City Council - Regular Meeting

Changing That's what we're think is going to do the same thing. I'll talk about that in my slideshow, too. Are you ready? Okay. At 6:30, we're going to go ahead and get call the uh city council city manager work session meeting to order. Um, just as a reminder, I would like if you are if you have your phones with you, please set them to silent. Okay. No, no calls during this, please. Um, also, uh, Lily, uh, can you translate the, uh, following, please? If there's anyone in the audience that needs Spanish translation, please indicate. So with the raise of a hand, we will ask that you all gather together so Lily is able to provide Spanish translation during this part of the meeting and the regular session for this topic.

Uh, Mr. City Manager. Yes. So, um, I'm going to ask Mr. Spencer to give you a overview of where we are and then we can go from there.

Yeah. Thanks. Tonight, the council is holding an open house to look at some potential re revisions to our nuisance code to address uh unlicensed food vendors in town. And this is not a issue that's limited just to Hermiston. This is actually a regional issue in uh Tri Cities. I have some just some things that pop up here. They've had issues with unlicensed vendors. All these images are from the Tri City Herald. Uh selling unlicensed, uninspected food uh from areas that were not necessarily approved for food vending. And it it's even gone so far as CILA has even enacted ordinances already that allow for immediate shutdown of unlicensed food vendors. Locally, we have had quite a few concerns raised at at the city level. Some of our local licensed vendors have come to city council meetings specifically asking for assistance with the unlicensed vendors who have not been always following the rules. We've had complaints submitted specifically to code enforcement and there's been quite an active discussion on social media about the pros and cons of unlicensed food vending. Being aware of the concerns around this, we have really been working hard to raise public awareness and work with the vendors. We did last summer a bilingual social media campaign that encourages not only the use of our licensed vendors, but telling people where they are. All of our mobile vending guidelines are distributed bilingually. We have English and Spanish. We have an online map that shows which vendors whenever you're looking in the ma in the

city, you can see which vendors have been approved by the city. Uh we have visited all of the unlicensed vendors with uh code enforcement, county health, and bilingual police staff to request compliance and failing that to issue warnings. And we have also worked with land owners to request trespass authority because in some cases where the these vendors were set up last summer, uh the property owners were not even aware and so they did give the city property or trespass authority. What are we looking at tonight and interested in public feedback on? This is a new ordinance that would be added to our nuisance code. And what does it do? Well, there's no change to the existing food truck regulations or our permitting process. The fees aren't changing. Hours of operation aren't changing. Site requirements aren't changing. What it does do is add unlicensed vending to the city nuisance code and then strengthens our ability to gain enforcement around licensing so that everybody on site must be able to have and display their food handlers certificate from the Oregon Health Authority. Must have their permit from Umatillaa County Health or in some cases Oregon Department of Agriculture depending on the type of food being sold. must have the Hermiston business license as well as the Hermiston mobile vending license. Additionally, we do want uh to have the written permission of the land owner to be on site. And then all of these requirements are things that you already have to meet in order to have a city mobile vending license. So really failure to have uh any of the above listed items is de facto evidence of non-compliance because we won't issue our mobile vending license until all of those building uh bullet points are already in place.

Some of the additional things that we've added in, uh, being able to hold property owners liable for violations, allowing the unlicensed bending on the property. We've maintained the existing exemptions that are in our code. Basically, the same things that are exempt from needing a business license or uh existing mobile vending license. things like Girl Scout cookies. If you're selling prepackaged food, that that is perfectly legal. It's you. It's only when you start preparing your food in the field that you have to address that. And then a city business license is still needed when someone is vending something such as flowers, sunglasses, those sort of things that we see set up in parking lots. Those are not food items. They're not they don't fall under the unlicensed vending requirements, but they do still always require a city business license. And vending from a public right ofway, whether that be a street or sidewalk, remains prohibited under this code. And 9408, all vending from sidewalks and streets is prohibited. That's really all we have as far as a summary of what's coming down. Like I said, this is not a change to our mobile vending licensing, but it is adding unregulated and unlicensed vending to the nuisance code and be happy to answer any questions from the council. And then tonight is an open house to take additional concerns from the public.

Council, go ahead. Um, question on that. Um, selling from street corner, is that already part of the ordinance in our city? Correct. 9408 is it is prohibited and someone can be warned or cited for doing that. Now, councelor Broom,

thank you for the presentation, Mr. Spencer. Uh, I understand what's being proposed. Uh, what I would like to know is, uh, walk me through, um, what this would look like. I understand each mobile vendor is a case- by case basis, but if we're going through, let's just say like a flowchart of discipline or consequences, uh I think we've discussed in council meetings about educating others before enforcement. But in the case that it gets to that to that level, how does this look like? Typically what what we would do is if a complaint comes in on an unlicensed vending location, it would be visited first by code enforcement uh typically with a bilingual accompanyment, you know, and at that point we would say that the city has a certain set of rules that you need to comply with. please move forward and you know we'll let you know go get your permits and then we'll be back. They failing to get that then a written warning is issued. We have a code enforcement compliance letter that goes out uh that can be bilingual as well. And then if they're still out of compliance then we do move into citation. If there is an immediate threat to public health, you know, if you can spot something that is clearly out of compliance and dangerous, enforcement always has the opport has the option in this code to immediately shut down.

Okay, continue. Thank you for for the response. From what I understand, I think it's just very common sense is that there's usually rules uh because something has happened. uh there's usually laws in place because to protect people or because some things are happening. Is it safe to say that there's been uh I guess unsafe things that have been happening in terms of and thus we have to have a ordinance for some enforcement on this.

We do know from the incidents we had last summer that none of the unlicensed vendors had any county health uh certificates or inspections. Thank you, councelor Meyer. Citation is last, right? It's always at the discretion of the enforcement in the field, but that is exactly with our with the way our nuisance abatement procedures are written. It it is warning then written warning then citation. Dr.

What would be the citation? Rich, I believe that's a class C. Oh, class A. Yes. And I'm sorry, what is the class A citation?

So the so under our code, we have the violations A through D. A being the highest of those. And so this would be classified as the most serious of our violations with the fine being there's a presumptive fine which was 4 440 440. Thank you. Got a letter. There's any others? Okay. Hey. Uh, wait. Go ahead, Roberts.

Yeah, thank you. I just all of a sudden popped in my head. Um I was thinking about worst case scenarios and so we play this out and they um the vendor says, "I'm not going to comply." And the city says, "All right, we're shutting you down." What does that process look like as far as Okay, we're we are shutting you down. How how does that unfold? You might be closing down on the spot. Yeah.

Oh, it's on. Sorry. Um, typically it would be a close closure immediately on site. Um, at that point, I'm not sure exactly how we go as far as moving the vendor out the property or out of the area. So, I'd have to look into that for you. Okay. Counc um question on the business owner being fine if it happens. How's that look? And what kind of class is that? It would be the same. It would be the same class a fine if they chose to not do a hair and just keep doing what would happen to them? I believe at that point it would move into contempt would it not?

