City Council - Regular Meeting

I call this hybrid regular council meeting of 03/10/2026 to order at 07:00PM. Tonight, to lead us in the pledge, we have Kenji Narcisco who will be leading us tonight. So please stand. Alright. We'll check this microphone. Kenji, you can come right over here, and I'll hand you the microphone.

I pledge allegiance to this flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it states nation under god, beneficial liberty and justice for all.

Yeah. And, John, I've got a little certificate here for you. Told him he should go get ice cream, and he says I've got plenty of ice cream at home. So he's he's gonna go home and eat ice cream. So will the clerk please call the roll?

Mayor Olsen?

Here.

Deputy mayor Creeley?

Here.

Council member Pazaruski? Here. Councilmember Ramirez?

Here.

Councilmember Keith? Here. Councilmember Rasmus? Here. Councilmember Suthard?

Here.

Role is complete.

Thank you, Jill. And, also, just so you know, Kenji's dad did give us permission to put that on Facebook, so we're good to go there. Council, as you know, council rule 9.3 allows you to add an item to the agenda. Does anybody have anything that they would like to add tonight? Not seeing anything. Okay. We will move on. We're gonna kick things off tonight with a presentation, from the Mountain View Community Center executive director, Angelina Koenig, the new director. So, Angelina, you can step right on over to the microphone, and you can present away. It looks like we have a PowerPoint slide presentation up here.

Hopefully, everyone can see that. And and let me just welcome you. I think you started in November, December, somewhere around there. So you've been up and running for a couple months. So we're glad to glad to have you here with us tonight.

Well, thank you. It is a pleasure to be here. And as mayor Olson said, my name is Angelina Koenig. So, mayor Olson and council members, city of Edgewood staff, and our community neighbors, thank you for having me here. And thank you to the person who is doing the slides.

I appreciate that. I will do my best to give you the queue for the next slide. I would like to first start by expressing our sincere gratitude at Mountain View Community Center for the support and the partnership that we have had with the city since 2023 in an official capacity. And what began as a partnership with the city of Edgewood and MVCC was really the start of the heating and cooling contract that we've been fortunate to have. And we're deeply thankful for the trust that you instill in us to steward those resources fiscally, responsibly, and, continue to do that.

Also, the ways that we have partnered together, though, have extended beyond the cooling and heating contract. And that is with our Trunk or Treat, our Movie Nights, and City Hall as a distribution site for our youth summer food packs that alleviate hunger for the youth in our community. Together, we have made a great impact on the good of our community and our residents. So thank you for that. At Mountain View Community Center, our mission is simple: develop successful kids, hopeful families, and active seniors.

Everything that we do is grounded in our vision by providing a place where all experience belonging and wellness. And we do this through living our values of respect, collaboration, service, connection, and hope. Ultimately, our desire is to create lasting change for all members of our community and build long term community resilience. The first area of focus is going to be our successful kids, and I believe that is our next two slides. We do this by providing children with the resources that they need to thrive.

After school one on one tutoring allowed for 23 students to meet school standards and promote to the next grade level each year. All children improved in their math and reading skills while having fun with group activities with our volunteers. With that said, 9,424 food packs were distributed to nine local schools in the Puyallup and Fife school districts, which serve our Edgewood residents and families. This feat was achieved through the generous investment of two thirty seven volunteers totaling four fifty six hours. These volunteers might be some of you as well, so thank you for that.

99 youth participated in our summer day camp with eight days of learning how communities and cities work and that they could be good citizens growing up in a wonderful community. And we couldn't have done this without the 64 volunteers who totaled three hundred and forty three hours. Our next area of focus is hopeful families. We like to build them. And we do this through a combination of community and family programs, such as our free Seeds of Change community dinners held every Thursday, hosted 50 dinners in the year.

Can you believe that? We only took two days off, throughout the year, providing 5,379 meals served by 423 volunteers, totaling ten thirty seven volunteer hours. MVCC's Super Family Meal Kits also provided thirteen sixty meal kits for 40 families and accomplished this with 34 volunteers providing seventy two hours of service. And I would like to just simply say here that City Of Edgewood is a wonderful city to be a part of, a community to live in, and the support that we have from not only our City Council, but our residents as well makes MVCC a wonderful place to be. The classes that we offer MVCC are in partnership with other organizations, and we hosted 65 classes with 120 individual participants with an attendance of seven twenty five.

