City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, I have 7.02.

I'm going to reconvene our regular city council meeting.

Will the recorder please call the roll?

Councillor Irvin. Councillor Hink. Here. Councillor Lammerman. Here. Councillor Merida.

Here.

Councillor Settlemyer.

Here.

Councillor Wilson.

Here.

Mayor Soulsby.

Here.

I'll rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. States of America. and freedom of thought for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Items to be added to the agenda. There are none. Special presentations. Item A, 2026 Water Master Plan. Public Works Director, Mr. Stewart.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Thank you. So this evening, we'll have two presentations from West Yost. First one is the 2026 water master plan. So we contracted with West Yost approximately three years ago to produce a new water master plan to update our 1998 water master plan. The Oregon Health Authority REQUESTS THAT THOSE MASTER PLANS ARE RENEWED EVERY 20 YEARS. WE WERE A LITTLE BIT SHORT GETTING THIS ONE RENEWED, BUT IT'S NOW BEEN COMPLETED AND ACCEPTED, REVIEWED BY OREGON HEALTH AUTHORITY AND ACCEPTED. THIS EVENING WE HAVE ONLINE PATRICK JOHNSON. HE IS THE LEAD INDIVIDUAL FOR THIS PROJECT. I'D ALSO LIKE TO INTRODUCE ADAM HORNSTEED. He's our point person for our civil engineer of record work that we do with West shows for really geared around water and wastewater treatment. So with that, I'd like to just turn it over to Patrick. And he's got a slide presentation, which has been handed out to each of you to review.

Okay. I'm assuming that you can hear me.

We can hear you. Thank you.

Great. So my name is Patrick Johnston, as Faye said. I was the project manager for this water master plan project for the City of Oregon, and I'm a principal engineer with West Yost Associates. For the water master plan, it was completed in March of 2026. I think I'm presenting my slides, but I don't know if you're seeing my screen or slides presented by the city.

The second Patrick will put you over so you can share your screen. And do the presentation.

Let's see.

Can you see my screen now?

Yes.

Okay. Good. The warmash plan was completed in March of 2026. The purpose of it was to analyze the distribution system and evaluate its ability to meet both current and future demands. Included as part of the water master plan was a look at the water treatment plan. It was evaluated for its hydraulic capacity. And as part of our analyses, we developed a list of recommended upgrades that helped address the deficiencies in the system that we identified during our evaluations. The recommended upgrades were then compiled into a comprehensive capital improvement program that will serve the city as a roadmap to help the city meet the needs of both its current and future customers. One of the major tools that was developed for the Water Master Plan was a hydraulic model of the city's distribution system. The purpose of that was to provide a tool that gives an accurate and up-to-date look at the system. and allows us to evaluate the water system operations and also its performance. The benefit for the Water Master Plan project was that it allowed us to evaluate the system under normal conditions, as well as emergency scenarios, and helped us to identify and then size needed or proven projects to address the deficiencies we identified. The model can also be used going into the future for other things, such as troubleshooting system operational issues that come up. It can be used to evaluate fire flows and then also will be a useful tool to evaluate the system needs that might be required to serve proposed future development projects. The model was developed from a range of information that was provided to us by the City. This included system mapping, GIS information primarily, as well as elevation data, facility information, and available record drawings. And also the model was vetted through discussions with city staff as well. The city provided us with several years of existing water demands on the system, which we evaluated and used to develop a set of demands that we imposed on the model in order to evaluate system performance for existing conditions. And then we used land use information and other planning information to create a set of future demands that was a set of future demand projections that we evaluated the system with for future conditions. We also calibrated the model with some data we acquired during some field testing that we did of the current system. This the model was then used to evaluate the system for existing conditions. And develop a set of projects needed to address those deficiencies that were identified this included A range of pipeline projects, primarily to help the system help improve the fire flow capabilities of the system. We invite we identified a couple of new storage reservoirs that were needed a new pump station. And also included a new supply main from the water treatment plant up to the Knox Hill Reservoir. We also evaluated the system for future demand conditions. And during that analysis, we identified a new storage reservoir. A couple of new pump stations, new pressure reducing valves to create a new pressure zone on the west side. as well as some new pipelines needed to help support the new pressure zone that we identified. Another major component of our analysis was the condition assessment. For this, we created a condition assessment methodology first and reviewed that with the city. We reviewed existing drawings and asset information. We conducted visual inspections of many of the system components and interviewed several of the city staff members and got input from them. We used all that information to calculate scores for both physical condition and performance condition of the system. And after that analysis, assembled a list of recommended actions for the distribution system. This included some work at Holly Street Pump Station and Knoxville Reservoir. And for the water treatment plant, we had a range of process improvements that were recommended. The last major component of the water master plan analysis was the seismic risk assessment and mitigation plan, as required by the state of Oregon. This, in general, is an evaluation of the seismic resiliency of the water system. This included a look at the geotechnical seismic risk and a look at hazard mapping and creation of a map of the water system critical facilities and backbone, which is shown there on the right. This is a map of the facilities that we felt were most critical to get back into service after a major event such as a seismic event. So after this range of analyses, we compiled the improvement projects that we identified in the system into, as I mentioned before, a capital improvement program. These were split into near-term projects, generally intended to address existing capacity deficiencies and other existing deficiencies in the system. The total of those projects is $36.4 million. And then we also compiled a set of long-term projects generally intended to address system deficiencies that are expected to occur as the city grows. And the total of these was $11.6 million. And the details of the capital improvement program are in the water master plan. That's the last chapter of the water master plan. So, and that brings me to the end of my presentation on the water master plan, but I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have.

Do we have any questions? Councillor Meredith.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Engineer, for this excellent document. I did spend quite a bit of time with it. I'm a local historian, and I've viewed the development of our utilities over the years, and this provided a lot of good information to me. I do have some topics I would like to interject. One would be in your analysis of our water rights and ability to draw water, I didn't see any reference to the current climate conditions, the tendency that we are drying out in Oregon, that we're having less snowpack and less rainfall. So it seemed to me this plan assumes there will be a continuous source of water to draw from. The water rights do not guarantee, as you know, ability to draw. We used to get our water from the Regeda area through the Lane Creek and Dinner Creek and Prather Creek watersheds, and then those were piped 21 miles downstream. When the condition of that pipeline deteriorated, we had to make a decision whether to restore that or rebuild that or concentrate on using the Rowell River treatment plant. The row river treatment plant was originally brought online to address shortages from those up river watersheds, it was a supplement, and then when we, when it was decided that it would be prohibitive to restore that pipeline then the row river plant was deemed as our sole source. So in this report, you did address the potential of a Cascadia event. However, I'm thinking climate condition, drought, fire in the watershed, or just continued desertification of our watershed area could impact our ability to source water. So I would like to see some of those issues delved into as potential solutions. For instance, could we go to a closed loop system where we reuse the treated water to provide our drinking water in the case that we're not allowed to draw from the river or if there's not water to draw from the river. Also, you did mention the reservoirs and water storage. Again, water storage, I think, will be critical as we dry out continuously in our future. So any of those points land with you.

