City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I'd like to welcome you all to Alm City Council meeting January 14th January 14th, 2026 at 6 PM. The first meeting of 2026. I call the meeting to order. Would you all jo please join me in the pledge of allegiance? City clerk, will city recorder have a roll call, please? Councelor Newton,

you said she's going to be she's stuck in traffic. She'll be coming in virtually. Councelor Thompson. Councelor Van Drimlan present. Councelor McCloud present. Councelor Smith here. Councelor McGee present. Mayor Johnson

here. So the next up and it's not on here. We never added to this. I have a statement to make. The mayor's message. Citizens of Albany, on January 1st, 2026, we celebrated entering the 250th year of the United States of America. As we approach our nation's anniversary, I ask that we reflect on our accomplishments and successes of 2025 and use that momentum to make Albany a better place for all of us to thrive and succeed. As we look back on 2025, our community has grown and our economy continues to improve as businesses realize the value of being centrally located in the Wamic Valley. Our mission statement is clear and concise. Providing quality public services for the better Albony comm community to for a better Albony community. The city council remains committed to ensuring we accomplish goals set forth in the strategic plan. We are guided by the themes highlighted in our strategic plan to ensure we accomplish the goals created to support each theme. The themes are great neighborhoods, safe city, healthy economy, and effective government. In 2025, we update our strategic plan and strengthen the link between the strategic plan and the budget. In today's challenging economic environment, we must continue to be steadfast stewards of the resources that our to resources at our disposal to efficiently operate the city of Albany and deliver on our promises. In 2025, community realized the completion realized the completion of our beautiful Monty Riverfront Park and Water Avenue renovation efforts. We saw the revitalization of several of our beautiful parks and recreation spaces. We continue continue to pursue various types of housing options to increase the housing available inventory for all residents of Albany. Failing to address our housing issues will have long-term negative impacts on growth and the livability of Albany. A drive around town will reveal housing developments under construction in each and every ward. We've implemented new mod new or modified existing development systems

and tools to incentivize housing of every for every income level. We continue to utilize available federal and state grant funds to hope to help our unhoused residents access resources, services, shelter required to begin healing the necessary to improve their quality of life. We continue to engage our partner and partner with businesses, community leaders, and non-government organizations to ensure our diverse community is an accepting, inclusive, and healthy place for everyone in Albany. It is imperative that Hony has a healthy business community comprised of businesses from diverse industries, sectors, and sizes to drive the creation of real living wage employment opportunities for our citizens. Each member of the council is committed to ensuring Albany continues to be a safe and welcoming community for the current and future residents. I am honored to and proud to serve as mayor of Albany. I wholeheartly commit to remaining an an approachable, interactive, responsive, and transpar transparent public servant for the betterment of Albany. With respect, Alexander Duvel Johnson. Thank you.

Next on the agenda, item three is adoption of the consent calendar. Move to adopt the consent agenda as presented. Second. All those in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed say no. Thank you. with five votes. Oh, there she is. Hi. Sorry, I got caught in the fog on my way home. I I can imagine. Yeah.

Next on tonight's agenda is public comment. Public comment is a time for Albony residents to speak and for the counselors to listen. The council will discuss topics or make decisions during public comment, but will take those comments and ideas under request under advisement. Speakers are limited to three minutes and must follow the council's rules and observe the STEM standards of the quorum. If unable to do so, they will be asked to step down and take a seat in the audience until the rest of the meeting. When you get to the microphone, please give your name and state whether or not you live in the city of Alb. I call Peter Kaggi. Members of the council, um, for the record, my name is Peter Kanegi. I am a neighbor to the city of Albany. I am adjacent to this. I farm out on Nebergall loop. Um, I own property that abuts the north end of Tina Landing Park and you know, I've been there a long time. Um, and things have changed a lot down there over the years. Um, and you know, the city was given that property by the state of Oregon and the