Under the code uh every day can be a violation. So the attention uh could be cited every day that they continued to have the violation on the property. Uh and that's pretty much where we would be for enforcement. Thank you.

Any others? Okay. I have a couple. Um so looking at this when this when something like this were to occur um they are engaging in this activity and we speak you know one of our representatives speaks to them about that. Would they not be required to stop doing what they're doing at that point in time or would that just be don't do this anymore, but we're not going to pay any attention to it for the rest of the night? Typically, yes. We would typically go go with the you need to stop this, this is your warning, but generally it would go for the rest of the night.

Okay. and same same the so the same same deal with the with the uh property owner would you know if they're if they're doing this on a on a let's just say you know this building is is a business and they're they're operating over here and we've told them that they have to stop does that does Does that include the officer following up with or the the representative following up with the uh property owner to find out whether or not that they are authorized? Typically, yes, we would if they were unable to provide that documentation that they are authorized to be there, the officers in the field would then enter the building and say, you know, who have you authorized this?

Okay. And if they haven't, or if they have, but they knowingly are authorizing an an unlicensed vendor, then that could be a citation right there. Okay. Any other questions, comments from the council for Okay. Yeah. So just uh if someone were to get to the last step which is a citation, what would it would it impede them to getting doing it the right way if they wanted to go and do it?

It would not uh our goal is always to get someone into compliance with the city code as quickly as possible. And so we don't do like a background check or something and say, "Oh, well, you've got three sites here. We're not going to site you." As long as you have the required information, the health department, the property owner, you know, the approved site plan, the city business license, you will get your license if there are any available. All right. Thank you. Any other council com comments or questions? Council Brown for clarification. Mayor, you're taking comments, council comments right now. Yeah. Okay. And I do have a comment. Okay.

Um just I guess about the I guess my opinion about this whole situation and uh we've we've had discussions already about this in our last council meeting. Um and since then I've I've talked to the city manager uh about what the city has done and I feel very comfortable in the fact that the city is trying to educate rather than enforce. But there comes a time when ultimately if if vendors are uncooperative or they're trying to skirt the rules that there are going to be consequences and nobody at the end of the day is above the law. And if there is uh attempts to not get into compliance to just avoid altogether any city attempts to try to get them into compliance then I mean there there are consequences for for not following rules and regulations meant to keep people safe. So, I I am very happy with how the city has approached trying to educate uh trying to give chances to these vendors, but ultimately if if they're not going to fall under compliance or follow the rules that are needed to uh to to operate within the city of Hermiston, then well, there are consequences. Okay. All right. This time, I'll open it up to the uh uh audience. Um, just keep in mind that uh um anyone wishing to bring anything, just remember that we're going to go with the fivem minute rule on this. And please state your name and residence and direct your comments to me. So, anyone wishing to speak, please step up and step forward.

Hi there. Sorry for my appearance. I was uh last minute to get here. Uh I just want to say my name is Jim Rue. I Pardon me. Is your mic on? Is that better? Yep. Perfect. Thank you.

My name is Jim Rue. uh local business owner and uh semi-developer and we have a project here uh right behind city hall there between 4th Tamarak and Third Street which we intend to dedicate to a food truck park which will give a vehicle for this problem to extinguish itself in my opinion. So, as long as they have a place where all of the all of the inspections or a good majority of them can take place over there, it'll be in a secured facility. Um, I just wanted to bring that out and let know that that is coming up here shortly. And, uh, I know the city's been behind that, uh, having something large enough to accommodate everybody and we hope to, uh, provide that. Okay, that's it. Thank you. Other comments? My name is David Welker. Uh my residence is Hermiston County. Uh my question is with this enforcement, will there be more permitting? because right now the limit of permits that you hold uh doesn't suffice for what we have in the community.

We can always you know part of the part of the deal I is okay if I answer this or would Mr. Smith would you rather answer this? I'll let you. So, this doesn't directly tie to allowing more licenses, but I think what the mayor was about to say is, you know, with enough feedback to the council, they would consider expanding those uh allowed licenses

because I currently, so I'm representing Wandering Bean LLC, and with that, I'm $30,000 invested into a coffee trailer. I am another $1,000 invested in permitting. Uh but yet we call the city and cannot acquire a permit for the city of Hermston. So that makes it pretty tough. We're trying to do it the right way and we don't want to we were not going to do it the wrong way, but there has to be a path. There has to be common ground here. To my knowledge, not we haven't we haven't had to the council a request to add additional permits at this point in time. So you know that's that again that is something that we can be more than happy to do if the if the need exists. Absolutely.

So appreciate it. My name is Christa Vanvine. I'm a Hston resident and I second what that gentleman just said about the number of permits. I've heard this a number of times from different people that the number is so limited. I'm a little bit not surprised that people are um finding that process a little bit limiting. Um my comment is just really quickly about let's see uh I don't know what you call it code 92.45 the exemption. I noticed that in the third line down it says and operated for no more than three consecutive days but there is no uh clarification three consecutive days over the lifetime of the child. reconsecutive days in a year, in a month. What if it's three days and then there's a day where they don't do it and then three more days. So, just a comment that I think there should be some clarification there. That's it. Thank you.

Okay. Others, please. We want discussion here. Hi, my name is Rosio Hansen and well I want to tell you about my story of uh being a business owner of a truck, a food truck. I start my business in July 2024 and I start um it was a challenge for me to follow all the rules. It it was new for me. So, I got my business license, my health license. I got the um four like I was able to cook everything in my on my food truck. Um I got also my food handlers license, my EIN number, my Umatila business license and insurance. And I want to do everything as the law. So, my business idea was only to attend events and fairs, but unfortunately didn't work out. The good events fees are high. The restrictions are how they determine how uh can we be a vendor was super hard for me. For example, I applied for landing days. They said um first come first serve. I apply on February last year and on May 29 they returned the money. I didn't know why because I apply I I put a um mark in my calendar so I will be first in line. I didn't know why. Um, so I thought about selling on weekends, afternoons in a parking lot. I had everything like all the license and permits. So I was thinking it wouldn't be any problem with the law. And I talked to the Sherwin William manager. He let me be there for those few hours. It was only four hours on Friday, six hours on Saturday. And two weeks after I received the visit of a worker of the Hermiston code enforment enforcement and the next um day I

contact Heather from planning department and she explained me that um license type two is the yearly one. It was not available. Those are $700. License type one is for 30 days uh $200. and uh but I need the property owner and the mobile food vendor uh will need to sign the consent to use agreement in the presence of a notary. So that was hard for me because the owner of that place I just contact the manager they are renting the place. So I was like oh that is not helping me. So I decide to stop doing it. I didn't want to do anything against the rules. In January this year on the 22nd, Nomi from health department called me to talk about my expired license. I didn't have money to renew it and it was no point to renew it. Uh she said if I didn't pay for it, I will have to pay $100 fee a month. So she put me out of business. Now I put my food trailer on sale because there's no point. I don't know how to do business. And my question here is if there is no license available and places were to work why they gave us health licenses to work ch charge us $480 and I couldn't find places where to work. I as a citizen I would like that this will be um first to tell us if there are places available then we can start all the process and spend all the money because I have a lot of money park there in my house um my idea was to do that to support my kids to go college so not even the money that I have set aside I have it available so I will prefer that

if you want to start doing this first tell us if there is place available if not sell something else or do some other kind of business. That will be my my opinion. Thank you so much. I do believe that if you were to call and ask if there were uh licenses available, they would tell you.

