GREENFIELD — City Council will vote on whether to approve the formation of a new committee intended to discuss ways to best serve and interact with the city’s homeless population during its next meeting March 19.

City Council President Lora Wondolowski said she proposed the ad hoc Unhoused Community Review Committee, which would operate under the city’s Community Relations Committee, after the removal of park benches and a chess table at the end of Miles Street prompted a community-wide discussion on how to best support the homeless population while maintaining safety.

Supporters of the decision, made by Mayor Ginny Desorgher in September, viewed the removal of the benches as a public safety measure while opponents viewed it as an anti-homeless infrastructure change. At the time, Desorgher said removing the benches was “the hardest decision that [she’s] had to make” and that she did not take the matter lightly, but amid growth in the homeless population, the city was experiencing an uptick in drug overdoses, illegal activity and arrests in that area.

“It led to a really robust conversation and there was interest from the Community Relations Committee in continuing the conversation,” Wondolowski explained. “It’s a question of, ‘How can we look at Greenfield providing services and being welcoming while still recognizing that there are real safety concerns?’ Moving the benches just moves people somewhere else, so how do we want to accommodate people’s real needs for somewhere to gather and do it in a safe way?”

Results from the 2024 Point-in-Time Count, which is used to track how many people are living without shelter in municipalities across the region, found that the number of homeless people in Franklin County had more than doubled, documenting that 252 people were sleeping in shelters or outside compared to 104 in January 2023. Locally, the Point-in-Time Count is overseen by the Three County Continuum of Care, a program of Community Action Pioneer Valley that is committed to ending homelessness in Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire counties.

Wondolowski said the ad hoc committee, which will be comprised of three of her own appointments and two from Desorgher, will also aim to remedy safety concerns regarding reports of disruptive individuals at the Greenfield Public Library.

At a Greenfield Business Association roundtable meeting attended by local business owners and Police Chief Todd Dodge in September, Anna Bognolo explained that although Greenfield Public Library is open to everyone, staff members often find themselves acting as “babysitters” for disruptive regulars.

“We are accommodating to everyone, but we have this problem ongoing every day with different groups of people coming in and out. We’re very respectful when we ask them to keep the language down. We serve all ages, so you can imagine parents coming in for a child time and you’ve got folks outside who are cursing and yelling and doing lewd gestures and things of that nature,” Bognolo said in September. “It’s kind of like babysitting, going out and reminding them, ‘Can you please not smoke on the premises?’ or ‘Could you please keep your voices down?’ … It’s really hard for us to keep all of this at bay and do all of the work that we have to do to serve everyone who comes there.”

Wondolowski mentioned the reports of disturbances at the library to explain that the ad hoc committee would aim to work with local programs and human services agencies to draft solutions to the city’s challenges managing the homeless population. She explained that librarians should not have to act as “bouncers,” while concurrently, the city should play a role in supporting the homeless community.

“We’re facing a huge housing crisis in the country that is also impacting Greenfield,” Wondolowski said. “It means it’s really hard to find somewhere to live, and we have to destigmatize the unhoused community, because so many people are just one paycheck away from being in similar circumstances.”

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.