City Council - Regular Meeting

If everyone can find a seat and get comfortable. Wow, you guys got quiet quickly. I'm impressed. I want to thank everyone in this community for coming out for a town hall. And this is a real town hall. This takes me back to my childhood with Little House on the Prairie when they used to get together in the church. Thank you. Thank you for being here. I want to start with a few opening statements about what is going to happen tonight and some requests from all of you. I am really hoping that we can all keep it kind tonight because that is where we get somewhere in conversation is if we can be respectful of one another. I'm going to ask that no one uses any foul language. I know that some of these issues can be a little bit tumultuous and Believe me, I completely understand, we all do, that it is, you're passionate, but if you can please eliminate any foul language because we are broadcasting this on KNND and there are FCC regulations and you do not want our local radio station to get stuck with any kind of fine because they are doing a public service tonight to broadcast this to people that are not maybe technologically inclined and can't find it any other place except for the radio. So we want them to go ahead and keep doing that for us in the future when we have other town halls. I want to acknowledge that everyone that is here tonight is a volunteer. You are not required to be here. So I want to thank you for your participation in tonight's event because it is really important to all of us to hear what our community has to say about these issues. And we are taking this very seriously. And everyone that speaks or is here just in presence of support of this, they're important to us. With that being said, we do realize that everyone does have a First Amendment right to say whatever they want. But again, I'm asking that you keep it respectful and know that

We are not the enemy.

We are all in this together. We're all one community and we're trying to work together to resolve our budget issues. And all these people up here have the right to walk out. They don't have to listen. And so with the same respect that we would give any one of you, we're asking that you will give these members of the committee and the council the same respect. All right. Council President Greg Irvin would like to say a couple words.

Well, thank you. I just want to recognize the importance and the gravity of a night like tonight where we're all here to maybe for the first time in the history that I'm aware of in Cottage Grove have this opportunity to get a sense and a feel from residents and those who call Cottage Grove home about what priorities you as a community hold. So it's a thing that we've coveted as a council and councils before of really truly getting a sense of the priorities in a community. And so I wanna thank you for showing up, answering the call, coming on a Thursday when the sun is out still, and being here. And to that end, just not to duplicate what's been said, but essentially what we're faced with, there's a finite pot of money that is tax revenue that comes through the property taxes primarily that we have to allocate allocate to also a limited number of services that are provided. And this process, the budget process, is to say what proportion of the finite resource goes to these limited services. So that's what we're trying to discern. While context is really important around how each person that's going to speak tonight has arrived at the value that they're placing in that priority, I'm going to be listening for that balance and where that is. And so with that, I think we're going to launch into it. I believe we just get going. So here we are.

One more thing. I would like to have the budget committee introduce themselves, if I could. These are all your community volunteers. Thank you for the time that you are devoting to this.

I'm the budget committee. Hello, I'm Bernie Donner. I've been on the committee now two years and in the past as well. And it's quite an honor. We got closer. Okay. Yeah. So Bernie Donner.

And I'm Linda Olson, first year on Cottage Grove's budget committee. I have participated in the past in other cities, and I do appreciate the opportunity to hear from all of you. Linda Olson.

Chris Wagner is my first year.

Danny Soulsby.

Johanna Zee, it's my second year, and I look forward to hearing everyone's comments tonight. Thank you.

My name is Ryan Birdsey. This is my first year on the budget committee and honored to be part of this process and looking forward to this evening. Thank you for being here.

Joyce Settlemyer. Thank you all for showing up and I look forward to hearing what you have to say tonight. Thanks.

And we have Cindy Will dryer on the end there. She was not wanting to introduce herself, but we would like to acknowledge you, Cindy. All right.

Will the recorder please call the roll? Thank you, Mayor. Councilor Irvin?

Here.

Councilor Hynk? Councilor Lammerman? Here. Councilor Merida? Here. Councilor Settlemyer? Here. Councilor Wilson?

Here.

Mayor Solsby?

Here.

All right. Let's get started. We have Jimmy Schaefer. Can you raise your hand so we can bring you a mic? There he is over there, Mr. Sauerwein.

Just think of me as Phil Donahue.

Not to be confused with Jerry Springer. I just want to get that out there.

Yes, my name is Jimmy Shopper. I reside in Ward 2, and I want to speak very briefly to the impacts of reduced funding to the pool and the library specifically. A certain portion of our community will be negatively impacted. That's a cohort of our youth. And the results of this reduction will follow them throughout their lives. Once you're over 40, however, you become increasingly dependent on how well your youth have grown in any given community. Whatever happens then, poetic justice will be served. We have simply to try harder to maintain and retain the services of the pool and the library that were hard built over a number of generations here and continue to be seriously required by many in our community. Thank you.

Thank you, Jimmy. All right. If you could stand, that would be really helpful for us. Just so we can see you, that would be perfect. Roberta Hall. And if you stand, raise your hand so that Mr. There. Oh, you're not speaking. OK. Oh, I also must say, I believe that it is possible that some of you thought this was a sign-up sheet when you walked in the door and may not want to speak. And so if that is the case, just do what Roberta did and say, no, thank you. And if you did not sign up and something piques your interest that you want to speak on, feel free as well. Hall, the last name is Hall. Can you read, Greg?

He said no.

Oh, he doesn't. They were on the sign-up sheet. OK. Lance White. Nope. Uh-oh.

Wow. There is a gentleman over here.

Ellen Bridges. Hold on. Let us get you a mic so that it'll go through to K and D as well. Oh, are you in?

Oh, am I speaking loud enough or too loud? Okay. Look out. You asked for louder. Hi. i'm ellen bridges and i am part of the community of warren daughtery pool and i'm going to ask all of you that are here supporting the pool to please stand up so that you can see the presence that we have here thank you I wrote a whole speech here, but as you can see, the enthusiasm is in the room. I was in a ferocious car accident in 97 and everybody just said here, you know, physical therapy on land and take all these Percocets. Well, you can't drive when you're taking Percocets and trying to do physical therapy on land just made me sore and sadder and then sad because I was sore and sad. And then I went to my usual pain and torture physical therapy appointment. And there was something for Lane Community College that had a sign up for a conference. And I found out about warm water therapy. And that's what made a difference. And I found a community that accepted me and all of my ugly little warts and all of my pains and gave me all kinds of ideas to tell me other things I could try. And I have had the great fortune to be able to practice Aichi, which is like yoga kind of in the water, and see lives change. People get stronger. People find all kinds of ways to make themselves stronger. And this would be Mike Grower. And he's in my class.

And I'm like, yes, he is.

I started going to the pool in about 1956, a long time ago when the pool was not covered and there was a deep end and a shallow end. And the girls' dressing room was the opposite. They've changed over the years. But what I have found, the older I get, and I see that I'm not the youngest spring chicken in here, We suffer from arthritis and all kinds of pain. And I tell you from my own experience that the pool is wonderful. I go there three times a week. It takes care of a lot of the pain that I have. And the insurance company pays for most of it. So I really can't complain. We've had that pool a long time. I remember the first time I went to it. Some of you folks might know him, Wally Cicchetti. He gave me free admission if I watered the flowers out front. So I have a background with this pool. I've been going to it for a long, long time. And I was fortunate enough to be the chief of police here in Cottage Grove for long, long time and, and what? Oh, I live in ward one now. But it's,

kind of exercise and that kind of fluidity and what makes us get old and it doesn't matter how old you are or how young you are is when we stop moving and so we just want to thank you for all your dedication and all of the things that you're doing for our community because we care about each other and this you you can't you can't have this kind of safety and love without people really caring and so thank you for what you're doing do you want to add anything mike merry christmas

Thank you.