city has done nothing to be good stewards of that land. And there were and I had understood I submitted some photos which can I have have you guys all looked at the photos and the the video? You've looked at the video. Okay. The one photo that shows the fur trees that's taken from my property. Those fur trees are on my property. You can see the camp down in there. And you the other thing you can see is all the ivy in those trees. A number of years back I had worked with um the Benton SWCD um on some weed control issues and we worked with the city and we actually got a contractor to come in and do a bunch of ivy control in there to get it out of the trees so that it's not raining seed down on the neighbor's property. and uh that I mean I spent two days last week controlling the ivy on my property which came from the city's property. I mean it's it's essentially trespass and you city's lack of responsibility and stewardship is costing me money. So that's the piece on the invasive um species. The other thing is the homeless issue down there. And that one minute video is one camp. It's one camp that's been there for a number of years. And that was taken last February. I've done the point in time count the last two years. I take people down there with me because I know that park and I know those people down there and we go in and talk to them. But it is bloody appalling what's down there. You would not allow that in a residential district in Albany

and yet you allow that on land that you guys own and or that the city owns and it is your responsibility and it is I mean the the trash that's going to float down the river the um sanitation for those people. I mean it is it is appalling. It is really appalling and I would love to take you out there, Mayor Johnson, and take you down there and introduce you to those people because they there, you know, and they are people who Thank you very much, sir.

Thank you. Next on tonight's next speaker is Brad Dennis, North Almond Neighborhood Association. Hello, Mr. Mayor and members of the council. I'm Brad Dennis. Um, I do live in the city of Albany. Tonight, I'm speaking on behalf of the North Albany Neighborhood Association. Generally speaking, I I wrote down that I'm going to talk about elections. Yesterday there was a special election in Sherwood, Oregon and voters sent a clear message by passing two charter amendments. They want a say in housing decisions that affect them and their overwhelming passage of these members of these measures opposing the state mandates shows that this issue has strong grassroots support. The first measure will amend their city charter committing the city to citizen involvement. The measure states that it is rooted in the city's home rule authority and cannot be preempted by state laws that limit public engagement. The measure is currently leading 94% to six% a 15 to1 ratio. The second measure asked shall the Sherwood charter be amended granting Sherwood exclusive authority over annexation decisions independent of state laws modifying such authority. This measure would add language to their charter stating that voter approved annexation is required in all cases except with respect to health hazard abatement. These procedures cannot be preempted by state laws that alter or constrain the city's annexation authority. The amendment ensures local control over annexation decision and

confirms home rule authority and this measure is leading 83% to 17% a 5 to1 ratio. Both of these member measures show that the city of Sherwood is standing up for their home rule authority that the state has stripped away as a result of bills such as House Bill 2001 and House Bill 2138. As you know, the League of Oregon Cities published a document titled Oregon Municipal Handbook and that chapter 2 covers home rule authority. Home rule was added to the Oregon Constitution in 1906. The home rule wording in the Oregon Constitution confers authority to the voters and this would likely explain why the city of Sherwood put these measures on the ballot to get voters agreement. In North Albany, our neighborhood association has received pledges to retain legal counsel to evaluate whether a similar challenge makes sense for our community. But our first preference would be to invite the city to explore this with us to ensure our residents have a voice at the table and that Albany retains a say in how state housing policies are applied locally. We look forward to working with our counselors on this. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next on tonight's agenda, ordinance, traffic safety diversion program ordinance. Next on tonight's agenda is agenda action consider adopting AMC 13.53 and establishing a traffic safety diversion program. Does the staff have a report? Good evening. Um September Rididgeway, who is our court administrator, is here to talk about the ordinance and uh what we would like to see put in place. Um so, uh city council a few months ago asked or directed that we bring back an ordinance for a traffic diversion program. Uh city attorney Sean Kidd drafted that ordinance and in the meantime, we began the program back in October just to make sure we worked out any kinks before this went into place. Um, so we've been doing that since October 1st. Um, we removed the age cap and reached out to the city of Salem, leveraged what they already had in place, and that's what we've been doing since October 1st.

Does this council have any questions for staff? Smith, how many people have taken advantage of the program so far? quite a few. I don't have a specific number, but yeah, it's been popular. Okay, counsel. Just thank you. Very simple. Thank you.

Um I do have one question. So, um in in reading the ordinance, um it states that the municipal judge will have discretion in who can participate in the program. Um, I was wondering if you could speak in a little bit more detail about that particular provision because I I think the intent is is good. The municipal judge should have um some level of discretion, but does that include categorical restrictions like the previous age cap? Um, I was wondering if you could maybe speak to that.

No, it wouldn't be based on age. I think we were just trying to there are any extenduating circumstances in a case that the judge thinks would make that it an inappropriate case for diversion that she would have the the say to to say no to that one. But I mean 99% of the time it I I don't see that happening. But just just in case there was some extenduating circumstances, she has the ability to make a judgment call on that.

