COTTAGE GROVE – Earlier this week, the City announced its new plan to transition its Douglas and 12th street shelters to a single 7 p.m.-7 a.m. shelter.
The transition plan outlined at the Aug. 12 city council meeting stated that transition day will be Aug. 22, meaning that all unhoused people in the Douglas and 12th street shelters will be temporarily moved to Lulu’s Dog Park to abide by the City’s new dusk-to-dawn program.
City manager Mike Sauerwein emphasized that certain aspects of this transition plan were purely temporary, like the City utilizing a private security company for 60-90 days to manage the dusk-to-dawn system to give City staff and Cottage Grove Police officers time to determine their capabilities in managing the dusk to dawn site in the future.
There were some concerns from the public and council regarding the ability for the unnamed private security company to adequately manage the site, but Sauerwein emphasized on Aug. 12 that the company has ties to Cottage Grove, and the City has done a thorough investigation into the capabilities of the company. He also mentioned that he would be going on a walk-through with that company on Aug. 13 to continue preparing for what’s to come.
And thanks to councilor Mike Fleck’s request, Sauerwein will be tracking the impact this has on City staff so there will be tangible data and additional transparency.
An unhoused man named Ken Eide, who was wearing a pointed red hat to seemingly mimic a garden gnome, spoke Monday night about feeling “really ashamed” of the City right now, claiming the City has forgotten the Golden Rule: to treat others the way you want to be treated.
“You’re putting 100 people in a dog park where dogs poop. Is that how you guys treat your people around here?” he said. “Because you guys may have lost your gnome.”
Ultimately, the City was able to make this decision because, according to city attorney Carrie Connelly, code provisions made in 2021 allowed staff to act without council’s approval on this.
