City Council - Regular Meeting

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of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Therefore, I'd like to give the motion to elect a council chair and president. Second. Second. Is there any discussion?

All in favor say aye. Aye.

Opposed?

Okay, thank you. Now I'll just take nominations if anybody would like to.

I'll name somebody for President Rosen.

I nominate Kerry.

I second.

I second. I second.

I second.

I second.

I second.

Okay, there it is. Sorry.

move to accept the consent agenda. It's including minutes from the August 26, 2026 meeting and accounts payable and payroll.

This is me.

Oh, I did this last time. Motion to approve tonight's agenda.

Is there any discussion on this?

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Thank you. And then we'll move on to public comments. And so if anybody'd like to make a public comment on anything, you have three minutes and start off with your name and your order. Or do you see if you'd like us to comment that on anything that you're stating, then please put your name on the list under the timeline in the back. Thank you.

It was my third word.

Before you start, I'd just like to note that Joshua Bransky has arrived.

I just wanted to say thank you to Brock and Rhett for Movie Night. Seanan and I only missed the first one. We went all summer. We had onesies that we dressed up in. We had different onesies every week. And we were hit. But We had fun, you know, 62 years ago. I acted like a 12-year-old. Some people say this to a lot of people. But, you know, we were all having fun. A lot of kids there, a lot of adults were there. You know, we got to meet old neighbors and meet new neighbors. And then we had the treat stress, the last movie night, which, you know, we counted some ice creams, so we got ice cream tonight. So this was an awesome summer. And somebody, a couple of people suggested, you know, I wish they had something during the winter. And there's nothing they can do, nowhere to go, and they don't want to drive to Olympia or, you know, somewhere further out and reconnect with our community. And so that's just a thought. But we all had an awesome time. Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there anybody else who would like to think about that? I think that we'll move on to our

Now I'd like to move that we accept the consent agenda, including minutes from August 26, 2026, and the council meeting will end.

Second? Second and second.

Nipper and Hodge are going to say nothing.

Is there any discussion on this?

I'll favor saying aye.

Aye. Oops.

Sorry, I don't have the mayor's report tonight, but I would like to comment. I was really happy that we did have a business in the park this year, and I'm really hopeful that next year we can also have concerts and new parks for the adults. So that's something that we'll be working on.

It's basically a nice experience. Sorry, Sarah.

Yeah, of course. Oh, no. Oh, wait.

And not the other one. It's not.

I don't mind. Again, it's like it's not so important.

That's what I'm talking about. But that's what it was. Right. So I started in the church for the comments that I've heard. So it's

I just wanted to say that we've been working pretty hard on this youth council behind the scenes, and we went to about 10 days, and we found this person, council person, who's giving her promotion.

Okay. Remember, went to Harper high stays and hand out a bunch of stuff and we have our first application so we're excited we need more applications, the deadline is September 14.

Thank you, Mary.

Last week, I met with the Museum Transition Committee. We're making great headway when it comes to preparing. I don't know if we've announced this, but there will be a private event that is being held by the History 9520. So that's our priority right now is to prepare the building for temporary certificate of occupancy. So we've made a lot of improvements to that, but just like minor improvements to get the food from the fire on the show. And we're just going to do that I also attended the Arts Commission to see the progress that they're making. And that particular group is led by or supported by Danny Smith. And so I think that they're headed in the right direction. They're trying to formalize and do processes to make it easier for project selection and to bring recommendations forward to the council. I also On Friday, or on the first, we launched the Aberdeen Cares team. That's the alternative response team. And we met with, we're starting to meet with our different partners. So on Friday, we met with Kunal Wellness, their executive leadership team, to introduce the program to them. We have had some successes. I don't know if Lisa has some numbers, but the preliminary numbers that I'm hearing, just on Friday alone, DJ and and the care coordinator, Emily, were able to send three people to treatment and one person they were able to transport as well. So I'm hearing numbers of two people a day that they're serving and connecting the services. So, so far so good. We'll be able to bring you some solid numbers, hopefully by the end of the month to show you how the program is progressing. I also met with the, The leadership team executive are excuse me directors today to discuss the to do a debriefing on the council. But workshop, and so I was able to get some feedback on how we can improve and so i'd love to reach out to all of you and I would love to hear your feedback and how we can make. The Council budget workshop that your means and give you the information that you need to make some informed decisions as well, so. That said, this morning, excuse me, we met with Charlie Capone, who's the executive director for the Union Gospel Mission, and we introduced the act program to him as well, and we'll be doing more introductions with our governmental partners, our tribal partners, and our behavioral health partners in the coming weeks. We do get the hotline up, so we just weren't able to meet business cards, so those business cards will be distributed to the business community, as well as our public services. So,

you're in questions. Thank you.

