Board of County Council - Regular Meeting

GOOD EVENING AND WELCOME EVERYONE CALLING TO ORDER CLARK COUNTY COUNCIL TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2026. WE'RE GOING TO START OFF WITH SEVERAL PROCLAMATION RESOLUTIONS STARTING WITH COUNCILOR LITTLE, AMERICA 250.

Alrighty. One of four here. I think four of them are doing. All right. Whereas July 4th, 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the founding of the United States of America. And whereas the Declaration of Independence celebrates that we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they're endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men and women, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, and whereas preserving, studying, celebrating, and appreciating our shared history helps strengthen communities as we work together toward the ideals of liberty and equality embedded in the Declaration of Independence, And whereas the 200th anniversary provides an opportunity to celebrate and recognize the significant contributions Clark County residents have made to local, state, and national history, and whereas Clark County has contributed proudly and significantly to the history of the United States of America and the state of Washington for more than 175 years, Now, therefore, we, the Clark County Council, hereby celebrate 2026 as America 250 in Clark County and encourage all residents to engage in commemorative activities during the United States semi-quincentennial year of 2026 and reflect upon the significance of this commemoration and the role our community and its diverse people have played in the history and development of the United States of America. Signed this 21st day of July 2026 by the entire Clark County Council.

Thank you very much. Next up is Volunteer Appreciation Month. And Cindy Gonzalez and Kaylee McLaughlin Burton from Public Works will be accepting this. So if you could come up. OK, this one, we're a few months late on this one, but it still counts. Whereas April is National Volunteer Month, celebrated annually by federal, state, and local agencies and nonprofit organizations, and Clark County appreciates our volunteers who work year round. And whereas Volunteer Month is an opportunity to recognize and thank volunteers who strengthen our community through their generous service. And whereas volunteers are essential to maintaining and enhancing the beauty and quality of our parks, public lands, transportation, corridors, and trails as the county's population increases. and whereas the clark county public works volunteer program engages the community in meaningful volunteer experiences that enhance and protect community assets like parks and roadways and whereas in 2025 more than 1300 volunteers collected more than 5 500 gallons of litter picked up more than 1,300 pounds of pears on county properties for donation to local food banks, painted the 400 foot long Salmon Creek mural, and made dozens of other inspiring and impactful contributions to public spaces. And whereas Clark County is fortunate to have many organizations and programs for residents to join their neighbors in volunteering, And whereas, volunteers are invaluable resource collectively making a difference and inspiring us all to give back to the community. Now therefore, we the Clark County Council do hereby proclaim July 2026 well i guess we went from april to july here county volunteer appreciation month and encourage the community to observe this month by volunteering in service projects throughout the county and signed this 21st day of july 2026. so And I know we have some volunteers in the community here that can help celebrate this. Do you'd like to say a few words? No, just thank you. OK, you're welcome. And thank you. Okay, then the next one up is Lake Appreciation Month. Well, Councilor Young is online and not feeling so well, so Councilor Fuentes will be reading and it'll be accepted by Adrian Mason, Executive Director of Friends of Vancouver Lake.

Welcome, thank you for being here, Ewan. Well, this proclamation is for the love of lakes. And it goes, whereas Clark County has a number of beloved lakes which are vital public resources that support recreation, habitat, wildlife, public health, community identity, and quality of life, and whereas July is recognized nationally as Lake Appreciation Month, a time to celebrate the value of lakes to encourage stewardship of these important natural resources, And whereas Vancouver Lake is one of Clark County's most treasured natural places and is a shoreline of statewide significance under Washington law, is recognized as an important public and environmental resource for present and future generations. And whereas Vancouver Lake belongs to the whole community and serves people across Clark County as a place of belonging, a site to recreate, row, picnic, and experience the outdoors, and whereas Vancouver Lake has a long history of community care, public investment, and collaborative planning, including efforts by Clark County and the City of Vancouver, the Port of Vancouver, state agencies, tribal representatives, scientists, user groups, community organizations, and residents, and whereas caring for Vancouver Lake requires continued partnership, education, stewardship, and a shared commitment to keeping this resource healthy, accessible, and welcoming for all. Now therefore, the Clark County Council does hereby proclaim July 2026 as Lake Appreciation Month in Clark County and encourages all residents to celebrate, enjoy, protect, and steward Vancouver Lake as an extraordinary community resource for Clark County today and generations to come. Signed this 21st day of July 2026 by the entire council. Absolutely.

Don't give me a microphone. We'll be here forever. I have like 12 minutes, right? Just kidding. Thank you, Councilor Fuentes, Chair Marshall, the rest of council. My name is Adrienne Mason and I serve as the Executive Director for Friends of Vancouver Lake. I am joined here this evening by many of our board members who all wore blue. I missed the memo and wore pink. We have been working since 2017 to ensure the lake and its watershed is a place where clean water, healthy ecosystems, and community well-being can all flourish together. Vancouver Lake is one of our community's largest and most valuable natural assets. The lake covers approximately 2,300 acres and provides space for water recreation, fishing, bird watching, and spaces to build real community. Our lake has an Olympic distance rowing course that attracts competitors from across the Northwest and across the country and contributes nearly $4 million annually to our community. But limited water circulation, nutrient pollution, invasive milfoil, and harmful algae blooms continue to threaten both water quality and public access. The first two phases of the Vancouver Lake Management Plan have made progress on these issues, bringing us closer to a long-term solution for clean water. We believe the future of Vancouver Lake depends most on community collaboration. No single entity owns the entire lake, and no single organization can restore it alone. We are deeply thankful for the many partners and supporters who continue to show up for Vancouver Lake. That includes you all here at the county, especially Councillor Young, Devin, who's here this evening, Ross with the Parks, as well as our partners at the Port of Vancouver, the City of Vancouver, and our state and federal legislators. Most of all, we are grateful for the community members who use, enjoy, protect, and love Vancouver Lake as much as we do. Their connection to the lake is what gives this work its meaning and our momentum. We hope that all of you, or those listening at home this evening, may join us this Friday, July 24th, in the spirit of Volunteer Month, which it is now again, From 4 to 6 p.m. for a cleanup at Vancouver Lake Park. We have a job for everyone and every ability and we'd love to have you. Thank you again for recognizing Vancouver Lake and caring for its future. We'll see you all at the lake.

Thank you very much, and all the friends. Then finally, as a resolution advocating for light rail transit to extend the station at Evergreen Boulevard. And Councillor Fuentes will be reading this.

Thank you, Chair. As I mentioned, this is not a proclamation. It's a resolution advocating for light rail transit to extend to a station at Evergreen Boulevard near Library Square. It's resolution number 2026-0701. WHEREAS CLARK COUNTY REMAINS COMMITTED SUPPORTER OF THE INTERSTATE FIVE BRIDGE REPLACEMENT PROGRAM. AND WHEREAS IN 2022, THE CITY OF VANCOUVER AND IBR PROGRAM PARTNERS APPROVED A MODIFIED LOCALLY PREFERRED ALTERNATIVE SYSTEM THAT EXTENDED LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT FROM OREGON, A STATION AT EVERGATE BOULEVARD NEAR LIBRARY SQUARE. AND WHEREAS THE CITY OF VANCOUVER HAS INVESTED STAFF AND CONSULTANT RESOURCES TO DEVELOP A CONCEPT PLANS FOR THE AREA near the planned LRT station, and whereas Vancouver, with Washington State Department of Transportation as a co-applicant, led a successful application for $30 million in federal reconnecting communities grant funding to construct a lid over I-5 and connecting with the station at Evergreen Boulevard near Library Square, and whereas the Evergreen Boulevard near Library Square station is a planned multimodal hub that connects LRT with C-TRAN, local and bus rapid transit systems, and LRT connecting with the rest of the county's public transportation infrastructure is crucial for the effective functioning of public transit in clark county and whereas non-transit vehicular analysis conducted for ibr supplemental environmental impact statement accounts for dispersion of traffic to and from the station at evergreen boulevard near library square in a manner that does not cause the city's downtown local street system to fail and whereas recent ibr program analysis proposes the lrt terminate at the vancouver waterfront station area rather than near the planned station at Evergreen Boulevard near Library Square, and whereas the IBR program's modified locally preferred alternative consists in part of new LRT service with an interim minimum operating segment northern terminus immediately south of East Evergreen Boulevard near Library Square in Vancouver, Washington. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Clark County Council, the Clark County Council strongly recommends that LRT extend beyond the planned waterfront station and connect with C-Trans existing and planned bus system at a multimodal hub by Evergreen Boulevard near Library Square to achieve the stated purpose and needs of the IBR program. It's adopted at a regular meeting of the Clark County Council this 21st day of July 2026 and signed by the majority of the council.

Okay, thank you very much. That concludes all the proclamations and resolutions. We'll move on to the, if you could join me in standing for the Pledge of Allegiance and then continue standing for the invocation that will be provided by Alan Walter with the countywide chaplaincy.

I pledge allegiance 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.

