We’ve heard a lot about the Unsheltered Homeless Task Force in the media (and CityBeat!) lately – and specifically reports on an ordinance passed by City Council last week at the recommendation of the task force. Lots of good questions have been posed about the task force, its purpose, ongoing goals and how the ordinance is geared to help accomplish that. This week, CityBeat sits down with City Manager Mike Bailey to dig deeper into this complex issue.
The Unsheltered Homeless Task Force was established in October 2024, and members were appointed by the Council in January. What segments of the community are represented on the task force?
This committee was intentionally created to feature diverse qualifications and depth of experience from our community. The task force includes two City Councilors, a state legislator and the municipal court judge, but also includes community representatives from area homeless shelters, nonprofits and food pantries, a veteran who experienced homelessness, mental health professional, business owner, school district representative, law enforcement officer (member of Crisis Intervention Response team) and medical professional.
This is not a group who is uninformed about homelessness. In fact, it’s the opposite. These are people who routinely work or interact with our homeless neighbors – or who have even experienced homelessness themselves.
Why was it so important for the task force to include all these different voices?
In addition to guidance from our council, municipal judge and legislative representative, we wanted to include people who work most closely with our homeless neighbors and who are most knowledgeable about the issue. This task force offers a variety of perspectives and unique voices to help our community respond to the homeless issue.
This committee is rooted in compassion. That’s the first thing they talk about and, once you see this group of people, you realize that, of course it is, because that’s what most of these people do. They’re in the business of compassion.
What are the goals of the task force?
They have a two-part goal. One is to reduce the number of unsheltered people in Bartlesville and help their homeless brothers and sisters get out of homelessness. And then the other thing is to protect the community from some of those damaging effects of growing homelessness.
How does the task force use author Simon Sinek’s concept of “The Golden Circle” to guide their actions?
The task force adopted “The Golden Circle” model early on, which is who, why, how and what. Who are we trying to help? Why are they homeless? How can we help them? What resources do they need? Those four guiding principles are what has led to the ordinance and other ongoing efforts of the task force.
The ordinance that was passed last week amended Chapter 12 of the City’s Municipal Code which addresses various offenses. What specifically did the ordinance address?
Basically, the ordinance added to existing regulations by clarifying or addressing certain acts prohibited in public spaces, and how the City responds to those acts. The ordinance itself clarifies camping prohibition in public spaces, better defines the process for removal of illegal camps, and offers greater latitude for voluntary compliance. The ordinance also clarifies certain conduct prohibited in public spaces, including vandalism, destruction of public property and public indecency, and requires community service participation from anyone found guilty of vandalizing or destroying park property. The ordinance also addresses pollution or damaging of public water supplies, such as via washing of clothes in public water supplies, and prohibits and defines aggressive solicitation. (The full ordinance, which does not go into effect until Jan. 1, 2026, may be viewed HERE.)
It sounds like most of these things should have been crimes already, if so, why was a new ordinance necessary?
It’s true that many of the prohibitions in the ordinance already exist in statute or ordinance. However, this ordinance differs from those in several manners. First, this ordinance prioritizes voluntary compliance over punishment. It’s more important that the offenders take accountability and stop the harmful action than it is that they are punished. Second, this ordinance ensures that these matters stay in municipal court where the municipal judge, who is part of the task force, will oversee its implementation.
There’s been a lot of focus on the potential for a $500 fine for the homeless who violate the regulations and cannot afford the fine. How did the task force come up with this fine and how does accountability factor into it?
This ordinance is the result of a lot of discussion amongst the committee. The task force recognizes that we have to be able to help our homeless neighbors, but we also have to have accountability for everybody. It doesn’t matter whether you’re homeless or not. There’s accountability. We wanted to balance out assisting our homeless neighbors while, at the same time, holding them accountable for actions that wouldn’t be acceptable for anybody. That was the purpose of the ordinance. It was a really well thought out and compassionate piece of legislation.
The $500 fine was purposefully used to ensure that these matters stay as misdemeanors that are adjudicated in municipal court. Municipal Court Judge Alan Gentges sits on the task force, and he works with homeless individuals regularly in his courtroom. He works with them to assess their ability or inability to pay fines, and he has the authority – and uses it – to allow individuals to enter into a payment agreement, substitute community service for fines, to reduce their fines or to waive their fines entirely. The task force expects that this latitude, and other diversion programs, will be the primary method of obtaining voluntary compliance rather than the fine provided by the ordinance. To put it simply, we do not anticipate ever levying the $500 fine if it can be avoided.
The task force has conducted a lot of research in a short amount of time. What has the task force learned thus far or what data has been discussed?
They’ve done a lot of work. Thus far, this group has conducted a census so that they know who our homeless are, they know where they came from, they know why they’re homeless and they know why they’re here. Almost all of the unsheltered homeless people in Bartlesville are from this area. There was a rumor early on, of course, that they were being bussed in and that is not the case. While it would have been easier to solve this issue if our homeless neighbors were being bussed in, this just isn’t the case. In fact, over 80% of these people are from our area. So, they are our citizens. I think it changed the minds of some people on the task force once they realized who it was they were dealing with. We also gathered information from our helping agencies and identified the services that they provide and any gaps in order to identify what the agencies need.
What’s next for the task force?
The next thing for this committee is to focus on ways that the organizations can collaborate, determine where we have resource gaps, and trying to figure out how they can help each other. One of the big ones will be transportation. We’ll be hearing a lot more about this topic and how to improve public transportation. The committee was extended through the end of the year, and then it may be extended beyond that so we can continue to measure the metrics and make sure that this committee is accomplishing what we’d hoped it would.
It is a monumental task and I truly love and appreciate all of these people who have taken this on as their life’s mission. To choose to run a shelter or a food pantry or provide meals for homeless people, it is a calling and a passion, that as I said, I love and I’m grateful to people like that.