Local leaders believe they have plan to collect better data concerning homeless numbers in Williams County.

Local leaders believe they have a plan to collect better data concerning homeless numbers in the county following the first homeless summit Wednesday. At a recent quarterly meeting aimed at improving the homeless situation in Williams County, it was decided local leaders needed to meet monthly, and that the first goal needs to be getting more accurate numbers concerning how many homeless are in the county. During the quarterly meeting, it was stated the last quarter count of homeless was 16, but it is believed there are more. A local agency has worked on a reporting worksheet that could be used by agencies to report the number of homeless they help, but it is believed the worksheet will not be user friendly and thus not helpful. There are also concerns of privacy and collecting personal information. While it was noted at last week’s quarterly meeting that no representatives of the county government or county municipalities had regularly attended that meeting, representatives of the Williams County commissioners, city of Bryan and villages such as Edgerton, Montpelier, Pioneer, Stryker and West Unity attended Wednesday’s meeting.