City Council - Regular Meeting

Troy Cullen, he's got something. He's going to try to attend virtually. Yeah. Are you ready All right, it being six o'clock can even call the Coos Bay City Council meeting door Would y'all rise and join me the Pledge of Allegiance, please? Good evening, everyone. I think we have some public comments. Christine? Got the list? So I have a disclaimer to read first. So the public comment period is intended for the public to share ideas and concerns. It is not intended for an interactive discussion with the council. There may be opportunities for the public comments during specific agenda items that require public hearing, which we have a few tonight. Members of the public are requested to confine their remarks to those questions or issues under the discussion during this time. During any designated period, Individuals shall not engage in any personal attacks, shall not impugn the motives of any speaker, and shall at all times, while in session, conduct themselves in an appropriate manner. No person shall make personal, impertinent, slanderous, or unauthorized remarks or become boisterous while addressing the counsel. First person on this list is Clinton Harold. Good evening, Clinton.

Counselors, my name is Clinton Harold. I'm a North Bend resident. I'm here because the geographic border between our cities does not isolate North Bend households from the structural decay of this chamber. Our shared wastewater utilities, public safety corridors, and regional tax bases mean your fiscal insolvency is our immediate physical vulnerability. I am entering the official May 15 City of Coos Bay Oversight Memo directly into your permanent public record today. This document represents a comprehensive forensic review built on a strict historic registry of six years of your own audited financial reports and five sequential adopted budgets. Your administrative team has attempted to market this upcoming fiscal year ledger as a stable enterprise, but your own internal analysis reveals an accounting mirage. Let's audit the raw metrics. Your general fund is balanced at $18,636,722, but it is entirely propped up by siphoning $2.72 million in carryover cash just to survive the fiscal year. You have left a microscopic $55,336 contingency cushion for a city of this size, while completely emitting an unappropriated ending fund balance. Your administrative team will likely claim tonight that you have additional padding tucked away in subcategory or enterprise fund contingencies, like wastewater or fire. But under Oregon law, those are legally restricted silos. You cannot spend sewer fees to cover general city administration or baseline operations. The general fund is your only true catch-all safety net, and you have left it with an emergency safety net of less than 3 tenths of 1%. Your operating runway is completely non-existent. To hide this rapid burn rate and bypass constitutional tax limits your administration executed a multi-departmental fund presentation shuffle, violating the clear intent of GASB 54 transparency rules. You quietly scrub parks, code enforcement, and police communications out of the primary general fund to make baseline operational costs appear artificially reduced. Yet your own files confirm that your general fund must still deploy massive structural subsidies, including $870,000 to North Coast Dispatch, $750,000 to parks, just to keep these critical services from collapsing. You are gutting local community contributions by over 60% while sitting on a massive unexplained 4.45 million catch-all line item in your financing schedule. Furthermore, your headline budget measures asserts a total footprint of 73.6 million, yet your internal summary tables expose a 769,000 reconciliation discrepancy. Your budget may technically comply with Oregon local budget law, but compliance is not the same as prudence. In your own memo, the eight specific structural conditions required to fix this ledger before adoption, you cannot bypass the physics of a zero balance trap. Enjoy the decline.

Thank you. Our next person is Darryl Vann. Is that right? Or Barr? I apologize.

I'm going to bring her up. Sure.

Absolutely.

I would like to comment. He spoke so fast, I heard absorbed little or nothing of it, but whatever. Yeah, I'm here about the- I just give your name and where you reside. Okay, I'm Darryl Barr. I live at 2309 North 11th Street here in Coosburg. I've lived in Oregon over half my life. But I'm here about the No Kings rallies. I have no problem with people rallies, as long as they're legal. But when they start calling me a pedophile, Because I have no right to have a daughter because I'm a pedophile. I object to that. They're telling, telling, calling, everyone's a pedophile but them. Everyone in the United States is a pedophile but them. And they're using really foul language. I had one lady, she had a sign that said, release the files right now. Well, they're on the internet. They've been on the internet for quite a while. They've perverted files. The Epstein, is it Epstein? They've been on the internet for quite a while. I said, look on the internet. She goes, they're not there. Well, they are there. I says, and yes, they're redacted. Because you might want to consider that there's a lot of people, foreign dignitaries, important foreign people that are on that. They really, really probably should not be turning in. That's their country's business. Maybe it's our business, but we don't want to run their economies or start wars. Anyway, I get tired. I take her to the No Bananas place downtown. I'm scared to park my car there now, because I have Trump signs on it, and I'm proud. I'm not taking my Trump signs off for anyone. I probably will be vandalized eventually. I've been called many names, and we won't repeat them. I just get tired of it. And I realize that people have a right to protest, but they're keeping business away from the no bananas place. People don't want to go there when they're there, because those people down there are the no brain cell people, as far as I'm concerned, protesting out there. They don't know what they're talking about. They have no facts to back up anything they're saying. That's a fact. I'd love to talk about it, but to a certain time. And I do have a concern about... medical costs in America. OHP is a mess. Now, I've got insurance for my daughter, which pays 80%, and OHP pays 20% because she has some downs in autism, but OHP doesn't work well at all. There's Douglas County Plan, Coos County Plan, Curry County Plan, and she had to go without surgery for five years because the doctor here in Coos Bay was not allowed to do it because she lives in Douglas County. and with my ex, and I have her part-time. But OHP is a total disaster. My insurance, even if I wanted to pay the other 20%, my insurance legally cannot pay unless OHP pays their 20%. And the deal is that the doctors have a lock on their patients. I've been told this by a pharmacist. The doctors have a lock on their patients. And if you go out of the county your plan is in, you're not covered unless you go through major steps It's a mess. Total mess. So I've been told she'll have no teeth after the age of 18 because of an inadequate OHP. And the doctor here in Coos-Macon had done the surgery within weeks. Six years ago. Five years ago. Three minutes. Am I through? Is that it? Yes. Thank you very much for your consideration.