Well, I'll say, yes, they do. And certainly climate change is an issue that we will be all dealing with more as we move forward. I think the water master plan, while we did touch on water supply issues in it, is generally intended to be more about facilities and timing of the facilities that are needed to address issues that are found in our analyses. The water supply, while a small part of the analysis, is not really the focus of the water master plan. And I know the city did a few years back complete the water management and conservation plan that delved more deeply into potential issues with water supply for the city. And I think that is, I think, the more appropriate place for those issues to be dealt with. And I think they were in that document part. Our water supply section of our water master plan drew heavily from that document. And I think that that's really the more say appropriate place for those kinds of issues to be dealt with more. Does that answer your question somewhat?

Director Stewart. I'd like to just interject too that there are two current areas that we are working that will address the councilor's concerns. One is that we're currently updating our drinking water protection plan. And this topic of changing climate and things that can impact our watershed is really the sole focus of that plan that we are currently embarking on. updating. It was done in 2015, and so we are now, I think it was 2015, and we're now updating that again, working on that. We got a grant from the Oregon Health Authority to do that too. And the second is the other plan, which is the water management and conservation plan. We are continually working with that. We have to give regularly updates, yearly updates to the uh the um states sorry i don't have the agencies off the top of my head but um We also have to report to the state yearly on the water management and conservation plan, what we are doing to conserve water, i.e. the reuse program, water conservation. We try to regularly put in items into the newsletter. So there's two ongoing efforts that are really more focused on the issue of, you know, our ability to actually have water to produce.

Councillor Sotomayor.

I had a community member when he heard about water systems say they're talking about cybersecurity around water systems. Is that something that we deal with, that we prepare for? Mayor, Councilman.

some are yes in fact we are dealing with it right now because there is a national alert to water and wastewater treatment facilities that are under attack cyber attacks and so we are engaged with our uh tech operating tech facility company that manages that to ensure that our IT is being watched to make sure that it's not compromised and attacked. And that's an ongoing effort. That's not just a once in a while in a plan. It's an everyday, regular effort to make sure we're protected and not compromised.

Thank you. And I got a chance to read through that big old report also. And one thing that caught my eye is the idea of there's two reservoirs that are in the plant. One in the Holly area, it's a smaller reservoir, but that is the one that we're dealing with perhaps today. In the more you know closer to this to now the near timeline and. The Halderman Reservoir, which is the background or a reinforcement for essentially the whole city is more on the long-term projects. Is that something that could flip depending on like the developments that we might see in our city moving forward?

Mayor, Councilor Sotomayor, yes. Short answer to this. So specifically right now, it's very possible that the Alderman Reservoir may move in front of the Hawley Reservoir because there is an active subdivision that would benefit from that water. There's also a lot of developable land that we are developing. community development departments had conversations with landowners there that are looking to potentially develop it. And so that would drive the need above the Holly. At one time, Holly was looked at to be the next because we were engaged with the property owner of Sunrise Ridge and they were motivated to get some more housing lots. But in the last five years, they haven't pursued or moved forward on that. So We have this wonderful plan now and we'll be able to, as it is flexible, we can move it and we can move projects at others based on need. I would also share too that one of the things, if you compared the 1998 plan to today's plan, there's a lot of differences specifically in reservoir sizes. And that's because over the years we've had a lot of regulation and changes and requirements for delivering water to people. And, you know, it's nice to have a huge reservoir and have water stored in it, but If it doesn't meet the Oregon Health Authority's requirements to be able to deliver it to people's homes, then we can't sell the water. And specifically, like chlorinated water, it has to have a certain level of chlorination in it before we can deliver it to a home. If water sits in a huge reservoir, it tends to settle out, and then it becomes water that we can't sell to people because it's not safe. So there's been a lot of changes over the years that drive the changes in these master plans, too. Thank you.

Councillor Meredith.

So this is more directed to Director Stewart. Is it the Lumetai Water District, the one that's up blue sky? So I remember reading that in the plan that we're going to assist them because they're not apparently able to generate the amount of water they need for their customers. We're going to incorporate their system with ours.

Mayor, Council Mayor Day, we, a few years ago, the Lamonti Water District was concerned about their longevity of their system. They are using wells to provide water to their 107 homes or whatever is in their district. So they came to the city in preparation for those eventually someday failing to get an agreement with the city to be able to purchase water from the city. Because they're a water district, they can, we can supply them water. We're not going to treat their water. We're not going to guarantee they'll buy water out of a pipeline and they'll run it into their system and manage their system. And I don't remember, but I believe it's estimated at somewhere in 100,000 gallons a day that we could potentially be selling to them. Thank you.

Anyone else? Director Stewart?

Okay, so that concludes the water master plan. All right. So Mindy, we'll need to bring Logan on as a presenter now. So the next item is the cyanotoxin feasibility study presentation. The Oregon Health Authority came to the city of Cuyahoga Grove and asked if they could provide funding to perform a feasibility study for addressing cyanotoxins. I think most of the council knows and the public that where we receive our water below the Dorena reservoir, it is subject to blue-green algae blooms that take place in Dorena, and they can be toxic at times. And because of that, we have not, I'll share with you, we've had only one test at the intake of our facility over the nine years that I've been here that did actually detect a cyanotoxin. And there was, for their tests, there was no cyanotoxins that actually went through our treatment plant and into the distribution system. A few years ago, after the Salem water problem that they had when the Detroit Lake, where they get their majority of their water had a Sinotoxin release and it impacted their drinking water, boil notices. They weren't able to sell treated drinking water to their customers. The state legislature enacted some legislation and the Oregon Health Authority followed up with regulations. And because of that, we are mandatory testers. for cyanotoxins and algae each year. We have a certain testing regimen. And if we detect it, it ramps up. And then if we ever had a situation like Salem, we would have to do boil notices and not sell water recommended for drinking. So with that, we have Logan Smearsred. Sorry if I didn't pronounce that correctly. But Logan was our lead with Wes Yost. She worked directly with Brian Kimball and the treatment plant to look at ways that our treatment plant could be modified to address future cyanotoxins. So with that, I'd love to turn it over to Logan and let her take over.