Those classes were parenting classes, youth dance classes, cooking classes that focused on education for healthy, nutritious meals, which can be hard sometimes in this day and age with our economy when cash is strapped for families all around. Family connections are our monthly classes that range from reading night, painting night, movie night, backpack giveaway, trunk or treat, and more. There were 14 family events with one thousand seventeen sixty five attendees with 194 volunteers totaling seven sixty six volunteer hours. And what these numbers represent, it's not a pat on the back for Mountain View Community Center or our staff or anyone. But what it truly shows is that we are a growing community, and that growing community is turning to Mountain View Community Center because of the programs that we offer that are supported by city council as well as residents, and we are grateful to be able to meet that increasing need at the community center.

And our third area of focus is promoting wellness through friendship and fitness for our senior residents. MVCC's Stay Active and Independent for Life fitness program held two nineteen classes with 6,034 attendances last year alone. Our seniors truly are active, and 100% of our seniors have said that they have an increase in mobility, balance, and strength, which is what we like to see in our seniors. We continue to partner with Opening Minds Through Art that offers group classes for individuals with Alzheimer's and dementia. We are a training location for the University of Washington Tacoma School of Nursing, if you didn't know that, as well as the Green River School of Occupational Therapy.

How awesome is that that we can provide that training opportunity? We have added a senior writers group and weekly brain games for community members. We continue to grow our programs. Senior Garden and Senior Cafe has been four years in existence for the Garden, and it provided over 200 pounds of food to supplement our cafe last year alone, where we hosted 50 lunches, 2,419 meals powered by 197 volunteers and five thirty volunteer hours. And there's one story that I would really like to share with you tonight, and that is a story of Arty and Ricardo, and they are on the next slide.

They are residents of the city of Edgewood. And let me tell you, you will want to come to a senior, exercise class to meet them in person or the senior cafe because they are a hoot. Wonderful people. And this is a little bit about their story, and they have given me permission to share it here. Artie and her husband Ricardo have been part of the senior program just under a year.

And they came here, by chance through visiting the food bank that is downstairs of our building. Artie was in line waiting to get a food box, and she noticed that people were coming in and out of the community center. So she walked upstairs, looked at what it was. It was a exercise class going on for seniors. And when she walked in, she felt welcomed and accepted.

And one of the reasons that she and her husband keep coming is because seven years ago, they lost their son tragically, and she was suffering from depression and anxiety. And she just searched for something that could help her relax both mentally and physically. So they came to the program, not just her, but her husband as well. It's fun to do things as a couple if you can. And so they enjoy this time together.

Ricardo suffers from MS, and his doctor prescribed him physical therapy a few times a week. Well, the physical therapy alone wasn't doing much for his MS and the pain that he would endure from that. So he started attending the exercise classes, and his doctors are amazed by his progress in pain management through his attendance at the exercise classes. We make a difference. We have a big impact.

You as the city council and the city of Edgewood have helped make an impact on our residents on a daily basis. So thank you for that. Over this past year, we've seen an increased need and engagement, particularly with our community and our senior programs. We've seen 31% increase in participation in both of those programs. And this increase and all the numbers that I share with you are not just a data component that tells us, again, that we're good and pat ourselves on the back, but that we are a place of belonging for all and for seniors to gain friendship and fitness, as well as our families and our younger kids as well.

We are a growing community, and I know that you all know that as well. And while we've been able to currently meet the needs of our community, we find ourselves asking the question, as other organizations and cities are doing, how do we meet the continued increase and serve our residents with excellence and opportunities? And I'm sure the city is asking that very same question. Well, the answer for Mountain View Community Center to continue being good stewards of the resources entrusted to us. We do this by finding ways to address growth in a sustainable and scalable manner.

We stay fiscally responsible, and we strategically plan for those increased needs in the community. As stated before, we've seen an increase in our programs and service, and we're thankful that people know MVCC is a place where they belong. So Mayor Olson and Assistant City Administrator Rachel, thank you for taking your time last month to meet with me and introduce yourselves and discuss this vibrant partnership that we have. And I look forward to our continued partnership as the city grows. And as we grow, I hope to continue to be at the table where we discuss this and bring solutions to the table together.

