City Council - Regular Meeting

It's 7 o'clock. So, we're going to start the Monday, March 23rd edition of the Hermiston uh city council and Urban Renewal Agency uh meeting to order with a declaration of quorum. Uh, Council Meer and Councelor McCarthy are both excused. Uh, we hope both of them get feeling better soon. Uh, could I have everybody stand and join me in the flag salute?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And just as a reminder, uh please if you have phones, make sure they're uh set to silent on vibrate. Um been to a couple meetings over the last few deals where that was not the case. So it's always a good reminder to turn your phones off. Okay, so uh let's see. We just finished a uh public safety center tour and uh it was very enlightening. Nice nice building. Looks looks uh like we've got a good good thing happening down there. So uh next up uh presentations. We have a presentation from uh Jesseline Cole, executive uh director for the Stepping Stones Alliance on Path. Jesseline,

good evening. Thank you for having me. Thank you.

Good to see everyone. Uh so I did give you a hard copy, the 2025 annual report. Um very proud of this document and the work that it highlights throughout. Um this 2025 was the first year we ran all three programs the whole year. So um in particular, our finances are whole and complete in here as far as income and expenses. So that's something to look at. Um, I'm not going to read all of it, but throw out some of the highlights. Um, of course, spent lots of time doing different things each month. Um, some of the items that we didn't know were missing from campus. We were able to get different grant dollars to complete some things like putting fans in the bathrooms in the sleep center and water spets around campus and finishing the parking lot out front with some gravel so we have more parking. putting an awning on the sleep center for guests to stand under in inclement weather out of the sun or the rain or the snow. I guess not really snow this year. Um outreach continues to happen. I am willing and able to go present to anyone and everyone who will have me and that continues to be a very positive experience. Uh this is actually rounding out my spring tour so thank you for that. um made it to all the other path uh city councils as well as the county commissioners and then continue to frequent churches and service organizations with presentations. Sleep center numbers continue to be high. Um unfortunately we are seeing more and more new guests. They do still have ties to the community. Um times are not good for housing, for income, just lots of lots of problems. So we are thankful that we are able to give the services that we do give.

Uh navigation center continues to grow. We continue to offer classes and require members attend those classes. So some are more academic based, financials, uh resume building, interview skills, that kind of thing. And then others are more fun uh activity based. So one of our staff members plays guitar. So he's teaching a couple of our members to play guitar. So just really building that community and that level of trust so that members are sharing with us uh what their needs are and really growing in their own independence pushing towards those goals. So last year in the annual report, I defined success and kind of explained how difficult it is to share success in this in this um in this place, the space that we work. And so this year, happy to share some actual success stories with guests and members that we've had and have seen good things. Um if you don't subscribe to our newsletter, please do that. There's a link on our website that you can subscribe to that. I happen to know that there's a new success story coming out in that. Um, we have also done some updates to our website. So, we have a virtual tour that you can take. If you haven't made it out to the site, I still recommend you come out to the site and take a tour in person, but we do have a virtual tour on our website. And then we've added some success stories to our website as well. Uh as I said the revenue and expenses is much more complete this year as we have completed a full year with all three programs. And then speaking of all of our finances, our gala was very successful in our second year. We do have it slated to happen on Saturday, October 10th. So I'd love to see many of you there again. Appreciate the support in that. Um, we do try really hard to make sure we're

getting finances and income from many different sources. So, diversifying that, still going out for grants, fundraising, as well as the money that we get through the state. Next page shows those grants and donations and then next steps continuing to look forward and what we need to do next and complete on campus but also just what we need to do for our guests and members. Board of directors is going strong. Uh we did get two new members at the end of 2025 and they have jumped right in and started doing great things. We are still looking for someone to fill the treasurer role. We do work with a CPA firm, so it's not as scary as some people may think, but it would be great to have that role filled. And then our staff is doing really well as well. All three of our admin positions, we celebrated our third year anniversary with Stepping Stones. And then we have two staff members who have celebrated their one-year anniversaries. We just have a really diverse group right now that have a lot of lived experience either with homelessness or addiction. um and are able to give our guests and members a different viewpoint and just that hope is out there and you can move beyond your current circumstances. With that, I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Council questions, comments? Well, all I I I don't have any questions. Go ahead. I was just briefly going to say the reason I don't have any questions is I s the board of commissioners and so it's the same information round two. So go ahead. I just want to say that uh you all are doing an awesome job. I have volunteered out there and uh and seen the some of the people there and I'm just glad just wanted to commend you on how well of a job you all are doing. Thank you.

And thank you for your your your service and everyone else's service that go in and volunteer and the different cooks that go in and uh provide food and churches that donate and so everything looks awesome to me. Thank you. We do have a lot of community support backing us. Makes a big difference. Go ahead. You go first. I can give you permission first. All right.

We'll get to him. I also want to commend you for what you are doing. It's nice to see that you guys are building uh trust by having different kinds of uh activities for them to um get acquainted with one another, warm up to you guys so that they can open up and be open to um getting the resources that they need. Um, and I so much appreciate hearing the success stories too because then you for you as well and and all the volunteers. Um, every bit counts and it's nice to see that um, great outcomes are happening because of the work and the donations that people are providing to to this great cause. So, thank you to all the volunteers as well that give of their time, those people that provide food for them and and the staff that also, you know, work alongside um all of these individuals that for some they're just looking for that support, you know, um that can get them to to housing or to have the family atmosphere that maybe they haven't had in a while. So, thank you.

Thank you. I want to say thank you for what you're doing. Thank you for being open and honest with the community and sharing with the community. That is something that I don't see a lot of nonprofits doing, sharing as much information out there to the community, being open. Thank you your to your staff, to you, all the volunteers for what you guys are doing for the community. I hear nothing but greatness from Umatillaa, all the communities around here. So for what you guys do, thank you. Appreciate that. And I do pass this on to my staff. I'll text them tonight when I'm done.

I have to echo everything that everybody said, Jess, you guys do a fantastic job. you know, it's the the way that the Hermiston area, you know, we have a basically a legacy of stepping up when when times are tough and you know, the fact that, you know, you guys are taking that taking the reigns on that and making moving this forward, making it a priority so that those that are in need have a place to go. and your uh your service is greatly greatly respected and appreciated. Thank you. Appreciate that, Mayor. All right. Well, thanks again. Thank you.

Okay. Um Mr. Smith, do we have any changes to the agenda? Okay. Just wanted to make sure. All right. Uh at this time is uh opportunity for citizen input. Anyone wishing to bring anything before the council that is not on the agenda is asked to do the following. Step forward, state your name and your place of residence, that's the actual residence, not city, and uh direct your comments to me. And now is the time. All right. Seeing none, moving forward. Uh, consent agenda items. Consent agenda items A through H. Do we, uh, we have any council questions on consent agenda items A through H? Seeing none, we have any public comment on consent agenda items A through H. Seeing none, council comments. Any items that we need to remove from the consent agenda? Seeing none, can I get a motion to approve consent agenda items A through H?

Motion to approve. Second. Gonna be motioned by councelor Hayward and second by councelor Linton. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Motion passes unanimously. 6. None. No items removed. Moving on to ordinances and resolution. Ordinance number 2381. Amend chapter 116 of the Hermiston Code of Ordinances increasing the mobile vending licenses and other text amendments. City Attorney Tubby will now read the ordinance by title only. Mr. Tubby. Ordinance number 2381, an ordinance amending chapter 116 of the Hermiston Municipal Code relating to mobile food. Mr. Mayor,

Mr. Smith, Mr. Spencer, please. There are sever, sir. I'm sorry. Are you gonna pass it along, too? Yeah. Well, yeah, Brandon's right here. Okay.

Now, there there's several changes in the in the ordinance that's before the city council tonight. The the main ones are result of the meeting that we had on February 23rd, at which time is a result of public comment, the council directed staff to increase the available number of licenses within town. So, we are proposing to increase the annual licenses from six to 10. Uh, currently all six licenses are allocated. We do have three people on waiting lists now. Uh, whether or not there are properties available, we're not sure, but we do have three people on the waiting list, so we're recommending conservatively increasing that to 10. We're also increasing the 30-day licenses from 3 to 5. Currently, only one 30-day license is in use, but we are proposing to increase that. We're also just as a matter of housekeeping doing several uh other amendments, removing event licenses as a category. Uh we haven't had any event licenses come up, and to date, we haven't actually had any inquiries about obtaining an event license either. So, we're just recommending that that's probably something that isn't going to be popular with the city. So, we're just recommending removing it from the ordinance. We're also adding to the licensing procedure that compliance with the city's fog, fats, oil, and grease program is required. Uh that came out of their fog uh staff just requesting they have to visit the trucks anyways, making sure that they're aware of the program and compliant with it. Uh is required in code. This is housekeeping to make sure that it's everywhere it can be in the code. We're proposing a new standard of uh either one unit per property or 100 feet between them when it's a larger piece of property. Uh basically to avoid any kind of congestion issues that might

come up when uh if somebody were to try to put two or even three into a very small parking lot, that could immediately lead to quite a bit of spillover into the surrounding neighborhood. So smaller commercial lots would be limited to one per property excepting of course the food pods which are governed under a different section of the chapter. We're also uh proposing to remove the requirement that the 30-day license units vacate the premises at the end of each business day. That one uh we just feel it's not equal to what the annual lences who can stay on the site for a month at a time. Uh there's not a lot of use in having the trucks that have a 30-day license vacate every day. It's just not as fair. Creates another level of headache. Be happy to answer any other questions.

Council questions. Councelor Hayward. So I see that we're upgrading it from six to 10 and we already have three on the waiting list. That would put us at nine, leave one open. The question, I think, is should we up that a little bit more? So there's a couple extra spots instead of just one.

And that that really I think is a matter for the council to discuss uh in the meeting. We we are operating off of the direction that we've had from council in the past, which was a desire to uh I guess protect the city from a real proliferation and wanting to keep a rather tight lit lid on the number of licenses that were available so that our visual corridors were a little bit preserved. Uh we can set the licensing wherever council wishes, but that that would be more of a council discussion. and our our recommendation would be 10. Thank you. Other questions,

councel? I just want to clarify that none of these limitations apply to food pods. Is that correct? That's correct. They they operate under a completely different section of the chapter. Okay. Thank you. I have a question, Mr. D. So for license type three, are we staying the same? Is there an increase? Is there any change to that? No, that the license type three is the event license. We're recommending getting rid of that entirely and then moving our type four, which is a lunch truck that could visit different sites and moving that up to type three. Okay. I wasn't clear on that. Thank you. Yeah,

that's broom. I just want to follow up on the council's comment on recommendation of 10. I want to ask a little bit a little bit more specific. I know that the recommendation is 10, but it's clear that there's going to be just one available license left. Does the city believe that there's not going to be any more? I mean, I believe you guys are making this recommendation based on the traffic and the community that have have spoken to you. So, is do you feel like we're going to have to come back and have a conversation in in less than a year?

