City of Ashland pivoting fast to find shelter space, says emergency management coordinator 

By Morgan Rothborne, Ashland.news 

The city of Ashland’s failure to stand up a severe weather shelter prior to the onset of cold weather was due to a series of pitfalls being continuously navigated by staff up to the present moment with a winter storm on the horizon, according to an email sent to Ashland.news Tuesday from city Emergency Management Coordinator Kelly Burns. 

A shelter that is not technically the city’s was opened over the preceding weekend at the Geos Institute building and operated by Southern Oregon Jobs with Justice, Burns said. Acting in her capacity not as mayor of Ashland but as executive director of the institute, Tonya Graham offered the space while Southern Oregon Jobs with Justice served as shelter operator. But the institute’s building can only accommodate 10 people, per fire code. 

“I am spending all of my hours continuing to look for larger spaces and managers of those spaces who are willing to accommodate the severe weather shelter until Dec. 31st,” Burns said. 

Tuesday evening a weather system driven by what’s described as a “bomb cyclone” off Washington state will send copious amounts of moisture in the form of rain and snow over much of the Northwest, with the coasts of Southern Oregon and Northern California taking the brunt of the incoming system, as reported by the Associated Press. 

Burns said he has advised Southern Oregon University, the Ashland School District and city department heads to “be prepared.”

The city’s streets department will be fully staffed through the night with four crewmen and their chainsaws available to clear downed trees while the electric department is also staffed and ready to respond in the event of any downed lines or outages, Burns said. Ashland Fire & Rescue and Ashland Police are also staffed at normal levels and ready to coordinate responses as needed with streets and electric, he said. 

The National Weather Service has issued an alert for the region, forecasting winds up to 30 mph through the afternoon and gusting up to 60 mph by Tuesday evening, according to its website.

“Gusty winds will blow around unsecured objects. Tree limbs could be blown down and power outages may result. … Winds this strong can make driving difficult, especially for high

profile vehicles. Use extra caution,” the NWS warning said. It expires at 7 a.m. Wednesday.

Burns said he believes the small shelter at the institute will be open during the storm but could not directly comment as it is being operated between the Geos Institute and SOJWJ. In a text message, Graham confirmed the shelter would be open this evening, Tuesday, with a capacity of 10 people.  Jason Houk, an organizer with SOJWJ, confirmed in a text the shelter opened Friday and Monday nights while efforts were in progress to operate Tuesday.

“We are going day to day. We are open tonight but have not got permission yet beyond that,” he said.

Houk made several offers in October to operate a shelter for the city, as previously reported by Ashland.news. The city initially rejected the offers with Cotta stating the nonprofit did not have enough experience as a shelter provider. In a Wednesday email Cotta stated the city had considered accepting the offer but neither the city nor the nonprofit were in possession of a suitable place due to fire code restrictions at the 2200 Ashland St. property. 

“The city has been trying to put sheltering in place since September and for various reasons have not landed on a solution. I did not fully recognize the complexity of the situation nor expect it to take this long to sort this out. This is done while balancing the other day to day needs and operations of the City,” she said. 

While taking responsibility for the lack of operating shelter, when asked, Cotta confirmed the responsibility for standing up the shelter within the city is balanced between herself and Burns. Burns confirmed the city has been working since September to establish a shelter and hitting a series of walls. 

It was originally anticipated the city would be in contract with nonprofit Opportunities for Housing, Resources & Assistance to operate the shelter beginning in November, he said. 

“Two things happened to change that. The third-party (OHRA) eventually declined (on or about Oct  24th) because their board felt that they were at service capacity in their expansion of OHRA’s operations and service delivery. The addition of managing the City’s Severe Weather Shelter was too much. The City pivoted quickly and reached out to other regional homeless service providers,” he said. 

It was then that Fire Marshal Mark Shay “clarified” the 2200 Ashland St. building could not be used as a severe weather shelter this calendar year. 

“The City does not have facilities to utilize for sheltering prior to January 1 use of 2200 so we are dependent on an outside entity agreeing to the use of their building as well as agreeing to work with volunteers willing to provide the service. Therefore, the City is able to stand up sheltering as resources allow,” Cotta said. 

Shay had previously stated the building could be used for a limited time despite not meeting fire code if the city declared an emergency, as previously reported by Ashland.news. The emergency would give the city 90 days in a given calendar year to use the space for overnight shelter.

“Because we used 2200 at the beginning of 2024, and used 90 days for 2024. What we learned is that other structures (that aren’t shelters) could be used for 90 days. We immediately pivoted to ask other community partners if they would be willing to offer their spaces,” Burns said. 

Burns said the city is now in negotiations with a third party provider but has not yet released its name because “while both parties feel confident that we’re in step with each other, the ink isn’t dry on the signatures.”

 “In the meantime, we are asking local community partners who are willing to allow their space to be a temporary severe weather shelter from now until Dec 31st, 2024. … If I am successful in finding another space (a larger one) then the City will be partnering with whomever steps up to manage the shelter,” he said. 

While SOJWJ is now willing to operate the shelter and could be presumed to help stand it up in the theoretically larger space, “nothing is certain until it is,” Burns said.

To report downed trees or power lines during the storm, visit the city’s service request page and click on the appropriate category, such as “storm damage” or “tree concern.”

Email Ashland.news reporter Morgan Rothborne at [email protected].

Nov. 19: Added information about reporting storm damage and downed trees to the city.