And so we want to directors are there any directors who want to thank you to add to this number so so far for

They've gotten into treatment, and two are pending into a nine-month program. So far so good. We are getting residuals from Central Park that come in that are getting help as well. So that's been a good outreach program. Second is staff met today, and Director Clemens was the owner of the New York Missoula Mall, and they are progressing with the redevelopment of the mall. Some equipment has already been delivered. They have a couple more shipments due to come in. They are starting small. They've got a couple of smaller projects of hotels they're working with up in northern Seattle. And they're waiting on their high rises. And they've got some three stories. But the majority, they like to do high rise type of development. And they also do hotels as well. So they're getting in, doing the assessment. A lot of it is robotics. And so some weight load may be heavier than others. So they want to get in and kind of you know, like how you like to move into a house and kind of get the feel for the house before you maybe decide on paint color. That's kind of what they're doing. They want to get a feel for the building before they decide if they want to build a new addition or if they can use what's there or if it's just going to be for some storage. So they're working through all of that. What did they say over the next three months? They're getting into the point where they're going to start their test model. They're going to do one of the townhomes inside see how it all goes with that first model in the next three months, and then move into production on those that we're shooting.

And so we, I'm going to ask, like, if they would consider averaging, you know, to, you know, build as well. We have heard that their councils are going for about 1.1 million to 1.5 million. So, honestly, not yet. But we will get there if they all want to build.

Their price point, believe it or not, they do, it's easier for them with high rise. Their price point is a lot better. So they like to construct those, but as they are using AI and their technology base to construct, prices are coming down. And so they are, we talked to them today about in the future doing some middle income, middle housing and to lower housing, you know, EVENTS IN TOWN AND WE WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE THAT CONVERSATION. PROBABLY A YEAR OR TWO FROM THE CAPABILITY OF THE SITE. THANK YOU.

ANY QUESTIONS?

ANY UPDATED INFORMATION ON JOBS AND WHEN THEY MIGHT HAVE JOBS AVAILABLE?

NO. SO WHAT THEY'VE DONE IS THEY HE SAID TODAY that they purchase the land, they purchase all the land they need, and then now they're waiting on the permits as they go. And so they're starting with the townhomes. And so how they're doing it is they're trying to stage the product or the process in a way where they're renewing contract every month. So depending on the bill now, so they start with the townhomes and then they go to their three-story commercial structure for housing. and then up from there. So they're starting small. When they're at full capacity, I still believe they're right around the 300 mark, but to start with, it's going to be a few people, but every stage along the way that they build, they'll be adding more people. They're trying to get enough revenue coming in to sustain that over more. So no, right off the bat, no, because again, they're going to do their test run of the tally home first, and then he'll give us a better understanding after that of what that looks like.

He said since the market, or since they began this project, the markets have tanked. Interest rates have skyrocketed. They had to go through a lot with the federal government to get to this point. So that took two years in itself. They defined their process. Right. They're really trying to streamline it so that they can hire more. But they did, he did say, The reason they chose Grays Harbor and they chose average is they feel that we have the right workforce for this time of year.

Thank you.

You're welcome. So as soon as we get there, as soon as they start that process, we'll sit down with them again and get you a more accurate number on those. Kevin, did you have something? I don't know that last part.

Thank you.

The other director reports.

And the employee you all should have received an email on the information about the employee. Thank you. We hope to see all of you there.

There we square. All right. Now we have a response for council action with finance chair. We have nothing in our agenda. All right. Thank you. We move on to our public safety chair.

Okay, we met earlier this evening and just a couple tidbits from the police department. During the month of August, VIPs, our volunteers, contributed over 222 hours to the city. That works out to just under $8,000 worth of service to the city. And they are still installing first responder lock boxes for people who have mobility issues. Those are free. And if you need one, you can just call Aberdeen Police Department during business hours and installation will be scheduled for you. From the fire department, a couple of interesting statistics are overdose responses in August, where there were 16. That accounts for 2.8% of the calls in August. And response to the unhoused population, there were 22, which accounts for 3.9% of the overall calls for the month of August. Moving on to our requests. We have a request for first reading, recommending city council approve the amendments to AMC title 10.20 parking code. That would be bill number 2617. And I move that we accept the shortlist.

