City Council - Regular Meeting

I'd like to welcome you to the city council meeting for November 12th, 2025. I'm Mayor. I'd like to call this meeting for um finance director. Roll call, please. Yes, we have Ellis. Yes. Francancy here. Bacon here. Hodkin here. Hard here. Lawrence here. Mackie. Morrison here. Fredo here here. Taylor here and mayor here to excuse me

second. Thank you. Is there any discussion? All in favor stand for the role flag please. To the flag 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. Thank you. Second. Is there any suspension? All in favor?

I We're open up to public comment. Please start off with your names and your board or yours address and behind and got three minutes. Don't all rush at once. Hi.

Hi. Good evening. Uh my name is Stephan Haron and I am one of uh Walmart's and I am the director of state and local government affairs. So I'm just going to be from the store and not award since I'm not a city of uh Aberdine resident. But I just wanted to um be here tonight uh in support of uh an item that is on the later part of your agenda. Um you'll be hearing a presentation from public works about the um highway 12 rail separation flyover project. And on behalf of really just wanted to take a few minutes to say thank you and to appreciate the city of Aberdine staff, the highway 12 rail separation project staff and to recognize the amount of hours and work that it took um over many years to get to the point where you are tonight. Um we've uh participated in a number of conversations and worked very diligently with the team and they've just been um just wonderful to work with uh listen to concerns and were able to make some changes that um I think got us to where we are today. So thank you. Thank you Nick. Thank you Deborah who's behind me. Um thank you to the Port of Grace Harbor as well. Um and to Ruth especially and to all of you on the city council. So just uh providing our appreciation for the hard work that that's taken place over such a long period of time.

Appreciate it. Thank you. Any other public comments? I I'm Doug Wilson. Uh, I just wanted to to let everybody know, in case you didn't, that uh, at the Grace Harbor Democrats meeting, they decided to give four of the high school food balls uh, each $500. So, total of $2,000 will be going towards that for uh, food assistance for everybody. So, I wanted to thank them.

Thank you. Hi, my name is Ralph Oaboom. Ward four. Still the best ward out of all the awards. Let know. I know it's not a competition, but we are winning. I came here in gosh, I think uh month before October talking about a cleanup uh over in October on Franklin and Fifth Street. Uh DJ from City Public Works, I think, uh gave us some garbage bags. It went really well. We liked it so much uh we're going to do another one on the day after Thanksgiving uh over by the entrance to Morrison Riverfront Park. So, um we're looking forward to uh hanging out getting filthy and picking up some garbage. Uh second thing, I I hope this is the appropriate place for the comments on the ADA. I did send in an email, but um I was sort of late to the game. I saw the notification about the ADA plan and I read it because I'm a huge dork. It's 58 pages. It's really good. um as somebody who's a total outsider to what the engineering department does or what a city does to go through and see the intentionality and the care that went into that and the the amount of information that was made uh public and the public engagement that happened all of the appendices. Uh really really cool to see and again as an outsider if you're looking for public comment I just have a lot of confidence that it's being handled really really well. So that's all. Thank you.

Thank you. other comments. You know, I got I'm I'm Steven Wood. I I live in Aberdine and I got a recycle bill just a couple days ago. I went to uh they um well company just just out of town here. It's barely out of town. And talked to them about this bill and they said that uh the taxes were 4.5% at the first year and and they said that you talked to them a little bit but did not say whether they had it or not and they kind of dropped the ball. Somebody did anyway. It was dropped all year long and now all of a sudden somebody wakes up say, "Hey, I want that money now." Not not u you know, so everybody's got to pay a bigger bill. To me, that's not right. You You people should have done better on the way you put this in. If you wanted 9.4 for first year. You should have started at the first year and not wait till the last month of the year and say, "Hey, I got to have that money now." Everybody has to pay almost an extra $20 a month for this one time shop. But still, that's a lot. When you figure everybody in Central Park and here have to pay that, that's not right. and somebody needs to

own up to this and make sure it doesn't happen again because it it's uncalled for and it hurts our seniors, you know, especially that's what I am and I don't have that extra money, but I I got to come up with it now, you know, because you requested it. I got the bill right right here to prove it. But anyway, uh there there was one other thing that uh Lee May said to me. I said, "Well, what do I want to just skip one pickup? You know, I I have two a month." He said, "Well, we could, but you still be charged for it." I said, "That's not right. Why should I get charged for something I'm not delivering to you?" And then not only on top of that, I'll be taxed by the Aberdine too, the whole month for for what if I decided to do that. But I'm not going to do that. But I'm just saying the option should be there if I wanted to do that. But just one of those things, you know, catch 22, I guess you call it. But it needs to be thought up thought about too. But I'm just not happy with this return here. So, and and next year you're going to be paying 9.4% for the whole year. Well, that's fine. You're already getting the money for the whole year anyway, but let's do it the right way and not do it the way you guys did it. Anyway, I asked him who who the fault was, and they put the finger to you. So, you just uh I don't know who's who's playing the blame game here, but it's it come out wrong.

Yeah, we probably talk to you after. Oh, have you signed up with their senior rate? Well, you're kind of quiet. Have you signed up with their senior rate? Well, anyway, that's that's about what I had had to say and I I didn't want to miss this meeting when I found out there was one. And sir, are you signed up for the senior rate through Lame? They have they have a senior rate for discount for elderly.

Well, yeah. Yeah, I I could do that, too. But but the situation is what happened here should have never happened. Not Not like this. Now, now let it go the whole year. Say, "Hey, I want the money now." So, you got to bill everybody and and they they told me out there. They said that uh they would not raise my bill this this high. It was up to them, but that's just the way it works. You know, when you get to the bottom line, you need the money by the end of the year. You don't have any other avenue. you you take it, you know, but I'm just saying that that's not the way to do it. And you had the whole year to figure this out. It seemed like all you people could figure this thing out without doing this this way. And there's a lot of people in my area felt the same way I did. But they didn't come in. But anyway, you know about it now. and I I apologize for getting a little problem with you.

But yeah, anyway, thank you. Thank you. Anybody else with public comments? All right, we'll move on then to our consent agenda with council president.