Thank you for your partnership and entrusting us with the care and concern that you do. So I just want to thank you for all of that and share a little bit about what you can see at the future of MVCC in this upcoming year. Moving forward, you will see us with expanded hours and days of operation. We will have an after school drop in program, not just study buddies, but an after school drop in program with STEM activities. We will have an expanded summer day summer day camp program, new classes and community events, and a new variety of exercise classes.

So thank you for all of your continued support. And tonight, we do just respectfully request and continue the partnership and funding for the community center because we, together, bring a quality of life that attract people to the city of Edgewood. Thank you.

Thank you, Angelina. Council, if you have any questions for her, this is a great time to fire away. Council member Ramirez.

Angelina, thanks for your presentation, and, it's great to go down every Thursday and see. And thank you for letting, the youth of Edgewood volunteer. One question is what do those STEM opportunities look like? And if you don't necessarily have a partner, I'd be willing to chat with you. Working at my college, we do a lot of STEM activities with ages six to, 12. So

Wonderful. And thank you for that question, Councilman Ramirez. What those opportunities look like in the fall when we start our after school drop in program, we will offer activities where it involves coding, it involves computer skills, leading up to a full on robotics club. And of course, we'll be scaling that sustainably over the next few years. We do have hope for potential partnerships with community members from city of Edgewood, also with funding from the City Of Pierce County or not city, excuse me, but Pierce County as well. We've put in a funding request for them. And so we are looking for more partnerships in that area, and I'd love to discuss with you.

I'll ask about the cave for kids because here we're the March. And when is that coming up? It'll probably happen before we see you next. So the first weekend or when is it?

First Saturday in June. June 6, kilometers for kids. Now it's gonna be a little bit different. It's gonna be a five k still at the elementary school. We're gonna have five k. We're gonna have finishers medals and there will be, yeah, the finishers medals, beat the clock, and a color run all wrapped into one. So everybody can enjoy the five k.

Perfect. So Saturday, June 6.

Yes. 10AM.

At Mountain View Elementary?

At Mountain View Elementary. And I would love to start the race off in a race against you, Mayor How's that?

I'm on. I'm on. Sounds good. Any other yes. Council member Pazaruski.

To stay on the topic of events, the Bound by Hope luncheon next week, could you tell me the location of it?

Sure. It is at our community center, so we'd love to see you all there. I know mayor Olson is already registered, so thank you. It is a great time to learn more about the community center and also the future. And if you know anybody in the city that would like to join you, please invite them.

Great. Thank you.

Are we good, council? I think so. So thank you, Angelina. We appreciate it. And, again, welcome to welcome to Edgewood. Welcome to the community center.

Thank you. Great to be here.

Okay. Next up, we have audience comment. And I'll remind the council, we're looking at revising our council rules of procedure, but not till April 14. So and the spirit of those one of the rules changes will be to increase audience comment from three minutes to five minutes. So tonight, I'd like to entertain a motion to suspend our council rules of procedure to allow for five minutes of audience comment.

I move to suspend the council what you just said for five minutes.

I second.

So we have a motion.

Second Pazarusky.

And we have a second. Okay. Councilmember Suthard, anything to add before we vote?

No. Thank you.

Jennifer, anything to add? Council, are we ready to vote? Okay. All those in favor, aye. Aye. Aye. All those opposed, say nay. Okay. So we've suspended our council rules of procedure, and we will offer five minutes to anyone who would like to step to the podium during the audience comment tonight, either here in person or raising their hand in the virtual audience. So we got we got a live one there. So, Roseanne, would you like to step to the podium and introduce yourself for the record? And you've got five minutes. Correct. There you go.

Great. So bear with me. Roseanne Tommen, live in the city of Edgewood. Good evening. As we all know, transparency is a core principle of local government. Residents should be able to see how ideas develop, not just how not just the final vote. When discussions are visible and documented, it strengthens public trust and civic participation. Transparency exists on a spectrum. Low transparency includes agenda and minutes only. Medium transparency allows the public to attend with minutes published.

High transparency includes live streaming and archived video. Our city already operates at a high transparency for regular counts council meetings, but retreats fall to a lower level even though they often involve major discussions. Accuracy of the public record matters. Minutes are not a full record. At most, they summarize decisions and omit much of the discussion.