Second. Seconded by Councilperson Ration. Is there any discussion?

Yes. I have a minor typo. to point out, that was pointed out to us in our meeting, on page 15, item C, the numerical version of the penalty was, says 25 and 250, and that should be 100. The text is correct, which is the numerical amount is to be fixed, and they will fix that

And that is the only title on that one. So I would love to know that we approve that as amended.

Second. Seconded by Councilperson Ember. Is there any discussions?

All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye.

the amendments to AMC Title 10.20, Barking Vote, Bill number 26-70. That's done, corrections.

Say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Yes, thank you. Next, we have the first reading of the request to recommend. Oh, right, we still have to, right, sorry. Sorry, I forgot about that.

So we have all the first city nine. Thank you. We'll get it together.

Okay. Now we have the first reading request recommending city council approve the amendments to AMC title 10.58 impounding vehicles. This is bill number 2619. And then we accept this request.

Second.

All in favor of the first reading, requesting the recommending city council include the amendments to agency title 10.5B, impounding vehicles, bill number 26-19, say aye.

Aye.

Next, we have first reading a request to recommending City Council approve the amendments to AMC Title 6.04, Animal Control. And this is bill number 26-16. And I move to accept this request.

Second.

Seconded by Councilperson Camper. Is there any discussion on this?

This one has a little typo as well. On page 6 of 15, Item three, there's just in between must and notify, there's capital C in there that just needs to be deleted. It's just a time that needs to be taken out. And I have these marked, I can give it to you. And so I move that we amend this to review that item. Second. Second.

Second. By Councilperson Hubbard.

I'll hold it. I'll hold it. I'm dropping.

Either way, that's it. I'm sorry. Okay.

Thank you. All in favor of accepting the first reading, have the seat removed.

Say aye.

Aye. All in favor of accepting the first reading, as suggested.

I just would like to point out that my hand's been raised for the last three agenda items. So I will be bringing some things forward during good of the order. Yeah, I'm sorry. No, I see that. It's so small.

Cindy, were you voting no on the first reading of that bill?

Related to animal control, yes. I have a couple things that I would like to see changed about that, as well as the first one with 10.20. Okay. Given that it's the first reading, I'm happy to just send an email and work with staff. I just wanted to make sure council was aware of where I stood.

I'll just tell you about that. Thank you.

Now we'll go on to public words with Chair Lursey-Franci.

Oh, that's good. Public words, not in other ways. We've never had a discussion about various city projects. We've had a few meetings with the agenda team The first thing is a public request recommending City Council post the public hearing to receive public testimony on the results of the application. Second. Seconded by Councilperson Hubbard. All in favor of opening up a public hearing.

see public testimony on proposed vacation of an alley right away within block one of the octane's edition of north africa and bill number 26-15 say hi hi you post something and we are now open for public testimony if anybody has anything they'd like to talk about about this item

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Is there any discussion on this? It's still . What? It's still .

All in favor of a request recommending City Council authorize the Mayor to sign the agreement for the mutual benefit of exchange facilities between the City and D911, say aye.

Aye.

Is there any opposed? Yes, thank you.

Thank you. I second the Board's request to recommend that City Council approve the sale of the surplus real property in 7.1.1.2. So, 1,120, excuse me. Can any negotiations to the adjacent property be established?

Second.

Seconded by Councilperson Dover. Is there a discussion on this?

Yes, Mayor.

Yes.

I'd just like to make sure that there's an understanding that selling this property and negotiating with a single purchaser that,

the sale is in excess of the tax amount.

Again, so below the tax, below the assessed value, especially in a singular sale. I believe that they're also probably lowering the value of the property because the job is built on it.

And we purchased it for close to $200,000. It's on the rolls of 53. And so do we understand, or is there an understanding that it's not going to be sold below $53,000, which is on the tax rolls? Yeah. Yeah, 100% will go below $53,000.