You are invited to join me as I pray. Lord God, we honor you as the creator of the universe, the sustainer of life, and the redeemer of souls. And we know that justice, righteousness, and mercy flows from your presence. And Lord, we thank you for creating us all equal, equal in intrinsic value as our founding fathers recognized. and also thank you for the right to life and liberty. And may we all recognize that in this nation and all the nations of the world. And we ask for your presence and your sovereign oversight during this council meeting. We thank you for our county councilors. We ask that you guide their decisions Give them wisdom and discernment. And may we all respect your word and seek the highest good for Clark County. And may we all find peace with you and peace with one another. In the name of Jesus the Messiah, amen.

Thank you very much for that. Then let's move on to the council roll call.

Councillor Young.

Here.

Councillor Belcott. Present. Councillor Fuentes.

Here.

Councillor Little.

Here.

And Chair Marshall. Here. Thank you.

Are there any amendments to the agenda?

I do have one this evening if we can remove consent number 19. This will come back in August.

Okay, thank you. Moving on to public hearing, Clark County Code 2.07.020, Ethics Review Commission. Kathleen?

yes thank you council so tonight I just want to go over a proposed change in the ethics review commission code language just as a reminder in November in 2021 the citizens voted to add two sections to the charter regarding code of ethics and an ethics review commission and oversight office The council then adopted an ordinance to Clark County Code regarding ethics. One of the sections of 2.07.020 states that the Ethics Review Commission is comprised of three members appointed by the county manager and subject to confirmation by the majority of the council. The request before council tonight is to adopt an ordinance to update the code to increase the number from three to five to support the business operations of the commission. And I will say that our current charter review commission has reviewed and is supportive of this requested change as well. Happy to answer any questions.

Okay. Are there any questions from council at this moment before we open it up for the public? Okay. Has anyone signed up?

Yes, Chair, we have one person signed up in the room. Carmen de Leon.

Yeah, hi. I'm Carmen De Leon, also known as Melo. So I have been to the charter review and we have talked about this. And I do support making five instead of three because, you know, the more eyes you got to look at something, the better. The only problem is what is their capacity to enforce when they know that there's been violations because I filled out ethical review reports and they just pick and choose what they want. They said that the only thing they care about is money. Well, when people are lying about money all the time and lying about people, it shows you their character. And just because they think it doesn't involve money, it does because the people I was complaining about are in the position to cost the county billions of dollars. So what is the extent of their capability of punishing people that we can prove are harming the public, not only individually, but as a whole on a monetary system, because they don't seem to understand debt. I don't know what's so funny, because I know I've been lied to over and over repeatedly by the city and the county. So, I mean, what good is this ethical thing? And it even says, okay, so what was my question? Oh, yeah, what's the criteria? What is the criteria to be an ethical person to review what I'm going to file on everybody here? Because I am. I was just waiting for them to add more people because I want to know what's the extent of you guys' punishment going to be for not listening to the people and for abusing the handicapped. And I do have video evidence of the abuse I've gotten right standing here. So where is the punishment list for you guys? That's what I want to know. What is the extent of their punishment on you or anybody actually in the city of Vancouver who gets ethics filed against them? Because like I said, mines was thrown out because they said, oh, it doesn't involve money. Well, money isn't everything. You know, love makes the world go round, not money. So how come just because they think it didn't involve money, oh, we're going to throw it out? No, because that person is ethically lying to get money. And if one lie after another lie after another lie doesn't pile up to make you see the light, like I've told you before, denial ain't just a river in Egypt, it's the way people live their lives, denying that even though the government is spending trillions of dollars, they don't have it. So why don't you look at the way they act individually? For example, me being removed for talking the truth because I have been ethically demolished by a lot of people sitting up there that can't be touched because who's gonna prosecute the prosecutor, huh? Who? The boss? Because the boss can fire the prosecutor, so it's really all just rigged and fixed, and it's all in the name of, oh, it looks good to have a big ethical people, but what can you do about it? What are you going to do about it? What are you going to do when you find all the ethical errors? What is your capability of punishing them, finding them, or removing them from office, or even out of the country?

Okay, thank you. Is there anyone else?

We do have one caller online, Chair.

Okay, thank you.

Caller, you've been sent a request to unmute. Please go ahead and do so. State your name for the record and go ahead with your comment.

Good evening, Kimberly Goheen-Elbin. Thank you so much for that prayer. Amen. So I'm all for the Clark County Charter to add Section 8.12 Code of Ethics and Section 8.13 Ethics Review Commission and Oversight Office. It's much needed. And the Clark County Council adopt the ordinance number 2022-04-03, adding Section 2.07.010, 2.07.020 and 2.07.030 to the clark county code and having five ethics review commissions commissioners is much needed i might add uh three three didn't work because a lot of times that i was listening uh there might have only been one there i mean and then they had to put it off and it went off uh for another couple of months. I'd also like to see if the charter review could also add to this to have a monthly ethics review commission, because frankly, I think we're gonna need it. So I finally agree with this, that this will be beneficial to further the public health, safety and welfare. And I strongly encourage the public to be active in their local government as this commission is responsible for hearing, investigating and ruling on complaints of violations of the code of ethics. And I for one will be actively holding our government accountable to serve the people under our great Constitution. Again, if there is a way that we could add, amend, so this is the public, your boss, I'm going to ask for an amendment, that they have monthly ethics review commission meetings, because I'm hoping that the people finally see that there's a recourse that we can do for government that has... actually trying to take over the people and so we're going to have a little talk about uh the Declaration of Independence that it goes on to state that when a government engages in a long train of abuses and interpretations, it is not just the people's right, but their duty to throw off such government and provide new guards for their future security. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it and to institute new government laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness so as the world is trying to have a one world government we here in america thank you your time is concluded that concludes public comment chair okay uh did you want to comment on this item oh

There'll be time for that. Yeah, that'll be later. Thanks. Okay, council, do you have any questions or comments?

Sure.

Yes.

Yeah, I had just a logistical question. I noticed the original three were appointed with a one-year term, a two-year term, and a three-year term, and that's so that you cycle people and you don't have a lot of turnover in one year. This fourth and fifth position would be three-year terms, both starting at the same time, which I think from my math would mean that there's a 12-year 12-month period where there will be four of the five turning over in the three-year period. And I'm just curious if it would be better to have one of the two new, the fourth or the fifth, have a two-year term instead of a three so that there's not so much turnover in one year?

There would be three total not four because all the first three were all staggered. So the last these two would be at the same time. So there'll be potentially three at the same year or not for

yeah well since it's june 30th oh will they all be starting on june 30th then the one-year term the two-year term and the three um they will be starting after we do a recruitment and do interviews and getting them started for the final two yes okay it still feels like there'll be a majority turning over in one year of the three so there might be a better way to do this i don't know thoughts well we've we do we've had committees with

high turnover, like all their positions were turning over at the same time or appointments all happening at the same time. So it does happen.

I think as long as we have the recruitment out soon enough, we shouldn't have an issue with having the appointments made prior to them expiring.

OK, thank you for that. Any other comments or questions?

Chair.

Yes, please go ahead.

How often does the Ethics Review Committee meet?

They have regular scheduled meetings quarterly, but they also do special meetings as well.

Okay. And we've not started the recruitment process. Is that correct? No. We have to adopt it. Correct. I like to get ahead of things. Thank you.

Great. And I would just note that this was a recommendation from the Charter Review Commission. And thank you, County Manager, for identifying that this is something that we could just take action on. We'll at least take one measure off the ballot this fall. So, Councillor Young, did you have anything to add?

No, just I think this is a good move and I appreciate the work on moving it forward.

Great. With that, then, thank you. I'll entertain a motion to approve, and this is ordinance number 20260702, and it'll be a roll call vote.

Chair, I move to approve ordinance number 2026-0702-02. I second.

Great, moved and seconded, thank you. All those in favor say aye. This would be a roll call. Oh, roll call, I even said that. Automatic pilot here.

Councilor Young.

Aye.

Councilor Belcott. Aye. Councilor Fuentes. Aye. Councilor Little.

Aye.

And Chair Marshall.

aye motion carries thank you okay moving on to the next public hearing extension of manifest error correction period and michael fish uh from the assessor's office is here to tell us about this

All right. Good evening, counselors. I'm Michael Fish. I'm the chief deputy assessor and.

Hi, good evening, counsel. I'm Sarah Lowe, and I'm the chief deputy treasurer in the Clark County Treasurer's Office.

