Tim Ryan tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
Editor’s note: A longer version of this story will appear in Friday’s print edition.
City officials stunned a crowd of some 50 people at their Common Council meeting Wednesday with the sudden announcement that the council would not be able to act on a conditional use permit for an emergency homeless shelter.
It was the second time local nonprofit group Shawano Area Matthew 25 came before the council seeking approval to lease a vacant building at 213 E. Green Bay St. for the shelter. The building is owned by Shawano Municipal Utilities.
As the meeting began, however, City Attorney Tim Schmid informed the group and its many supporters that previous public notifications of public hearings and meetings regarding the proposed shelter quoted the wrong section of the city code.
“Because the notice was incorrect, because the reference in the resolution is incorrect, we should not act on it tonight,” he said.
The city will hold a new public hearing at a date to be announced ahead of next month’s council meeting.
Despite the shelter being taken off the agenda, supporters remained at the meeting for the public comment period to provide the council with details about the shelter’s planned operations and the need for such a facility in the city.
A conditional use permit for the shelter was recommended by the Shawano Plan Commission, but the Common Council denied the permit in May, citing too many unanswered questions about the group’s policies and procedures and background checks.
SAM 25 has submitted a new proposal, along with a 28-page policies and procedures manual, that seeks to address those questions.
SAM 25 is a 501(c)3 nonprofit group formed in 2013 to help those affected by poverty improve their circumstances and become self-sufficient.
The group says funding for the shelter will come from grants, foundations, community contributions, state and federal funding, in-kind donations, and volunteer hours.