A video recording ensures an accurate complete public record rather than a selective summary. Some argue that officials can't speak honestly if recorded, but if something cannot be said on camera, it raises the question of whether it should be said in an official public meeting at all. Elected officials are public officials, and the role involves deliberating in public, not seeking ways to convene outside of meaningful meaningful visibility to everyone. Retreats shape long term decisions and often include strategic planning, goal setting, and budget direction that shape decisions month or years later. Without recordings, residents cannot understand how priorities developed or evaluate later decisions in context.

Recording these meetings preserves context for future councils and the public. When issues come back months or years later, their original discussions can be reviewed instead of relying on limited summaries. Many residents cannot attend in person due to work schedules, disability, caregiving responsibilities, or transportation barriers. Streaming and recordings allow equitable access and let residents watch it later if they cannot attend live. During COVID, we learned this access is both feasible and effective.

It has been suggested that audience that attendance is not high, so residents don't care. But public access cannot depend on attendance numbers. People often engage asynchronously watching recordings later, researching issues when they arise, or reviewing past discussions to understand current decisions. Respect for me for municipal employees and staff recommendations is also important. I want to emphasize that I strongly support municipal employees in the work they do.

They are professionals who understand that budgets, priorities, and difficult policy discussions are part of public administration. The idea that discussions affecting staffing or budget should not be recorded to avoid scaring employees underestimates their professionalism. Transparency about how decisions are made ultimately respects employees as as much as it does residents. Staff staff provides professional analysis to elected officials as part of the public process. That advice is consistent whether a camera is present or not because it is a part of the public decision making process.

All strategic discussion based on those recommendations should be as well. There is also already a framework for private discussions when needed. Executive sessions are clearly defined and limited certain topics. That framework exists precisely to make clear that all of their deliberations should occur in public. Retreat retreat discussions about planning priorities and budgets fall within the category of public deliberation and should be accessible.

And the technology already exists. The city owns an AL camera system designed for roundtable conversation and uses it currently for board and commission meetings. The city also did a phenomenal job during COVID making meetings accessible online. The city and taxpayers have already invested in technology that keeps meeting open, accessible, and transparent. Choosing not to use technology that already exists and is already being used consistently creates an avoidable transparency gap.

When regular council meetings and other public meetings are recorded and streamed, excluding retreats creates that transparency gap. The meetings where the most strategic discussions occur should not be the least documented. Finally, I want to add some personal context. I am not only here to advocate as a citizen, but also as someone who raised this issue during my time serving on the council. While I was in the seat, I encouraged the city to stream and record council retreats. I understand there are different perspectives on this, but I respectfully request this council revisit this topic because I believe it meaningfully strengthens transparency, accountability, and accessibility. Please live livestream this retreat and archive the recording using the same system already used for all other meetings. Transparency should not decrease when discussions become more important.

Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, Roseanne. Any other audience comment tonight either in person or online? Don't see any hands raised online, so I'm assuming there there is none. Okay. Thank you. That concludes tonight's audience comment. Moving on to mayor's report. Couple different things to pass along since we last met back on February 24. I mentioned at that time that my mayor's lunch was coming up, and we did, in fact, meet on Friday the twenty seventh.

Had a great lunch. All six former mayors were able to attend. So the seven of us met for two hours and just had a great time talking about, the history of Edgewood and kinda where we were and where we are, and it was a it was a nice lunch. We also had the property tax exemption seminar that we hosted here at City Hall. That was a great event.

30 to 35 people were here. So thank you to staff for setting up city hall and opening the doors for Pierce County to come in and lead that seminar. Probably a fourth of them were Edgewood residents, but three fourths were outside our city limits. But we're happy to help out, our our fellow Pierce County residents. The Fife Milton Edgewood chamber meeting is meeting tomorrow with mayors from all three cities giving kind of a state of the city update.

So I think a couple of you are gonna be there, but I don't believe we're gonna have four council members. So let me know if you're planning on going. We might have to notice that, but I I think we're okay. And I will be speaking at the Mountain View Community Center next week at the seniors lunch, so I'm looking forward to that next week. I attended economic development district board meeting for Puget Sound Regional Council last week and also attended the quarterly Pierce County Cities and Towns Association.

