9/26/2022
####################################
The Spokesman-Review
Knezovich fires back after criticism to clear Camp Hope
KXLY
The Center Square
####################################
The Spokesman-Review
Knezovich fires back after criticism to clear Camp Hope
By Quinn Welsch
THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich intends to handle the East Central homeless camp known as Camp Hope the same way that Spokane Valley handles homeless camps. A “hand up” not a “hand out,” he said.
“Are you giving them services or are you just sustaining the camp?” the sheriff asked on Sunday. “Providing services means you are actually helping people and getting them out of that condition. Giving them stuff to sustain the camp is totally different.”
The comments come after sheriff’s office candidate Wade Nelson claimed that Knezovich was “kicking the hornet’s nest” in the city of Spokane while “not adequately addressing” the homelessness in his primary jurisdiction, which includes Spokane Valley.
The sheriff announced his intention last week to remove the estimated 600 people from Camp Hope by mid-October. Knezovich is not seeking re-election and will leave office at the end of the year. He has endorsed Undersheriff John Nowels as his successor.
“My biggest thing is he is making it a personal vendetta,” Nelson said of the sheriff’s Camp Hope announcement. “You’re not even going to be here in four months. You’re leaving. Now at the 10th hour, you’re jumping in?”
Nelson supports removing homeless encampments in Spokane County, but said that the sheriff’s approach is reckless.
“We’re not building relationships, we’re breaking them when we do those kinds of things,” he said of the sheriff. “He does not have a plan.”
Jewels Helping Hands estimated between 400-500 people experiencing homelessness in the Valley, he said.
However, Knezovich refuted Nelson, who claimed last week that nearly 100 people experiencing homelessness were camped along the Appleway Trailhead. Nelson clarified to say that about 87 people camped on the trail were provided with a meal from a service provider last month.
“He lied to y’all,” Knezovich said standing in front of the Appleway Trailhead with no apparent homelessness in sight.
“Do you see homelessness?” the sheriff asked reporters. “The Valley keeps it in check.”
A group of passersby who live near the Appleway Trailhead told the sheriff that they had not seen any homeless encampments anywhere on the trail recently.
“The Valley does not tolerate what the city
See KNEZOVICH, 2
Continued from 1
does,” Knezovich said.
Councilman and former Spokane Valley mayor Rod Higgins said he wasn’t aware of homelessness on the trail, but that there are homeless camps in the Dishman Hills area, which Nelson had also mentioned.
This summer, authorities removed a large camp along Best Avenue that Higgins estimated held 100 people. Higgins said he is supportive of the sheriff’s approach.
“Generally, our philosophy has been simple,” Higgins said. “If you’re trying to get out of homelessness, we want to help. If not, we’d rather you weren’t here. You’re probably in the wrong place.”
The sheriff on Thursday announced his plan to remove Camp Hope by Oct. 14 in a letter he penned to the Washington state Department of Transportation, which owns the property on which the camp sits. Part of his plan includes providing bus tickets for the approximately 600 people living there so they can reunite with family for assistance. His letter also said he would engage faith leaders to help with substance abuse and mental health treatment.
“I stepped up and tried to help,” he said. “I am doing my last effort to help fix this issue.”
Knezovich said that he spoke with Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward and received her approval to go ahead with his plan before his declaration to clear the camp last week.
Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidl said he would be meeting with the sheriff this week to discuss the issue.
Quinn Welsch can be reached at (509) 4595469 or by email at quinnw@ spokesman. com.
####################################
KXLY
Posted: September 24, 2022 11:57 AM by Vincent Saglimbeni
SPOKANE, Wash. — As Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich looks to clear Camp Hope over the next few weeks, the chair of the Spokane Homeless Coalition wants him and others to see Camp Hope first hand.
SHC Chair Robert Lippman invited Knezovich, the City of Spokane administration and members of Spokane City Council to Camp Hope on October 6 for their monthly meeting.
Knezovich spoke to media on Friday discussing his plans to clear Camp Hope. Knezovich said on Friday he had never been to Camp Hope, saying Friday he does not usually visit “crime-ridden” areas of the community.
Knezovich referred to Camp Hope as a protest that has been going on for nine months. Come mid-October, he says he will cite people for “unlawful assembly” and arrest them if they do not leave.
READ: Sheriff vows to use bus tickets, arrests to clear Camp Hope
Lippman said it was unfortunate to hear Knezovich say “I guarantee the citizens of this community do not stand with them (Camp Hope),” as an elected official. Lippman says he also has concerns that Knezovich “would make mental health indications that are clearly out of his scope of practice related to the stages of change.”
