MELISSA ADAMS

WHEELING – The city of Wheeling no longer has a homeless liaison on its staff, and the position is not expected to be filled before the new city council takes the reins in the coming weeks – if it is filled in the future at all.

Melissa Adams was hired by the current Wheeling City Council in 2021 in an effort to help address what has been an ongoing dilemma with a growing homeless population in the city. She had been praised for her efforts in bringing a number of service agencies together and with her involvement in establishing The Life Hub – which has operated the winter freeze shelter for the homeless and has continued taking steps toward its long-term goal of establishing a year-round, low-barrier homeless shelter in Wheeling.

Following the closure of the winter shelter, Adams took time off and had been on leave for a number of weeks. On Thursday, Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron said that Adams had issued her resignation from the Homeless Liaison position.

“Melissa resigned last week,” Herron said. “She is no longer employed with the city.”

Adams was contacted late Thursday night and said her departure from the Homeless Liaison position does not derail her passion to continue working with a number of the local service organizations and helping individuals in the homeless community work to find a better life.

“My decision to resign was not one that was taken lightly,” Adams said. “After choosing to take time off to focus on what was best, it became clear that it was the right choice. I am thankful for the opportunity to work at the city level and what I learned about city government along the way.”

Adams said her passion to work alongside individuals experiencing homelessness began many years ago, long before she took this position with the city.

“My heart will always be towards helping heal those who have experienced unimaginable trauma and to witness the freedom one receives from breaking free from their addictions,” she said. “Being homeless does not define a person, it is not a personality trait, it is a situation someone finds themselves in. One that can easily happen to anyone.”

Adams said she was unsure of her next career move, but hoped to continue prioritizing efforts to help people who need it the most.

“I will never turn my back on the homeless community and will volunteer with Street Moms, Catholic Charities and continue to support my dream of seeing The Life Hub come to its full potential,” she said.

Herron said the city administration had not advertised for a replacement and was not expected to do so, as the position was designed to “sunset” this fall – or become nullified unless the new city council chose to continue it.

The creation of the Homeless Liaison Position was somewhat controversial from the start, as the current council approved the position by a split vote of 4-3. The job was described as a Function Zero Homeless Liaison, with officials hoping the post could be a catalyst to bring local service agencies on the same page toward a common goal of reducing the number of homeless people in the community.

Officials agreed to have the position “sunset” after three years in order to gauge its effectiveness and to let the next council make the decision of whether or not to continue it, make it permanent or nullify it. The new city council will be sworn in for four-year terms beginning July 1. The position of Homeless Liaison is expected to “sunset” in October.

Three of the four current council members who voted to approve the position – Mayor Glenn Elliott, Vice Mayor Chad Thalman and Councilor Rosemary Ketchum – will not be serving in the next city council, as Elliott has to step down from the mayor’s post because of term limits and both Thalman and Ketchum ran for mayor in the recent municipal election, but fell short.

The only current councilman who won re-election this year to another term and who supported the Homeless Liaison position’s creation in 2021 was Councilman Ty Thorngate. Fellow Councilmen Ben Seidler, Jerry Sklavounakis and Dave Palmer all voted against the position’s creation. They all won re-election, as well.

Before the municipal election in May, the topic of the future of the Homeless Liaison’s position was posed as a question presented to the six candidates who were running in the Wheeling mayoral race. Nearly all of the candidates indicated that they would lean toward the consideration of not renewing the Homeless Liaison position.

“I think we can attempt to do without a Homeless Liaison position at this time,” Mayor-elect Denny Magruder said Thursday night. “As I mentioned during the debates, I would likely be in favor of letting the position sunset this fall. But I would not expect to be in favor of rehiring someone.”

Magruder noted that he will be only one of the seven members of city council come July, and he would have to review information and collaborate with his fellow council members, city staffers and agency representatives. But the incoming mayor stressed that those involved with the local service organizations are the people who have the true expertise on this matter and should take the lead on tackling these issues, with the city’s support behind their efforts.

Even Ketchum – who has been a staunch supporter of Adams and the liaison position – noted during the mayoral race forums that she would consider letting the job sunset, explaining that she believed that much of the groundwork that they had set out to do had been accomplished.

While a lot had been accomplished while Adams was employed, there had been a number of questions and concerns raised about the dynamics of the position. Adams had taken a significant role at The Life Hub – an independent nonprofit organization spearheaded by representatives of several local agencies – while still being employed and paid by the city at the same time. Officials indicated that Adams had relocated her office from the city building and into The Life Hub’s facility at the former First English Lutheran Church on 16th Street downtown. Questions also arose about the fact that some city staff members were serving on The Life Hub’s board of directors.

Concerns about “duplication of services” had been echoed by those concerned about the city’s creation of the new position, although one of the priorities of the job was reportedly to help eliminate the duplication of services provided by the myriad of local agencies that work with the homeless.

As a city employee who was employed under the umbrella of the city administration, Adams also worked through a turbulent period this past year trying to help the homeless population while the city dismantled homeless encampments. A majority of city council members voted last year to approve a controversial camping ban, which displaced the homeless population and drew the ire of homeless advocates. An exemption to the ban was granted by the city manager, and a managed camp is to be allowed under the new ordinance, but the city is not expected to serve as the camp manager.

Proponents of the position saw the Homeless Liaison as one that could bring all of these key players together – with The Life Hub serving as a single source of contact for those needing help. Although several agencies did collaborate regularly with Adams, some did not – including the Greater Wheeling Coalition for the Homeless, which historically had been considered a primary entity in the area in terms of providing services to the homeless and helping them take the necessary steps toward getting into housing and rebuilding their lives.

In fact, the Greater Wheeling Coalition for the Homeless had been the lead agency for the Northern Panhandle Continuum of Care, a grassroots partnership of social service providers in Brooke, Hancock, Ohio, Marshall and Wetzel counties working together to address the needs of people who are homeless. During Adams’ tenure as Homeless Liaison, that role as lead agency was shifted from the homeless coalition to the city of Wheeling.

Since April, the part-time position as Northern Panhandle Continuum of Care coordinator has been handled by Katie Hughes, who has a space housed in the City-County building and is paid through grant funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

This week, the Community Foundation of the Ohio Valley played host to a summit of representatives of dozens of local agencies that provide services to the local homeless population. The group met for hours discussing and working on plans to collectively tackle issues related to the homeless situation and to work toward establishing a managed homeless encampment that would better serve the unhoused population in the city while complying with Wheeling’s new camping ban on public property, which went into effect this year.

The group – which includes representatives from both the city, the Greater Wheeling Coalition for the Homeless and several other key agencies – plans to meet again in the future to continue the collaboration.