It was purchased when we got the water line on or broke loose, washed the house down the hill. De-stabilized the slug. We had to buy it in order to repair the slide. The ground has been sitting there with a stabilized slide now. We intend to put an encumbrance on the property so it cannot be built for residential development, which is going to reduce the price of almost nothing. It's not worth very much if you can't build a house on it or do anything with it. The adjacent homeowner by our ordinance was allowed to come and ask us to sell him the property. He's maintaining it now. He's keeping the brush cut down. He's blowing the grass, calls it as an extension of his yard. So, and I thought I put in the report very clear. Our intent is that once that encumbrance has been on there for no development, that we will then get an appraisal for what the property value is. And I read that ordinance, so I think I can do that based on the new value. What happened was the county did not take into account the value of the land with the slide or the active slope on it. And then they raised the taxes, but you don't pay taxes on property, so nobody fought it. So it just went, it went through as an appraised hire, but there was no taxes being paid. So nobody caught that. that that shouldn't have gone through, but we will be selling it for what it's worth, not for what it's being taxed on.

So we're selling property. We're selling property for what? That we don't know what it's going to get appraised. I'm not getting that anywhere in the motion that we're getting it. It says you're going to negotiate with the owner.

It says it'll be appraised and then we'll enter it in the negotiation site. We do it with every property. Yeah, I didn't find that in the data that I read in the report.

I'll show you after. Okay, please do. Because I have a concern that I've, it's just always been under the understanding that there's concern to simply liquidating property. And to be really covered off of it. It's, you know, voting to sell it to one person. And then also, we really, is this something we have to get rid of? We've had issues in that area in the past and we've been in the future.

So that's my question.

I have a question about what happens if the water line breaks again and whoever purchases it wants to attack the city for another landslide or do we have some protection against that or how does that work?

Would you please answer that question?

The water line that failed has been removed and there's no longer potential risk because it doesn't go to the property. The house was removed. What we did was we bought the property after we paid $140,000 for it back 20 years ago because the ground underneath the house was unstable and had moved and we needed to fix the slide. So the house had to be removed in order to fix the slide. no house and a slope that we cannot say that it's stable or unstable. It hasn't been moved in 20 years. That's the point. We're not going to allow any residential development on that property. So it's a yard. Somebody wants to expand their yard. There should not be any risk to us because there is no water lines to it or through it anyway or adjacent to it.

Another thing is that they're maintaining it, and the city would need to maintain it otherwise, and that's an expense to the city. Do you want to answer that?

Yeah, and by selling this piece of property and putting it back on the tax rolls and being able to collect property tax on it. Right now, we're not collecting any property tax on the property because we own it. Yes.

I just wanted to point out, and it says here in the document that after all of these things are done, the final disposition shall be authorized by the city council. So it's not like, we're not deciding right now, let's sell it to him for five bucks. We're deciding, yep, let's declare it a surplus property and let that process go forward. We're still going to have one more option to look it all over. Am I making that right, Rick?

Yeah. This allows us to negotiate. Right. Any other discussion?

I have a I'll never request the City Council to approve sales surplus real estate subject at 1, 1, 2, 1, North L Street and enter into negotiations to sell it to the adjacent property owners.

Say aye. Aye.

Opposed? Nay.

Okay, thank you. Our last review is the second reading of the Recommended City Council Commission Ordinance on the Proposed Vacation at the Alley Right-of-Way within Block 1 of the Chatham-Hopkins Addition at North Aberdeen. Here's Bill No. 26-B from the Revision Service Review. Second.

Seconded by Councilperson Bynum. Any discussion on this?

all in favor of the second reading their community council improvement ordinance on the proposed vacation of an alley ride of clinton block one and platte hopkins edition of north aberdeen bill number 26-15 say aye aye opposed thank you that's all the number of things all right now we move on to special committee item

So we have one item tonight. First reading a request recommending that city council repeal ordinance number 6735. This would be bill number 26-20. And I'm going to accept this request. Second.

Seconded by council person never. Is there a discussion? Yep.

It's been coming through the Finance Committee. We had a chance to ask this evening. I would ask that you, Clemens, give us a quick explanation of what you did this evening. Sure. Finance Committee, so we understand the logic behind this.

