By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
Susan Metzner of the Tucker County Ministerial Association addressed the City of Parsons Council February 18th on the Associations plans to place a donated tiny home in the City as transitory housing. “…to come together to provide a warm place in extreme weather or difficulties with people passing through town,” Metzner said.
Besides the housing, the Association would also be providing individuals with food assistance and contact with family or friends, Metzner said. “Something that can give them a location that they can leave in a couple of days to transition that way,” Metzner said.
The building has been donated by Paul Walmsley of St. George Clinic, according to Metzner and will outfit the building to suit the needs of the Association. “Paul Walmsley from St. George Clinic, Paul is going to donate the little house and he is going to put a bathroom in it with a shower and we’d have room for a comfortable bed and just something small in like a kitchen area,” Metzner said. “Not necessarily a kitchen. We could do a small freezer with like frozen dinners in it and lunches and breakfasts, a microwave and a coffee pot and water.”
Metzner said she was at the meeting to seek the City’s aid in obtaining a lot to place the tiny home on. “What we’re looking for is to see if the City would be able to or to find a lot that we could put the little house on,” Metner said.
The building will be portable in the event of flooding or other severe weather event, Metzer said. “The Ministerial said if we could get a lot to set it on and make it kind of portable so that in the event of a bad flood or something like that, it could be pulled away,” Metner said.
Metzner said the Association was seeking the City’s interest and input on the matter. “We just wanted to see if the City Council had any kind of interest in going together with us on this,” Metzner said.
According to Metzner, the Association would cover the operational costs of the building. “We are going to need water and electric, of course,” Metzner said. “The Ministerial will do some extra things. We can pay for the water and the electric and do that aspect of it. Plus any needs that someone would have. We can come together with the churches, our churches on that.”
There was a question of insurance, however, that Metzner raised, but was not addressed by the Council at the meeting. “I didn’t know if there was anything the City had that was like a blanket,” Metzner said. “The churches, we have like if we are doing something on the property we have like a blanket that covers everything. I wasn’t sure on that. We need to talk about that.”
Metzner said she had been helping those in need in the community for years. “I’ve been doing this for years with people in the community,” Metzner said. “I took a man out from under the bridge down here and kept him in my basement for a month.”
Metzner said she has spent a lot of her own money over the years to help out those stranded or in need in the community. “I’ve spent over a $1,000 myself keeping people in little B&Bs, Blackwater Lodge and whatever,” Metzner said.
According to Metzner, changes in her life have made her less able to continue to take transitory individuals into her home. “My husband was alive then and my brother was living with us then,” Metzner said. “Now I’m by myself and I’m not comfortable doing anything like that.”
Metzner said she had been working on this for years, but this is the first that a donation like this has been made. “I’ve been wanting to work with this for a long time,” Metzner said. “I’ve had many different ideas, but this is the first time that I’ve ever had anything given to me to take care of this problem.
When questioned by Council Member Kathy DiBacco if the building was going to be a homeless shelter, Metzner replied that the structure was not intended to be a homeless shelter, but strictly for transient use. “Its not anything big like a homeless shelter,” Metner said. “Its just going to be something, a transition place where people can contact maybe family members and make sure there is someplace they can go. The winter is the worst time when people get here and they’re stuck during bad weather. Last summer we had five homeless people in the county and we worked with them. We kept them in water, we kept them with food, we kept them with all kinds of necessities, but I’m more or less talking about somebody who might be here for two or three days. Just depending on what the weather was and what their occurrence was.”
Council Members Melissa Jones and Tim Turner mentioned that the only property outside of municipal use facilities under City ownership are FEMA lots along the flood plane, which are heavily restricted on use and building restrictive. “We have all the FEMA lots, but there are all the restrictions on it about housing,” Jones said. “And I understand that it would be movable, but that’s something that Mike (Simmons) would have to contact FEMA about because usually if they have a camper or something set up on it, it does not have electric and water hook up.”
Council Member Seth Rosenau agreed that the FEMA lots had too many restrictions to be a viable option. “Even on the FEMA lots if someone were to change the grade,” Rosenau said. “If somebody was to put gravel or anything like that, it has to be approved by FEMA. We do own a lot of property along the river. That’s why a lot of people has gardens on them because it doesn’t change the landscape as far as FEMA standards.”
Rosenau did commend Metzner and the Association for the work they do for the homeless in the community. “But if we were to put a tiny house, which is a great idea,” Rosenau said. “We know you do awesome work. Actually we’ve had people come in here before and we talk about you and everything that they’ve been doing, you’re association with the homeless.”
The Council struggled to think of properties in the City that would suit the needs of the Ministerial Association. Council Member Jones thought of one private one, but most of the Council could not think of any that would suit the Association’s needs. “But I don’t know a property that would fit that bill,” Rosenau said.
The Mayor and Council agreed to work with the Ministerial Association and talk further on the issue. The Council decided to get in touch with Metzner and the Association later to discuss the matter further at a later date.