They're now meeting quarterly. And at my Tacoma Pierce County Board of Health meetings, that continues to go well. And finally, just wanted to say I attended the Kiwanis spaghetti feed last night, and our Kiwanis here in the Fife Milton Edgewood or Milton Edgewood community are are doing a great job. There was probably a hundred hundred and fifty people there last night, so that was a great event. And finally finally, I became a grandparent last Friday.

So little, Sofia Rose is now a fun little granddaughter in the Olson family, the extended Olson family. Alright. That concludes my mayor's report. Takes us on to the consent agenda. Are there any items to be amended or pulled from the consent agenda?

Seeing none, may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented?

I move to approve the consent agenda as read. Greeley second.

Okay. It has been moved by council member Edwards and seconded by deputy mayor Greeley to approve the consent agenda as presented. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say no. And motion carries. Thank you. Council business. Agenda bill 26 dash o nine nine. This is an appointment of Andrew Hardesty to position for the planning commission with the term ending 06/30/2027.

We discussed this or interviewed Andrew, I believe, last week. Any questions for staff on this item? I would say it's just a formality, but I don't want Andrew to think he's only a formality. He's a hopefully going to be a valued member of our planning commission. Okay. Do I have a motion to approve the appointment of Andrew Hardesty to position for the planning commission?

I'll make a motion to approve Andrew Hardesty to position for the planning commission.

May I second?

And k. Is it has been moved by council member Pazaruski and seconded by council member Ramirez. Council member Pazaruski, you have the floor.

I just commend Andrew on his call to volunteer and serve our community.

K. Councilmember Ramirez. Just wanna thank him for showing interest, and I know it's a big sacrifice being on the planning commission. There's a lot of hours in those meetings and a lot of reams of paper to read through for each meeting. So I just wanted to say thanks, and welcome, Member Ward. Any other council comment?

Yes?

I have when is our retreat? Tell me again.

Well, we're still on the appointment of Andrew Hardesty.

Oh, I thought we were done. Sorry.

Yep. Okay. There's a motion on the floor to approve Andrew Hardesey. Any further council comment? K. Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Okay. Thank you. Congratulations to Andrew Hardesey. Okay. That concludes tonight's council business, which takes us on to council comment. And, Corbin has his hand raised, but I'll say council member Keith had a council comment before we even got there. So what you have what do you have? Council member Keith, floor is yours.

I have new business. I would like to discuss the technology function at the retreat, and I motion that we livestream it through Zoom like we normally do.

Okay.

Is there a second?

Yeah. Do do we have

a second? Creeley.

K. Deputy mayor Creeley. Okay. So it has been moved by council member Keith to livestream the council retreat. So council member Keith, you have the floor.

I think that we should air in on the side of transparency in everything that we do, and we have the technology. It's really straightforward to treat it like we do every other meeting to put it on Zoom, record it, make the recordings public so that we can have, a, a record for us to refer back to, and, b, so that the public can watch while it happens from afar if they're unable to come, and also, come back to the video at a later date on our website to be able to see what happened. I think that it's incumbent upon us to always be transparent so that the public knows how we're making our decisions, what information we have that they don't have, so that no one is surprised by decisions that we make. So I vote for more transparency always.

Okay. Deputy Mayor Creeley, you now have the floor.

Yeah. I agree. Really, I brought up some very good points and council member Keith as well. Also, after our retreats, we often have discussions and say, oh, you know, during the retreat, we talk about such and such. So it is referred to, you know, even after the fact.

So it'd be nice for everyone to have accessibility to that to, you know, what was what was the in-depth discussion or what went on then. But I agree transparency is very important nowadays for government to be accountable. And, you know, I always think when I make decisions on council, it's I think when I'm no longer on council, what kind of things do are important to me? And when I, you know, took that two year break between elections, you know, I I follow things. And when I'm you know, as we were discussing them and referred to, you know, meetings when I could and and watched them.

And, you know, that's something when I'm no longer on council, I wanna be able to know how we how the councils come to decisions, what kind of things they talk about, what kind of options they've discussed. So it's important to me for, know, you know, the future to also when I'm no longer on council, to be able to to know how council is functioning and what they're talking about. So I think it's very important even at a retreat, to have that recorded for posterity. Thank you.