I didn't know that that was the process. So, what I when I start searching what will be the process for a food vendor for a truck, um I follow all these rules. You need this permit then this one and then I start following all the the steps. So when I was ready with all the paperwork and it it it take a lot of time and money and effort and and at the end when I tried to do it differently it was no place to to do it that's why I think that will be something to will fix or uh eliminate this frustration. Thank you. Thank you

others. Here we go.

I'll try to get it right. Let's see. Thank you.

Okay. My name is Yasen. Um I live at 1655 Southwest River Hill Drive in Hermiston. So I have attended these meetings on this topic. Um, this is my third meeting and I'm um I'm I'm very excited to see all these businesses um work so hard and try to do everything the right way. And obviously um from what I can see and from what I hear, these unapproved um popup or vendors are catching on to, you know, the consequences. So they're moving outskirts at um probably unapproved time time um time areas. So my question is is um Umatillaa County cooperating with um your agenda on these consequences because I mean like um like the people um before me have said, everybody pays a lot of money and that is tax money and we work hard for that money to try to make things right. So just my my question is if law enforcement agencies are working together to try to help us

in short, no. We have no authority outside the city. And so you know if if if Umatila County chooses to do that, that's going to have to be brought to Umatillaa County Board of Commissioners and they would have to do that process as well. And I, you know, I definitely sympathize with and empathize with those involved because, you know, we, you know, I agree entre entrepreneurialship, I can't believe I got that word out. Um, is, you know, it's what the American dream is. It's, you know, owning your own business, doing what, you know, your thing and making money from it. And that's, you know, that's what we want for anybody to be able to do. However, the process we need, you know, we we want a process to make sure that everybody's safe, that, you know, that we're not allowing something that is not uh have some sort of checks and balances to it to put our citizenry in danger because, you know, if we fail if we fail to protect in, you know, something that we could that that that comes back on us. And so this this process here is is what we're trying to accomplish. We're trying to make it so that you know the people can operate in in this fashion, you know, and the fact that the fact that we need to it sounds like we need to up the number of licenses. That's I'm like I said, we're I don't doubt there's a single person on here on on the dis here today that isn't look would not approve of of adding more licenses and and having the ability. I know the fact that we've got a another food pod coming in on under private private operations. That's great. You know, first I've heard of it, but I think it's great. So, um but yeah, you're you're absolutely right. You know, the outside outskirts of the city um being where people move to just because, you know,

they figure out how to how to game the system for all intents and purposes. And you know, as much as I, you know, don't want to tell them don't do that, I can't. None of us can. So, but we do appreciate it and I would strongly recommend that you contact uh Dan Doran, John Schaefer, Cindy Timmons on the board of commissioners and let them know exactly what you think.

I will. Um, can I add one more thing? So, I think with everybody that makes the time and effort to be here physically and take the time out of their day, I think we're just I think we can agree that we're all trying to be a community, a positive community with food. We all eat, you know, we're not trying to um sell name brand Gucci or, you know, off-brands or anything illegal. We're I'm feel like we're just trying to be a positive community. Thank you.

Thank you. And with that, we are at 7 o'clock and which is time for our regular council session. So, I'm going to call the uh Hermiston uh city manager work session to a close and we'll adjourn for five minutes and restart the city council session.

Yeah, I tried to be subtle. How'd that go? I'm not very good at it. I think there are plenty of people that will Yeah. Just watch some of the Yes, I have the I have the subtlety of achie I'm told. All right. So, uh, we are going to call the regular meeting of the Hermiston City Council to order. Uh, like with a declaration of a quorum, we have, uh, Miss Linton is not currently with us, but may join us later. Correct. Um, please rise for and join me in the flag salute.

I pledge allegiance to the flag, United States of America. Hello. Hello.

Um, I'm on Zoom. Councelor Linton. Councelor Linton is on board. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Just so you know, Miss Linton, when we call for roll, I will call you at the end to double check. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am.

All right. Uh, first off, we uh just finished with our uh city council work session regarding the uh mobile vent uh mobile food truck uh ordinance discussion. I would like to thank everybody that participated in that. That was a a good discussion. We got a lot of good information out of it. I think we got some ideas on where to go with it forward and we'll be talking about it here in a little bit. Mr. Smith, do we have any changes to the agenda? No changes.

Okay. Okay. So, this is the first opportunity for citizen input into non-aggenda items. So, anything that is not currently on our agenda. Uh, if you'd like to bring anything before the council and you are asked to do the following, limit your comments to not more than five minutes. State your name and place of residence. That's address. Direct your comments to the chair. Anybody wishing to do so. Welcome back. Welcome.

Welcome to you too. My name is Christa Vanvine. I live at 764 West Alder Avenue here in Hermiston. And I'm speaking tonight as a small business owner. I own a bookkeeping company called The Good Ledger LLC. And recently I um I work from home and I tried to find other people who also have small businesses. I find my best clients are women business owners and I thought who are the people that I want to work with or that I want to meet and network with and I couldn't find anything. So what do you do? You create the solution, right? So, I just wanted to let the city council know and and our community that I started the women business owners of Umatillaa County as a collaborative networking group, but also really focusing on that collaborative part for women business owners. I have the flyer for our next meeting. We had our first meeting in February or earlier in February. Had great turnout, a lot of enthusiasm. Um, and so I our next one is Tuesday, March 17th at the Next Chapter bookstore at 6:30. And I'm really hoping for very good things, including maybe some um uh mentorship cohorts, maybe a a bit of an incubator kind of a style, but I just wanted to let city council know what we're doing. And then I brought a flyer. Maybe we could put it in the record.

If you like giving it to Lily, that would be fantastic. Thank you. Sounds like a well well needed uh opportunity. Thank you, ma'am. Any others? Seeing none, moving along to the consent agenda items. Uh we have consent agenda items A through J. Are there any council questions regarding consent agenda items A through J? Miss Linton. Okay. No.

All right. Uh any public comment on consent agenda items A through J? Right. Uh any council comments? Seeing none, does council wish to remove any items from A through J? Seeing none, can I get a motion to approve consent agenda items A through J? Motion to approve. Second. Been moved by councelor Hayward. Second by councelor Meyer.

Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Councelor Linton. Yes.

