Mitchell Rowland / mitchell@chronline.com
Lewis County Mayor Ryan Barrett said the county aims to open a new overnight shelter by the end of the year after a months-long permitting battle with the city of Chehalis.
The Lewis County Commission on Tuesday approved two contracts totaling $230,000 for kitchen and bathroom trailers for the new facility, marking another step toward starting the delayed project.
The county used state Consolidated Homeless Grant funds to fund the purchase.
Lewis County purchased the temporary toilets and showers from Niu Toilet for $121,000, which will be used for both evacuation shelters and “people who are temporarily displaced due to emergencies or natural disasters.”
Lewis County Public Health and Social Services Director Meja Handren told the commissioners the units are a “cost-effective way to meet bathroom and shower capacity requirements.”
The county also plans to purchase a 26-foot-long mobile kitchen unit from Renown Cargo Trailer Co. for $93,800, which will “provide flexibility for people in the shelter as well as for occasional off-site use.” Because the shelter will be classified as an overnight facility, it doesn't need a kitchen, Handlen said.
“But to provide a service and if there is a catastrophic event where people have to shelter there for 24 hours, we are able to produce food there and distribute it,” Handlen said.
Responding to a hypothetical scenario offered by Commissioner Sean Swope about whether the trailers could be used to help in the event of a natural disaster, Handlen said they could be utilized for “people experiencing homelessness.”
“So it has the benefit of being multi-use,” Swope said.
An overnight shelter is a type of emergency housing that opens each afternoon and closes in the morning. It provides food, showers and a place to sleep.
Plans for opening an overnight shelter initially included opening a temporary shelter at 2015 NE Kresky Ave. (formerly Washington State Employees Credit Union) once the permanent shelter at 2025 NE Kresky Ave. was completed, but the county determined that using 2025 NE Kresky Ave. as the final shelter location would be “prohibitively expensive.”
County commissioners on Tuesday said the county intends to move forward with the plan despite delays and a recent Supreme Court ruling that allows local governments to impose stricter camping restrictions on public lands.
“We're certainly not considering not moving forward,” Commissioner Scott Bloomer said. “This is something that's important to the community and unfortunately it's taking longer than we'd hoped, but I think it's something that's really needed.”
Lewis County filed a lawsuit earlier this year after a permit dispute with the city of Chehalis, alleging that the city “intentionally obstructed the opening with an improper purpose, delay and improper means. The lawsuit was dropped a few weeks later, with County Commissioner Lindsay Pollock saying the decision was made “in light of our expectation of cooperation with the city.”
During the meeting, Barrett said he would meet with a county project manager later that afternoon to discuss the new shelters.
“We are committed to doing everything we can to have this shelter open and operating by the end of the year,” Barrett said.
