so it's six S I guess see four five six we got seven all righty so we'll call the meeting to order effectively call it to order at this particular point and uh first on the order is welcome and introduction and uh I'm Pastor may ring the Desert Community Church one of your Co co-chairs and we'll go around I guess with those that are visible and then we'll get the online would you there good evening everyone I'm Thea agnu Benben one of the co-chairs of the committee and I could just read through the folks who are online do you want me to do that Pastor May if you like I acknowledged him a second ago but if you like we've had some come on since go ahead um let's see Jasmine I'm here Deputy Clerk and staff to the committee great Asher hey guys this is Asher Harley representing Congregation Beth Shalom and junior junior I'm chief equ officer for the municipality and Celeste hi everybody Celeste with the Alaska Black Caucus great um Ally hello sorry my phone was not working um Ali Hartman uh with legislative services and Heather Heather Ireland with Anchor school-based Health Centers Great Matthew sorry Matthew's a really common name so I assume you mean me Matthew her legislative Council to the assembly thank you Joan hi Joan Ryan with anasis on the healthy and Equitable communi unit at the state of Alaska Pastor May introduced him so Felix hi everyone Felix AA and G assembly great and Taylor hi everyone Taylor Donovan with roap great and I'm gonna be taking notes at our meeting tonight just so you all know what I'm doing okay back to you Pastor me all righty thank you so much thank all of you guys for participating in the intros and what have you and uh uh uh forgive me but I'm I'm I'm familiarizing myself on the fly with team so yeah there's that all right we have the land and labor acknowledgement uh Asher is scheduled for that today all right um so we acknowledge that we gather here virtually uh today on the traditional lands of the denina people of upper Cook Inlet for thousands of years the deny of people have been and continue to be the stewards of this land uh this committee is committed to diversity and inclusion and it is with honor and respect that we recognize all indigenous people who live and learn in our community all righty thank you Asher for that and uh so with that we'll move on to unfinished uh business and undone finished business we have to discuss a debate for our committee work session in January and so uh I guess first off on that uh work session uh Miss Thea uh are you guys willing to host that again or do we need to uh locate the place to meet first off did somebody just put together mode on can we remove that like distracting me you say together mode there's like a can you see the thing where it looks like we're sitting in benches together oh no do I don't see that Okie do maybe it's me um can other people see that no I don't see that anyway see it either yeah I was I was I was looking at I was looking at Jones background and I'm glad I didn't choose that one cuz it look like we were the same place yeah I know it's they tripping me out anyway um we are happy to so so for those of you who weren't with us last um time we had a work session which was my goodness anybody remember when it was I don't know was it in May of 22 yeah it was definitely a while ago um we met at my office which is just right around the corner from City Hall um and we have a a conference room with a big Zoom setup so it's easy for people to zoom in but it's also a nice place to gather the downside though um is that it is not ada8 accessible and that was a real problem last time so I actually wonder whether what does the committee think should would it be better actually just to meet in room5 if we can get that room all my thought on that is if that was possible that would be awesome but uh would that work uh on a Saturday is like when we nor had the last one or would we want to change days yeah I guess that's a good question too is it better to do it on the weekend like we did last time or is it better for people to do it in the evening so I I've got my hand up here um this is Celeste and I'm just wondering I think that if we do it during the work day we're going to lose Community folks because a lot can't participate during the day because they work um so depending on what the the outcome is that we're trying to achieve and the other thing is I was wondering um if there might be an opportunity to host it maybe in the the mayor's conference room if it were uh to be held at City Hall um and Junior's on here so just a thought thanks I think junior is here actually um and Celeste I was suggesting either a weekend or an evening do you have a preference between those two I oh I think um the weekend would be better unfortunately yeah yeah we had a we had I guess a full day session the last one so weekend probably would be more productive and uh what conference room was that I was wondering if Junior might be able to get the mayor's conference room they have technology and all of that other stuff up there plus they have plenty of space and parking okay and you know the uh is that a different local from where we normally need in 155 that would be Junior's on here junior um but it would be on the eighth floor in the eighth floor oh okay well I guess according with the was asking a minute ago maybe we first need to ascertain and I don't know Jasmine if you can weigh in on that is is the weekend available in our normal meeting area I can check up here in the mayor's office if that off is available okay well uh since you've been asked about it maybe we'll uh wait to see what the response is and then go forward what do the rest of you think Thea any thoughts yeah I guess I'm curious Jasmine is the weekend an option for City Hall I'll have to double check I'm actually not sure because I I don't know if we have um remember Rivera do you know if we've had any on the weekend before I know I've had meetings at City Hall on the weekend before but if we're talking about like official committee meetings no that's not something that we've done doesn't mean we can't okay but you think like the building would be available potentially on the weekend uh so uh most of us either on the assembly or at the clerk's office would be have access and we would just need to let people in so there there's not public access on the weekend um the only thing is probably Staffing uh we'd had to figure that out if you wanted to have a meeting on the weekend okay and I don't think we had last time we did public notice it but I don't think we had any stopping does that seem is that corre that that's pretty much my memory as well didn't necessarily have Staffing but we did public notice it and uh you guys uh well you were taking notes uh at the at at that particular meeting and Shel facilitated facilitated right yeah so I don't know if we would necessarily have Staffing