City Council - Regular Meeting

set. Shall we shall we begin? So, we're going to call the uh work session council work session, city manager work session meeting to order. It is a little after 6 and the Carnegie Library proposes use thought bubbles learning center and Kim Lant Arts Center. Mr. Smith. Yeah, as we discussed a few weeks ago, um the different groups that have expressed interest are going to come and kind of give you a little more detail what they're thinking about. So, tonight we have two of those groups and we'll go ahead and start with thought bubbles. If you want to come forward, you can take a seat here. We got the mics ready for you and we should be able to pull up your presentation. You can come on up, Mike. It's okay. Welcome. What you got for us? Well, then let's hear it

there. Okay. Yeah, they'll probably want to know, too. Did you back that up and say you're the founders of what? Thought bubbles. Okay. I thought you said thought bubbles. Oh, [laughter] we've gotten that a couple of times. And although our vanity would love to say that's true, it probably isn't as much as we want it to be. So, our goal is to provide a space for community learning. We're not going to be your K through 12 or anything like that. We're just looking for the fun stuff, a place to gather and to learn for everybody. Um, I know we're based off of homeschooling because that's what we are, but our goal is to be community-led, so anybody and everybody is welcomed in our space.

And what she means by we are the two of us are homeschooling parents. That bubbles itself is not homeschool specific. Um, so what you're going to find with us is going to be an adventure zone, which will resemble a children's museum. Our goal is to have hands-on exhibits for kids to come play with, to learn, because learning should be more than just a book in front of you. So, a lot of our stuff will be based off of that, this big hub for kids to come sit. Parents can relax and enjoy themselves while their kids are entertained. We hope as we grow bigger and bigger to have a full-blown science lab. Um we have reduced that back for our phase one to a room that can be used for science and a classroom. So you'll be able to do a little bit of both because a 16,000 foot building right now is not going to be our starting point. [laughter] We wish to have a full-fledged art studio that will be open to the public to use at all hours. uh music room for those who wish to teach lessons but maybe don't have space in their house or an instrument to play on their own as well as a place for kids who maybe don't have a keyboard or a piano or instruments in their own home and can't afford to have them or don't have the space for them to come and practice. We hope to bring in tutors for all subjects for kids who need them as well as a lending library. Our lending library will not be your books like our library has here. It will be educational supplies to help ease the cost for teachers, homeschoolers, and people who maybe just need a little extra for their kid at home. You know, like the math manipulables and maybe some extra little reading aids and that kind of stuff. So, they'll be able to take it home and borrow it and then bring it back for the next family to use. Our goal is to have something for all ages. So, like our adventure zone will

be aimed more towards younger kids. So we have like a dig pit, a water table, magnet wall, scarf tunnels. Those will be our main stay. Those will be there at all times for kids. Our water table, our dream is to have a replica of McNary Dam in it for kids to come play with. So they'll be able to raise and lower the sleuth gates, open the water locks, and learn exactly how it works and how it's operated. The magnet wall will be something that can change for seasons, have something new and entertaining. So, it'll run from how to design gears to a ball run to test out gravity. The scarf tunnel will just be fun. Um, you'll learn a lot about aerodynamics and stuff like that with what we have planned. And the dig pit will range from dinosaur bones to find gemstones and learn how to judge the toughness and what they can be used for. Our rotating exhibits are going to be as many as we can fit in comfortably, but they're going to change every about three months or so. And we're we're hoping to touch on every topic possible. So things like extreme weather, let's do a little across the prairie and learn how a wagon train works and operates to volcano activity. Um we even wish to touch on to life skills a little bit. My dream is to have a phone and a 911 station basically set up where we have a landline to a volunteer that will sit there and pretend to be 911 dispatch so kids can practice dialing and talking to somebody. So these are all AI renderings just so you know. So nothing set in stone with them. They're just examples. Um, but our art studio is going to be a nice inviting place for people to come and relax, do a few art projects. Um, we hope to bring in teachers to teach art. Um, the dream for phase two or three