Right. I I'm I don't have particular concerns at this time, but also just try and keep an eye to the future on any ordinances that we're drafting and we don't know who the council or the municipal judge or any of the people in these roles will be in the future. And I just want to make sure that that doesn't put us in a position where we might have someone say, "Well, I want to put this kind of categorical restriction on in the future." And my question, thank you for the question, counselor. Um, so a person goes through the version once or they can go through multiple times? Once. Thank you.

Okay, that's fair. Uh, does the council wish to discuss the ordinance? I think we're already discussing it. Council have anything? Hey, there is an ordinance in your packet in your for your considerations on page 62 and 65 of the council packet. Would the city attorney please read the ordinance and title only? An ordinance establishing a traffic safety diversion program for certain traffic violations in the Albany Municipal Court. Is there a motion to read the ordinance a second time and title only? I move that. Second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I those opposed say no. Thank you. Will the city attorney read the ordinance a second time and title only?

An ordinance establishing a traffic safety diversion program for certain traffic violations in the Albany Municipal Court. Is there a motion to adopt the ordinance? Oh, it looks like I I move to adopt the ordinance as written. I'll second it. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed say no. Thank you, councel. Motion's adopted. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks all so much. It's been a long time coming.

Next on your item, action item, item B, resolutions award contract for FP-25-01 Wastewater Master Planning Consulting Services, Ryan Beef, pages 66 and 68 in your packet. Good afternoon, mayor and counselors. My name is Ryan Bee. I'm an engineer here with the city. Today, we're recommending that council approve the attached resolution to authorize the interim public works director to enter into a contract with West Yoast, an engineering firm based in Eugene, Oregon, to complete a new wastewater system master plan. uh master plans are the foundation of the capital improvement program and are opportunities to take a deep dive not only uh into how the system is functioning but but to revisit how we needed to function now and in the future. Uh about five years ago uh the city completed a storm water master plan update and two years ago we completed a water master plan update. Um, and if things go as planned, uh, in approximately 24 months from now, the city will have an updated comprehensive systemwide uh, wastewater master plan to guide planning and investment of wastewater system improvements for the next 20 years. Uh, relating to the city's strategic plan, uh, the project supports public health, economic development, and efficient long-term capital investment. Uh the project is included in the current capital improvement program and there are adequate funds to complete the project. Uh so with that we recommend that city council approve the resolution awarding the contract to West Yoast for west uh for wastewater master plan consulting services uh and authorize the interim public works director to execute the contract.

So which public works interim public works director? Aren't there two of them? I think there are two. Yeah. So um It would be Stacy Belcastro. Clarification. Council, any discussion? Question. Any questions? Councelor Smith, we've done work with West Yoast before, haven't we? Yeah. Yeah. And that's that's a um a neat thing about this project is is that um there's a lot of familiar faces. Um there's um there's well there's a whole slew of of expertise there that um has a lot of experience with the city. They know they know our system as it is now

very well. Yeah. Very well. So, a lot of this project is going to build off of of of previous um previous work that that has been done by West over a long time. Well, they know our council Smith said they know us, right? You feel confident that in this group? Do I you feel confident? Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Thanks. Yeah. Counselor, any other question or discussion? I have Do I have a motion? I move to adopt the resolution as written. Second. I have a motion in 5 seconds. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed say no. Thank you, council. Thank you.

Your resolution is approved. Next is optional by motion approval of uh contract increase ST-22-06 Gary Street sidewalk Andrew Monaco pages 6 69 through 72 in your packet. Good evening, mayor and counselors. My name is Andrew Monaco. I am also an engineer in your engineering division of public works. Tonight, staff is asking council to approve a 31% contract contingency and what will be the final payment for the Giri Street sidewalk improvements. Council approved a 25% contingency for this contract at the October 22nd, 2025 council meeting. At the time, work was about 50% complete. Um, and most of that work was done on the west side of the road. And during further construction, we ran into unfores unforeseen conditions requiring additional work beyond that 25% contingency, primarily due to reconstruction of catch basins and additional work to tie public improvements into into private property. There are 45 properties with frontage along the Giri Street impacted by these improvements. 80% of this project is still funded with safe routes to schools through a grant fund and transportation system development charges provide the city's required match and there are adequate funds to cover the overage. Staff recommends that council approve the final change order reflects the additional work required to complete the Giri Street sidewalk project. Council, any questions or comments or