but we would need access yep and so and and Technology right yeah that's always a little bit of a challenge too so um if we were thinking January which is what we had um said earlier I'm assuming we'd want to avoid the first weekend because um school doesn't get back in session till January 8th this year so people might still be out of town so um and then we've got mert Luther King celebration on January 21st and 22nd is that correct uh 14th and 15th 14th and 15th okay and so 20 I got it yeah 20th 27th either of those may be the best options yep that sounds right to me too so for those present which of those should we do a show a hands um of who who January 20th is better for Thea okay I'm sorry Pastor May because you're chairing not you Thea okay pastor may he so I'm I'm wondering I know we said we didn't want to do the weekend before MLK but you know we always host like the MLK weekend uh celebration or what this could actually be linked into an MLK event so the equity committee hosts their dot dot dot I mean just just sharing that looks like the I I can run the machine if you want me to let people in I think Jasmine's doing it actually okay yeah yep um Celeste are you thinking then that it would be more of a public I mean because I I think the idea you know it is publicly noticed so we certainly can invite people to participate and and we could set the agenda up for getting more Community input if people thought that was a good idea I mean I like that idea is that what you're suggesting yeah I'll wait for pastor May CU well I was about to say personally for me I would not like that weekend because we have a lot you know going on and uh uh even even planning some things leading up to the weekend and uh so and then having that uh big day on that Sunday day it for me it would not be optimal but I mean I would I would whatever the group would decide would be you know we make happen but if we went with the 20th we could still invite people at the Martin Luther King celebrations yeah get publicize it okay so are we back to 20th or 27th yeah and uh anybody else want to weigh in on it okay not hearing anyone so either one of those two dates work for the majority anybody have an issue with the 20th or the 27th and our our regular meeting would be on the 20 5th uh I'm thinking the last Thursday of the month that would be the 25th for our regular committee meeting and uh I guess the close proximity to that could be a plus or minus uh would you guys want it uh closer to that or a little sooner and that would determine whether we did it the 20th or the 27th because if we had our regular meeting on 25th are you going to want to do a a day meeting on the 27th so the 20th might be might be most optimal that's my thinking on it yeah Jasmine can you just confirm for January would our regular meeting be the 18th or the 25th let me double check real quick because it'll be the 4th Thursday okay it looks like it's like in this month it's this month it's the third oh we moved it we changed it right changed December also got it okay that's why I'm confused sorry about that so yeah it would be the 25th so that could be nice if we did the work session and then we're able to kind of confirm what we're doing in the next meeting so we thinking the 20th should we wait um to see Junior do you want to check on both those dates and see if one works better I can in group chat that'll be great you broke up on on part of that would you repeat that Jim yes if you can send me those dates that'd be great I'll check on it okay all righty so that'll be January 20th and 27th and see which one works best all right thank you for your willingness to check up on that and uh time time or wise what are we looking at how long of a meeting oh you guys recommending because I think the last meeting I don't personally recall I think it was 9 to what about 2ish 230 yeah yeah 9 to two 10 to three something like that yeah yeah so we looking at somewhat of the same timeline that would be fine with me but but uh you guys what do you think I'll come this Celeste I'll come and stay as long as I can I don't know if I can commit to six five or six hours yeah but you know even if it was 10 to two that'd be like a 4 Hour deal with a break for lunch or something like that anybody else y'all live the group today all righty okay we're looking to that we'll wait to see what what dates work best for the building wise with Mr am checking on that and uh I think we can think in terms of maybe 10 to two on whichever date it is and that would uh get us going forward uh for for the January work session and uh with the culmination of this Falls uh I guess budgeting process one of the main things that we talked about uh gender wise was also looking at the budgeting process and and getting in where we fit in with that as part of that work session if not the main focus all right any question commentary for that portion all right here and none we'll move on to new business you good Thea you good yes alrighty we'll move on to new business and any new member nominations all right not hearing any then we'll go to committee updates anyone who has events or things that are upcoming that we'd like to share and we've already talked about for one the uh ml K event that's coming up the major thing on the 14th and we're working on something for uh I guess it is the 11th as as well and we'll have more information about that but uh even prior to that for those who may have an interest and or desire the inter denominational ministerial Alliance of Anish and vicinity will'll be hting a uh Thanksgiving pre Thanksgiving uh celebration fellowship at the uh Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church on Sunday this Sunday the 19th at 4:00 at shallow Church 8:55 East 20th and that's at 4 p.m. all right anybody else have any updates Pastor may we probably could go to each person because um I'm I I'm sorry I didn't mention this earlier I just received word from Teresa Holt that she's traveling and the person from change lab is not available so we actually don't have a like our main agenda item we don't have a person for that so that's the disappointment um yeah so we probably have time for a little bit more from committee members and from assembly members if we want to spend the time there oh okay and uh again any any updates from any committee [Music] members so I'll go next this is Celeste so for MLK uh the Alaska Black Caucus is going to be hosting two annual events one is the m celebration at East High School on that Monday the official holiday and then on Saturday we're hosting again the Hoops for for Unity basketball tournament with kids and cops so that's going to be on Saturday um I also just want to share too that um we were just awarded $500,000 from the MJ Murdoch trust for renovations to the equity center so we are so close so close and I just want to say thank you to all those that