Motion to approve tonight's consent agenda which includes the minutes from the October 29th meeting, accounts payable and paying seven. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? Okay. Okay. So, for the mayor's report, I just had a couple of long long letters to read, but they're not here. Um, first off, um, yesterday was Veterans Day and I just wanted to acknowledge um, the men and women who served our country and and we're all grateful for your efforts. If any of you are veterans, I appreciate it. Thank you very much. Um, also their families. I I kind of got this idea from uh Walmart's Yeah, she sent a letter to the whole part of it. Okay. Then the next letter was from the Washington Museum Association. Says, "Mayor Moore and council, we are writing to share our deep appreciation for the remarkable work of history 98520, a dedicated group of community members who care for and preserve a museum. Museum collections with exceptional passion, skill, and heart. Your city is truly fortunate to have such a committed organization stewarding its history and keeping it stories alive for future generations. Over the past year, the Washington Museum Association has had the privilege of working closely with history 98520 through our volunteer museum learning community, a program made possible

through um some grants. And then it goes for more than 20 applicants across the country. The state history 98520 was selected for its outstanding dedication to preserving Aberine's history. The dedication has been especially evident in the years following our the devastating 2018 fire. with and while such a loss might have ended many small all volunteer organizations history 9852 chose to be active in rebuilding their resilience is a true testament to the power of the community and shared purpose in preserving a story um the volunteers of history 9852 amplify exemplify what is what it means for a museum to serve its community to give their time, expertise, and energy to ensure that the city's history remains accessible, meaningful, and well cared for. Their work provides an invaluable public service, one that enriches, educates, supports tourism, and strengthen strengthen strengthens the culture and economic fabric of Ay. So, I just wanted to thank him for that. And then I got one other letter here from Abby and city council. We want to thank you for reinstating our recreational money for 2025 for over 30 years. It's been so good to have that each year for the seniors to go on trips. This year we did a Mariners game in the summer. Recently we took a trip up to the sound taking in the wood carver a ride on the ferry and the valor blocks to see fish in the ladders both trips where we find they would not have happened without the recreation money.

Thank you again for your supporting senior center executive board. That's it for mine. All right. Do we have any council reports? Council person,

thank you. Um, almost every Saturday there's a group of people who volunteer their time at the seapport to restore two longboats. Um, the Captain Peasley and the Hue Jackson. These are replicas of the longboats that were aboard the Lady Washington when she um discovered Graves Harbor. And um and it's just been a joy to see the craftsmanship and how they have transformed a vessel with a lot of rot into a solid boat that just looks amazing. And the um the captain Peasley has been restored and they take her out every now and then and do a run between Aberdine or Oakquam and Westport. And to have that and and the public is welcome to have the ability to connect with the water, connect with our history, um, and connect with these knowledgeable people is just really a an opportunity that I'd like to encourage people to take advantage of. Um the lady Washington is in Port Townson being restored and um the seapport needs about $200,000 I

think to um see that to a to a finish. And I would encourage us as her home court that we look for ways to support that effort um and help bring the lady home perhaps in time for the uh the centennial celebrations to come next year. Thank you.

Thank you. Council reports councy. I I helped them row the HR Jackson across the the river years back. Um but uh last Saturday I went and cleaned up the Columbus roads and only found a bag of garbage from that area. It's great. But I guess that's

Thank you. We appreciate you because you're working hard to keep our city clean. H council reports update staff reports administrative plans.

Thank you, mayor. Um before you you have a proposal that um I've drafted up um on the creation of a program called Aberdine 101 and guide to your city. um this is an introductory course to citizens and resident um or excuse me residents um to their local government and just kind of a great way to engage our community. Um so there's a lot of details that I've put in here and I want your feedback on that if you want to email me or if you want to see something else added to it or I'd be happy to discuss it further with you. But this is something that I would like to launch in February. And what it is is basically a free eightweek course um on how the city operates, all the ins and outs of the city. Um ideally it's to just kind the council has a goal, more civic engagement, but you also have this goal of more communication with the community. And so this would fit into that goal. Um but then it would also develop like future leaders and volunteers of the city, get people more engaged. So this is just um something that is kind of a standard in a lot of cities that I'd like to see here. We're trying to make a um you know just trying to increase engagement in our city. So it breaks it down week by week. I think that there is a place in here for the council to be involved. um in week seven ideally that's when we would probably do mock um public meeting things like that just to kind of get people engaged. So just any idea of anything that you would like to say right now it's about eight weeks. I considered using the same model that we did with the utility rate advisory committee and that like have one every

month but I feel like people would fizzle out. So just kind of hitting it you know every week I think would be ideal. Um but again we would limit it or excuse me we would limit it to 20 participants. It would be every Thursday. So again open to any ideas or additions or changes that you would like to see reflected in this um to you as well. And so are there any questions?

Is limit within 20? I'd like to know and just see I'd like to test like kind of tip our toe on the water with this if we were to do it. Get a list of participants people interested in it and people are willing to show up for any person. I know this it's a great idea but it has to come at a cost of the city. It would be we there has to be a price test whether it's documents or time if this doesn't end up being a $10 project and four people show up and it assumes eight weeks of to our bits of cities it really cost effective to host a private tour of the cities or two or three people and I've um read about other cities who have this same program

and they're all very successful. It ends up being an incubator for future council members to come from or people who are engaged in the city and really want to find out more about how it runs and they well I spoke to it's been very successful and is usually free even if it was a $20 fee will be more inclined to actually show I don't you know this was something that I modeled after Chief Green and their citizens academy and they have that That's this is something I maybe figured we could do like in tandem with theirs. So, but I don't I don't know. I guess we could just try it. Really, the only

the only cost that I really see um associated with this are binders and paper. Um and then staff time. Yeah. But I don't know of any staff that I would be there won't be any staff that have like overtime associated with them or anything like that. So, um I also wanted to reach out to like the PUB and the port to see if we could use their spaces. I wanted to try and use every available space that could have like host 20 people just so that people can get kind of an idea of how fast their city actually is.

Yeah. Most of the speakers she most of the speakers she has that lined up are not from the city. They're from other organizations that that will be volunteering their time also. Double checking because I know we start inviting people to come speak as well. Oh no. Okay. I always start wonder there but free. I I will be mindful of that and track the costs associated with it, but it really hopefully they're just a very minimal. Yeah,

I think it's a a great idea. I'm um I'm also thinking that 8 weeks is a long commitment and perhaps pilot a like a three or 4hour overview and and use that as a sounding board for are there people who come to that who would be willing to commit to something longer or is the interest really in short little bites. um that are maybe more or that fit more with people's schedules. Um Lieutenant Cox, had you do you guys have any issues with people showing up to your citizens academy or people committing weekly to it? I believe um council member Ferini was also a part of that. So would love your feedback on that.

Yeah. No, people are committed to staying engaged again sessions. Do you have any feedback on your time with the citizens academy? I thought it was a great learning experience and more people wanted to enter they could. Okay. So I think that this was pretty taxed and you know I wish we had done this years ago. I think it's a great idea. That was my biggest fear not being you know they want to learn they want to know more about their city.