will be to bring in kils, pottery wheels, like anything and everything you can imagine. And our music rooms, um, we hope to start collecting all instruments and having them available as well. and then the meeting room which will double as a science room. So we'll have supplies like your microscopes and that kind of stuff that will be usable as well as basic chemistry stats and that kind of stuff for kids to use all with um proper supervision of course. So we firmly believe that learning should be fun. So these are an example of the type of classes that we're hoping to bring in. Um, we haven't included a city management class for fun, [laughter] but we really do hope to have a wide range. So, we're not just your basic run-of-the-mill. We want everybody in the community who has knowledge and wish to share it so that they come in and share with the next generation. We want a spot where if you're bored at home and need some little extra socialization, but you'd like to keep your hands busy, we want you to come sit with us. So

those classes are a little difficult to see, but one of them was silver smithing. Um, thank you. Uh, then uh [clears throat] paint and snack because you know we don't want to go for a liquor license. So [laughter] we'd provide snacks instead. Uh, then the city management 101. Uh, then we'd have also offer series of classes. So like painting 101 or um a mom and me support group for new parents that just need a little place to cry it out and and be told that you're okay, you got this.

And then one of the last ones would be creative buding. And again, these are just ideas of the classes and the workshops that we would like to offer. uh it would be dependent on our volunteers and our instructors that we have that are willing to come forth and put in the effort. An instructor named IB broke. Yes, we got creative with names. [laughter] Is a creative uh budgeting. So interesting choice.

So we do believe that learning should feel like an adventure and not an obligation. And that's what we want to create with this space, somewhere to help, especially kids and maybe that adult who's tempted to go for a higher education but hasn't gotten the nerves up to go do it. A place where they feel comfortable exploring the new levels of learning because we really do need to teach everybody that you learn every single day whether it's fun or if it's, you know, a dry textbook. Okay, that's that's our spiel. We love questions, so please feel free to ask any questions and we'll do our best to answer.

Uh, let's see. Miss Linton, I saw your hand first. Um, I would like to know, is this an accredited school? No. So, we will not be accredited since we're not doing a K through 12 curriculum. We do not need the accreditation. Um, if a like the tutors, if they wish to be accredited, they can. We're hoping uh to bring in some licensed teachers. We've actually had a few reach out to us with hopes of tutoring. So, we will have a few, but we do not need it to operate.

Just have one more question. Um, can you tell me what your past experience has been? Have you been doing this a year, five years somewhere else or please? I owned and operated a dance studio in my teen years and then I have worked with nonprofits back in my hometown of southern Oregon and so my experience is based off of those ex that group. Um between every member on our board though we have a wide variety of experience from education into business. Thank you.

Thought bubbles itself has been uh incorporated for one year now. We received our 501c3 um declaration letter from the IRS in July of last year. Uh which was actually really speedy thanks to our attorneys. Um and so we've been in our fundraising and finalizing our phase one plans and our fun fundraising budget since then. Thank you.

Welcome. I just thought I saw your hand over here. Okay. Um, I see that you have classes for 13 year olds starting at 3:00. Um, classes, at least in the Hermiston School District in this area, don't get done for that age group until 3:18 or 3:30. So, the class schedule we have on there is 100% hypothetical. Okay. Our plan is to have um open hours for the general public that will run I believe we did 9 to 6 in the evening. However, the classes themselves we are willing to open for private rentals if would be the best way to explain it off of ours. So whatever the teacher wishes to do, we will make certain that there is a room available for them. So for our our public school children, there will be offerings during their non-school hours. We are also planning on being open during all holiday breaks as well as at least every other Saturday. Again, that's a a tenative schedule. So as we get closer, we'll pin down more openings and and be aware of the school schedule as well. And um have you been inside the Carnegie building to see if all of these things that you have in mind will work?

