Jill Schramm/MDN Lobby chairs invite members of the public to spend time in the entrance of the Ward County Administration Building. The county commission is considering how to handle loitering in the building by the homeless population.

Concerns about homeless individuals loitering in the Ward County Administration Building led the Ward County Commission Tuesday to set up a committee to discuss safer options.

The biggest concern has been unruly individuals who approach employees or others in the building.

State’s Attorney Roza Larson said the county cannot require individuals to leave if they come and sit, or even if they sleep.

“If they’re approaching people and bothering people, then you can do something, but it’s a public building,” she said.

“I have a problem with that. I just do,” said Commission Chairman Jim Rostad. “There’s public buildings all over and yet, they are not homeless shelters.”

He said people loitering in the building should be vetted as to their reasons for being in the building.

“Besides that, they’ve been threatening – by motions and obscene gestures – to some of our employees. I think if someone wants to take us on for that, let’s do it,” he said.

Commissioner Shelly Weppler said disruptive visitors are addressed. There have been a couple of instances in which the sheriff’s office has dealt with people.

Fjeldahl said he would like to see a plan that is proactive rather than reactive to disruptive individuals.

Rostad appointed a committee led by Fjeldahl that includes Commissioners Howard “Bucky” Anderson, the county building director, veterans services director, sheriff and library director. The committee will meet Thursday at 4 p.m. to discuss solutions.

Commissioners on Tuesday met with Liz Larsen, executive director at Project BEE, which runs a warming house for homeless individuals about a block from the county building.

“We have good relationships with churches, schools, youth groups,” Larsen said, “and we want our clients to be good neighbors. Ultimately, I know that some of the people here were clients, but I don’t know about all of them for sure.”

Clients have been informed that disruptive behavior in the county building is unacceptable, she added.

She said Project BEE sees about 25 people in the warming house regularly, although not all are there every night. The warming house typically houses about 15 people a night, she said.

Project BEE operates an emergency shelter that provides 24/7 housing, and this past winter, it started the warming house at the shelter for overnight housing only.

“Unfortunately, we do not have the staffing capacity or the funds right now to also offer that during the day for those folks,” Larsen said. “We’re doing the best that we can, and there is a huge need, and we do see the positive impact. We see people moving into permanent housing.”

Project BEE provides case management for warming house clients to help them address needs, some of which stem from abuse or introduction to drugs at young ages.

“We are seeing positive things,” Larsen said. “We’re seeing people get jobs. We’re seeing people for the first time have the opportunity to kind of address their mental health needs.”