I for me it was the police of I even though I know about the city I would love to take this. I think it would be great. Yeah. Are there any other questions? Thank you. Any other directors with reports? Okay, then let's move on to presentations. Tonight we have the ADA transition plan and Monica Svin's going to be our our speaker. Yes.

Hello. Can you hear me? And can you see my slide deck? I can't hear if anyone can hear me or not. Yeah, we can hear you.

Okay, great. Wonderful. Uh, thank you. Good evening. Um, I'll be presenting on the draft version of the city's ADA transition plan for the public right ofway. The project team for this endeavor is a combination of city staff and consultant staff. Uh, Gabby and Nick from the city's public works department have been working with myself and Victor Salman. Um, I'm a planner with Transportation Solutions. We're based in Woodenville, Washington. And Victor is the engineer for this project. In this presentation, I intend to review the ADA transition plan that we've developed for the public right ofway. And also our ask of you is that you would support this plan, the final version for adoption by your council in December. An ADA transition plan must do four things. First, it needs to identify barriers that make it hard for people with disabilities to use Aberdine's public ride ofway. and that's the roads and streets and the pedestrian infrastructure in your city. The second thing the plan must do is figure out how to fix those barriers and how much it costs to fix them. So, what methods will we use? Will we um do sidewalk um leveling or will we replace a complete ramp or will we add a pedestrian APS push button? So, how we're going to do it and what it costs. And last, the fourth item or third rather is to decide when to fix the barriers and to have a schedule. And fourth is to pick a person in the

city leadership who will make sure barriers are fixed each year of the schedule. Under title two of the ADA, barriers are identified that local and state governments are responsible to remove barriers at. And so we have physical barriers and programmatic barriers. In this plan, we address all the physical barriers in the public right ofway. And we also look at required policies and procedures in the programmatic side. There are still some items the city has left to do for barriers in other facilities. So buildings and parks, that would be a future city task. and also a more comprehensive look at the services, programs, and activities of the city. So, for instance, eligibility for activities that you would require um you could have ID and not just a driver's license required for ID because a driver's license may not be something that a person with a disability has. So there's some other act other future tax tasks related to accessibility but this plan covers a giant component with the phys the public right away for the policies personnel and procedures. There are two roles that this plan uh calls out. the ADA504 coordinator. This is a required role and at the city the human resources director fills that role and this person will field grievance requests or other concerns from the public regarding uh discrimination based on uh disability or other accessibility requests or concerns. And as previously mentioned, the official responsible to implement this

plan and to work towards bear removal is the public works director since this is a public right-of-way focused plan. The plan also includes the public ADA notice. This is a commitment that the city will uh the city's committed to not discriminating based on disability and that it will provide effective communication. Another policy is the accessible pedestrian signal policy, APS for short. APS is at signalized intersections. It's the button and the pedestrian head with the countdown and audible features so that people with disabilities can cross uh streets. And so there's a policy to help the city guide uh when improvements need to be made and what type of APS needs to be installed and curb ramps related to uh APS. And then last the ADA grievance procedure. This is required so that people can submit a concern if they feel they've been discriminated against. Um the city has other methods. the citizen action request. That's a less negative perceived uh tool, but the grievance procedure um you're required by law as a as a municipality to have an ADA grievance procedure. So, we have that for you. We covered quite a bit of ground for evaluating public rightway facilities. We looked at curb ramps, sidewalks, driveways. That's very important because a cross slope in a driveway can be a hazard for someone using a mobility device. We look to get at pedestrian crossings, those accessible pedestrian signals at

intersections the city is responsible for, as well as the flashing beacon crossings, RFBs, uh, one on Herren Street and one at the entrance for Grace Harbor College. Lastly, we looked at paved paths as well. We wanted to cover the network of pedestrian facilities and we thought that those paved paths for recreation were important to include with our self-evaluation efforts. We used a few methods. We looked at Google Street View. We did field work. Um and we also did field work based on sampling. given the amount of sidewalk and driveway infrastructure the city had, we um we did a sampling method uh that we believe is accurate and so that more detail about that methods in the plan. Um but I did go out in the field um quite a bit. I've walked quite a lot of your streets now and gotten to know Aberdine much better. And so when we look at the total inventory, you'll see you have over 2,000 curb ramps, almost 2500 driveways, 78 miles of sidewalk, a little over 5 and a half miles of paved paths. There are two intersections that are signalized that are fall under the city's responsibility for accessible pedestrian signals. And there are four push buttons of at flashing beacons. And so this plan looks at the we have the total inventory which the plan documents but then we also look at where are the barriers. So about 58% of curb ramps and 83% of driveways are non-compliant.

With sidewalks, we have about a third of the mileage we've identified as non-compliant and less than 10% of the mileage of paved paths is non-compliant. Both of those city intersections have non-compliant pedestrian crossings, but you have no barriers at the rapid flashing beacon crossings. Those are compliant. So now that we know the barriers, we have to decide how to prioritize which barriers to address before others. The key factors informing that prioritization are shown. First is responding to ADA grievances. That's a matter of you want to um respond to those first. uh given liability and other um you know respond to the legal items for sure. First uh the next item we have is six-year transportation improvement pram program projects. Uh, I've worked with the city staff to look through the planned projects on the city's tip to really see where is barrier removal, where is their potential for barrier removal and to have the city staff be thinking, how do we make sure ADA barrier removal is built into these projects. The city also does their annual sidewalk assessment. We use data from it to inform this plan, but it's another way the city can see where their uh bigger sidewalk issues in some places than others. The sidewalk program is also a way for the residents of the city to uh be involved with improving the infrastructure. And then we really encourage public

feedback through the citizen action requests as a as a first step. We'd love to or working with the city team. The city would love to uh kind of go through an action request before it comes to the level of a grievance uh is is the goal. In this large table, the big story of it is that in a barrier removal plan, we gave the city cost estimates and we document how we got to those amounts for each of the facility types. The barrier removal cost estimate, if you look at the total figure of 95 million, that can be a scary figure. Uh however, this is actually um quite typical of ADA transition plans that they have these high numbers, especially when you look at sidewalks and driveways as they are just more expensive types of infrastructure to replace and fix. But I want to emphasize the ways in which the city has barrier removal planned through upcoming projects for the next six-year period. 70 curb ramps, 18 driveways, a little over a mile of sidewalk, and two signalized inter intersections. These are the uh planned barrier removal projects through planned tip projects, how we can make progress on barrier removal. So, we do have more work to do 2031 onward, but the ADA requires agencies make progress. And so this shows how the city can make progress. Now, there's one other category that I've added into this plan because I want to give the city credit for where they