All right, one thing I did fail to mention was there is a three minute per person. And I'm not saying anything. You guys were well under it. Don't worry. And we have a cutoff line at 8 PM, so I want to really get to everybody. Urban. Hold on, Urban.

Okay. I think it was the last City Council meeting you had the lady from CIS making a couple statements. So as I understand, CIS is the insurance company for the city. Okay. You have an omissions and errors policy, I'm assuming, in that insurance policy, yeah? So maybe you guys, because it seems... that the problem is not from this line back. The problem is kind of up here where the mistake was made, an omission or an error. So maybe you need to make an application to CIS to get the money out to help. I'm here for the library. I'm sorry about the swimming pool. But it seems like there was a major error or omission. So if you guys, the board or the council, doesn't want to initiate that, I don't know whether the citizens here that are interested in having that library operating but maybe we can get something together to make the application to cis because this is a an error on this part over here so i hate to say that but anyway counselor lammerman and i have to go thank you madam mayor real quick uh before you leave

Urban urban real quick before you leave, I would like to make one statement that the majority of council is new. The budget issue that we find ourselves in now was pre majority of us. So unfortunately it even predates our current city manager. So we're doing the best we can to do with what we can. And have. But I'd just like to put that out there that that was pre most of us.

Any individual or group of individuals

group of individuals at all, but it's a management problem, not a problem over here. So management, whoever, however mistake was made, it should be corrected at this side of the table or your side of the table.

Does staff have a comment?

Well, good evening. I don't know all of you. My name is Mike Sauerwein. I'm the city manager for the city of Cottage Grove.

Can you hear me?

Okay. Hear me now? I'm the city manager for the city of Cottage Grove. And, you know, every time I've done a presentation about the city's budget or been on the beeper show to talk about it, two things I want to impress upon you. One is when there were problems with the budget, there were city council members who were asking questions three, four years ago when the financial data was being presented. I think there's been a feeling that city council members were not questioning the numbers they were being given, and they certainly were. And second, I need to assure you that we have hired two independent CPAs, one to be our interim finance director and a second to help us catch up on our audits. And they have helped us put in place policies and procedures so we make sure this doesn't happen again in the future. You know, it's not my place to point fingers or assign blame. Quite frankly, we are where we are and we go forward from here. but I want to assure you that we take this extremely seriously and we have brought in a team to help us develop policies and procedures and we have implemented.

I'm Jim Settlemyer. I feel blessed to be able to represent you. And I understand when I talk, I am representing some of your thoughts and maybe not so much some of your thoughts. But when I'm trying to represent the entire city, I try and find middle roads from what I hear, the feedback I get. I took away a different kind of Question from our last speaker and that was an omission and the idea of an omission and the library Said in the same kind of context I'm going to to do what our city manager suggested move forward and The current draft budget shows one FTE remaining after 4.4 FTE in the budget last year. That feels like an omission to me and to many people that I represent. I got a chance to hand around a printout that some of you were able to see. And essentially, I think it's important that we do look for ways to correct that omission and correct. Two speakers have spoken, and they essentially say the pool needs more consideration than the draft budget gives. And the second one said the library needs more consideration than the current draft gives. So the city manager has... has said that if us as a group the The Budget Committee as a whole Requests that we look for reallocation possibilities in the current draft budget in the sum of 190 thousand dollars about 100,000 of that can put in 2.7 positions back into the library. Now, if we're looking at what we had last year, this is still a deep cut. And whether that's the right number, I hope we talk about it. but it's maybe enough to look at other possibilities moving forward and it sure feels like a lot more significant ground to stand on moving forward for the library. The other 90,000 that I recommend goes into, it's called community promotions. I don't quite know. It feels like it should say more, but that is where the pool is. That's where the spirit of BMD is. That is where funding for the Chamber of Commerce is. That's where funding for... community sharing, the family relief nursery. There's many things that are tucked in there, and it was drastically cut in the current draft budget also. So I hope that this group gets an opportunity to hear from our city staff what other ways we can... Divvy up this budget that we're stuck with and make it maybe a little bit more equitable. There's many, many important services we have in this town. We're not going to be fully able to go through with what we were able to last year. But I hope none of them get gouged so that we essentially totally lose some of the services.

Lisa Cogan.

Hi, my name is Lisa Colgan. I live at the north end of town, and I'm speaking tonight as a member of the Cottage Grove Friends of Democracy and a supporter of the Cottage Grove Public Library. I hope and believe that you do want to find a reasonable solution to the city's budget crisis. And to do that, you need credible, accurate information, not magical thinking or false equivalencies. For example, I've heard Sutherland, Oregon raised as a shining example of a city that has adopted a successful all volunteer library and a model that we should follow. Well, according to an article in the Oregon Statesman Journal from November 8th, 2024, Sutherland was voted the worst city in Oregon. Do we really want to be compared with the worst of anything? There are more fact-based reasons why the Sutherland Cottage Grove comparison doesn't work. Sutherland's median household income is $43,750. Cottage Groves is almost twice that at $80,875, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Sutherland's poverty rate is almost 13%. Cottage Groves is under 11%, which is actually even lower than the statewide average of about 12%. Southerland is home to about 8,000 people, which is 37% less than live in Cottage Grove, not counting the greater metro Cottage Grove area, which is also served by the library and the pool, and they pay for it. Obviously, these two libraries serve very different populations. They're anything but comparable. And again, why would we even want to compare ourselves to a city that was voted the worst in Oregon? Let's look at the history of each library also. Cottage Grove's public library was born and grew up right alongside the city itself. Cottage Grove was initially incorporated in 1887, and just 12 years later, local citizenry came together and formed a community lending library that evolved into our public library. Sutherland's library was not founded until 1935 as part of the Douglas County Library System, not as a fiercely independent public library local. Our library is an integral part of this community's history, not just an afterthought. You have hard choices to make, and I respect you for taking the time to hear our voices. I support your efforts to make reasonable accommodations that spread the pain of the budget cuts equitably, but I and others here tonight don't support making a 56% cut to a single valued institution that accounts for just 4% of the total budget. And I, for one, certainly don't support comparing our community with all of its truly outstanding features with a city that was voted the worst in Oregon. Please go back to the drawing board and come up with a way to preserve our library rather than trying to force it into a financial corset that will squeeze the life right out of it. We are ready, willing, and able to help come up with other options. Just ask.

All right. I just want to remind everyone, before you speak, please, if you don't know your ward, that's not a problem. But just say if you're in the city limits or outside the city limits would be helpful for us.

Thank you.

All right. Fred Colgan.

Hi, I'm Fred Colgan. I live in a little pocket of county surrounded by city on the north end of town. On Tuesday evening, one member of the budget committee said they thought the leftovers in the library budget after over 50% cuts was generous. Seriously? Generous? I really beg to differ. I can be generous with my time or my money because they're mine to give. And everybody in the room here is being generous with their time by participating in local democracy. And you all are uber generous with your time in serving this community. And we appreciate it. But I don't think the concept of generosity applies to public public officials spending the community's money. If you all can be generous to some, then when you withhold that to others, the opposite applies. I went to the library today, and with the librarian's help, found a tale of two cities with Charles Dickens. He was a wordsmith who spent a lot of time and had a lot to say about generosity and its opposite. He used words like miserliness, stinginess, indifference, and my favorite, misanthropy. So what's in the middle? As a friend of democracy, I would suggest equitability. Councilor Settlemyer suggested on Tuesday and again tonight that you all look for budget crisis solutions that keep our town whole and share the pain of cuts equally across government, equitability. We want you all to grapple with this budget and arrive at a different plan than the draft of extreme cuts. The library will not survive that level of surgery. That outcome is unacceptable. Please let us help you. I'll finish again by helping you decision makers read the room and ask who is here at least partly in support of the library. Thank you.

