After yet another marathon discussion on the data center issue, the Marshalltown city council moved on to other business Monday night, including one item that hadn’t come up at previous meetings: support for the Central Iowa Shelter and Services (CISS) brain-injury informed shelter and affordable housing project.
City Administrator Carol Webb explained that the project is specifically catered to assisting individuals with brain injuries and other cognitive challenges. The resolution, she said, will assist CISS with pursuing grants, but it will not commit the city to any financial responsibility or a requirement to provide property.
Melissa O’Neil, the CEO of CISS, addressed the council and noted that several other leaders within the organization were attending the meeting. She credited Beverly Iverson and her family for calling 15 months ago and getting the ball rolling on an emergency shelter.
She noted that 63 percent of individuals served within the emergency homeless shelter system have an acquired brain injury upon entry to the facility, which often predates homelessness, mental health or substance abuse issues. The goal, she added, is to work proactively to ensure that homelessness can be avoided altogether and help people rebuild their lives on a temporary basis.
With no questions from the council, Councilor Sue Cahill motioned to table the item because she felt the council needed more time to get questions answered by the team at CISS.
“I feel that we have not gotten significant answers on how they interact in some other communities and how the programs go. This seems to be a pattern. I just feel we don’t have all the information in order to sign a resolution that gives support without knowing everything we need to know,” she said.
She wondered if other organizations assisting the homeless had been contacted as part of the process and hoped they could be involved in the project.
“I’m not sure that we’ve done all of that legwork ahead of time, so I am putting forth a motion to table this until the time when we feel we have the proper information,” she said.
Because motions to table are not debatable, it went straight to a vote and failed 4-3 with Cahill, Jeff Schneider and Melisa Fonseca in favor of tabling. The subsequent motion to approve the original motion passed 4-3 with Greg Nichols, Gary Thompson, Marco Yepez-Gomez and Mark Mitchell in favor.