“I do not fault Sheriff Ozzie for his statements as I’m sure he has an associated singular thought of justice being in law enforcement,” Lippman said. “Again, I imagine he’s cognitively trained to respond to behavioral circumstances that make him and the community uncomfortable as a part of his role. However, justice is not a singular narrative as he reported through intimidating communication tactics. Justice is distributive, social, and restorative but it is obvious Sheriff Ozzie’s cognitive impulse is to control by forceful maleficence. Sheriff Ozzie does not represent my voice.”
Knezovich referred to Camp Hope as a protest that has been going on for nine months. Come mid-October, he says he will cite people for “unlawful assembly” and arrest them if they do not leave.
“It does not meet the criteria that no one goes to jail, sorry,” he said. “There are some bad people out there that that’s just where they go. That’s what needs to happen.”
He also said he will offer them bus tickets and is working with County Commissioners to send them to a location of their choice. Knezovich says the State Department of Transportation should have done something when the camp was just a few tents. Now, he believes it is his duty to take action.
The meeting is on October 6 from 9:30-10:30 a.m.
####################################
The Center Square
Spokane City Hall Building sign entrance.
Shutterstock/cascade creatives
(The Center Square) – Spokane City Councilor Jonathan Bingle is gratified that the local ethics complaint he filed against Ben Stuckart was found to have merit, but he is still awaiting word on the same complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“I haven’t heard anything on that one yet,” he told The Center Square on Monday.
Stuckart, who served as city council president from 2012-19, stepped down as chair of the Continuum of Care board after that body investigated Bingle’s complaint. The board determined that Stuckart had violated the organization's conflict-of interest-policy during the selection process for a homeless shelter operator.
“It was the right thing for him to do,” said Bingle of Stuckart’s resignation. “What he did was clearly wrong – he was leading discussions about who would run a new shelter while working himself into a position with a $151,000 annual salary.”
He was referencing Stuckart’s connection to Jewels Helping Hands, one of last spring's contenders for shelter operator. Stuckart realizing a six-figure salary if Jewels was selected was clearly a financial interest that should have led him to recuse himself from the entire selection process, said Bingle.
It wasn't enough, he said, for Stuckart to have refrained from voting on the proposals submitted by Jewels and two other organizations. He said the COC’s charter states that members must fully disclose the nature of a conflict and “recuse themselves from discussing, lobbying or voting” whenever they or any immediate family members have a financial or personal interest in a matter before the board.
The COC board partners with the city to develop policies to help the homeless and distribute federal Housing and Urban Development funding.
Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward tasked that board with recommending a potential operator for a 33,000-square-foot shelter at 4320 E. Trent Avenue that the city ended up leasing.
Stuckart was unable to be immediately reached for comment.
This is not the first time that he has faced an investigation for wrongdoing.
A state auditor’s report found in 2021 that Stuckart, in his capacity as council president, may have violated city conflict of interest law when he allegedly helped steer a contract for a warming center to Jewels in 2019. In several media reports, Stuckart denied this claim.
In another instance in 2014, Stuckart was at the center of an ethics complaint and was later fined $250 by the city’s Ethics Commission. In that matter, he admitted to forwarding confidential information to the Spokane Firefighters Union amid a pending legal matter between the city and a union official.
The most recent complaint against Stuckart followed the city initiating a call for shelter provider proposals in early March through the Community Health and Human Services Department, which is at the forefront of the city’s efforts to address issues of housing and homelessness.
Woodward announced in April that she had to restart the selection process for applicants. She said that was necessary to avoid any appearance of unfairness.
In addition to Stuckart’s actions, she said confidential information about the three applicants had been publicly shared. City Council President Breean Beggs said he obtained the applications from the COC board and then forwarded that information via email to city staff and council members for review before an upcoming meeting.
“To the best of my knowledge, the proposals were not confidential when I received them or when I forwarded them to council,” Beggs told The Center Square. “City council is the final decisionmaker for approving an operator contract, and if anyone has access to the actual proposals, it should be us.”
A complaint was filed against Beggs with the Spokane Ethics Commission in May by retired pathologist Tom Bassler of Spokane. The commission determined in June that the complaint should move forward.
Assistant City Attorney Sam Faggiano was out of the office Monday and unable to be reached about the status of that complain.
The commission is the arm of the city charged with holding public employees and government leaders accountable for improprieties.
Bassler said he filed the complaint because city law requires that council members be held to a strict code of ethics, uphold the highest standards of responsibility, and be above even the appearance of unethical conduct.”
Bassler said he was “inspired” to take action after Bingle filed the ethics complaint against Stuckart.