are improving accessibility for city residents, and that is through new ADA infrastructure. So, it's not considered barrier removal because it's a place where no facility currently exists, but you are expanding the overall network of facilities that persons with disabilities can access. So, in addition to all that barrier removal on the previous slide, we have 67 curb ramps, 25 driveways, a bit of sidewalk, two future RA flashing beacon crossings, and some other improvements to crosswalks that are coming through new through city projects and uh potential private development. So, I want to give that city credit and let the public know where other uh accessibility improvements are being made. I've done about 10 of these ADA transition plans for various Western Washington clients, and I really encourage every single one of them to do annual progress reports. even if it's a one-page bullet point list of here's how many curb ramps we did, here's how much uh sidewalk barrier removed. Um I think it's a really great tool to keep the public informed of the progress that's being made. And it also makes your 5-year plan update that much easier if you have those annual reports to compile. And importantly, this plan included public engagement opportunities throughout the process. We first started out with the project web page and we promoted that through various channels including direct emails to stakeholders

within the city that the city team and I researched ahead of time. We also had a online survey that had a map component so that people could even add a specific location and add photos to where they experienced barriers which respondents did use those tools. We got 10 responses during that month-long survey. We also had an in-person ADA workshop at the pavilion and we also had a hybrid version. there weren't any virtual attendees. Uh but that June workshop included five members of the public uh plus project team members and a few people that I believe are sitting in that this room tonight as well. And then right now today is the last day for public comment on the draft plan. We made it available at the end of October for two weeks and as of this evening I can update that we now have four responses to date. um from the public. Uh we'll incorporate those responses into the final plan and those comments dealt with ADA items but also nonADA specific items. Um and one of the great recommendations by someone was for the ADA grievance procedure to kind of call out that people may have challenges with digital accessibility. So that's one thing I think we could improve in the final plan is to more specifically state um how the grievance can be related to digital as well as physical access. So we have the project website. We have a QR code available for you the links provided. Uh the

uh hope is that we can get answer any questions or comments you have and also receive a recommendation um to adopt it in December. Thank you.

Thank you. Really extensive. There's a lot All right. Um, next we have a US12 highway rail separation project if that would be presented by Nick Bird. All righty. Thank you, Mayor. I'm going to share the screen here. We'll see how that looks up on the big TVs here. getting there. Look at that. We were able to make it work. Um, so thank you uh for setting some time aside tonight to go over the highway 12 rail separation project. It's been I don't know uh I think 10 months since we last uh presented to council. uh January was I think the last time we were up here and and Deborah, one of our project team member project managers uh provided the presentation on alternative 6C at that point in time. Uh obviously it is now 10 months later and some things have changed and so we wanted to kind of walk you through kind of the the history and where we're at right now uh prior to uh asking council to take action tonight. So, uh, we're going to we're going to fly through, you know, what the project is, you know, for for anybody that that may not be aware of the project and then, um, the various different stages of the project. I want to kind of walk walk people through, take take everybody along the journey that we've gone on. Well, we're going to do it in a very condensed timeline. Uh, as uh, Debbie

Herren indicated. Uh I think just in the last uh 2 years, 2 and a half, 3 years, we have looked at seven different alternatives. We're going to run through those. We're going to we're going to crash them down here into into 10 minutes, 10 to 15 minutes. So uh real quick, uh the big big picture uh standpoint is I think everybody's aware that there are trains that go through Aberdine. uh they uh in in East Aberine uh they do impact the uh the commercial establishments uh there on the south side of the rail tracks or the railroad tracks and they also uh translates to impact impacts on Highway 12 uh with cars that uh tend to queue up waiting to turn uh right or left into that commercial area. So one of the things that I think is an important piece to note is um you know right now there's a significant expansion that is currently underway and uh we have a couple of members from the port harbor here that you know after I get through the presentation we'll see if there's anything else that they would like to add but right now uh there's roughly 35,000 cars per year or so that that come into the port. Uh and then those same cars also do grow out. Uh so that translates to roughly 70,000 cars per year that go through this this uh commercial area. After the T4 expansion andor other business lines of businesses that that may occur there at the port, uh that number is going to increase to 75,000 cars per year inbound and then another 75,000 outbound. So we're going to go from roughly 75,000 cars per year to 150,000 cars per year real quick. Um and so part of why we've we've really been actively trying to close the gap on this is we know that that's an impending um element something that that has to be addressed. Uh there are congestion elements that that um you know currently impact the area and unfortunately with

more rail cars and more you know crossing impacts that's that's not going to get any better. And so the objective is to facilitate this project and advance it forward. This project actually started in 2013. Um Deborah might say this is it her third child. Is that a fair statement? Um it is.

So Deborah Simmon, our project manager, has been on this project since day one in 2013. In 2013, you know, the the project team evaluated 10 different alternatives uh or concepts and narrowed those down to the top three concepts. went through a a pretty robust uh alternatives analysis and you know community engagement plan and settled on uh what was then called alternative C which is the Shayless Street overcrossing which is shown in the in the image here that has been kind of the the the nexus of the design uh since 2015. In 2018, uh, a planning phase was was undertaken to kind of refine this and and you put a little bit more polish on it and and get it ready for advancing into the Bloomberry design. And in 2018, we added, you know, the the eastbound auxiliary ramp uh to minimize impacts to the uh proposed roundabout. Uh, put together ancept level uh cost estimate for both construction and rideway impacts. um again facilitated more outreach and you know distilled that down into a project component that I I think um was a a a simple milestone we'll call it um because at that point in time we started to advance the project in kind of little bite-sized pieces as we um were kind of waiting for funding. At that point in time in 2021, we applied for a raise grant uh actually secured the raise grant. So we had federal money tied to the project. But shortly after that in 2023, uh the Washington State Legislature fully funded the project. And at that point in time, I had to make one of the hardest decisions that I've made in my career and uh go to Senator Campbell's office and and say we can't use this right now. We didn't want to federalize the project because that would increase the project schedule. Right now, uh, with the project schedule that you can see on the board, you can

see that we believe we're at the end of what we're calling preliminary design, one of the key components of, uh, finalizing this preliminary design is locking into place this geometric framework, and we're going to walk through that here in a few minutes. Uh, we've already framed out, you know, our rightway impacts. Um, and there are number of other milestones that we have hit along the way that that we'll walk through here in a in a few minutes. One of the most important things that I think is is necessary out of this is that you can see presuming we identify that that preferred you know uh geometric layout uh today. Our target is that by the end of 2026 the fourth quarter of 2026 we are going to be ad ready to to be moving this project uh and start breaking ground shortly thereafter. So again, two and through the preliminary design framework, you know, our our target focus was we know we had seven rail crossings and we we because of the the funding program that we were in, we're looking at eliminating at least one rail crossing uh and obviously, you know, facilitating that alternative C that was confirmed in in 2007 or 2015. So the preliminary design, you know, really has, you know, three key constraints and and we've got alternative six that you guys previously saw shown here in the the graphic, but we have three components that are are critical for us to kind of chew through and like I said, I feel like we're there. So the first one was the approval of the Department of Transportation. US12 is a state highway. We have to go through the process and get their blessing as we go through the design activities. we can't advance the construction without the blessing. Um I'll show you in a minute here that that process has has been completed. The second is uh we have rail design uh constraints. So there's a a vertical clearance that we have to be mindful of of as we we deal with the railroad crossing. And so we have to make sure

