1/21/20 Minutes

Members: Valerie Freeman, Richard McGinty, Alan Mela, Jim Griggs

Organizations: Raleigh Kirschman and Moises Ramos, UGM; Ashley Hamilton, The ARCHES Project

City, County and State Representatives: none

Guests: Jan Kailuweit, Grant

The regular meeting of the CANDO Board of Directors was called to order at 6:00 p.m., on Tuesday, January 21, 2020, at the First Christian Church at 685 Marion Street NE, Salem.  The Chair and Secretary-Treasurer were present.  

The agenda and minutes of the December meeting were not approved due to lack of a quorum.  

In interested citizen comments, Ashley Hamilton described the City’s proposal to use Pringle Hall as a temporary warming shelter. She said based on comments during the meeting with the neighborhood, the homeless population is already in the neighborhood. It’s ARCHES’ hope that the shelter will be a beacon that will draw people in from private property locations.  The City’s priority is public health and safety. Camping in the park will not be permitted. The restrooms in the building will be supplemented by a chemical toilet.  ARCHES will provide overnight security, and City staff will visit during the day.  A storage pod will be available for the storage of personal property. The intent is to make the initiative low impact on the park and neighborhood.  Based on outreach to the folks around Nordstrom’s and Rite Aid, Hamilton said she expects about half will use the shelter.  Complaints/concerns should go to Kaylynn Gesner or Ashley Hamilton [Note: a couple hours later, the City Council decided not to open Pringle Hall.]

In other interested citizen comments, Valerie Freeman invited CANDO to participate in Salem Reads and shared this year’s selection. She also went over dates of the Public Library’s closings and openings incident to the seismic retrofit.

There being no further comments and no quorum, the Chair adjourned the meeting at 6:29 p.m.