'Sparse, spartan, cheap and undesirable': First Step Shelter thumbs-down $425,000 safe zone proposal

Ormond Beach Observer
News

As the anticipated Oct. 1 opening date creeps closer for First Step Shelter, the board continues to pinpoint one possible major component, which could affect the continuing financial support from neighboring cities. A safe zone.

Catholic Charities presented the board at its meeting on Monday, Aug. 19, with a $425,000 estimate to run a safe zone either in the back of the shelter building, or right up front. A security guard was proposed to supervise the area.

Overall, the board decided an additional $425,000 — which is close to half of what it is costing to run the entire $1.1 million shelter — was too expensive. Board member and CEO of DME Sports Academy Mike Panaggio said running the shelter should be the priority, and that they should focus on searching for more funding to surpass the 45 beds it will serve as is.

“We can’t afford this," Panaggio said. "Not even close.”

Board Chairman and Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry believed the safe zone could be operated a lot cheaper. He said the safe zone doesn't need its own security guard, and instructed Catholic Charities to come back to the board with a "sparse, spartan, cheap and undesirable" safe zone.

Port Orange amongst cities across the nation struggling to adopt ordinances that legally punish panhandlers

By Caroline Smith, staff writer

Panhandling, an issue at the forefront of Port Orange residents’ and city council members’ minds, is technically legal and protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution.

Port Orange isn’t the only city at its wits end when it comes to panhandling. Daytona Beach passed an ordinance that targets “aggressive” panhandling by setting restrictions on specific parts of public property. However, similar ordinances have been challenged across the country and have failed, according to Port Orange City Councilman Scott Stiltner.

“For the most part, we’re talking about public places, which means the public has a right to be there,” Stiltner said.

The First Amendment of the United States Constitution protects free speech, which allows for anybody on public property to promote his or her beliefs, including soliciting for money.

Stiltner said the perfect ordinance to combat trespassing considers the following: a person’s physical location and what the sign he or she is holding says.

Deputy City Attorney Matt Jones told the Port Orange Observer that any law that targets a specific message — such as panhandlers’ signage — violates “content neutrality.”

After the Supreme Court Case Reed v. Town of Gilbert, a case that “changed the game for the cities” in terms of managing panhandling because of content-neutrality violations, local governments were left frustrated with how they should go about regulating their local issues, Jones said.

Stiltner emphasized the risk implicated in adopting an ordinance that potentially violates First Amendment rights.

“I want to make sure that I am not getting the city, the taxpayers, involved in something that can end up in a federal court that’s not defendable and could cost the taxpayers a tremendous amount of money, because at the end of the day that’s who would have to pay for it,” Stiltner said.

Daytona Beach nor St. Augustine have had their ordinances challenged by the federal courts system, but the ACLU has been on high alert throughout the country to target cities that may be violating citizens’ constitutional rights, according to Stiltner and Jones.

“If [Daytona Beach and St. Augustine] get challenged, and they’re able to withstand that strict scrutiny and they win, Port Orange will have it on the agenda the next council meeting,” Jones said.

In the meantime, the city will focus on protecting citizens from harmful secondary effects of panhandling, such as battery, assault, and breach of peace, Jones said.

“I think it’s best if the public just understands that it is legal,” Jones said. “We have to make sure that people aren’t being threatened, that people aren’t being touched, so we’ll have to stay vigilant in observing and making sure that we don’t have any of that negative secondary stuff, but to think that you’re going to solve panhandling or you’re going to prohibit panhandling, that’s a no-win situation. I don’t think that’s ever going to happen, so you deal with the secondary stuff the best you can.”

“As much of nothing," Henry said.

The safe zone isn't a camp, he said. The homeless won't be fed, and must leave in the morning, thought the board hasn't yet hashed out the specifics on how long they can be there. Sunup to sundown was suggested by retiring board member and Holly City Manager Joe Forte.

Port Orange City Councilman and board member Chase Tramont said the more he thinks about safe zones, the more he's willing to go back to his council and ask the city to operate its own.

“That’s not how it was billed to the cities, but if I’m just wearing my First Step Shelter hat, that’s the only viable option," Tramont said.

He opposed having a safe zone outside within visibility of those in the program, and proposed it be placed instead out of sight in the woods behind the shelter, though board members said that would bring issues with monitoring the area.

Without a safe zone, the shelter could lose support from cities, Ormond Beach City Commissioner and board member Dwight Selby warned, as participating cities won't be Pottinger-compliant.