Thank you. Let me get my screen pulled up here. Are you able to see my slides?

Yes, we are. Thank you.

Okay. So good evening, everyone. My name is Logan Smesrud, and I'm an engineer with West Yost. Tonight, I'll give you a brief overview of the cyanotoxin treatment feasibility study that we recently completed for the city. I'll briefly cover the purpose of the study, the alternatives we evaluated, our recommended approach, and the next steps for moving that recommendation forward. The cyanotoxin treatment feasibility study was completed this past June. It was funded through the bipartisan infrastructure law with funding awarded by EPA through Business Oregon and the Oregon Health Authority's Drinking Water State Revolving Fund The purpose of the study was to evaluate options for addressing cyanotoxins in the raw water and improving the resiliency of the city's drinking water supply during harmful algal plume events. Before getting into those alternatives, I just want to spend a few minutes talking about what cyanotoxins are and why they're relevant to Cottage Grove. Cyanotoxins are naturally occurring toxins produced by certain types of cyanobacteria, which are also referred to as blue-green algae. And under favorable conditions, cyanobacteria can multiply rapidly and form harmful algal blooms or HABs. These conditions generally include warm water temperatures, sunlight, and elevated nutrients. And in Oregon, the greatest concern is typically during the warmer months of May through October. One important distinction about treating for cyanotoxins is that they can exist in two forms. They can be contained inside intact algae cells, or they can be dissolved into the water after those cells lyse or break open. And this distinction becomes important when we talk about the city's existing treatment plant processes. Okay, so this map is from OHA and it shows where some of these harmful algal blooms have occurred in the past within the South Willamette River Basin relative to drinking water intakes for public water systems. So as we know, the City of Cottage Grove's drinking water intake is located on the Row River just a few miles downstream of Dorena Lake where these harmful algal plumes have occurred in the past. So with Dorena Lake being upstream of the city's intake and harmful algal plumes in the lake having then potential to impact the city's drinking water source. In 2018, Oregon established these regulations requiring that public water systems with sources considered susceptible to harmful algal blooms that they monitor for cyanotoxins and take specific actions if these health advisory levels are exceeded. And the Rao River is classified by OHA as one of those sources. So since 2018, the city has been monitoring its raw water for these two regulated cyanotoxins, which are total microcystins and cylindrospermopsin. The health advisory levels for vulnerable populations are 0.3 parts per billion for total microcystins and 0.7 parts per billion for cylindrospermopsin. So the city already has monitoring in place to detect cyanotoxins, while this study looked at options for providing additional treatment barriers if and when cyanotoxins are present. And this graph shows and summarizes the city's cyanotoxin monitoring results in the raw water since 2018. The dashed lines show the health advisory levels for vulnerable populations. As you can see, there have only been four detections since monitoring began. And all of those were below the applicable health advisory levels. Just to reinforce, this study is not being driven by a current drinking water exceedance or violation. Instead, it's a proactive resiliency measure to protect the city's drinking water from any future harmful algal bloom events in Dorena Lake. The fact that cyanotoxins have been detected tells us they can be present in the source water and concentrations can rapidly increase when conditions favor a harmful algal bloom. So as I mentioned earlier, cyanotoxins can either be contained within intact algae cells or they can be dissolved into the water after those cells have lysed. The city's existing membrane filtration system at the Rau River Water Treatment Plant is effective at removing the intact algae cells, but dissolved cyanotoxins may still pass through these membranes. So this study focused on identifying treatment alternatives that would complement the existing membrane system by addressing those dissolved cyanotoxins for a more multibarrier approach. We evaluated both source water alternatives and treatment alternatives. For source water alternatives, we considered groundwater and also connecting to a nearby water system. Neither of those were considered feasible due to limited groundwater capacity and the significant infrastructure and costs that would be associated with importing water. We also evaluated three treatment technologies for addressing these dissolved cyanotoxins. Those included ozone, UVAOP or ultraviolet advanced oxidation process, and granular activated carbon, also referred to as GAC or GAC. So ozone and UVAOP are treatment strategies that chemically destroy the cyanotoxins through oxidation, while GAC physically removes them through adsorption onto the activated carbon media. And so with those three treatment options identified, we then compared them based on cost and other operational considerations. So this slide summarizes that comparison, looking first at the top table with the non-economic criteria, ozone and UVAOP are both effective technologies, but you'll notice they have high energy requirements, and greater operational complexity, while GAC stood out because there's lower energy requirements, relatively simple operation, fewer safety concerns, and a low potential for creating treatment byproducts. GAC also presents treatment benefits for other contaminants aside from cyanotoxins, including PFAS. And then now shifting to the second table on this slide summarizing cost we show both the construction costs and capital costs and I just want to explain the distinction between those two numbers. So the construction cost is essentially what we would expect contractors to bid to build the project so at this planning level those construction costs are approximately. 6.8 million for the ozone system, 5.3 million for UVAOP system, and 3.9 million for a GAC system. The capital cost represents the city's broader total project cost. So in addition to construction, this would include things like engineering design, city's administrative costs, environmental planning and studies, construction management, inspection, and any other project-related costs. So again, at this planning level, the estimated total capital costs for those systems is approximately $8.5 million for ozone, $6.6 million for UVAOP, and $4.9 million for GAC. Again, these are planning level estimates, and they would be refined as the project moves through engineering design. Overall GAC provides the best combination of cost, operational simplicity, flexibility and treatment benefits. So based on that evaluation, our recommended alternative is post filtration GAC and the image here shows conceptually how that system could fit on site at the existing treatment plant. with post filtration just referring to the preferred location of where this GAC system would sit, because the existing membrane filters would first remove those intact algae cells, while the filtered water could then be routed through the GAC vessels to remove any dissolved cyanotoxins. From there, the treated water would loop back into the process building for chlorine addition before entering the clear wells for disinfection. So this slide is to give a better sense of the physical scale of the proposed treatment system, which would be situated on a concrete pad of about 40 feet by 50 feet in size. This conceptual design includes four carbon vessels. Each vessel would be approximately 12 feet in diameter and 22 feet tall. You'll see that the site is configured with room to add two additional vessels in the future if needed, and that modularity is one of the strengths of this alternative. This conceptual layout also allows, as I mentioned, the ability to increase treatment capacity or provide additional treatment for other contaminants of concern with space for those two additional vessels. So in terms of next steps and where do we go from here, the feasibility study gives the city a recommended treatment approach, but it's still a planning level concept. So the next step would be to advance the recommended GAC system into engineering design. The city is currently exploring funding opportunities through Business Oregon to support that next phase. And so just to wrap up and summarize here, The city's cyanotoxin detections to date have all remained below health advisory levels, but the Rao River is susceptible to harmful algal blooms. This study provides the city with a proactive path forward to add another treatment barrier if cyanotoxins are present in the future, with the post-filtration GAC identified as the recommended approach. And that concludes my presentation. Thank you. And I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Councilor Sotomayor.