Motion passes unanimously. No items removed. Moving on. Ordinances and resolutions. Ordinance 2380 regulating unlicensed food vendors. Seems like we just talked about this. Mr. City Tommy City Attorney Tubby will now read the ordinance by title only. Mr. Tubby. Ordinance number 2380, an ordinance amending chapter 92 of the Hermiston Municipal Code relating to nuisance by adding the nuisance of unlawful food vending. Mr. Mayor,

Mr. Smith, so as you mentioned, we've talked about that a this a lot already, so we'd be open to any questions or comments from a staff standpoint. Council questions. Council Meer. Okay. So, how would we go about adding more licenses? Would it be like on when someone would come to us?

Well, what I would suggest is maybe night in your council comments section that somebody make a motion that we consider that and if we have a majority of the folks up there say yes, then we'll bring back uh an item for your consideration. Thank you. I think she just asked about half of our questions right then and there. Sorry first.

Hey, any other questions? Okay. Any public comment regarding 2380? Patrick Hunt, 615 West Highland. Um my question is uh two or three of the big uh popup tents was at 11th Street for a long time and my intuition told me to just go there and sit and watch what was going on. So I just kind of just sit there. Didn't say anything to anybody. I watched you health department come up to these guys and check and they showed them some papers and you could tell she was upset with them. not the right papers are. Um, that's my biggest thing when we were talking earlier. If you smack these guys on the hand one or two times, probably need to get police officers involved in because they're kind of fully in their way through the system or they think they are, which in turn is dangerous for our our citizens and community because some of the things I seen there wasn't so clean. But, you know, uh I didn't get a chance to speak earlier, but I was going to tell you guys this. I've I've seen that twice now. Uh a little vendor on the side. Uh you health department sitting there with them and with these guys. Uh so I spoke with them on this and we didn't get along with the conversation because they basically told me do it on my time. Go find out who it is and then report it back to them because they don't have the manh hours to constantly go out here and try to catch these guys. And that's just my biggest question. Pretty much what Roy had earlier. I want to give a people opportunities to get educated, but at the same time, are they going to try to take advantage of us for our neness? I mean, is there going to be two or three uh citations

and they straighten up? because I've I can say personally that I've turned 20 legal vendors down because we didn't have space in the food pod and they say we didn't have space as far as the permits. So I know you have a lot of food trucks here and I do know back in 2012 I hope I'm not speaking out a term here but 2012 we had a problem even the newspaper had it where all these trucks were everywhere no permits right then I come in with Southern Twain barbecue met council and the mayor and everyone and we started getting this thing together. a good good job to you guys because it could have really got out of hand right now if someone's not watching this is anyone can just sneak up for a couple hours and then you know do their thing and gone that's not bringing money into our community and that's the part I don't like because these guys are running off paying somebody else to do this or sending their money somewhere else when they should be sharing it right here in the community that's what the whole food business is about community. So that's that's just the question I want um answered it in this so I can tell people when they come and ask me what's the regulations who do I need to get up with and I usually send them back to Mr. Spencer but I just I just want it clear so we can do our part out there too because we can tell these vendors and maybe they'll kind of get scared and say oh you know if I don't follow the rules like you guys I'm going to get in trouble. Maybe we can kind of help you guys a little bit on the back end of the burner there to try to get this thing under control. Thank you. Thank you, sir. That was the whole idea behind this process was to provide our our city with the ability to put a handle on the unlicensed, the unregulated so that you know in those events like you like you mentioned where you've got uh people that are quite following the rules and as it as it relates to the health part of things. so that we can, you know, we give we give them the teeth that they need as opposed to, you know, driving by

and glaring harshly. So, Mr. Mayor, mayor, um, and also just, you know, just as all of our law enforcement efforts, we can't be everywhere all the time. So, we're going to do our best and we will, um, make efforts to be available and be out working in those off hours. Uh we've also um been building a relationship with the health department to go in conjunction with them so that we can um kind of hit a number of things all at once and and they can do the targeted things like that. They just can't always be

like our staff. So um we hope we can catch more and and the more people see where they're at and what they're doing and letting us know that helps us be able to go and and work on that. Okay. Any other public comment? Seeing none, uh, council comments. Council bro,

uh, I think I in terms of this ordinance have said everything I've I've wanted to say about the ordinance, but in terms of the conversations that spark about uh, the addition of of more licenses, uh, that has been brought up to the council in the past. Uh, I know that I brought that up before in the past, but if I remember right, the process was when when I brought that when I brought that issue up is that there needed to be a demand. We can't just open up more licenses without there being a demand. So, I'm really happy to hear that there are more people that are coming forward to to mention that and especially of Patrick's testimony as well that there's been plenty of people that have asked uh that wanted to be part of the food pot and I think that's a great thing. So, um I think the next time, uh at least maybe knowing council rules, maybe I'd have a a motion, a second from a fellow counselor. Um I've already I've heard plenty of times from the community that there is a need for more mobile food vendors in this area.

Okay, councelor Hayward. Um I think it's a great thing that we're doing. I think it would help probably our police officers and stuff is maybe with my Hermison putting a thing in there for them to report because then the community can be reporting helping the police officers helping even food vendor trucks can be able reporting that right there on that app and get that information to the right people if needed. Any other council comments? Councelor Roberts,

I think it's um important to remember that mainly this is because of those pop-up food vendors. Um the people coming here and and wanting to open up, they're wanting to be reputable and and that's that's exactly what we want. And and so it's the ones that aren't wanting to do it correctly um that that we're looking to deal with. And so um like the mayor said, this gives us teeth. Um, but I would uh encourage the public to call when when you see it because as a city manager said, our our police officers can't be everywhere. Um, they don't always have that in their sight when other calls for service are coming in. And so if you report it, um, it puts it on their radar to to make it a priority to to go check those things out. And it gives them a record that they can start tracking times and when when and where these places are opening up. So, um, we do need the public's help to, uh, to enforce this as well. So,

okay. Make sure everybody else any other council comments. Council Brown,

I just honestly wanted to caution the counselor on on that comment in particular just because if we're not sure that any popup or any food vendor might have a license or not, just because we might assume that they might not have a license, unless we're absolutely 100% sure that we've asked and you presented, I just don't want there I don't want us to get in a situation where we're starting to receive calls about mobile food vendors when maybe they in fact haven't broken any laws. And so and I and I think that is the hard part is knowing if someone is actually licensed or not. And so I don't think we should assume if they're they're licensed or not. We that's the hard part is knowing if they do have their licenses.

Hold on. Um Mr. Smith is there is there a possibility of you know you know maybe it's you know in a in a variation on this is that we create a visible that must be displayed at all times tag or something something that can be displayed

that's actually in the code now you are required to have your city license displayed in a window of your truck and then to councelor Baron's comment that is why we created did the uh user map for all of the uh licensed areas, including the food pod, which doesn't require a license because it's on city property, but but it's still included on the map, and you can bring it up and there's a little fork emblem for each place. So that if you go, well, I'm driving down this road and oh, I don't see a fork. They are de facto not licensed. Okay, Mr. Roberts,

got it. Okay. All right. Uh, okay. Can I get a motion to adopt ordinance number 2380 and a Okay, it's been moved by councelor Lyn. Uh, second. You got it. Second. Second by uh councelor H or Kelso. Wow, I'm just so used to saying Hayward with everything. Oh. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Councelor Linton. Yes.

