Making trigger temp lower would mean severe weather shelter would open less often, saving city money
By Morgan Rothborne, Ashland.news
A proposed change to the temperature threshold that triggers the severe weather shelter in Ashland is on the agenda for the City Council study session Monday.
Council will consider a proposal to alter the temperature thresholds to temperatures of 25 degrees or less for extreme cold and 102 degrees or more for extreme heat.
Both proposed thresholds allow for a shelter to be called due to other variable weather conditions, such as 32 degrees or less with precipitation, fog, consecutive days, or a special alert or watch warning from the weather service. Shelter could also be called at 80 degrees for alerts and warnings, precipitation, consecutive days or humidity, according to a city staff report.
Staff “recommends judiciously managing our resources by limiting operational days, ensuring that we are fully equipped to offer shelter during periods of the most severe and dangerous weather,” according to meeting materials. Staff also expressed concern about the city’s fiscal ability to stand up shelter as often as currently required due to extended heat waves in the summer.
The city of Ashland’s temperature thresholds for a severe weather shelter are different than “other regional partners,” resulting in the city potentially opening the shelter more often than those partners, according to the staff report. The city’s current temperature thresholds are 32 degrees or below and 95 degrees and above.
From Nov. 1, 2021, to May 1, 2022, the city of Ashland opened a shelter for 127 days with a total cost of $190,500. If the proposed changes were adopted, in the same period the city would have opened a shelter for 53 days at a cost of $79,500, according to meeting materials.
In Jackson County, 38 homeless people died from January to November 2023, according to Oregon Health Authority data. Of the 580 homeless people who died statewide, 207 passed in a facility of some kind while 395 were located deceased in a location marked as “other,” in the data. The “other” category includes those found on sidewalks, in abandoned buildings, hotels or motels, otherwise outside or in motor vehicle accidents, said Jonathan Modie, lead communication officer for the Oregon Department of Health.
In other council business Monday, Townmakers LLC will present its quarterly update on the Coman Mill site. City Council has requested quarterly updates on the conceptual plans for the site, according to the city staff report.
Council will also hear an update on the cleanup process at the 60-acre Croman Mill site from Planning Department staff. The update will detail “a structured approach to excavate affected soil, with careful monitoring and confirmation sampling to ensure complete removal of contamination,” from SCS Engineering, according to the city staff report.
The study session is set to start at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 5, in the Ashland City Council chamber, 1175 East Main St. Proceedings are cablecast live on Channel 9 (or 180), streamed online at rvtv.sou.edu (RVTV Prime), and posted online at bit.ly/coavideos the day after the meeting.
To view the agenda, click here.
Email Ashland.news reporter Morgan Rothborne at morganr@ashland.news.