Is there a reason? Well, is the recommendation, I thought I saw where there was a cost for like yearly use and supply of materials that have to be used replaced in some kind of pattern. Is there a suggestion that because we have it, we would run this year round all of the time? Or is it something that could get triggered During algae bloom season, you know, or, and I'm sorry, I don't know what PFAS stands for when you were talking about emerging contaminants. Is that something that we should have in place just in case?

Thank you. Yes, I brushed over that acronym. So PFAS, kind of a mouthful of what that stands for per person. floral alcohol substances. It's just another buzzworthy contaminant of concern. And my understanding is that it's not of a current concern to the city, but since it's on everyone's radars with future regulations, just something to point out as this proposed treatment for cyanotoxins also having the dual benefit of being able to treat for something like PFAS, if that were of concern in the future. And now remind me the first part of your question. I'm sorry, I lost my train of thought.

Would we run year-round the water through this part of the treatment since, at least to my knowledge, algae bloom is really only an issue in the watershed for the late summertime?

Okay, thank you. Yeah, that's a great question. It would, it would be run year round just because the GAC media doesn't do well with sitting, um, unused for a long time. It could have some, you wouldn't want anything to grow on the media. So it's better to run the water through it. But the operational demand of, um, in terms of energy costs to push water through the GAC system is not significant. So unlike, um, ozone and UVAOP that have really high energy costs, you would wanna do that approach of only using those systems when you needed to. But since this approach with the big vessels of media sitting out in the sun, it would be recommended to run the filtered water through them at all times. But that operational cost of pushing a couple more PSI through these vessels isn't anticipated to be significant. So I think the costs we tried to summarize in the report with operation and maintenance costs associated with media exchanges is on the couple years at a time timeframe. So not too frequent, but definitely something to note and plan for as an operational cost. Hopefully that, gets to your question a little bit, let me know if not.

And it sounds, I mean, it was mentioned that our water will taste better anyway, if it comes through. So that could be our benefit. Thanks.

That's a very good addition. Yeah, taste and odor benefits are reasons why other systems put GAC in in the first place to address taste and odor. So like you mentioned, other added benefits too.

Thank you, Mayor. I had a question about the media itself. My only experience with activated charcoal was when I kept aquariums and you had to take the charcoal or change the charcoal fairly frequently. And from the report I read, it said that the media could last up to two years. And I was just wondering on this longevity of the activated charcoal, if you could touch on that, please.

Sure. Thank you. So the best way to answer that question is usually in the implementation and kind of pilot stage. Most of these manufacturers offer a service also with the long acronym, but it's a rapid small scale column testing. And so they model what your vessels would be doing with the concentrations of cyanotoxins and total organic carbon that you would expect to simulate how frequently the media would need to be replaced to continue performing and so that's a typical service that the city could pursue upon implementation to really get a good answer on if this is the concentration of cyanotoxins we're treating for how what is the frequency we would anticipate for the media but we did coordinate with a vendor to produce these costs and provided those typical concentrations that we had observed in the data to give a little bit of guidance at this point with the data we do have on what that frequency range would be and that's where that two even three number figure came from from one of the carbon vendors so the best way to really know would be to do a column test bench scale and the media provider could do that. But as a rule of thumb with the numbers we provided them, they felt comfortable giving that around two year frequency range.

Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else? Director Stewart.

Mayor, if I might, thank you. I just would like to take a moment to say thank you to Logan and Patrick and Adam for being here this evening, giving the presentations and the great work that they've done on these two reports. We greatly appreciate them and look forward to continue to work with them in the future.

Thank you. Thank you. All right. Item C, All-America City Square Park, Downtown Cottage Grove.

Good evening, Mayor and Councilors. I'm Ryan Thomas, President of Downtown Cottage Grove, and this is David Doherty with Doherty Landscape Architects. For approximately the last year and a half, Downtown Cottage Grove has worked with Doherty Landscape Architects and also in communication with city staff on ways that we might perform repairs and deferred maintenance issues with the All-America City Square Park at East Main Street and Seventh Street. And the process is also involved, Christina Lund with Lund Development Solutions and her team. And we're here tonight to present to you what our process has been up to now and what things might be moving forward. Working with Christina London, her team, Downtown Cottage Grove, obtained a $5,000 Ford Family Foundation grant to develop a concept design for the park. Doherty Landscape Architects, along with the Downtown Cottage Grove Board and the Downtown Cottage Grove Design Committee, And again, with city staff, I've worked on this concept design process that you see before you today. This is the end result of the concept design phase. In February, we presented this design to city staff and asked for recommendations on how to move the project forward. The recommendations at the time were to obtain more public input and city staff suggested targeting the Main Street grand reopening at that time, as well as a farmer's market event day on a Saturday. And so downtown Cottage Grove was present at both of those events and we obtained some community input that I believe you have copies of before you. Input was definitely positive. There were some concerns expressed by individuals on details of designs that we are not yet working through yet, but it was good to get that feedback as well. But it was encouraging to get the positive response that we received. Um, so since we have, uh, received that support and also, uh, requested additional, more specific letters of support from both the farmer's market who use the space regularly, as well as the bookmine, a long time nearby business. I believe you also have copies of those letters of support. Um, we are here tonight to ask you for a, uh, resolution of support from City Council for Downtown Cottage Grove to move forward with the next steps in the process. Before I get into those next steps, Some of the issues that you will see in the design that David Dougherty will review with you in detail were safety and better lighting. Also of great concern was the surface for accessibility and safety with trip hazards with folks in a public park. rectifying the drainage issues that have helped contribute to those uneven surfaces and accessibility issues, improvements to the tower to eliminate issues from birds, and also unauthorized access to the electrical panel that's there, improved mural lighting, and... Also, generally speaking with the new Main Street revitalization project that has recently been completed in the way that the park is used today, just generally in a more opening up of the park to the Seventh Street, Festival Street, and a cohesion with the street project itself. These are all items that citizens on committees and public feedback have helped to drive this concept design. Maintenance is also something that we want to consider in the design as it moves forward and how this can be attractive, have good strong community input, but also consider maintenance needs as time goes on. A last item that we've had much comment on is improving the access to the restrooms. Restroom break-ins, vandalism has been a major problem and utilizing some of the software, hardware, some of the vendors that the city currently has on for other park restrooms, being able to time the locks and also provide some monitoring to those restrooms would allow them to be open more to the public during the days and secured at night. And that is another major design element that we have brought into this concept design that had a lot of support. So that's the driver. David, you want to come up and speak to some of the design elements that address those concerns?