Motion passes unanimously. Done deal. All right. Uh resolution 2408, Evelyn Avenue sewer replacement contract award. Mr. Yeah, Mr. Morgan, please.

Yes, Mr. Mayor. Members of the council, this evening we're asking you to award a contract for the Evelyn Avenue sewer line replacement. Uh this is a project that's been on the city's capital improvement plan since the very first uh CIP back in 2017. Uh this is the third phase of a sewer main capacity expansion project. Uh ultimately for accommodating increased sewer flows coming down from the vicinity of the East Northern Trade Event Center in the South Herston Industrial Park. Uh total um contract price from the low bidder is $38,000 from Bowlolan Construction. Uh there was seven bids received and we recommend award the project.

Okay. Council questions. Councelor McCarthy. Uh in the past when it comes time for bids, we usually have a level of contractor estimate. Was that not included for any particular reason on this? only because the engineer did not get me their uh bid tab before I had to put the staff report in. But I do know that the engineer's estimate I think was 370. So it was right in that range. Okay. Thank you. Any other council questions? Public comment. Seeing none, council comments. Seeing none, can I get a motion to adopt resolution 2408? Motion adopt.

Second. Then motion by councelor Hayward, second by councelor McCarthy. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Councelor Linton. Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Resolution 2409, a resolution to adopt fiscal year 202526 supplemental budget. Mr. Smith.

Yeah, Mr. Mayor, members of the council, uh what's before you tonight is a supplemental budget totaling a little over 785,000 and the most essentially all of these items were things we did not anticipate uh in the 12 to 18 months prior to this when we were planning this budget. Um the adjustments are in the general fund is approximately 255,000 in the TRT fund about 16,000 utility fund about 160,000 the reserve fund which is about 241,000 and the building inspection fund of about 132,000. Uh each of those have some different um items that have come up and then each uh fund also has their own resources that are covering the additional budget um needed and uh I would be happy to answer any questions related to that. Council questions. Seeing none, public comment. Seeing none, council comments. Council McCarthy. Just um I know when it comes to budget changes and supplemental budgets, I know oftent times that there's question of whether or not there have been a fee increase or things like that. So, I just want to thank staff for including uh how the revenues and offsets were covered in this. Um you made it exceptionally clear. Thank you very much.

Yes. Thank you. Any other council comments? Seeing none, can I get a motion to adopt resolution 2409 and lay upon the record? So move. Second. Second. Been a motion by councelor McCarthy, seconded by councelor Hayward. Sorry, Miss Linton got you first. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Miss Linton. Yes.

Motion passes unanimously. Moving on. Resolution 2410 authorizing an inter fund loan from the utilities fund to the reserve park fund authorizing repayment. Mr. Smith.

Yes, Mr. Mayor, members of the council, the um the parks mower that we've been currently using uh was purchased in 2016 and it is uh we've nursed it uh probably past the real end of its life and we've been spending quite a bit of money keeping it running and so uh we have found a mower that we can purchase under the state of Oregon contract and um we explored the option of getting um private lease funds to pay for it. And that we we recognized that we could um do an inter fund loan from our utility fund where we save uh money in anticipation of future projects. That we could do that uh at a cheaper interest rate and still pay the the utility fund back at the rate we would be getting interest on our investments. And so the interest rate that would have been on a on a lease purchase would have been 6.49. We can do the interfund loan at 4% which is what our uh current rate from the LGIP uh from the state of Oregon. And so we are proposing um to do that inter fund loan. We did this last about 10 12 years ago uh to put the latest or the at that point it was the latest I think it's the green slide at the pool where we borrowed money from the other funds to uh purchase that and paid it back over time. So um this is what we're asking uh the council to authorize and I'd be happy to answer any questions. Council questions. Council Roberts.

I had a little sticker shock when I saw this and so I assume that this is probably a high-grade industrial mower. Am I correct? This isn't just a CubCadet from Home Depot. Well, no. The CubCadet wouldn't last a time, but let me give you just a little bit of an idea of what we're talking about. So, uh the the cutting width is is 16 feet. uh where typically you're uh you know a lot of mowers you'll see are about 5 ft and that will uh help us mow 20 acres in an hour.

Um it'll also allow us to um reduce just equipment wear and tear and and everything because we can do that. It's also particularly good at turf, you know, so the large park areas, soccer fields, those kind of things that will be uh very good for. And um we also um had some conversations with the school district who has now two of these mowers uh that they utilize and they're uh very happy with how they how they've been functioning and and their durability. So um and there are local uh places to get them repaired and so forth. So we're pretty excited about that. And so no, it's not the CubCadet from Home Depot.

Okay. do have one McCarthy. What's that? At some point I have one more, but go Oh, go ahead. Go ahead with your second question. Uh my second one was uh more budgetary. Um it do we not have a reserve fund or a contingency fund that we can just pay for it straight out rather than because I see that not at this level. This is a very expensive piece of equipment and frankly if it were in the utility fund, we probably would be able to do it that way. uh the parks it because it's in the general fund, we we typically don't have that much uh fund that those levels of funds available. Okay. Thank you, McCarthy.

I'm just curious. You mentioned the cutting width uh on this machine. What were we running at before? 60 or the same? Oh, we had it. We're replacing a similar. Okay. Any other council questions? Councelor down here. Councelor Hayward. Um, and this is for a brand new one, not a used one. Correct. Okay. Just double checking. Brandon's really tired of using his scissors on the You got to keep him busy somehow. Had band-aids all over him. The last parks and

public comment. Nobody. Okay. Council comments. Seeing none, can I get a motion to adopt resolution 2410 and lay upon the record? Motion to adopt. Been moved by second. Moved by councelor Duron and second by councelor McCarthy. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Councelor Linton. Yes. Motion passes unanimously. potential renaming of East Airport Road. Mr. Smith,

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, uh in 2022, the city we accepted jurisdiction over uh East Airport Road, and that was after uh the improvements were made to widen the initial uh stretch and do some uh repaving. Um, and this is again the road that goes directly uh in front of Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center where the driveway comes off of. Um, there are two roads in the city's UGB that each have the name airport in them. There's airport road uh that we're talking about and then there's airport way which actually

gives you access to the airport. Airport road doesn't provide any access to the airport. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. And um Miss Linton, your mic is on. Sorry.