So we're here tonight to present to you a request to extend our time frame in which we can issue make corrections for manifest errors. So if you want to move to the next slide. Our presentation tonight, we're going to do a quick overview, kind of what are our value corrections for our certified values? What does that look like? We're going to talk about manifest errors, specifically what they are. We're going to provide a little use case about some experience that we had this year. We're going to talk about the impacts to the county, our taxing districts, as well as property owners. And then we'll make our requested action to you and then leave a little time for comments and questions. So we can go ahead and hit the next slide. So the assessor's office, we process value corrections to our certified assessment role all throughout the year. And this is multiple years. Statutorily, we can go back three years and make corrections. And we do these for a lot of different things. We have our mandated duties that we can do corrections for and administrative things. So some of those things include our senior property tax exemptions, current use deferrals, um boe board of equalization appeal decisions for property values along with the state board of tax appeals and then we also do non-profit exemption determinations coming from this department of revenue at the state level so those are some things that we do correct values for and those make up most of our changes to values If you want to go to the next slide. One of the specific kinds of error corrections that we have is for manifest errors. So those errors are really not tied to a revaluation of the property. They're more about clerical errors. So if we did something like apply the wrong level of exemption for an application for a senior, or if we had incorrect property listings, whether it's an outbuilding that's no longer there, or if we had the wrong square footage on a property, or duplicate assessments. Those are the kind of things that we classify as manifest errors, and there is specific type of change. All right. We can move to the next slide. So as I mentioned, all of our changes we can technically we can go back three years to make these corrections and potentially if there's a value change and a reduction of taxes, we can apply those taxes or issue refunds. TODAY WE'RE KIND OF LIMITED TO THAT THREE YEARS. SO UNDER STATUTE RCW 8448065, ALL OF YOU, THE LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY, CAN ENACT AN ORDINANCE THAT WOULD ALLOW US TO MOVE PAST THAT THREE-YEAR LIMITATION AND GO OUT And we're going to request up to six years for us to correct these manifest errors and potentially issue refunds. And really the key here is this only in the case that we issue a refund or there's a reduction of taxes to the property owner. It only works to the favor of the property owners. Right, I think we can go to the next slide. So I mentioned a case study, and this is really kind of what got this thing moving this year. And our elected assessor and treasurer really made a case for us to present this to council. So we identified a clerical error earlier this year for a person in the senior exemption program. So the person had been in the program since 2020 for 21 taxes. They were applied for the program. They own a five-acre parcel and it's zoned five acres. Under the current statute for that exemption program, all five acres would qualify for that exemption. Unfortunately, at the time when we processed it, we only enrolled it with one acre for the exemption. When we found out that information through our review process, we contacted the property owner, went through the process to generate the refunds for the three years that were authorized to do. So we gave refunds for 23, 24, and 25. The property owner questioned why, you know, I was in the program since 21. Why didn't I get those extra two years of refunds? We explain the process, the statutory limitations, which is what brought us here today to say, well, there is a remedy and it requires legislative action by the council. Next slide, please. So before we brought this to the council, we wanted to make sure we did our own due diligence to make sure we had our heads wrapped around what this meant. We feel like the impacts to the county and the taxing districts is a pretty low risk. We reviewed three full years of corrections. So we went through all our supplements for the 22 through 24, which is the tax years 23, 24, and 25. We reviewed all those. We looked at the changes that were made. Most corrections happened just for a single year. We had a smaller subset that happened for two years and a limited to 28 corrections that happened for three years, multiple years. So we didn't feel like there's a huge financial risk involved in opening this up and going out from years four, five, and six. We also took this opportunity to look at all the seniors in program that are in that five acre ownership with the applications. We reviewed all those people that are in program that have that acreage that are zoned five acres. We did find one more property owner that we're going to correct this for and issue refunds back as far as is allowed. And then we also confirmed that any refunds that are issued, even though they're for multiple past years, they would qualify for us to go ahead and issue the administrative refund levies. So that makes taxing districts whole for those lost revenues in the following tax collection year. So again, low impact to the county and the taxing districts. Next slide, please. And I think really the important piece here is really the impact to our property owners and their taxes. The timeline, as we mentioned, extending it only works to their benefit. It helps our property owners. It's really the right thing to do. The counties can't collect additional taxes because we're adding value to the role and going back in arrears like that. And again, the property owners are made whole for any potential county errors that happened. Next slide, please. So really the formal request and we've drafted an ordinance. We've worked with the PA's office, assessor treasurer's office, a lot of people and people power went into this work. So thank you to all of them. So our office has requested your council approval to extend the period for manifest errors to be corrected from three to six years per the statute 84 48 0 6 5.

Okay, thank you. Are there any questions from council at this time? Yes, go ahead.

Michael, you answered one of my questions when you mentioned the 28, you found identified 28 heirs. How many people total are enrolled in this program?

In the program, we have about 9,700 seniors and people's living with disabilities and veterans.

Okay, thank you. And if there was discovered an error that goes back further, they would be out of luck. It will only be the six years.

It would only be the six years. And the reason we picked that time frame, I think there's an administrative burden to go back in time. But really, for our assessment cycle, we inspect properties once every six years. For the senior exemption program, we do renewals within every six-year period to review the income, make sure they still qualify for program. That's when we put eyes on things. So the six-year period kind of fit into our assessment cycles in business cases.

Thank you. Any other questions from council? Okay. Let's hear from the public. Has anyone signed up? Carmen De Leon.

hi my name is carmen de leon again mellow and um from my understanding fraud can be punished indefinitely there's no statute of limitations and other crimes have statute of limitations so how come giving money back only has a limited time offer I mean, if you guys have money for people for six, five, whatever years, who's keeping the interest off those few thousand bucks? Who's getting the interest? Are you guys keeping that as administration fees or the people getting it back that have been overcharged? And again, you're talking about senior citizens, which gets me because if they die, what? Do you go looking around for their grandchildren or children to inherit this money that was wrongfully taken from them or mistakenly taken from them? because they have children who would really appreciate that, I'm sure, and I'm sure if they're all seniors, maybe not everybody lasts the whole six years, and the mistakes do. Let me see, what else was it? Yeah, three to five years for the inheritance, and oh yeah, for example, giving people back the money is a must because in India they took a poverty-stricken nation. A rich man came and gave only $50 to each family to see what they would do, and they all started their little businesses, and the whole community was lifted up by thousands because they went and bought their little, you know, in India you can haggle and have, you know, little Saturday markets and make your money. As little as $50 helped the whole community. So, he got paid back with interest. You know, they bought shoe shine kits, because in other countries, they shine your shoes. They do things like that, or they sold mangoes in the street, or hot dogs, or whatever, and giving people back their money can benefit society, is what I'm saying, and including people who you cannot find. Maybe you need to look for their inheritors. because we're talking acreage, we're talking properties, and not everybody's always paying attention to what's going on. So that's all I'm saying is that six years is a joke. It should go on indefinitely. I mean, and older people have paid taxes all their lives, and they shouldn't be taxed anymore and should be given back as much as they can. and if they're not there then their kids should because they suffered without the money that their parents didn't have to spend on them so yeah give it back to the people and stop charging seniors you know thank you is there anyone else in the room nobody in the room but we do have a caller online okay thank you caller you've been sent a request to unmute please go ahead and do so state your name for the record and go ahead with your comment

Milla made quite a few good points there, I might add. So that does bring up some issues for me as to are the clerks finding this, which I think is a wonderful thing, or is it the citizens that are calling in and asking for this because it seems almost too good to be true, right? I do receive and have for the first time, actually, a senior exemption for our property. The fact is, is when people own their property, they're still paying rent on it. It's mind boggling. A lot of people talk about it, that the property tax is should be null and void our government's too big and they definitely make a lot of money on property taxes so maybe that'll be the next agenda that we the people can address at least cutting the property tax in half if not more um so again it goes back to some of us understanding that uh The world wants to or the world entities, I might say, want to take down America. So you make the people pay their taxes and tax and tax and tax. I mean, take a look at our state of Washington. I used to say it used to be a great state. And here we are being taxed to death. And so it's a mess. But, you know, good job on this. Let's take a have the citizens since this is their government. It's our government. Let's hold them accountable. See what they did do with the monies that they've held. Maybe we should be able to get a little portion of that. Right. And the fact is, is government wasn't supposed to make a lot of money per se. They're not to be become wealthy. You serve the people. And right now, I think a lot of people are suffering. I know they're losing their properties and all that. So, you know, I have a heart for that. I can't get into it. I'm a little under the weather right now. But you serve the people. And that's a righteous duty. It's a good thing. So let's hold each other accountable there. You see people as we, the people, hold you accountable also. It's for the good of the people. And it's, of course, a nation under God. In Jesus' name, amen.

Okay, thank you. Is there anyone else? Chair, that concludes public comment. Okay, thank you. Are there any other questions or comments from council or anything you'd like to respond to? Okay.

Oh, I did just want to add that there is a bit of interest that does come along with the refunds. And it is spelled out in statute, the amount of interest that is associated with the refund. So just wanted to make that clear. Great. Thank you for that. You're welcome.

uh okay i'll entertain a motion to approve and it's ordinance number two zero two six oh seven oh three and it's a roll call vote that i'll try to remember that it's a roll call vote so moved it's been moved is there a second second moved and seconded let's have the roll call counselor young aye

Councillor Belcott? Aye. Councillor Fuentes?

Aye.

Councillor Little?

Aye.

And Chair Marshall?

Aye. Thank you. Motion carries. Thank you very much. Okay, that brings us to open public comment, which includes public comment on the consent and separate business items. And just a reminder, you're limited to three minutes. And please keep your comments civil and on county business. Carmen de Leon.