We have um once or twice between the two of us and we did get the square footage and we believe we can get in there. It won't be our dream size, but we will be able to fit everything in and we will need to combine a couple of classrooms. So, originally we were going to have the art studio, the science lab, a couple meeting rooms, and several music rooms um to fit in there. We will have to combine a couple those ideas, but we don't see it being an issue, at least for the first three years, while we get people in and out. After that, we will um be working on a phase two plan. The one that makes me nervous is the water, the playing with the water. I mean, it sounds like a lot of fun, but spilling the water or having a big water leak in your building.

We have actually considered that um throughout our building shopping uh repertoire. We do have a plan for the table to be built up um kind of on a platform concept. So, the water area will have a splash zone. So, the water is draining into a pan. So, there should never be water on the floor itself. A lot of children's museums have water tables and they do have systems set up like that. Uh because obviously mold growth is a major problem when you bring water into any sort of building and what is your funding source?

We are working on grants. We did receive the Amazon Change X grant in the fall and we are um we got about six more of them that we're applying to this year alone. We will be working off of memberships once we get open and it'll be a cheap affordable membership. We're looking at $125 for a family of eight as well as the classes. They will be separate from the memberships. So, the membership will get you in for the play zones and open hours in the art studio. And then if you want private sessions and stuff, that will be a separate charge.

And sorry, that's okay. My last question, um, you talked about the teachers. Are you are you going to be the source of the hiring process? So, are will this these be like full-time employees? Are you looking for volunteers? What's

We're looking at subcontracting and independent contractors for the first two years. Our goal is to put as much money into our exhibits and our classrooms as possible. So, we've chosen to do subcontractors so we don't have to worry about the extra fees that come with having an employee. And then in phase three, we'll be looking at hiring employees once we have the ball rolling and we are stable and set up. So, to start with though, we will have subcontractors. So, the they will be charging for the classes themselves, not us.

We'll also have volunteers teaching too, not just in subcontractors. And we do already have several people lined up who have expressed interest. Um so we we do have probably about seven to eight classes worth of instructors already lined up just waiting for us to open. Dr. Kelson, thank you. Do you have a written business plan that you could share with us? I actually do. You were emailed it a little while ago, I [laughter] think. But yeah, we do have other copies. What's your estimated U revenue for your first year?

Give me a second. That's her job. I am the money person.

Um, and just to go back, we will also be fundraising because as a 501c3, in addition to grants, we can't operate just off of income from memberships and from our class fees, which we do plan on keeping minimal. Uh so fundraising will be part of our ongoing efforts as we continue to operate. Um let me see. I grabbed the wrong one. I'm sorry. um our projected year one budget as far as our um as our income goes, it would be a $15,000. Um that's based on an estimate of 20 new uh yearly memberships every month, 10 new uh six-month memberships every month, and a 10 people a day entering using our daily uh membership. And also um 20 students a day in our classes. And then our room rentals. Um and our room rentals. We have uh sat down and our fundraising goal, which is $350,000, includes all of our estimated year one expenses, including our startup fees and our shopping list for all of the supplies needed for starting our building. Do you have a a line of credit or any sort of credit vehicle that that you could work with?

Not yet, sir. Okay. And um I guess that's all the questions I have for now. Thank you. Yes, sir. check for basement. That's one that we've been working on because we understand that it's currently not ADA accessible. And so we're currently planning on it being used for um storage and supplies. And then if we do have somebody who wishes to use it, um I know the ham radio was looking for a space. So it'd be used for stuff like that. I gota give Rails check. Yeah. Yeah, that [laughter]

that's We assumed it was one of those where it'd be super expensive to turn it into ADA acceptable and so we're operating all of our thoughts off the basis of it would be part of the rest of it at the moment. So office exactly office space would also be another one and things like that that did not require ADA accessibility at this point.

Go ahead councelor Dr. with your second question. your your the classes that you were will provide, are they going to be matched up to the Oregon teaching standards or are you guys going to deviate from that?