Mr. Sauerwein, the budget committee would like a mic.

make it sound like it comes out of.

The members of the budget committee asked me to clarify the source of funds for things like the swimming pool, BMD, relief nursery, chamber of commerce. The city receives about $100,000 a year in what we call transient room taxes. That's when somebody stays in a motel on Cottage Grove and they check out in the morning and they pay their taxes. Now, we don't know exactly how much we're going to receive each year because we don't know how many people are going to stay in the motels, but based on history, it's about $100,000. In the past years, the city has also taken $100,000 of property taxes and added it into that to cover the cost of all of the programs that are in the, I think as somebody pointed out, kind of weirdly named community promotions. In this year, we simply did not have the property taxes to do that. Now, for the transient room taxes, by state law, we are required to give about 50% of that to the Chamber of Commerce or another agency, some cities it's a visitor and convention bureau, that they use to promote tourism. So we get quarterly payments from the state for our transient room taxes. When we receive the transient room taxes, 25% of whatever that quarterly payment is, goes to the chamber of commerce in addition we give them eighteen thousand dollars of the transient room tax dollars to manage the visitor and convention bureau you know that's the visitor center uh everybody everybody know georgia uh the person who's running our chamber of commerce back there uh so that's where the funding comes from and so again uh just to be clear The money that is in this year in the community promotions is all transit room tax dollars. And by state law, 50% of that needs to go to promoting tourism within the community. So that leaves us about $50,000 for other purposes. In past years, we have taken $100,000 property tax money, added it to that for a total of $200,000 being available within the community promotions. Does that make sense to everybody? Yeah. Yeah.

So we're broadcasting this?

This is being broadcast, so we need to make sure you have a microphone when you talk.

The people listening on the other end have to hear through that mic.

How did you get a reduction in collection in property taxes?

Oh.

Taxes usually go up. Rent always goes up because property taxes go up.

The amount of property taxes that the city receives does go up each year. It goes up about $250,000. I don't know the exact numbers in front of me. And that's the property tax revenue. As we've talked about, we've had some financial challenges this year. And in past years, we've been able to take $100,000 of our property taxes and put it into the community promotions along with $100,000 of transit room taxes for a total of $200,000. This year, we only had the $100,000 in the community promotions that came from the transit room taxes.

Where did the property taxes go then?

The other general fund programs, everything from the library to the police department.

All right, let's move on to the next person. Kellen Lanier.

I live a mile and a half from City Hall on Cottage Grove Lorraine Road.

I live a mile and a half from City Hall, but I am not within the city limits.

I am here representing the members of the Row River Grange. The Grange stands for many things. It supports inclusivity, sustainability, prosperity, education, and personal growth. It values social service and community history and tradition. The Row River Grange is dedicated to the betterment of the members of the community it supports. Our public library shares those values as it is a place for people to learn and have access to seeds to grow their own self-resilience, to have tech help and services they need to apply for jobs, to conduct their business, and to build their prosperity. It is a place that is a partner in history, which promotes our town's cultural identity and distinguishes us from other small towns. It has a youth program to help foster literacy in children and give them social skills necessary to navigate an increasingly complicated world. It has programs that build community in an era marked by epidemic loneliness. It has a seed library, which is an important asset that fosters both the spirit of generosity but also ecological and social growth. Because the library has and does these things, it is imperative that it keeps its well-trained staff to continue programming and hours for community access. The expertise in managing seed and historical collections, children's programming, and delivering technological help and services is something that cannot be replaced by volunteers. Cottage Grove Library is part of its heritage of generosity and goodwill of this town and deserves funding and staff to continue for the public benefit. Volunteers are happily part of the library and always will be. However, volunteers cannot transact, help people with computers, or shoulder the responsibility as a paid employee does. Relying on one head librarian to accomplish all of these essential tasks while recruiting, training, and coordinating a team of volunteers who may or may not show up is not reality-based vision. As the president of a fraternal organization that counts on volunteers for everyday operations, I am fully aware of the enormity of recruiting and motivating people to accomplish something with the only recompensation of being the feeling that you did something for the greater good. Grangers are good at that. Volunteers might be willing to help place books on shelves or organize this or that, but the city cannot expect the citizens of Cottage Grove to fully staff an essential service out of the goodness of their hearts. Overseeing the team of volunteers would take tremendous amount of time from paid staff who already carries an impossible job description. Additionally, eliminating good paying, fulfilling jobs in our community in a time where jobs are harder to find and the unemployment rate of 5.3% in Lane County. impoverishes our community. The city has already eliminated two full time positions for the community center, and two more full time and two part time employments are in danger. Knowing that the library only accounts for 4% of the total city budget, we could probably just keep the librarians. Finally, the library serves more than the population of Cottage Grove, but it also serves the people of Dorena, the unincorporated communities, London, Lorraine, and Lorraine, who consider Cottage Grove their hometown. That's a population of 10,190 people who live in rural areas outside of the city who come into town to buy gas, to eat at restaurants, to transact with other businesses, and yes, to go to the library. The city's manager, the mayor, the city council members, and likely the city accountant have a responsibility to the population they represent. They have a responsibility to fund our essential public assets and to keep accurate accounts of the money they bring in and pay out. You cannot correct this mistake by eliminating good jobs and excellent services for the population and you must find a different way. I have this letter and it's signed by most of the members. Some are ill and they could not attend. Another thing I wanted to say that supporting the pool and the library is not mutually exclusive. We also support the pool but we needed to focus on one issue.

So I want to help paint a picture of how, at least I'm processing the information that's coming in. and where to fit it. I'm really listening for where the trade-off, where the preference and trade-off is. So we have a tax system that basically caps revenue, tax revenue increases, which I think is great as a taxpayer, but what it doesn't do is keep up with the cost of providing services. So it's, you know, anybody that has looked at a property tax bill knows that there's a difference between the assessed value and the market value. The assessed value is what you actually the percentage that you're paying taxes off of where the market value goes up quite a bit. So whether you're for that or against that is not really the point of this, but it does mean that we're really limited in additional revenue to provide the same number of services. So the majority of the city's budget are the people, the great people that we have that love Cottage Grove, that work for it, our public works, our public services. Well, Defenders, I guess, is one of them, but the maintenance crews, the police department, the librarian, all the people in the administration of the city. So the staff, the staff and the staff are professional staff and they have a lot of opportunities there. everywhere else because they are professionals and it's a competitive market. So that creates, um, one thing, materials and services go up just like they do for us. You know, the petroleum based products, which are so many, um, and the things that, you know, we have to contract out. We have a lot of constraints there. What I'm trying to say is revenues are being outpaced by expenses in general. Yes, it was exacerbated by, uh, failures in accounting to record on both sides of the ledger. Effectively, what happened there was the projects started to get done that needed to be done, but they got done in advance of when they should have because the department heads thought they had more money than they did. So it's not like they were wasted. There are actual benefits to doing projects when costs are lower. It's just that the money wasn't there. So we're in a constraint of not enough money. It's not that there's anything just being held back and we could just grant more money to fill these roles. So we are in a trade-off scenario. So I'm really listening for what should we give up to and in what proportion going forward because this isn't just a one-year fix. This is the trajectory and it actually gets worse because the revenue does not keep up with the expenses on the steepness of the graph. So trade-offs and additional revenue sources. You don't fix problems by cutting. That's a death spiral. So I would love to hear what suggestions come from what additional resources to fund the programs that we rely on in the services.

