City Council

CITY OF UNIVERSITY PLACE MINUTES Special Meeting of the City Council March 22, 2021 (Remote Participation) 1. CALL SPECIAL MEETING TO ORDER Mayor Belleci called the Special Meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL UN Roll call was taken by the City Clerk as follows: Councilmember Figueroa Councilmember Keel Absent Present OF Councilmember Pro Tem Lee Councilmember McCluskey Councilmember Flemming Mayor Pro Tem Worthington Present Present Present Present Mayor Belleci FI Present A Staff Present: City Manager Sugg, City Attorney Kaser, Executive Director/ACM Craig, Planning and CI Development Services Director Swindale, Police Chief Premo, Public Safety Administrator Hales, and City Clerk Genetia. 3. OPEN GOVERNMENT TRAINING LD City Attorney Kaser facilitated a State mandated training for Councilmembers on the Open Public Meetings Act, Public Records Act, and Records Retention. STUDY SESSION 4. HOMELESSNESS OC Police Chief Premo presented Council with data on homelessness. He indicated that of the total incidents reported, 2.5% were related to homelessness and six incidents related to encampments. He brought EN attention to the fact that homelessness is not a crime and therefore not a law enforcement issue. What they do when responding is offer resources for shelter and mental health. Police Chief Premo stated that to address enforcement issues, the City’s Public Safety Department has improved the process of UM communication and coordination of response between police and code enforcement, introduced the code enforcement officer to homeless resources, is expanding code enforcement duties to support human services efforts, and developed draft policy for encampment response. Public Safety Administrator Hales explained the unique services provided by Projects of Assistance in Transitioning from Homelessness (PATH), a federally funded outreach program for individuals with severe T and persistent mental illness who are homeless. Planning and Development Services Director Swindale informed Council of the expanded role of the City’s code enforcement officer to include a limited social service role and the ability to write parking notices and tickets. Council discussed the reported numbers; homeless parked in Kobayashi; and finding out if the joint collaboration with West Pierce Fire is providing equitable services and benefits to the City of University Place. There is interest in knowing how trends can be identified with current data and to know how staff is planning to minimize stigma and elevate humane responses between City staff and other sources. Council explored the idea of expanding, adding or realigning resources with code enforcement officers and human services response units to maximize the City’s law enforcement officer’s ability to respond to incidents that require higher level training such as crime and threat.  City Council Minutes of March 22, 2021 Page 2 Council requested that staff coordinate presentations by PATH and West Pierce Fire (Crash 21 Unit) and to schedule them prior to Council’s scheduled goal setting meeting on April 24, 2021. 5. COUNCIL RETREAT FOLLOW-UP Mayor Belleci submitted a list of topics that were compiled from input provided by Council members for purposes of agenda building and goal setting and prioritization. She received input supporting the topics identified as goal setting priorities; Police, Recreation, Economic Development, and to include Sewers with a suggestion that Sewers are a subsection of Economic Development. Other suggestions indicated that the topics of Social Justice and Homelessness should receive further Council discussion. 6. ADJOURNMENT – The meeting adjourned at 8:38 p.m. No other action was taken. UN Submitted by, OF Emy Genetia City Clerk FI CI A LD OC EN UM T