Thank you. Thank you, Mayor and Councillors. It's great to be here. We were part of the design team also for Main Street. And so this is a very special place and All-America Square is really considered the heart of the downtown in a lot of ways. So as part of the Main Street development, One of the goals, as Ryan had mentioned, is to connect to 7th Street, which is the festival street. So when 7th Street is closed down, the square will act as an overflow or contribute to the activity that's going on during festivals or farmer markets or what have you. So the design is really seen as a flexible space. and it can accommodate large groups. But when there's not a large group activity going on, it's also a nice place for individuals just to seek some rest, have a seat on the bench, there's benches or seat walls, or just to explore as well. We want this to be a very inviting place and accessible. So right now, as Ryan had mentioned, it's very difficult for some folks with mobility issues to use the square. So this design improves that condition. Elements of the park include the new or the revitalized tower there that could be used as an exhibit place or could be used for outdoor performances like it is now. You can tell from the design that there's ADA access provided to that structure. Right now, it's several stairs up, so that would allow visibility and access as well. Another feature is, you know, the famous place for photo ops is right there in front of Opal. And so, as you can see, there's a stage platform there that could be used for the photos. But we were thinking it could also double as a performance space where there could be a small band or a performance happening there. And then the rest of the square could be used by the audience to enjoy that. The paving itself. This is still a very conceptual design, so there's nothing that's been totally decided yet, but we are thinking that it would be a very easy surface for accessibility, more than likely concrete. The rendering here shows the connection between the paving that's been done already for Main Street and the materials that might be involved in the paving within the square. And it's labeled as such as the sparkle concrete. which would tie it into the Main Street very nicely. It has, as you know, some significance in town. And then the plantings are really, you know, we're thinking low maintenance, but at the same time, plantings that provide seasonal interest all year round, that provide color and trees that provide shade and compliment what's already been done on Main Street. And so it is very important to select the proper plants here that wouldn't hide the mural. Other elements include lighting. You know, there's some really cool ideas of having lighting that overhead string lighting that you already have elsewhere on Main Street that could help define the square and then tie it into the adjacent buildings even perhaps. There's also bike racks and in the center that circle could be a paving feature, maybe it's some other type of material. We're also thinking that would be a prime location for the December Christmas tree. So some fun ideas here, and with that, that's a broad overview, but we're happy to answer any questions.

Councilor Wilson.

Yes, I do like the idea on the paving feature by Opal as a potentially an entertainment spot. Are electrical outlets put into the design so that a band that might need to plug in something? Yeah.

I've been in touch with an architect person to look at the pavilion, the electrical engineer to look at the existing power of the stair and how that might be extended as a service stage as well as . Thank you.

Councilor Lammerman.

Madam Mayor, Council, thank you. I don't necessarily have any questions other than a couple of statements. I love the design. I've been watching it kind of come along for a while now. And since we just recently went through a budget process, a lot of people kind of said, who is Downtown Cottage Grove Group? And I think it's a perfect time that this happens to be coming around. for individuals to kind of get an idea of what you guys do. And I think this will be a phenomenal asset to our downtown to help bring in individuals to utilize our facilities, our stores, and all the assets that we do have downtown. That being said, I'd also like to commend Ryan as a business owner downtown taking so much pride in our downtown community, not just simply by owning a business. I'd like to say thank you for that and keep up the good work.

Well, thank you very much. I think that's a, A pretty good segue to next steps or might be more questions after that, so the plan moving forward is. Still somewhat rough, but we have to start in a direction and downtown cottage grove in discussions with the city is prepared to take the project on and not add a burden to the city. In working with one development solutions her team already has a funding package put together, we don't know costs yet. Next steps would be to get estimates together for full service design and construction all the way through permitting and completion. And that design process, of course, is a process still ahead of us. Downtown Cottage Grove, I would act as an owner's representative on an in-kind basis from my construction experience. help assist with the estimate to be able to know what that funding package needed to bring in from different groups. In other words, have a full cost to complete the project in the end, go after the grant funding and just proceed through those steps. So that's really the next step that we are at now and that what we are asking for from you tonight in a resolution of support for this process.

Ryan, I just had one more question with the tower. So birds have been an ongoing problem. And of course, as you guys touched on earlier that the electrical panels get broken into and what have you guys thought about like just putting closing it during certain times and opening it during events or any thought to that or have some remedies to solve those problems?

staff, we think it would be a fairly easy solution by not closing the whole thing down, but providing some kind of transparent cover where the birds like to go. And so we eliminate the bird access and the electric panels that you had mentioned, that would be redone so that they're vandal proof. and shouldn't be any longer a problem. So, yeah, there's some exciting solutions that we have discussed. Part of it depends on what do we really want that building to be. Do we want it to be an exhibit or something, or do we want it to remain flexible for performances or just everyday use?

Thank you. Councillor Meredith.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you for bringing this proposal. I really like how it's got an openness and it ties at the same level as the Festival Street. I think that will give an added dimension to the Festival Street. About the tower, I've seen, I worked at a school where we also had a bird problem, and the bird solution was to put netting at certain levels, put glass in the openings where they could fly in, and then the spikes where they would roost. So it's pretty doable and not that expensive. So as far as that goes, so yeah, I think it will be exciting to see this come to fruition and would certainly hope other counselors will join in support of this.

Thank you. Any other questions?

Any other questions?

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Thomas. Now would be the time for appearance of interested citizens, but no one signed up tonight. So we will skip that section. and move straight to public hearings. This evening, there is a public hearing regarding declaring surplus property. These proceedings are being recorded. I will now open this public hearing at 8.03. This public hearing will be held for the purpose of taking comments on declaring surplus property. We'll now have a staff report from Public Works Director, Faye Stewart.

