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Mayor: Keystone Mission open nightly; council told Code Blue declarations no longer needed
Summary
Mayor George Brown told the Wilkes-Barre City Council that Keystone Mission now operates nightly and that the city no longer needs to declare Code Blue during cold-weather periods. He also noted a new men's shelter above the Saint Vincent de Paul Kitchen.
Mayor George Brown told the Wilkes-Barre City Council on Jan. 23 that Keystone Mission has expanded operations and that the city no longer needs to declare Code Blue during extreme cold because shelter capacity is available nightly.
"When Keystone Mission opened up 7 nights a week, 365 days a year," Brown said, "there's not a need to declare Code Blue any longer because there's housing for those people every night." He added that the city recently opened a new men's shelter above the Saint Vincent de Paul Kitchen and said Keystone Mission had been kept open 24/7 for 65 days a year before the expansion.
The comments came during a broader public-comment and administrative-update portion of the meeting after a resident asked whether Code Blue had been declared during recent cold weather.
Brown's statement frames city shelter availability as the reason for not issuing separate Code Blue declarations; the transcript does not record a formal policy change or ordinance amending Code Blue protocols during the excerpt provided. The administration and council did not record a vote on the matter in the provided transcript.