Staffing votes

Jane Bloom, one of the volunteers that stepped up after the departure of Ronald Durham, will now receive a $5,500 a month "stipend" to serve as the shelter's interim executive director of operations while she and volunteer Leslie Bonner go through applications and narrow down the pool of candidates to six.

The motion passed 4-3, with Selby, Forte and Tramont opposing. They said it wasn't personal, but they didn't agree with paying a volunteer that high a stipend.

“When you sign on as a volunteer, I think that’s what you are," Selby said.

This could set a bad precedent for other future volunteers who sign on for more work than they thought, he added. Henry said Bloom didn't sign up for the amount of work she was doing, and the split between the board caused Bloom to say she wanted to withdraw her request, as she didn't want to perform the role without unanimity.

The board wouldn't hear of this, and the opposing members reassured her they would back her if the motion passed. The board credited Bloom with the advancement of the shelter these past few weeks.

“We really can’t afford to lose any more ground than we already have," Panaggio said.

Since this was Forte's last meeting, the board appointed Ponce Inlet City Councilman and board member Bill Milano as treasurer.

Ormond Beach City Commissioner Dwight Selby and Port Orange City Councilman Chase Tramont. Photo by Jarleene Almenas

'Moral obligation to offer a hand-up'

By Tanya Russo, staff writer

Florida is third in the country for the largest homeless population, according to the Florida Coalition for the Homeless. Only California and New York have more displaced people.

Port Orange is not an exception.

"We’re not the only city in the country that’s immune to it," City Councilman Chase Tramont said. "It is a county problem. It is a regional problem. It is a state problem. It is a national and a world problem. It’s running rampant across the entire world."

While the homeless issue is "nowhere near as problematic" as in other cities, it is Port Orange chose to participate in the First Step Shelter, Tramont said.

Tramont, who serves on the board for the First Step Shelter being built in Daytona, reports that things are moving along with getting the shelter open by the October goal. The board has made great strides completing the project despite problems that have arisen, he said. The shelter is almost built, and policies and procedures are about 90% in place.

One of the discussions still taking place has to do with allowing a “safe zone” to be on the same campus as the shelter.

Tramont said there are multiple options regarding safe zones. The cities were promised that if they participated in the First Step shelter project, they would be Pottinger-compliant.

The Pottinger laws were established to protect the rights of the homeless.

If the safe zone is taken away and not allowed on the premises of First Step, then the cities have reneged on their promises.

“That’s no way to do business,” Tramont said. “However, if you have a safe zone on campus, then you are going to be diverting resources and focus away from the program inside in order to monitor what’s happening outside.”

Some board members considered having a safe zone inside the shelter building.

“I believe that is a colossal disaster,” Tramont said. “You can’t have salt water and clean water in the same glass.”

Tramont called upon his experience as a pastor with regard to a safe zone being inside the building. He believes that if you want to get people back on their feet you have to remove them from any and all interactions that held them down.

He believes that people who only want to go to a safe zone are not interested in getting their life turned around. He said that you can’t have them around those who are fighting to have a second, third or fourth chance.

"Bottom line is that with the success of First Step Shelter, it's an everybody wins situation," Tramont said. "Anytime you can put people back in a situation where they become productive, contributing members of society again, nobody loses. The bottom line is that we have a moral obligation to offer people a hand up from their current situation and give them every opportunity to be their very best. That's the American way."

Down to the wire

Though Oct. 1 is the aimed date for a "soft" opening, not all board members are sure this will happen. During the meeting, Panaggio said Nov. 1 is the earliest he sees the shelter actually opening. He said he's been there five times in the last week, and that there's still a lot to finish.

Catholic Charities' Bill Bernardo, who will be the shelter's operations director, said construction management said they could move in Oct. 3.

The board also discussed the language of the lease between the city of Daytona Beach and First Step, with Selby spearheading changes that will hold the city accountable for building maintenance and the responsibility to rebuild the shelter in case of unforeseen damages from storms and the like.

Also:

The board voted unanimously to buy a new 12-person van up to $30,000.
Halifax Urban Ministries announced it will be donating about 45 bunk beds and as many mattresses as it can spare.
Panaggio said he's working on starting a separate 501c3 to help fundraise for the shelter.
The board will pay 59 cents a pound for the jail to do laundry for the shelter until it buys washers and dryers, which could be coin operated.
The shelter will have a full kitchen, to cost $400,000 which Daytona Beach will front. The kitchen will be installed sometime in the first six months of the shelter opening.