Thank you for coming. Thank you. So is there anyone else in the audience? You don't have to necessarily be signed up on this roster to speak. So if you'd like to, this would be the time. Hearing that there's no one else interested in public comments, I'll close the public comment period, and we'll move on. Next item on the agenda is the consent calendar. Counsel, how would you like to proceed? Oh, did you want to bring something down, Lucinda?

Yes, I'd like the Juneteenth proclamation read. Could we bring that down to item 5I, please?

Yes. So for information, counsel, the proclamations are going to be in the consent calendar. But if someone wants to bring it down to read it, they're more than welcome to do so. And so in this case, Lucinda is going to do that. So anyway, with that being the case, can I get a motion for the consent calendar?

I move to approve the consent calendar. Second.

It's been moved and seconded to approve the consent calendar with the exclusion of 3B moving down to 5A. Is there any comments or questions? Hearing none, I'll call for the question. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, it passes. Oh, I was remiss. Councilor Cribbins had something come up. He will try to attend virtually if possible. The next item on the agenda is a presentation by the school district. They're not here this evening. Summer break. So here we go. 4B, South Coast Development Council presentation. Alexia, it's good to see you.

You too.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, and City Manager. Thank you for having me tonight. I believe this is my second time. I've been here for two and a half years now, if you can believe that.

And you feel like it.

Oh, yeah. Good. Yes. All right, so going through the basics. Oh, yeah.

Okay, sounds good. It's pretty self-explanatory.