And that having two roads with that name uh causes some problems. And we did uh have a request or we did uh have a discussion about this a number of years ago and the county commissioners uh because they were actually was their road so they uh chose not to address uh the concerns that were brought forward. Um but uh this was a discussion of of the airport board at their last meeting and I understand there was a large uh stack of packages that had been misdelivered to the airport then then you know somebody has to go and get them to the right address or find out find the company and get them back. So and that happens on the other direction as well. the EOTech often gets um packages delivered different, you know, uh to the wrong uh place. So, um what we're requesting is to start the process that's outlined in the OS227.120 to rename a street. Uh at this point, we do not have a recommendation. That would be part of the discussion and and process. If the council chose to move forward, be happy to answer any questions.

Questions? Councelor Meyer, are there any businesses or how many businesses are on that road? Uh, I think one business has an address off of that road. It's dark. It's normally the one on the corner. Uh, culp machinery I think is normally the businesses that don't enjoy that. Correct. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.

Um, while you guys are doing looking at that, can you guys look at the where it goes onto 395? It sharps curves right there. And I can see a potential safety risk where somebody's not paying attention and go right into that business. Maybe some lighting or something right there. Okay. We can talk about we can talk about that. This we're talking about the roads right now. The name right now. I mean we are exploring the I some potential lighting. We're not going to we're not going to relocate that road right now. Well, I'm not reloading relocate.

Any other council questions? Okay. Public comment. Anybody want from the public want to talk about this? Okay. Council comments. Council Roberts.

Yeah, just briefly. I was actually at that airport board meeting when uh this came up and I don't remember the number, but I was shocked at the number of packages that that are getting misdelivered in both directions. It is quite frequent. Um, and my understanding is, uh, back when it was initially, uh, talked about renaming the road when it was under the county, there were some residents up there that were were kind of vocal, um, in opposition, and many of those residents aren't there anymore. Um, so I would it's going to be interesting to see who who uh comes from the public or living up there to weigh in, but um I think uh this is a stellar idea to uh investigate and and determine if if we need to make a a change because there are issues with it. So,

expensive issues. Celso, I was also at that meeting and I think um to me it's false advertising to have an airport road that doesn't go to the airport and if I was not from around here uh I would turn on airport road expecting to get to the airport and be sorely disappointed. Um and other than that, we're missing a marketing opportunity uh in advertising the premier um event center in Eastern Oregon in my opinion in Eotech. we could have a road that reflects um the greatness of that location and we don't. We have airport road that doesn't go to the airport. So, I'm all in favor of this. I think it's a great idea and I'd love to move forward.

Creelor has a fantastic idea because I also had that idea. No, I'm just kidding. But I I I do think it's a it's a great marketing opportunity. Uh in my hometown uh we would we were the Weezer Wolverines and so near the high school we would have road called Wolverine Way and it was really cool. The even the street sign was red instead of the typical green. But I I think this could be something really cool. We can name it something either after the city or I mean we already have a Herson Avenue but something different something that would reflect a little bit more the character of the place. Any others?

Any other council comments? Okay, my turn. I'm against it.

I have been since since the beginning. My my biggest concern is, you know, the the cost involved for the people involved. you know, a a simple sign being put up says that says no airport access would be easily, you know, is a lot cheaper to us as a city because not now anything involved with that is has an airport road access or has an airport road address is going to is there's going to be a cost involved to all the folks that are on that road to change their address, whether they have to change their deeds on the properties uh everything as it I believe as it as it relates to that anything that has airport road listed in it is going to have to be changed um and that's a cost that's going to be passed on to the people involved um unless you know unless we're going to volunteer to uh assist with that which I don't see us doing. Um, and I mean, you know, it's a it's a it's I I agree that it's a great marketing opportunity. Um, and I agree that, you know, it is it is difficult, but at the same time, it's an inconvenience as opposed to a necessity in my opinion. So, I have to get my two since I had the opportunity to get my two cents worth in. I was going to get at least three. Any other council comments? Councelor Roberts,

I respect that position. Um, I remember, and I think many of us probably do, back in the day when we had rural routes and I grew up on route two in in Hermiston and uh the county came in and they said, "We're going to we're going to give everybody an address." And everybody in the county had to redo their address. And at the moment I think people thought the world was going to fall down and then it didn't. Um and the cost as as I remember it wasn't really you know for me it was probably a few address labels or something like that. But um or from my parents I guess um so I I I don't see this as being a huge burden on the on the public um in particular but again that's just my opinion. So Okay. Wh down on the far end. Yes, sir. Nope. You're you're first.

So, my question is, uh, like you mentioned to change the address on like the deed of a house or a business. What is the cost of that? No idea. Okay, councel.

Yeah, thanks. I I also see the mayor's position, but I would argue that it's not going to get any less expensive to change the name than it is do it today. And um at some point when growth happens in that direction, um it'll make even less sense than it currently does to change the name. And I think rip the band-aid off now and and get it over with is my opinion. So, I respect your position, but I disagree. Thank you.

Okay, council Hab agree with Council and Josh on this. But with the age of technology, I think it would be a lot easier changing addresses and stuff on titles and everything since that we live in this age of technology would be a lot easier to change it now than later because if Mel's already getting mess misdel, we need to fix that because somebody's going to miss a bill or something that's going to the wrong place and we add more houses, it's going to get more chaotic for this.

Okay. Any other council comments? All right. Uh, so can I get a motion to direct the city engineer to review street names within six miles of the city and determine if it is in the public interest to consider renaming this road? So moved. Second. Okay. It's been moved by councelor McCarthy, seconded by councelor Hayward. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Councelor Linton. Yes.

Motion passes unanimously. January 2026 monthly financial report. Mr. Smith, Mr. Palasios, please.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and Counselors. uh presenting uh I'm presenting tonight for you the January 2026 uh monthly financial reports. We are 7 months through the fiscal current fiscal year or 58% of our current budget. Um, property taxes in the Hermiston Urman and Renewal Agency are at 100% plus and this is because we budget our property taxes at the same level as the prior year because we don't know what that assessed value is going to land at. Um, North Hermiston Urban Renewal Area has the rightway appraisals are complete and we're still anticipating bids this spring. So, steady she goes in the urban renewal agency uh general fund. Again, we are 7 months through the uh this current portion of the fiscal year. Monthly revenues are ended over projection by about 2 and a half $2.4 million. This is due to the timing of the receipt of property taxes through the end of January which are 100% 99.99% of budgeted. So, we're right on track and it compares to prior years. Um monthly expenses were over projection by 664,000. This is again due to that one-time transfer of building funds to the newly established uh building inspection fund. I am pleased to report that we did have four departments in the prior months that were over budget due to seasonal activities. Um parks and wreck and the pool I believe were the other one, but those have dropped off. City Council and non-EP departmental are over due to annual LLC membership and then the transfer in the non-EP departmental uh department I guess uh to the building inspection fund. The public safety center is slightly over budget um due to

single time purchases for the public operations building redesign from furniture and some computers that um the chief is purchasing. EOTech revenues reflect partial reimbursement from the camp campground project and I those are are in design and going out for bid this spring. The utility street funds uh street fund is about $26,000 below projected revenue and again this is due to that um annual turnover of federal gas tax revenues that just come in. They should be coming in this month if they haven't come in already. Um, HES fund expenditures were approximately 253,000 over projections. This is due to timing of quarterly transfers to the reserve fund and then the ongoing capital projects that have been budgeted. Uh, regional water fund $83,000 under projections for revenues and that is because we had one of the regional customers had some un unanticipated maintenance. So, we do expect that to start ticking up in the spring. And then again, same thing as in the HS funds, $172,000 in the regional water fund over projections again uh due to those transfers for future projects. Um and then some ongoing maintenance. Oops. I'm getting too excited. With that, I will turn it over to Mr. Morgan, we could have just skipped past these.