have contributed thus far and um we're almost to the Finish Line thanks all righty good news thanks all righty and soel let just to make sure I got that right the Hoops for Unity is on January is it 13th but before M day sorry yes okay I keep turning my camera on I don't want you guys to get frightened but yeah yeah it's on um it's on the Saturday before so January the 13th at the uh Fairview Rec Center great thank you okay all right thank you good question what was that go ahead somebody have a question okay now I feel you were mentioned uh uh uh going through the road call the names whatever what was that is in reference to just for any updates if we want to spend a little more time okay feel free great um let's see I'll just start from the top uh um Asher do you have any anything you want to share from best shalom I've got nothing to share we just had a cool um uh it's called called Mitzvah Mall big kind of fundraiser for nonprofits um bunch of people were there on on Saturday um and so that that was a pretty cool event but no not nothing coming up great that that's a great event though thanks for sharing about that um Junior anything you want to share no updates okay uh Britney Britney you joined um after we did introduction so do you want to just introduce yourself and share anything from your organization of course um my name is Britney selt I work for cook andl Tribal Council um the only thing I have to share today we have hired a housing and homelessness coordinator to work for CITC and we're in the process of hiring a housing and homelessness manager um so I'll I'll connect you with who those individuals are um once we have more information on that great do we know your housing and homelessness coordinator maybe I was just looking for their name and I can't find it okay no worries great thanks for sharing okay let's shared allly anything you want to share nothing for my part thank you so much for checking in okay and Heather based health clinics yeah um October was super busy for us we saw 20% more kids than we normally do um pretty much all girls volleyball and uh definitely seeing an increase in the number of that are uninsured um which is concerning but not surprising based on um the Medicaid changes in the state and uh we thought November would be busy um but when there's not school it's hard to have school-based Healthcare um but I'm sure by the end of the month when basketball starts in the high schools it'll be a little chaotic um and um yeah I think those are oh just in general I think the district um and and other people can speak to this too but um you know there's just a lot of upcoming things happening with the district um in terms of next year having sixth graders in Middle School school where they are not already and then changing school start times and then the academy model um and if people aren't familiar with that or haven't heard about that yet it's worth doing some research on but I was in a presentation last week with the um Equity officer with the district and I really felt good about having her on board that that she's really an advocate to make sure that the changes that that are being made are Equitable and um so very promising uh so that's about all I have it's a good point of all those changes maybe something the committee could think about is whether we want to request a presentation from the school district about about that maybe in the new year um Matthew anything you want to share No thank you for asking okay app oh Isa sounds like you're about to welcome a new member of your family but any any any updates yeah just say yeah I'll be out for a couple months and I'll return back after I have that baby and um maybe I'll join us online but I assume at least in January I'll probably be taking a break um yeah the only updates I would say is that uh we um just completed it a process through CSS where we gave out um like an RFA a request for applications process to fund service providers for refugees across the city and I would like to report to this group that one of the things I'm really proud of is that we had some small Ukrainian ethic based Community organizations that have risen up in the last couple years and we were able to fund them for service provision and that's really important because we believe that in order to become a culturally competent City and provide good culturally competent Services we have to invest in those new ethnic based Community organizations who know how to best serve their communities and so we were able to fund two new two organizations new chance Ukrainian relief in a group called project Alaska um in addition to a number of other agencies that got funding which um I'd be happy to share if people are interested but really um we're excited to expand the network of service providers in the city for Refugee populations that are arriving and maybe just a follow on question where like how do you advertise your requests for applications they were posted on our website we have a quarterly Refugee Partners meeting where we told people in advance this is what's happening this is how it's going to happen these are all the areas of which we'll recruit and request applications we then held a meeting for people that were interested we ended up giving I think Awards to about eight or nine different organizations and um and then individually we also award funding to school districts we'll be meeting with ASD to award funding to them also so um it's all available on CSS website though the public process and we're closed for this year but we'll be doing the same thing next year great um that's great and if if you think about it maybe sharing with this group um about your process next year would be cool awes oh yeah that's a good idea I can just like when the rfas go up um and then people can look into them and see if that's something they're interested in doing yeah great okay um Joan anything you want to share um not really just unless it's gonna start hiring our first uh executive director part-time next year hopefully January February so when that happens I will send it here if you know any Latino or Latino that want to be part of and leses uh let us know so basically just that thanks that's great congratulations um Pana you're here any updates you want to share we're just doing kind of little more extensive updates because our main agenda item um unexpectedly wasn't able to make it so Han um not at this time but thank you for asking Thea great glad you're here uh Pastor May gave do you any other updates from you Pastor May I'm good okay and Felix will come back to you in a second with assembly member updates Taylor any anything from you yeah hi everyone um couple updates from rural cap um the first is we've been working with the community Through Outreach to help those who have been unsheltered for the summer move into shelter um but we continue to kind of work with