Occupation: Substance use disorder professional/mental health professional

Relevant experience: Working in the community to assist individuals to lead independent lives. Networking within the City of Aberdeen and abroad to improve the quality of life for each citizen. I have worked in an affordable housing agency.

Describe your thoughts on the city’s response to the complex homeless issue, including its purchase of the S. Michigan Street property, its handling of federal court rulings directing the city’s response, and what you, as a city council member, would do to tackle the issue over the next several years.

I believe that the City of Aberdeen has been very short-sighted about the issue of homelessness and individuals living in the streets. The city buys the property located by the river that contained the original homeless camp. The city attempts to manage the camp, but the court intervened on the treatment of these people. The city then moves the camp next to city hall, but realizes that it was temporary and wants to develop a “permanent” homeless camp located on the newly purchased land. This land isn’t zoned for the use the city wants to use it for so a temporary use permit is requested to allow the placing of tents. On top of the above stated above, the city has to purchase new tents because the old ones are not intended for winter use.

The city has known about this issue for years. The spending that has occurs has been expensive and not very efficient. The purchase of the old river city gave the old owner a way out with the mess that he didn’t want to deal with in regards of the homeless problems. The city owns property throughout the city. Why would they have to buy additional property to locate the camp? The spending needs to stop until a plan has been made.

As city council member, I would encourage a work group that would address the problem of homelessness. This work group would include community partners and stakeholders. Some of the members will be social service agencies and other individuals to assist the homeless work in a direction for success rather than failure.

The city is moving forward with its quest for a city administrator. Do you believe such a hire is a good investment for the city? Do you support the idea of a city administrator?

I believe the city administrator is a waste of money. The City of Aberdeen has a mayor. I would support a mayor that is full time before hiring a manager that completes the responsibility of the mayor. I do believe that if a City Administrator is hired, that the individual works at the pleasure of the city council and not the mayor.

Aberdeen faces a lot of complicated issues in the coming years (infrastructure improvements, catching up with a constantly changing economy, lack of affordable housing, etc.). As a council member, what would you do to address what you feel is the most pressing issue facing the city in the near future?

I believe that housing is the most important issue that is currently happening. I am hearing from different people that rents are going up and they don’t have the ability to afford these rents. Affordable housing is an issue that isn’t going to be solved in a year or two. I do believe that there is a need to develop the housing stock Aberdeen. Aberdeen is home of a large vacant housing stock. These home are owned either by the banks or private individuals and are unavailable for sale at this time. Market theory states that you will maximize profits by keeping supply low. I understand that these individuals want to make the most on the sale of the home, but this practice leads to the lack of availability of home for rent or sale.

Let’s explore grant money for housing and ways to encourage developers and landlords to develop affordable housing. The city also needs to attract more business into the Harbor. Developing the infrastructure is tantamount in attracting new businesses in Aberdeen. If employers are unable to ship or truck items out of town or even in town, that causes issues to attract a business. Let’s take a moment to try to find a way to incentivize a business to make Aberdeen a place where you want to do business.