So this was one of the things, the cost savings approaches that we introduced during last year's budget cycle. we were experiencing a deficit that we needed to work through. So this was kind of, this was one that we had come across that where we could encourage people to retire and to accept a retirement buyout. And then we would leave those positions open for X number of months, or we would not replace the position at all. So considering that, like in looking at This particular, I think we're ready to sunset this one. I don't believe that considering the city's financial state, which is far more stable than we were last year. I don't believe that this will serve the city. And I believe that we need to sunset it because we could see some misuse. So I think that in order to protect the city's finances, we need to move forward with sunsetting this particular policy.

Thank you. That answered my question.

All in favor of the first request to be requesting city council repeal ordinance 6735 of bill 2620, say aye. Aye.

No.

No.

No. No.

Um, there's just a little typo there. It's in the direction. It says power. Okay. Thank you. So now we're moving on to public comments.

If there's anybody who'd like to, it would probably be better if you stopped for three minutes and Start up with your name and word for city.

Both Bolden, Ward 4. I've been working with the museum.

Push down on the microphone and see if it comes on. Just the whole stand.

The actual microphone.

Yeah.

That's okay. Do you hear me? Yeah. I've been working

with the city trying to bring the museum back for 8 1⁄2 years. And I'm the new creator of the Museum Transition Committee, and I serve on that committee. And I just wanted to say that Administrator Clements has done a stellar job with that. In 8 1⁄2 years, we've been trying to get things done. She's been very organized. She's broken down the project. people are actually getting work done, focused on specific things and clear responsibilities. And she's had great follow through in spite of all the other things that she's doing for you. So I just wanted to do a shout out that great job.

Thank you.

Thank you. Any other public comments?

All right, seeing none, then we'll move on. So I'm going to, I want to preface all of this by saying I'm not going to ask for us to take any action, given that it's just the first reading and I will

happily consult with the directors charged with overseeing these items before moving forward to the second reading. I just would really like council to understand where I'm at with it and some of the reasons why I voted no. When it comes to the updates to 1020, there are two different times listed between 10.20.030 and 10.20.075. One of them allows 30 minutes, one of them allows 45 minutes. I think that that should be the same time, and I think that time should be extended. Additionally, with the 10.20 updates, I don't believe that the two-hour parking should be something that we continue, I guess, advertising that we enforce. Although based on what I read through those updates, it sounds like there's going to be an effort to install paid meters. There was a lot of information within that about paid meters, and we don't currently have any. Um, but in regards to the two hour, none of the local restaurants specifically can reasonably send staff out every two hours to move their cars. Uh, and based on how it's written, if just moving their car to a new space in the same block does not start the time over and there's nothing else to explain what would start the time over. I do find that that's excessively inhibitive to downtown businesses. Um, Moving on to 6.04, I think there should be a lot more detail outlined as far as the process for animal disposition. For an example, shelter would be sought for X amount of business days before euthanization. Not that I'm at all an advocate for euthanization unless there is a safety concern, but I can also understand that we have minimal resources for animal control, both in space and financially. Furthermore, within 6.04, some of that wording I think needs to have a serious look at how it's said. To say immediately destroyed or humanely destroyed are truly awful ways to describe what's being done, and I think that we can word that in a way that's a little bit more sophisticated and acceptable.

That's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you.

I have something to do with the order.

I just wanted to point out that Boomtown Records has moved its location downtown, and they are in a new spot, a different building.

It's a wonderful location.

If you haven't gone and looked at it, it's a new place for young people to hang out downtown, something that I'm looking forward to. And they've also, I guess it's the Green Apartment building, into the mural that are starting the mural inside. It's very spectacular, right? I hope they do well in facing traffic so that we get the same view. So that's one thing. And then we tried to get into Deidre's at lunch this afternoon and it was a huge long line. So we went somewhere else. But what a success that restaurant is having with the support of our community coming downtown and having lunch at their place. And finally, I wanted to touch on the Museum Transition Committee, and I want to thank, probably thank the members of that committee for all of their hard work and diligence. It's amazing to see them all put together, and this project is actually going somewhere. It has been standing there for a while now. So congratulations, and then us both out there, we're going to sign off. doing repairs on the building. And I really appreciate all your effort. And anybody else have anything further to be able to ask for some grants?

Yes, I just want to thank Public Police specifically for the street cleaning. I requested that they look at the sidewalk behind AT West. Behind AT West? Yes. And if they repaired it, then Thank you.

Thank you. All right, then I'll accept the motion to adjourn. So moved. Second.

Second.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Thank you all for coming. We really appreciate you coming.

Yeah.