I'd also like to explain in a very quick manner because I want to get to everyone. I'm not sure if everyone completely understands exactly what happened with this budget. And a lot of people that I've seen on Facebook have a completely different idea than what truly happened. There is no missing money. There was no stolen money, nothing with fraud or anything like that. What actually happened was that a property was purchased by the city. and they recorded it as an asset, but did not record the debt. And so ultimately, it looked like our city was healthier because we acquired this property, but we did not erase the debt, which you have to do. And so the department heads, as Councilor Ervin said, thought they had more money to spend on projects. And so that is what happened there across the board. All right. Jessica Bittner. Here he comes.

I'm Jessica Bittner. I'm from Darina, but this is my town, Cottage Grove. So that's, I am a card carrying member of,

I am a charactering member of the Cottage Grove Library.

I walk into the library and there is peace and safety. Everybody is quiet and respectful. That's the only rule. There are kids taking classes or pouring through the wonderful kids session. There are old lifetime library uses like myself, expanding my brain by wandering the stacks, requesting the library to buy a new book of up-to-date knowledge that I can read and then it is available to all. There is easy access to the computers for all. A librarian who can guide me through the library and help me research some complicated subject. Perhaps there's a few homeless people quietly resting. And if anybody thinks their children are not safe there, well, there's a lot of things out in the world that are not safe. If their parents have taught them wisely, they will already know the difference between good and bad, so they will make good choices at the library. Most of the time I do my research in business online. Who needs a library? Well, there I sit alone, staring at a screen, yelling at the barrage of ads, the rat holes, chafing at the limited blinders of my algorithm, the AI who does not understand me a bit, the danger of something grabbing my identity, spending my money, unable to access the databases that I need. Maybe I better go to the library. and talk to some people, and read some books. The city is short of money. What's new? We must make budget choices based on what is best for our community. For starters, I would recommend hiring a good grant writer who could actually produce revenue. also it is rumored that the library would be better off laying off the high-priced head at librarian and continuing with the present employees who are there because they love the library this might just work so thank you very much samantha duncan samantha duncan

Can you hear me? Can you hear me?

Can you hear me?

Set up your comments online.

All right. We'll circle back.

We'll try to circle back to the person.

All right. Elliot.

I'm Andrew Elliott, and I'm the co-chair of the Friends of the Warren Dorrit Aquatic Center. I live in Cottage Grove Ward 1 in a beautiful historical neighborhood. I am grateful to the citizens of Cottage Grove from all walks of life who in the early 1950s went door to door to raise funds to build a swimming pool that would serve everyone in our community. And our pool opened in 1955. It started in 1956, I think. Throughout the various changes the pool has undergone, all the way to our amazing present-day facility, the pool has been supported by citizens, by generous foundations who've seen the value of investing in our community, by the city of Cottage Grove, and by its current owner, the South Lane School District. Our Aquatic Center welcomes everyone, babies and school district kids learning to swim, high school athletes, young people seeking a safe place to be with their friends on a summer day, those seeking fitness to prevent illness and increase well-being, and those managing physical ailments or recovering from injury. It is a place to make and nurture friendships. And the Aquatic Center brings both business and prestige to Cottage Grove. It is a vital part of the health of our community, and it is why my wife and I chose to retire here. But now with both school district and city budgets under severe strain, we are struggling to keep the doors open. At best, user fees will be increased, classes and open hours will be reduced, and staffing is at risk. And at worst, as a lifelong swimmer in my senior years, I've joined the many people who need the pool for health as much as enjoyment. I can't imagine living here without the pool. As the friends of the Warren Doherty Aquatic Center, with over 300 people on our mailing list, we are dedicated to ongoing collaboration with the city and with the school district to keep the center's doors open to all. There's more. As part of that commitment, we will be launching a fundraising campaign to do our part. It will take all of us, pool users, their family and friends, Cottage Grove alumni, benevolent foundations, and of course the city, to help us through these lean years. I think I'm gonna ask all the pool supporters to stand up once again. I just wanna see everybody again. And this can be any, you don't have to have a T-shirt. Okay, thank you.

But Andrew, are you selling those T-shirts? Because maybe they should.

Yeah, I think you're right. Okay. Last year I spoke before this committee and I said two words. Thank you. Your committee had just unanimously voted to support the pool. You may not have known, but that was a continuation of 70 years of unbroken support. Tonight we respectfully ask each member of the Budget Committee to consider the deep value that our Aquatic Center brings to the lives of the people of Cottage Grove and our surrounding communities. We ask that you fund our pool to the maximum that you are able. And I would agree to look into what Councilman Settlemyer is asking to do, and that's to look at reallocation of the budget as it stands. Thank you for your consideration of our request, and thank each of you for your generous willingness to serve the people of our committee, all of you. And finally, if you haven't been to the pool, please come down and experience it. Warm water on a cold day, cool water on a hot day. It's refreshing, it's energizing, it's healing, it's fun. You'll love it. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Someone has Samantha Duncan's comments that they're going to read. Will you raise your hand?

We're having technical difficulties. And so Samantha Duncan has texted in her Samantha Duncan has texted in her comments it's really tiny prison my eyes are old so I'll do the best I can first of all I would like to thank the city manager and council members city staff and the Budget Committee for all of the work that has been done over the past few years few months under this very difficult circumstances These are not easy decisions to make, so thank you. I've been a part of the Friends of the Cottage Grove Public Library for many years now, and in true Presbyterian fashion, when I came back home to Cottage Grove after receiving my master's in library science, I wasn't interested in public librarianship, but I was very supportive of a thriving public library that offers programming and resources for all ages and abilities. From its formation in 1980 to support the new library building to the organization of the book brigade from the W.A. Wittard Memorial Library on 6th Street to the current location through the pop-up library in the park during COVID to the present day, the Friends of the Library have partnered with library staff and volunteers as well as multiple community groups and organizations to provide programs, cultural events, early literacy, outreach and materials, subsidies for out of district library cards and more. While the Friends can offer a great deal to support and enhance the library through fundraisers, grant writing, volunteer support, outreach to other organizations and advocacy, we still need direction and guidance from library staff to do that work. I hope that the budget can ultimately support funding for more than one staff member. While we are very fortunate to have staff who are highly skilled, wonderful human beings with a significantly reduced budget, it will require more than one person to handle day-to-day operations smoothly and also continue quality programming and volunteer training and coordination. Thank you for your time. I appreciate your thoughtful consideration. Happy National Take Action for Libraries Day.

All right, I'm going to actually ask that we hold the applause because we have quite a few speakers to get through. And I want to hear everyone. We all want to hear everyone. And make sure that we all keep it to three minutes so that we can get through everyone, all right? Michelle Rose. Over here, Mike.

OK, I don't have a prepared speech. This is just coming from my heart. So I bought my house in Cottage Grove 30 years ago after living in Cresswell, Lorain, and for a little bit, Eugene. Not long. The reason why I bought my house here was because of the community, all of you, and because of what the community had to offer, the library, the pool, the hospital, which was close by, and the extra little things like Bohemia Mining Days. We didn't have the farmer's market then, but things were building up. I've raised four kids, and I've had seven grandchildren grow up in this community. We have all used those services. I know that if that was not here when I was looking for a house, I would not have bought my house here. I would have picked somewhere that had those things. So when you're looking at property tax revenue, think about that. Because quality of life, especially for families, that's what we look for. And of my four kids, two of them chose to buy houses here because of that. So thank you. And thank you, all of you.

Robin Simson, please again, let's hold the applause. I know we want to clap.