those still camping to hopefully make it into shelter or expand shelter beds in the future um the other piece we have is that it's a really busy time for all of our housing sites especially our family housing sites and we're always looking for groups in the community often Church groups to um kind of adopt one of our sites for meals for the holidays or gifts and if anyone knows of groups looking to work with those it's especially um it's a great time to bring joy to those who are either living in permanent housing or in some of our transitional housing and how would they connect how would we connect with that opportunity Taylor um the best way to would be to email me and I'll put my email in the chat for it great sounds good okay was there anybody else I missed okay back to you Pastor me alrighty thank you for that miss the and thank each of you for your your updates I did notice uh back to the uh work session that Heather had put in the chat that she thought it was February because she had missed the ski scatter I do think it was earlier in the year than May anyway so I just wanted to uh lift that flag again but uh thank you for all of your input and Thea for you going going down the line uh I see how easy it is to get information out of out of people when you call them out out like that and I don't know uh if that's cultural or not but I would uh probably if I was in a regular meeting I probably would say we go home early but anyway thank you guys so much for your input it was it it was uh feeding us knowledge thank you all right we'll move to the assembly uh any assembly updates and I know we've got Mr Rivera I can provide an update yeah wonderful um so I'll provide two updates one on snow plowing and then uh actually three one on snow plowing one on the budget and then one on homelessness and then if folks have questions on anything else or on those topics feel free to ask um so I'll start with snow plowing um just say uh right off the bat that the situation that uh we have found ourselves in in the last uh couple of weeks has been totally unacceptable and um the assembly is certainly doing everything that we can within our uh frame of policy and budget to do what we can to rectify this situation um so we did add some additional funding for snow Po in spring when we did our first quarter budget revisions and then in November it's not going to help any in the in the interim but uh in November we're also looking at adding some additional funding for snow plowing when we take up the budget uh that won't go into effect until January um and then we've also been advocating to the mayor to open up the contract and do a wage reopener for The Operators Union which The Operators Union um they're the ones that uh have our snowplow operators uh in that bargaining unit um I don't know if folks know but if you do sort of comparative analysis of how much we pay our operators versus how much the state pays their operators the airport pays their operators and private contractors pay their operators we're like on the lowest rung right uh so it's not uh too much of a surprise when folks leave to go to other more high-paying jobs um aside from that the assembly is going to be having a special meeting of the Enterprise and utilities committee which is the uh that particular committee has maintenance and operations and Street Maintenance which has snow plowing responsibilities under them um they provide oversight for that particular uh division uh so uh that meeting will be in early December and uh essentially that meeting is going to be about what the heck happened which not not uh too too new or surprising because we had this we did the same thing last year after the snowstorms in in December we had the same kind of gathering of what the heck happened and how we're not going to do it again um unfortunate that we're finding ourselves in this same situation but we're going to repeat that and um hope that we can literally dig ourselves out of this hole um moving on to the budget so the assembly is going to be voting on the budget on November 21st so next Tuesday we're going to have a public hearing on the four items on the budget um so it's going to be a third public hearing the general operating budget the capital budget and then the utilities budget and then the um five-year Capital plan um so if anyone's interested in providing comments on those uh those are welcome um there are a lot of different amendments that are going to be before the assembly uh from homelessness to housing to transit to all all different kinds of things that uh we are looking to add funding for in the budget uh during the November 21st meeting so I will encourage folks to take a look at all of the Amendments that the assembly is considering they're on our assembly website and then provide any comments that you have either at the public hearing on the 21st or by email in advance of that um then third thing I'll talk about is homelessness so um the assembly took a vote on Tuesday to add an additional 50 beds to the congregate facility at the old s SWS administration building um so that brings it up to 200 beds there excuse me and um we've also been urging the administration to set up a warming Center sooner rather than later um frankly I've told the administration get one set up by tomorrow or by this weekend at the latest um and the Administration has told us that the the soonest they like be likely be able to get something up is by December 1st so um I continue to push the administration to do something sooner than that uh because we're getting our first real cold weather this winter uh this weekend and I just want to make sure that folks have a warm place to go who are unsheltered right now for whatever reason um other than that I think I think things are going smoothly for emergency cold weather shelter um we will have discussions if uh we need to bring up uh online any new shelter beds once these additional 50 shelters have come online and um we get a sense of the utilization of those beds and then that'll give us a picture of if we need to bring on on line more beds or how we want to uh change our plan and change our strategy so that'll probably be a discussion we have in short order um and again looking forward to whatever plans the Administration has to address those needs um I guess one really quick last thing is I will invite uh members of this committee to provide any uh feedback that you might have on the housing action strategic plan um so for folks who came to any of the events we had a really great housing action week and a housing action Summit and uh one of the things that we we spent a good amount of time on in the summit was the housing action strategic plan the uh we're the comments on that plan are due December 4th and then we're going to be voting on the plan sometime in December probably the second meeting in December so um if you want to