I don't know if nec if less than a year. None of the three who are on a waiting list have an approved site. So, they haven't actually worked with any property owners to obtain a site to locate on yet. And we don't have a feel for whether or not there are actually properties available. uh whatever number in our experience, whatever number you set the limit at, it will eventually be met within a couple of years. And the council can always come back. Yes. Okay. Council Roberts,

I I know the reason we set the limit in the first place was to keep the the proliferation issues, I think, is the word you used. um some of the regulatory changes we've made in the past um in terms of where they can be and and now we're looking at distances um and one per commercial unit. Do from a from a staff standpoint, do you see the need then to to have a limit um because obviously I think it would be easier on you guys if we didn't just because you wouldn't have to worry about tracking permits and coming back and asking for more if there's a waiting list and that kind of stuff. So, I guess I just kind of want to get your thoughts on um if the the changes that we're making in term of I guess time, place, and manner, if you will, um are going to help to self-limit the number of food pods altogether so that it's not going to be an issue anymore. It's an interesting question because I'm not sure that there is an upper limit. Uh it it's one of those things that I think is as many properties who are willing to make space available in their parking lots probably would eventually have a have a vendor available. And eliminating the cap would definitely eliminate uh some of the staff time that we have to spend just telling people there are no licenses available. it would not necessarily help us f find available properties for people because there's still a lot of leg work that's available on that. I'm pretty ambivalent as to whether or not the the limit is serving a beneficial purpose.

Okay. Make sure council let me before I go on anybody else.

Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I has the city staff had any interaction with brickandmortar restaurant tours um or has any concerns been expressed to the city staff about uh food carts being an increased competition in the market? Yes and no. That is a lot of the reason why we originally developed the ordinance back in 2013 was was that exact concern. uh lately? No, we have not within the last couple of years. And several restaurants have in fact gotten into the catering business as well and do have their own trucks. So, it's not currently a pressing concern.

Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Public comment. Any public comment on this? Um, thank you. My name is Christa Vanve and I live at 764 West Alder Avenue. I have a question. Um, Mr. Spencer, the comment about the restaurants also a few restaurants having carts. Are they are those taking up licenses or are they operating under the restaurant license?

Yeah, they do not use the uh mobile vending licenses at all. They those catering trucks operate usually in conjunction with like uh the 4th of July at the vent at the but or something and that's handled under a different set of permits. Okay. Thank you. That's my question. Any other public comment? Council comments Roberts.

Yeah. Um, thank you to uh, Mr. Spencer for actually answering a number of my questions before. Um, I'd emailed him and and pretty much covered everything. Um, the the qu kind of the the thought I have as us as a council is whether or not we need to decide a whether or not to raise the number. And I think at the very least that's a worthy consideration just because I don't know about you guys, but I don't necessarily want to come back year after year. If if we're going to have a demand that can be met over three years, five years, and we could put enough licenses out there now to meet that need, then it would just reduce the the headache on the people coming in. Um but again, is the cap still um serving its purpose? and and I'm kind of on the fence about that. And and so I just um if there's any other thoughts, I would love to hear those, but that's just kind of where my brain's turning right now is as far as is is this part still serving um what it is that that it was designed to serve or has the time changed in Hermiston and and do we need to adapt a little bit to it? I I don't know.

Council Brun,

I tend to agree with the counselor. Um, I don't want this to be uh an issue really for businesses that are wanting to come in and and to find out that that government has to do its job in order for them to have an opportunity to operate. Um, and so I'm kind of I'm right there on the fence along with the counselor. Um, I think 10 is is a great uh it's a great move. Uh, I could see 12 honestly. I but at this point it almost feels a little arbitrary. Um I too feel that with the right parameters in place, locations, um that the concern in the past should be for the most part alleviated. And I know that a lot of people are are wanting more options, more food options in town. And so um I would uh I definitely support going up. So 10 I think is something I would support. I would say even 12 just to kind of see how long it would take to get to that limit and if we find ourselves coming back over and over again then maybe we should remove the limit. Um I guess I don't think that we would go wrong either way. Um, that's kind of why I also asked if if I mean we can always come back to the council and we can and it seems like the the council has a from the comments I'm hearing a pretty good consensus of we want to provide opportunities to the food vendors that are coming in that want an opportunity. So I would I would be fine with raising it to 10 or 12 and if we find ourselves coming back to this very soon then maybe discussing about lifting a cap. Council

Dr. Sorry, it's pressing the button. Such a hard task here. Um, I would support increasing the number, too. Um, I remember that some of the people that came and spoke the other night were potential um folks that wanted to get a license. And we also heard from a private um person where he also expressed an interest in opening up another food pod. So if that comes to fruition, that would allow him to or other people that want to have a truck of their own to fall under that umbrella as well. So that may meet the demands that could possibly be out there in case our number is not enough. Um, I certainly don't want to create more work for our city staff. So, would you recommend or would you be okay, let's say that we say um if we increase the number to 12 with that?

That would that would be acceptable to us from a staff level. That takes, you know, that's essentially doubling it. When we went from three to six, it took about two years to go through those additional three licenses. So, as councelor Baron was saying, yeah, you'd probably be looking at three to four years probably by doubling the existing number. But we are, you know, just from people who are kicking the tires, uh, we are getting between anywhere from 8 to 20 depending on the week inquiries on any given week. So it is there's a lot of demand there.

I think we need to be mindful of what our um community members are asking from us. So I would be okay with even raising the number from 6 to 12. Councelor Hayward.

Um I I'm kind of in favor of increasing the number, but I think we should increase it up to 15 just because of that food pod and stuff and then get a a little bit more opportunity because if they come for 30 days, that's a little bit more work for count city officials riding those 30 days license. Then they leave where they could get a permanent one. That means they stay here. That's more jobs and more revenue coming into the town. that's maybe entice them to give a longer one and stay.

Just to clarify, that food pod that was suggested at the last meeting wouldn't be covered. They could have 20 and we still have a cap at 12. I mean, it wouldn't that count towards that number because they would be licensed in another fashion. So, this would only be individual food trucks. So it doesn't affect our food pod that the city owns. It wouldn't affect any others. Roberts,

I thank uh all you guys for your input because that helps clarify in my mind. I think um increasing to 12 I think is wise. It's a prudent middle step. Um until we see if this food pod comes to fruition because if it does and it's a a draw place for a lot of people, we may not need to raise the cap anymore. It may stabilize on its own. And so, um, I think that's that's probably a wise move in my mind. I would support that as well.

L, excuse me. Uh, with the increase of the license, uh, the recommendation is 10 and I think that's a good number. Um, a lot of inquiries were happening with the first food pot and the problem was they couldn't pass the different rules with the state, the health department and things like that. And that's why a lot of people could not open up the food trucks over at our food pod. And um I don't think we should raise it too high because you know that is part of our job as a council. We look at a lot of things all the time and if in a few years from now, four years from now, if more we need it more, I think we can look at it then and and increase it if it's necessary. Uh because also we know we will need to look at uh is it like an overflooding of the same type of trucks all you know in the area and whether or not they can be successful here in a small town of 20,000 maybe 50,000 or so 30 40 licenses. Thank you,

Councel.

Thank you. I I think it's important to raise the number of licenses. I think 12 is a good number. 15 is better. Um we I don't want to be a barrier to anybody's entrepreneurial efforts. And uh I think testimony that we heard last time about this topic, it's clear that the city has been a barrier in terms of the lack of licenses that we have available. So, I'd love to eliminate that. Um, I don't see the harm in raising it to 15. I do think a limit serves a purpose if we had a food pod in every parking lot up and down 395. I think that might be a bit of an isore plus a bit of a congestion problem. So, I do think it does serve a purpose to have a limit, but I think um I I like the number 15 better than 12 just to give us a little more time before we have to reconsider this issue.

Any others? Okay, my turn. So, just in my humble opinion, I I I agree with the 12 number myself. We're effectively we're doubling it, but we're not going, you know, we're not going to overflood the area. The fact that, you know, we don't really control what type of of card it's going to be, so that doesn't really play to me into it. Um but I agree with with the council in in that that uh you know we definitely need to increase the numbers. You know a lot of the a lot of the issues as Mr. Spencer said a lot of the issues that were um that brought about this this ordinance in the first place have been dealt with by the ordinance in dealing with the you know the sanitation part of things, the inspection part of things you know and so since you know since we've figured out how to fix the biggest part of the problem now we're at a you know we want we want to give back and give give that give them the opportunity to to flourish to, you know, get the opportunity to to build that business, to build a brand if if possible, you know, get the opportunity to go from a truck to possibly a brick and mortar, you know, and and I think that that's that is exactly, you know, I mean, uh, look at, you know, how Nelly's went from a truck to the building, which was great. And so, you know, just as a as a in a for what it's worth department. So, um, you know, and by by by sticking with the number 12, we're still keeping it, you know, we we can always go up. It's harder to go down if you had to, but it's it's easy to it's easier to go up. And so, you know, it's just a basically it's a simple vote for for us, a change of an ordinance. So, but that's that's

my three and a half cents worth. So, all right. Okay. So, we are at a point to where a motion is. Um, we can make a motion as it as it sets or uh we can amend the original ordinance. Councelor Broom, I motion to amend uh the ordinance 2381 going from the annual from six instead of 10 but to 12.

Second. Okay, we've got a motion to amend to 12 and a and at a single meeting become effective 30 days after adoption by the city council. Maybe you want to vote on just that amendment first. We need Okay, if we Okay. Do so on the amendment. Uh okay, let's do that. So that that that motion was for the amendment and the second was for the amendment. Okay. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Okay. Motion carries. Now, can motion to adopt uh ordinance number 2381 at a single meeting become effective 30 days after adoption by the city council. I think I say as amended. As amended. As amended. And for the record, I would say that uh what we're amending is section 116005 A2 to read the maximum number of type two licenses shall be 12 and that will be the new language in the ordinance as amended. It just needed to be verbally stated fully what was

just start throwing rocks. I'll I'll catch now. Okay. So, it has been stated as so as stated and amended. Mhm. A point of order, mayor. Sure.

I uh have a question uh regarding the the common 30 days after adoption. In the past, we've done an emergency passage where it goes into effect immediately. And the only reason I ask that is because we have three businesses that are pending would have to wait another 30 days before we actually can adopt this or it goes into effect. Well, I I think I mean that's something you could choose to do, but I don't think they're actually to the point where they could get a license tomorrow if you did an emergency clause because like Mr. Spencer stated, they don't even have a location yet. So, it would take them some time, you know. So,

okay. Thank you, city manager. Thank you, Mayor. Yep. All right. So, Mr. Mayor. Yes, sir. I would make a motion to approve as amended and stated by Mr. Tubby. Second. Okay. And the motion to adopt resol or ordinance 2381 at a single meeting has been made by councelor Roberts and seconded by councelor Deron. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Motion passes unanimously. Way to go, ladies and gentlemen. Sorry, I'm trying to write all this down. All right. Resolution 2413 approving a purchase and sale agreement to sell 10 acres of land known as Cook 3A1 within the South Histon Industrial Park. Mr. Smith. Yeah, Mr. Morgan.