Let's see. Capital projects. I am extremely excited about the first bullet point because I believe we're probably going to be advertising the year in Harper realignment here in the next couple of weeks and we'll actually be opening bids and hopefully be into construction probably end of May, June time frame. So, I said it was coming in 2026 and here we are. So, uh, plan your route to Home Depot accordingly this summer. So, uh, North First Place, uh, that project again, we continue to work with the railroad on rightway acquisition, regional water system backup generators. Uh, we'll probably be bringing you a, um, contract award here in the next uh, couple of meetings um, uh, because we have those um, out to bid currently u for the actual generators. Um the Orchard Avenue waterline replacement again probably be bringing a new contract award here in the next few meetings. That uh project should hit the street here soon. Uh the well six coronation structure that's also uh just hit the street. So we'll be bringing that contract to your award here in a couple weeks. Uh the uh Northwest Second and Dogwood um LI project is uh uh currently out to bid. So that'll be coming to you for a contract award here in a few weeks as well. Um, so that's most of the ones um up there that you should be seeing here um probably four or five projects here in the next month or so. So get ready. There'll be lots of construction happening this summer. Uh the Southeast End Street Bridge project uh design continues. Again, you'll remember that one is going to be out of commission over the course of the winter because we have to do that project uh when there's no water in the canal. Uh the East Evelyn uh gravity sewer line, you just awarded that contract this evening. So, I'm sure work will begin here uh in about a month or two. Uh and then the aquaer storage and recovery project. Um contractors working their way through starting up a lot of the equipment here in the next couple weeks and we anticipate uh beginning to pour

water down the hole in about the next month or so. Uh well number four uh controls project uh again I mentioned before that project had been delayed. Uh lift station number five has also been delayed. Lift number seven, that one is in design. So, we'll probably be bringing uh that for award probably sometime in May. Got all that. There's a lot of projects. So, we are working on the bids are working to put out to bid Sherman Park Construction and the public safety center. We're still uh shooting for March or early April for an opening. Right now, we're targeting uh a walkth through with the council at our second meeting in March. Hopefully, uh we stay on schedule for that, but that's where we're targeting. Any questions? Council questions? Seeing none, public comment? Seeing none, council comments. Seeing none, can I get a motion to accept the January 26, 2026 monthly financial report?

So moved. Second. So moved. She's got time. There's too much of a delay. It's like a good councelor Councelor Hayward on the motion. Councelor McCarthy on the the second. Roll call. Other way around. I'm sorry. The other way around. Yes. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Miss Linton. Yes.

Motion passes unanimously. Got through all that. Committee reports. Do we have any committee reports? Yes, Don. So, this is a report on the parks and recck committee. Let me get to the notes. Is this the one where uh he showed up with bandages and stuff? Yeah, bandages on his hands from clipping the grass. Okay, let's check.

Well, we met last week, last Thursday. My notes are coming up. I'm sorry. I don't know. I don't know what happened here. Um but uh you want me to keep it brief and um so um city manager Smith and Director Arts met with the uh with the senior board. Um they looked at the agreement. They're going to meet again this week and then the information will be brought to the to city council for us to be able to um look at what they you know the final plan that they came up with. Um city crew was working on landscaping the safety center and streets and parks uh worked together to pour concrete on sections and um to mow the curbs. parks um also is working on all the plaques that need to be moved, reset, you know, from the older building. Um so, as you can see, this was such a collaborative effort of the programs coming to work together to make sure that the safety center is uh the the progress is happening there. And um the other things that we discussed was that um city manager Smith and director Arts also toured the um pools at the Pasco facilities. They learned about the bubble in Pasco and some of the cost associated with that to enclose the the pool. So um they discussed the highle factors related to putting a bubble over um the current pool and what would that look like? And um we saw a bunch of pictures and that was nice for us to be able to see. Um they also shared information about the swim lesson registrations and the success um that they had with the in-person registration, how they were

able to connect with a lot of the families that have u participated in in the in the signups and um city manager Smith included the numbers in the in the weekly memo. so for us to be able to see. And um they proposed a a new splash pass fees. Um they're going away with the family pass because um families of course um include also extended families and sometimes that are outside of the household. So um the the pass now um that will be brought to to the city council for um an approval would be $85 for one pass. two to for two to three would be $65 per pass and discounts for passes uh will be purchased together. Um and the fit passes are also available and and can be combined for $30. Um, and the Bell Park will have a new bridge and the high school metal shop students are working on it and um, they had a proposed of what the bridge would look like, but the students themselves thought that it was pretty basic. So, they came up with another concept that looks more like a honeycomb kind of a bridge. And then in the middle, uh, you will see where it says the city of Hermiston, it'll have that logo there. And so, um, it was pretty neat that the students are are are working on this. And it's it's a nice way to also showcase their work. So, good job for coming up with that idea. And so, some upcoming events, the Daddy Daughter Dance, um, is scheduled for March 21st. The Hermiston Spring Market, March 28th. Arbor Day tree giveaway. We really want to push this because last year they had they ended up with a lot of trees. So,

it's scheduled for April 4th. And the swim lesson registration will take place on March 14th. Also, something new that they're working on is the adult egg hunt that will be uh scheduled. Oh, okay. Sorry about that. Never mind. No, they're not. More to come. Anyway, that was my report and Mr. Kelso can talk about the Hispanic Advisory Committee. Well, I'm I'm more interested in talking about the adult egg hunt that was going to break out. This is not the hunt you were looking. It's fine. It's just a teaser and more information is coming soon.

Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Can't wait to see that. I would like to give a report though on the Hispanic Advisory Committee. Would you please?

Yes. Uh we had a meeting of the Hispanic Advisory Committee on the February 17th. Um our first speaker was Dave Gracia with the Hermiston Cultural Awareness Coalition and he discussed a little bit about their history. They've been in town for 26 years. Uh they're comprised of citizens and interested uh people who are interested in uh cultural awareness obviously. And uh on the 19th of January they held their MLK event and um it was at the community center and was a great success. He estimated they had about 150 people show up and uh it was a good several hours for a good group and uh so that was exciting to hear about. We had a presentation by Brenda Flores of the Oregon Rural Action Group and uh they talked about she talked about advocacy day which was on February 12th and six people from Umatillaa County went to Salem to lobby for immigration reform with our legislators. Uh so that was interesting to hear. We had a presentation finally from Good Shepard about heart health month uh of which February is American heart health month and um they reminded me that I should actually exercise once in a while um if I want to live very long. Uh apparently cardiovascular disease is the largest killer of Americans. So um yes, go get your heart checked out and um exercise occasionally. I'm talking to myself here mostly. All right. Thank you.