look at the plan and provide comments it's Anchorage housing action.org is the website um that's it allight righty thank you Mr Felix for those updates and well needed and uh certainly with the uh pushing that's relative to the and the warming centers I had a question relative to those uh warming centers and uh basically it sounds like it's just a place where folk can get in out of the cold and warm up for a bit or whatever it's not a it's not a place where you know they would stay for any length of time just coming out of the cold for a bit and or how does that work yeah thanks so uh you are correct to that it is not a shelter right so it is not a place for folks to sleep but it is a place for folks to get warm to get food there will be meals uh at least as plannned there will be meals served at the one location that the administration's looking at in Fair viiew um and then to get connection to services so I believe um the the potential operator wants to have case management and other services there um so do do some of the things that a shelter might normally do but not it's not going to be a shelter it's going to be a place for folks to come in stay warm um during the the hours that they are open and I'm not exactly sure what those hours may be um but they're not going to be able to sleep there okay and uh one other followup relative to the to the budgeting and the vote said November 21st the assembly is going to vote on the budget and uh I guess the next opportunity to get in would be in the in the spring budgeting movement the res we talking about specific funding for this committee yes it would be in the spring when we do our first quarter budget revisions in April okay thank you yeah because part of our work session is dealing with where we can get in as far as the budgeting process goes alrighty any anybody have questions for uh Mr Rivera questions commentary there are a few hands up right now yes alrighty let's see here miss Issa I think Celeste was in front of me so I'll let her go first okay all righty yeah I don't know if you can see it but they have numbers one two three four so you can see who raised first okay as I for stated I'm I'm getting familiar with teams on the fly all right let me get the whole view here and get the okay all righty Celeste all right thank you um so just going back quickly to the warming station as we all know temperatures are supposed to drop to like single digits uh this weekend and so I'm just wondering if there's any reason why we're not able to get those warming stations did they share justify why that's not going to be able to happen till sometime in December yeah uh thanks so um from what the administration said uh they would need some time for the operator one to to bring forward a contract to the assembly for approval and then two for the operator to get something stood up um as I said I have um urged the administration to move faster and I've told the administration if that means they need to declare a civil emergency to move faster that that they should do that I don't know if they will they haven't gotten back to me yet if they will or not okay all right thank you for that and and um quickly I just want to follow up on the welcoming Anchorage is there any news to to that and um lastly um you know I'm I'm really concerned a little frustrated over the fact that um because we are not a committee because we are a committee and not a commission we don't get the same uh as the commission as it relates to Staffing so we have to find someone to take take the notes and you know and we're already volunteering our our time and I know the commission members Pro do the same but I I don't like hearing that we don't rise to the same level as a commission um because I think the work that we do is even more important um than the commissions that are out there that really don't have any teeth I'll I'll so I just wanted to share that and get that on the record uh thanks so so with regard to certifi welcoming um I will say that uh junior and I are continuing to work on certified welcoming our timeline uh I think is still roughly the same we're trying to have uh a series of community convenings uh to to formulate the members of the working group uh and then uh finalize the membership of that working group or uh at least the initial membership of that working group I should say and then um call a first meeting for January and then do all of the like paperwork initial intake all that kind of stuff uh in mid December so we're still on that timeline as as far as I know if that changes I'll let you know um I know that there had been some question at the last Equity committee about um for members of the working group about any possible stiens and I am working that issue through assembly Council and assembly leadership and our budget analyst to see if that's something that uh is possible um just to followup real quick um it's it's not even about the stiens it's about paying somebody to do this work and um I I just think after taking notes from the last me I know Thea is really good at it she she does it all the but she's still doing a job and and I know she probably would not accept uh um funding for it but I just I just want to make sure that you know we we know that this uh Equity work is is something that takes a lot of time and energy and it takes it it's exhaustive work and it's not like we do it for fun and so um I I I just didn't appreciate the fact that we unlike commissions and some of the other groups within the municipality they have funding to pay their folks to take notes and and things and but yet within this committee because we don't rise to that level there is no funding for that that's all I'm sharing thanks thank you both for asking in answering and thank you uh Isa and Felix for helping me along with this process and uh all right Miss Issa yeah Felix I just have a question about numbers I I mean it it seems like we're here and we're shocked we need 50 more beds and we're here and we're shocked we need a warming Center and yet all the numbers seem to indicate even as a person not sitting in every meeting that clearly the need was going to be greater than what the capacity was can you re explain to me again the process the assembly and the mayor's office is using to keep reaching numbers that do not seem realistic to the individuals experiencing homelessness in our community and then we get 3et of snow and suddenly it becomes an emergency and I know I know the assembly is working hard to stop getting us out of this chaos of like emergency response but I mean the writing is on the wall and yet we still seem shocked every time that there's not enough beds and I know that not everyone who's on that list is going to take a bed necessarily or they may not take a shelter bed but they would take a hotel and there's of course variance to this but that numbers seem so off to me from the