Yes, Mr. Mayor, members of the council, this evening we're going to be discussing resolution to approve uh sale of 10 acres of land in South Hermas Industrial Park. uh sale price comes out to $65,000 per acre and uh that would result in a profit of approximately $200,000. Just to give folks a sense of the area that we're talking about, this is showing Hermiston in general. You can see uh the red outlined area is what we would refer to as the South Hermiston Industrial Park. Overall, you can see the Walmart distribution center. In the bottom right, Feedville Road forming the the bottom portion inside of the South Industrial Park is what we have long referred to as our Cook Industrial Site. And this is uh outlining the Cook site in red. And that is an aerial of only 5 years ago. Uh nothing built on the Cook site. Uh so now this is zooming in a little bit more. So uh now the cook site's outlined in white and so now maybe the the numbering and naming terminology makes sense. So uh the white outlined portion is the cook site overall. You can see meer distributing has been constructed as well as two Amazon campuses under construction. And so uh continuing to market the area for development. We've labeled the northern area as cook number two and the southern area shown there as cook number three. And so specifically what we're talking about this evening is breaking down even further uh the cook number three site and we're uh looking to sell Cook 3A which is the 10 acres on the northernmost portion of Cook number three. So a little bit background on Cook 3A. Uh in January of 2024, city council approved uh to have uh the city of Hermiston purchase all 44 acres there

from Amazon Data Services. Uh that purchase closed in June of 2024 at a final price of just a little over $41,000 per acre. Uh at the time the direction was for staff to market the uh property for specifically uh job creation and economic development purposes uh for a period of 5 years. Um and to market that for those types of purposes as low as at cost plus whatever uh the interest would have been if uh the funds used to purchase it had otherwise been invested in the LGIP. Uh at the end of five years, uh if the city were to still own any or all of that 44 acres, uh the intention being to simply liquidate the asset um that for as high of a price as possible, uh with the goal of simply recouping uh the investment plus whatever the interest would have been. Uh so the proposal uh being brought to you this evening is to sell that northern 10 acres, cook 3A, at a price of $65,000 an acre. Uh the proposal uh by the the buyer is they intend to construct about a 30,000 square foot light industrial building. Uh they have some expansion areas and some potential uh plans drawn up for eventually expanding the building footprint itself up to around 95,000 square ft. Um and as part of this proposal, again, this would only be for Cook 3A. So the city of Hermiston would still retain ownership of the southern 34 acres. Just uh breaking the numbers down a little bit. So, the 10 acres would gross $650,000. After uh costs and fees associated with the transaction, estimated about $35,000, uh the net revenue coming back to the city would be about $615,000. Uh so if the net revenue coming in $615,000,

keeping in mind that uh that $41,000 across all 44 acres uh comes out to the cost of that 10 acres to the city was a little over $411,000. Uh so that gives us about a 20-month profit of about $23,000 or about 58% or annualized at about 35%. Uh, now I say I put profit in quotes there because I wouldn't say we've necessarily made a profit yet on the overall investment um because the overall investment was $1.8 million for the entire 44 acres. So, uh, recouping $600,000, $615,000 um, at that increase per acre certainly helpful uh, but it doesn't recoup the entire investment. So, uh, moving forward now, uh, marketing that final 34 acres over the next about 3 and 1/2 years, um, that leaves us with the ability to market that property, uh, as low as a price, uh, nearing $38,000. Uh, so actually less than what we paid for it. Um, and we could still break even plus interest. So, uh, that's kind of the the strategy for the remaining about three and a half years. and what I had to request council to um sort of agree with as we move forward. I' I'd like to continue marketing the rest of the property. Um I'd actually we had did have a an understanding that uh you know we're trying to market it for economic development. Uh but if we were to get u a speculator come by and offer us $75,000 an acre uh for the entire site, you know, we'd be remiss not to consider that. um based on the the market prices uh you know I actually look to increase that to $85,000 an acre um because just because the way that the the market for industrial land is going right now um so that leaves us the ability for what I'd consider to be job creation proposals. You know, somebody's coming and actually looking to uh develop the land, not just

hold it and and look to turn a profit themselves. Uh that would leave us the ability to sell that property for anywhere from 38 to $85,000 uh per acre. Um and also previously we had a minimum uh lot size of 10 acres. Um you know we've gotten quite a bit of um interest in purchases for less than 10 acres. Um you know and they're they are fairly aggressive and fairly high prices. So, um I would actually look to to increase again at least through June 2029, um the minimum lot size to 15 acres simply because there is real value economically for the community uh to retain that land in as large a parcels as we can. Um because we have plenty of really small uh acreage uh properties, but we need to retain those larger acreage properties for the larger job creators as we can. Uh so that would be the plan there. And then if again uh after June 2029 um if we still own any or all of the property, we'd recommend just simply liquidating it for the high the highest price, which again based off of the interest we've seen so far, I don't think we'll have any uh concern with recouping the original investment plus interest. So with that, I'd stand for any questions. Council questions Kelzo.

Yes, thank you. Have you got any idea of how many jobs might be created as a result of the sale of 3A? I don't. Okay. And you said it's light industrial. Do you have any idea what the nature of the company's businesses? I'd say uh they've been working through a broker, but I think we have a good understanding of who the the company is. I'd say they're a um manufacturer, fabricator, assembler of components that go into the cloud computing industry. So they're a ultimately a vendor supplier of the data center industry, but they're not a data center themselves. Uh they simply assemble and fabricate components that go into data centers.

Well, they couldn't have found a better location. Um is uh do you have any insight as to the timeline for the completion of a building on that? They've been working pretty extensively with us and I think um their construction folks would rather that their real estate folks had acquired this yesterday. Um, so I I think they're pretty aggressive in wanting to start construction as soon as possible. That's good to hear. Thank you very much. Y

other council questions public comment. Seeing that uh council comments councing like um I we've learned from what our forefathers have done at this city. uh you showed the picture to start this presentation with Walmart DC and the reason that we had this project is when Walmart DC was purchased there was a lot of excess land that they never utilize but it's still their property. So when we did this deal with the data centers we realized there was 44 acres that they're just not going to use. So what did the city do? They purchased that property hoping to investment and for a future purpose. And it is it is crazy. Like I almost got goosebumps right now. The fact that this this paid off. We're selling 10 acres of the 44 acres. We're we're making back more than what that the value of that property was. And now we're going to have a business here that's going to have family jobs. And it would have just been a waste of 44 acres, but the city turned around and was able to to do a great deal out of it. And so you guys sometimes I we say good job to you, but I really really really mean it. This is this is a an excellent plan, a super great idea that's just paid off. So, I hope that you guys can continue to find more investment into this, but we we made uh we made something out of nothing and I think that's really impressive.

Council council councel. Yeah, what he said. I mean, you guys have done it. you know, and uh this is very exciting for the growth of our city and I'm glad that you guys have the vision uh that the I think I hope the council shares uh that economic growth is what's going to drive our community forward and this is an excellent way to do that. Um well done to all of you. So, thank you very much, Council Dome.

Agreed. And thank you to the staff that also collaborates really well with uh possible business people that are willing to come to the area and working with them so that we don't have as many hurdles that they have to jump through in order for them to establish here. So thank you for that. I say ditto what they said but thank you sta city staff and stuff for getting jobs here and stuff. Thank you. Any other council comments?

Xerox. Okay. Um, can I get a motion to adopt resolution 2413? That is the correct number, right? Second and lay up on the record. Councelor Linton on a motion and councelor Hayward on second. No. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Motion passes unanimously.

Okay. Moving on. Resolution 2414. Review and approve master fee schedule update. Mr. Smith. Yeah. Uh since a majority of these B changes are in the parks direct department, Mr. Arts will give us a presentation.

All right. Mayor, city council, um before you I have uh just a quick presentation about our master fees schedule changes. There's uh quite a few changes just on the line items as you go through that document. I'm just going to kind of highlight uh some of those and um I'll try to get through each section and then please ask questions um as we go along if you have them um so we can kind of keep up with uh the different sections. So I'm going to first start with the aquatic center uh our splash pass fee adjustment. Our last update on this was in 2023 and um you can see our 2025 rates. So 23 through 25 uh on our family pass was one adult one child for 180 200 uh or excuse me one adult one child uh came out to $180 if you were to buy those individually. Uh one adult two kids was $200. And when you got to two adults two kids that converted you into our family splash pass. So that would be at $200. Um the reason we are putting this forward is we've had a lot of challenges with the family splash pass. Um our family pass was for inhousehold families only. So those who have resided in your household. But uh over the years over the the number of years we've seen accounts with friends, cousins, neighbors, um dogs. I'm just kidding. uh just, you know, people are kind of showing up with people who aren't related to them and they're on their their list and and it's when it's 105 degrees out, people want to get into the pool. You know, it's it's difficult to really we want to push people through the line, get them in, get them where

they're going. And so, uh having some challenges with that. Um again, it's it's difficult to enforce. um staff has been unable to effectively uh verify the eligibility without producing documents which is kind of a burden on the families and and uh producing those at the aquatic center and what are you going to do with those? Are they going to get wet and uh that and so forth. So uh it also created an inconsistency with an inequitable pricing as you can see at the top there. one adult, one child was $180 and a family was $200. Um, so I'm going to go through a a little bit of the numbers, but our program essentially runs June 12th uh through the Labor Day weekend. Last year, that was 77 days of operation. Um, and this is some a lot of information. There's our 2025 aquatic center recap that I give to our parks and recreation committee. Uh the significant numbers are there at the top. Uh splash passes sold. There was 362 splash passes that included family passes. I converted those. If we were to go to this model of individual passes, that would be 758 individuals. And of those uh member check-ins uh of those passes passes, we had 6,28. um of the 29,000 that actually paid admission uh last year. Um and so we're going to kind of move on here. So our u proposed fee adjustment is to go to an individual pass uh system. So if you were to come in and want one pass, it would be $85 whether you're a youth, a child, or an adult. If you came in with

two to three people to buy those pass, um, it would be reduced to 65. If you found 14 plus other people to bring in at one time to purchase these passes, we would give you a a volume discount of $50 per pass. And so, um, in our system, we're able to differentiate, uh, different passes. And so, you'd have your own account, and that's, uh, the way the passes would be set up. So the more you bring in um this this would grow great with our our youth groups campus life coming in with volume uh pass purchases and so you'd get a discount. And so looking at uh some of those changes. So one adult, one child, it was 180 last year. Um the proposed changes would be 130. One adult, two children would be 195. Two adults, two kids, 220. Um, and again, 77 days open. That's about, if you were to buy it just at $85, it'd be $110 per day to come in. Uh, for all those for 77 days. Um, now to recoup that as a child, it'd take you 17 visits. As a youth, 15 adult, 13 visits. But if you got the volume discount, those uh would go down uh those number of visits. So this solution um there's no need for that family confinement. Uh reduces kind of that misuse of the family passes. We're not um asking are you in the same family? Are you not? Um it kind of streamlines that front desk operations. Uh encourages uh different groups to register together. Bring your friends. Let's get a let's get a discount. And um you know it's customizable to what the family needs. if dad's never going to come, you know, you don't need to pay that that full family pass and and you

can reduce that. Um things that we've heard in the past. Um, on that is are there any questions before I go on to some of the other fees for Yeah, I did have a question on I guess what what is the is there any benefit or anything to do with the one adult one child or one adult two child or two adult two children. It looks like based on how you're streamlining the passes, I don't see a reason to have that, I guess. Or I guess what would the reason to have that?

That is just uh giving you a an example of if you if you brought in one adult and two children to buy your pass. This is what the cost would be. So it's all individual based. So one pass equals 85. Two to three passes is 65 and then it it goes down. So, I'm just giving you kind of a snapshot, an example of what it was last year at one adult and two children. Okay. At 200. This year would be 180. The pricing, you're just going to have the stuff that's in blue. You're not going to have Yeah. Thank you. Yes. So, that require that everybody have their own pass. Yes. Okay.

And that's how it is. That's how it is now is everybody gets their own their passc card and so they come in and and scan it and just an easier system for everybody scanning in. Yes. There is no residency requirement. So if the seven of us wanted to go together and buy a splash pass, we could and get the discounted rate for $50 a piece. Is that right? Correct. You guys up for that? Okay. Okay. Good.

