Homeless Camping: A rolling moratorium on camping would have required the city to clearly identify quasi-allowable places for a specific period and offer a path to the “next spot” as one location’s moratorium ended. The idea wasn’t to “legalize” camping, but it would have offered pre-determined spaces where camping could take place.
However, at a work session on Dec. 8, the Corvallis City Council agreed to not move forward with plans to establish a rolling camping moratorium within city limits at this time. The consensus among most of the council is that the risks associated with a camping moratorium are too high, and that it would not fix the homeless issue.
“I understand that we have to do something there is not enough beds. My concern was that there is no sunset on the rolling moratorium, nothing has been mentioned, we don’t know how long it’s going to go on for,” said City Council member Christina Jancila. “This is a band aid on a bullet wound, and if that’s our intention then that’s our intention. No one has mentioned a next step.”
In a memo to council, City Manager Mark Shepard said that at this time city staff recommend that council not assume the risk and liability associated with a rolling camping moratorium and cease investment of staff and council time on this effort.
“Your decision isn’t because you don’t think there is an issue regarding homelessness, and staff’s recommendation is not because we don’t care or don’t think that there is an issue,” said Shepard. “You’re balancing very difficult competing issues and the risk issue is just too great.”
The proposal did not include an outline for management or insurance for the designated moratorium areas. “The city would place the campers, the taxpayers and the city organization at risk from a variety of hazards and legal claims,” said City Attorney James Brewer.
The council proposed that the next step for the city would be to coordinate with Benton County on a more ‘regional effort’ to address the homelessness issue.
Farwell Mayor Traber: Remaining members of the Corvallis City Council and city staff will gather on Thursday, Dec. 15 at 3pm to thank the outgoing mayor and councilors for their service.
Current Mayor Biff Traber announced his retirement after serving over 10 years as both mayor and a member of the city council for Corvallis. Traber said of his decision to not seek reelection, “It is time for me to move on and enable new leadership.”
Charles Maughan will take on the role of mayor after a close race with Andrew Struthers. For the first time, the City of Corvallis opted for a Ranked Choice Voting system. RCV allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference instead of voting for just one candidate. Maughan lead the race by 34 votes.
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