I get enough exercise jumping to conclusions. So, boo. Yeah, I know.

Others any other adv uh media reports. Seeing none. Mayor's report. I really don't have anything. Um sorry to say uh today I I was really happy to see what we did with the with all the community involvement with the discussion earlier on the uh um food truck enforcement or the unlicensed vendor enforcement. And so that that is exciting that we're finally getting some some help, be able to provide our our our folks with the the type of help that they need. Um, and also like to uh congratulate uh our uh committee appointments for Mr. Wolverton and Mr. Cutierz on the budget K committee and advis Hispanic advisory committee uh respectively. Aside from that, it's your turn.

Oh, well, I just want to let everyone know, I haven't had a chance to go see it yet, but I'm hoping to this weekend that there'll be some additional performances of Greece at Herston High School on the 27th at 7:00 as well as the 28th at 2 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Uh, get there early. It should be a high demand show. Um, I also wanted to take a moment um because I wasn't sure if anybody else remembered, but we talked about potentially directing staff uh to revisit the um food licensing limitations that we currently have. Uh, personally, I find it weird that we have a limit on the number of licenses. I think the limitations uh should be more in place of where what uh where, when, and what kind of um what kind of businesses can't exist uh can't exist location based kind of things. I know we visited that in the past, but um we don't have limits on other businesses that exist. We don't have limits on numbers of restaurants that exist. Um so I think there's some considerations that need to be made, but I would like to direct staff to um prepare something.

So you're making a motion to have that put on the is a motion appropriate in this? So yes, I would like to move that we direct staff to revisit the number of um licenses that we have in place. Second and motioned uh by councelor McCarthy and second by councelor Roberts that we uh that we increase or look at the to increase the number of licenses available to our food truck vendors. Council questions, comments, we'll let you do both this time. comment. Comment

Well, I did go to see Greece as did several of the other on Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. On the motion. We have a motion on the floor. Okay. Any qu any questions or comments on the motion? Nope. I have a comment. I will have a question as well. You do or do not. Hello. I do have a a question I would like to know. Is it okay to go ahead and speak now? Yes, ma'am. It's your turn.

Okay. All right. Thank you. I would like to know how many license do we want to add? I mean we can bring back we can bring back a recommendation and then you can adjust it as that was my intention was recommendation. So yeah the motion was to bring us something and then we can we can make the adjustments from there. Is that is that okay? Then we will Okay. Then we will vote on it uh on how many after we get the recommendation.

Yes. Okay. Thank you. Any other council comments or questions? Public comment. Anybody in the public want to comment on that? Okay. Can I get a roll call? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Miss Linton. Yes. Okay. Motion passes unanimously. Mr. Smith, it looks like you have uh some work ahead of you. Yes. Or like actually probably Mr. Morgan, huh? Probably Mr. Spencer.

Oh, Mr. Spencer. Got it. All right. Uh other Any anything else you want to add there, Mr. Uh uh that was all I have. Okay. Council council reports councelor Hayward. Um got I love my city coming up in May 16th. It's supposed to be a pretty good job. I challenged all the councils, city managers and mayor to be out there thanking all the citizens that are volunteering clean up the community. Um, I've heard a good report that it looks like they're going to start cleaning some graffiti up to help some people out and everything. There's quite a bit that's being planned. I just figure I at least put it on everybody's calendar. May 16th is I love my city.

Okay, Roberts. So, first off, uh I did go see Greece and they did a really good job and so that um and then I also u had the opportunity to attend the Pilot Rock City Council meeting and

um I I just got to say it's it's always good to go to those and see that people are dealing with some of the same stuff that that we do. It doesn't matter your size. if you're Portland Metro, if you're Hermiston, Pendleton, or if you're a smaller town like Pilot Rock, um they were talking a lot about public safety and and the challenges of their police department um that they're facing in in staffing and uh they got a citizen complaint that they had to deal with. Um so yeah, we we deal with the same stuff. Doesn't matter. So forgot to mention that. I was there too. It was interesting. Other council comments, councelor Kelso,

I was at the opening show of Greece as well and thought they did a fantastic job and it was a packed house. There was no empty seats so it was a great experience. I encourage everybody to go. Councelor Meyer, it was really nice to see the local talent and we did have a lot. They did a great job and our suit was packed on the second night. Others miss Linton, you have any council report? No, sir.

Okay. Thank you, ma'am. Youth adviser. Gabriel, what do you got for us? I just uh I haven't gone to seen Greece. No spoilers, please. Uh but it is the word. Yeah.

But I heard from multiple people that it's fantastic. This is the first time in a while that they've sold out multiple times. Not even just not even just one night. the opening night. It It's almost every time. And I just want to appreciate everyone who supports what they're doing as well as everyone who is involved with it, whether it be production management or just an actor background, anything. Any others? Anything else? Nope. Okay, Mr. City Manager,

just a few items. I'm I'm happy to say that Mr. McCarthy didn't steal them all. Did you see Greece? I did twice. Yeah. And I'll see it two more times. Um, so, uh, charter review town hall next week, uh, on the 4th at 5:30 here. So, if you're interested to hear what what's being recommended, um please feel free to come and we'll be um it's at 5:30 on the 5:30

and we'll start because we didn't want to mix messages. We wanted to have as many people come tonight to the vendor discussion. We'll hit hard the charter review on on our social media to try to make sure people are aware of of the meeting coming up. So, uh, we also have a city chat coming up on March 17th. It's at 10:00 a.m. Um, and in CA, just so you don't get another angry email from someone, uh, we only have one counselor signed up. So, if you're interested, please, uh, come. What day is it? Uh, March 17th. That's while that's during NLC. Oh, yeah. Those who will be there won't be able

green that day. Um, then the final uh you all received a a letter uh kind of a proposal, an idea on what to do with the Carnegie building in your email today. I just wanted to let the council know we'll be bringing a report with all those who have expressed interest as well as some of the feedback we did with surveys uh at one of the March meetings. I have it'll kind of depend on kind of the workload of those two meetings which one we go to, but in one of the March meetings. That's all I have, Mr. Mayor. All right. Yes, sir.

I just remembered one more thing real quick. Uh my I wanted to potentially discuss there's a place on 11th Street right next to where I live. I live on I live off of West Joseph and I there's a lot of cars that park on the side of the street and as a new driver even experienced drivers have issues seeing down 11th Street which is a very busy road especially in morning time because it's right next to the middle schools and there's businesses and it's one of uh one of the ways out of town. So, I was wondering if there was a way we could get a sign or something that says no parking so that cuz I've seen multiple accidents happening on that road and I've almost been in a couple Okay. And with that we are adjourned.