Yeah, this is Carmen de Leon, and it's my understanding that it says right here, open public comment. Isn't that right? So you can talk about anything without getting in trouble, because you know I've gotten in trouble before. And yeah, open public comment. So you can talk about anything you want except threats of violence or campaigning, right? Okay, because I've been mistaken before and you shut me down and I don't want to get shut down again, okay? I'm making sure this is right. So your proclamation of 250 years, great, but no fireworks, huh? That really sucks. Clark County Appreciation Month, and I've talked about it just a couple seconds ago, how I've been abused just for coming up here in my bone on bone knee. I make the sacrifice to come here and all I get is made fun of and people trying to trigger me because they are bullies and all bullies are cowards. So I don't appreciate that, because I have volunteered my time here. Maybe it's not signed up with these people, But coming here and speaking publicly is my way of volunteering to the United States of America. One nation under God. Anyways, lake appreciation months. You know, that would be great if they had answered my calls. Because I had ideas about cooling off the lake with all the algae that we cannot swim in because it's so dirty. So I'm surprised that there's a lake appreciation month because I went and hunted them down trying to find out how to help them fix the lake. Because like I said, put ice... icebergs in it, bring them down the Columbia River, drop some ice in the lake, it would cool off and kill the algae. But nobody wants to listen to that, so whatever. And the worst one probably is this resolution. So you guys are swearing to Clark County that you're going to put light rail in despite them voting it out since 1994. It's a $3 billion project you know nobody wants, and yet you just proclaim that you're going to put it over there by the library so nobody can get food. Nobody can go shopping for food. It's totally, you can see the trains from here that already go there. We do not need light rail, period. The voters of Clark County have made it clear they don't want light rail, yet you just made a resolution promising them that. People, when are we going to wake up and see that the government isn't doing what we want? They're doing the opposite. You think it's funny you hide in a smile? Because I'm not. I'm pretty disappointed. And you know what I think of you. So anyways, what else is on here? Let me see. Oh yeah, there is 29 items. 29 items, huh? Is that because the Tuesday morning sessions have been shut down because somebody's too sleepy to show up? So it's all been crammed into 29 items today because we haven't had any more Tuesday morning meetings because somebody was Sleepy Joe over there and mistakenly thought I was obsessed with Fugly there. So I mean, I'm just, I can't name names, right? And you know what I'm talking about, who was sleepy? And now we don't have no more Tuesday meetings in the morning. Only evening. Hmm. Accommodating the sleepyhead.

Okay. Is there anyone else? Ann Donnelly.

I'll push the button, Ann.

Thank you all for the work that you do on behalf of the county. Tonight, I'm commenting as co-founder of Clark County Public Safety Alliance, a movement of Clark County residents, business owners, and neighborhood leaders that we created in 2022 to support public safety matters in our community. for your separate business agenda tonight i now advocate council approval of two important resolutions for propositions on this november's ballot that are essential to our public safety they are in the form of bonds and a levy lid lift to pay for the renovated jail integrated public safety staffing including for the jail and sheriff's office and other related essentials As someone who has monitored this process closely now for a number of years, I can assure the public that these proposals are very well thought out. The analysis upon which they are founded is sound. Long term, they will decrease crime and give us a more humane and safe community, ultimately at lower cost. One example, at a recent forum of mental health advocates arguing for the opening of the Brockman facility, one parent explained that her mentally ill loved one had cycled through the entire public safety system, including the jail, nine times. And that is expensive and inhumane. So tonight's vote is about buildings, but it's also about objectives, methods, visions, and basically about people. So I wanna thank the council, the county staff, the jail staff, sheriff, and other public safety personnel for their years of cooperative work to bring us to the vote tonight, thank you.

Thank you, Anne, and thanks for all your years of work on this as well. Anyone else?

Paula Mamen. I'm so sorry if I mispronounced that.

My name is Paula Mammon. I live in unincorporated Clark County. Thank you for allowing me to speak. I'd like to begin listing my concerns about the use of illegal as well as legal fireworks by sharing a 14-second recording of what sounds like warfare that we at Hazel Dell had to listen to for hours on the evening of July 4th. We had to listen to this from 7 p.m. until 1 a.m. For days on end, beginning the end of June until presently, the intermittent sounds and sights from the Patriots still bombard us. In addition to my recording, I was going to bring in two trash bags and one large box of detritus left on the street corner next to the apartments a few blocks from me. It sat there for three days before I picked it up. I'm sure you saw the same garbage around town left from people celebrating their freedom. I have no doubt it was worse in Hazeldale because that is where the revelers come to blow things up as it is in unincorporated Clark County. Fireworks harm our well-being in a number of ways. They traumatize people with PTSD and CPTSD. They disrupt the sleep of medical staff, first responders, people recuperating from illness or surgery, infants, the elderly, and folks who just need to get up to go to work the next day. Even legal fireworks pose the threat of danger. Over 30 grass fires were reported on July 4th alone. Livestock is traumatized. Wildlife is traumatized, not to mention people's pets. The chemicals emitted from fireworks affect air and water quality. In my opinion, the detonating of pipe bombs in the 80s and 100s, IEDs, and altered fireworks before, during, and after the 4th malicious behavior. It has nothing to do with celebrating one's freedom. It is antisocial behavior, pure and simple. Isn't it true that your job as council members is to help maintain and improve the quality of life in Clark County? Then enforce your ordinance. Stop catering to adolescent whims. Thank you.

Thank you.

Patrick Locke.

Good evening, Council. My name is Patrick Locke. I am a resident of Clark County and a member of the Veterans Advisory Board here. On your separate business item number three, I just wanted to reiterate this. This is going up for a vote tonight, I believe. Is that correct? For the levy. Okay. So this is something of course that we've talked about in work sessions and it's been an issue that we've talked about for quite a long time. And the vote is supposed to be to put this as a separate line item. I just wanted to reiterate that that's exactly what we're talking about here. It says to fund to levy into their own separate levies does that mean that that's a separate line item then can you confirm that for me i believe they are okay then i'm just here to support that and appreciate your votes and taking care of this issue we have spent a tremendous amount of time working on that issue thank you very much thank you margaret tweet

Good evening. I appreciated your proclamation regarding America 250 and the consent of the governed. In 2012, every city in Clark County plus limited county areas allowed to vote in the unusual C-Tran boundary rejected the C-Tran ballot proposition to extend Oregon's TriMet MAX live rail into Clark County over an I-5 bridge. In 2013, an advisory vote to oppose any light rail project in Clark County unless it is first supported by a majority of voters in a countywide vote of the people was passed by 68% of voters. You don't have the consent of the governor. There has been no vote. You do have a Clark County resolution that states You will oppose every light rail project in Clark County unless it is first approved by a majority of voters in a countywide advisory vote of the people. It's a dated 2022. This resolution is posted at the Clark County website and should direct Clark County policy decisions, yet has been ignored by the council majority. County Councilor Belcott from a mostly county district two supports a public vote on light rail in accordance with the current Clark County resolution. When she was on the C-Tran board, she urged far less costly bus and van service using roads shared by all. However, on March 12th, 2025, Councillors Young, Fuentes, Marshall, and Little voted to remove Belcott from the CTRAN board and replaced her with Councillor Fuentes, an Ardent Light Rail supporter from County District 3, mostly in Vancouver. WSDOT in 2025 directed C-TRAN to change the board composition to four Vancouver C-TRAN board seats, three Clark County, and two for the lesser cities. It's unfair and robs District Two and District Four in East County of the representation we deserve. No taxation without representation. All bear the C-TRAN sales tax whenever they shop in the C-TRAN district where retail outlets and businesses are located by zoning. The State Office of Financial Management states the population estimate 2025 unincorporated Clark County, 245,750. Vancouver, 205,100. All citizens have a vote in the Clark County Council. Most have no vote in Vancouver. THE COUNTY COUNCIL SHOULD HAVE APPOINTED THE THREE COUNTY SEATS TO AREAS MOSTLY OUTSIDE VANCOUVER SINCE VANCOUVER JUST GOT FOUR OUT OF NINE SEATS ON THE C TRAN BOARD PER THE WASDOT DIRECTIVE INSTEAD COUNTY COUNCIL MAJORITY CHOSE VANCOUVER DISTRICT ONE COUNCILOR GLENN YOUNG IN OVER COUNCILOR BELCOTTE DISTRICT TWO IN A MOSTLY COUNTY AREA THANK YOU FOR YOUR TESTIMONY THANK YOU DOUGLAS TWEET

Thank you, councillors. Light rail continues to be a topic here, and there's continued to be talk about expansion recently. There's been talk about expanding light rail throughout the Vancouver urban growth boundary. Surprise, surprise. Light rail is not key to development and prosperity. All we have to do is look to Portland to see that. NUMBER OF POINTS HERE. RIDERSHIP IS LOW. SYSTEM-WIDE RIDERSHIP IS SLOWLY INCREASING, BUT IT IS NOT INCREASING ACROSS THE I-5 BRIDGE OR THE I-205 BRIDGE. IT'S BEEN STAGNANT AND LOW. is down to 900 boardings a day, meaning about 450 people ride it. That is the only route that is going to go to max light rail. And that's down two or three times from before 2019. The express rides to downtown Portland and to OHSU are about 600 a day of boardings. And these combined across that I-5 bridge, ridership is half of what it was in 2006, less than half. Yet IBR in their forecast said it's going to magically go up 20 times in another 20 years. Down by half in the last 20 years, up by 20 times in the next 20 years. Completely ridiculous. And the I-205 Express route also is half or less of what it was pre-COVID. I used to take that bus when I was teaching at Portland State, a physics class one summer. People are simply not going to downtown Portland to work like they used to. If you take a look, downtown Portland's office vacancy rate is currently about 30%. We keep hearing about office buildings being sold off. I just read about one in May, $47 million tower sold for $11 million. How is that attractive to any developer? That's what's going on. Portland can't pay to fix their potholes, maintain the roads, schools are terrible and closing. TriMet ridership is down, both bus and light rail. Greg Johnson, the IBR former director, back in December, he was asked last October at a C-Trend meeting about how are your forecasts for TriMet light rail compared to the reality. And he, in December, wrote a letter saying the max orange line and max green lines matched very well. Well, that was maybe at best good for one year when they were first built. Now, both are one third of forecast ridership, and the green line is getting reduced by half next month. So basically, don't emulate Portland. People live on this side of the river for a reason. Many have fled Portland for Clark County. Don't turn us into Portland. It's been a disaster over there. People are leaving Portland. Thank you.