C Roberts. Well, I'm a worst case scenario kind of guy. So, I'm thinking, okay, and I hate to say this, I'm going to put it out there. It's a suggestion to the public almost, but um let's say somebody goes on Facebook and says, "All right, let's all get together and 250 people show up, 300, 700. Are they all going to get the $50 rate? And at that price, are we going to be able to afford to operate if somebody's, you know, curious enough to do something like that?" That's that is a great question and and we look to serve the masses, but you know, we we'd be able to honor that. You know, maybe we need to do we need to put a cap on it of, you know, 50 people. Um, but again, we want to kind of honor that of we're going to this different system. Let's see how that works this year and and if if we get uh, you know, big volumes, then then we'll look to to do something different. But again, trying to encourage people to to come in and, you know, because there are a lot of individual pass um sales of just um one person coming in, they want a splash pass uh for this season. You know, in order to recoup some of those costs, we we can't go down a lot, but uh we want to be able to still operate. It's a great question.

Neighborhood passes basically. Oh, it's a great No, I I like it.

Great. And just uh Pendleton had um last year gone to this system and uh inquired with um Mr. Liam, director in Pendleton, and he said that, you know, there were some growing pains, but uh overall it was a better system that their staff is now running with. So, it'll be their second year on that. uh some other uh fee additions. So, um with that individual pass, uh just adding a a fitness pass add-on to it uh to that splash pass is going to be $30, very similar to what we've done in the past. Uh we updated our name from picnic shelter to picnic pavilion. We're kind of doing this all across our our shelters. Uh we're going to call them pavilions now. Uh just seems a a better uh language for that. And then um we have a new option. Uh we have an all day lazy river area rental. So that's down there in the the red and the yellow. Uh we added this last year and it was a great option for uh for large groups to come in and and have a dedicated space. Uh we have some new shade covers uh in that area. So another option for people to come in and have have space uh for their groups. Any other aquatic center questions before I move on? Great. Uh, moving down to the community center. Um, don't have actual a whole lot of actual numbers here. Um, that's all in that um, fee resolution changes, but um, some highlights there. We added a booking fee. And so anytime somebody comes in to to rent the facility, um we charge a booking fee that's non-refundable. Uh this is just kind of an administrative fee. There's people that book and then they cancel. And so some of that time and effort that uh

staff puts in there, that's what that fee is for. Uh we added a weekday small meetings and event uh section and those associated fees. uh just being able to differentiate diffiate our great room from uh weekend to weekday and uh the large and small events that that happen in that space. Uh we added staffing fees for after hours as our staffing fees are going up with minimum wage. Uh since 2023 it's gone up 6% and so we're seeing that over all the different areas that uh we're managing. Uh we also adjusted our large event insurance requirement. This is uh a lot to do with our private parties that come in with alcohol uh from $1 million to 2 million. Uh we looked at uh Event Helper where a lot of our renters get their insurance from and it's only an increase of you know 25 30 $30 on um the insurance policy. So a million to 2 million, that's a that's a that's a good jump and it would be able to cover, you know, if anything were to happen there. And so uh we're just putting that into effect. And then uh adjusted small medium rental rates and damage deposit fees uh throughout there. Any questions on the community center fee updates? Great. Seeing none,

uh, Festival Street, just a small change. Uh, our large uh, red tent rental went from $250 to $400. It takes my the park staff four guys to set up and four guys to tear down. So, uh, just to better align with the actual cost of that setup and tear down. Uh, the Harkin Rider Senior Center. um with our senior agreement, we're taking over all those rentals. And so we wanted to uh kind of update that and we we looked at what the seniors were renting and and we're very much in line with what they were doing and with uh with adding our fees into it. So we updated the updated the naming to uh the upper level is the terrace level and the basement level is now the garden level uh just to give some connotation to it and and to differentiate from the community center because we called the great room the great room in both areas and that was confusing. So we needed to go something different uh with the garden and basement and then the terrace levels. Um, we didn't have actual garden level rental fees in our last fee resolution. So, uh, we added the garden level rentals in there. We added the booking fee and then we updated our weekday and weekend event rental rates uh, as weekend rentals are are prime and and cost us a little bit more with staffing and then adjusted those fees based on uh, actual staffing and building costs. Yes. You talked about naming. So, it made me think when we went down to the basement of the Harkin Writer when it was still barely being constructed. I think there was like a naming process. You guys were looking for suggestions.

Did it end up getting named or No, we we never did end up naming it. Um, and that is open, you know, for our parks and rec committee or the city council to suggest naming. We just wanted to come in and give a baseline. Let's change the name in case we get some other suggestions along the way. So, uh, those are open to be named if there's suggestions. Bremer's available. I like Larry. Go ahead, Councel. Thank you. Is there still the flexibility to rent just perhaps the small room on the what we're now calling the terrace level? Yes, the boardroom. Yes. It's boardroom didn't change from boardroom to boardroom.

Thank you. Yeah, with that large area up top, is the kitchen able to be rented out with it? At this time, our agreement is um kind of based on requests from us. We'll receive a request from the renter and we'll pass that along to the seniors and see what their recommendation is. Okay. Seniors have a right to refuse. Yeah. Okay. No, I just I know somebody in the public's probably gonna ask.

Yep. Thank you. No questions. Great. And then lastly, we have uh a new fee, a special event permit fee. Uh so the the framework around this is we've seen a lot of increased usage of our park facilities uh for organized events. uh fund runs, uh things like that to where uh they're large organized groups using the parks and trails and open spaces. Um we have pavilion rental fees, but we don't necessarily have fees for using the Oxbow Trail or some of the other spaces that are out there. And so this uh would kind of standardize the the permitting um to be able to use those fees. So, um, number one, it, uh, allows us to, uh, see what kind of event is coming in. Uh, it kind of gives us some oversight and accountability of, of how the park's going to be used. Um, it aligns our event planning and what actual available park resources are out there. Um, if you know there's concerns about needing electricity or or restroom usage because they're planning an event for 500 people in a park that doesn't have available restrooms, we want to know that so we can help accommodate and and uh let them know that you probably are going to need to bring in some other resources. Um, and then ensure safe and coordinated use of our city facilities. uh some of those key outcomes that uh we want to see from this is it it aligns with our city ordinance requiring permits or in writing um organized and commercial use of the public park space. So, uh some there's a turkey trot fund run uh that the hack puts on every year.

um they charge a fee to do that and they're using city facility and we haven't ever charged them a fee to use that and so that just kind of standardizes that gives them permission to be able to use that without violating that ordinance. Um it establishes a consistent fair process for the park use review and approval. Um we're seeing increased usage of these public spaces whether we know about them or not. Um there's, you know, people conducting dog training at Riverfront Park that I heard about today. Um they're uh and they're being paid for it as a business. There's photographers going out and all sorts of usage of our park system. But as they these things grow, we want to be able to um see what's happening and be able to prepare for these big events that come in. Um, you know, it helps offset maintenance and operational impacts. The fee is very minimal. Um, how much does it offset? Not very much, but allows us some oversight of what's going on. And then it's just standard practice that other cities and and other districts are using um in growing park systems and people being entrepreneurs and and and wanting to use uh public spaces for um their different things. So, uh, yes.

So, if I'm a a senior in high school and I'm having my senior pictures taken at Riverfront, are you going to charge me $100 for that? No. Okay. This is uh for organized events above 25 people. Um, you know, we photographers go out and use our our beautiful park system and that's that's totally okay. It's it's um these organized events that are coming together of large uses. Okay. And this isn't a question, but I am glad to see that

there's a provision for 501c3 organizations for a 50% discount. That's Yes. That's nice. Thank you. Other questions? Thank you. And that's all I had. So, any more questions?

Final questions. Okay. On page 24 under garbage and recycling services 1B1, there's um the I want to know why there's a decrease in the cart per cart pickup. There it goes. Yeah. Um, that was just a clarification in the language because uh the it goes it's $12 per pickup per can for recycling for commercial for commercial accounts instead of a bimonthly and a monthly fee as it was written so that there's no confusion.

Okay. Thank you. M. Roberts,

I was trying to think about this special event fee and and kind of framing this. Um, how many events are you guys having to deal with where it um takes extra staff time outside of their normal working hours? I'd say there's just a handful. um five at the most throughout the year. Um but I can see that this may increase as we go along um of those things outside of actual staff hours. Okay.

Is the event tent rental limited to Festival Street? Is that the only venue in which that can be deployed? No. Okay. others. That's bro. If the school district wanted to use a facility, would they would be using it for free, right? Then we have a a city facilities agreement with both of them through our reciprocal agreement. Yes. Okay.

Is there Can I continue? Uh, is there if I guess if if I'm trying to think of an event, but if there was an event that caused like a lot of garbage, would there be like would would that be a discussion between you and and the organizers of the event or is there a fee associated with that? Because honestly, I'll just be honest, I'm not really a big fan of the the permit fee, the special event permit fee. But I can see I can see why. Um, and it's not really a lot honestly, but like I think of like the fun runs and stuff like the turkey trot that I went to and for the most part it's clean, but you know there might be people that drop trash and I I think most of the times that I've been to that event, it's been pretty clean, but I just I can see why. There's a lot of people and naturally when there's more people there's going to be probably more more garbage. And so, um, sorry, I want to stay focused on my question, I guess. um what would that look like if there was a if someone created a lot of trash or garbage? How would that look like?

Yeah, that's um a great question and and that'd be something we talk with the organizers and especially, you know, with the hack doing that every year. It's something that we can now plan for the next year. Okay. What are you doing different this next year that you didn't do this the the previous year that there was a lot of trash? Um, and you know, a lot of this this permit fee is a lot of it is my time. I I've been working with a local government agency recently on an event that they want at Riverfront Park. Um, asking a lot of questions, followup. I They filled out a form. They still have not gone to Riverfront Park to look at it. And it's like, okay, I need to help you through this process. And so some of that is is the time and effort into helping them throughout finding these resources and and recouping a little bit of that cost.

Thank you. Yeah, Hayward. Um on like some of the events that we know that happens every year, I think we should offer incentives. Say if they left to clean and less work for the city resources to do stuff, give them a discount next year or something because it encourages them to take care of the parks and clean and actually take responsibility.

It's great though.

Okay. Okay. Any other council questions? All right. Public comment. Any public comment on this? Seeing none council comments here, that's Roberts. I get why we're looking to I'm going to stick to the special event fee for just a moment. Um, and honestly, I'd like to separate that out from the rest of the master fee schedule personally because I can understand why the rest of the fees are going up. I don't like it, but we've got inflationary costs, we've got wages going up, that kind of stuff. It costs more for some of these services. Um, but one of the things that we consistently get, I think, uh, here as as city councilors and as staff, is you're raising our rates again. you're pushing our rates up and a lot of this stuff is stuff that's outside of our control, but this one I this special event fee I feel like is kind of in our control a little bit um with these larger events. Um not only um is the city having to to do the work anyway? Okay, we pay a base wage to to the workers and and we accept that as as a cost to the city. We we budget for that. Um, but it also we're bringing in economic benefit. These these events are bringing in people into our cities and they're spending money around. They're supporting our our local businesses. Um, and so I guess I'm I'm kind of I'm kind of worried uh on one hand that, you know, if if grandma and grandpa want to have their 50th wedding anniversary in a park and they bring, you know, 75

of their closest relatives, we're going to charge them a $100 fee and maybe most of them are residents, so they're they're are taxpaying citizens. They're already paying for the services to the park. That that just doesn't sit right with me. And so I guess um my thought for discussion anyway is I can see the non-residents if if if you have a a group come in and they're they're a non-resident but they're bringing something in and so they haven't contributed as as a taxpaying constituent um and and and it's going to cause more actual staff time. We actually have to have staff on site to oversight. I can see charging a fee for that, but um it just doesn't sit real well with me to charge our local constituents a fee for something that they already pay for. And so I guess one of my recommendations would be to have a lower cap on it at the very least. Um because the low cap right here is 0 to 500. I think um and zero to whatever number we want to set maybe shouldn't have any fee associated with it. But outside of that, I I do understand why we want the permit and I agree with the permit as a whole. It's just the fee that I have heartache over because um we we do need to plan. You guys do need to be able to to know when a big event's coming in and make sure that you can allocate staffing uh you know after the fact to know you know if Mackenzie Park had a great big thing okay your staff's going to probably have to take care of Mackenzie Park tomorrow rather than some of these others. Um and there is an opportunity cost as far as you know where you put those resources because it takes away from other things that they can do. I I get that. Um, I'm really having a heartache with with this fee in particular being something that we as the council actually have control over. And one of the biggest things we hear is stop increasing our fees. Um, I I don't know.