Hi, thank you for your service. I'm from Ward 4. I grew up here in Cottage Grove. My first swim coach was Shane Dye, who's the director of the pool. And the pool was kind of a home away from home for me for doing sports there and working there. And I went off to college and came back about 17 years later to Cottage Grove. And guess what was the thing that made this town really feel like home again to me? It was the pool. We got a yearly membership, and we were there every day. My kids were learning to swim, and I was helping teach swimming lessons. And they're both teenagers now, and they're in water polo and swimming. And I swim there regularly. So one thing that I've noticed that I think is really important about the pool that I've, after decades of experience with every program that they have there, is that all of the parts of this program have to be there to be for the whole thing to be successful. So, for example, The high school program has to be really strong in order to have enough staff, enough lifeguards, enough swim teachers. The middle school and elementary swim teams have to be strong in order for the high school team to be strong. And then the same thing with swim lessons. Of course, swimming lessons is for safety, too. And of course we need the seniors, like someone mentioned, they bring in a lot of revenue and they're a joy to have around, they're always a blessing. And so I think that it's really important that we give consideration to the pool because all of these programs are not only interdependent, they're also very well attended we have really high participation rates in everything that we do at the pool and so our daily participation i think is a really important consideration when we're thinking about where to allocate from so i don't want to say i want to take money from so-and-so but I think that the pool deserves, I would really like to see the pool get the full consideration that it needs in order for the whole thing to be successful. I think we need all of its parts to continue. And I think that all of its parts have very high participation, especially for a town our size. So I'm a fan of the pool. Thank you.

Christina Hsu.

Hi, I'm Christina Xu, and I live in the urban growth boundary of Cottage Grove, and it feels especially fitting to be here speaking about the importance of our library during National Library Week, and especially on Take Action for Libraries Day. Our library is more than a place for books. It serves a diverse cross-section of our community and provides a safe, accessible space for learning, connection, and essential services. I understand that the city is facing difficult near-term budget decisions. We are asking for a short-term solution that preserves library services without shifting the burden onto other areas that are also already being cut. The current proposal to operate the library with only one staff member while relying heavily on volunteers is unrealistic. In addition to not having an existing volunteer base, there is no infrastructure in place to support one, no established process for recruiting, training, background checks, scheduling, or supervision. Under this model, the library would not be functional or reliable. If that one staff member is sick, on vacation, or unavailable for any reason, the library would have to close. If volunteers do not show up, programs do not happen. These cuts would not preserve library services. They would put the library on a path towards permanent closure. I appreciate Councillor Settlemyer's pursuit of an alternative budget model that has 2.7 operational staff in the short term. And I would also like to see with a long-term plan to restore at least three staff supported by strong volunteer infrastructure, community partnerships and new revenue sources. At the same time that existing services are being reduced, the city is supporting new initiatives like Wall Dogs that will depend on fundraising, public resources, and in-kind community support. In a zero-sum environment, those efforts inevitably compete with urgent existing needs such as maintaining our library services. Thank you. Alex Dreher.

Thank you. My name is Alex Dreer. I live in Ward 4. The thing about library supporters is a lot of us are introverts, not me, but some of them. So a lot more of us would be speaking if it wasn't a public thing like this. And I also want to say, my daughter told me to tell you what she tells me all the time. She wishes the library was open 24-7. So I hope we can find a happy medium between her desire of 24-7, and I guess she wants to live there, and what we currently have now. As someone who works for a local government and manages a budget of public funds for a living, I do have thoughts on the trade-offs. First of all, I want to say that we're all here because we support our community and we're telling you what we value and what we'd like to see our public dollars invested in. And we're ready to come to the table. Thank you. I think we need leadership and unifying force so we can actually have these so-called intellectually honest conversations. My thoughts, looking at your budget, you have municipal court. You don't need a municipal court. You can send people to Lane County Circuit Court. That's $212,000. I don't know how much it costs to send them to circuit court. The circuit court is open the first and third Thursday of the month. When I was on city council, I observed circuit court and they said I was only the second counselor to ever do that. As you'll hear the judge, Judge Fisher say, they don't most people don't show up even. And it's mostly dealing with I mean, it's entirely misdemeanors. They're not even like high crimes and treason or felonies or child abuse. It's like that one lady who shoplifts a Red Bull every week from Safeway and Safeway will prosecute shoplifters because they have to send a message. we don't need that. And so that's, there's your library budget right there. You don't need a municipal court. You also have some sort of newfangled. Thank you. you have some middle management position that's like a community and economic development director, manager slash building supervisor, but you're still hiring for a building permit person. I don't know what that is. I think you should look at your middle management when you're looking to save funds. Also look at your fees. The armory is a wonderful building. We don't recoup the cost of what it takes to operate the armory in the fees, but we have people willing to pay To use this event venue, it should be an enterprise fund that fully pencils out. So look at your fee structure. Same with the community center. You have a lot of opportunity to pay for rent of some of those spaces in there and make those fees. You haven't explored all the revenue generating options. And I'm happy to talk. I think this community is ready to talk about revenue generating options and what we're willing to pay for. I'm ready to quit. Thank you.

Thank you. Bruce Pelsch.

Thank you. I won't repeat some of the things that people have said, but I will say a few things. I'm not speaking tonight on behalf of Friends of the Library. I'm speaking on behalf of myself, and I have three new points I would like to make. In this budget reduction, all departments that are being reduced are important, and I don't think people have said enough about that. The Sacconian mess has a major impact on the city as a whole. The council and the budget committee are facing a challenging task and I thank them for taking that on. I expect the council will hear lots of comments and concerns about the library budget, the pool budget, and they have. I would also hope that we would hear support for key public services like the police department and public safety. I've seen the improvements and progress in the department and the police department since Chief Chase has come, and I would be disappointed if there were not greater acknowledgement of that from council and in the budget. Which leads me to another point. The police department has modeled bringing in new revenue to the city with $800,000 capital grant to purchase new vehicles. And when they sell the old vehicles, there'll be some money coming back into the city revenue. The city once had a very successful grant writer who brought in new funds. And there were counselors who brought in funds. I know the focus at the moment is developing a responsible budget with what is available, but please seek out new revenue rather than just having a cutting and reduction mindset. And as I came in this morning, or before this meeting, I had a friend say, well, you know, what got us into this fix is that property that was purchased. Why not sell some of it and recoup some of the revenue from that? And the final point, we need to keep our eyes on the prize. What is the vision for Cottage Grove, not only for the short term, but five or 10 years from now? There was a vision keepers group that set goals for the community, community's future, and it was set for 2037. That vision keepers document is still on the webpage. And you can take a look at it to see if there are things that are still useful and need to be revised. But we shouldn't become short-sighted because of this unfortunate financial mess. As you look at the short term, please keep the long-term vision in view and in perspective. Cottage Grove is known as a city with grit, resilience, and a good heart. Working together, this community can come back from this setback. I would also say I had a supervisor once that said, never waste a good crisis. So find the opportunity. In Chinese, there are two characters making up the word crisis. It used to be there was danger and opportunity. But it actually is danger and turning point. And so I think to step into this crisis, look for the good that can come out of it, and come out of it stronger on the other side would be a good thing. Thank you.

