The city has limited options when it comes to the homeless causing disturbances at local businesses, the City Council said Tuesday.

Audrey Fields, who owns Bakery 900, said problems with the homeless began last fall, around September or October, and have continued to grow ever since.

Homeless individuals have come in and disturbed customers, left drug paraphernalia in the restrooms, and refused to leave, Fields said. Outside of business hours, they have urinated on landscaping, destroyed flower beds and more.

“We have had a chronic problem of homeless issues,” she said.

Fields said she and her staff have called the police, but there isn’t much the police can do. She has also been advised to call the mayor’s office, and that too has had limited results.

“I don’t know what else to do,” she said.

Meridian Police Department’s Lt. Patrick Gale said officers have limited options when dealing with the homeless population.

In April 2019, the Meridian City Council signed an agreement with the Southern Poverty Law Center promising not to jail people who aren’t able to pay fines. The agreement also ended the use of money bail for misdemeanor offenses.

Meridian was one of several cities where the SPLC’s investigation found practices that did not meet federal or state laws or the Mississippi Rules of Criminal Procedures. In addition to the Queen City, Jackson, Corinth, Moss Point and Biloxi also made agreements with the social justice nonprofit to amend their practices.

Because of that agreement, Gales said, homeless people are often back on the street within hours of being arrested. Until a felony offense is committed, he said, it is almost impossible for officers to detain a homeless person beyond the time it takes to fill out the paperwork.

“We’re more frustrated than you all are,” he said.

City Attorney Will Simmons said the city’s agreement with the SPLC was intended to stop the practice of locking people up because they couldn’t pay or because of mental health issues. While the intentions of the agreement were good, he said, the city was now dealing with the side effects.

Fields said she was concerned for her safety and the safety of her employees and customers. The situation has gotten bad enough, she said, that she is considering closing her business.

Simmons said finding a working solution is a difficult task. Balancing the rights of homeless individuals and those of small business owners to find a happy medium won’t be easy, he said.

Although they were unable to provide an immediate solution, council members encouraged Fields to keep her bakery open and to work with the city and the community in finding a solution that will work for everyone.