My thought is this is one where we can give our local people kind of a pass that our parks are there for their recreation. Um, I mean that's the whole reason they exist is to recreate. And if they want to, you know, get together and and have an event that not only is fun for them, but also has a benefit economically to the city, I don't know. I I think at some level we can we can eat a little bit of the cost because the benefit to the community outweighs our need to to recoup the minimal costs that come with that. That's just my thoughts. Councelor Hayward,

I have a second on what Josh just said. Hearing people out there constantly saying we're raising fees. We're raising fees. We're also raising fees on us as counselors. We're citizens. We're raising our fees too on that. But I also see it's a citizens are paying taxpayers for it. Should be able to use it for free. But also there's a cost of maintaining that property and stuff. If you leave it trash, somebody has to clean it up and stuff. That's why I kind of ask if we have vents that constantly keep repeating and they're doing excellent leaving the park clean, we should offer them a discount later, too. But I'm right there with Josh on that. Our citizens should be able to use these parks for a bare minimum fee if they're having big events, but they should be entitled to use them. Councelor Broom,

Mayor, I have a question, but if we want to go through comments for everybody first, but I did have a question. Okay, let's get finished.

Oh, I I would just like to say I mean, in the in thinking about somebody I mean, first, I don't think we define what we get for property taxes and what that's supposed to cover. I mean it's just it could be a wide range of things and we may have to walk those back and you know all those kinds of things. The other thing you know a hundred people or even 50 people in a park all at once are very different impact on that park than 50 people who just went throughout five days, you know. So that's the reason for this is to really try to figure out how we can handle that larger impact with everybody coming at once. And so that's that's just something in some of the concerns that you brought up I thought should come forward.

Okay. Thank you. Did you Maria? Okay. Uh Council Kel, you have comment? Yes.

Okay. I I understand your sentiments, councelor Roberts, and I do understand that the taxpayers do pay for the parks, but if you're having a large scale event, 25 or more people, I don't think a $100 doesn't seem unreasonable to me to as a permit fee. And I look at the larger end of this, if I'm a, let's say, tomorrow Jeff Kelzo, concert promoter, goes into business and I want to put on Woodstock 28 uh at at But Park, which seems like a good idea. Um, I think $200 for that rental of that that place seems uh very reasonable to me. So, I I do think it's a minimal charge and I think it it it makes sense and probably, to be honest with you, in most cases wouldn't even cover the time involved uh in having a a staff member from parks and w come over and just pick up the the litter that happens at any gathering of people more than a group of 25 or 50. So, I do agree with your sentiment. I do understand that the taxpayers already pay for this, but I think this isn't you walking your dog through the park. This is you having an organized event with a bunch of people that is going to cause litter. It is going to cause wear and tear on the equipment. And I I just don't see anything wrong with the minimal fees that are being proposed here.

CR. Okay. I had a question on the the tournaments part. I guess just I'm thinking of organizations. So like I think of like a hysl like soccer playing at the but or even lacrosse playing uh at Eotech. Would those be I guess subject to to a fee? This fee? No. Okay. Because we have uh field use fees. Okay. That are different than this than Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Appreciate that.

Any other council comments? I'm not against any fee at any point. I want to make that clear. I think if we had, you know, a thousand plus participants and they were putting on a concert, as you say, which again is a great thing. I agree. Um, then yeah, there there's there's going to be some some thought behind that. And and honestly, at that point, we would be probably involving additional city staff and something like that. And so I'm talking about the the things that don't really require um additional time by city staff than what they're already being compensated for. Now granted, I know that's more work. I get it. I'm not I'm not, you know, saying that that's not unfair to a certain point, but um whether whether they empty five garbage cans or they empty 15 garbage cans, we've still compensated them for that day. there's no additional cost to the city for them to do that work aside from the fact that we're pulling them from other stuff that they could do for that day. And so that's where my rub is is, you know, if if if it's an event that brings people together, it brings them in and it doesn't cost us anything really out of pocket because they haven't really damaged anything. Um, we were going to empty the garbage cans anyway and and it's even a bonus if they do pack everything out and and leave the park clean. That's where I I kind of just feel like we we don't need to charge people for that. Um and that's I guess maybe part of it too is that 0 to 500 just seems broad as far as um for what it looks like um for the number of participants. Um, again, I

I don't know what the the magic number is, but um I just I just think this this you know what what are we looking to solve with this fee? And and that's really I guess what I'm looking at. And if if it's because we want to recoup costs um above and beyond what we're we're already budgeted for, then I get that. But to a certain level, we've already budgeted for for some of the work and the upkeep on the park. And so if it doesn't impact that, then I don't see need to charge extra. And that's that's kind of what I'm getting at. customer.

Event planning takes a lot of work. Bringing people together, emailing people back and forth regarding clear instructions, um, you know, information that you're sharing back and forth. I helped put on a resource fair that brought 33 vendors at Hermiston High School. The work began way back in December. The event took place March 11th and through that time frame there was a lot of stuff, a lot of emails going back and forth. Um, so I can understand that there's a lot of time involved between the time that they contact staff to gather information to the time that it takes place. So, I I believe that it's he's trying to also include that time that staff is already spending. Um, and also, yes, employees might be there for the weekend already working, but you're they're also generating more more garbage, more uh yeah, more garbage that the city probably has to pay more. I am conflicted though that um I certainly don't want those celebrations to stop happening you know like the anniversaries or um gathering of I don't know high school when people come together you know to celebrate their graduations or things like that. I am conflicted about that, but um I don't know what the right answer is right now. I wondered if the it could be broken down a little bit lower from zero to 100 perhaps having a lower fee like

$50. Um, I don't know if that would be sufficient because I also do want to honor your time, staff time, but so I'm not proposing to change it. My question to you uh would be how does this compare to other cities? Do other cities around us have implemented this?

Great question. And let me clarify here. These fees are for a special event. So a vendor event, a a commercial event coming into our park system. If you want to rent the picnic pavilion for the 75th anniversary of such and such, there's a fee associated with that and you are allowed to have that picnic pavilion. But this is for the special event that's coming in like uh Kel's Woodstock. um you know the fun run also stock. Yeah. The

the organized events that are coming in and using the parks above and beyond what a typical informal use of uh the the pavilions or or anything else is. So I just wanted to clarify that and if if that's not clarified then we can certainly go back and look at the language to make sure that's that's in there. Um now back to your question uh Mr. on. Yes. I looked up some of the other uh spaces. Um you know, Westland $150 for uh permit fee. Sublimity $50, Lincoln City $50. Ashland's $130, Sandy is $100. And so they're they're kind of wide ranging on what uh these special event again special event application permit fees are going towards. Now again, the the the anniversary in the park, you know, the graduating seniors, that's a picnic pavilion rental, and that's that's totally okay. That's that's what those are there for as well.

Thank you for clarifying that. Just a question on that topic, too. Says somebody wants to just throw a birthday party up at Fun Park with 30 kids and just use a picnic table. Would they have to get this? That's I think that's kind of where we're getting at.

No, this and that's not a a commercial. They're not selling anything to other people. They're not they're not bringing in people. Hey, you have to pay to come into this this birthday party. It's it's those those special events that are requiring more from it. Not um not not your typical pickup birthday party. And I guess that hits right to the point of uh where I I think the language is a little bit ambiguous in my mind anyway. Um a special event is required for organized events. What is organized mean? Um uh held in city parks regardless of whether admission, registration or per permission uh participation fees are charged. That to me is where I was thinking about the wedding anniversaries, the birthday parties. Um, and then the examples include but are not limited to. And so I could see those falling in there. So personally, I I when I read it, I was thinking about those anniversaries and birthdays and low-level family gettogethers or even just community, you know, even a small uh block party. Three or four houses get together and want to go have a barbecue and we're only using a couple of picnic tables and really not having a huge impact on the park. But, um, th those are the ones that I was kind of mulling in my mind that I didn't want to to see a fee charged for. Um, I totally get if you have a commercial event, it's it's fair game, you know, got to pay to play sometimes and and that's part of business and and so I I get those. it was these other ones that that I personally, unless the council feels otherwise, I feel could have a little bit of more uh uh direct language to to help identify. But

and I guess I would just like to apologize to you for not being a great contributor to the conversation here. I missed the last parks and wreck um committee and I think this is this would have been the meeting where you would have shared this information and uh probably with all the questions that we asked there, you know, I would have been able to answer some of the things or would have been able to comment um better on what is being discussed tonight. So, I do apologize for that. I did have a work commitment, but I just wanted to say that for the record. Messle,

when I read the the sentence in the in the proposed language here that says, "Permits are required even if the event is free if it involves a large organized gathering or use of park space that requires coordination, oversight, or cleanup beyond normal park use." That sounds to me as though it leaves some discretion uh to the parks and recck director uh to determine whether the event, the proposed event, is going to require that. So, if I'm organizing mom and dad's 50th wedding anniversary and I want to have it in the park and I say, "Brandon, I I want to have this event. I don't foresee it having a huge impact on you or your staff time." Um, you could possibly say, "Yes, I think I agree with that." And there will be no fee assessed. Is that correct? That's correct.

Okay. Thank you. Any other council comments? what they said. Okay. So, I heard you had a thought, but do we want do you want to just go with I don't I don't have any comment on that one. I it's my me personally I believe that uh you know I I I understand I understand your point and I and I and I see your point. My thought on this one is is that um you know we if nothing I mean you know in a in a perfect world we wouldn't need to do this but unfortunately we don't live in a perfect world. um you know we could you know institute a deposit you know cleaning deposit cleaning fee like we do with with some of the other things but you know bottom line is is that the money is going to you know whether it's going to be there or not so um you know you've it's been you know um Mr. Arts has has went has went so far as to explain that, you know, there are there's already, you know, for for all intents and purposes, there's there is a buildout for for uh small, you know, for personal events as opposed to commercial or or uh um u you know, larger organized events. And so I think I think like we do with the police department, we give we give the uh the uh parks and recck department that the discretion to make the decision as to, you know, what is what is and what isn't uh necessary to go into the fee structure. So

yes, sir, Mr. Mayor, I'd like I'd like to make a motion that we adopt resolution 2414 as presented. Second. Second. Okay. Motion has been made to pres to uh adopt resolution 2414 as presented and by councelor Kelso and seconded by councelor I believe was Deron got it first. Yes, she got it. Uh roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Motion passes unanimously. All right. Uh, resolution 24:15 approving an equipment procurement for UV disinfection equipment at the recycled water treatment plant. Mr. Smith and Mr. Morgan. Mr. Morgan.