Okay. Any further counsel? Mister Baron?

I have a point of order. Are we able to even livestream from MVCC?

K. Well, first of all, that's not a point of order. Okay. But we we can, but it would be awkward and difficult.

Okay.

And not great audio or video quality. So further comments on the motion on the floor?

That's my And I was

We we okay. I'm sorry. I know you had your hand raised for council

comment, but you have

a comment on this. So go go ahead.

So, yeah, I was gonna ask in regards to that. If we were to livestream it, then would we want to move the meeting back to our chambers or still continue on at the community center? So that would be another question I'd ask is if we do stream it, we have the technology in our city hall, do we need to move it back to city hall, which I'm okay either way.

Right. Okay. Well, I will I will chime in with some comments. I know the mayor doesn't typically weigh in on motions on the floor before a vote is taken, but it doesn't mean that I'm not allowed to. So I'm going to, use that discretion and make some comments.

I wanna point out a couple of things. First of all, we are allowing the public to participate, so we are compliant with the Open Public Meetings Act. They will be allowed to attend in person. I think a a council retreat is a little bit unique. By definition, it's a retreat.

This is not an extended council study session. It's a council retreat. This is that one week a year that we slip away, go over to the community center, still open it up to the public to participate. It's gonna be a four hour meeting. We're gonna have dinner together.

It's just one week out of 52 that we kind of take for ourselves. We still record and stream 48 other meetings a year. I don't think that there's anything wrong with I don't think there's we're trying to hide anything. We're just trying to create an informal environment. And I'm not alone in feeling that.

If you were to Google council retreats, you're gonna see a lot of different experts, authors, people give their advice. And not all of them, disagree that it should be recorded. But a lot of them do feel, no. The first thing, don't record your meeting. Don't don't stick microphones and have cameras in front of everybody.

You're trying to have an informal conversation, and it's okay. I I think I think the public, the citizens of Edgewood trust us. They they see us here at 48 meetings a year, and they're welcome to come attend if they want to spend four hours watching us eat for an hour of that. But I don't think we're doing anything wrong. I still support, and I still hope that we have the the budget retreat over there.

We've made concessions for deputy mayor Creeley, setting up the OWL for for him to attend because he has requested that. But and I and I suppose anybody else has the chance to, any other council member has the opportunity to attend remotely too, but I hope that doesn't happen. I mean, we're we're a council. We're trying to get away for an evening to just have some informal conversations, get to know each other, share some food, share some ideas without the the video recording going. So that's that's what I would prefer that that we still have.

But and to council member or Edward's point, if we record it, I I suppose if the vote goes that way that it is gonna be recorded, then I say, well, okay. Let's let's forget it. Let let's just have a a big study session here back at city Hall, And let's forget the meal component. We're not gonna try to cook a meal here in City Hall that we could have done over at the community center. But, anyway, those are those are my thoughts on this motion on the floor.

So before deputy mayor Edwards, Creeley, or Keith speak for a second time, do we have anyone else that would like to speak to this motion a first time? Yes. Council member Sothard. So

would they be recording while we're eating?

Yeah. Okay. Because something could be said.

Can I chime in? Oh,

yes.

Maley Barber, city attorney. So there's if we're talking about the OPMA and what is required of the OPMA, there's no requirement that there needs to be a livestream or recording. So and I think everyone knows that. But if we do decide to do it, so livestream, recording, or anything like that, If there's no action being taken at dinner, there does not need to be a recording. They're not you can selectively not record that, not stream that because there's no action being taken. And I don't think that we have any problem with if we are gonna stream or record any part of it that we don't include people sitting down and eating. So I think that that I wanted to just answer that question.

However, we're not taking any action at any of the four hours of the meeting. So and I I again, I just am concerned that somebody's gonna think, well, how do we know what somebody said during during dinner? So I don't know. But we'll we'll cross that bridge when we get there. So council member Rasmus had his hand raised.

I just thought I'd chime in as well. And I'd I'd you know, hearing kind of mayor's side and and hearing Roseanne speak on it, I I really wouldn't take a hard line on it, but I'd I'd I'm involved in a lot of boards and committees and things. And, you know, when you're when you're under scrutiny all the time, it's it's difficult. And and it's good as a council. I do echo the mayor's comments where, especially being new here, I look forward to an opportunity to get to know you guys in a in a bit more relaxed environment, you know, where, it's not being recorded, but we're still meeting all the requirements of the OPMA.

