, call it Housing First, shelter first. You call it whatever you want. We're going to care for you, and we're going to do it quickly with a clear result. But we're not leaving you on the street without resources anymore. But I'm glad you talked about the continuum. And I think Sky is really building a system. Yeah. I think what the mayor really supercharged was all those different pieces and focusing on where those gaps might be. So I'll just quickly point out, I think reunification

being kind of that starting point of if someone doesn't need to necessarily go into shelter or housing in this community, they can be connected to a family member or a friend somewhere else. We start with that. That's our first question. Then, okay, maybe we have a shelter bed. We have overnight. We also have 24 over seven within our programs. The 24 seven shelters are really built with those wraparound services in case management support to connect people to all those different services, whether it's IDs or their next housing placement or detox. We have a wellness kind of element for some of those shelters, and that's been really successful, probably very similar to what you're talking about. But then also the next steps, which I think are the missing gaps that we need to supercharge, are the Medicaid and Medicare aspects of our system, aging and disability folks who really could qualify for a lot of these different programs that are funded and are just for some reason, have been have been falling through the cracks. So I think that's the piece that we're looking to tighten up right now. And then we're looking to that next step of going to the legislature for the long session. And I think there's really a groundswell of support for that behavioral health piece of the puzzle, because what we see is folks that cycle through all these systems. So whether it's shelter or jail or emergency room hospital systems, we're really seeing the same folks and we're spending a lot of money, frankly, in all those different systems. And we're not effectively helping that person because they're having to bounce from all those different places. So I think we're working closely with hospital systems, with different county systems, the regional metro folks, and trying to understand what's the best next step for that person. So in some cases that's detox. In some cases that's reunification. In some cases, shelter is the best option right now, but we're trying to figure out what resources can pay for that thing that that person needs. And then what's the next step that they can move to? I will say, I think you all are aware, but we have a lack of psychiatric inpatient facilities. We have a lack of secure residential treatment or Act teams, even the folks who would go into the housing

to be able to serve those individuals. So I'm really excited for a joint approach going into this long session at the legislature to focus on some of those behavioral health gaps that we're seeing on a daily basis. I have one last question, please. One last. If we as surrounding counties that do have a regional approach and we're talking about that through SHS, we're going to figure something out. Mayor, I mean, the last ask, we going to get there, but we're going to figure some common sense pragmatic approach. We want to partner with you. How can the region know that we're working with your office in a partnership and not seeing any money, any resources going into maybe the siloed and get lost in your general fund? And where do you have control versus your the legislative part of your body, which is your council. And I think that the region is much more open to working directly with you. And there's real reasons for that. And we see a level of shared competence and ability. So where does that go? So like how do we know that our partnership with you is honored and protected and trusted, working with you directly versus with your legislative body, which is your council. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. First of all, Commissioner, I think that's really magnanimous of you. I would say nuts and bolts wise, the council is in charge of the budget and the legislative piece of the puzzle, but not the operations, the day to day operations. So I would say partnership opportunities, frankly, with my team, with different providers that we're working with. Matt Huff, who has been called out a couple times here running a shelter that's close to the Clackamas County line, making sure we have connection points to services that exist for Clackamas County residents and making sure that those are built out. I think that would be incredible, frankly. And the mayor is in charge of that piece of the puzzle. Well, we have a recovery campus coming online. We have also mutual assets along the border. Let's keep talking. And I know that we deeply care about this. And nobody pushing their belongings

on 82nd cross Duke Street knows where they're at. And there's a fact. And it goes both ways with who we're caring for. And so I just want to keep talking with you on, to keep building the relationship and the trust. And I just want to be you're going to get exactly what you get with me. There's no I'm going to tell you who I feel and where we're going and where I think the county is. But I think there's common ground. And I really appreciate you coming and answering some tough questions. You bet. Thank you. Mark. Go ahead. I'm going to be short and sweet. I just want to thank you for coming. It's a pleasure to meet you. We've got the young guy here who's doing all the work at this point. Well, all my colleagues work. We all do. But who's really helped transform? I think how we look at the models we're using here. And of course, I want to give a shout out to our staff back there. And I see some providers who are here today for all the hard work you do, because you're on the front line, you're really on the front line. But I'm excited about I'm excited about moving forward with with you folks, because I think I think it can be done. If we got a recovery center gone, we could we couldn't just expand, expand. We'll figure it out. Figure it out. Thanks. Thank you. Just a couple of comments and some questions. I think the first and foremost thing I really want to reiterate this fact, and that is it has gotten better in Portland. Right. And I can personally attest, you know, when I was sheriff, I was downtown. It really wasn't a safe place. There were a lot of issues going on, and I would describe it as a lot of chaos. And, and I really have seen a change. And that's where I feel like the trajectory is, is really headed in the right direction. And I think that the adage for a long time, and I'm just going to be very direct, was build a wall, stop the Portland creep. Right. And the fact of the matter is,