We will be deviating essentially. Um are we do not plan on setting the curriculum ourselves? Um we have a fantastic school district that is taking care of that for us. So what we are offering is a space for people who want to teach something that's not at the school. So, we don't need to worry too much about the Oregon um guidelines and standards. Our tutors will obviously be teaching the stuff that you know taught, but that's a little different than us teaching a full-blown class. So, if the best example I can give you would be signing your kid up for a music class or an art class. The rest of it will be things like we really are hoping to bring in somebody to do a financial planning class. So, it'll be stuff like that, like the extra knowledge that you don't always get to in public school and the little tiny extras like the dessert of education. And we're not offering credits or any sort of, you know, credit hours or I can't think of the other word right off the top of my head, but anything that would go towards them graduating. That is not what we offer at all. If someone wanted to come in and, you know, approach us and be like, "Hey, I want to teach kids how to fix or anyone how to fix a radio or something, you know, then we'll run the background check, sign them up as a volunteer, and get their class out there so people can learn because it's something that a we're very passionate about. Obviously, we spent this much time putting this together. But it's something that I grew up with. I grew up with mentors. I grew up with a Vietnam veteran that loved to tear things apart and showed me how to get into animatronics. I helped him refinish a World War II Jeep um that he then taught me how to drive in a

stick shift. And those are things that we are losing as our older generation is aging. And so to have an atmosphere and a place where community members can come and share those skills because these kids are bored. We have community members that are bored and it would help rekindle that love of learning for everyone and that love of teaching also. Mr. Mayor. Yes. Um because we have another group coming. I I just want to let you know we about halfway through. So,

I was kind and looking like we were pretty much towards the end of it. Um I only have uh one question for you. Have you guys seen or noticed anything operating in this nature anywhere else

to be able to, you know, use that information to base your your uh um student draw from, you know, from, you know, do we have do we have the call? Do we have the the the bandwidth basically for for that type of thing to operate here? So from the very beginning we did reach out and we have been mentored by education resource centers clear across the US now and we are reaching out to children museums for mentorship as well and we have a few of them on board and so everything that we have done has been with help from people who are currently doing it or in the processes of doing it. So, we have very carefully picked and choosed off of what they're doing for what our town needs and what we've seen on Facebook for people asking for. So, we do feel very confident that what we have set up will be achievable.

Okay. All right. Well, thank you for for bringing that. We appreciate it. Know it's a kind of tough to have rocks thrown at you the entire time. So, hey, it keeps us on our toes. And thank you very much for the opportunity for us to share our idea and our hopes and dreams. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. Our second um idea is uh for a community art center. And Kim, you want to come forward? You can either stand or sit, however you more comfortable. Wow. It's not going to take as long as that because they were super prepared and had all kinds of good stuff is great. [laughter] And actually, a lot of the stuff that they, you know, they um brought is a lot of the stuff that I I honestly I think that um we need here, too. So, I don't know if I need to introduce myself or Please do.

Yeah. Kim Leelant. Uh just a I'm a local artist. I've been doing it for about 35 years. I have a studio um here in Hermiston and um also I've had a kind of a homeless outreach for about 11 years and then was a Sunday school teacher for nine years and a taught puppets for kids and outreach for that too for years and years too. So um just going to go off my notes. I don't have anything fancy like that because I'm not a but um I just want to say that what they that that's was great. A lot of the things that they said is something that I I believe that we could all work together. So that would be great. So I just I just wrote this. Um thank you for giving me the time to speak today. Um uh um let's see. Let's I'm here because I believe our community needs a creative communing community learning center. Something more for our kids and for our people in general. We need a space where creativity, connection, and support comes together. Right now, one in five youth are struggling with mental health challenges and dropping out of school. And many of them don't have a safe place to go after school. That time between school and evening is the most critical window in a child's day. Um, when kids are either finding support or falling through the cracks, programs that provide art, music, and hands-on creativity and basic skills opportunities are proven to help. They reduce anxiety. They uh improve behavior, helps kids build build confidence, social skills, and a sense of identity. And maybe most importantly, they give a kids a way to express the way, excuse [clears throat] me, they don't have words yet because not every kid fits into sports. I did not. I was a shy, poor farm kid that loved to create. And like me, not every child thrives in

