Mayor issues apology for city councilman’s comments made towards police department during last meeting
PASO ROBLES — Following roll call at the Tuesday, Aug. 6, City Council meeting, Paso Robles City Mayor John Hamon issued a statement apologizing for comments made during the last City Council meeting.
“At the last council meeting on July 16, one of our councilmembers wrongly attacked your character and dedication to duty while you attempted to provide the council with a presentation related to a proposed ordinance involving dogs in public parks,” said Hamon, addressing the apology to Paso Robles Police Department Commander Ricky Lehr and Police Chief Damian Nord.
During the meeting Hamon referred to, Lehr presented a change in an ordinance that would allow dogs to be in public parks. City Councilman Chris Bausch accused PRPD of not enforcing certain laws within the city.
You can find full coverage of the meeting at pasoroblespress.com/news/government/city-of-paso-robles/ordinance-restricting-dogs-in-public-places-repealed/
Hamon continued, “This unprofessional display of sole destroying remarks made against you was disgusting, uncalled for, and certainly not in the best interest of this city. Please know that I do not share that negative opinion about your performance or any of the fine men and women who proudly serve for the Paso Robles Police Department. I hope my colleagues will join me in condemning this accusation that you were subjected to and the remarks that do not in any way reflect the collective views of our outstanding police department.”
Bausch then responded, “I apologize if my remarks caused you offense, it caused the department or Chief Nord offense. My personal apology. Please accept it. Those remarks weren’t my remarks, they were my consituents’ remarks. They were from citizens of Paso Robles. They were not meant to be disrespectful. I take acception to Mayor Hamon’sremarks. I don’t think they were meant to be demeaning, they were meant to be observations and hard questions that ourcitizens asked.”
Lehr addressed council to say, “We all took an oath to serve this community and I know we all just need to work together to serve the community like they wish.”
Later in the meeting, council unanimously approved changes to an ordinance that addresses camping on public property and protection of the city’s waterways following the United States Supreme Court’s decision in the City of Grants Pass v. Johnson case.
At the end of July, Paso Robles Press spoke with Nord and City Manager Ty Lewis about how the court ruling will affect the city. You can find that article at pasoroblespress.com/news/government/governor-newsoms-executive-order-addresses-homelessness-post-supreme-court-ruling/
To summarize: In 2018, three homeless people from Grants Pass filed a lawsuit against that city on behalf of its homeless population. They alleged that the city’s ordinances against camping violated the Eighth Amendment’sprohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The case came after another ruling in the Martin v. Boise case. That ruling was a 2018 decision by the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in response to a 2009 lawsuit by six homeless plaintiffs against the city of Boise, Idaho, regarding the city’s anti-camping ordinance saying that cities cannot enforce anti-camping ordinances if they do not have enough homeless shelter beds available for their homeless population.
However, in June, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the City of Grants Pass. Now, the City of Paso Robles is ready to update its current ordinance to align with the new ruling.
The amendments made maintain and clarify that “camping or maintaining an encampment is prohibited in or on public property, including streets, sidewalks, parks, open space areas, high fire risk areas, and the Salinas River corridor.”
Lewis told council that while the new ruling is a favorable decision, he reiterates that the city has maintained efforts to clean camps out of the Salinas Riverbed and anywhere that creates a hazard.
“This removes some of the barriers that we face with Martin v. Boise and provides much for latitude when it comes to the enforcement section of this, especially with the inclusion of waterways,” said Lewis. “I’ve always said from the beginning, and I know that Chief Nord echoes this as well, which is that we are never going to be able to arrest our way out of this situation because there are a lot more complicated issues involved regarding social services, and drug addiction and mental health.”
Lewis explained that prior to removing any camps, the PRPD Community Action Team (CAT) notifies the encampments typically three days in advance prior to removing any belongings. This allows the camp residents to gather any personal effects.
Council agreed to approve the oridinance and their next steps will be focused on getting encampment residents ready to either enter a program that will help them get back onto their feet or moved out of hazardous areas.
The next Paso Robles City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 20, at 6:30 p.m.