Thank you, Mayor. So the sea staff has been working on improving access into the armory for ADA. At the present time, there is a long ramp that folks maneuver through to get to the drill hall. We received a construction approval grant from the state of Oregon for $90,000 for $115,000 project to essentially build a lift, a scissor lift device incorporated with a staircase to access the armory's drill hall. So through the process, we've had the plans have been designed. They've been actually approved for building through the building department. When I went out to seek purchasing the piece of equipment ahead of time and also get bids for the equipment, I learned from branch engineering that the folks that drew up the set of plans overlooked the fact that a portion of the set of plans is on the neighboring property. So this evening we're here, the C manager and I have inquired with Mr. Martin Hanner to see about purchasing the necessary property to build the access lift. And his request back was for that, along with the purchase of the property was to grant him and access easement across city property. So hence, the public hearing this evening is to consider declaring surplus on page, I don't know, it's actually exhibit B when it's, of the description shows the hatched mark, it's a 15 foot wide by approximately, 200 and some feet. It's 15 feet wide and it stretches from Mr. Henry's property all the way to Washington Street. And the request this evening for the consideration is to host the public hearing to declare that portion of property surplus. And then at a later portion of this meeting, consider approving the access easement. So are there any questions regarding this easement and what's being requested?

Any questions?

I would just like to share that in my memo, a couple other items. The map that I shared with you is actually a portion of the exhibit A, and then there's an exhibit B, which is the actual access easement. So that's been changed for the signature document. And then I would share that the budgetary impact, there could potentially be a budgetary impact for not approving this, declaring surplus property and approving the access easement is the potential having the city reimburse the state for the construction funds that we've already received and or redesigning the project and re-permitting, which would probably be in excess of about $20,000 to go through that process. So there is actually a budgetary impact if this wasn't approved.

Councillor Meredith.

Thank you, Mayor. I would just like to clarify for the public that the city is not giving away or selling this property. It will still remain under the city's ownership and operation.

Mayor, Council Member Day, that is correct. We are not selling or giving away the property. It'll still remain in the city's ownership. There will just be an easement granted for access across it.

Anyone else?

I'm sorry, I'm not quite sure when this question should come in, but I had a very concerned citizen call me. She asked me to give her name. Kathleen Mattson was concerned when she heard about a lift and that being access to the armory. And she's wondering if, does this mean there won't be any kind of ramp?

Mayor, Councilor Sotomayor, that is correct. We are actually putting in a powered lift to take out the ramp. It's going to be a replacement. It should be much easier to use than the ramp. Yeah, that is correct.

Her anxiety is, is there any plan B if the ramp is not functional for handicapped essentially getting out of the building.

Mayor, Councillor Sattermeyer, there would be options to be able to bring in another piece of equipment to utilize. If the lift fails, we would be able to bring in another piece of equipment to lift people up or lower them as the piece of equipment gets repaired. It is a portable piece of equipment. It's very similar to a scissor lift that you would rent to paint your house with. It's just designed low profile to be able to lift people up. So it could be that there would be another one available or what staff has used before is a forklift with an OSHA approved lift cage to be able to lift people up and down.

So there is other options. And sometimes lifts have a manual option if hydraulics fail and that kind of thing. Is there such a thing there? Like in an event, if everybody is in there, what would be the way for people to get out? Just wait for the plan B to get switched out?

Mayor, Councillor Sotomayor, it would depend on the situation. If it was an emergency situation, it might be very practical just for individuals to be carried down with the appropriate individuals doing that work and getting them to safety in an emergency situation. If it's something that's known ahead of time, we can certainly plan for it. I do not know the specifics of the lift. I can inquire with our engineers to determine if there is an override and a safety feature that allows it to be operated outside of the electrical, but at this moment, I don't know those specifics.

Would that be something I could talk with you about to reassure this person about there being no ramp? Is that okay? Yes, that's fine. We can talk later. Wonderful.

Thanks.

Councillor Wilson?

I know the lady that you're talking about. She lives like about three houses from me, and she does have a lot of anxiety, and I will have a conversation with her as well to try to reassure her that all steps are being taken.

And I would add that I received a telephone call from Councillor Irvin at approximately 4 o'clock to discuss this same item, too.

All right. We will now take public testimony. For all persons testifying, please state your name and address for the record. Do we have anyone that would like to speak? I see none. Are there any further questions from counsel?

All right.

I will now close the public hearing at 8.12 p.m. Moving into consent agenda, Ms. Roberts, did you have a correction?

I did. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to point out in the original agenda materials in the June 22nd, 2026 city council minutes, I did make a few corrections on page seven, really some punctuation issues. You may not have even noticed them. And on page 10 and 11, I had a councilor, Councillor Irvin's title wrong as chair versus council president. So I've made those changes in the final document that would be signed if approved. Thank you.

Consent agenda. Councillor Lammerman.

Madam Mayor, Council, I move to approve the consent agenda.

We have a motion with the second. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Resolutions and ordinances. Item A, resolution adopting surplus property for Henry Eastman. Public Works Director, Mr. Stewart.

Thank you, Mayor. So the city council has held the public hearing and it is now appropriate for them for you to consider resolution number 2186. Staff is recommending approving the declaring the surplus property at 628 East Washington Street and authorize the easement agreement.

We have a motion. Councillor Lamberman.

Madam Mayor, Council, I move that the City Council approve resolution number 2186, declaring surplus property at 628 East Washington Street and authorizing the Eastman Agreement.

Second.

We have a motion with a second. Will recorder please call the roll?

Councillor Merida?

Aye.

Councillor Settlemyer?

Aye.

Councillor Heinz? Aye. Councillor Lammerman?

Aye.

Councillor Wilson?

Aye.

Mayor Sulzby?

Aye.

Motion carries unanimously.

Item B, Ordinance Amending Cottage Grove Municipal Code 12.24.040. Chief of Police, Corey Chase.

All right. Thank you, Mayor, Council. So this amendment is pretty short, pretty simple. But what we're looking to do is just change the verbiage in 1224.040 to include city buildings in the exclusion process when it comes to the police department's ability to issue these exclusion notices for violations or criminal offenses committed on city property. Currently, the ordinance specifically addresses our city parks. And for several years, there's been an exclusion order form that predates my time with the city. that outlines some provisions for exclusions to city parks. So I've been reviewing that and looking at clarifying some language in that. And in doing so, reviewing this city code and found that there's nothing that definitively identifies other city buildings or properties or a way to be consistent in how that's enforced. Where we run into the issue is, There have been instances where people have been informally trespassed from, say, the city library or other public buildings or facilities property that the city owns. So when I reached out to the city attorney, we wanted to my intent was to create clear guidance and direction for our staff. and also something that was more fair and consistent and outlined some provisions for issuing those exclusion orders when they're needed at places like the community center, the armory, something that's not necessarily a park. And there's nothing in the current code that says specifically city buildings. So what this is, is an opportunity for us to add specific language that allows us to issue an exclusion order under certain circumstances for city property the same way we do with parks. And in doing so, we've updated our exclusion order to kind of clarify what the exclusion order actually means. There was some ambiguous language in there that I had a couple of people asked me questions about. And when I explained it to them, they understood it. But when you read it, it wasn't clear. So I've kind of cleaned that language up, added some more detail to it, just so it's very clear what the intent is behind that. And then also, there are some guidelines for time periods that are in the current exclusion order. I don't know where those came from. They've been here for a long time, but they make sense to me. I think they're reasonable. And I think they're fair and they offer, again, the opportunity for our officers to be fair and consistent in how we apply this throughout the city.

