Legislature weighs Department of Social Services advisory board after public complaints about Code Blue shelter

Summary

Tompkins County Health & Human Services Committee heard public comments alleging shelter safety and service gaps, discussed two models for a Department of Social Services advisory body, and directed staff to draft a legislative advisory board that would report to the Legislature while noting staffing and confidentiality limits.

Public comment and a committee discussion at the Tompkins County Legislature Health and Human Services Committee on Jan. 15 focused on residents’ complaints about shelter operations and on options to form an advisory body to advise the Department of Social Services.

The committee heard public comment from Amanda Kirsch Gessner, who said residents using county shelters and other social services “don’t feel safer or feel like they’re gonna be listened to in places like this,” and invited legislators to meet with people who say they have been harmed by local care responses. John Gladstone, identified himself as a county resident and described being denied shelter after he and an 80-year-old man were living temporarily in what he said were technically “squatter” arrangements; he said the denial contributed to several days in the hospital.

Why it matters: committee members said they want an ongoing formal mechanism to collect resident and provider input before policy or budget…

Legislature weighs Department of Social Services advisory board after public complaints about Code Blue shelter

Summary

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