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ELKO, Nev. (AP) — Elko officials are moving ahead with plans to open a 10-acre camp area for the homeless following the deaths of two transients in the city in November.
The city council on Tuesday approved an ordinance waiving certain site improvements at the site off Hot Springs Road it chose earlier this year.
The ordinance paves the way for the city to prepare the site for use, but a service provider must first apply for a temporary use permit to oversee the camp.
Assistant City Manager Delmo Andreozzi said the city will install fencing, portable toilets and trash bins at the site. It also will offer potable water.
Susan Martsolf, executive director of Friends in Service Helping, or FISH, said the group probably will apply for the permit to oversee the camp within a month. Its board will consider the matter at its Dec. 16 meeting.
Martsolf said she has not seen any hesitancy from the homeless who now camp along the Humboldt River about moving to the new site.
"We need to get that up and running so we can get those people off the riverbank," she told the Elko Daily Free Press .
Plans call for a FISH employee to check the site on a daily basis once it is up and running, she added.
"We won't have an employee down there 24/7 ... We will have people come to check it," she said.
FISH is considering asking the homeless to check in at its office so they can be assigned a section of the camp where they can stay.
On Wednesday morning, a homeless man in his 50s was found dead in a tent near Elko's 12th Street Bridge after overnight lows dipped to the mid-20s. His name was not immediately released.
On Nov. 9, the body of Patrick Hayes was found in a trough attached to a building off Main Street. Authorities think he slept in the trough and his death may have been due to exposure and medical problems.
Information from: Elko Daily Free Press, http://www.elkodaily.com
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