comments? Councelor Smith. Uh, I was pleased to see that the um and surprised that the right-of-way acquisition um cost less than expected, but that's a lot of right-of-way, a lot of properties. And I think uh councelor McGee and I and you all remember the meeting that we had here in council chambers with the property owners several years ago to talk about it. And um so this is a nice surprise. It's glad that we've reached accord with them because it's work that benefits their property. Um, also a 30% increase um over the the uh original cost um or the original contract. Sounds like a lot, but it's $60,0004 $60,400, which is not a It does. That's not a big money. I mean, it's a big money thing, but not as big as it might be. 30% sounds just big. Um I we got the grant. Um took a long time to get it done because of COVID and everything else. And I think this is pretty remarkable that it came in where it did. So, I'm in favor of the contract increase. So, I met someone that is working on a development along that pathway. They're building a three triplex or something and he said the city staff has been wonderful to work with and so did the architect. So, I appreciate the work you guys are doing in the field representing the city and getting it done and um council what we'd like to do with this. Have a motion.

I'd move to approve the contract increase as requested. Second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed say no. Thank you. Your your adoption is worked passed. Next is business from the council. Item six in your packet. We'll start with uh council mloud. Thank you, sir. Um in light of Mr. Kanei's comments earlier, I would like to request a report on the history of cleanup activities at Tina Landing Park, as well as historical information about invasive weed removal and control in that area and what future plans the city has to address these issues. That's all I have. Thank you, Council Van Gremlin.

No new business tonight. Thank you, councelor. I got down here. Council McGee, no business. Councelor Smith. Nothing this evening. Councelor Thompson.

Yeah. Um, Mr. Dennis uh from the North Albby Neighborhood Association kind of stole my thunder because I too was watching that election by the city of Sherwood and I think the while it was a very um some address some technical issues, some real issues, um the overarching message was an an assertion of local control and I fully expect and I think they expect that to be litigated. Uh perhaps maybe the underlying issues aren't that important to litigate. I I don't know. But um uh kudos to them for for kind of saying no, we in Sherwood are going to decide how we grow. Um and with that and with Mr. Dennis's invitation. I think the council should think about perhaps meeting with uh the North Albby Neighborhood Association about how we can similarly um produce uh go go after that type of um of statement, that type of uh action um with the city. The blueprint is there uh from Sherwood And so, um, I I think Mr. Dennis asked for our consideration, and I'm just seconding that. I think we should consider strongly, um, giving people the voice in annexations and the voice that's sometimes taken away by actions in Salem.

That it, sir? Yeah, that's it. Thank you. I have a companion comment to that. I I'm glad that this came up. Um, I'm having a deja vu moment. We had a b we had a ballot measure years ago that changed our charter to require um public vote on annexations that was subsequently canceled out by a change in state law, which is what Sherwood, I guess, is addressing. Um, what does that mean for us, for Sherwood? And how does how do those things which one wins.

Well, right now, if you asked me that question and which when would win, I would say that the state law is going to win. We'll but as councelor Thompson said it's likely to get litigated. It's the first actually I've heard of it when Mr. Dennis spoke on it. I wasn't aware that was going on, but that likely will get litigated when when an annexation comes up and um they they say that the state law doesn't apply. It doesn't control over their home rule. So, I would imagine it will go to to court at some point. Um, I don't know. Now, I'll say in North Albany, and I think Matthew can correct me if I'm wrong, North Albany does not have any property in the UGB that can be annexed in. At this point, there is there is no more property to annex in North Albany into the city limit. So,

but I believe Mr. Dennis also talked about the type of housing. Is that correct? I think we're just talking about annexation. Yeah. So, so I mean it's still it's still a good I mean it's still something interesting to see how it plays out with Sherwood, but as it applies to North Albany right now, it wouldn't have an impact either way. So maybe maybe South Albany it would. But

one additional comment, the other charter amendment that they voted on related to citizen involvement requiring that which is required by Oregon land use law already. But I'm I would I'm interested in reading that measure to find out how that expands on that or changes um what's already being done. Yeah, we get a copy of that just so we can read it, please. I'll have to get it. I'm sure. Yeah, I think that actually OP has it on their website. Yeah. Okay. Yep. Councelor Newton, you're up there.