All right, so the South Coast Development Council is a 501c3 nonprofit economic development organization. We serve all of Coos and all of Curry as well as coastal Douglas and Lane counties. Our vision is bringing together people, places, and possibilities, and we did have our 25th anniversary last year. We're funded by annual membership such as yours, private foundations, state and federal grants, and contract services. Funding is deployed to create the largest collective economic impact or the greatest good. Coos Bay is one of 10 of our founding members that are still committed to us today. They contributed 50,000 25 years ago to get us going, so we're very grateful for that. We view ourselves as an extension of the economic development team that you have on staff. The picture in the bottom right is an entrepreneur and investor tour that Rob Crocker, local entrepreneur investor Rob Crocker, led with SCDC providing coordination support. And we brought seven vetted investor entrepreneurs from the metro region, Portland and beyond, and we took them all through Reedsport, Coos Bay, North Bend, and Bandon. It was a huge success, and we're keeping in touch with them to this day. We do plan on doing another one of these tours in the future. Our Coos Bay focus is business retention, expansion, and attraction. The South Coast Accelerator, which is the marketing name for our business incubator, located at the Newmark Center. Entrepreneurial programs, services, and events. Enterprise and opportunity zone management, which are two state incentives. Port and airport land development. I know they're not in Coos Bay, but super adjacent and impactful. And then other projects and program development. This is our board of directors. City Manager Rutherford has been our treasurer. And then we've got 17 others. The city of Coos Bay is one of our top six members. And then you can see all of our other members below. Our goal is to have every county, port, and city and places like that be members. So we're just holding out for Myrtle Point at this moment. So if you know anybody. This is our staff. Alomar Hoy is with me tonight. He's our economic development manager. Jude Anderson started in January. He replaced Tanya, and he's over the South Coast Accelerator business incubator, the Southwest Oregon Innovation Hub, and the future coworking space. And Alomar Hoy does the business retention, expansion, and attraction work. And then the operations manager, Patrick, keeps it all going. So 2025, what we did for City of Coos Bay residents or businesses, we had 37 business retention and expansion visits where Lamar actually went out to the business and visited with them. The whole goal is to keep the businesses we have here and happy, help them grow if they want to, and then to attract in when we're able to. We assisted with three walk-ins from Coos Bay. We had eight Enterprise Zone support meetings. The Enterprise Zone is a state incentive which, but for a local manager, could not be offered to Coos Bay and other businesses. CCD used to do it, and they were not going to do it anymore, and so SCDC stepped up to continue it on. We had 13 incentive navigation meetings where we connected them with Business Oregon and other incentives. We responded to three state leads called requests for proposals with Coos Bay sites. Basically what that means is major prospects go to the state of Oregon and they say we're interested in this type of location. And then the state sends it out to all the economic development organizations who have signed up to be a part of this. And then you submit sites on behalf of the prospect. So the state acts as somewhat of a middleman. So we maintain an entire database that's on our website. Anybody can go there anytime and see all the sites that are listed. We cannot submit a site if it's not listed on there. And we're the ones that do the work to get all of them listed on there so we can submit them. The brokers don't do that for us. Lots of developer, investor, and broker outreach, primarily in the form of email marketing campaigns and events, and then the entrepreneur tour, like I mentioned. So all of 2025 and 2026 to date, we have monthly morning grind mastermind sessions at the Newmark building in Coos Bay, where any entrepreneur or small business owner or manager can attend to network, troubleshoot their problems, and get feedback from the group. And there's usually some type of learning element involved as well. We have what's called a co-starters program, where entrepreneurs develop and fine tune their ideas, kind of like idea to launch. Overall, in this time period, we've had eight Coos Bay participants. The March Read Support Corps, one out of four participants were from Coos Bay. And the Corps is the 10 to 12 weeks. There's also a boot camp, which is what it sounds like. It's a two-day intensive. And then so we had four out of six participants from Coos Bay. And then the September Coos Bay Corps, at least three out of nine participants were from Coos Bay. And that's a picture of them in the bottom middle of one of the cohorts working away. And the city of Coos Bay is an official partner of SCDC for all of our entrepreneurship efforts, both for the South Coast Accelerator Business Incubator and the Southwest Oregon Innovation Hub. The South Coast Accelerator Business Incubator houses two businesses from Coos Bay right now, Rangel Digital as well as True Furniture. We've done three pitch nights in this time period. The biggest success story is that two of the people from Coos Bay that participated both in our Coast to Ordrist program and in our pitch nights almost immediately afterwards went on to open their first brick and mortar locations. in 2025 coos county pitch night we had one coos applicant and that person moved forward with four others so each coos bay applicant arc any pitch night applicant pool gets evaluated by a committee there's one rep from each county coos curry and douglas and there's a whole scoring rubric and it's you know impartial scdc isn't making the decisions it's people like the small business development center director and people like that that have the wherewithal to evaluate the likelihood of success and overall impact that the business could have. And there's also a special focus on traded sector. And that just means bringing money from outside of the state in. So it's not just recirculating money within the existing economy. so that's scdc's focus has always been on traded sector because those jobs tend to be family sustaining jobs and they tend to create the biggest spin-off job impacts as well so they do get extra points for that and then wherever the pitch night is located they get an extra point for that so when it's in coos county coos county applicants get an extra point and so on for the other counties and we are open about that we can share that grading rubric with anybody who wants it So the two businesses that opened are acting up in the hive, as well as Coastal Photo Studio. And these pictures are Stephanie Eaton. She's with Coastal Photo Studio pitching at our Coos County pitch night. And then her Bay Area Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting on the right. And this is the other one, Desiree with the hive slash acting up. Again, pitch night pictures on the left, Bay Area Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting on the right. Over the last two days, we've applied for two grants totaling approximately $100,000 to launch the coworking space at the Newmark Center. So we have applied for three grants prior to this for it. We got one from the Oregon Community Foundation for $20,000. So we will launch something kind of bare bones by the end of this year, but we really need a lot more money to make it attractive enough to make it self-sustaining for the long term. So yesterday we applied for a $70,000 USDA grant and today at about five o'clock we applied for the Oregon Community Foundation grant for 25,000. So the idea behind that is entrepreneurs move from their home office or their garage into the co-working space, which is temporary affordable space. You can rent it by the hour, half day, day, week, whatever. And then after that, they graduate into the business incubator, which is private, full-time space. And they're allowed to stay in the business incubator for up to three years. And then they would work with a Lamar Hoy to find normal or traditional commercial space outside of the Newmark Center. So it's an entire ecosystem. And the co-working space is really the last physical infrastructure piece to that that we're trying to accomplish. Two other projects that we're working with in partnership with CCD and pilot management resources. We coordinated and submitted one census tract in Coos Bay and two census tracts adjacent to Coos Bay for the state to consider making eligible for the Opportunity Zone 2.0 incentive. So this was a huge amount of work, lots of hours put in. Basically, SCDC did all the initial research on all the tracks, and they were scored against the measurements that Business Oregon is going to use, and those tracks were put forth to all the cities and counties in ranked order, and then the cities and counties were able to say, no, we actually want to put this track forward or this track forward, and then we helped them submit those applications. So this came... This was a huge lift, and there's no way I don't think that the cities and counties could have done it without the support of the local economic development organizations. This is something that we're comfortable with, and I'm really happy with the result. I feel like we will get designated some of these tracks in one of the three counties in which we worked on, which was Coos, Curry, and Douglas.

So when will we find out about the opportunities on it?

Do you know?

That'll actually be after September.

