Dozens of residents, unhoused community members and service providers used the Arcata City Council meeting Aug. 6 to press officials to stop enforcement actions and clearings of local homeless encampments and to question the city's contracting and procedural practices.
Speakers repeatedly urged the council to end what they called "sweeps" of encampments and to invest in harm‑reduction services, shelter options and sanitation. "Stop the sweeps," several speakers said during oral comment. Multiple commenters linked the sweeps to a recently approved contract for outreach and encampment work and called out a $122,000 figure that one speaker said had been authorized for the contract.
Public commenters also named an outreach provider, John Shelter, as a key figure in recent encampment work. At the meeting, John Shelter told the council: "We successfully worked in many different areas without the call of law enforcement." Several other speakers disputed that depiction and said they had seen enforcement or loss of belongings tied to the contractor's actions.
Speakers alleged the city violated the Brown Act at a special meeting where the contract was discussed and approved without taking public comment. One attendee who said she had reviewed an audio recording of the special session said, "You violated the Brown Act of 1953 by skipping over the public comment section" and urged the council to address the procedural lapse.
Multiple community members accused city officials of contacting employers of people who had spoken at council meetings and said such actions intimidated speakers. One commenter said, "Mayor Stillman contacted my employer despite the fact that I did not provide my name nor my employer," and described that outreach as political intimidation.
Council action recorded in the Aug. 6 transcript was limited to adopting the consent calendar by voice vote; the meeting transcript does not show a new, separate vote on the encampment contract that night. Community members asked the council to put homelessness and encampment policy on an upcoming agenda, form a task force, and direct city staff to prioritize services such as dumpsters, port‑a‑potties, showers and wraparound care.
City representatives in the meeting emphasized decorum and the right to orderly public comment; a city manager reviewed rules for public participation at the start of the session. Advocates said they will continue to press the city for policy changes and for adherence to open‑meeting rules when major contracts affecting encampments are considered.