By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
OLEAN — Olean aldermen voted unanimously Tuesday to establish a city Homelessness Task Force.
Common Council President John Crawford, D-Ward 5, initiated the resolution authorizing Mayor Bill Aiello to appoint a Homlessness Task Force.
Crawford called the resolution he and Alderman Sonja McCall, D-Ward 4, were proposing as “one of the most serious requests” he’s made during his tenure on the council.
The call for a Homelessness Task Force comes at a time of a rising number of homeless people in Olean, as well as a state of emergency over encampments of homeless in Jamestown, and homeless people sleeping on public and private property in Salamanca.
“I don’t think we know what the answer is,” Crawford said. But he said he is optimistic task force members can “exchange ideas and possible solutions.” The city is responsible, but the issue “must be addressed and funded by Albany,” he added.
McCall, the council’s Finance Committee chairman, said mental health issues, the lack of affordable housing, a living wage, substance abuse and domestic violence are some of the symptoms of homelessness which need to be addressed. Other factors include generational poverty and trauma. The task force should include at least one person who was formerly homeless, McCall added.
Crawford referred to a “real nice person” everyone sees sitting on a bench along North Union Street as residents’ image of being homeless. Crawford said that over the years, people have said, “homelessness isn’t against the law and you can’t force someone to receive services.” While that may work for a small number of homeless people, there are “residents sleeping in alleyways. There is not a simple reason for it. We want to get an answer of what we can do.”
Aiello thanked the council for taking the approach of asking him to appoint a task force to look at the homeless issue and make recommendations.
The mayor said Oelan didn’t have as many homeless individuals as some believe, but added, “We’ve got to get on top of it.”
Alderman Vernon Robinson Jr., I-Ward 6, said he was “happy to see the city is finally looking to adop[t something to address this issue. It’s a hard topic to discuss. It’s a hard topic to see.”
There are already a number of organizations and groups helping the homeless, Robinson said. The city should be trying to connect homeless people with these groups, he added.
The goal of helping the homeless should be “helping these people turn their lives around.”
Alderman Jason Panus, R-Ward 2, said, “It’s good to get on top of this now. It could be just the beginning.”
During the public comment section of the regular meeting before the council formally approved the resolution creating the task force, Stephen Cocca of the Olean Area Charter for Compassion endorsed the idea and asked that the group be involved.
Another speaker, Glenn Wahl of Salamanca, thanked the council for making progress on preventing sewage overflows into the Allegheny River, but suggested the city needed to prioritize identifying illegal hookups of roof drains to the sanitary sewers.
In the meantime, Wahl suggestd the city could do a better job of getting the word out to city residents to hold off on showers and flushing toilets during times of heavy rain to avoid overloading the system.
For example, he said the city could post the advisory on its website to avoid overloading the sewage system on other local Facebook pages and include the same message in water bills.
Also speaking was a Randolph resident, Preston Marshall, who introduced himself as a former assistant district attorney and assistant public defender who plans to run for district attorney on the Republican line next year.
Aldermen voted 5-2, with Robinson and David Anastasia, D-Ward 7, opposed, for a change order on the South Union Street project and inspection services by the city’s engineering firm, Clark Patterson Lee.
The city had initially hoped to have the state Department of Transportation pave the street between Greene Street and the South Union Street bridge, but the state nixed the idea and threatened to deny a construction permit if the project did not proceed as planned.
The paving added $200,000 to the cost of the project. The $62,500 change order and added inspection services boosted the price by $309,500.
Aldermen also discussed cleaning and inspecting the city’s two reservoirs on Mount Hermann. Water Department Director Brad Camp said he received quotes of $20,000 and $24,000 to clean and inspect the two reservoirs using a dover and a robot respectively. The robot would also provide video of the inspection.
Camp said while it is recommended to clean and inspect the covered reservoirs every five years, that had not been done since they were constructed 22 years ago. He said sediment in the bottoms was affecting water quality and needed to be removed.