September? And so we don't know which entity. I mean, we've been in Opportunity Zone in the past. So it doesn't mean that necessarily that would help us in the future or be accepted?

Well, my understanding is that it runs out. And so how do we not? Yeah, come on up in Lamarville.

Good evening, everyone. Thank you. So currently out of the total that will be submitted to the mayor's committee, they're expecting to go ahead and choose 25% of them. So with the amount that we're submitting, we're actually hoping that we can solidify one tract in each county right now.

Okay. All right.

Yeah, just going to add to that, that the governor ultimately makes the decision on the census tracts in the state of Oregon. Theoretically, that should be about 25% within each county. So the odds that we would get our selection is pretty high, because we were conservative in our work. And then she has, these are due by July 1, I believe. And then she has until September 30 to make that. And these are then deemed by the IRS as the selected census tracts. So that's where you get the tax credit is from the federal government.

So will they be the same tract? Were the same tracts submitted that we have, or are there different tracts now? For us, yes.

We selected the same.

Same ones? Okay.

Based on, I mean, this is the thing, like... the team put together a pretty robust ranking system, and it just filtered up automatically, because there is such a drive out there for development and what's available to be developed. And we collectively kind of did this, right? We know, again, the theme, one boat rising, rises all boats. That's this, the tracks we picked.

And just so you know, the tracks that were selected and submitted were the Empire Tract, what we call the Empire Charleston Tract, the Terminal 1 Tract, which is what we named it for the submission, and then the North Bend Census Tract Number 3, so the area right near the airport. So those were the three that were submitted.

Okay, thank you.

that was, sorry, the Terminal 1 track, that's what we had previous?

So that's in the county. It's not in ours. We had the Empire Charleston kind of census track. So we would still, if it's selected, we'd still have the same area that we've had historically for Opportunity Zone.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah, and ranking-wise, I believe we did ours first, and then the airport second, and then Terminal 1 third. Yes. Thanks. All right, thanks.

All right, something that's ongoing is in partnership with the Southwestern Oregon Workforce Investment Board in the airport. We're conducting pre-feasibility work for an airport cold storage facility on airport property. This project would potentially address the critical infrastructure gap affecting local producers, processors, fishermen, and distributors, and it would enhance supply chain resilience and work towards business retention, expansion, and attraction. And then the last thing I have is an example of a major business attraction effort that occurred from May to June of 2025. It was called Project Cliff. The prospect would have, had we landed it, would have been three phases with a two-year construction timeline. The potential impact was going to be about $1 billion, 250 to 350 prevailing wage construction jobs, and 60 to 80 permanent jobs. So the initial contact, they reached out to the Port of Coos Bay, which is crazy. You don't ever just get reached out to. The reason that they reached out to the Port of Coos Bay is because one of the people affiliated with the company went to Bandon Dunes to golf, and they saw all the wood chips piled up. That pile that always leaks into the fence that we all are familiar with. They saw that and that is an input that they use to make the type of fuel that they were wanting to make. And so they figured there were plenty of chips here. And that's what got them to start looking at the area. And they reached out to the Port of Coos Bay because they were interested in one of their sites. Once they reached out, the Port of Coos Bay contacted us. And then from there on, we worked the prospect hand in hand. All NDAs were executed. We reviewed the project requirements and site needs. And then there were initial discussions focused on infrastructure, workforce, utilities, and development feasibility. Then ALMR learned everything there was to learn about wood byproducts. slash chips, several other kinds that I don't remember. Commissioner John Sweet was kind enough to take him out into the woods and they trounced around and learned all about the different types of wood byproducts. And then Lamar researched and made contact with five local regional companies that could potentially supply these inputs to the prospect and handed that information over to the prospect. Then we coordinated what I call a super meeting. We invited 16 targeted regional partners that are all part of the economic development ecosystem. It was workforce, education, Coos County planning, the city, of course, just anybody and everybody that could be helpful to the prospect, all the utilities, things like that. So about 10 of the people from the business flew in from all over the nation. And then we met at the Newmark Center and we provide little gift baskets from the Coos Bay North Bend Charleston Visitor Center and made it a whole thing. And then everybody went around the room and basically expressed their support for the project and how they could help the project. And then the business themselves went through a PowerPoint about what they plan to do. After that meeting, we toured the site and then the prospect spent the next several days meeting one-on-one with some of these stakeholders that they needed to have more detailed conversations with like who's counting, planning and such. After that, we provided them with all the incentive stack that they could potentially be eligible for. And this is, by the way, extremely oversimplified. Basically, what happens when a lead like this comes in is we drop everything. Nothing else is a priority compared to this because this is extremely rare. This is the largest prospect that came into the area in 2025. um so this was long enough ago that we would have had to have like really read a lot of things to put everything into here but this is a simplified version of the work that went in to handling this prospect they continued the site evaluation and infrastructure discussions the prospect went under contract with the land we were all very optimistic that we were going to get it Then the new federal administration was elected and eliminated a clean energy incentive, which pushed back the urgency of expanding production for the clean energy they were going to produce and made the project no longer pencil. We still keep in touch with them. It's not dead, but it's not moving forward now. And that's all I've got. Happy to take any questions.

