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Mayor & Law Director Disagree on How to Handle Homelessness


Left to Right: Auditor Vance, Mayor Haley, Council President Purkey, Clerk Vance, Law Director Dickman
Left to Right: Auditor Vance, Mayor Haley, Council President Purkey, Clerk Vance, Law Director Dickman

At the January 16th, 2025 City Council meeting, the city administration discussed homelessness and crime in Wilmington. During the public comment section of the meeting, two citizens spoke, sharing their issues with the police service calls to three nonprofit organizations—the Clinton County Homeless Shelter, Hope House, and Sugartree Ministries. Jane Johns stated that 819 police calls were made between the three nonprofits in a two-year period. Jane stated, “The homeless shelter had, in two years, that’s from the year 2023 and 2024, the homeless shelter had 185 calls… I would like to see the city of Wilmington do a study to see what our average calls [cost].” In response to the city council meeting, Sydney Murtland, Assistant Director of the Homeless Shelter, questioned the clarity of the origin of the calls. She stated, “ The numbers may be presented in a way that suggests we are overusing our police officers, but from an internal perspective, we are actually using them strategically to prevent larger incidents from occurring… The context behind these calls needs to be fully understood.”


Mike Cluxton, Chief of Staff to the Mayor, also spoke about homelessness and crime in Wilmington. He described incidents of vandalism and assault. Cluxton also claimed that crime in the city had increased in recent years. He argued that some of the streets and bike trails were “unsafe” due to homeless individuals and encampments. Furthermore, Cluxton stated, “It’s not about your status in society, it’s about behavior. And we’re not picking on a certain bunch but it seems like a lot of these individuals are homeless, they’re vagrants, they’re transient. These are a lot of the people that are causing a lot of the problems in our community.” In response to the city council meeting, Bruce Saunders, President of the Board of Directors of the Clinton County Trails Coalition, stated, “I am a frequent user of the bike trails in Wilmington... I have seen fewer homeless people on the bike trails than I have seen on the city streets. I have never seen or heard of any incident that has happened on the bike trail. Our city police do a wonderful job of patrolling the trail… The key to keeping our trails and streets safe is to increase our usage of these resources. As businesses develop in previously unused areas the chances of crime decrease. I am very pleased with the growth we are seeing in our recreational spaces.”


Cluxton also argued that it was not “happenstance” that homeless individuals were ending up in Wilmington. He stated that there is an “influx of vagrants and homeless persons” getting dropped off in Wilmington at Sugartree Ministries. He told a story where two individuals were dropped off at the nonprofit by a policeman and inferred, “If you’re in the back seat, you’re not there because you’re a good guy. These are individuals who are probably in trouble.” When discussing crime and homelessness, Cluxton also touched on businesses in the city owned by convicted criminals, including vape shops. He also mentioned gambling facilities. Cluxton claimed that homeless individuals attract these types of businesses. In response to the city council meeting, Lee Sandlin, Executive Director of Sugartree Ministries, stated, “Sugartree has never engaged in or endorsed the transportation of individuals from other communities to Wilmington for services. The attempt to vilify people based solely on their presence in a police vehicle—where, logically, if an officer is driving, someone must occupy the back seat—is misguided. We are grateful to the law enforcement officers who show compassion and take the time to assist those in need.”


Mayor Pat Haley followed the conversion, urging listeners to “clean this up.” The mayor urged the City Council to step up and claimed there is an ordinance in the works that would grant the police the authority to “do some things they need to do.” He posed the question to designate Sugartree Ministries as a “nuisance”, despite discouragement from the city’s law director. Justin Dickman, Law Director, stated, “...We need to ensure that we’re a city with rule of law, but we’re not having constitutional violations… And we’re not costing taxpayers unnecessary funds from litigation settlements. Speaking directly out against a religious nonprofit organization creates potential First Amendment liability and targeted enforcement against a religious group also imposes the liability of our city against the First Amendment lawsuit...” Haley disagreed with this and stated that he received another legal opinion contrary to Dickman’s. Dickman countered that he had also received legal opinions in agreement with his. Offering reassurance, Dickman stated, “When people commit crimes, they’re being held accountable. When the proper channels are being met, people are being given the max sentences under municipal violations… When people go through the appropriate channels of contacting law enforcement, those cases are making it through the system on a regular basis.”


Learn more about Wilmington City Council at wilmingtonohio.gov.

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