I do actually. Uh to Mr. Kane's comments. So, I go I would say Tina Landing Trail is probably my favorite like little hike to go on. It's easy enough for my four-year-old and my 10-year-old. And we do pick up litter. I see a lot a lot of the litter that's on there. And actually, I believe I have panic. I panicked and like texted I think uh Peter u end of November, beginning of December. That's when it started a fire, you know. Um and I was like, "Oh my gosh." It was right by the bridge and I'm like, "We can't afford a new bridge. Oh my gosh." Also just like a fire. Um, I understand you need to stay warm, but h infrastructure. Um, I totally hear you like that. Like I've noticed a lot of the ivy. I'm a big plant nerd, giant garden. Um, I do also think it's appalling. So, I agree. I also want to second when I see your report. I'm not sure. I know our parks budget is so limited and that is a very you know it's not as easily accessible piece of land like if we were but I'm curious to see what can be done but um yeah I'm out there at least like twice a month bring my dogs bring my kids and um we've seen like herand banana slugs and also shout out to and like if you guys ever go on there you will see the most trilliums like if you like trilliums there are so many on that trail don't pick them But they smell great and they're beautiful. Highly I think it's a a really underutilized gem in Albany and I'd love to see it treated as such. But yeah, that's it.

Thank you. Um Mr. Kgi, I will I will take you up on the offer to come out. So I'll give it to you when the meeting is over. My four-year-old can hike it, so you can do it, too. I'm just kidding. I know you can.

She's not 60. Stop it. I can do it. Um the Fware mayor contest is going and teachers are calling me to come out and talk to the kids about the contest and I'm pretty excited about it. Um hopefully this year we'll have another first place winner state level. We've done really well the last four years and so that is the mayor's joy of watching these young people write these essays, create these videos and draw these p art this artwork and and they talk about their city and I think that's wonderful. Um, so let's spread the word. And Matthew, um, Matt Harrington, the library at West Albony, asked me to have you send them the flyers, and they'll get them out to the kids at the high school. Next, um, this morning, we filmed some videos with um Andy Gardner, superintendent for GAPS, and the vice chair. We got together, we made a video about the 1 million minute challenge. And what it is is that they're challenging schools districts to read for 1 million minutes. They can log their minutes through the programs provided by the school. And so ALB starting that program here shortly. And school systems all over the United States are doing it. And it's really wonderful. And my job was to encourage the parents and the brothers and sisters to read along with them and to participate in the program. Um why Vets Housing is moving along just fine. I'll finalize the the budget and everything. So they're broke round and 38 units for veterans, uh, low income and disabled. And the people are reaching out to us about when is it going to be open to to qualify for it. We're talking about probably March or April of next year because it takes time to build something that big. And today I attended the Jackson Street, what's the name of that place? Jackson Street.

Youth center. Youth outreach center.

Center. Yeah. It was amazing. I I drove I've driven by that building like 30 years over 31 years and never knew how big the inside of that place was. They've done a stunning job and I encourage you to go visit that center is is a gem for that organization and the people are kind. They have a pantry kitchen. They have literally everything to help somebody improve their situation. And then u tomorrow I invite the council and staff members to uh come and visit an is a non nonprofit network networking event at the Boys and Girls Club. Um, I'll be there. I do walk the circuit and look for volunteers and so I can help my clients, but it's a great opportunity to look at the local nonprofits and see what services they provide and then eventually I've asked several of them to come here and they've done over the last five years. A lot of them have come here for me meeting them at that event. I think that's it for tonight and next the city manager report.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I do have a few things for you this evening. In a minute, I'm going to ask uh our recorder, Eric Glover, to talk about some changes to the um projected agenda for the council, which colloquially has been known as the whiteboard, but he'll talk about that in a minute. I did want to to address Mr. Kaggi's uh concerns. Um, we did have a chance to uh uh communicate the photographs around among the staff today and uh parks has been in there to clean before and they will be able to get in there again. And as uh director Leane points out, the issue will be keeping folks from returning to the same spot again. Um, and she points out also that out of the $80,000 that uh, parks was awarded in the last budget cycle for camp cleanups, we've already used over 37,000 for cleanups, uh, 16,000 on one campsite cleanup alone in in December. But we'll we will bring back some information on what cleanups have happened there before. Eric, do you want to go over uh our projected agenda? Good evening, mayor and council. Don't need a ton of time tonight, but you may remember back in the budget meetings uh last year, we were awarded uh by you guys and the budget committee a uh funding package to procure an agenda management system. So that project is moving forward. But related to that effort, we've released a new tool uh amongst staff. It's using our Monday platform, which I think you all have heard. Uh specifically, how it impacts you is your uh Friday emails. You receive the calendar of upcoming city council basically meeting topics. That