So out and about, all of us run into different individuals that have suggestions about putting things here. So if they do that, we just contact you or Lamar and say, look, they're looking for x. And also, you have availability on sizes of property that are available that are necessary for some of these businesses?

Yeah, just send them all to Lamar.

All right. Other questions, anyone? Good.

It was good to see you. Yeah, you too.

Yes, thank you.

All right. Next item, we're going to five action items. So the first item is we're going to have a public hearing on the use of revenue-sharing funds. Approval to accept the funds would require adoption of Resolution 26-17. And Brianna is going to give us an update. No?

Yes. Yes, but I think we pulled an item.

Oh, yes, we did.

Were we doing it at this place or at the very end?

No, but that's 5-A. That's 5-I.

At the end, okay.

Thank you. No, I know. Almost. All right. So Brianna, you have some information for us before we move forward on the public hearing?

Yes, thank you. So the city of Coos Bay receives a portion of state revenues that are collected and shared out based on population. In order to participate in the Oregon State Revenue Sharing Program and to accept these funds, the city must hold two public hearings for the purpose of receiving input on the use of these funds. One of the public hearings was held before the budget committee in May and the other one tonight here in front of council. For the city of Coos Bay, these funds come into the general fund and are part of the funds used to support the programs within the general fund. After the public hearing, we are asking for council's approval to adopt resolution 26-17, accepting the state revenue sharing funds.

Okay, so I'm going to open the public hearing on the use of revenue sharing funds. Is there anyone in the audience or anyone online that would like to make a comment on this? Hearing none, I'll close the public hearing. Council, how would you like to move forward?

I'll move to adopt Resolution 26-17, accepting state revenue sharing funds. Second.

It's been moved and seconded to approve and accept the funds, well, adopt Resolution 26-17. Let's make it easy. All right. Any other comments or discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for the question. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, it passes. Next item is a public hearing for adoption of Budget Committee's 2627 approved budget requiring adoption of Resolution 26-18 to make appropriate appropriations and levy ad valorem taxes. Brianna?

Yes, thank you. Every year, the City goes through the budgeting process, which establishes the spending authority for the upcoming fiscal year. This process includes a proposed budget created by staff being reviewed and discussed with the budget committee. This year, those meetings were held on May 7th and May 14th. After the budget committee approves the budget, it then goes before the council to be considered for adoption after holding a public hearing for the public to make comments. The proposed budget included a 6.5% sewer rate increase. However, after further review with our rate consultant, a 6% rate increase was recommended and was presented and discussed during the budget committee meeting. The budget presented here tonight has been approved by the budget committee and we are asking for council's approval to adopt the budget through resolution 26-18 giving the city spending authority for the upcoming fiscal year

At this time, I'm going to open a public hearing for the adoption of the Budget Committee 2627, the approved budget, and making appropriations to levy ad valorem taxes. Is there anyone in the audience or online that would like to make a comment? Hearing none, can I get a motion to approve the resolution?

Can you just give us a little bit more detail on what goes into the Budget Committee and who's included in that, given our public comment earlier?

Yes, so there are 14 members. It is the seven members of the council and then 14 citizens within the community. That is the budget committee.

And we meet...

how often how when do we meet and what the project needs to be completed within three years and technically that puts us it sounds weird but it puts us june of 2027 so maybe that's on point we've had about a year working through the contracting process but completion is essentially when the urban growth boundary Amendments are completed. And so if there are any questions we have Jay Harlan consultant with AKS engineering here tonight to answer those Otherwise, we're just looking for consists on an agreement approval

So any questions on this? I mean, it's been a long process and I can't Command staff enough and Jill from the county the planner to help us get there Chelsea and Jill and I attended the LCDC meeting to get this approved for on their part the scope of work I think that's correct. And also they are the LCD is gave us a grant to do this so This is really critical and important for us to have any possibility of growth. So, Jay, did you want to make any comments? No?

Unless there's questions.

Right. So we have on the scope. They're going to meet with all the partners that are involved in this and make sure that they cover all the bases. And hopefully we'll have this done by when? In about nine months, right?

As soon as possible.

Okay, the sooner the better right?

Okay questions anyone If not, I need a motion, please I move that the City Council approved the draft regional problem-solving agreement between the city of Coos Bay and Coos County in the form presented and authorized the mayor to execute the agreement on behalf of the city second

has been moved and seconded to approve the regional problem-solving agreement between Coos Bay and Coos County for the urban growth boundary. Any phase two work? Any other comments, questions?

Mayor Bonetti, I would like to also commend your work on this project. You've spent countless hours serving on multiple committees and being on the I just want to commend you for all of your due diligence to get us here along with the staff to get us here today.