that we are 23 feet from top of rail to the bottom of the girder. So we have 23 feet in between uh those two areas. And so that's a that's a non-negotiable that must happen. Um and then the last piece is the overcrossing uh touchdown impacts. And so if you recall back in January, we had talked, hey, you know, when we move this, you know, there's impacts and and you know, every single time we move something, there was pros and cons associated with it. Well, right now, I guess kind of chewing through those those, you know, critical design uh constraints. So the the first item is is washed out approval. Uh so there's two key components that we go through. They have the intersection control evaluation and then they have the plan for approval. The intersection control evaluation was approved in August of 24. Uh so 16 18 months ago. Um the plan for approval was recently approved in in August. So right now um all of our planned mainline work has been blessed by washdock. Um and that that is is pretty much locked in at this point in time. The real constraints this is a a figure kind of uh describing preyncing uh what I was just describing with that vertical separation. This is again you know shown in the previous previous layout. Again, one of the key components is is that if you're trying to make sure that we get over something the and and have that height uh requirement that impacts our ability to control the ramp slope. And so the shorter that runout, the steeper that slope needs to be. So we had to get a little creative um which we'll we'll talk about here in a few minutes. Then the last piece is, you know, the the on-site uh constraints and how we're dealing with those. There's a number of different um you know vehicles that we have to make sure can traverse this area. Uh we know we've got garbage

trucks that go through there. There is a transit stop that is in there. There are bars that that park all over in there and um what we call uh WB67 semi trucks. Those go to all of the source there at Olympic Landing. Uh somewhere between 24 to 32 go to Walmart a day. Um so we have to make sure that that those um you know pieces of equipment can get through. So as we look at at the various different u layouts um and again I apologize um I forgot we had the little TVs up here. Uh so these are really really really hard to see if you're not you know standing right next to my council members. Uh I printed them out. They're even harder to see because they're literally 2 in a piece of paper. Um so the first item on the left is the original concept which was presented in in 2021 in that um u planning document. In 2023 when things started to get really serious after uh funding was received. We started to really ramp things up. Uh we actually added a a second southbound lane to address queuing on the the the bridge. We recognized though that that queuing still didn't address one of the the uh we'll say initial design concerns about traffic queuing up adjacent to commercial facilities. So we added a a a roundabout here in the in the third alternative at that touchdown location. And again that's that's all fine and dandy. Um and we'll go through the pros and cons here real quick. Um the fourth option uh we ended up kind of shifting things around. We moved the over crossing west. um and facilitated a a four-way stop. Again, traffic queuing uh didn't behave the way that we wanted it to. So, the fifth option, we ended up throwing in um actually a a flipped option and, you know, brought the

overcrossing down from the north side. Unfortunately, that that ramp flow was really steep. Uh it was, I think, one of the steeper options that that we had looked at. Um, in alternative 6.1, which we brought to council actually back in January, we were able to get that ramp slot down to 9.6%. Um, but still, you know, roundabout had, you know, some um nonuniform parking configurations and, you know, some undesirable elements that that not everybody was was excited about, you know, jumping jumping on that alternative. We uh continued moving that forward uh in April of this year, kind of shifting the roundabout further east and looking at a couple of different options there. But at that point in time, we couldn't facilitate movements of the signs on site. So that um caused a eighth iteration which was you know finalized in August of this year um which again shifted the the roundabout further to the northeast uh which does have a a much better on-site layout. uh geometric layout facilitates traffic where it needs to be. Um what? So we'll get to some of those details here in a second. Um I am trying to fly through this. I recognize there's a lot of information here. We're about halfway through, but the the good stuff's coming here in a second. So again, as I indicated, the original concept uh did create some some impacts as it related to to truck ingress, egress, and steep slopes. And so as we moved on from that um we addressed the traffic cues as I previously indicated but um the steep slope was still an area of concern. The third alternative uh that we had considered again further addressed the traffic use you know and and helped uh mitigate those impacts but still didn't hit the nail on the head because of the

steep slope. The fourth option, uh, we actually kind of shifted the the, um, the intersection a little bit away from the store, kind of out or lined it up with the auto ring road and kind of brought the overcrossing in from the west. Again, that was a creative solution uh, but it created significant challenges as it relates to truck access in and out of the facility. Uh again, you know, we our target when when we're dealing with high-speed overpasses, we want to be looking at at an 8% slope. That's that's the general target. Um the highest over crossing ramp that we had had um from a slope standpoint was this alternative, alternative 5 with a 12% slope. It's not impassible uh but it is a challenge for those larger uh semir. So that again necessitated us to continue kind of looking at at further solutions. Again you know we had talked about this alternative 61 back in January. Uh we felt pretty comfortable with this but like I said not everybody was on board with the 9.6% slope that we were looking at. We had come up with another scenario to to hit that 8% magic number, but that resulted in about a 5 foot 4T 5T fill uh to the roundabout area on top of the fill that we were already planning. Uh so it was going to translate to a pretty significant uh runout um and impact a large portion of um both the Walmart and Olympic Landing properties uh from a construction standpoint as well as a profile standpoint or side profile standpoint.

