I’ve been tracking the city council’s homeless encampment legislation for a while now, and it passed out of committee earlier this week. They’re not sending it straight to full council for a vote; instead, they’re waiting a bit to see what the city learns from the Nickelsville outreach work coming up over the summer before they introduce it to the rest of the council.
I couldn’t watch the meeting because it’s SECB meeting season. But what was most striking about the vote, I heard later from various people in City Hall, was that council member Bruce Harrell left the meeting before the vote. This, despite being engaged in the conversation, and introducing and debating amendments.
Publicola had a writeup of the meeting that includes amendments made it into the final bill. They also noted Harrell’s absence. Publicola’s Erica Barnett said in her post that she’d reached out to ask Harrell why he left, but there was no update.
So I called Harrell’s office to find out what happened. His aides explained that he’d had a family emergency that called him away from City Hall, and that he’d left all his stuff behind and rushed away. They also say they told Barnett that, but it appears that somehow hasn’t made it into an update on the story.
As to how he would’ve voted or will vote in full council? I’m waiting to hear back from the council member himself on that. (And when I do, I’ll update this post.)
UPDATE 4:13 p.m.: Just heard from Barnett, who says she’s checked in with Harrell’s office about the matter and that, while they say they called her, she doesn’t have a message from them anywhere. Chalk this one up to whatever you want—neither of us seems to have heard back on the real issue, which is where he stands on the bill.