Thank you. Gregory Smith? Is that what your name was? Larry. Oh, Larry.

Hi, council members. Larry Smith. I'm here to back up Patrick Locke and to support Veterans Levy. I'm retired 26 years in the Army. My terminal assignment was Vancouver Barracks before I started working for the city. I have 12 years on city council. uh active in the community uh serving the veterans that advisory board also served on the historic trust and seven other organizations so i'm active in the uh in the community because it's important you just got to remember uh veterans are value added to a community you go to any high school and you look at some of the coaches out there they're veterans You go to law enforcement, say, how many cops over here are Army? Probably military police that come in here. I've got several friends that are in the Vancouver Police Department who are military veterans, in fact. It's so important, especially right now, if you think what's going on in the world, we're at war right now. We have 17 folks who were killed in combat. And we've got to take care of them and their families and so forth and reach out in making sure that they are taken care of and they get what they deserve. Because you're not only dealing with veterans themselves, you're dealing with veterans and their families. And that's so important. So I'm here just to emphasize, I know I'm preaching to you, generally talking about veterans, but at the same time, it's so important to raise those issues up, because it's a matter of priority, and I understand it, where the money goes back and forth. But we got to take folks who serve this country, put their lives on the line, and their families. And it's so important. We got about 35,000 veterans that live in Clark County. And I know many of them are very active and involved in this community, and they love the community. I'm here because of two veterans. Royce Pollard, Bob Knight, both commanding the barracks. Royce was a mayor for 20 years. So important to remember these folks and remember their families and making sure that the next generation is taken care of. Thank you, council.

Thank you very much.

That's currently all that's on the list. Is there anybody that didn't get a chance to sign up that would like to speak during this time? Okay, we do have one caller online. Okay. Caller, you've been sent a request to unmute. Please go ahead and do so, state your name for the record, and go ahead with your comment.

Again, Kimberly Goheen-Elbin.

Let's listen to the tweet. And thank you, Ann Donnelly. So I consider it my right and duty to stand against our local law and justice system that has taken on its own life and seems to have a foundation of having the love of money, which is the root of all evil. Our judiciary system, our prosecutorial system, and our public defense system is directly in violation of human rights and constitutional rights. I want to draw your attention to a profound systemic failure occurring daily within our local judicial system, one fueled entirely by our hard earned tax dollars. The United States Constitution guarantees the right to a 90 day speedy trial and the right to effective legal counsel. Yet in Clark County, these rights are being systemically eroded. Our indigent defense system is severely underfunded and paralyzed. As a result, individuals who are presumed innocent are languishing behind bars indefinitely. The court continually and constantly pushes back trials because the defense cannot provide adequate representation. These issues are only the tip of the iceberg. This is not a theoretical crisis. This is happening right now to my son, Cleve Goheen Rengo, case number 24-1-02497-06. My son is facing severe charges of assault in the first degree and attempted assault. He is falsely accused and trapped in a system that refuses to grant him a conflict attorney from outside of the county. His current public defender will not withdraw from the case. Shockingly, despite the county's severe public defense funding shortages and lack of retaining attorneys, I might add, the head of the Vancouver Defender's Office is personally acting as an assistant on his case. Meanwhile, critical defense motions are routinely dismissed with bias and without a fair hearing. I will add that the Clark County past public director, Christopher Swaby, is said to be on leave, but when in my opinion is actually being investigated, he was involved in my son's case and did not make a good faith effort to find an out of county conflict attorney, therefore ignoring Judge Banfield's order to do so. This is highly troublesome and goes deep into the law and justice system here locally. The prosecution has a sworn oath to maintain justice. Instead, public funds are being used to manufacture convictions and keep an administration money stream alive. Our tax dollars could fund a fair, swift, and transparent justice system, not an

Thank you for your comments.

That concludes public comment, Chair.

Okay. Let's move on then to the consent agenda. We have items 1 through 21 and item 19 has been removed. Would anyone like to pull any of the items?

Chair, I move approval of consent agenda.

Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Moved and seconded. So that would be 1 through 21 minus item 19. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. OK, motion carries. Thank you very much. It takes care of a lot of our agenda. Okay, then separate business items. Oh, request for resolution related to the jail remodel and expansion.

Yes, Kathleen. Thank you, Council. So I do want to start by thanking all of those who've been involved with this process over the last couple of years, reviewing the current jail, which was built in the 1980s. This comprehensive review included but was not limited to the actual structure, the bed capacity, the services, the needs of services, safety needs for those housed in the jail and those who work in the jail. I also want to express my appreciation to our community members who participated in the initial market analysis. Through this important feedback, we have been able to hone in on our recommendation before council tonight. And if approved by council, the feedback will also guide our future communication and education efforts as we move forward. As a reminder, the law and justice system is a system where all parts need to function in order for it to be successful. So just for example, if we don't have bed capacity in our jail, the system fails. If we don't have court staff to process, the system will fail. So it is a holistic system that we need to ensure is set up for success. Tonight is a significant milestone in the jail project that has been many years in the making. The first request before council tonight is to approve to submit a proposition to the voters on the November ballot requesting authorization for the issuance of general obligation bonds in the principal amount not to exceed just over $366 million for public safety and criminal justice infrastructure. we heard from the public during the initial market analysis which include concerns of the current cost of living and tax increases due to their feedback we are recommending the partial build that has been before council this partial build will satisfy the current needs as well as many many years so for the public we have a fire alarm so we will be pausing cvtv until we're allowed back in the building

This webinar is being recorded and summarized.

OK, welcome back, everyone. Council has returned from our fire drill. And I think where we left off was separate business item one related to a bond for the jail remodel and expansion. Go ahead, Kathleen.

So I'll just repeat the prior point that I was, which is the actual request before council tonight is approval to submit a proposition to the voters on the November ballot requesting authorization for the issuance of the general obligation bonds in the principal amount not to exceed just over $366 million for public safety and criminal justice infrastructure. We heard from the public during the initial market analysis, including the current cost of living and tax increases. due to their feedback we are recommending the partial build the partial build will satisfy the current needs as well as many many years including decades to come more specifically this bond will fund the following remodel and expansion of the jail and courtrooms new or remodel sheriff's office headquarters they're currently located in the basement of the jail This has been reviewed by many stakeholders, including but not limited to staff and elected officials, the finance team, internal services, the Law and Justice Council, diverse community stakeholders, and bond council. As a kind reminder, Clark County Council has discussed this bond measure multiple times over the past few years, and most recently, three meetings in June and July. The team, I know a lot of our team members, most of them are online or here. One may be held up a little bit right now, but we're happy to answer any questions that council may have at this time.

Okay, thank you for that summary. Are there any questions that anyone on council has? I wasn't quite sure what was happening there. Yes, go ahead.

Sure. Yeah, I just want to say this is a long time coming. And very supportive of this public safety is bipartisan, as we've heard. And this is absolutely essential to our community. And the bond that we're putting out This is a decision for the voters. We're not making the decision today. And the bond is the most efficient way for us to get this funding with the least cost to the voters. So we're hoping the community will support it. We're gonna be doing as much as we can, I believe, to show the community the needs of this jail. you know, a fancy remodel. It's an essential remodel to making sure that people in the jail and the staff are safe and it's a healthy environment for everyone. And you can't do a remodel of jail without having the staff. So that's why we're doing the second lead lift. And as Kathleen said, You can't do it without the whole system being whole. So we have to support the sheriff and we have to support the court system. So we hope we can get the support of the community on this important vote.

Thank you. Are there other comments from any counselors?

Chair?

Yes, please go ahead.

Just wanted to echo many of Counselor Little's comments and thank staff for a very long and intense process. This has been being talked and discussed since my first day on council. And it was long before that, that the initial discussions had started. So just wanted to thank everybody for getting us to this point. And just want to encourage folks if they really want to see the need directly to reach out and request a tour of the jail, because it really is a needed component for our entire law and justice system in the county. That's all I had to say. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. Anyone else?

