Transition to MWVCOG

Revised: December 2018

By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

[Material originally posted under, "MWHI Transition Team Mulls Next Steps", and "News from the Continuum" (28 April 2017) and (24 June 2017)]

At the Task Force's last and final meeting in February, co-chairs Cathy Clark and Janet Carlson, having tried unsuccessfully to persuade anyone in the non-profit community to take on the role of a "backbone" organization for purposes of implementing the Task Force's strategic plan, proposed "housing" a strategic plan "project manager" in the MWVCOG or "COG", details to be worked out later by a transition team.

On April 20, the "Transition Team" met for the first time in an unannounced meeting at the Mid Willamette Council of Governments (COG)'s High Street offices.  Attendees included Marion County staffer Hitesh Parekh, Mayor Cathy Clark, Marion County Commissioner Janet Carlson (on the phone), Karen Ray (on the phone), John Reeves, Shaney Starr, COG executive director Nancy Boyer and Salem City Manager Steve Powers.  They discussed mainly costs and potential funding sources.  The upshot of the meeting was that COG wants a formal proposal, with a commitment of around $120K for salary/benefits (FTE), rent, incidental expenses and a telephone, less if the position is part time.

On May 30, the Transition Team held a public meeting at COG to go over the draft description of the Homeless Initiatives Coordinator position (see City of Salem staff report), and discuss next steps.

Marion County has "set aside" $45,000 for the position.  The Keizer and Salem budget advisory committees declined to recommend funding during their regular budget processes, with City of Salem staff opining that there should be "further organizational development before considering this expense", which they characterized as "ongoing."

However, Powers said during the May meeting that "Keizer is supporting the position" ($5,000), and he will be "going back to Council" to recommend that Salem also support the position ($65,000, up from the $40,000 mentioned at the February Task Force meeting).  The position is listed in Powers' budget as an "enhancement" and described as being "for a position focused on working the affordable housing initiatives and opportunities identified in the Mid-Willamette Homelessness Initiative." 

As for the "further organizational development" that City staff felt was needed, "We still have work to do for other jurisdictions who might be interested", said one participant at Tuesday's meeting, "we need a clear work plan for what the money will be buying", and "certainty from partners on their commitments."

The draft position description lists the following "distinguishing characteristics":

The position will be "responsible for the overall management of specialized efforts to develop a cohesive, collaborative and coordinated system of care that extends the reach of resources available to the homeless population.  Such efforts may include working closely with a network of local non-profit service providers, governmental agencies, and local businesses to provide case management, emergency housing, transitional housing, permanent supportive housing, mental health and substance abuse counseling, and domestic violence interventions.  Efforts may also include system development, organizational evaluation and other projects to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the program.  The focus of this position is on initial program development and evaluation rather than ongoing managerial responsibility."

Powers told the group he expected that, when he returned to Council, he would be asked about other means and types of collaborations -- business, for example.  Would COG facilitate those collaborations, he wanted to know?  Or should the team consider, for example, United Way as a more suitable "home"?  (Several months previous, United Way of the Mid Willamette Valley had hired Ron Hays to replace outgoing Executive Director Randy Franke to deal with a sharp decline in revenues.  Hays reneged on Franke's FY 2017 grant agreements with local providers, citing budgetary concerns.)  Might the team want to talk to other potential partners, Powers wanted to know.   

"Phase One", Commissioner Carlson was quick to explain, "would be general agreement" between Salem, Keizer, Marion County and COG, with a "policy team giving guidance to the position."

The decision to house the position in COG had been made, Carlson seemed to be saying, because COG is "Switzerland", and anyway, she didn't trust United Way because it brings in so few funds ($2M) relative to Eugene's United Way ($6M), and it also allowed her Volunteer and Mentor Center to die.

Carlson continued for the next ten minutes, touching on a wide range of topics, including how a money map would show most homeless monies come from government, the conference call with HUD HQ about the ROCC, the problems with the Youth Homeless Demonstration Project planning grant application, and the possibility of adding a CoC administrator or HMIS lead to the project manager to be housed in COG.