The next two options that we had um kind of run through um in early 2025 was um again shifting the ramp further east. Uh and and in both cases we just we didn't feel like it was the right layout. And so that escated us coming up with this eighth alternative in August of this year. Basically we we um moved or shift shifted this roundabout northeast. Uh this framework eliminates the cues adjacent to you know commercial facilities which is I think one of the big concerns that the people had. Um, one of the most important pieces associated with this is it really improves our construction sequencing, meaning we're able to do a lot of the work offline. And now, as I noted in the cons, it it does impact uh a couple of the commercial buildings in that area. Um, what the the tradeoff there is is that there is opportunities for us to facilitate construction offline and not impact the other remaining businesses. As I indicated, the ramp slope is is an 8% maximum on both sides. Um, we are actually improving the rail safety component because we are now illuminating two crossings. Every other alternative prior to that was illuminating only one crossing. The thing that I I I'm really impressed with the design team about is the net combined parking impacts as less than 10. um the net after the project's all said and done that the net impact of stalls is is less than 10 uh on both properties and I think there's I want to say close to 900 stalls between the two um a real estimation we'll go with it um one of the other items that I had

identified is uh you know keeping the parking fields contiguous um in a previous alternative. Let's look at this one for example. We have a a you know parking field that is uh kind of an island for lack of better words. Um and so it required people to cross areas of of the normal public travel way and now in in this case for the most part um almost all of the parking fields remain continuous. Then the last piece is so that we have unobstructed unobstructed 247 access to you know Jerry, McDonald's, Walmart, Olympic Landing, all of the commercial properties in that area with the exception of of uh tractor supply which is through private property over on the other side. Um but the remainder of of the commercial properties on the southside now have 24/7 uh unrestricted impacts uh because they are able to use the overpass to facilitate crossing in the event of a blockage. So here's a a highle graphic that identifies you know kind of the key components. Um the only significant change uh from alternative 6 to alternative 8 as it relates right away impacts as I indicated is is the two blue buildings eastern side of the figure um which I believe are each block subway etc. Uh but this layout like I guess does does translate to other you know significant benefits the remainder of the the you know buildings that are planned to be impacted structures that are planned to be impacted there's no other changes um that that have occurred. So key key points associated with alternative 8. Um one of the things that I think was brought up during one of the uh design meetings was you know if if you take property boundaries away and you say you're going to provide access to this area. How do you do that? And so

I think the initial response was well you want the touchdown in the middle. You don't want to put landing on one side and have everybody drive through the parking field to get to the other side. You land in the middle and let people disperse where they need to go. And so that was one of the the you know key components to to modifying this layout to to where this this is. So it generates that you know equitable benefit to all of the property owners. Really other key components that I think are are is very important is you know that the 80% design slope u maximum design slope. uh there's not a there's not a standard out there that we can find that says 8% is is a bad place for this. So, um 8% max is is the standard for when you're coming off of a 16 mph highway. Um and we're talking about using 8% max on a very low speed and throat. uh very comfortable with this design layout at this point in time. Like I said, the other the other key component uh as it relates to um the rail crossing um project is mitigating that second rail crossing and eliminating. So here's a few graphics that the project team has put together. We tried to grab the the shots that were very similar to previous shots that you'd seen. So, here's one looking from the east, one looking from the west. Again, they're not vastly different than what you had previously seen other than uh as we approached the touchdown location, it tails off to the east as opposed to going straight down uh adjacent to uh to Walmart. And then here's here's one look in southwest that really kind of focuses on

you the compact roundabout and the traffic patterns in that general area. The rightway impacts um are say pretty numerous. Uh there's a lot of rightway impacts associated with this project. Um many of these have been previously identified. Uh like I said, there are two new impacts that are associated with this alternative uh that can translate to uh relocations. And just about just about to the end, uh when we talk about funding, u again I indicated that the project is um fully funded through the state of Washington connecting Washington program. they meeting the state legislature actually broke that up over three different benium uh with this most recent bianium bringing up 38 million. So that gives us the opportunity to advance to construction uh before uh July 27 uh which is a a great place for us to be. We had done lots of of public outreach uh approaching um the presentation in January. Actually, we had launched the website back in in 2024. Our game plan is, you know, pending the approval tonight. Uh we want to update the the um the geometric layout and the figures and the information on the website hopefully tomorrow. The team already has things prepared and so it's just a matter of u you getting the confirmation and moving that forward. So the next steps um and I think there's a couple of things that are that are important to identify here. Um obviously we want to confirm open and meet as that basis of design tonight. Um the second item shown on this uh design milestone checklist is the lost art approval for the mainline improvements that's already

been achieved. Um and then we need to chew through the plan specifications and and cost estimate for the the final layout. The environmental documentation because it is not federally funded is relatively straightforward on on our end. Uh so you'll be able to fly through that uh fairly quickly. The rightaway activities we have initiated rightaway um or or offer packages to a number of properties already. Uh so we have had already obligated the rightway funding from the state um I don't know 6 months or so ago. So, we do have offers out, but part of what we felt was necessary is we want to confirm the basis of design so that we can get the offers rock and rolling to the uh to the commercial property owners on the south side of the road. So, that's I think the uh the nuts and bolts of what we've got going on, where we're at, and hope to go. Uh before we take any any questions, you know, and wondering, is there anything that you guys wanted to provide feedback on? Good evening. Kila Dunlap, director of government, public affairs, Portug um the figures, the the estimates I should say that Nick shared with you regarding the increase in rail are accurate. I don't know where he gone, but they are they are pretty accurate. So, it's happening. This is coming. Um the expansion is knock on wood, Leonard, maybe a little ahead of schedule even. So, we um expect the first vessel to be at the dock on April 1st and we'll sorry start working through um the ins and outs of the new facility. So, by this time next year, you can expect to see the the rail traffic essentially double. So, um we are very um thankful for all the work the city and um everyone has done on this project. um we uh we just ask that you support it and uh we can make sure we're we're getting this done

for the future and happy to answer any questions on the on the port side.

Thank you. So one one thing that I I think is important to note um is that when we when we look at this figure um I I had indicated that there were two crossings that we were closing and so right now the we have two crossings that are currently used new which is kind of that's the one next to the gas station that's eh not a lot of people use that the sha street crossing is one that a lot of people use. That is that is a crossing that's the one that everybody turns left at in front of Walmart. So that's the other crossing that would be closed. Um so Deborah had mentioned that that's I don't know if I had made that clear or not. I wanted to make sure that everybody understood that that was the the game plan. Now that does add some some interesting dynamics and how we're going to facilitate construction to make that happen. Um but that's part of the sequencing that the project team is is running through. But we're happy to answer any questions if you guys have any. I

think I have two.

Okay. Um, first an amazing job getting this figured out with such a limited space. Absolutely a puzzle. Um it looks like this design is only for vehicles. Um what provisions are there for pedestrians to get across? So bike and pedestrians are actually intended to uh be on the overcrossing. Um so there's a couple of different components that I think are are necessary for us to point out. So on the cross-section that's in the top right uh you can see you know bikes are intended to use uh I want to say

yeah pop on. So there will be bike lanes on both sides of the overcrossing and then there will be sidewalk on one side and that was to minimize the width of that overcrossing structure to minimize impact. So that's why we have a wider pedestrian path on only one site. We were able to save a little bit of space and cost. And then the other question is, have you worked out um traffic flow to see where how many cars coming into town or going through that area will it take to create a boondoggle? Um given that cars going over that overpass potentially could be backed up. So we did pretty extensive traffic analysis and actually transportation solutions who you heard from earlier today on ADF they are subconsultant on this team and have analyzed not only the roundabout on US 12 within crossing but also the onsite private um traffic flow once you touch down into the commercial area. So we've looked out 40 years. So we've generated the traffic model based on existing conditions, extrapolated that out 40 years. We've run a train that blocks all of those at grade intersections for 60 minutes. And that's the traffic model that we have run. And the commercial on-site operations are all operating at a level of service A. So A through F. F is bad just like in school. Uh so level of

service A for the on-site operations and then also the US12 roundabout is also functioning an acceptable level of service. Very good. Thank you.