beginning can you just re explain to me the process you all use and then what logic you use then as you continue through the rest of this winter to problem solve to make sure people are not outside dying in our streets yeah sure so first uh I will say um when it comes to warming areas that that is not shocking news I have been asking the administration to come up with a plan for warming areas for months now quite literally and um it wasn't until last week that I heard the administration was going to come up with a plan for warming so um I think there's separation between the shelter and then the warming because that's we've been talking about that for a long time um so when it comes to shelter uh essentially the the methodology that was used um we were given a number of unsheltered individuals um that was both confirmed um multiple times by The Anchor Health Department and the inor coalition to end homelessness of about 750 unsheltered individuals during the summer um and so we use that as a planning number for um how many shelter beds we may uh need in terms of emergency cold weather shelter uh we took that 750 and we subtracted any known uh of housing coming online or other things that are happening um natural outflow those kinds of things and um ended up with a number of 450 um that I had suggested um as the number that we go with um the that number 450 was affirmed by both the Anchorage coalition to end homelessness and the Anchorage health department at some point the an Department U decided to move that number down to 400 um and I don't really recall what their rationale was that's just an argument that they made um and then uh the anger Department then came up with a plan and that plan included the two non- congregate shelters and the one congregate shelter uh at roughly 374 and 150 I think were the number so 524 I think if I'm doing all that math correctly um shelter beds um and then essentially what any healthy shelter system will do is it will look at the utilization rate of shelter and once we get to like a certain peak of utilization which is for us is like around 90% that's the number that we've been using then we take a look at our system and we add more shelter beds to it um and so that's what that's what we did on Tuesday we got that 90% utilization we added more shelter beds to it if we achieve another 90% utilization then um we will look at adding additional shelter beds and I've already ask the administration that please have that plan ready for us um if we need to activate those additional shelter beds um and we'll see if they actually do have a plan ready um I think between the the shelter beds that we have online plus maybe an additional 50 shelter beds plus the warming areas that we have uh coming online which I'm hoping the administration will bring online at least three warming areas one in downtown one in Midtown and possibly one in either Mountain View or Russian Jack area um so those are the three that I'm hoping they stand up I think once we have all of that stood up which should have been stood up by now but that's not where we are then I think we'll have a a healthy system that will meet the need in our community and then I think really next year it's all about how we can get ourselves um stood up even earlier uh than we have in the past CU now it shouldn't take that long right we've done this now a few times so this shouldn't be a lengthy deliberative process it should be okay copy paste let's reach out to the hotel see if they're interested in doing it let's let's get a sense of the real numbers and I think we're M we're much more able to get a sense of the real numbers now that we've invested heavily in Outreach which is really important to get a sense of good real data um and next year I think we can and hopefully by next year also we will have a permanent year round l b your shelter online before October so that'll help take away some of the stress from emergency shelter Al righty thank you for the response and uh I'm looking at the Q and I think we have theia is next thank you um Felix you just basically at the end there started to address the question I was going to ask um before the pandemic we used to have year round low barrier shelter uh at Brother Francis it wasn't totally adequate by any means but it was there um and of course Covenant House has you know also met the need for year round shelter for a long time for younger people um can you just tell us a little bit more about getting back to year round shelter um and I just want to say many people died this summer unsheltered like I think we have this idea that people are more more vulnerable in the winter and of course right now yeah okay but lots of people died this summer so I don't know that I I I feel like it's almost like this thing we tell ourselves so that we don't have to pay year round and I know we don't have hotels in the summer so it's it's harder but I just I I almost wish we could just get away from this idea of cold weather shelter and just have shelter that leads people to housing and it's it's always there yeah um thanks so um with regard to a permanent year round low barrier shelter um the Clean Slate strategy uh of the assembly it's a uh subcommittee of the housing and homelessness committee they continue to work through the process um the uh clean Sate strategy has been uh they started meeting again in October um they took a little break as the assembly was deliberating the tutor N More navigation center after that was voted down the clean State strategy uh started meeting again and um they are looking to get their final recommend recommendations to the assembly and to the administration on possible locations for permanent yearound lower Shelter by early January uh I think January 3rd is the meeting that we have scheduled to make our final recommendations to the assembly and the mayor and just for clarity are you saying clean State strategy or clean what is that clean slate strategy slate okay got you Al righty all right we'll move uh to next I think is Heather yeah changing gears um before the last or yeah the last meeting was just before a work session um on the issues around the April 2023 election and I'm just wondering if there's any updates there that can be shared I know some of it might be executive session type stuff but um specifically you know are any change to be made that might compromise um eable Equitable voting in the 2024 election uh thanks so I know that we have until the end of the year to make any changes to our election code I I don't sit on the ethics and election committee but I do know that um I believe we got a a calendar invite schedule today for a work session of that particular committee um probably to talk about any possible code changes that that committee will be bringing forward to the assembly but um I'm not engaged in those conversations since I'm not on that committee