Yes. Uh, Mr. Mayor, members of the council, this evening, we're asking you to approve uh this resolution to pre-procure some uh sanitation equipment at the sewer treatment plant. Uh total project cost uh for just the procurement portion is $681,000. Uh this is a little bit different than some of our contracts because uh this does not actually install the equipment. This is just us purchasing the the equipment uh before bringing on a general contractor to install it. Uh that's largely because of the long lead times involved with this type of equipment. Um, and so we need to order that now in order to meet some, uh, DEEQ deadline requirements coming up in 2028. Uh, a little bit of background. Uh, so our sewer treatment plant, also known as our recycled water treatment plant because we do not waste any water, we just recycle it. U, it discharges class A treated effluent. Um, in the, uh, during the growing season, we discharge it to the West Extension Irrigation District. Uh but during the non-growing seasons, we discharge the water to the Umatella River. Um and the final disinfection uh process that we currently use before discharging it to either one of those options is uh to treat the water with chlorine before uh discharging it. Uh with our new um NPDS permit, which NPDS permits are periodically updated and uh new requirements are added as uh laws change. With our new NBDS permit, uh we're required to eliminate chlorine byproducts from our discharge by 2028. Uh chlorine byproducts are essentially just the components left over of chlorine um after it's gone through the process. Um so we're being required to eliminate those from what we discharged to the Matella River by 2028. Um additionally though, this isn't being driven entirely just by um the NPDS permit. uh you know we've seen at the recycled water treatment plant our uh chemical costs mainly driven by chlorine

uh go up significantly over the past five six seven years. Uh additionally uh we've experienced at least a couple of uh shocks in the supply chain here just in the last couple of years uh that have given us uh pretty significant concern about our chlorine supply um just from a supply uh standpoint. And then uh finally, chlorine gas is dangerous and hazardous substance and um it's dangerous to our employees and there's been uh at least one instance of a near miss with some potential dangers from just handling chlorine gas out of the recycled water treatment plant. So there's a number of reasons for uh moving to this change to disinfect using ultraviolet light. Uh so the uh UV light disinfection uh project was uh adopted into our capital improvement plan several years ago. Um as I mentioned, there's long lead time associated with acquiring that equipment. So we're moving forward with ordering the equipment now and then we'll issue a a bid for a contractor to come in uh later and install the the uh materials once they're acquired. Uh with that construction and installation occurring uh sometime in 2027. Uh because of the really specific um and kind of niche equipment uh style of uh of this equipment, uh we uh issued a request for proposals rather than uh just uh typical bid uh situation. And so from those proposals, we received two proposals. One from Glasco for $681,000 and one from Enqua for $1.2 million. Uh Anderson Perry's reviewed both of those proposals and they feel very comfortable with the proposal from Glasgow and so we'd recommend awarding the contract to Glasco. Stand for any questions. Council questions. Councelor Kelso.

Yeah, that's quite a price difference in those two proposals. Do you know what the rationale behind that is? Um so there's a number of different components. I mean they're really I mean I don't want to say they're apples and oranges. Um, but they're uh it's not like there's a standardized process for these UV systems. So they're they're two totally different styles of achieving the same thing. And so um in doing their analysis, Anderson Perry felt confident that the Glasco system meets all of the criteria that we listed out in our proposal process. And frankly, they feel like we're getting a it's a better system. That's her, bro.

Sorry, I'm also having issues with the button. I was about to ask a question. I was but I think you basically said it and looking at the Anderson Perry comparison, they rate Glasco a lot higher yet it's half the price. So, it sounds like we are getting a better deal.

Yeah. And and I think one of the components is, you know, it's intangible. Um, but I think Glasco is predominantly based on the east coast. Um, and in aqua is based on the west coast. Um, and so I think for communities of our size in our region, um, you know, there's something to be said for being first. I think, um, Glasgow as a company it seems like is just gunning really hard to to get kind of a foothold, you know, with us on the West Coast. And so I think we're reaping the benefits of that. Any other questions? I have one uh in in regards to um replacement parts are I mean, you know, is there is is their stock basically easily obtainable as opposed to any other system?

Yeah. Yeah, and that was actually one of the things that Glasco actually scored better than Inqua on was the ability to obtain replacement parts. Perfect. All right. Uh, public comment. Seeing none, council comments. Seeing none, can I get a motion to adopt resolution 2415 and lay upon the record? Motion to adopt. Second. And motion by councelor Hayward, second by councelor Roberts. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Motion passes unanimously. 6. Next. Resolution 2416. Authorize sewer loan application. Mr. Smith. Mr. Morgan, please.

Yes, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. This evening, we're asking you to approve uh resolution 2416 pertaining to uh authorizing staff to secure a loan in the sewer department. Uh this resolution would authorize uh submitting and approving uh the and processing the components for applying for a $ 1.5 million loan. Uh specifically, that $ 1.5 million would be a portion of a much larger sewer project. Uh so uh this would allow us to leverage approximately $4.2 million in private investment. Um as and then additionally as part of that loan application uh we anticipate that approximately $1 million of that loan uh would actually become what the state likes to call a forgivable loan uh which is also known as a grant. Um so this would allow us to uh experience pretty significant expansion in our sewer service area for approximately $500,000. So, uh, city of Hermiston recently annexed about 800 acres of industrial land south feedville road area. You can see that loosely outlined in yellow on the map. Uh, we are also now working with a private development on a uh new development in that area. Uh, generally highlighted by that yellow star there. And so they need um sewer connection mainly just for employee flushing and some minor maintenance components with their industrial process. And so they have two options. And so that white line there uh roughly indicates uh one option that would take their sewer to the east. Um and then there they have another option which is uh a little bit longer but more simple uh to take it west and to the north. And so, um, the one to the east I would label as option A. The one going to the west I would label as

option B. Uh, the option A route costs about $4.2 million. Option B costs about $5.7 million for a margin of about $1.5 million. Uh, between the two. Uh, there's a number of benefits uh going the option A route that uh are completely lost if we go the option A route. Uh, one is not the least of which being uh we've actually been through this um process in the past and city council has actually already authorized u staff to pursue nearly identical loan for a nearly identical uh sewer route for the Prairie Meadows um housing development which was about a 13 home 1300 home subdivision uh generally shown there. Um ultimately that um subdivision development kind of collapsed under its own weight. Um, one of those pressure points being just the cost of, uh, expanding sewer down into that area. So, uh, this would allow us to to run sewer right past, uh, an area that we've been trying to justify the cost of running sewer to for for many years. So, uh, that's one benefit. Uh, additionally, uh, the area outlined in the dashed yellow line is our urban growth boundary. Uh, areas that are outside of our city limits, but inside of our urban growth boundary. And so uh that's uh generally uh planned for residential development. And so uh similarly to the Prairie Meadows development uh extending sewer in Highway 207 through that area uh would also help to facilitate future uh residential development by extending utilities which are costly to extend out into that area of future residential growth. And then additionally in that area, it's a pretty significant source of uh nitrate contamination in the groundwater um as a result of septic system drain fields. And so uh bringing sewer uh services through that area helps to facilitate easier connection of at least

um 50 existing homes inside of the urban growth boundary in that area which are currently on septic systems um and would have an easier ability to to hook onto the city's uh municipal sewer system. Uh so the proposal would be for um the private company to cover u an amount equal to what the option A option would be uh with the city picking up the the difference of approximately $1.5 million in order to leverage uh significantly more beneficial uh sewer out for the the public. Um so the total that city would be on the hook for is $ 1.5 million. um the loan that we have presented to you this evening uh through DEEQ includes up to a million dollars of loan forgiveness um if we adhere to the terms of the loan. So the out-of- pocket portion um to the city of Hermiston's um utility reserve would be about a half million dollars. Um but for a kind of a sense of scale uh the Prairie Meadows development at 1300 homes uh we charge system development charges to all new um developments and construction within the city. Um, at our current rate for just the sewer portion of our system development charges at $356 a piece, uh, spread across 1300 homes, that would nearly recoup, um, the entire, uh, portion of the city's cost, uh, just from that one development. So, uh, ultimately, I feel pretty good about the ability for this project to largely cover a lot of its expense while leveraging a a pretty significant uh, beneficial expansion to the system. Uh so with that uh we'd ask you to approve uh resolution 2416 uh so we can move forward with this loan application and get some pipe in the ground. I'd stand for any questions.

Hward uh questions. Would this increase homeowners sewer cost and stuff eventually in the future stuff because of this? No. Mr. Councel, you mentioned that this is a $ 1.5 million loan from the DEEQ, and you you keep referencing this loan forgiveness, which is great, but it's up to a million dollars. How and when does that get determined what the loan forgiveness amount is?

Yeah. So, we have to go out, we have to build it, borrow the money, and then once the the construction project is complete, that's when DEQ verifies to make sure that we actually did the project the way that we said we were going to do. So, we have to front the the construction. And then at that point, is it pretty much guaranteed that we get a million dollars back or what? There's never any guarantees. Uh but in talking with the DEEQ staff on our original application uh that we did two years ago for Prairie Meadows and again on this one, uh they feel confident that it'll be at the million-doll threshold. And is there any interest associated with the loan that the city would be?

Um there is interest associated with it. Uh I think it it ends up being close to what the market rate is at the time that they issue their bonds. Okay. Thank you, Counc. Um, is there someone interested in developing this area at this time? Yes. Thank you, M. Roberts.

Kind of a two-part, I guess. Um, how much is in the utility reserve fund and will this affect um short-term or long-term any any additional or future projects? Yeah. So, there's uh multiple different components to the utility reserve uh fund, but uh the portion that this would be uh coming out of would have ample reserves still remaining in the the fund uh going into this next fiscal year. Uh so, we don't have any concerns about it jeopardizing any future projects. Are we under any specific time crunch to be able to apply for the loan forgiveness grant?

Um they do have a a window for applying that is the middle of April. Um but that's a window that opens and closes several times throughout the year. So um they just like to to bunch their applications up. But this is as again since we had applied for it and and been authorized for it by DEEQ a couple of years ago, it's something that is fairly easy for us to come back and continue to apply for. And are these funds that could easily be cut at the federal level at some point like some other programs have? Not I'm not sure where the source of DEEQ's funds are.

Any other questions, Mr. Kel? Thank you. You mentioned that perhaps putting the sewer line in might get 50 homes off of septic systems and onto our city sewer. Is there already city water serving those homes? No. And would there be any requirements to have the property annexed into the city to receive city services? They would have to annex. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Mr. When would you hear from folks about having to be annexed into the city? What are what would be some of the push back?

Uh they would seek to annex into the city when um sewage begins to come up in their yard. That's typically when they come to us when their septic system fails. So So we're not out there soliciting. Um the failing septics do that work for us. Any others? So um the way this is the way this is written for the longer version we get basically all that access sewer for 10% of uh what it would cost us to put it in to have access for everything on top of that instead. Yes.

So 10%. 10 cents on the dollar. Yeah. Thank you. Public comment.

Thank you. When I was living in Portland, uh, and we had to hook up to the city sewer, we did have to pay for that cost. Would those homes that are on sewer have to pay to hook up as well? Generally speaking, anybody that hooks on to our system pays for the cost. Okay. So, they would be required to do that. Yep. Okay. I just wanted to make sure that that was brought up. Thank you.

Any other public comment? Council comments. Council Roberts. 10 cents on the dollar to run a line to an area that we have been trying to develop for at least two decades or more. I think that's a no-brainer in my opinion. Okay, other council com. I agree. This seems like one of those opportunities when you have to strike while the iron's hot. We have the opportunity. We can make this happen for very little money comparatively speaking. So, I'm all in favor of this others.

And one of the things over the years that we've patted ourselves on the back for and our administration patting them, you know, giving them credit for is purchasing things ahead of time before we need it. And I think this is this is going to be one of those situations where getting getting the getting the infrastructure in place now before before it's it's required is going to be a huge benefit to the development of that that particular section of town. So I uh I don't want to call it a no-brainer, but uh I think it's a I think it's a pretty darn good idea. So, all right. Uh, see who's going to do it first? Can I get a motion to adopt resolution 2416 and lay upon the record?