Thank you, Chief. Do we have an ordinance number? Right. Do we have a motion?

I move that the City Council adopt ordinance number 3210, amending the Cottage Grove Municipal Code 12.24.040.

Second. We have a motion with a second. Any discussion? Councillor Sotomayor.

Chief Chase, would you mind just giving a scenario of perhaps I mean, you said that this will make things more clear, like what would be a situation that might happen at the library where, and can you walk through what would happen?

Yeah, so Mayor, Councillor Settlemyer, I guess the scenario would be if you're at the library and you're checking out a book or reading a book there at the library and somebody walks up and assaults you, they're going to be arrested and charged with assault and then they're going to be issued an exclusion order from the library for a period consistent with whatever that level of criminal behavior is. And currently, the ordinance calls for up to 90 days, but our exclusion order form breaks it down a maximum of 90 days, but in increments of 90, 60, 45, 30, and 15 days. And it outlines the specific offense.

Anyone else? Council Member O'Day.

Thank you, Mayor. Chief, under Section 1A, I see the list of Oregon revised statues, and those make sense. I looked them all up, but Title IX is also in there, and I was just wondering how it got included in that series. I'm not sure what you're looking at, but let me... Down at the last two lines, next to the last line in Section A of Section one.

Chief, if you'd like me to handle. Yeah, I can handle that.

Thanks, Carrie.

So first of all, that is not being added. That's existing language in your code. The only thing that was added was the or city property. If you can pick that out through here. So your existing code includes the various Oregon and federal law references. But second, anybody could bring a a state or federal claim against the city for impermissibly excluding them. And so we want to cover our bases. So we wouldn't take that out of your existing code. It was a good idea whenever this was initially adopted to include those cross references.

Thank you, Ms. Conley. All right. Will the recorder please call the roll? Mayor, could you remind me who the motion and second is? The motion was Councillor Wilson. Second was Councillor Hink.

Thank you. I'll proceed with calling the roll. Councillor Merida.

Aye.

Councillor Settlemyer.

Aye.

Councillor Wilson.

Aye.

Mayor Soulsby. Aye. Councillor Lammerman.

Aye.

Councillor Hink.

Aye.

Motion carries unanimously.

Business from the City Council. Item A, 2026 Pavement Preservation Projects, Public Works Director, Mr. Stewart.

Thank you, Mayor. So this evening, I'm bringing before the City Council three road projects that our city engineer has been creating reconstruction plans for. These three segments of road are, as I shared in Friday update or the Friday agenda session, are what keep myself up at night because these roads are in very, very poor shape and could turn themselves into gravel very quickly under the right conditions. The three segments are Broad River Road from Thornton Lane East to the Kern Connector. I would share that ODOT's property, this would come up against ODOT's jurisdiction. So there'll be a portion of the Broad River Road that's not in very good shape that's ODOT property, which I've been having conversations with. There might be a partnership that we might be able to establish to do a little bit more. The second segment is on Gateway Boulevard. It's from essentially Carl's Jr. to the southbound lane, south to the truck entrance into the Chevron truck stop. If folks have traveled that, realize that it's getting really rutted and difficult to drive across when getting into the northbound lane from the from west to east. And then the third segment of road is between, it's West Harrison from River Road to R Street through the S curve through there, that segment of the road is also failing. Branch has completed 75% documents and have come up with estimates. Row River Road would be approximately, their estimate is $1,082,150.47. Gateway is $288,726. 56 cents and West Harrison would be $731,630.46 for a total of approximately $2.1 million of estimated costs. These estimates include a 20% construction contingency and also a 15% administration fee. from the road. And then in the ADA improvements, there's a 30% administration. And the reason the difference is that there is some survey work, potentially some easement that needs to be acquired to actually accommodate the reconstruction of the ADA structures. I have spoke with and worked with our interim finance director, and we believe that under the current proposal that we could propose a way for these projects to be paid for the combination of street funds and short-term loans to complete the projects with payback from the street fund over several years. I will also share that in the staff document, I have referred to a request for proposal, and that was the wrong vehicle to refer to. So I'd like to share that we're posting a solicitation slash invitation to bid for these three projects. And that's what I'm asking the city council this evening is to allow us to solicit folks to bid these projects and then bring the results of those bids back to council and with a potential way to pay for them or as was just discussed in the Friday agenda session, It could just be that Council is comfortable with proceeding with one project, not all three, or maybe two. It could be sized based on Council's comfort level to proceed. So what I'm looking for from Council this evening is a motion that direct staff to prepare and release a solicitation to repave the Row River Road, Gateway Boulevard, and West Harrison projects and bring the results and recommendation back to City Council for consideration.

Do we have a motion? Councilor Sotomayor?

I move that the City Council direct staff to prepare a solicitation and invitation for bids to repave the Row River Road, Gateway Boulevard and West Harrison projects as listed and bring the results with a recommendation to pay them back to the City Council for consideration.

Second.

We have a motion with a second. Any discussion? Councillor Lammerman.

Mayor, Council Member, that is correct. We would grind, mill, and replace with the same asphalt that was there. We would also do spot and base repairs as the engineer sees fit when the project moves forward.

I apologize. For the three-quarter inch road base and then the six inches of asphalt, what would the longevity of that section of road look like tentatively versus using concrete?

I don't know that I can answer that specifically. I will share with you that currently the pavement thickness is four inches. We're increasing the pavement thickness to six inches in this proposal. We did not look at reengineering the road and preparing it for concrete versus asphalt. I will say that I believe that six inches will improve the length of longevity of that road versus the four inches that's there. But I can't tell you, you know, without that would be a question I could bring back to you from the engineer.

Because my only issue with that is if we look at spending I'm just going to round up $289,000 to redo Gateway. If that were to possibly fail in a very short amount of time due to being asphalt, increased commercial use, hotter temperatures, because we know asphalt degrades faster in the heat. If we could spend a little bit more and get longer I think that would behoove us to look at the additional cost for that.

