The Marion County Board of Commissioners meets Wednesday to consider spending federal pandemic relief money on homeless services and an emergency rental assistance program.
Commissioners will consider an annual action plan for spending $2.25 million of federal money on services for homeless people in Marion County. The plan calls for the county to spend $1 million on acquiring and developing shelters with private spaces for individuals or families, $913,500 on “supportive services” and about $338,000 on administration and planning.
The board will consider approving $3.3 million of federal money for the Marion County Housing Authority to implement and manage an emergency rental assistance program, with individual case management for households seeking assistance.
Commissioners will have a second reading on changing the permit requirements for construction or other activity that exposes soil. The threshold for requiring a permit would change from 1 acre of disturbed ground to 1/4 of an acre.
They will also consider buying 14 light-duty vehicles from Withnell Dodge for about $627,000. The county replaces vehicles every year based on their age, maintenance costs, miles driven and reliability, according to the agenda item. They would include including an an additional vehicle for the Marion County Sheriff’s Office’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion Program, which works with people who commit low-level crimes or have had previous encounters with police to refer them to social services they need.
Commissioners will consider buying two wheel loaders from Peterson Machinery totaling about $507,000.
No public hearings are scheduled.
Meeting details: The commissioners meet at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the Senator Hearing Room at 555 Court Street N.E. Anyone can sign up to give public comment in-person at the meeting. The meeting is streamed live on YouTube.
Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.
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Ardeshir Tabrizian has covered criminal justice and housing for Salem Reporter since September 2021. As an Oregon native, his award-winning watchdog journalism has traversed the state. He has done reporting for The Oregonian, Eugene Weekly and Malheur Enterprise.
