In surprise move, defeated La Pine mayor tables issue of homeless, wildfires for successor to take up in 2025
(update: adding video, La Pine mayor tables homeless-wildfires agenda item to 2025)
La PINE, Ore. (KTVZ) – “The city, after speaking with all of the councilors, has come to the consensus that it really doesn't feel comfortable discussing the homeless collaboration at this time. We'd like to table this,” La Pine Mayor Daniel Richer told Deschutes County leaders at a joint meeting Wednesday evening.
In the surprising move at the opening of a scheduled joint meeting of county commissioners and city councilors, Richer told attendees, he would not be addressing the first agenda item, which was addressing homelessness solutions in the aftermath of the Darlene wildfires.
Instead, he said, based on consensus from other councilor members, he'd defer the issue to the new administration in January, headed by Mayor-elect Jeannine Earls, whom Richer lost to on Nov. 5.
County Commissioner Tony DeBone, a La Pine resident himself, did not go for Mayor Richer's deferral. He addressed the issue.
“The east side of town is where we had a big fire earlier this summer. Darlene 3, Darlene 1, 2 and 3," DeBone told us. "But the big picture right now is, we’re practicing doing some cleanups and figuring out the culture of what's going to happen around this area.”
In the aftermath of the devastating Darlene fires, local authorities and nonprofits are mobilizing efforts to address the rising homelessness crisis, because the fire was in an area occupied by the homeless.
Asked if he believed the fire started from a homeless camp, La Pine resident Casey Carhart said, “It certainly seems that way. The evidence, I mean, the videos that were posted online and where that fire was started, there are homeless camps right there, and it seems very likely - that's very close to home to all of us.”
Deschutes County sheriff's Sgt. Kyle Kalmbach said they are dedicated to working with other agencies to address where and how the homeless reside.
“Let's get on the same page and let's start talking about things we can do, instead of things we can't do," Kalmbach said. "And so I think, historically, we want to point a finger and possibly blame the federal government because it's BLM land or 'hey, this is on county land,' or how that looks, when the reality of it is, efforts are there."
The issue is clearly a hot topic in La Pine, and is expected to be addressed in 2025 with the new La Pine Mayor, Jeannine Earls, who defeated Richer 47-34%, according to Wednesday's updated election results.
Other topics up for discussion Wednesday evening ranged from county road conditions during the winter to working together on solid waste dumping related to code enforcement and city-county collaboration on community cleanup events.
