Milwaukie reports cooling‑center pilot, library outreach and county-led behavioral health projects

City staff updated the council on behavioral health outreach, an extended-hours cooling‑center pilot at the library, county-led stabilization services and a church-based warming shelter approved by Clackamas County.

Cooling center pilot and library outreach A city presenter said the library will operate as an extended-hours cooling center on high-heat days under a Clackamas County city‑led initiatives grant. The presenter said the grant was for $30,000 per year for two years (the contract and exact backdating terms were still in progress during the report). Staff used the extended hours on eight high-heat nights and recorded 72 total visits (an average of nine per night, with a high of about 21 on the busiest night). The presenter said staffing was provided by a mix of managers and other employees using comp time or overtime and that staff are exploring facility modifications to allow safer volunteer staffing on holiday or off‑hour events.

The city also described library-based social-services outreach. Since July 2024, weekly Tuesday outreach at the library involving Milwaukie Police, the city’s behavioral health staff and community partners served 78 clients; library staff logged roughly 60 patron assists and made 31 electronic referrals through the patron incident tracking system. The library distributed more than 700 water bottles since July as part of simple de‑escalation and care. A monthly probation-and-parole mobile unit served 13 clients, and staff reported 11 clients placed into housing, graduated treatment or otherwise discharged from supervision through those sessions.

Behavioral health staffing and outreach The report named Glenn as the city’s behavioral health specialist employed by the city and Don Holden as the Milwaukie houseless liaison working through Loved 1 (the county-funded liaison placement). City staff said Glenn recorded more than 400 engagement notes since March of the prior year, supported more than 200 new individuals during that period, accompanied police on more than 60 joint deployments and responded solo to roughly 10 calls.

Camping cleanup and stabilization center Staff said Loved 1 conducted a cleanup at a campsite in Cromer Park on Feb. 5 at no cost to the city and that code enforcement staff are negotiating an IGA with Metro to provide cleanup support for small cities. On county-led services, staff said Clackamas County selected Maple Star LLC (operating under a variant name used in the proposal) to operate a 24‑hour stabilization center and selected Father’s Heart to operate a 13‑bed shelter that will serve as the back‑of‑house program. City staff reported that county engagement on community‑engagement groups and program design had slowed after staff turnover at the county but that regular calls were expected to resume and a spring county update to the council would be appropriate.

St. John’s warming shelter Council staff said the county approved funding for St. John’s to develop an extreme‑weather overnight warming shelter. County staff will contract directly with St. John’s for refurbishment and operations; staff said the shelter is expected to be operational in 2026, subject to building work and operator preparations.

Council reaction and next steps Council members asked about the city’s response process for people sleeping in public right‑of‑way; staff described a coordination process that includes contacting behavioral health outreach staff, police and service providers and making referrals and voucher support to shelters when appropriate. Staff asked council whether to continue quarterly updates; several councilors suggested a quarterly or semiannual cadence, with more frequent updates on the stabilization center while it is under development.