When at last Carlson yielded the floor, Powers asked COG's new ED, Sean O'Day, for his thoughts on the "expanded vision" for COG.  (COG currently has no programs coordinating housing or homeless services.)  O'Day said he would of course have to take it to the board, "who have been waiting for it to gel."  He said the proposal was "in the budget", but they still needed an IGA between COG and "the jurisdictions" that was "discrete to the position."  As for other potential partners, he thought MWVCAA "might explore housing the position." 

MWVCAA Director Jon Reeves opined somnambulantly that the problem with housing the position in a non-profit was conflicting priorities, which he characterized as "community vs. program."  He said the United Way option might be more viable to him if it wasn't at the very beginning of a new administration (Hays's).  He said he "struggles with [the] COG [option] because of the governments involved and the potential for non-participation", likely a veiled reference to Polk County.

About the conference call with HUD HQ, Reeves said that, "when HUD said you can't do this [separate from ROCC], it won't work, it really made me want to do it."  It was, as usual, not clear if he was joking.

Powers, looking right at Commissioner Carlson, said there was no question about "the City's commitment to making this plan actionable", but would it be helpful, he wondered to the group, to have a discussion with the "policy team", and determine what the level of interest was among non-profits and other private companies in affordable housing and homelessness?  The response to his question, to the extent there was any, suggested the others either didn't understand what he was asking, or, more likely, wished to avoid the question. 

In summing up, Powers noted that there was general agreement on the minor changes needed to position description, but that they were still considering the pros and cons of the COG plan, and whether it "could expand outside government."  Someone asked about the next meeting, which had the unintended consequence of re-raising his question of whether or not they should meet with NGO  "policy team" members, and also who would be on the policy team.  Commissioner Carlson began talking about her suggestions (she was the only one to have turned in a list of names).  Reeves wondered if the Coordinated Entry Workgroup wasn't "a place to talk about this", and someone asked about including Yamhill County.  Powers finally let everyone off the hook and concluded there was "no need to have a meeting with sectors of the policy committee." 

Someone announced that the next meeting of the COG board of directors was June 20.  O'Day said he would have a "placeholder" for an information report on the proposal, and would be "gauging their interest" in it.  He said he would ask for authority to negotiate an IGA, because he didn't have "enough to draft one" at present.  Commissioner Carlson asked if this might be the last meeting of the transition team, then?  No, said O'Day, "if the board says okay [to his negotiating an IGA], then this group would iron out the details."  Powers suggested that "the three funders meet" by themselves for that purpose, which was agreed to.  No date was set.

On June 20, the COG board voted unanimously to authorize O'Day to negotiate an intergovernmental agreement between it and Salem, Keizer and Marion County, whereby the latter will pay for, and the former will "house a Program Manager who will oversee implementation of the Mid-Willamette Valley [sic] Homeless Initiative Strategic Plan."  The decision appeared to rest on O'Day's recommendation to proceed, and his assurance that COG would not be responsible for any of the costs.  COG budgeted $54,935.73 for the position, which is just a half FTE, perhaps because Salem has yet to approve the $65,000 it's expected to put up.

The City of Salem's Affordable Housing, Social Services and Homelessness Strategic Planning Work Group met several times over the summer.  The COG agreement/position was barely mentioned.

On October 17th, the COG board authorized O'Day to execute the IGA with Salem, Keizer, Monmouth, Independence and Marion County to establish a Homeless Program Coordinator position within COG. Salary and benefits to be paid by the cities and County.  Salem and Marion County to put up $45K each, with the remainder cities each putting up $5K.  Details here.

On October 23, the Salem City Council adopted strategic plan goals for affordable housing, homelessness and social service coordination, which didn't include the COG agreement/position.

On November 27, the Salem City Council authorized execution of the IGA, including allocating $45,000 toward a coordinator.  See here.  Although the staff report asserted that "The program will not duplicate or dilute existing advisory boards or initiatives the City has started -- such as the Homeless Rental Assistance Program" -- the position's "scope of work" is sufficiently broad that overlap and duplication would seem to be unavoidable.  We asked Mayor Bennett if the City's participation was the price that Marion County (i.e., Janet Carlson) required for its support of his sobering station.  His answer, "Pretty much."  Statesman Journal article here.