Mayor, Councilor Langevin, we can certainly do that. I will share with you time is of an essence here. We are hoping to get this out to bid and actually get these projects, if approved, completed yet this work season. If the council, when we bring the bids back, if council would prefer that we not do that project and re-engineer it and send it to the following year, that certainly the councils could give that direction at that time. But at the present time, our engineers could not redo this plan set and do concrete and still have that project viable for this year to complete.

Anyone else? Councillor Sattelmeyer?

It might not be fair to even ask you this, but can you just throw like, would it cost roughly twice as much to do a concrete road, that kind of section compared to asphalt? I know that the costs are very different, but I don't really have a feel.

Mayor, Councillor Sotomayor, can't intelligently answer that question. I will tell you that there was not a huge increase in doing Main Street concrete versus asphalt. So when we bid that out a year ago, there was a slight increase. It did cost more to do concrete, but... It wasn't doubling. I mean, it might have been a 10% increase in cost.

Anyone else? All right. Well, all those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed?

No.

Motion carries, one nay. Concerns from council. Councilor Sotomayor.

School is out right now, but when it starts, I think there's a lot of energy and interest in new ideas, and I'm hoping that the city council might feel okay about. perhaps me approaching some people at the school about the youth advisory council and possibly tasking them with some ideas about how they could encourage high school students to volunteer for activities that we can come up with through the city. And so if that's something that is okay, that would include finding out, you know, like boundaries, what can underage students actually do to help the city? Is there something that is available in public works? Is there something available that's in the library doing some of those things? And that being a major portion of what Youth Advisory Council might be built around doing.

Thank you, Councillor. There's a lot in the city, I think, that they could help with.

Yes, for sure.

Thank you. Anyone else? Councillor Hink.

We talked a lot about water tonight and I'd like to find out again, and I think we talked about this when I was onboarding as a counselor about going out to their water treatment facility for a tour. And while these presentations are great and 268 page documents are awesome, I like to see and hear and feel and all the things. So what does that look like either individually or as a council?

So Mayor, Councilor Hayek, I was actually thinking about this before City Manager shared that that was your desire. We give tours at request at the water treatment plant. If you would like a personal tour, we can arrange that with Mr. Kimball, but I would like to schedule with him. He's going to be back here this next month. solely operating the water treatment plant with his staff, and I would like to try to schedule several public open house tours of the facility this fall. But in short term, if you would like to tour that ahead of time, we can certainly do a tour, or we can also arrange for council to do it at your request. We'll make it happen.

Anyone else? Councillor Murray.

Thank you, Mayor. How would we move forward in supporting the downtown Cottage Grove and the requests for funding or offer our support in the redevelopment of All-America Opal Park?

City Manager Sarawank.

Good evening, your honor, members of the council. Under the city manager's report, I was planning to suggest to you that you direct staff to return with a resolution supporting the work of the downtown group on securing grants for All-America Park.

Anyone else? Councilor Sotomayor.

I'm sorry, I was kind of hoping to get some okay from city council because nobody said no. Does that mean I get to say we're moving forward with this?

Council Merida.

Maybe you can get some direction from the city attorney about the parameters of youth and volunteerism and what's necessary for protecting youth while volunteering.

Our city manager. Oh, good evening again, your honor, members of the council. I'm a thousand percent in favor of reactivating the youth group at the school district. As I've indicated in the past, I feel kind of woefully inadequate as a balding old guy who's a non-breeder leading an issue involving the youth of our community. So I would strongly encourage council members to take the lead on it and see staff would be very supportive.

Anyone else? Oh, Councillor Lammerman.

Madam Mayor and Council, I don't know if anybody else is aware of the South Lane wheels dissolving, but I do know we had approved $10,000 to go to them to buy a vehicle. As far as I know, they don't need it, but I would like to see us look at reallocating those funds back to the line item in the budget for the city staff retreat portion that they were going to use that money for that way you guys can actually have a sanction time to get together and think about things because I know that was kind of gutted during the budget process well

Thank you, Council Member Lambert. I really appreciate that. As far as the way the budget was constructed, we did not have specific amounts of money within the budget going to a specific group. We approved $55,000 as a total. And if the council has the direction for us to utilize those funds in that manner instead, I think a simple motion would be required and we would go forward with it. Thank you.

Councilor Lamberman.

I would love to make a motion, but at this particular moment, I don't have the budget in front of me to be able to look at where that line item was at.

Again, we can just kind of take that as general direction from the council. We'll return at your next meeting with a proposed motion.

Report from the city manager.

Well, good evening again, Your Honor, members of the council. I'm not quite sure how we loaded up Fay with an entire city council agenda this evening, but I just want to say thank you and appreciate you carrying the ball this evening. As we talked about on Friday, there's been an appeal from our planning commission regarding a cell tower. And we have scheduled a special city council meeting on Thursday, August 27th at 7 p.m. for the city council to hear that appeal. Now, it's a little unusual for us to have a meeting on a Thursday night. So we'd appreciate it if you would help us get the word out. The last thing I want is for somebody to not be able to participate in the meeting because they didn't know that it had been scheduled for an odd night. We'll be putting it in a future Friday update. Cameron and I actually talked about it on the beeper show this morning. So we're doing as much as we can to get the word out that we are going to be having that meeting on August 27th. And with that, I would conclude my report.

Councillor Merida.

When can we get the documents concerned with that to bring us up to speed on what our parameters are and the laws applicable, the zoning code applicable and the background story?

John Potter, A to your point the the city council is going to be acting in a quasi judicial process it's called a quasi judicial hearing. John Potter, And we've asked our city attorney at your August 24 regular city council meeting to brief the city council on what that means it's my understanding. John Potter, That it's been several years since our city council has been asked to take on a quasi judicial hearing and so carry will be you know, giving you the parameters for that.

Thank you. Business from the city attorney.

Well, thanks for sealing my thunder. No, that's all I was just going to follow up on. There is an appeal coming. We're going to make sure that you understand what your role is in the as the quasi judicial hearings body. I'll present a pretty streamlined PowerPoint that then you can take home. And then also with regard to the actual issues in this appeal, we're not going to talk about that at all. Not at all. But the council will be receiving the information as it's prepared by your staff, and that staff report becomes available. I believe that's seven days before the appeal hearing.

Thank you, Ms. Conley.

And that's all. Yes, that's all for me. I hope everyone's having a wonderful summer. Sorry about the air.

All right. Items removed from the consent agenda. There are none. This meeting is adjourned.

Night. Thank you.