Thank you. It's been rewarding to see it get to this far. I'm anxious to see it be behind us and move forward. With that being the case, any other comments? Hearing none, I'll call for the question. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, it passes.

uh next item consideration to award construction contract for newmark avenue and south wall street parking lot jennifer thank you so the newmark avenue and south wall street parking lot project proposes to construct a parking lot with 25 parking stalls including two ada parking stalls this project was identified in the 2025 empire area blueprint the design includes a designated location for the empire christmas tree with a support base On June 10th, the City of Cuse Bay publicly opened bids. Four bids were received, with the apparent low response of bidder being Knife River Materials for $436,629. Attached to the staff report is the bid tabulation and AI-generated renderings that simulate the completed project's appearance. The project also includes sanitary sewer improvements to remove and replace approximately 100 feet of the sanitary sewer line that runs through the parking lot. This line is in poor condition and has been previously identified for replacement in the next three to five years. As the parking lot will be constructed over this line, city staff concluded that it would be more cost-effective to include this repair within the project's contract and reduce the need for future repair within the parking lot's project's lifetime. So there could be two funding sources for this project. The bulk of the project, which is the parking lot, will come from the Empire Urban Renewal, Fund 58, and the sewer line replacement will come from Water Quality, Fund 3. So staff is asking council to consider awarding the contract to Knife River for the bid amount plus 15% contingency.

Any questions for Jennifer? Are we going to have to get a snow plow now?

I just want to commend Jennifer for the map, the AI-generated renderings. It makes it so much easier to understand. And I will not hold you to that Christmas tree that's so beautifully decorated in that AI rendering.

Thank you for that. I will make sure to pass that on to staff. That was not me. That was my great staff. Thanks. Thank you.

And it's noted there's a spot for the Christmas tree out there. Like there is here, there'll be an electrical outlet

The visitor information center is a good model. We have an underwrite, but you don't see it And these bike racks will be included that's correct All right council, how would you like to proceed I

I'll move to award the Newmark Avenue and South Wall Street parking lot project to Knife River Materials for the amount not to exceed $502,506, which includes a 15% contingency. Second.

It's been moved a second to worth contract construction contract for the Newmark Avenue and South Wall Street parking lot project to knife River Is there any other comments or discussion?

I just want I mean, I just feel like I need to say that I am I am not happy We are making an additional investment in parking lots before we are making investment in multimodal transport So I second that

Well, it gives us a target I guess and things to talk about area and I met with and she's on the parks commission with Carmen and she has some ideas and I think they're valid and something that we should keep in mind.

Yeah, I see that we you know, this was on our project list, but I will remind us that multimodal Infrastructure is one of our council goals which we have yet to make very much progress on so we're trying staff is really doing good on that but There's some low-hanging fruit, and I really hope we can get it soon, and we are working on a multimodal master plan, which is part of the reason why I think things are going slowly, but hopefully that happens really soon.

I just want to make a comment, being a resident out in Empire There are people that have to travel distances to get to work and things that happen out there There's restaurants around and there's a lot of apartments in that Vicinity there's a lot of residential. It's you know 7,000 people live out there and and a lot of what we have is street parking so even though These are great things that you're talking about. We do need some places to park people and There's just not a lot of Physical locations where people can park if they live in an apartment I just have to respectfully disagree at one point and I do not have the number in front of me and I wish I had brought it with me tonight, but I think the number was 297 parking spaces in Empire and

Yes.

It's pretty significant. And how many of those 7,000 people would ride their bikes if there was adequate infrastructure?

Well, there's a lot of people that ride their bike. I think both are important.

Yeah, I think both are important.

And we also started this project as a parking lot. It's nice to finally see it finish.

Yes, I would agree. It's a it's a it's a project we need to complete I just I think it's I think it's good to recognize that we do have a council goal of moving the needle forward on bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure yet we have Been slow to action on that but we seem to be very well focused on providing automobile infrastructure, parking infrastructure. And if you think about the return on investment on parking lots, I'm sure there is a return on investment. It's just empty space a lot of the time that we spend a lot.

It is consideration to accept privately constructed sewer and storm improvements associated with Teakwood Plaza.

Jennifer. I can take it. There you go. All right. Thank you. On December 13, 2022, the City of Coos Bay approved a final order for Tired Rose LLC, authorizing development of four commercial buildings located along Tequit Avenue between North Bayshore Drive and North 8th Street. In order to support the development, privately constructed public sewer and storm improvements were installed. The work was inspected by Tired Row LLC's engineer and approved by DEQ and has been verified to meet all applicable city standards, ordinances, and specifications. Per the Coos Bay Municipal Code, the city has established procedures for accepting privately constructed public improvements. Staff has reviewed the required as-built drawings, inspection reports, and written certification from Tired Rose LLC's engineer. The next step is for Public Works to recommend that the City Council formally accept the improvements. Approval of Resolution 26-20 will officially accept and dedicate the sanitary sewer and storm to the City of Coos Bay.

So I'm just guessing, and I presume that we inspected this as it was installed.

So we actually condition the developer's engineer to do that because they're on site full time.

So is this a normal process when we have a developer do something like this, whether it's Teakwood or housing development, whatever?