Motion to adopt. Second. I would have bet. Uh, count been motioned by councelor Hayward, second by council Roberts. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. And I would vote yes if I could. But I can't. Okay. Uh, next up, 2417. Boy, we're getting close on time, aren't we? Uh, okay. Um, well number six, chlorination structure contract award. Mr. Smith, Morgan. Morgan.

Uh, yes, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. Uh, I know I just got done, uh, telling you how terrible chlorine is, but here we are. We're going to be investing in a chlorine project. So, uh, trust me, there's some logic to it. So, uh, I'll go quick. Uh, resolution 20 2417 is um, uh, resolution to authorize spending $630,000 awarding a contract for constructing a chlorine building at well number six. Is that a lot touchy, didn't I? No. So, uh, that's a picture of the existing chlorine building at well number six. And, uh, the best way to describe it is the the floor is rotting from the chlorine. uh the structures currently uh and has long been under utili or unders sized um for what it's used for and one of the things it's used for is to store chlorine um and so the same um supply chain issues that I mentioned previously with regard to the recycled water system uh obviously get experienced also by the the water system as well as at the aquatic center and others. Um, one of the things that makes this a little bit different than the um, wastewater side of things is um, when we experienced those um, supply chain disruptions um, the um, because of the critical nature of uh, chlorine supply um, it's somewhat regulated and so the the suppliers actually prioritize uh, drinking water systems over wastewater systems. Uh so there is a scenario where if chlorine is uh in a shortage uh they can more easily cut off the wastewater side from receiving any chlorine while they prioritize uh water systems. Um but we do still like to because sometimes there's uh slowdowns and challenges getting uh delivery of chlorine. Um we've found it challenging to have enough space to store those chlorine canisters uh particularly up at well

number six. So that's part of what this um this project is to do. Uh so this has been you know a long long been a problem uh nearly 10 years now since our first capital improvement plan was adopted. So uh this project has been included in the adopted capital improvement plan since uh the first one in 2017. Uh it's been a long project uh to design uh but we finally put it out to bid. We received uh several good bids. um uh the low bid coming in from Cine Construction at $630,000. So with that, I'd stand for any questions. Council questions other than about how bad chlorine is.

Councel, it seems to me that typically when you're try storing deadly chemicals like this, there are a lot of codes and building things involved. That fiberglass shot can't meet any of those codes, I wouldn't think, at this point. Is that true? I I yeah, I would agree. And and that's also why I I would not um recommend looking at the price of this building that we're proposing to to construct and run a price per square foot and compare it to your house because it's uh yeah, there's a lot of codes involved. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.

Other council questions? Seeing none, public comment? Seeing none, council comments. Seeing none, can I get a motion to adopt resolution 2417 and lay upon the record? Motion to adopt. Second. Councelor Hayward on the motion. Councelor Duron on the second. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Motion passes 6 and unanimously. Next up, future of the Carnegie building discussion.

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, it's been a long night. Thanks for doing all that. All those projects seem to just come together all at once, so we need to keep them keep them moving. But this is also something we've been working on for a little while. And so, want to walk through a few items. Uh, we'll talk a little bit about the building itself and kind of where we're at with it. talk about some surveying we did through the fall of last year and then talk about a few interested groups that we've been approached by and then kind of talk about where do we go uh next steps from here. So the Carnegie building built in 1918 11 years after the city was incorporated one of 1700 libraries in the US funded by Andrew Carnegie uh improving literacy and and trying to build communities. This building served as our library until the mid to late 80s uh when the library moved into the building they're currently in. Since that time, it's been used for city offices or as a temporary library and there may have been some other uses that I'm not aware of in that time period. And another item of interest, it is not on the national register of historic places, but it is on a local register of historic buildings that the city has put together. It's one of five buildings. So, there are some additional requirements to develop it or to make any alterations to it if u if those are to affect the exterior of the building. So, what are we going to do? What are we going to use this for? Now, it's been a great asset for a number of years. What are we going to how's the community going to continue to benefit from that investment? So, in the 2025 legislative session, uh we received a million-doll allocation uh to help us with this effort. Uh the civic leadership academy

class of 2025 did a study of these of options and what we should do and how to reach out to the community. We tried to follow a lot of those ideas. Um you can see a few of those items there that came up through just discussions and then one of the items we did is an online survey. Um this uh gu it was actually a mix. It was an online and paper survey uh about 181 participants. It went through August through from August through November of last year. And we sometimes went I I I spoke to various groups about this. I took paper copies of the survey, handed them to folks so they could fill them out and then we inputed them into uh the system, but I spoke to the Hispanic advisory committee, the Harkin writer. I went over there and and spoke at a lunch uh spoke at all the service clubs and so tried to get out and talk to as many different folks as we could. And here's the the results. Now, the these percentages seem odd because you could pick three. So, the percentages don't all work out uh like you want them to with your brain, at least if your brain was like mine. Um, but the high points, history, arts and culture, and youth related services are something that uh the people would like to see in the in the Carnegie building. what are the values that should be kind of guiding this next decision- making. So, preserving history, supporting local arts and culture, uh stronger community, family-friendly programming, those are again the the highlights uh the strong points of the values that should guide this.

So, how important is it that the Carnegie building is continue to be used by the p for the public? So, I think it's very strong there. You got a almost 90% that's very important or important that says it should be a public building still. So, they don't want us to sell it and let a let somebody use it in that way. This one's hard to read, but this is again showing um culture, historical preservation, uh arts and education, and uh community engagement were the top three areas uh in this out of the survey. Again summarizing those results, keep it for public use, historical and youth with if you take that last um and that last slide came from the the written comments. It was kind of trying to categorize all those. If you take that you it probably leans historical if you're going to try to do something with the building and try to interpret uh the the feedback that we received. So, as we were reaching out and talking to people and even before the actual outreach, um we've been approached and had conversations with a number of different groups that are interested. Uh the first one that came forward was the Hermiston Historical and Cultural Society and that their idea was uh to create some kind of a Hermaniston specific museum uh using the building. Uh the council had a conversation in February of 2023 with that group. And the next one uh that we received was a uh the idea of making a community arts center and that was put forward by a local artist uh that has participated

with the Pendleton Arts Center and and other um art related venues. Then the the next one is a community discovery center which uh is focused on youth education. Um supporting all families but probably targeting um homeschooling families in particular but offering services to all um that would be uh interested. It's a nonprofit called Thought Bubbles. Then the last uh one that we've had conversation uh is related to education and emergency response from the Hermiston Amateur Radio Club. Um and so all four of these are really they're each very different and they have a different uh mission and and um kind of ideas and goals. So, what I'd like to start with is just hearing the feedback from the council, any discussion, and then I do have some ideas or suggestions about where we might go with next steps or if you'd like to hear those first, I'd be happy to offer those. Excuse me, councelor.

I would like to hear those ideals first so we can have an idea what you're thinking. Okay. If the rest of the counselors is left with that,

I got it. All right. What what I would suggest is that to get a better idea, you've each seen some written materials, I think, from each of these groups and and it's been a while since the uh the museum group uh spoke to the council. So maybe scheduling each group for some set time in a work session to give a more detailed presentation about those about their ideas and thoughts uh for use utilizing the building and as kind of a parallel process to authorize staff to start maybe getting some consultants on board to get start getting an idea of what we're going to need to do no matter what the use is. what are we going to need to do to the building to get it um kind of up to speed? There's some of it, you know, the city just put on we put on a new roof in the last six or seven years and you know, we've done some work on maybe some of the HVAC, but what's the extent? And so I think we need to do a thorough evaluation of that no matter what we chose to go forward. And that would be a way that we can utilize some of that uh grant from the state to start getting an understanding and maybe even start some preliminary designs as you're looking at what that future use uh might be. And then also take a little time and evaluate whether do we want to put this building on the national register. there are some thing, you know, there's benefits, there's pros and cons to that. And so having somebody kind of give us a an evaluation that we can look at and see if that's a a wise thing to do uh with with the with the building. So those are my thoughts. Um be open to any input, feedback on what that might look like.

Councelor Roberts. Uh, I definitely think some work session time would be great. Um, were you thinking a a work session, full work session for each or breaking it down into a couple? I was thinking maybe 30 minutes for each group, you know, so you could do two groups in a session and then, you know, another week do another two groups and Okay. Frankly, doing this might cause some other folks to come out and be interested. I I I don't know. And then do you need a motion to authorize you to begin the process of evaluating the systems?

Yeah, I think I'd like some Yeah, I'd like some consensus direction through a motion or something that we could then we can go and we'd still be coming potentially coming back with a contract depending on what that would cost and and those kind of things, but we haven't done any of that work up to this point. Okay, other questions. Um, what would it take? Do you have an idea what how long that could take to be on the national or

it it's a lengthy process. I It's been a long time since I've been involved, so I'm not sure how long it takes, but um, in another city, we we did some of that kind of work and it it took a little while. Mhm. Kessle is so as part of the evaluation would that um include an evaluation of how ADA compliant the building is? Yeah, I think taking a look at all of that. Okay. We had done some a few years ago when we remodeled the the we like to call it the executive level. So we're following the the the new marketing plan example of the parks department. Yes.

The the executive level of the the building just and so we had done some of that but we need to do that again and and kind of ver find the best way to provide ADA access particularly to the lower floor. And do we know if there's uh if there are any asbestous issues in the building? That would be another thing to and so this would be kind of deeper than a normal like a home inspection you might do. It be it really be would be really looking at detail. What what are we going to need to do if we try to do a major renovation to this property? Okay. Thank you, Council.

Okay. I do have a question. Um, do we have any buildings facilities in the city that are already registered on the National Registry? I don't believe so. We have none none that are listed. So, this would be a first if if that were to choose to go that way. Yes. Counc Roberts. Uh, in short, what are some of the benefits of being on the National Register?

You you do qualify potentially for federal funding in different ways. It's not a not like it's a lot of money. I'm not, but there are some grant programs that that are available. And it also uh the state does have some programs that would allocate money, give priority to someone to a building or a facility that's listed versus one that just might be eligible.

Isn't one of the main drawbacks though that you you lose the ability to do anything to the facade? It has whatever you do has to keep it like the historical photos or the evidence that we have of what it was like when it was constructed. Thank you. Any other questions? Public comment. All right. comments. That's true.

I do like the idea of hearing more from each of the people that have come to provide ideas. I think it um gives them the opportunity to expand more and refresh our memory. I know it's been a while since we kind of heard from the groups. Um I I think it would be so beneficial. We learn a lot from that and we also respect um the fact that they are passionate about something and then that they want to share their idea. So I very much in favor of that and thank you for thinking ahead and providing us with um the next steps.

Um after my trip to D just coming back from DC, I looked at the local library that was right across our hotel. It was a national uh library that Apple store took over and remodel. So it's a nation. I think taking a look at getting it on the national registry and all these ideals would be a great ideal. That library was a Carnegie library as well. Yeah. In fact, I sent Lily a picture of it. I don't know whether So other comments, council Kessle,

I guess I'm glad Apple hasn't put in a proposal in on this. Um, um, I I also think it's a good idea to hear from the the various groups that have applied. I think it'd be interesting. Um, and I I like the idea that it doesn't seem like all of the proposals are mutually exclusive. There are three levels to the building and it's possible we could adopt more than one of the proposals and have that work. Oh, two. There's only two. Level. Oh, there are two levels to the building. And it still is possible. Yeah. Unless you got an executive basement down here. got on the roof. Is Is there an attic I could move into

for cheap rent? Um yeah. Um but they aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. There could be any one of these operations could still leave room for a public meeting space that's usable during off hours or or whatever. So I do like that idea and that concept of um killing more than one cat with multiple stones. I don't know that that all went wrong for me, but I think you get what I meant there. You're getting tired. Any other council broom? What are we getting late?