when you really get down to the nuts and bolts and the people on the front line, that there is no county line. Right. And what happens in Portland impacts Clackamas County economically, tourism, as you've mentioned. And so it is vitally important that we're working together as a region. And you touched on a couple of issues. I want to bring you back to one here, which I know Mr. Williams and I are very passionate about, and that's our mentally ill population and the Aiden assist population, the hospital beds, state hospital beds. And I would just love to hear your thoughts, you know, as we head into this next session or thoughts that you have, how collectively as a region, we might be able to address that problem. Because I, I feel like as you've really talked about, these people need care, right. And, and I honestly don't believe some of the things that are happening are humane and would just love to hear your perceptive perception on that or recommendations. And so whoever like to go, I'll start and you can. County Attorney Williams and I had a conversation when I visited here just a couple of months ago about the absolute need. And you're exactly right. Chair Roberts is something that you're leaning in on. And I know that, Commissioner West, you are as well. So I say we create a united front and we do this together. It's on my list through our Office of Government Relations to begin this in July. I've already had one on one conversations with the governor. She's ready to look at it. What we need to design now is what do we want it to look like? We know that we have dollars through SHS. We know we have a mental acuity issue. Here's the issue in Portland right now, and I think it will probably be easy for you to agree, right? We're doing great with addressing unsheltered homelessness in terms of encampments, makeshift shelters, envy,

but there are still people actively and mental acuity walking on the streets of Portland. And it's visible. What do we do to help them with a place that they can succeed in? And that's where PSA has to be looked at, reimagined, and focus on the person so we can use our mental health courts and others to help mandate a particular direction for that person to go. That doesn't always need the state hospital. We know that 90% of mental illness can be addressed through medically assisted treatment, but the person needs to recognize that we need them to follow their plan. And if they don't follow their plan, we have to have a system in which is going to help them stay on the plan and we don't have it. So let's let's work. Let's get through our budgets. Our respective budgets is really consuming our time right now. But I would say in 60 days, let's create a concerted approach to working on this together, to start moving ourselves incrementally to a system that works for Portland and for the region, because we're not there yet. So. And I can turn it over to you. We're constantly talking about how are we going to fund, what's it going to look like, and what's the structure going to need to succeed. Because everybody wants this to work. Now, I don't think there's anybody who's fighting this discussion at all. Yeah, I think there is that groundswell of understanding and support. I'd just say quickly, I think I've seen some really good modeling done by the coordinated care organizations that are the Medicaid payers in the area, and I think we need a lot more of that inpatient psychiatric treatment. It's people don't like to pay for it. It's very expensive, but it's necessary. And I think we all know that, and we end up paying for it in different parts of the system, and folks don't end up getting care. I also think the Act teams that go into kind of different shelters, but also housing complexes, are more cost effective and frankly, really effective. So I think some of those aspects would be really great in any kind of shared vision for the next legislative session. But we're also talking, I think, to Commissioner West Point about all those different pieces of the puzzle. I'll just say anecdotally, I was just sharing with the mayor.

My team told me about a woman on Friday that they have gone through the civil commitment process with five times. That's a really difficult process. That means someone really does need care, but after they're given care for 24 to 72 hours, they're back out on the street because we don't have that next step. And so I think that's just one case that's taken a lot of resources and a lot of time, and that person still isn't in care. So I think we just see a lot of those cases that desperately need that support. Yeah, I completely agree. And I think trying to get the right stakeholders around the table on this issue. Right. It is complex and it does impact a region. And and I think what I would love to see was kind of that same energy that you've brought forward with the sense of urgency because it this this has gone on far too long. And I mean, way back when I was a sheriff, I mean, housing those individuals often time in the jail is is not the place, but that's where they end up. And they really need to be in a facility that especially trained, able to get them on the right medication, ensure that they transition to the next step in recovery. So with that, I just want to say, unless anybody else has any comments, I want to thank you for taking your time to come today. Again, we want to applaud the success that you're having and continuing to have that you have the commitment from our board that we're here to really work together to help address this issue. And just a big thanks from all of us. Thank you for the honor and privilege. This is wonderful. Thank you. Thank you very much, commissioners. All right, Gary, what do you have, sir? That is it for today, Commissioner. All right. With that being said, we'll go ahead and conclude this meeting on behalf of the board. Thank you so much for joining us.