I I don't see any issue myself with just having one meeting, where we can do that, especially a four hour long meeting, just with a a bit more of a relaxed environment where we get to have a meal together, and we're not making any any decisions there. I don't see anything wrong with that. I do agree that, mister Creelie should have the ability to to Zoom in as usual. I mean, he's asked for that. I would definitely agree to making that an opportunity for him so he can be a part of that as well.

Was that a council member Ramirez?

So what about citizens that are disabled that can't make the trip to the center? To me, it seems kind of weird that we have a council member that's gonna be Zooming in, but we won't allow the public to Zoom in. Or some in the public are not mobile and actually have an ADA accommodation. To me, that sets a weird tone. If a council member can be promoted in, but the public can't, I just have a real issue personally with that.

It would be different if it was, I guess, everybody in person. But for me, as an educator who teaches hybrid courses and asynchronous courses and HyFlex courses and in person courses. We can't be selective in how we treat elected officials which are representing the public, but then we treat the public in a different way. So I I would just say we may wanna be a little bit cautious on that and recognize that not everybody can can make it to a meeting. I don't have a problem being recorded.

It it doesn't bother me. I know I've come to some past retreats as a citizen where they weren't recorded and where they were recorded. But I just personally have an issue when a council member can be remote and Zoomed and streamed, but we can't let citizens that have a legit disability who can't make it not have that same opportunity.

Okay. Councilmember Pasar Bruschi.

I'm on, both sides of and see the pros and cons of streaming and recording. And just to echo what council member Rasmus was stating, you know, when you have a function outside of a meeting or a study session to have an, you know, informal meeting where it could be more casual, you know, for, you know, some of us, all of us to chat and have an open discussion, not saying, you know, we wanna hide anything because we will be following the OPMA. But it's one of those things, you know, how far we wanna want to take streaming and recording, anything outside of a study session or meeting if, I don't know if this ever been done with the city council, but if we ever had a team meeting at a restaurant, you know, would that have to be recorded if we said to the public we're gonna have a dinner at a restaurant, but citizens can come to that, following the OPMA Act. But, you know, I I so I I can go either way on it. I I am big on transparency.

I have vocalized being big on transparency. But the past few retreats, I believe I imagine we did open up to the public. I just don't remember racking my brain two years ago if we had anyone in attendance on those Saturday retreats. But I believe it was advertised that we were having the retreat. So like I said, I I hope we're not mayor, I hope we're not we're not voting on this tonight. Right? This would be something that we would have to discuss.

Well yeah.

But since if there's a motion, we do

At at this point, yes. We have a motion on the floor. Okay. So now that everyone's had a chance to speak once, we'll allow everyone to start speaking twice. So, council member Keith had her hand raised, and I'm not sure well, we'll go to deputy mayor Creeley and then council member Edwards.

So just to be clear, my motion was that we treat the meeting like we treat the other meetings using Zoom. So I don't know if our Zoom and livestream the same thing. I don't believe they are. My motion is not to livestream. My motion is to put it on Zoom so that people can log in and that we do what we normally do with the technology that we already have. So I I don't know where livestream came from, but that wasn't my motion.

Yeah. Alright. Thank you. Yes. Well, we're I think we're clear on that. Deputy mayor Creeley.

A couple points. Obviously, if, people are conscious about eating, we can just turn off the video portion of the recording, especially if we're still continuing you know, have a discussion going and we're eating while we're doing that. You know, that would also be for those who are a little self conscious. It would be a option. Also, you know, we're talking about getting to know each other better, you know, in a relaxed atmosphere.

Think about the public getting to know us a little better too. So, you know, they you know, you can see on, like, the social media things where people have their own opinions of people on the council. It'd be kinda nice to let them get to know us a little better too, and maybe they'll be a little, you know, once they say, oh, wow. He talked about that or she said this and that was pretty cool or they told us about themselves. It's a it's an opportunity not only for us to get to know each other, but for the public to get to know us better too.