a traditional classroom or in public because this is really I feel like I'm going to vomit. So, [laughter] um, but every child or person needs to feel seen, valued, and capable of something. Um, and when kids and adults have access to programs like this, we see stronger emotional behavior, better decision- making, fewer behavior problems, and a better long-term outcome. And when they don't see when they don't have that they it's the opposite. Isolation even with adults uh isolation struggles with self-worth higher risker of behavior poor behavior missed opportunities to connect. This isn't just about art or creativity. It's about prevention to be honest. It's about creating a safe place where kids and adults can come together, learn from each other and build something meaningful. Uh my vision is a creative space that brings together basically what the gals were talking about. It's great. Um artists, musicians, makers, mentors, homeschoolers, creative minds, hobbyists, and community members. A place where you can learn to think outside the box, draw, paint, build, play an instrument. Open studio times, theater classes, basic skills where um you mostly you feel like you belong. um where veterans and seniors can use their knowledge where they can you know like a senior that's in the nursing home and he you know he was a vet like she was talking about and he's there and he doesn't have anybody to talk to he has all this knowledge and for them to come and sit with these kids and teach them things that that's disappearing like they were talking about um where history can be shared by having this is what I think about what they could do for the museum where you can uh share by having the walls full of Hermiston's rich history and have a system where you can scan see the information and a couple of

days a week have a museum volunteer uh guiding someone while classes um classes laughter and music are filling the building where creativity becomes connection because when people feel connected they do better they make better choices they support each other and that strengthens an entire community. If we want healthier kids, fulfilled seniors, safer neighborhoods, and stronger futures, this is how you start. We don't wait until there's a crisis. We build something that prevents it. And I don't have a you know what they the a thing that they have. But and I am just one person. This is me just alone. It's just an idea I've had for 11 years. when I worked at the Hermston Herald and the East Orgonian and um I actually wanted to do this before and tried to find a building and have been trying to do something like this for years and years and I don't have you know what they have. I don't have the teachers and none of that. I honestly think that we could collaborate. This is just me sharing something that I think would be a good idea. Um but uh and I you know I don't know what else to say. It's just it's just my idea. I I looked at the building and I think it's very usable. Um the basement would be an issue. The only thing I think that um maybe a younger like the the someone younger could use the bottom portion if they couldn't, you know, get down there, that kind of thing. I was listening to you guys earlier. But yeah, if you have any questions, I don't know if I can answer them, but I'll try. questions. Miss Linton,

uh, your presentation was very good. Both were since I didn't say that to you as well. Um, are you interested? How would uh doing fundraising? Are you interested in trying to buy the building or rent the building? I don't know if the building's not for sale. Just asking.

See, and that's the thing. I just Yeah. And I don't know. My understanding of it was I wanted to ask if the uh the city wanted to like be in like with Pendleton because I taught at the Pendleton's art museum and the way they do it there is uh the city, you know, has a lot of hand in it and then they do some fundraising and things like that. But yeah, that's why I just started this. I don't know. That's the thing. I just I'm just presenting this saying it would be a good idea. I I'm not necessarily one that wants to run it because I am not that person. But on the creative side, I'm more than willing to help or do whatever. I'm just presenting something I think that would be super cool for it. And especially with the museum portion. Um but the fundraising part, I mean, I'm just Yeah, like I said, it's just me. I've never done anything like this. It's just I'm way behind them. They've already done, you know, all of that. So yeah, but I I just so I think that it's so desperately needed here. I think that it's a very huge missed opportunity. Um because music and arts and things like that, it's it's very needed here. It just is. Yeah.

Thank you. I don't know if I answered that. I apologize. Council sounds to me like you would Yeah. do well with them. Yeah. Yeah. You guys should kind of Yeah. Together. No, I think it's great. I would I mean, shoot, I I would love to be one of the teachers. I just wanted to present this. Right. Exactly. Already got the ball.