so I am not sure what they have discussed thanks okay all right Taylor yeah um thank you for all your answers answers thus far Felix I guess I just um wanted to bring us back to homelessness briefly and um I really appreciate what Isa said about it doesn't seem like it's a surprise that we're in this place and both um you know the numbers never seemed like they would be enough and um what theia called out about I think we're at 40 48 people have Di died Outdoors this year um and really just Center this conversation in equity of we know that 90% of the folks Outdoors are um uh bipac populations and of those deaths I would expect that a similar number or similar ratio there and um what is being done to ensure Equitable access to shelter both for emergency cold weather shelter but in future shelter iterations thanks so um our shelter uh our emergency cold weather shelter system um there is a um it's uh so first I I will as I explain this I will say that I am not a fan of what the administration and the operator did so um I will explain it of what they did do um so the anchor heal department and the operator um stood up a shelter weight list call-in number that um essentially folks could call in and get on the shelter weit list uh and then when it was time they would get a call and say hey your bed is available um the there are many issues with that but one of the issues was that at the same time that this shelter weight list was being populated which by the way if you actually take a look at the shelter weight list the shelter weight list includes a lot of individuals who already have shelter who are housed uh it was not a really good data point to use um it was an unrealistic data point to use to try to say there are this many un unsheltered individuals not the case um while that list kept getting bigger and bigger um the administration continued to go through with abatements and during some of those abatements especially the Third Avenue abatement there was Transportation given for folks who wanted to access shelter so there were people getting on the list for shelter then there were people getting Abad who were able to cut the list in front of the line on the list and get shelter then at the same time there were people who were wondering why the heck am I not getting a call I'm on this shelter wait list and then at some point maybe it was like a week and a half ago the Ang he department and the operator changed the system so that you can walk into our congregate shelter and you didn't have to be on the wait list all this to say that I think the implementation of emergency cold with WEA shelter was a was a confusing was a bit of a mess and it's it is not how I would have organized it whatsoever um um but that is what the health department and the operator chose to do um I think we have for the 50 new beds that were set up I think those beds and the system to fill those beds in my opinion is substantially better than the system that they set up for all of the their beds which was essentially they're looking at the list of uh the the vulnerability list through akas and coordinated entry and taking the most vulnerable people and putting them into shelter um and that is how they are feeling those 50 new beds and hopefully that's how they'll fill any new other additional beds that come online um that is how I think we should be doing it our most vulnerable populations should have um according to akhis and coordinated entry access to those beds um so that we can get them connected to Services moving on in their housing journey and you know in spite of all the negative that is the one thing that I'm most excited about for all of this work that we're doing for emergency cold weather shelter is really the focus for the first time ever on housing first for our Emergen of cold weather shelter system and uh the uh goal The Benchmark we have of someone shall stay someone not I shouldn't sh shall someone shouldn't stay for than 90 days in our shelter system at that 90day Mark they should be moving on to whatever is next whether that's housing or Services um and that's the first time we've ever set that kind of Benchmark and um looking forward to seeing how we can achieve that all righty uh thank you all right Miss Thea thanks for letting me ask again um I forgot that I also um um wanted to ask about the Barrett Inn or the place formerly known as the Barrett Inn what's the update with that yeah so there are a few wings at the Barett in one of the Wings has turned on um and is full to my understanding then um they're hoping to slowly get on other wings of the Barrett as construction finishes because they're still working on a few final construction pieces um and I think they're hoping next week to move some people in um and just slowly do that process until early December when they'll have everything open and and for those units they are using the coordinated entry and the HM lists yes um uh yes they are using coordinated entry and hmis um for that list uh and they have um it's going to probably be also a mix of uh extremely low-income individuals who maybe weren't sheltered or unhoused so it's it's going to be a mix of populations in there but yes for at least the unsheltered individuals and especially because one of the Wings is going to be reserved for the home for good program at the Barrett and so they definitely did use um those systems to figure out who would go into there all right thanks for all the responding and what have you and question asking anyone else have anything that you might want to ask at this point yeah I just have a quick question so can you just uh provide the status of the public bathroom accommodations uh if you're asking about the bond so it's a bond package that the assembly is uh considering putting on the ballot um we haven't voted on it yet we'll probably vote on it um I think we're planning to vote on it in December uh and then it'll go on the ballot for the voters to decide in April okay does it seem like the overall assembly is supportive of that um hard for me to tell because we really haven't debated it but if I were to guess Without Really knowing too much about where where the other members are I would guess yes I think it'll probably get on the ballot yeah because I'm very supportive of that um and it's something that is needed has been needed so just wanted to share that thanks all righty thank you uh so much I did see something come across a second ago I think that was from Miss Jasmine and making a notation that we're aware that the chat is not part of the official recording and uh so yeah I'll just make that uh understood all right any further questions for Felix Mr Felix doing such a great job in your you're responding and answering and we appreciate you in that regard all right if there are none other let me say that uh uh uh Taffy uh was uh I guess got in a little late I don't think we