Uh, I think it would be a great idea for the whole council to hear. I I mean, I remember all four of the presentations and and quite honestly, I do favor the historic building a little bit more. Uh much like councelor Hayward was saying uh just being even at the nation's capital and and seeing a lot of art um seeing a lot of historic uh monuments it it does give something it's something that I feel like we're lacking. Um and I do like the idea of preserving our history. Honestly, I was going to bring this up in council comments, but I'd love to even see the pictures of the mayors that we've had in the past. Uh we don't have that right now and I know that we had that in our last city hall building. Um, but just a little bit more history, it'll it will cause people to like stop and and look and and appreciate. Um, and so I feel like we it would be great to for us to tell our story.

Any others? My turn. Okay, cool. Um, I I I hate to, you know, say I same thing as them. So, but uh you know my thought is as on this is as we've talked about you know is it is a historical building plain and simple and I keeping it in in that context as opposed to making it something other than a historical building I think would be a shame to to say the least. You know um a museum or a cultural center or a combination thereof absolutely. Um but to to make it anything other than you know the historical significance that it becomes as I said you know as was brought up you know that was one of the one of the things that I saw you know I mean literally we walk out of the hotel room in in Washington DC and there is a Carnegie library right in front of us. And so, you know, it was it was to me that that just kind of that just kind of sealed it in my my mind that you know, this is you know, we've got something in our in our front yard that Washington DC has in their front yard and to uh you know to to make it our own and to keep it our own and to keep it as as a historic and I and I think that making you know looking at the registry of of historical places or you know, making it a national thing that we have since we have nothing of that nature. We have no museums to speak of. We have no historical significance buildings that are listed as such. And I think I think that's a shame. And so I I would love to see us move forward with something like that. So, I believe we would need a motion to um authorize staff to begin the process of evaluating systems and begin preliminary designs.

So, move. Second. Then moved by councelor drone, second by councelor Roberts. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. There you go, sir. Awesome. and we will uh be working with the groups to schedule them to come and make more detailed presentations.

Okay. So, we are now at the monthly financial report and uh council present shirts. What did that say on the back of them? I will collect for those at the end of the the meeting tonight. This this was the wisdom of our finance director. So, we wanted to share it with the community. We must we must provide context at the uh at the recent uh council goal uh city uh council goal setting goal setting session.

Um Mr. Placios dropped that nugget of wisdom upon us and we all embraced it hard. And so now we know that the wind is dumb. Mr. Placios here to comment. I still think that's true. You know the funny funny thing is that not a single person disagreed with you on that. I guess. Um, thank you everyone. That was that made my day. It's 1750 for the t-shirts, by the way. Um, funny guy.

Mr. Mayor and counselors, I'm uh for you tonight are the February financial reports through the end of February 28th. Um, we are 67% of the way through the fiscal year. Eight months, four months to go on the fiscal year. Um I'll start with the urban Hermanson urban renewal agency. Right now we are 100% of property tax receipts which is the primary re revenue source for the Hermanson or urban renewal agencies and that is because we model our estimated tax receipts for from the prior year because we have um little to no idea of what that's going to be what that valuation change is going to be in the upcoming year. So we we play we play it very conservative. Um for the North Herson Renewal Agency we have uh for the upcoming project we're working on rightway appraisals and we anticipate um that those will be moving forward as um rightway acquisition complete it gets completed. I forgot to update the comment on the slide. Again, we're seven months of the fiscal of the way through the fiscal year for 2526. Monthly revenues ended pro ended over projection by about $2.8 million, and that's primarily due to the uh timing of property tax receipts and franchise fees. Um, and we are at 100% of budgeted property taxes for the current fiscal year. Monthly expenses were over projection by about $664,000 approximately. uh several departments are overprotected budget when compared to that projected number that um that we used look at the three-year look back and that was city council finance and non-EP departmental and these were further further evaluated and when compared to the current year budget they are all under except for city council

and non-EP departmental those were uh finance was under uh the budgeted amount city council and non-EP departmental or over budget do the annual LLC membership that is um budgeted out of that department and then the transfer for the uh newly implemented building inspection fund for this year. Public safety center which is where we we normally budget um for um the public safety building overhead, janitorial, electricity, etc. We had some single time purchases u due to the ongoing public safety operations building project special revenue funds observations EOTech again we're we've received partial reimbursement from the campground project and that RV project is underway now and moving forward. Uh the only observation the one for the utility uh funds is a regional water system fund and that's um revenues are about 110,000 under projections. This is due to an unanticipated repair that shut down the system for a little bit and uh and speaking to the personnel we anticipate that due to increased usage and some of the adjustments to the rates we we should gain that back as we move into the drier and warmer weather. So, and then $9,000 in over expenditures due to timing of transfers for future projects. And with that, I'll hand it over to Mr. Morgan. Would you like to hear more about chlorine?

Yeah.

Uh, I'll try to go quick. I know it's getting late and uh we have uh so our gear and harbor realignment project is moving ahead. Uh so we should be bringing hopefully a a contract award at your next council meeting which is three weeks away. So that'll be exciting. Uh North First Place project is really associated with the Gear and Harper project. Uh see regional water system backup generators. We're just waiting um at this point uh because they're a long lead time item. The Orchard Avenue waterline replacement um that project is going to be opening bids here um probably next month. So, you'll be seeing uh significant um construction beginning here in uh late spring. Uh well, number six, coronation structure we talked about this evening. Uh Dogwood and Northwest Second Street. Uh that project um also should be getting contract award here in April. So, we should be into construction in May, June time frame. Uh Southeast 10th Street Bridge project uh design continues. So, we're on track to be into construction next winter. uh Eastland Gravity Sewer Line, you've awarded that contract already. Uh so we should be starting here early summer. Uh and the aquaer storage and recovery project is uh nearing the the end of the first phase of the project. So that's good. Um yeah, no major updates uh on the rest. I'll save those for later. Any questions?

Nope. Great. So, the walkth through tonight, I think was great to see the public safety center. Uh, obviously, there's still work to be done, but hopefully by the end of April, uh, we'll we'll be moving in. I know the chief will be pushing the contractor as hard as we can uh, to make that happen. the uh Sherman Park, we should be releasing the bids to be evaluated uh by the end of or in April. So, those are the two updates. Council questions.

Um is there a way you can get some pictures of the police, new police department and get that out there to the public so they can see it? Uh I will wait until we get a little closer. I'd like it to be a little more finished. Okay. Then but we can definitely do that. Other council comments, questions? I mean, no. Okay. Uh public comment? Nope. Else comments? Nope. Motion to accept the February 2026 monthly financial report. And the wind is dumb. Motion accept. Second.

Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Motion carries. Passes unanimously. 6. All right. Okay. So, we are getting really close to the time. Um, committee reports. Any committee reports? Being none. Mayor's report. Mine. Uh, hey, just got back from L or from uh NLC in DC. It was totally cool. Uh, learned a lot of things. Um, I did learn that uh aircraft seats suck for six hours. Um, and it's just it is very much like the wind is dumb. Um, but you know at 30,000 35,000 ft. So, uh, but you know, a lot of a lot of good things. Um, that was my first time going to Washington DC was part of the city thing. Well, ever. Wow.

So, good for you. Yeah, it was it was it was something I I look forward to trying at least one more time. So, um,

also, let's see, just, uh, and then on the day that I got back, uh, we also had the the, uh, um, distinguished citizens awards. And I'm going to try and go really quick on this. First responder was um Mark Amos from Oregon State Police. Ryan Middleton got the community champion. Uh Kobe Luron, outstanding youth citizen. Uh Allora Winters woman of the year. Elden Markham man of the year. Business of the year was Clayton Holmes. And the Christmas spirit award went to Josh Theos. So congratulations to all those folks uh for being uh for basically defining the uh the the the spirit and the love of this area and the volunteerism that goes with that. Um so thank you to all those folks. Uh also coming up uh let's see, we've got uh Hermiston Spring Market Ducks Unlimited on the 28th. Uh, there's a birthday coming up on Thursday, but I can't tell I can't tell you her name because she'll kill me. Um,

no, no, it it it's it's it's it may be somebody wearing a green dress, but I don't know. In any case, um, let's see. Uh, Arbor Day coming up. And so, uh, then we just had the daddy daughter dance, I believe, as well. So, um, that's it. And we don't have a council president to report today. So, council reports. Councelor Hayward. Um, if you all saw, I dropped brought stuff back from DC. I'll report more on that next time since we're getting close. I brought you pins and stickers of the 250 anniversary of our country. You

go out there and learn it more. There's a lot of history that I didn't know about. I'll report more later.

Other council comments. Council Kelo. Yeah, I had the opportunity to go to the DSA uh event and I just wanted to thank uh the Good Shepard Community Health Foundation for putting that event on and sponsoring it. I think it's a great opportunity for our community to recognize people who are leaders in volunteerism and who are really passionate about serving the people of our community. Just all great people and uh I want to thank Liz Marvin in particular uh the director of that foundation and Amy Little for all of the hard work that they put in and I know there were others as well but I can't name them all. So that's what I those are the two people I'd like to thank in particular for putting that event on. It was a great event. Yes, Council Brun.

I'll also reserve my NLC comments for uh the next time that we meet. I do want to share that with council. I think it's important that the council we we invest in these trainings and so I want I want to feel like I'm giving back and sharing the information that I I kind of was able to learn while we were down there. Um I do want to say one thing though and I do want to address you, mayor, and I want to apologize to you. Um, last city council meeting, I stepped out of the dis and I walked over to a constituent that was out there that I know him from the budget committee. Um, it was kind of in the middle of conversation and so that's not the way that to do things. I should ask the chair to be excused before I go down there. So, I want to put that on the record just because I I think that the the decorum is important. Uh there are rules here in place and so um I I I appreciate and respect the rules. So I just want to tell you that personally on the record. I apologize for that and I'll make sure to follow the decorum the next time.

Fair enough, sir. Council drum.

Yes. Um, I don't know if you guys received an email from Jasmine Jones from the League of Cities, but um, they are looking uh, for volunteers that would like to be part of the conference planning committee for the uh, 2026 LOC conference planning committee. So, if you are interested, um there is an application to complete and um submit it to her no later than April 10th at 5:00 p.m. And that we also have a LOC small cities meeting on April 16th and the conference later in April the 22nd through the 24th in Pendleton. I knew I forgot something. Okay. uh youth advisory report.

Hello, my name is Jacqueline Gib. I'm a junior at the Hermiston High School and there hasn't been much going on at school, just students waiting for spring break and summer, but we have um spring sports starting soon. And to that, winter sports, we had a really really successful outcome. Um we had our boys wrestling win state champions. That's really cool. and it came out with like three three boys that won um individual state champions. And to that, our girls were runnerups, which is really good for our program. And um our first ever girl wrestle champion came home. She's a really like nice girl. Um really hardworking and it's just really nice seeing my uh classmates and just people I pass by in school have such successful outcomes. But other than that, there's really nothing going on. Okay. Well, appreciate your uh bringing that to us. Now, we're at technically we're at 9:30, so we have to ask to go if we want to continue on.

All right. All right. Does anybody have anything else? We're adjourned. What?