Yeah. No, that's great. And the museum portion of it, I think that is really important. That's why I was thinking, you know, cover the walls in Hermiston's history. have a a system where you know because now everybody's on their phone they can scan it, look at that and then and then somebody volunteer two or three times a week. That way you have the museum portion but they can use or whoever can use the floor space for teaching that's that way you will have a duel and then um yeah I think that would I think that would be great. So when I came here and I saw their thing I was like oh shoot that's almost the same thing I want to do. [laughter] So I think it's awesome. There's a lot of in here. [laughter]

There's a lot of artists here. And I think having the art Yeah. Oh, no. I'm saying like uh for this too, I think having some of the art history here too up on the walls and I mean there's a lot of rich history here that people don't realize and I think utilizing both as maybe if that's what they do, you know, utilizing that facility for that, but also having a dual, you know, having the museum on the walls, but use the floor space for that. I think that would be super doable. I mean, you know, this is just me. Like I said, this is just me presenting an idea. It's not I'm not [laughter] You're doing fine. You would do well.

Yeah. Yeah. Where you could go. Yeah. Other council comments? Well, looks like you're off the hook on this one, [laughter] but I I I agree. I think you should definitely collaborate. Thank you. Not it's not a public there's no public comment on this. Okay. Uh any other things you have for the work session, sir? No, this these were the two groups. Next meeting we plan to arrange to have the other two groups here.

Okay. With that then I guess we'll you can ask a question. So, can I just for my update um how did these groups come about? They all reached out to the city and expressed interest in the building in using the building. Thank you. And so if we were to move forward in a direction, we'd be basically coming up with some level of usage agreement of some kind. Yes. Okay. this one. Uh, can you tell us who the other two groups are? Yeah, the the museum group that presented before you couple years ago now. Oh, Mr. Dhy. Yes.

Okay. And then uh the ham radio association. Okay. Or is that the right word, Mr. Kelso? That was totally wrong. But no, thanks. [laughter] The Hermiston Amateur Radio Club. Amateur Radio. I did have another question, Byron. Has there been any discussion about um what this usage agreement would look like in terms of upkeep for the building and utilities and all of that? No, I mean not really. We you know we have some agreements with other similar you know nonprofits to use some city buildings. So I think we would utilize that and and our experience with that to kind of craft something that would work. Okay. Thank you.

Okay. With that, we'll close the work session and have the uh regular council session at 7 o'clock.

All right. All right. It is 7 o'clock. We're going to call the Monday, April 27th edition of the Hermanston Urban Renewal and City Council meeting to order. And uh we have a forum with councelor Councelor Hayward and councelor Baron both excused and I would like everybody to join me in the pledge 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. [cough] [clears throat] Okay. Um, with the council's permission and and we I'm asking that we move uh item 11B, the review and uh for the charter uh discussion and results up to just before the ordinances. Is anybody on the council wish to comment? changes to that. All right. Then we will move we're going to move 11 to right after 9 this point in time. Any other changes to the to the uh Mr. Okay. All right.

Yes. Was there any other for the consent agenda? No. No. Okay. I'll just check. All right, we're at PL proclamations and presentations. And first off, proclamation for National Day of Prayer. I have um National Day of Prayer Coordinator, Miss Balmer. Hi, Amy. Welcome back. Or Mr. Mayor, excuse me.