Councilor Belka? I have a comment. It was a pleasure to be on the jail committee, remodel committee. It was great. All the work that we did did lengthy reviews on all the specs for the jail remodel, which was very interesting. And I just wanted to thank... LEGISLATIVE REP STEPHANIE MCCLINTOCK FOR GETTING US MONEY FOR THE JAIL WHICH WAS MUCH NEEDED. AND WE APPRECIATE OUR LEGISLATIVE SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON LEGISLATIVE BODIES SUPPORTING THIS INITIATIVE. SO THANK YOU.

THANK YOU. GO AHEAD, COUNCILOR PUENTES.

I THINK THAT EVERYTHING MY COLLEAGUES HAVE SAID SUMS IT UP. THIS IS A LONG TIME COMING. And yeah, it's been in front of council for quite some time now. So I'm really, really excited to get this in front of voters. And I hope that they support it because it's absolutely needed to ensure that people that work at the jail have a safe place to work. And of course, the dignity of those that are incarcerated. So looking forward to November and see what happens.

Okay, thank you. And I would just like to echo and agree with everything that's been said. It has been a very long time for Councillor Belcott and I, our entire terms on the council. And I know that there's been past efforts that haven't gotten as far as we are today. So I'm very proud of the work that has been done. I think it's, oh no.

Okay, for the public, we have another fire alarm going off, so we'll pause.

Okay, we thought we had a fire alarm there. Well, we did, but it's subsided. So I think maybe I need to just keep my comments really short so we can vote on this. And I'll entertain a motion to... approve authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds in the principal amount not to exceed $366,204,000. I so move. It's been moved. Second. Moved and seconded. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Okay. It's a major milestone for us. And again, if anyone in the public wants to know more about this, we'll be doing outreach. And I know the jail is always, you can always reach out to the jail if you would like a tour to learn more about what is being proposed. Okay, with that, we'll move on to item two, request approval of a resolution to submit a proposition to the voters on the November 26 ballot to authorize a levy lid lift to provide revenue for public safety and criminal justice. And Kathleen, could you summarize this?

Yes, so this is the second part of the bond. The bond is the capital infrastructure, but we still need to be able to staff a larger jail. So this levied lift would support jail staff for the expanded jail, additional sheriff deputies, as well as all the law and justice impacts of additional deputies. Currently, ARPA funded prosecuting attorney staff, there's four, and other key law and justice services. This has again been reviewed by many stakeholders, including staff, elected officials, the finance team, internal services consultants, law and justice council, and our diverse community stakeholders. And similar to the bond, county council has had several discussions regarding this over the years, including three in the last month. And the team, again, is here to answer any questions on this, but it's really the operational cost for the jail in addition to additional law and justice services such as sheriff's office.

Could you touch on those other departments that are going to receive some funding to support this?

Yeah, so it'll be the courts, prosecuting attorney, public defense. That's all, again, tied to the sheriff's office additional deputy. So everybody part of that law and justice system, again, to make sure that we have a system that's supported holistically so we don't have a fracture in that system.

Great. Thank you. And I would just say that our approach over the last couple three and a half years, is really to be looking at the jail as the service that it can provide to reduce recidivism, to address the needs of the people who are incarcerated. So if there's mental health or addiction resources that are needed, that we can provide those and really get people back on the right track uh and ultimately it will save dollars and it will save people's lives so i wanted to get my comments in before the fire alarm might go off again uh any other counselors like to say some things Okay. I'm not hearing any. Well, Councillor Fuentes, did you want to say something?

No, I was just ready to move forward.

Okay. All right. All right. And then the other thing I wanted to mention is that I think for all of us, we've heard repeatedly in the community the need to augment public SAFETY AND SO I JUST SAY THAT WE'VE HEARD THAT AND THIS WILL BE EVERYONE'S OPPORTUNITY TO SUPPORT THAT NEED. SO WITH THAT I'LL ENTERTAIN A MOTION TO APPROVE THE LEVY LID LIFT TO PROVIDE REVENUE FOR PUBLIC SAFETY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE PURPOSES.

I MOVE TO APPROVE SEPARATE BUSINESS SITEMENT NUMBER TWO.

I SECOND. MOVED AND SECONDED. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR SAY AYE. AYE. AYE. AYE. Motion carries. Thank you very much. All right. Moving on to public defense. And this is oh, we have one more before public defense. Number three. Oh, number three. Okay. I crossed that off too soon. Okay. Request approval. Oh, this is what some people came in to talk to us about. Sorry. Request approval to separate out the veterans mental health and development disabilities property tax levies from the general fund and into their own separate levies.

Kathleen yes so this was one of the items during the last legislative session through house bill 2442 that established new minimum rates for the three subordinate levies and also allows counties to move these levies out from being a subordinate levy from in the general fund the new minimum rate for all the three equates to approximately 4.25 million if council does not move the three subordinate levies out that amount will continue to be taken out of the general fund If the levies are separated, the revenue will be collected under the new property tax levy, increasing the county's overall tax rate by 3.625 cents per thousand dollars of assessed value. Council did discuss this during the June 10th work session where the majority of the council was supporting and moving this to tonight's meeting for your consideration. And I believe we have our team members from the assessor's office who may still be with us in the room if there are any specific questions on this item.

Great. Thank you. Are there any questions of the assessor or?

Chair.

Go ahead.

Could you clarify the percentage that you said for the levy?

I don't believe I had a percentage.

Okay, you said so many cents per 1,000.

It's 3.625 cents per. What was it again? 3.625 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, public comment has come and gone. So this is a time for the councilors if they have any comments. Council Young.

Yes, I was just going to say or ask if we could translate that just for transparency into dollars for the median household or the median home value.

Do we have that number?

I'm looking at the assessor. I do have the total revenue that will the 4.25 million broken up on the three subordinate levies.

But I think that would be a good piece of information to share the 4.25 million.

It's 1.3 million for the veterans, 1.5 for developmental disabilities and 1.5 for the mental health fund. Thank you.

And then what does that translate, though, in terms of how much will the levy be? It's three and five eighths cents, I think is what you said. But how much is that in dollars?

I'm gonna, I think our people are figuring that out.

Okay.

Okay, well, we will let's let them figure that out. Are there any other comments or questions from the council?

Just a quick comment that I'm very supportive of moving forward with this and wanted to thank our local delegation. I know that Representative Wiley was active in this. I think others were as well in getting the ability to do this. This is a great day for veterans in Clark County.

Thanks for those comments. There's still a little bit of figuring going on. Did you have any other questions? Oh, here comes Michael.

Good evening, Michael Fish, Chief Deputy Assessor.

So thanks for sticking around.

Absolutely. The question on the table was, can we extrapolate this for a medium priced home? Correct. Are we talking just about the Veterans Assistance Fund levy? Because we gave a combined because this impacts the Veterans Assistance Fund, mental health, behavioral health and developmental disabilities.

I don't think we need to have them separated. I think the total cumulative impact would be OK. Yeah.

I'm seeing it's about $19 for a $500,000 house per year.

Okay, so for the average household, this will be a new tax of $19 per year. Okay.

Okay, it will because it otherwise came out of the general fund. Okay, I think we have to rely on staff to give us the answer.

Okay.

Let me just repeat my question to you. So this will be for the average household of $500,000 home, this will be a new tax of $19 per year.

That's correct. Based on a median price home of $550,000 with the statutorily required levy rates, we're setting these levies up independently of the county general fund. Today, they are part of the county general fund. So that's the difference.

But for the average household, there will be an additional. Okay. Thank you.

Okay. Kathleen, did you have anything to add?

think the only um difference is that same amount would happen in the general fund it would just be reduced from the general fund levy so this is just a step it's separating out so you'll see it separately but yes that's the 19 is the average per year which otherwise would have been collected in the general fund so is it a wash

This is important to my vote. Yeah, I want to know if it's a wash or it's $19 of more tax to the average household.

That's really budget decisions, right, which you guys will be coming back to later this fall of how the general fund is appropriated. We're talking about establishing the levies, moving forward so that they can be levied separately and provide more flexibility and decision making for the council when it comes to budget choices.

Does that help?

I still can't tell if the decision today alone will add a new tax to the average household that they otherwise wouldn't already be paying through the regular levy and the general fund. Will it be a new tax or will it be a wash?

I'm getting a message from the budget director that it is in addition to the general fund because right now the general fund would be reduced on what county could use that on to pay for the subordinate levies.

Okay. I think we have our answer there. Any other questions or comments?

Chair?

Yes, please go ahead.

I think it would be important to bring some of the information back that we had the last time we touched on this, which is that the statutory requirement was raised in terms of the amount that's being funded. I don't recall how much that was. So it would have created additional strain, significant strain on the general fund. The only way that we could achieve not essentially putting further strain on the general fund would be to take this action. The other thing that I think is really critical that this accomplishes is with it being separate from the general fund. There's no longer, I mean, the general fund is every single year, it's a battle. There's so much pressure for those funds. And this would establish to where the veterans... you know, wouldn't be competing any longer for general fund dollars. I think it's a really important aspect of this that needs to be mentioned and thought about.

So to just summarize again, I think, Councilor Young, the $4.25 million is the new minimum rate for all three. If that is not a separate levy, that amount will be reduced from general fund.

