Jefferson County enacts DSS policies to not place sex offenders at Pleasant Night Inn

Jun. 29—WATERTOWN — A group of West Carthage's elected officials and residents came to the Jefferson County Board of Legislators on Tuesday, asking for action on the ongoing disturbances and sexual crimes occurring around the Pleasant Night Inn.

The West Carthage motel houses clients placed there for emergency housing by Jefferson County DSS, and a few sex offenders, as well as people charged but not convicted of sexual crimes, had been placed at the motel.

One resident exposed himself to two young girls at a nearby park, and another resident was recently accused of sexually assaulting another motel resident.

What the West Carthage officials and residents, as well as some legislators on the Board, did not know was that Jefferson County has already made a policy change to stop placing sex offenders in need of emergency housing at the Pleasant Night Inn.

In a memorandum issued June 22 by County Administrator Robert F. Hagemann III, he informed Champion Town Supervisor Brian S. Peck and West Carthage Mayor Scott M. Burto that, as of June 14, DSS staff have been instructed not to place any homeless people with sex offender status at the Pleasant Night Inn.

Mayor Burto, Champion Town Councilman James D. Uhlinger III, as well as a number of residents had come to Tuesday's meeting to request exactly that. One resident was so irate that he threatened to drop off any more sex offenders placed in West Carthage at the homes of county legislators, before storming out of the meeting.

Additionally, on Tuesday night the Board of Legislators Health and Human Services Committee approved a resolution to request that New York state change the rules statewide to bar the placement of sex offenders at places where children congregate, including parks and libraries, as well as nursing homes, senior centers and other places where sex offenders may not enter.

Some county legislators were seemingly unaware of the county's policy change, and expressed concern that the county was not taking meaningful action by only considering the resolution requesting state action Tuesday. Legislator Jeremiah J. Maxon, R-Adams, asked if the county can ask its DSS staff to screen clients for sex offenses and other needs, like mental healthcare, addiction treatment or other treatment programs.

"I don't know if there's a way we can make a policy, I don't know if there are written policies at DSS, as long as there is a way we can instruct the Department of Social Services to do these things," he said.

While Jefferson County is very limited in what actions it can take to change DSS policy locally, and even more restricted in how it can legislate the rules regarding sex offenders and their housing, county legislators seemed intent on finding some way to make a change.

Legislator Scott A. Gray, R-Watertown, who is not on the board's Health and Human Services Committee but has engaged with the Pleasant Night Inn and county homeless situation frequently, proposed that the county could enforce a policy requiring that individuals with high needs for programming, healthcare, therapy, rehab or other social services be placed in specific locations, closer to the city of Watertown where more service providers are focused. He posited that many people convicted of sexual offenses are likely to need such care, and the county could enact that policy both to protect the individuals in need and the communities that host them.

But the discussion was cut short by Legislator Patrick R. Jareo, R-Adams, the board's vice chairman, who said the county administration had already enacted a policy to stop sex offenders from being placed at the Pleasant Night Inn.

"A lot of what we've discussed here in the last couple rounds of legislators has happened," he said. "There's been an administrative policy change."

With that, the legislators of the Health and Human Services Committee passed the resolution requesting state lawmakers make a change to their own rules about sex offender housing.

Mayor Burto said he was pleased to see that the county had taken action, although he felt there was little communication on the subject from them before Tuesday's meeting.

Mr. Burto and Mr. Peck had received a letter detailing the administrative changes made on June 22, but Mr. Burto said it seemed to be in response to the Pleasant Night Inn's own policy changes to stop accepting guests with sex offenses on their records.

"I'm very pleased that after all this time, there is some written policy to help protect the children of our community and the residents of ours," Mr. Burto said.

He said he's still interested in what Legislators Maxon and Gray discussed, ranking DSS clients based on service needs and placing them appropriately, and ultimately said he'd like to see the system move away from short-term motel rentals for people in need of emergency housing.