Any other questions? Um so I'm not very good at math. My husband will tell you that. So, we're going to land now in that parking lot. Um, kind of where the eye clinic is now. Is that give me a general idea? No. Where ter or happy teriyak is is where they'll land. Correct.

Okay. So, it's going to affect those. No more happy teriyak. No more. They just have to have to move. Got to find a place. Okay. So, one of the items if you look in the kind of the center of the eye as you come along the roundabout and up and over the overcrossing the Mike's meets uh facility and the mattress ranch building those do remain intact and they do become somewhat of an island and our design team has been working really hard to show that we can maintain access both for customers and truck delivery to those uh two parcels to get in to get out safely. Uh so that's another piece of the puzzle, Liz, that you talk about like this really is we're between a rock and a hard place and a river and a hill and um it's it's very challenging. I think if this had been an easy solution, it would have been completed 30 years ago. So, uh, we know that there will be impacts and we know that there are businesses that are being relocated, but for the long-term success of Highway 12 in this community, then that is what we were looking for in this alternate a solution. It it will be the long-term solution. I I followed this project very closely and I'm really impressed with what I see with the landing spot really does what we would hope for and it looks really good. Um I have one question which with the with removal of the the crossings.

Yeah, there's there's two active crossings. So where you see the two red X's on this exhibit uh the one at New Station and Shahas the south leg of Shahila Street just as being someone who hears the train a lot will that mean we'll hear like a less duration of train hing less maybe but would that will impact the amount the length of duration do we get it sometimes for several instantly from like from tractor supply to

it probably won't reduce the longevity because as you as they keep going towards the railroad trussle there's still going to be an opening crossing there the eastbound traffic and the reason why we ended up removing the street crossing is it it conflicted with the construction of the overcrossing and we also didn't want it to be one more opportunity where cars will sit and wait on the highway for trains. So, some of this is also about um facilitating the most efficient operation on Highway 12. And there's also going to be a structure here in the center of Highway 12 in that where that bridge is because we couldn't go a complete span all the way across the highway and the railroad. It would have been too deep of a bridge burder which made a steeper you would have had to pick up overcrossing surface which made a steeper ramp slope than the 8%. So having that bridge pier in the center of highway 12 will still protect that bridge pier with barrier so the cars don't damage it but that blocks the the access to shul west for left turns just out of curiosity how deep do those pilings have to go at least 100 ft.

Yeah. I think we for example on on pump station we went down to about 120 ft. And so I would expect you know when we're talking about stressors like this you know 120 is not realistic in depends on what we hit. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

So, right now we're going to move on to requests for council action. Sarah report sheriff. Okay. Um we're requesting the city council authorize the surplus of the city shortel phones. These are the uh old landlines sitting here. Is there any discussion on this? Council personalis. Should they be donated to the museum? I second that. All

favor. And under ordinance, we have the first reading requesting city council to adopt the AWC BNO tax model ordinance bill number 25-13. This is just to bring us up to the statement.

Is there any discussion on this step? All in favor? I oppose. Adopted. Okay, we got the first reading. Requesting the city council to adjust the current lowinccome senior rate income threshold from 300% of the property guideline to the 200% of the property guideline bill number 25-16 motion. It's been studied there discussion on this. All right. All in favor?

Motion adopted.

Third reading requesting the city council approve the third reading and final passage of the ordinance on the 2025 supplemental budget ordinance bill number 25-10. I make a motion for you. Second. Is there any discussion on this now? All in favor?

I oppose. Requesting the city council approve the third reading and final passage of the 2026 preliminary budget bill number 25-12. Uh motion to accept this. I skip. Oh. All right. Request the city council in a correction. I'm requesting the city council approve the third reading and final passage of the ordinance of the 2025 property tax levy for collection in 2026 bill number 25-11. I make a motion and passage.

Second. Is there any discussion on this? All in favor? I

requesting city council approve the third reading and final passage of the 2026 preliminary budget bill number 25 accept this

second is there any discussion on this all in favor I We're not a public safety with the chairperson. We have no reports tonight.

Thank you. And public works with chairperson Francy. Do you have anything? Yeah. Uh first uh just general reminder that the ADA barrier removal planning document is up for review still and we have probably the end of a day to submit. So that then I'll go on to our actions. Uh, first one is requesting the city council approve to execute the Steward CCTV Inspection Contract Vector Services LLC in the amount of 1,200,000 that be

second. Is there any discussion on this? All in favor? I post motion adopted. Okay, our next item is requesting the city council authorize the mayor to execute the agreements with GTH for state and federal governmental affairs services for the contract cycle of 2026 2027 to continue partnering with city of Hopin promoting the train legislative plan for the abering hoping flood protection project and the US12 highway rail separation Do we accept this?

Second. Is there any discussion on this? All in favor? I adopted. Okay. Our next item is requesting the city council authorize the execution of the supplemental agreement with H RH2 Engineering Incorporated with in the amount of 334,259 42 accept this report

34,000 34,000 It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? All in favor? I oppose. Motion is adopted. Okay. And our last item is requesting city council approve the alternate gate configuration for the US 12 highway bill separation project as the final design and property acquisition. I move to accept this report. Second. Is there any discussion on this now? All in favor?

Thank you. Now we'll go to special agenda items for council president. Request for the city council to approve requesting city council approval to adopt statute RCW 46.61.570 61.570 regarding parking table and code entry with administration of reports. This is bill number 25.14 and you will be accept. Is there any discussion on this report? All in favor? I opposed. Thank you.

Next we have the second reading requesting the city council approve to induct staff the RCW. This is the same thing. Public hearing. I move we open a public hearing regarding the adoption of statute RCW46.681.570 regarding parking table code entry with the administration of the courts. Second. Moved and second. Any discussion? All in favor?

I oppose. We're now public hearing. Is there anybody like to comment on this? I'll accept a motion to close public hearing. Second move and second. Is there discussion? All in favor? I post public hear now. And next we have an appointment for the honorable Susan Solen to start your term beginning on January 1st, 2026 and commencing on new December 31st, 2030 and then we accept this appointment. Second. Is there any discussion on this? None. All in favor?