AND RIGHT NOW HOW MUCH COMES OUT OF THE GENERAL FUND TO SUPPORT THESE THREE?

I'M GOING OFF MEMORY HERE BUT I THINK WE'RE ABOUT 2.3 MILLION FOR ALL THREE LEVIES COMBINED.

OKAY. SO IT'S AN ADDITIONAL ABOUT 2 MILLION. OKAY. I THINK WE'VE GOT IT FIGURED. SO IT'S AN ADDITIONAL 2 MILLION ANNUALLY. and that would be less than the $19 per year, just if we look at the difference, I'm assuming. Okay, all right, I think we got it. Any other comments or questions from council? I'll entertain a motion to approve separating these three levees, separate business item number three so moved thank you moved and seconded all those in favor say aye aye aye opposed no no Okay. Four ayes, one no. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. We're moving on then to item four, public defense. And that's April is going to present this information related to public defense. DEFENSE.

THANK YOU, COUNCIL. APRIL 1, DEPUTY COUNTY MANAGER. THE REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR COUNTY MANAGER TO SIGN AMENDMENTS TO THE PUBLIC DEFENSE FELONY AND DISTRICT COURT CONTRACTS FOR INCREASED COMPENSATION EFFECTIVE AUGUST 1, 2026. ALSO REQUEST PREAPPROVAL TO ALLOCATE THE ONE-TIME FUNDING FROM THE GENERAL FUND TO SUPPORT THE CONTRACT INCREASES. SO PUBLIC DEFENSE HAS 12 FELONY CONTRACTS AND FOUR DISTRICT COURT CONTRACTS FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR OF 2026. STAFF IS REQUESTING COUNCIL APPROVAL TO INCREASE THE COMPENSATION FOR FELONY AND DISTRICT COURT CONTRACTS EFFECTIVE AUGUST 1ST AND AUTHORIZE THE COUNTY MANAGER TO SIGN THE AMENDMENTS WHICH WERE INCLUDED IN THE STAFF REPORT. The felony contract compensation has not increased since 2022 and district court contract compensation was increased in 2026, but it's still not competitive with even the city of Vancouver. The proposed contract increases allow Clark County to be more competitive locally and across the state. So the total for the requested contract increases is a little over 291,000. Staff is requesting pre-approval for council to allocate the one time funding also from the general fund.

OK, but this will have an ongoing cost.

I will be submitting the new contract amount in the budget proposal for 2027. Great, thank you. Any comments or questions?

Yes, please go ahead. I have a comment. So why were the increases not previously worked into the previous contract like CPI increases over the years?

I don't know. And I can add these are one-year contracts, which we're also looking at moving forward. And we've been told that it was not necessarily supported to bring something forward in years past. But we are here today wanting to take care of that issue.

OK. And so this would still be a one-year contract?

This will just be from the increase, the 200, a little over 291,000 is just for August through December of this year. It's to attract more contracts. And the increase, I'll be asking for the increase in the budget for 2027, but I will actually be also submitting for two-year contracts going forward.

Okay.

Go ahead.

Yeah, just a really quick question and a really clarification. This is to also address challenges in securing contractors because we've not been very competitive in the past, is that correct?

Correct.

Thank you.

Out of anyone that I've looked at, we were not competitive with pricing.

Got it, thank you.

I've also already had two inquiries since this has been on the council agenda. Looking for employment? Looking for having a contract with us.

Okay, great, great. Well, could have immediate effect. Okay, I think this is very important. This is a constitutional mandate that we have to provide defense. We know we've been struggling with that. So I would be supportive. Any other comments or questions? And if not, I'll entertain a motion to approve item 4.

Motion to approve separate business item number four.

Second.

Moved and seconded. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Okay. Moving on. Oh, yes, please go ahead.

I'm sorry. Just real quickly. What is the total? This is the total dollar amount for this annually is over 200,000, correct?

Yes, 291, a little over 291,000 for the rest of this year.

I just want to point that out because later in the year, we're going to get around to the 1% conversation, and we just spent a portion of that, essentially.

Good, good point. Okay, then moving on to public works, Jenny Coker is here to talk to us about consulting services.

GOOD EVENING, COUNCIL. THE ITEM BEFORE YOU TONIGHT IS A REQUEST TO AUTHORIZE THE COUNTY MANAGER TO EXECUTE A CONTRACT FOR CONSULTING SERVICES WITH CLP VENTURES IN THE AMOUNT OF $109,000. ALSO TO AUTHORIZE THE COUNTY MANAGER TO SIGN SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENTS IF NECESSARY TO EXTEND THE DURATION OF THE ORIGINAL AGREEMENT. So, the item before you tonight is to approve an initiative for public works comprehensive management and leadership training, along with the associated budget appropriation required to implement it. This initiative reflects a strategic proactive investment in organizational capacity. It will equip public works managers with shared expectations, consistent practices, and practical skills necessary to lead people, manage performance, and support succession planning. The training provides a common leadership framework designed specifically for Public Works operational needs. Leadership effectiveness has a direct influence on employee performance, productivity, retention, customer service, excuse me, and the overall functioning of the organization. Strengthening these capabilities is essential to long-term operational success and is a strategic priority for the department. The request also has an additional appropriation of $46,000, and this appropriation is necessary to provide the budget authority needed for contract execution. If approved, this will be included in the fall supplemental budget request. Public Works has partnered closely with the Human Resources Department on this initiative since spring of 2025. And as part of this agreement, two Human Resources staff members will participate in and audit the program at no cost to the general fund. The investment supports consistent managerial practice, improved organizational effectiveness, and prepares Public Works for future workforce needs. And I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Are there any questions?

I would just note a few years ago there was an internal audit which occurs throughout the various departments and there was significant turnover in public works that was really startling and I think You need to have this training to help support and keep people operating in a good way in their department. So I'd be very supportive of this. Other comments? Is there a motion?

Motion to approve separate business item number five.

Thank you. Is there a second? Second.

Second.

Moved and seconded. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Item six, Paul Morin. Paul Morin will be joining us online, and I'm here in case there's any issues.

Good evening, Council. Paul Morin, Capital Project Manager with Clark County Public Works. I'm joined by Jeremy Provenzola, Clark County Engineer. county is seeking a qualified consultant to lead the update and overhaul of its systemic safety improvement program and traffic safety management program the consultant will go beyond revising existing documents the goal of this proposal is to create a functional sustainable and actionable safety program that aligns with wash dot's highway safety improvement program target zero and the u.s department of transportation safe systems approach principles and this positions the county to secure and implement safety funding effectively. Clark County Public Works solicited proposals from qualified firms to assist with updating and improving two critical safety planning documents. RFP 983 invited the consultant community to propose methodologies and strategies that will not only update the technical content of the county's plans, but also improve the county's ability to prioritize, fund and deliver transportation safety projects. The consultant will provide a comprehensive, scalable framework to help the county transition from planning to implementation, while also identifying internal process improvements and resource needs. As a result of the county's proposal review and interview process, Kittleson and Associates Incorporated was selected as the most qualified firm. Kittleson will develop a proposed updated TSMP methodology technical memorandum in line with the assessment recommendations and available data. This memorandum will document a clear and consistent descriptive crash analysis, network screening, and prioritization process to establish implementable safety project concepts. Kittleson will also update the SSIP methodologies to reflect current best practices in systemic safety analysis, as well as alignment with WSDOT's target zero plan and safety programs, as well as SSA principles and FHWA's recently updated systemic safety user guide. We are requesting council approval of additional budget and authorization for the county manager to execute a contract for consultant services with Kittleson and Associates Incorporated in the amount of $260,739, the 2026 Systemic Safety Improvement Program. and the traffic safety management program update. Also authorize the county manager to sign supplemental agreements if necessary, extending the duration of the original agreement, increasing the contract amount by up to 10%. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Are there any questions from council? I noticed this falls within existing budget capacity.

No, I believe it does have some budget impacts.

Oh, I'm sorry. It does have some budget. Could you describe that?

Sure. This will require additional requests in the fall supplemental budget. This would be a one-time operational cost, I believe. We are fairly later in the year of 2026, so I'd anticipate some of this carrying over into 2027. I don't know if Jeremy has anything to add to that.

Good evening, Council. Jeremy Bones, Olive County Engineer. Yeah, what I would add to that is typically this is work that we would do within our baseline controllables. It's just been a uniquely busy year for our transportation division with a lot of competing priorities. So we thought it would be prudent to secure additional budget in our operating baseline to deliver this contract.

and and as paul said if it is approved today you will see a corresponding request in the fall supplement okay thank you other questions or comments from do we know um staff what um additional budget will be required

At this time, no, it's hard to say. The consultant gives their budgeted estimate, and we hold them to that number. If they do request additional funding or the project requires that, then the county manager, we would request up to 10%. So the additional 20, yeah, 26,000 roughly.

So this won't come back in front of council unless it's above 10% of what's currently being budgeted, correct?

for your consideration, but as part of the budget process in the fall, you'll see it as a previously approved by council, because that's the technical approval.

Thank you.

Great. Other questions? If not, I'll entertain a motion to approve.