Coos Bay Village, Timber Cove, Englewood. Yes, it's very common.

All right. Council, questions, comments? Motion?

Second

It's been moved in a second to adopt resolution 26-20. Is there any other comments or questions? Hearing none, I'll call for the question. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, it passes. Next item is review of downtown boardwalk maintenance and cleaning services contract scope of work. Jennifer.

Okay. The downtown boardwalk is one of the city's most visible public amenities and serves residents, visitors, and downtown businesses throughout the year. Routine maintenance activities concurrently

you

currently occur on an as-needed basis by staff. However, due to staff resources, Council expressed interest in evaluating a dedicated service contract that would provide a consistent level of maintenance and cleanliness. In response to Council's direction, staff developed a detailed scope of work intended to establish clear expectations, measurable performance standards, and objective criteria for evaluating the contract of performance. The proposed contract would be for a 12-month period beginning July 1, 2026 and ending June 30, 2027. The proposed service frequency is weekly from the months of May through October and then twice monthly service from November through April. While creating the scope of work, staff identified two alternatives for council consideration. So the first one is the Tug, Irene, and Menasha tree area. So this alternative would just extend this routine maintenance just to the north where that area is located and would have the same metrics as the boardwalk. Alternative two is the middle pavilion floor painting. So in that middle pavilion, there is a Coos Bay map, and it works. You can press a button, and you could have places light up on where they're located, but the painting needs some attention. And so this would be just a one-time cost. It would be done in the first month of the contract, if council so desires. So staff is requesting council review the proposed scope of work and provide feedback or requested changes. The request for bids has been submitted to multiple local landscapers.

However, have three videos of individuals at the fishermen's seafood market feeding the pigeons.

and i think that that's where some sort of like coming in together on a contract um yeah but we kind of have ours underway and we don't want to change it i don't want to change that process going for sure but i think they might just come in with their team and you know keep that work going

Yeah, it'd be great if they decommissioned it so we could take it over for him.

Might be part of the conversation. Yeah.

Well, yeah, because there's this part, and then you had mentioned where the Menasha tree is. It's kind of like the entrance into Front Street, and I feel like there's another version of that a little bit north when you turn over next to the... Marshallson printing museum. There's a little triangle there and it's just grass and gravel and it is completely overgrown at the moment It's like the entrance into Front Street from the north and also into Coos Bay Village And it just it could use some attention. So it looks like we're trying but you know that that's Maybe that's the place where I put on my work pants Well, and it's I know that the history muse or the Sun Museum owns

some of that themselves, not sitting property there. So we'll look and see who's owner. And it may just be, like, we need to talk with them about upkeep.

It's across the street from the Sun. I mean, it's where the train tracks are, that whole swath in between 101 and the, what is it, Broadway. That swath is just you know, I've seen Extending the port conversation. Yeah, I think that there's a few spots where it'd be really helpful if you know They wanted to collaborate in some way shape or form.

Yeah.

Okay, not trying to you know, I No, this is great.

We're moving in a good direction here. So I'm really pleased that we're taking this step. And then, of course, we'll look for more, right? You know how we are. I'm sorry that we just never are satisfied. We're satisfied. We're in the weeds. Right. The weeds. Very well. Okay. All right. I need a motion and a second, please.

Or do we? No. Yeah.

Do we? No. We just want to make sure you're happy with where we're at and if we need to make some modifications so we get those folks an updated scope.

Let's get it clean. Looking good. Thank you for all that hard work.

Great. So now we're going to do 5i, which is a proclamation for approval of the Juneteenth proclamation. And did you want to read that?

I was hoping our city manager could give us some history about Juneteenth, and then I'd be happy to read the proclamation if you'd like.

Nicole?

I will do that as soon as I let my computer go to sleep. So, just a little bit of background. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st, 1863, which resulted ultimately in the adoption of the 13th Amendment, which formally abolished slavery. It took a little bit of time, a little over two years, before that information made it to folks in Texas and the surrounding area, which... was following the end of the Civil War. And so that point in which it became known, let's just say across the nation, was June 19. And because of that, we, as a nation, acknowledged Juneteenth the Emancipation Proclamation across the nation, and we celebrate that given the depth of additives that those folks bring to our communities. So that's a little bit of the background and happy to, if someone wants to read, are happy to read the proclamation as well.

Thanks, Nicole. I'll read it if you'd like. Whereas President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, declaring the slaves and Confederate territory free, paving the way for the passing of the 13th Amendment, which formally abolished slavery in the United States of America. And whereas word about the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation was delayed some two and one and a half years to June 19th, 1865, in reaching authorities and African Americans in the South and Southwestern United States. And whereas June 19th has a special meaning to African Americans and is called Juneteenth, combining the words June and 19th, and has been celebrated by the African American community for over 150 years. And whereas in its celebration of freedom, Juneteenth is a day that should be recognized by all Americans. and remind us all of our incredible capacity to heal, hope, and emerge from our darkest moments with purpose and resolve.