Thank you. And lastly, we have the first reading of the revised voluntary separation incentive program ordinance number 6722 bill number 25-15. I move read this right. Is there any discussion on this? All in favor? I oppose. All right. Now we'll move to public comments. Is there anybody in the audience that would like to make a public comment?

I'm April. Obiworth, I wanted to say that um I was hoping next year we can do something a little bit more for our town for Tibets. I am a I'm Army Brat. My dad was in the army, aunts and uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces army. My son was in the army is in the army. Um, a lot of people around here have to go out of town to do some kind of celebration. You know, they have a block pavilion. You know, recognize people that, you know, that are up in their age and listen to their story. Just a thought. And another thing is, um, Ruth, I haven't contacted you yet because I've been talking to people about what the steps need to do to recognize indigenous space. So, I have not ignored you. I just I'm getting all the information. Also, if anybody was stuck in the traffic today um because of the accident right there at the bridge, something needs to be done in that area. I happened to be in my truck with um a load going to the dump and behind a log truck. So we had to go left at um docking box, go around, go around the roundabout and go around the roundabout and then go back around and then go around and go. So it took like what 30 minutes to get across the bridge. So, and that's a really bad area, not only for pedestrians, but the accident today. Kudos to the fire or the police stations. They had that organized. They had alleys cut off where people couldn't cut through because there's a lot of people going. So, kudos to AB. So, um, but that area needs to be something

needs to be done before a pedestrian or another worst act so that happens. Thank you. Any other comment? Start with your name. Your name and your address. What's that word? Your name and your word, please.

Okay. My name is Steven Wood. I'm from Aberine worship. And uh what I wanted to say is this thing going on with u this problem this afternoon. And I was stuck in that too. And I was trying to get across town and I was on her street Broadway and her and I got stuck there and it took me 15 minutes to get to the end of the block and turn left, go down a couple blocks, go down the alley, come across. I was going over to a restaurant over there. I got to meet somebody and I made it but uh I was a little bit late but but we looked up the street and seeing what's going on. The cops had that blocked off that that one lane. So, I don't know what why they did that, but but it had something to do with that wreck. So, I would I would think that the police is what was involved in that one. And it wasn't just shutting the place down. They didn't want anybody driving through there. And I think that's what what it was. But I couldn't see too much. I could see down about a block down and I see the cop car had parked all the way across the intersection there to stop people from going through there and they didn't want them to to come in there. So, hey, they had their reasons butigation or something.

Yeah. Another thing besides that is uh down here on Broadway and First Street, they put those little cones out for at the curb. Well, I guess this has to do with safety for people walking across so they won't hit anybody without seeing, you know, they want to be aware, you know, somebody's being there instead of hitting them first. But that I can see. But the problem is that road first street is so skinny that that you go around those cones, you're you're getting into the left turn lane and go up the hill up frontway. We're we're addressing that problem.

Yeah. Okay. Well, that's a good idea because the way it is now, it's not you need to move those cones over some because it cuts off too much in the street because they got left lane. They got one straight through. So, they're taking up one of the room and they got these things way out there. Uh, so other than that, uh, that's about all I had to say, you know, but I wanted to bring that to somebody's attention, you know, because especially over there by the bank, Timberland Bank, they got them there, too. And the problem with that one is is if you want to park and go into the bank, you got to go around those cones and back up because you don't want to get too close to that high curve. It's about 8 in curve and you mess up your tires and you hit it. So you got to go forward and then back up. It's not a big deal. But way it was before we just drove right in there. You know that stopped that. But I guess that's the way it's going to be. I haven't had any problem with hitting somebody or close to it. It's it's never happened to me. But what I had in cross in the middle of the street and I was also told on the radio that people that cross the street can be ticketed to just like hitting somebody in a crosswalk. I didn't know that. That's how I guess that's the law out there that I didn't know about and I know it now. So you you got to be real careful no matter where you're crossing even if it's illegal cross. If you hit them it's your fault. That's just the way it is. Other than that, that's all I got.

All right. Thank you, sir. Yeah. Anybody else with a public comment? Hello. My name is Joe Kaine. I'm in word three and I'm here to say goodbye to Liz today. And I my husband's already in the car because this is lasting a lot longer than he thought. And so I didn't want and and God bless you, Liz. Thank you for being my council woman for so long and all the help and wonderful things that you've done for our board and we we love you and appreciate you and I just so thank you very much.

Thank you council president support. Yeah, given that we've been able to successfully pass the budget um and we can guarantee that we'll be able to swear in any council member on December 10th, I'm hoping that council will entertain a motion to cancel the 11:26 meeting, the uh excuse me, the November 26th meeting, the December 23rd meeting, and the December 31st meeting. Second, is there any discussion on this? All in favor? I

oppose. All right. So, we cancelled uh Thanksgiving Eve, Christmas Eve, and New Year's Eve meetings. Right. Thank you. Anything else for the good of the order? Council person Ellis. Uh mayor, mayor or may I have permission? Yes, you may. That's hard. I have your permission to speak from the podium.

Yes, you may, please. Council members, mayor, the administrator, my timeline has shortened and I will soon be moving from Everton and effective end of this meeting and retiring from city council. Much of my work life, I've been a city employee engaged in realigning uh realizing policy that made infrastructure improvements and help residents. I never saw myself as a city council member, but a vacancy came up and I knew my experience in city government would be beneficial. My insights have helped me serve to represent board three honorably. It has been a wonderful experience and I thank my constituents for putting their trust in me, my fellow council members, council president. I thank city staff and board city administrator and plumbing for truly being available and responsive when our residents have concerns. We have worked together to tighten the city's budget utilizing citizen engagement. Hard budget cuts have been made and I hope one day the council is composed with fewer council members who will be effective while saving money. We tackled some difficult topics from whether to remove fluoride from city

water, which we did, to cancelling the gateway project and deciding how to best support our local museum. I've been involved in many large projects from updating the Aberdine's comprehensive plan, US12 improvements to the levy and the new bridge over the Bushcon along with sidewalks and street projects. I hope one day a sidewalk section is constructed on B Street to fill the gap between Stewart Street and Stewart's Park. I won't be here to see that to help cut the ribbon and um see other projects be constructed. But you've got this and these projects and the city is in good hands. I've enjoyed calling Aberdine my home and I wish you and the future council all the best. Thank you so very much.

Thank you. That's really good of you. Just like to say good luck, Liz. Good luck. And I hope you enjoy wherever you move to. I keep asking where Liz going. No one knows. So, good luck and and good future for you and we'll miss you. accept a motion to adjourn. Motj seconded. All in favor? Thank you. Thank you all for coming to the meeting tonight.