heard from Taffy and Taffy if you'd like you can are you let see yeah you're still here with us if you'd like to introduce uh yourself and if you have any updates we'll hear those sure hi everyone my name is T I am representing Pacific Community of Alaska um and no updates I'm just um shocked I I wanted to I I asked the question of where where did they pull their list from you know if it's not hmis why where where did they get their list um and who was managing the list um so just sad that you know the homeless population continues to struggle well there's it almost feels like there's just [Music] um barriers that like we can just you know like we can just like tear down and and create things that are needed but like we refuse to because there's like who creates the barriers and who creates the processes so it's just frustrating me right now so yeah thank you that's that's me alrighty thank you so much thank you so much and I'm glad you guys can uh hear me it appears as if my video is going haywire but uh anyway uh thank you Mr feelings in that regard then we'll move all right look like I'm back live uh P it looked like Thea was trying to say something earlier she had her hand up okay Miss Thea it was really just a pointed information so the link that I put in the chat and I'll put the other Link in the notes um Felix me mentioned the Strategic action plan for housing and as I look at it there's um quite a few actions in here and it's asking addition Ally for feedback to help prioritize the action so if people have time to go in and look at that and then send some feedback to the assembly I think that would be helpful to help um prioritize these actions just wanted to add that information there all righty thank you all righty I was reading the uh full note in the chat relative to uh uh the chat itself and it's not a part of the audio recording and questions and comments in chat need to be read into the record so that comment should be stated and not placed in chat uh thank you all right so that's a note a note to us in this particular particular setup that if we wanted something as a matter of record then it has to be stated all right than thank you thank you jazzz for making us aware of that all right and then any other questions commentary before we move all right I think we've had updates from all of our committee members updates from the assembly and uh smallest Board of questions relative questions and uh and answers to those and as we for stated for for those who may not have uh been a part of it our uh our presentation change lab legal analysis was unable to uh be a part of the meeting on today and so hence we had extensive uh Chats on first one thing and then another and uh so we'll we we'll move uh move forward with with our with our wrapup time and uh thank thank you guys so much for your uh participation on on today again we're looking forward to a session in January and we'll get a report back from uh Mr Amber relative to which day works best the 20th or the 27th as it relates to a work session from I would say 10 to 2ish maybe is kind of what we what we're discussing and uh I I think next meeting and and and maybe we need to have some discussion therein wherein would we like to refit uh change lab I think we had set up for our December meeting to Circle back to uh Miss Johnson on the homelessness issue in our December meeting and so did we want to push the change lab since we would be starting work in the new year with that did we want to push that to January or how did we want you guys think best any thoughts the as far as uh the homelessness issue following up I think we are in the meat of that so I think we need to keep that uh so I think the best bet would be to push the change lab and start off with the new year since we'll be working it from January to December and start in January if we can get uh the change lab legal analysis set up uh that's my thinking on it anybody have a different thought I agree with that anyone else all right not hearing anything uh my next question or two would be this do we have a one a volunteer for the land and labor acknowledgement for our next meeting any volunteer this is Joan I can do it all right Joan thank you so much for that uh volunteering on that uh and then another the other the next one is uh pending on on on Miss Laura's status since she had volunteered for this meeting and could not uh due to her her her workload and travel and what have you and maybe she'll be available to do the uh not taking minutes for our next meeting and uh if if that is not possible Liz volunteer for that in case she can this is Taylor I can take notes all right Taylor all right thank you so much and so if Lori cannot do it on the next meeting she said she would next if that doesn't work out then we have Taylor and if Lori does it for December then Taylor would you be available for January sounds great all righty sounds like we have a plan all right the you were about to say something nope Zach you're just read my mind oh okay okay yeah out of the mouth of two or three Witnesses everything is established all right thank you uh anyone else have any any uh anything you want to identify for questions to forward to the assembly or actions to be completed before next meeting I think we've kind of went through the actions that we need to complete for uh the meeting and uh nobody's expressed anything to forward to the assembly question Wives or items and uh if if there's nothing and then do we have any audience participation and I don't think we have anyone in the meeting that's uh not a part of the the meeting and uh would uh like to acknowledge again uh the the legal uh presence uh Mr hurt uh Matthew hurt thank you for being a part of the meeting as well and if there's nothing else alrighty what was that was that a response I thought I heard somebody say okay all righty and it was me also I just wanted to say um it's transgender awareness week so yes love yourself and just share love trans happy transgender awareness week and then trans um and then trans transgender day of remembrance is going to be November 20th which is next week Monday I I know that identity is having an an event so come out and support thanks all right Taffy thank you for the update and uh anyone else have something you thought of that you might want to day briefing all right if not then I would say Happy Thanksgiving uh to all of you and be safe on the roads and the streets and all of that and and have a great Thanksgiving uh celebration this uing week and whatever you do remember to turn give some thanks all right I say God bless to one and and to all and as nothing else we'll uh move for adjournment adjournment thanks so much Pastor May well thank you Miss Thea all right if there's nothing else then we'll conclude our meeting and uh blessings blessings to all uh be safe see you all next month thank you bye bye yeah