City Council Meeting Public Comment from Jeff Foster, Central Christian ChurchAimee Brunckhorst
From: Ryan Hunter
Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2023 12:03 AM
To: Kalispell City Council
Subject: Fwd: EXTERNAL City Council Meeting/
Mayor and Council,
Please find below this public comment I received directly.
Get Outlook for iOS
From: Jeff Foster <pastorccckalispell@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2023 11:12 PM
To: Ryan Hunter <rhunter@kalispell.com>
Subject: EXTERNAL City Council Meeting/
Counselman Hunter,
My name is Jeff Foster. I am Pastor at Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) located at 248 2nd Ave. E here in
Kalispell. I had hoped to speak with you after the meeting, but I finally had to leave around 10:15 because I have a long
day on Tuesday. I'm sorry you did not have such an option.
I wanted to reach out to you and let you know that I applaud and appreciate your work and what you had to say
concerning housing based help along with rehabilitation programs. I also agree with you about the sharps containers
and so wanted to shout out at those who claimed it was a poor idea, "would you rather have the needles on the ground
for your children to see and pick up then!?"
I have an extensive background working in a clinical setting as a Chaplain for a state mental hospital in Texas (6 years), I
was a Volunteer FireFighter and Fire Chaplain (8.5 years), I worked as a clergy person alongside the Fort Worth Police
Department through their Clergy and Police Alliance (CAPA), and worked as a Chaplain with Veterans at the VA Hospital
in Dallas. I have worked with homeless, mentally ill folks, have seen drug overdoses, and ministered to people with
suicidal ideations.
As the pastor of a down town church that has several deep covered porches on the southern side of our building and
Feeding the Flathead uses our facility, I am no stranger to unhoused people. I've been physically threatened and we
have had folks hide out and spend the night in our building. We have found needles and other drug paraphernalia on
our property. I have witnessed several folks who are mentally ill, some that use drugs and alcohol and do not want to
follow the rules. Despite those things, my calling as a Christian and as a Pastor; I am called to be compassionate and to
help those in need whom God places in my path.
The city has made that task and call extremely difficult. I recognize the tension that exists in arguments about what to
do about our unhoused population. I recognize that public drug use, drunkenness, nudity, urination, and defecation are
not okay. We had it happening on our own property. Many people are saying this population of folks are coming in
from elsewhere. Some are, but obviously not all. When the "Outlaw Inn" and the Blue and White hotel (I recognize
there were issues with both) were closed and folks were evicted late last spring is the first time I noticed a large increase
of people trying to find shelter and help. A representative from the city planning office called me and set up a time to
meet with Chief Overman to discuss the problems we were having. Instead of offering actual hellp, we were threatened
with ticketing from the city because we are not zoned as a shelter. We recognized that something had to be done, but
we didn't know what the solution was. We created a property policy similar to the one that Imagine If Library uses and
asked Chief Overman and the Kalispell Police to help us enforce it. We then had to draft several letters to the police
department and word them in a certain way concerning what we precisely wanted help with. I found this to be an
unkind and tedious process and felt that the city left the church hung out to dry.
The police came and removed folks from our property, per the city's request, and that's about when the unhoused folks
started to really move over to Depot Park. The day after they were chased out of Depot Park, guess where they
went? Yep, right back to us. Chasing them from place to place does nothing. Many people at the meeting said that the
new potential ordinance would give the Kalispell Police more tools. This is untrue. It just means that they will have to
use the same tools in a different place over and over again. It's like a dog chasing its own tail.
I honestly do not know what the solution is. We financially support local shelters and feedings. We also volunteer. I
liked your take on things and your compassion and hope to not only make our community safe, but also to enrich our
community by affecting change in lives of human beings that are dismissed from the tables of the world. I would really
like to sit down and speak with you sometime, when you are not at a crazy long meetings like this one. I apologize for
the length of this email. I appreciate your time, service and efforts to our community. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Pastor Jeff Foster
PS. Please feel free to share this with your colleagues if you so wish. Thanks again.
Rev. Jeff M. Foster
Pastor
Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Kalispell, MT.