I'll move separate business item number six.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Paul, it looks wherever you are is really hot. So I hope you can find a cool place. Thank you very much. Thank you, Jeremy. Okay, moving on to Item 7, and this is Ross Hoover, Professional Services Agreement with Design Workshops. Ross, are you online?

Thank you, council. Yep. Thank you, chair. Yes, this is a request for approval authorizing county manager to sign this professional services agreement with design workshop for planning and outreach services to develop the park system plan. And I'm gonna walk through a quick deck. We did present a pretty extensive overview last month at a council work session, but wanted to walk through this deck quickly. To answer any questions you might have. So, really, the focus of this plan, the purpose behind it is to meet our, our growing communities needs for parks, decorations, open space and trails. This is a requirement per the Clark County comp plan and the growth management act. It's also the key document required for state grant dollar eligibility. Chris Wanner, specifically within this planning work, we will be addressing these key challenges that are in front of us one increasing park demands evolving recreational trends climate impacts land acquisition needs and disparities and access throughout the county to our park system. Key bodies of work will be including identifying the needs and gaps within the system. Specific amenities, types of parks, trails is also really focused on ensuring that everybody has a voice in this process. So that outreach is a really crucial part of this planning. in that we'll be developing a natural areas acquisition plan a regional trail plan and and redeveloping or redefining our level of service goals for our park system the public engagement strategies are really focused on engaging with community groups throughout the county and ensuring that everybody has a has a seat at the table we'll be using a variety of different methods to ensure that that folks voices are heard through the process really to understand what the increased expectations are as our county continues to grow and to ensure that we're building and improving partnerships throughout the county. A quick timeline. So we've already started stakeholder identification and outreach. We will be moving into, in early August, gathering community input. So gathering communities together and listening and hearing what folks are interested in in terms of the future of their park system. We'll do a system analysis and assessment. That'll be July 26th. So this summer through next fall, we will bring... A plan review and finalization back to you in different phases from March through October of 27 with anticipated Council adoption of November of 27. So that's a really brief overview. As I mentioned, we did bring a more extensive overview at the work session last month. Really, this is an opportunity for us to identify what the future of our parks, our trails, our natural areas, and our level of services, and really provide a clear pathway and plan for the future of the county park system.

Great. Thanks a lot, Ross. Any questions?

I've got a question. What is the public engagement element of this? Is that engaging people that live near parks with like future projects in the park?

Specific, yeah, specific projects, but also on a larger kind of view than that. What are our identifying our gaps, knowing what our gaps are, where specifically are we going to have need for parks geographically and otherwise? So we'll be soliciting feedback through survey tools, through focus groups, through through one-on-one conversations. We'll be meeting with community groups, with organizations, neighborhood associations to hear what folks want to see out of their park system.

Okay. Will that also include like engaging with the parks board as well?

Parks Advisory Board will be very involved in this process and will likely, knowing most of the members that serve on that board, they will likely show up at many of the community gatherings and opportunities for engagement.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Are there other questions or comments from council?

Sure.

Councilor Young, yes.

Yes, so I'm just looking at this. So the 318,000 is coming from 1030 to 3085. So the general fund and MPD as well as conservation futures.

Correct.

Can you kind of give a breakdown of where or how much is coming from each individual fund?

Yeah, I don't have a breakdown in front of me, but what I can tell you is it's proportionate to the specific work within those areas. And so one of the key bodies of work for the conservation future funds, the CFT fund, is the natural area acquisition component of this planning work. So that will be mostly funded by that fund. It will be broken down in the budget request that will follow the fall supplemental and the 27 budget.

Okay. And then what amount is coming out of the general fund versus MPD dollars?

Yeah, I don't have the proportion in front of me right now, but what I can tell you is that budget authorization will show up in the fall supplemental and the 27 budget. It'll be proportionate to the impact, right? So the specific number of acres or the population is sort of how we'll adjust that. The typical share, the typical split is a 70-30 split on costs between MPD and the regional or general fund.

Okay. So it'll mirror essentially the ratio that we have currently funding? Correct. Okay. All right. Thank you.

Okay. Any other comments or questions? I'll entertain a motion to approve.

Motion to approve. Second, item number seven.

Second. Moved and seconded. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Okay, I believe that's everyone. So motion carries.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

OK, here's our last item on separate business, and that's the treasurer's office. Amira and Sarah, can you walk us through this? Yes.

Good evening again, counselors. Sarah Lowe, chief deputy treasurer. I am here tonight with my colleagues, and I'll go ahead and let them introduce themselves.

Amira Ajmi, I'm the Finance and Investment Manager in the Treasurer's Office.

Mark Gassway, the Finance Director in the Auditor's Office.

So we are here this evening to request your approval of a resolution authorizing an inter-fund loan from the REIT 1 fund, the elections fund, to purchase two mail sorting machines totaling $880,895. This action implements the financing approach already previewed in staff report number 067-26, which was approved back on March 17th. So why is this loan needed? The elections department requires modern mail sorting equipment to support ballot processing and operational efficiency. The elections fund does not currently have sufficient cash on hand to fully fund the purchase, from the newly established CARA account, which lives within that elections fund. An Interfund loan is the most cost-effective financing method and avoids external borrowing costs. The loan's proposed structure and terms are as follows. The loan amount is just the total cost of the equipment at $880,000, $880,895. The lending fund is REIT 1. The borrowing fund is the election fund. The interest rate, which is required by state accounting rules, will be determined at the loan execution date and will be based on a market rate of a five-year treasury note. That's really quite standard. The Treasurer's Office will manage the loan and ensure compliance with BAR's requirements. Payments will be made in equal installments over five years, and they will be made out of the CARA account, which I mentioned, which lives within the Elections Fund. The CARA account is projected to generate $246,000 annually starting in 2027, and that is sufficient to cover the scheduled payments. We did include that early payoff would be allowed if revenues exceed projections and the council or the county manager does approve. That would allow us to avoid those interest costs. And in terms of financial capacity and compliance, the REIT 1 fund has a really healthy fund balance that is unallocated in the amount of about $5.6 million as of June 30. And this is within our fund balance policy limits to support the loan. And the loan complies with the Washington State Auditor's Bar's Manual in all respects. They're outlined in the resolution that you have before you. If approved, a 2026 supplemental budget request will record the equipment purchased in the elections fund. That will come from the auditor's office. An annual budget request will be submitted for the interest portion of the loan repayment in 2027. WE'LL WORK WITH THE BUDGET OFFICE ON THAT, OUR OFFICE. AND THE REIT ONE FORECAST WILL BE UPDATED TO REFLECT THE REPAYMENT INFLOWS. AND THE AUDITORS OFFICE AS REQUIRED BY BARS WILL INCLUDE THE ANNUAL LOAN STATUS REPORT IN THEIR YEAR END FINANCIAL REPORT TO COUNCIL. THIS JUST REALLY ENSURES ONGOING VISIBILITY INTO THE LOAN PERFORMANCE AND REQUIREMENTS. SO I WILL STOP THERE AND TAKE ANY QUESTIONS. THANK YOU.

ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS FROM COUNCIL? Yes, go ahead.

Yeah, just a quick question. So this is a loan, pays interest $112,000. So that just goes back to REIT 1 fund, correct? That is correct, yes.

And what happens with that money? It can just be reappropriated to any other expenses that are allowable under REIT 1.

Got it. Thank you.

We actually are paying ourselves instead of paying a bank for the interest. That's a good setting.

I want to thank the Treasurer's Office for figuring these things out. Thank Amira. Amira, thank you. Councillor Young.

Yeah, just a quick question. I was curious, what is the current balance in the CARA fund?

We may have that.

I CAN GET THAT TO YOU, COUNSELOR. I DON'T KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THE I DON'T KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THE CURRENT BALANCE IS. CURRENT BALANCE IS. THEY JUST STARTED COLLECTING IT THEY JUST STARTED COLLECTING IT THIS YEAR. THIS YEAR. AND THE MAJORITY OF THAT COMES AND THE MAJORITY OF THAT COMES AT THE END OF THE YEAR WHEN THEY AT THE END OF THE YEAR WHEN THEY BILL FOR THE TWO MAJOR ELECTIONS BILL FOR THE TWO MAJOR ELECTIONS WHICH ARE STILL COMING.

Right. So we do have in here that the mark is right. The fund was established or the account was established in 2025. First collections are this year in 2026. And we do have that estimated average annual revenues are going to be approximately two hundred and forty five thousand. So I don't know what they are in this current date, but we do expect in this current year to collect about two hundred and forty five grand by year's end.

OK, great. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other questions? If not, I'll entertain a motion to approve.

Motion to approve. Separate business item number eight. Okay.

Second. Moved and seconded. All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Okay. On to the county manager's report.

I just wanted to remind council that the fair is coming up August 7th through the 16th. Their mission is blast off to fund businesses It says, get ready to blast off to fun with a fair that's truly out of this world. This year's celebration launches fairgoers into a galaxy of entertainment, food, rides, and hands-on space adventures. So strap in. Your summertime is about ready to take off. And hopefully it won't be as hot as it has been tonight.

They've got some marketing resources there, I think, to come up with that. Okay, thank you for that. And our agenda is completed and without objection, this meeting is adjourned.