Steve Kilston. mic up front go back oh oh oh it's kilston sorry sorry steve kilston

Hi, my name is Steve Kilston. I first came to Cottage Grove 36 years ago, and my home is outside the city limits. But I want to thank all the people working to keep both our city and larger community strong and full of promise. All of you here. In life, we must decide what's really important. And I think that public libraries have been central to the progress and strength of this nation, especially for its children. For one personal example, my dad took me to the public library every two weeks throughout my youth. And when I was eight years old, he found a book for me on the shelves about super giant stars. Well, that was fascinating to me. And I eventually got my doctorate in astrophysics in exactly that field. This kind of work that I was able to do in the aerospace industry later, which included making satellites and things, came from originally being in public libraries. I developed a love of reading there also after finding several biographies of mountain men of the West, such as Jim Bridger and Kit Carson, those kind of things. You remember way back when I was, you know, almost 70 years ago, those are the kind of things that libraries brought me. And here in our library, I have presented many lectures on astronomy, many of them for children and for adults, and it's a superb place for education. Now, permit me to be a little bit combative here. I have heard that some people criticize the library as well, we have an internet now, we don't really need libraries. Or maybe there are some materials which are too sensitive there and they're available for children to see or something like that. I wanted to point out that if you let children go to the internet instead of the library all the time, they're going to have a much easier time in finding sensitive materials. Anyway, in conclusion, having a vibrant library gives our town a public image as a town respecting knowledge rather than ignorance. And I thank you all for giving me a chance to share my views and maybe for listening to them. Thank you.

Elaine Burns? Elaine Burns?

Good evening, everyone. Thank you so much for your service. I'll try not to blast your ears out. I am Elaine Burns. I live in Ward 1, and I've owned my home since 1989. I have been going around the city for the last couple of weeks looking at the... Am I too loud for you? Yeah. Okay, thank you, I think I am too. I've been going around the city noticing the signs, the construction signs and the pylons and the cones and I count how long they've been there and I struggle with the desire to come and deposit them at the city council meeting because if we cannot manage the small minutia of what we do as a city with our signs, With the crooked double yellow lines that are now down our Main Street, what kind of trust does that say? I'm not willing to trust someone who can't get the lines straight. I overheard the two guys saying, do you think maybe we should have practiced with this machine before we did the lines down Main Street?

OK.

I would not berate at all the job that you guys do. I'm impressed. To be of service is a large commitment, so thank you.

Number one. This is for the National Library Week proclamation. Whereas libraries spark creativity, fuel imagination, and inspire lifelong learning, offering a space where individuals of all ages can explore new ideas and be drawn to new possibilities, and

Whereas libraries serve as vibrant community hubs, connecting people with knowledge, technology, and resources while fostering civic engagement, critical thinking, and lifelong learning, and

Whereas libraries provide free and equitable access to books, digital tools, and innovative programming, which ensure that all individuals, regardless of background, have the support they need to learn, connect, and thrive.

And number four.

Whereas libraries partner with schools, businesses, and organizations, connecting the dots to maximize resources, increase efficiency, and expand access to essential services, strengthening the entire community, and.

Number five.

Whereas libraries nurture young minds through story times and literacy initiatives, fostering curiosity and a love of learning that lasts a lifetime.

And number six. Do we have many more? Because the time... We don't have time. We actually have this proclamation, and we really want to hear everyone's speech.

Whereas libraries protect the right to read, think, and explore without censorship, standing as champions of intellectual freedom and free expression, and...

Whereas dedicated librarians and library workers provide welcoming spaces that inspire discovery, collaboration, and creativity for all.

And number eight, whereas libraries, librarians, and library workers across the country are joined together to celebrate National Library Week under the theme, Find Your Joy.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Candace Soulsby, Mayor of the City of Cottage Grove, proclaim April 19th through 25th, 2026 as National Library Week. During this week, I encourage all residents to visit their library, explore its resources, and celebrate all the ways that the library draws us together as community. Yes.

Audrey Milan, I am truly just trying to get to everyone that wants to speak, you guys, truly. We understand, and that's exactly what we're trying to do. Audrey Milan, please.

Hi, thank you, thank you for your service to our community. Thank you Councilman Settlemyer for actually caring about the library versus a member of the budget committee telling us we're lucky to get 53%. This library we have is our heritage, it took enormous amount of effort from both your predecessors and from our community to get the library we have today. And that public-private partnership contributed to our second All-American City Award in 2004. And we obviously love our library. Some people may not care about libraries. You know, I just read that after the fall of Rome, the libraries crumbled, and all the material was taken into the churches, and that became the beginning of the Dark Ages. And I take this seriously. This is another quote is, libraries are big enough to hold the whole world and small enough to fit in your town. And they sure as heck are a lot safer than the internet. I really feel, I've been to a number of council meetings, the budget committee meeting, I never felt from almost all of our people serving a care about these things. You know, our swimming pool was built because every summer kids were drowning. And they built the pool to teach kids to swim. And it's actually something you can track. You can track the drownings before the swimming pool and track the lack of drownings after the swimming pool. That's good governance. That's solving a problem. And so I really challenge you to show creativity, vision, expansion, public-private partnerships. We certainly will be doing that because we know we can't trust our city council to not wipe out our library with a stroke of a pen. And I'll tell you something. When you love something, you fight for it. And we love these things that we have. And we want to see you fighting for it as well. Thank you.

Thank you. Tasha Laval? Hold on.

She's going to go on.

So I appreciate everyone coming tonight. And I want to encourage you, if you want accurate information, please go back and watch the budget meeting that we had. This is not conducive to building relationships. There has been a lot of spreading rumors. There has been a lot of taking things out of context. There has been a lot of betrayal of relationships. Fred, you guys have my number. Call me if you have a question. So the comment that I made, just to be clear, I don't think any of us knew what was in that packet before we got this. No one colluded to cut the budget on the library. This is something the staff put together and then they present to council and the budget. We're getting this, we're hashing this over. Typically, at the first budget meeting, decisions are made with the general fund already. The decision was made to have this meeting, to have this conversation. It doesn't help to attack people. It doesn't help to take things out of context, to spread rumors. It's like you're shooting yourself in the foot. Many of us would be fighting for the same things that you're fighting for, but stop attacking the people up here is what I'm saying. Stop spreading rumors or spreading lies about things that are not accurate. We want to work. We want to hear. I have had people approach me and say, hey, I want to talk about the library and the pool. And I said, great. I'd love to. Let's sit down and have these conversations. I automatically say, I love the library. So please, people are pointing at me. And the story keeps changing and getting worse about things that I've said. I made the comment because I assumed in the desperate situation that we were in that a lot of things would be cut. So I said, wow, I was surprised that they actually had $250,000 left in the budget. I expected it would be less. That was my comment. I thought that was generous of what they did because I assumed that would be one of the things that would be cut. They talked about it a year ago that this might be an issue. So I'm here listening. I expected... an opportunity for the council to respond to questions and things and i'm not hearing that and i would invite you if you have questions about it go online look at the budget yourself ask questions have conversations reach out to any one of us and share your thoughts on how we can work this because we're still we're still trying to figure it out at the same time you know So please, let's all try to work together on this. All try to work together, so thank you.

Thank you.

All right, Tasha LaValle.

Hi, I'm Tasha LaValle. I've been in Cottage Grove for over 30 years.

my uh daughter and husband live here and i am here in support of the library i think it's important that the budget committee listen listens to all the ideas that are coming up here because i'm not seeing a lot of writing going on And yeah, I see a few people writing, but there's not a lot of writing. And this is a huge turnout. And you guys need to listen to the ideas.

You guys keep it down. Be respectful, please. Thank you. Thank you. Is it Margaret Pattison? Dr. Dr. Patterson.

Yeah, maybe she left.

Okay, we can circle back. Brittany Smith.

Thank you.

Good evening, mayor, council members, budget committee members, and neighbors. My name is Brittany Smith. I'm a Cottage Grove resident. I live up London outside of the city, but I am a business owner and my business is right downtown. And I am a member of the Grange, a proud member of the Grange, and a member of this community. I am here tonight not just to defend the library and pool, but to say clearly that there are better, smarter, and more responsible ways to address this budget crisis than gutting some of the most important public spaces we have. Yes, this is a real budget problem. I understand that. I'm not standing here pretending money magically appears because we care enough. I understand difficult decisions have to be made. But let's be honest about what happened here. This community did not create this mess. The public did not cause the delayed audits. The public did not cause the missing financial data. The public did not cause the accounting failures. And yet now the people of Cottage Grove are being asked to pay for those failures by losing access to services that hold this town together.