has been shifted to a Monday board. Um it'll be accessible via web link. It'll have basically live updates. So, as soon as I add a add an item on there, it'll be available on that portal view. We think it should be pretty handy for you guys. It'll have three different views. It'll show a time breakdown, obviously, an item breakdown, and then also a department topic breakdown for each of the meetings, everything from city council to ARRA going forward. So, is there any questions? Is that web portal uh publicly accessible or is this just internal?

This this will just be internal um for a city council web link. Um so on your Friday emails, you will still be receiving a PDF attachment of the the 12 month full calendar. Uh everybody seemed to really like that when we when we made that change. So we will retain that. And then additionally, you will access the tenative agenda topics for the next, you know, probably 90 days or so through that web link. Along those lines, councelor Smith, um, you asked if it'll be publicly available. It's it's a preddecisional document. So, it it's it's a work in progress. It's not a finalized agenda.

Well, the people that I send that first page to of the tenative agenda, they love it. They schedule. they can they can plan to be at a meeting and my office manager puts it it's already on my calendar for the year so she can schedule her vacations around what I'm doing. So, thank you very much for creating that. Sure. Question. Thank you. Um, so I thank you, Mr. Glover. I heard you indicate that this will be available in an email to the council. Will this also be available on the uh council portal? Yes. So, we're going to put the link on there as as well, but it's going to come out in every Friday email that that you all receive um typically from McKenna.

I like to use the council portal. So, if it's going to be available there, that's probably going to be easier for me. Yeah. No, we will have the link on there um for you guys as well. Thank you. Excellent. So, thank you for that for the Chris Council. This just to say that this sounds great. Love Monday. Use it at work on the daily. So, I'm excited to see what you all put together. Yeah, thank you. We uh we been having quite a few meetings about the different ways that that we can utilize Monday and I think uh pretty much every department has embraced it and everybody's figuring out a way they can fully leverage the technology to to help them. So, we're we're pretty excited about it. It is a great system.

Cool. Thank you.

So, appreciate the presentation, Peter. Thank you. Thank you, mayor, and thank you, Eric, for for that. While I uh while Kayla makes her way up here to talk about strategic plan outreach and a challenge to you all, I'd like to answer I think it was it was a question I got from councelor McGee about talking water gardens. Um now, the first thing to note is that the long-term viability of talking water gardens is a goal. It's a steadfast goal of ours. Um and it remains an important goal. However, because it's the subject of ongoing litigation, uh we can't really discuss the future of talking water gardens outside of executive session. Okay? And that's on the advice of our council whom you know, Carrie Shepard with Mark Woods Herbert. uh the legal council that we have has filed a sixth amended complaint and that amended complaint is 31 pages long and it's publicly available. Uh so it's it's available to you and to anybody else who would like to see it. Uh and then we do I do want to point out also that we have a litigation executive session coming up at the end of at the end of this month on the 28th. So we will have a chance to brief you a little bit more at that time. Councelor Mloud,

thank you. Um, that document you referenced, you said that it's uh available. Where can we access that? And I I can send you a a PDF copy, but I'm sure it's available otherwise as well. Send it out to all the Do you know Do you know where otherwise a city website or that's in Lyn County Circuit Court, isn't it? It would be on the in Lind County Circuit Court. So, you would have to go get a copy of it from there. But we have a copy. we can send it, but if the public if someone in the public wanted to look at it, they could go to Lynn County and ask for a copy of it. And but you'll be sending um council a copy. Yeah, that Thank you.

And then lastly, let me turn it over to Kayla for strategic.

