Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle made the claims during a March 14 Labor Roundtable event at the Golden Corral in Vancouver

Cade Barker
The Reflector Newspaper

The Reform Clark County Facebook page recently posted an audio recording of Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle effectively saying the City of Battle Ground contributes to her city’s homelessness problems. 

McEnerny-Ogle made the claims during a March 14 Labor Roundtable event at the Golden Corral in Vancouver, in a public setting, Reform Clark County stated in its Facebook post. McEnerny-Ogle talked to attendees about a meeting she had previously with Fred Meyer grocery store managers and then proceeded to point blame toward Battle Ground and Camas for homelessness issues in her city. 

She said during the recording that there was a person in a managerial role from both Battle Ground and Camas for Fred Meyer in her prior meeting. 

“And then I just let them spill their guts and then I pointed to Camas and Battle Ground and I said, ‘You’re the problem,’” she said in the recording by Reform Clark County. “I said, ‘Your cities have passed resolutions to send their homeless to Vancouver for us to take care of.’”

The meeting with Fred Meyer managers pertained to homeless encampments behind one of their store locations that borders Interstate 205 in Vancouver, presumably the location off of Southeast Chkalov Drive, according to the recording.

“The people behind your Fred Meyer here on 205 are probably from Camas and Battle Ground,’” she said. “You sent your homeless for the city of Vancouver to take of. You didn’t take care of them yourself.”

Battle Ground Deputy Mayor Shane Bowman believes it may have been a “little bit of over speaking on her behalf.”

“I’ve never seen anything with numbers or anything saying that these homeless are from Battle Ground or that we’re sending people down there,” he said. “They do have the services. She’s not wrong.”

Bowman said due to Battle Ground having a much smaller number of “on-the-street homeless,” which there are no official numbers for, and a smaller tax base, that funding essential homeless services is not feasible for the city. 

“It’s a little disturbing, I guess, to blame us for issues that they’re having down there,” Bowman said. “I mean, we have issues, I’m sure, with people from Vancouver up here on occasion with things. … I just think it’s more of a regional approach to that kind of stuff. The county needs to be more involved, I think. But to say that the small cities aren’t doing their jobs, I think it’s wrong.”

Bowman highlighted the community courts that Battle Ground is starting to help keep people out of the judicial system where they will then cause more of a financial burden in order to help them out. Bowman also pointed out that if the city of Battle Ground, and others of a similar, smaller size, were to open a shelter, the costs would not be reasonable, adding that it’s quite expensive. 

He also recalled when a former mayor pointed out that a filing fee with the county directed for funding homeless services gained enough funds to give each homeless individual in Clark County tens of thousands of dollars, but, “most of it gets ate up in a program,” Bowman said. “So that’s the challenge with it. Government can help, but I don’t think government does a very good job of running it.”

Bowman said the city of Vancouver implemented a 0.1% sales tax a few years ago that goes toward affordable housing, which he added almost every Battle Ground resident pays as Vancouver offers a much larger array of retail options. 

“We’re partners in it, right?” He said. “And if you’re going to point fingers at us, then you have to point fingers at Portland or anywhere those people come from and it’s tough. But we’re in an election year, too.”

This report was first published by The Reflector Newspaper.