That is wrong.

And what makes it worse is that these are not luxury services. These are not extras. These are not shining little nice-to-haves that we can casually toss overboard when the ships start taking on water. The library is not a luxury. The pool is not a luxury. They are community infrastructure. The library is literacy, it is internet access, it's children's programs, it's job searching, public meeting place. It's one of the few places left where people can simply exist without being expected to spend money. It is a place where people learn, connect, recover, regroup, retain, remain human in a world that increasingly asks them to pay just to take up space. And as a person in active recovery, I want to say something plainly that may not show up neatly on a spreadsheet. The library and pool are sober spaces in a boozy town. That matters. In a town where alcohol is everywhere, sober public spaces are not optional. They are a part of community health. They are a part of prevention. They are a part of public safety. Not everyone can go sit in a bar. Not everyone wants to. Not everyone is safe there. Not everyone has money to spend just to be somewhere. The library and pool give people, including children, families, seniors, and people in recovery, somewhere to go that is healthy, safe, constructive, and grounded. When you cut spaces like that, you're not just cutting programs, you're cutting anchors. I want to be equally clear about something else. I am not standing here asking you to put police, fire, or emergency, to gut the police, fire, or emergency response. I am not anti-law enforcement, and I am not anti-safety. I am saying public safety is bigger than policing alone. If we are serious about safety, then we need to be serious about the things that prevent crisis before it starts. Literacy prevents crisis, youth programs prevent crisis, recovery support, safe gathering spaces prevent crisis, swim lessons prevent crisis. A healthier, more connected community creates fewer emergencies, fewer conflicts, and fewer situations where law enforcement is left responding to problems that never should have been allowed to grow that big in the first place. That is not anti-police, that is common sense. And that is why I am not here tonight just as a cheerleader. I am here with actual suggestions. Use part of the contingency as a one-year bridge while the city continues cleaning up the financial and audit problems. Do not make permanent damage out of the temporary crisis. Brittany, are you close? We're timed. Spread reductions more fairly across larger departments instead of crushing a service that makes up a tiny portion of the general fund but creates massive value for the community. Review added positions, growth, timing, and non-essential expansion before cutting core public-facing services people rely on every single day. And with the pool, stop pretending this can be solved with wistful thinking or by forcing one tiny funding source to do the impossible. If the pool is too important to lose, and I believe it is, then that requires a real partnership between the city, school, district, and the community. That requires leadership.

All right. Thank you. I'll stop. I have so much more, but I'll stop. Lilia Dement.

Lilia. Hi, I'm Lilia Dement. I live in Ward 1. I've lived here for 33 years. I learned to swim here. I learned to read here. The school or the... Louder, sorry. The pool and the library are very important and I'm just here to speak in support of them. I could say the things others have said about why they're important, but everyone here knows that. They should be the last things that we consider cutting, not the first and nowhere near the first. 63% of the budget roughly based on what I just Googled goes to public safety. And then some 20% of the budget goes to public works. Those are the bulk. Those are the things that can be decreased. If we decrease the things that people actually benefit from most directly, the pool, the library, then we lose the things that make the city the best. I'll stop there. I didn't write anything.

Vanessa Moya.

Thank you. I am Vanessa Moya. I'm a resident of Ward 4. I spoke previously at the City Council meeting about how my family uses and values the library. Just a couple quick points to reiterate from that. Families like mine that are working and low income have access to books that we would otherwise be unable to afford. It's more than books. It's activities. It's community. It's a safe place to land. And on bad weather days, it is a safe haven. In addition, libraries represent knowledge and the fact that everyone should have access to knowledge regardless of who they are, what they look like, how they live, or how much they make. What message does it send to our kids, our families, our citizens if we deny them that access? I ask, what are our values as a community? As a person who manages public funds, I understand the complex puzzle that a balanced budget can be. But I challenge the city to hear its citizens look around, hear our citizens, and find a different way that does not restrict our community's access to knowledge. Thank you.

Greg Moser, behind you, Mike.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council, Budget Committee, and Cottage Grove. My name's Gregor Moser. I live in Ward 4 at 2065 South 8th Street here in Cottage Grove. My family moved to Cottage Grove not for a house, but for a promise. We saw a town that invested in its people, its character, its future. My two children and a number of other families' children are currently registered at the community pool for the baby swim program. For them, it isn't just the building, it's the heartbeat of their new life. I know the numbers on your spreadsheet are difficult. I know the audits are a challenge. But a budget is more than a balance sheet. It's a moral document. It tells the world what we value. If we close the pool for community uses such as baby swim, recreational swim, and family swim, we aren't just cutting costs. We're cutting ties with the community. In a town surrounded by rivers and lakes, this pool is where our children learn to survive. This is where they learn to grow. To pull the plug on this activity is to tell every young family in this room that Cottage Grove is a city in decline. Do not balance this budget on the backs of our youth. I moved here because I believed in this town's future. Don't prove me wrong. I urge you to look past the immediate deficit and look at the long-term cost of a broken promise. Keep the pool open for recreational swim, family swim, and for our children to have a place to learn to swim. Our children are the future. Keep our children safe. Show them that Cottage Grove is a place that still believes in them. Thank you for your time.

Rosalie June? Jewel? Jewel.

Good evening. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, all you hardworking councillors and this wonderful community of Cottage Grove. The reason I'm here is my husband and I have great benefit. We have derived bionic hips, knees, shoulders, everything in our swim community. The young people, when you see them come in the pool, They can't swim. They get a lesson. We see these children who are growing up in this community grow with confidence and strength. And that's what we want to see in our young people. You see so many seniors here. My gosh, we're the backbone of the community when you look around. Really, come on. So we've been here since 89. We moved into Cottage Grove five years ago. I recently could not have done something without this swimming pool, our wonderful Sherry, and all the teachers. I was able to take a trip. walking mountains, hills, monasteries way up in the mountains of the Himalayas. I was able to do this because I have been swimming two or three times a week for the past three years. I want to say as an encouragement, if you're not in the pool, get down there and take a class and swim. I don't want to take more time, but I do want to stand up for the community, for the library, for the youth, and for the seniors of this community who benefit more than you young people will ever know. But you're going to get there where we are. So keep the library and keep the pool.

I do want to also acknowledge the safety aspect for our police officers who are desperately trying to be available at all times with very limited I mean, we hear it from our fire department. We've heard it from our police where a chief is doing patrol work. It's that. So this is one of those aspects, all of these things, you know, just to reiterate that. They're trade-offs. And so I do want to just share appreciation for our police and what they're quietly enduring and putting in so much work at their own peril for this community.

And just in response quickly to the grant writer, our police did get an $800,000 grant this year, and Cottage Grove was blessed with the biggest grant in the nation to redo our downtown. So we have been very successful with grant writing, and we are working on it in every, every single category. So I just want the community to know that. We do prioritize, absolutely.

So as Council President Ervin has pointed out, we are having to look at balances. And one of the key concepts that comes up is there's ways to adjust the budget. There's to cut costs, or there's to increase revenues. one option that the council would have would to be impose a utility fee so i'm going to warn you your utilities will increase next year by a little over ten dollars but just for this is only for cottage grove utility payers would you be willing to pay an additional $4 to partially fund the library and increase the money available for these community promotion programs? So just rate payers in the city, would you be willing to do that for one year, $4? Show of hands. All right, thank you.