Awesome. So, I just wanted to do a quick check-in with you all um for a couple different items here. So, we are entering the final month of our engagement phase um for the strategic plans. You guys have probably noticed and I've seen several of you um share uh the survey that's been going out um through our social media and other platforms. So, I'm going to give you a little bit of an update and then as Peter alluded to, a bit of a challenge. Um so, to date, we have 320 over 320 responses that we've received um to that survey. Um which is actually really good for a public engagement survey of that type. Um we also received um over 50 responses from event uh over at the RCC um as well as engagement through the chambers youth commission and then over the next couple of weeks we have some events uh scheduled um over at the high school as well to get some additional youth feedback. Um some of the themes that are emerging already um amongst our older residents. We are seeing an emphasis on uh revitalization of downtown. this this idea of going back to the the the space of that being a vibrant space that they they loved or grew up with. Um alongside that, I will say there are also a ton of comments um around parking in the downtown as a piece of that. Um so we've got to balance that out. Um and then also um we are seeing to a lesser degree, but still considerable um some interest in the road maintenance aspect as well as addressing safety around homelessness. Um on the youth uh respondent side um we're seeing a strong emphasis on bikes, trails, pedestrian and transit connectivity really centered around this theme that the youth are not driving and they're not interested in learning how to drive. So how are they going to get around in that next era of Albany um also uh very key for them is a safety component in that as well. So an overlap of that homelessness theme um concern around the homelessness uh and really where they are on trails, parks, etc. Um and then the other aspect that we're hearing on the youth side is this idea around new housing that they can afford.

We're hearing from our youth that they love Albany, they want to stay in Albany when they grow up, but they don't see a route where they will be able to afford to do that. Um we did also get a lot of comments around Chick-fil-A, In-N-Out, the usual things. Um, but overwhelmingly an emerging theme that we're actually really excited to see across both groups is this great love for the events in Albany and this emphasis on wanting to see our events expanded or more emphasis on new events. Um, really that that piece of being a part of Alby's identity. So really exciting stuff that we're seeing so far. Now that being said, we still have a month left and we're hoping to get a lot more responses. Um, Sarah Singer Wilson's group has said 320 is about the average for cities, but I don't think we're an average city. I think we can do better in Albany, and I think we can exceed that 320 responses. And to do that, I'm going to issue the council here a challenge to help out staff. So, Eric is actually going to start passing down um some flyers for you guys. Matt's also going to send you a digital version of this. Each of you have been given a unique QR code for the survey. Oh. Um, now what we're going to ask you guys to do is between now and February 6, we're going to create a little competition between our council members to see who can get the most engagement on the survey um, from our uh, constituents here in the city of Albany. Um, so you can send out either the link that we send you in the email, you can share out the flyers. Um, really a lot of different ways that you can share that out. Um, and Sarah Singer Wilson's group will send us a weekly update that we can include in the Friday report so you know who's doing uh who's in the lead. Um, and who needs to do a little bit of catchup. And if you guys run out, you've been given a hundred to start with. Um, you can go ahead and print more or you can reach out to Matt and I. Uh, but do understand if you reach out to us to print, we cannot guarantee it for same day. So, please plan ahead. And

then let me just make sure I didn't miss anything on there. Yeah. Nope. I covered it all. So, good luck to all of you. I can't wait to see who uh comes out ahead. Um, and it's going to be exciting. I think we can shatter that 320 record there. So, any questions? Does this come with pay raise? What is the reward? Bragging rights. Bragging rights. I mean, we were just thinking bragging rights, but do we get one of those like street signs that we gave? Right. I know. Like, what do we get a button? Cuz other people got buttons, you know?

I mean, I can talk to some people and see if we can come up with a really good award if you guys really deliver on this. I want a street sign and a button. I'm telling you, I I just need you guys. Yeah. No, I think we can wrestle something. I don't know if it'll be a street sign, but we can certainly wrestle something up for the winner for sure. Okay. Thank you so much. Thanks for the update. I really appreciate it. Oh no. Could it be that like the the mayor has to like sing a song for us or something? Okay. First and foremost, you don't want me singing anybody. So, my daughter was three years old and I sang a lullaby to her. She started crying, stuck her hand in my mouth. Oh no. Not doing it. That's the last time I sung in public. Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry. Yes, they are. They are. They are.

Um, so the meeting uh next meeting is Are you done, Peter? Yes. Thank you, mayor. Next meeting is Monday, January 26 at 4 pm for our work session and Wednesday, January 28th for 2026 at 6 PM for our council meeting and possibly an executive session afterwards. Right. And with that, I'll join the meeting. Thank you all for being here tonight and welcome to 26.