FRUIT HEIGHTS, Utah (KUTV) — A new plan to transport homeless people to a Fruit Heights neighborhood in Davis County has residents shocked — and the town’s mayor says he doesn’t need to know about it.

A church is partnering with the county to become a warming center during nights when temperatures drop to 18 degrees for two hours or more in a 24-hour period, known as a Code Blue Alert.

Many people recently learned that Mountain Road Church has agreed to become a Code Blue Shelter for homeless people across the county, and now residents are wondering why.

During a recent city council meeting that revealed the council knew about the plan, the mayor said there was no reason to notify residents.

Fruit Heights is described by resident Scott Heusser as a “sleepy community.”

“We don’t have a police department, we don’t have InstaCare, we don’t even have a fire department,” Heusser said. “You can’t find a Maverik around here.”

So for him, he doesn’t have the services to support a heating center.

The proposed plan is to bus people from all over Davis County to the church starting around 7:00 pm on a Code Blue alert night.

At 7:00 AM they will get back on the bus and be taken back to where they were picked up. A sheriff’s deputy will be on the bus and provide security in the area.

The rules say people won’t be allowed to leave unless it’s an emergency and they have to leave in the morning.

KUTV asked Heusser how confident he is about everything going on.

“That doesn’t give me much confidence,” he said.

This plan is an agreement between the church and the county, so there is nothing the city can do under state law.

“We didn’t start it, we can’t stop it, but I fully support it,” Mayor John Pohlman said during an October council meeting.

Although the meeting took place last month, Heusser and other residents didn’t know what was going on until early November.

“I had no idea this was happening,” Heusser said.

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At the same Oct. 15 meeting, a councilman asked Pohlman if the city needed to alert residents.

“Transparency with the residents and the city, are we going to try to roll this out or let people know ahead of time? Or do I just see a bus show up once and people go ballistic?” asked the counselor.

“There is no transparency,” Pohlman said.

Pohlman went on to say that the city had nothing to do with it, so there was no need to tell residents and 99 percent of the city wouldn’t even know it was happening.

He also said that the church should not tell anyone either.

“They won’t,” the mayor said. “It’s not their responsibility for the community to know it’s happening.”

KUTV contacted the city and was told both the mayor and city manager were unavailable.

They gave a contact for the county, but we haven’t heard back from them either.

Mountain Road Church sent 2News a statement:

“We at Mountain Road Church understand that this is a complex and emotional issue. We have been contacted and are working with Davis County, the Sheriff’s Department and the Mayor of Fruit Heights both to ensure the safety of those who live in Fruit Heights and to help some of the most vulnerable in our community during our coldest nights with a warm place to sleep during the regulated night.”

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