NEWTON COUNTY— The Newton County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to desk a choice on contributing as much as $15,000 to a jointly-funded warming shelter with the Metropolis of Covington.
The merchandise was on the agenda for Tuesday’s assembly, throughout which the commissioners spent a number of minutes discussing each the necessity for a shelter and their wariness of the proposed route.
Regardless of the tabling, the commissioners every voiced assist for offering this service within the winter months, however wish to make sure the enterprise is undertaken in the absolute best method.
“I’m very involved with us partnering with the Metropolis of Covington if we don’t know what it may seem like, the place these unsheltered people are going to be dwelling, what circumstances they are going to be dwelling in,” mentioned District 2 Commissioner Demond Mason.
Mason and District 4 Commissioner J.C. Henderson every defined that suggestions on final yr’s warming shelter indicated that it left a lot to be desired.
“It was acknowledged to me that they’d porta-potties out within the entrance,” Mason mentioned. “It was acknowledged to me that, in fact, there weren’t livable circumstances. It was acknowledged to me that they have been truly sending individuals from this warming shelter to a different warming shelter in order that they will eat and in order that they will take showers at a special facility exterior of the one the place the monies have been being spent.
Henderson, seeming to be acquainted with the situation, known as it a “little storage” off Washington Road.
“Some individuals advised me they have been getting sort of chilly in there,” Henderson mentioned. “We’d like for them to be someplace, however I feel it must be in livable circumstances. In different phrases, I gained’t put someone someplace I wouldn’t keep.”
Newton County and the Metropolis of Covington have partnered to implement warming shelters in earlier winter seasons. This included using the Washington Road “storage” that Henderson referred to, in addition to different emergency shelters throughout significantly chilly nights.
However each entities have additionally contributed to warming shelters individually prior to now, typically partnering with area people organizations or church buildings as an alternative of each other.
District 5 Commissioner LeAnne Lengthy introduced up this concept of leaning on the neighborhood to assist reasonably than making it wholly government-funded. She additionally famous desirous to see the present proposed website earlier than voting to contribute the cash, having by no means seen it herself.
Lengthy additionally mentioned that she had just lately spoken with a legislation enforcement officer who warned her that these shelters can entice extra than simply the individuals already within the county.
“He was telling me that now we have to watch out as a result of if the county’s funding these shelters, that they will carry individuals from Atlanta if now we have room in our shelters,” Lengthy mentioned. “And he mentioned, ‘You do not need that in any respect.’…They’re going to move Rockdale County trigger they don’t have one, in order that they’re going to return right here. They’re going to be dropped off locally, and so they’re not going to be picked again up.”
District 1 Commissioner Stan Edwards echoed this assertion, stating that the commissioners must go about offering help in an intentional method.
“I really feel like we’re commanded to assist the orphan, the widow and the poor, however I don’t assume we’re commanded to create an setting that might be unhealthy for all, much less wholesome than even the chilly,” Edwards mentioned.
With all of the cautious discourse, Interim District 3 Commissioner Andre Cooper amended his preliminary movement to approve, altering it to desk the merchandise till the board’s subsequent assembly.
Within the two weeks till that assembly, Interim County Supervisor James Brown will look additional into the matter and supply the commissioners with the requested specifics concerning the location and its traits.
“I’ve heard some considerations as nicely, however I do know we do want a warming shelter,” Cooper mentioned. “…It’s wanted.”