It might be a little more favorable from attitude from them. And, again, I'm a little concerned if it's partially open to the public. If you can walk in to the civic center, you you can, you know, watch, but everyone else as as council member member Ramirez pointed out, there are others who can't attend that might want to. Again, if the door is open that way for people to walk in, it should be open for people who can't walk in again. And then the other thing was the you know, we don't wanna just be partially transparent. So thank you.

Okay. Council member Edwards.

So I I get recorded every day at school. So as a public school teacher, cameras are not allowed in the classroom. I'm the PE teacher, and they put a camera in my gym. And I was asked at the start of the school year once we got our cameras, would you like your camera on, or would you like your camera off? Because they're not supposed to be there. And I said, it's too much work. Leave it on because there's there's nothing bad about me being recorded at work ever. And, honestly, cameras have come in handy because we can recall things that we need. And I honestly, I don't have anything to hide, and so I don't mind being on camera. And so that's why I was like, yeah.

Record me. And I'm kinda in the same boat here is none of us have anything to hide, and it's I honestly don't think it's a big deal just popping over the Zoom over at the community center, and that's that's just kinda how I feel about it.

Okay. Well, I I will remind everyone if, again, if the vote goes that way, and that's fine if it does, we'll just move it back here. Because we have the cameras, the microphones. We can't take all of that over there. That that's just not logistically possible to have everyone mic. So no use recording it if we can't hear you. So we might as well just just stay here, and that's fine. Yes. Councilmember Pazaruski.

The OWL that former councilmember Tommen was mentioning, I know that's I've seen that use at the EDA meeting. Can't that capture a recording? Or or or are you saying with the size group that we have, it might be a little bit harder to record us?

Yeah. It would it would be difficult to capture audio and to capture video and to figure out who's saying what and everything, yeah, it would be pretty difficult. It wouldn't be great AV quality.

So on the on the flip side, I was looking forward to for all of us to have the retreat at the community center. We're not only supporting the community center, but having it kind of change of pace at a different venue. And I heard we're having our meal made by the police department. I was so like I said, I'm, you know, I'm on the fence of even moving it from that venue to have a night off from cooking. You know? I'm I'm again, I'm big on transparency, but, yeah, this this is a hard one for me.

Yes. Councilmember Erasmus.

So I just a couple points. I I I feel like we already operate at a high level of transparency week in and week out. So I'd I really I don't have any issue there. Again, I'm not taking a hard line on this either, you guys. We we do get recorded all the time, but we're at a high level of transparency anyways.

The second point is that that we we all we are all concerned about who can make it to our meetings and can't make it, and I I feel like a disabled person could just as easily make it to the Mountain View Community Center as they could make it here. I don't I don't know that there's a big a big difference there, if that's gonna sway anybody's decision or not. So k.

Any further doesn't look like any further comments. So to rephrase, make sure we're clear on this, council member Keith has moved that we record the council retreat similar to the way that we record a typical Tuesday night meeting that we hosted on Zoom and rerecord it. Okay. So all those in favor, say aye.

Aye. Oh,

I'm I'm sorry. Oh, I I hang hang hang on a second.

And, like, again, it's just a question. It's not like a hard no or yes for me with, where would the location be? Would it would it have to be here based on the recording capabilities?

Yes. So we'll do a roll call vote too just to be clear. Jill?

Okay. Please signify by saying I or nay. Yeah. You're nay. Sorry. Deputy Mayor Creeley.

Yeah.

Councilmember Pazariski. To be difficult and say abstain in offense. So council member Ramirez?

Yeah.

Council member Keith? Yes. Council member Rasmus?

Nay.

Council member Edwards?

Yea.

Council member Suthard?

Nay. Okay. Motion carries four to two with one abstention. Okay. Any other council comment tonight? Yes. Council member Ramirez and then council member Edwards.

In line with Angelina. Our next movie night will be Friday, April 17 at 07:00 at the Mountain View Community Center. And from the holiday event we had at City Hall, the winning movie was a Minecraft movie. So and there will be snacks. I have not figured out what type, but they might be Minecraft themed.

Council member Edwards.

This is just for the record. During roll call, my name wasn't called, but I just want to say I am here. So that was that was it because I wasn't called during roll call.

Oh, okay. Sorry. Sorry for that. Oops. But, yes, we we have you. Any other council comment? Seeing no further council comment, we are adjourned at 07:54.

Good night, everybody. Take care.