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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/10/2018 02 Reconsideration of a Previous Motion Regarding a Letter to the Yakima Valley Conference of GovernmentsBUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL YAKIMA, WASHINGTON AGENDA STATEMENT 1 Item No. 2. For Meeting of: April 10, 2018 ITEM TITLE: Reconsideration of a previous motion regarding a letter to Yakima Valley Conference of Governments SUBMITTED BY: SUMMARY EXPLANATION: ITEM BUDGETED: STRATEGIC PRIORITY: STAFF RECOMMENDATION: BOARD/COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION: ATTACHMENTS: Description Upload Date Type d letter 4;6;2018 Coyer Memo April 4, 2018 Yakima Valley Conference of Governments Executive Committee Members 311 N. 4th Street, Suite 204 Yakima, WA 98901 Dear Executive Committee Members: Homelessness is a complex problem, affecting an increasing population across the United States. Government agencies within the City of Yakima and Yakima County are entrusted with public money with the goal of alleviating homelessness, making it BRIEF and RARE. 2 Homeless people are diverse, including individuals with physical disability, developmental disability, chronic health conditions, HIV, mental health problems, substance -abuse problems, etc. They have diverse needs which require multifaceted services. Measuring the success of homeless programs requires an objective assessment of complex data and program endpoints. Fortunately, best practices for public programs have been standardized to require these assessments. All federal and state homeless programs are required to comply with the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), an electronic data archive. The Yakima Valley Conference of Governments, and their contracted provider agencies are required to collect and enter HMIS data. Despite multiple requests, YVCOG has failed to provide outcomes data for Camp Hope (Transform Yakima Together) since the inception of this program in March 2017. Without review of this data, the fitness of this agency to receive further award of public funds is called into question, as is the fitness of YVCOG to manage these funds. We view with concern YVCOG's recent withdrawal from the HUD "Collaborative Applicant" role, as this increases the risk of loss of federal funding for our community. We are also concerned about the unilateral suspension of HPPC meetings. The YVCOG Request for Proposal for 2018-2020 appears tailored to fund Camp Hope, a permanent "emergency" shelter which has no time limits on how long a homeless person can stay. This is not consistent with a goal of transitioning into permanent, affordable housing. Moreover, TYT has already violated their Tiny Homes contract. Their contractually required data is not available, and they created chaos last September when they submitted an application for a 24-hour shelter without having a building. If approved by YVCOG, their project will receive $950,000 or nearly 60 percent of the 2163 funds over the two-year cycle, and the majority of that money comes from the City of Yakima. 3 We fail in our public duty if we continue to passively watch misuse of public funds. We request that YVCOG provide the HMIS data collected in 2017, and delay further funding to any program which has not proven contract compliance. Sincerely, Distributed at the Meeting ql -b 1X Reconsideration of YVCOG letter On April 3, the Yakima City Council, approved a letter of concern to be sent to the Yakima Valley Council of Governments (YVCOG) Executive Committee. That letter is attached. I am not going to reread the entire letter, but will try to stick to the reconsideration proposal. Mayor Coffey has raised concerns that city council members, who voted to approve that letter, will need to recuse themselves from the upcoming vote on the Transform Yakima Together (TYT) zoning decision. That is a land -use decision, which is entirely separate from the administrative issues addressed in the letter. I have received information from the Department of Commerce on the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data submitted by YVCOG. There is essentially no data on overnight stays from the TYT shelter. This is public record information, which YVCOG took unreasonably long to provide. This is a contractual failure by YVCOG, and a failure of due diligence by the YVCOG Executive Committee. It is not entirely clear whether it also represents a contractual failure by TYT. It is possible that TYT properly submitted that information to YVCOG, which did not pass it on to the Department of Commerce. Collection and careful review of data is essential for evidence based decision making and to further the goals of the homelessness projects long term. It is inappropriate for YVCOG to make an additional -$950,000, two-year award to the TYT shelter if both TYT and YVCOG have not demonstrated contract compliance. There is also disagreement over whether proselytizing is allowable at the TYT shelter. Religious activity with public money is prohibited by the U.S. Constitution and the constitution of the state of Washington. All of us have pledged to uphold the Constitution. Some City of Yakima staff members have the opinion that proselytizing is allowed, citing RCW 36.01.290, which provides certain freedoms for religious organizations that provide "shelter and other services that are not being provided by the state and local governments". There is no doubt that proselytizing is allowed at the Union Gospel Mission, or any other faith -based organization which does not receive public funding. However, it is prohibited when public funding is received, as the YVCOG Executive Director correctly stated at our podium on March 6th. This issue needs to be clarified; my suggestion is that we get an opinion from the state Attorney General's office. With regard to the Open Public Meetings Act and the Public Records Act, it was my expectation that the letter to YVCOG would be on the agenda for the April 3 City Council meeting, with the full text included under committee reports. It was distressing to me that the letter was not included in the online agenda, or in the agenda available to the public. It was also distressing to me that it was not documented in the minutes of the April 3 meeting. In the future; I hope that we will work together to ensure that all of the official actions of the City Council will be available to the public for review. Kay Funk, 4/10/18