Now, therefore, I, Joe Bonetti, the mayor of the city of Coos Bay, do here proclaim June 19th, 2026 as Juneteenth in the city of Coos Bay and encourage everyone to recommit ourselves to the work of equity, equality, and justice. With that being the case, if I can get a motion and a second to adopt the proclamation, please. Move we approve the proclamation designating June 19th 2025 is Juneteenth Second, it's been moved and seconded to adopt the proclamation of June Juneteenth any of the comments hearing then I'll call for the question all in favor say aye Any opposed hearing none that passes? Nicole city measures report.

Yes. Thank you. So the first thing I'd like to do is I Correct a misstatement I made earlier tonight in regards to the Spectrum franchise. It's not $90,000. It's roughly $160,000. I was thinking of the natural gas. So it is a pretty significant part of our general fund budget. I also wanted to, and I think we've talked about this already, but just a reminder that the parking lot, the Newmark Avenue parking lot, was an in-house design. We are very fortunate to have some folks here who have some growing skills, and so we did that design work in-house. In talking about the boardwalk, we have a display of tribal flags up there, and they will be replaced in preparation for our summer months and all of our visitors down there by the first part of July. They're already on order. We have extra set because we know the wind can be kind of harsh down there, so we're ready in advance to pull them. A reminder about Library Block Party, if you have not seen that, that's coming up this week. It is kind of the kickoff for their summer reading program. If you did not see the Friday update article with all the library events this last week, it was a hefty bit of information there. They're really super busy with summer reading. It's a pretty interactive and community engaged event for us. So it's Thursday, this Thursday, the 18th from 4 to 6. And I think we have a number of vendors who are participating. Should be a pretty fun event. Also sharing that Front Street Community Bike Works has their block party this weekend on the 20th. And it's like an afternoon-evening. Starts at 2, ends roughly around 11. It's pretty fun. They do a bike ride around the community. They have bands, there's snacks, and it's just a really great thing if you get a chance to just pop in and check it out. And then I guess I would share that we are closing Friday for In Celebration of Juneteenth. That's been a question for several years with a couple of our represented groups. And it was decided in the last negotiations with the AFSCME group to acknowledge that holiday. And so that will be acknowledged citywide. Of course, our public safety folks still, they work all days and regardless of holidays. So that's what I have.

All right. Council comments. Carmen?

I really don't have much except for I am excited that we're working on beautifying the boardwalk. And just invite other community spaces, businesses, to kind of use this as a... Jumping off point to maybe do the same and just realize that this is our high tourism season we really want to present well and it's a good time to just go out there and Freshen up your landscaping your front doors, whatever it might be and just make things look nice So thanks for the staff and putting in all that work.

That's all I have Thanks, Carmen, Sarah

Just a really quick thing I was doing an audit of the city website searching for something and it looks like there's a couple pages that need to be updated including specifically the one on homelessness So just wanted to flag that that's all I have Thanks, sir Stephanie I don't really have too much either just want to mention that keep in mind farmers market is a

coming up and applications are open for the festivals for the Coos Bay Downtown Association. And then also just an update on their process and how that's going for Coos Bay Downtown director. I I know I'm saying that wrong They are working on that the subcommittee is met they are finalizing the job description and That will go to the board of directors when they meet which is the fourth Monday and So that will be released by the end of the month Thanks, Tiffany Lucinda

On the farmers market note I as a tourism commissioner have the great opportunity to travel the state And I was recently in the Dalles and learned a little bit more about farmers markets So grateful for hours you will now see me there every Wednesday what I learned was that farming is a passion project and you don't make a lot of money at it. The way in which we can support those farmers is for every dollar spent, 72 cents goes back to the farmer if you buy at a farmer's market. We were learning more about the cherry industry in the Dalles. And we heard stories of selling cherries to a middleman. You don't know the price of your cherries. You don't know what you're going to get. And in some instances, you don't get paid till the following year if you get paid at all. And you've already put out the expense of the staff and the labor and all the things it takes to take care of your farms. And it just reminded me, we have such a great love of the state and all the different things that we have, the farmer's market. And so I'm going to do my part to make sure that I'm always going to the farmer's market on Wednesdays to support those people who make it their living to do so. So that's my one comment. And then my second comment is, I think we all saw the email. that came from Checkerberry's on Monday, that they will be closing at the end of this month. And I just want to thank Beth and the previous owner, Carolyn, for 45 years of incredible flowers that they've given this community. And I wish Beth the very best on her next adventure, whatever that is, and just want to thank them. I think it's a huge loss for our community, and they will be greatly missed. Lastly, I want to thank staff again. Thank you for all of the work on the boardwalk. You know it's a passion project for me, and you just got this up and running so quickly, so I can't wait to see the changes. And I'm already seeing them, so thank you.

Think the council covered all the comments I can't add to it so I won't give a comment and but I will adjourn this City Council meeting but we do have a Renewal agency meeting to follow this so we're adjourned on the City Council and Stephanie Okay, and before we convene that meeting we're going to take just a very short break so that we can switch over So stay stay with us