David Pretzel.

rick tell

My name is David Prechtel. I've only been here about seven years. I've wished to frequently attend some of these council meetings. I will not repeat some of the, reiterate some of the support that we have here, it's obvious. One of the things that have jumped up here that I've heard in the past that worries me, and that was the criticism that we've had that the community center building was underused and it should have been sold. Then the other thing was talking about serving this building. I will tell you, you sell a building and you'll never replace it. For the few thousand dollars that you get, it'll cost you twice that much to rebuild this thing and it won't happen again. So let's look at the bigger picture and let's not consider that. Wow, there was an interesting thing that just came up, speaking of attending these meetings. We were talking about grant writings, and it was just mentioned that the downtown was funded by a grant. That young lady that initiated that grant was voted off of this council. Let's think about that. Thank you.

I have to get on the list. Christina Hubbard? Is Christina Hubbard here?

We're trying to decipher this name.

Is there someone that signed up?

Who wrote in hieroglyphics? I bet you it's a doctor.

It looks like the last part of the name is Rush. Oh, you were signing in. OK, thank you. All right. So all right, let's do a little. We have just a few minutes. We have probably time for three more.

Show of hands. All right, Mike, right here.

Excuse me for not standing. Michelle Thurston, Ward 1. I just wanted to make a comment that I see a lot of people here. And I know a lot of you in different spaces, whether it be the pool, the library, the Saturday market, the Grange. And one thing that I want to say is thank you for everybody who is coming together with your community, working to find ways to find the funding, get the support, get the grants, get the foundational support because we're doing our part in this community by trying to find that funding, reorganizing how things are going. I could give a whole bunch of suggestions, but a lot of suggestions were made of ways that Cottage Grove City Council and the wonderful committee here could maybe change their thoughts and reorganize the funding. But for one, I say sell that property. There's a lot of housing that could be built or businesses that can be brought in and that could be funding short term and long term. So I'll leave that there. But just a big, huge shout out to everybody who's coming together to find ways to pick up the slack and do their part And now hopefully the city of Cottage Grove and their wonderful committee will do that as well.

City Manager, Mr. Sauerwein, can you, there's a misconception about the property and that we bought it just to hold on to it when truly it is about housing and selling it. Could you explain that?

Sure. The property that we're talking about is south of the high school. It's near our industrial park, and it's actually being utilized.

Can you put your mic a little closer?

Middle school, not high school. It's south of the middle school.

Well, south of the middle school is where the property is. And this is property that can be developed for industrial purposes, and we are in the process of selling it.

And yes, well, it's many parcels.

It's one property that's been divided up into parcels. Like most cities, when you develop an industrial park, you sell out pieces of it to different businesses.

And a good majority of it's been sold.

Under agreement, not cash receipts.

Well, yeah.

That's not a good answer.

All right.

Do you want to do those two gentlemen right there? The man in the hat and then the gentleman behind him?

I just wanted to say, kind of going back to our founding fathers, Bill of Rights, Constitution, Benjamin Franklin, who we all know. was a person responsible for public libraries. Just a few things that he said about that was that access and pursuit, it strengthens the intellectual independence of Americans. So not only is the library important for democracy and getting people informed on how to go about doing their things, the last thing that he kind of added to that was that libraries are the colleges for the common man. The people in this community who can't afford the elite colleges and all that stuff depend on the library, as well as the elderly who don't have computers to access things or people trying to find jobs. Lastly, I just wanted to kind of just say run over this. It seems like the budget for the police department is 4.1 million. It's grown from 1.5 million from 2020 to 2.9 million and i appreciate the police i really do i think you guys do an incredibly hard job i just am kind of confused why 200 000 couldn't be cut from that to fund the library or the pool It's a lot of money going to the police, and I understand you guys do a hard job, and crime gets worse all the time, especially when we're in a world where people can't afford things. They steal. They do different things. It's history. It's been that way throughout history. When people are downtrodden, they end up committing more crime. But I just don't understand why we couldn't do some kind of budget to cut a couple hundred thousand dollars out to fund the library instead. That's all.

Okay, we'll take one more.

Hopefully everybody can hear me okay.

My name is Ryan. I live outside of the city, but I try to be as much a part of the city as much as I can. I appreciated that all of you up there. I don't find that there is a line between us as we are all here for the community. So that is important, I think, to clarify. You guys are appreciated. As a community, we should have grace as well, I believe, and we should all come together when... maybe even when an accounting error happens. And sometimes it may happen in people's families. And it's time to come together in moments like these and find solutions. I appreciated hearing from the council as well that we're here to have a discussion and we are here to find a solution and maybe something to come from us. And I've heard some today, which I can agree and some I cannot. My boys enjoy the library. I look forward to taking them to the pool to teach them how to swim during the cold months. As I know, we could take them to the lakes and rivers to do so. But there's a couple ideas that maybe I have that may be helpful, but I'm not sure as I'm not fully versed in maybe how much others may know more than myself. The Council mentioned or excuse me not repeat myself, but is it possible to trim the annual city salaries of city employees or officials, maybe trim library library or pool employee salaries and use volunteers or internships on a temporary basis basis until the budget is fixed. I know that the Chamber of Commerce has one employee and volunteers who help. And maybe that may not be for everything, but just something to think about. How can we also come together as a community to find grant writers? We all know very many people. Is there a program we all could come together on finding out how we could find somebody who may volunteer their time or something, a fund that we could come together to create to pay someone? These are just a couple of ideas I have. I just want to throw it to you guys and see if these are possible or if you could answer our questions or my questions.

I'll answer something right now just to get it off the table. Chamber of Commerce is not run by the city. It's a membership is what pays that. Fire department as well. They have their own fire district, so it is not city. Thank you. All right.

May I just one Pennsylvania, first time caller, long time resident. Uh, just could the city council and members look at other projects that maybe could be postponed. I know things will get expensive over time, but just look at projects this year and next year and maybe re juggle them.

I want to assure you that we actually are doing that. Everything is put on hold.

Yeah, I do. want to mention this look at the street budget this year it's almost non-existent so i mean and there's a lot of capital projects that have been just delayed which is going to have consequences for our infrastructure So great, great ideas. A lot of that is baked into this budget. I would encourage folks, I believe we have, maybe they've been passed out, but copies of the budget. We do have a bit of time before there's actually, we have to adopt it. So the time between now and that point in time, which I think June, July 1st, but there'll be a meeting before that to actually vote on it. Reach out to all of us that you can. I know all of our information is as public as on the city website and, and share those ideas. And then we can probably get down into the weeds of what those impacts might be, but really want to just share appreciation for everyone coming out tonight. And some of us, I know we'll, we'll probably stick around and be able to talk one-on-one. Great.

Next budget meeting. Next budget meeting.

Next committee meeting. Announce.

Next Thursday.

Thursday.

Yeah. A week from Thursday.

A week from Thursday is the next committee meeting.

Last Thursday. It's the 30th.

Yes. And I do want to express appreciation for every one of you coming out tonight and sharing your ideas. We really appreciate it. And also, thank you for not using any bad language so that our dear Cameron Wrighton can indeed is not fined at all. We really appreciate that. And want to thank our budget committee members from the public. We know that your time is valuable. Thank you for sharing your evening with us and all of council and city staff. This is a long day for you. We really appreciate you. Thank you.

I would just like to remind us all that our city manager has agreed to discuss with staff about potentially reallocation of funds. I think you have given us a lot to consider about whether or not we should vote. on our next meeting to listen to the city manager and staff's recommendations um i just want to go on record as saying nothing would be easy to cut from to get these funds but i hope that we stay whole as a town

On the practice . Thank you. Thank you.