Yeah, it's good to see you. Well, good evening, Mr. Mayor and members of the council. I am here to uh just give you a little bit of information about the upcoming National Day of Prayer which is next Thursday. Um I appreciate your past and ongoing support for this very important day in our nation and I invite you to attend any or all of the events that we are hosting throughout the city um as your schedule allows. I also want to thank the members of my team who were critical in the planning process, reaching out to pastors and other community leaders setting up the website which is new. We have never had one before for Hermiston and getting the word out. I am deeply grateful for their assistance, support, and encouragement. These people include Dan Mayhan, pastor at Oasis, who is also my pastor. Gail Cherry, pastor at Solid Rock, Joe Gonzalez, pastor at Grace Baptist, Lyall Smith, Umatillaa City Counselor, Leah Stockard, and Shannon Morgan. I want to just give you a few highlights of what we're doing in Hermiston and Umatillaa this year. In the past, we have just had one prayer gathering or the day. Um, various churches have hosted the gatherings. We've also had a gathering here in front of um, city hall. But what we found was that participation was small either because of the time of day we chose if it was middle of the day or evening it just it didn't offer enough opportunities for people to participate. So this year we decided to

hold gatherings throughout the day at various locations and times. Some will meet in churches, some at parks, some in front of schools, some at Good Sheeperd, and others in front of city hall, which I'll be hosting that at noon. Others will be participating in prayer walks. I am very pleased to say that we have 12 gatherings planned starting from 10:00 a.m. going until 8:00 p.m., which should provide ample opportunities for the community to participate. Anyone can attend any or all of these gatherings as they choose. Also, for the first time this year, we have Oasis Church, the Nazarene Church, Zeal Church, Grace Baptist, and the Catholic Church hosting prayer gatherings or prayer walks. Most of them have participated in the past, but this is the first time that they're actually hosting a gathering. Also, for the first time, there will be a prayer gathering at Good Sheeperd. They're going to be meeting in their conference, one of their conference rooms, and they're very excited about that. And also the newly opened Umatillaa Business Center. So, this is a also new. We've not had a gathering at Umatillaa before. So, we're excited about that. The 7th Day Adventist Church is going to be praying during their weekly community meal that they hold on Thursdays. So, um, and we're going to be praying for local, state, and national leaders, schools, teachers, students, and everyone involved in the education system, first responders, hospital, hospice, and hospital staff, and many

other aspects of our community and nation. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have. So I am looking at your flyer what we see on the screens and my question to you is um the meeting is at Harrison Park. So in West Park Elementary um so Zeal Church is hosting two gatherings. One will be at Rocky Heights and one will be at Harrison Park. So, they're they're both scheduled between 5:00 and 8:00 p.m., but I'm not sure, you know, who will be leading at each one of those places.

It's okay. I just want to make sure because it says Harrison Park Elementary. Oh, I'm sorry. That's my bad. That's okay. That's my typo. Too much copying and pasting. It's It's great. I just wanted to for people to know that. Thank you. That's why I was asking that clarifying question. Thank you.

Okay. Whereas whereas throughout the history of American America, prayers have been lifted seeking the Lord in every generation for direction, protection, and provision. pouring out prayers to the God of hope in times of crisis and celebration, in prosperity and need, and in times of war and peace, so that God would be glorified and bless America, resulting in Americans being filled with his glory, grace, and goodness, as he has answered our prayers for over 250 years. And whereas from the first prayers of our Continental Congress in 1774 to the opening of every session of the House of Representatives and Senate and throughout hearts and homes across America, the practice of prayer continues to seek God for guidance, wisdom, power, protection, and provision that has preserved hope and united us as one nation under God. And whereas the National Day of Prayer is a public law established in the United States Congress in 1952, approved by a joint resolution signed by Hen President Truman and amended by Congress and President Reagan with public law 10000-307 in 1988, affirming that it is essential for us as a nation to pray and directs the President of the United States to set aside and proclaim the first Thursday of May annually as a national day of prayer. And whereas in our city and across America, the observance of the National Day of Prayer will be held

on Thursday, May 7th, 2026 with a theme, glorify God among the nations, seeking him in all generations, based on the verse in 1 Chronicles 16:24. tell of his glory among the nations, his wonderful deeds among all peoples. And now, therefore, I, Doug Primemer, mayor of Hermiston, Oregon, do hereby proclaim May 7th, 2026 as a day of prayer throughout our city. And I commend this observance to our citizens and request that prayers be lifted up throughout the city with every generation seeking the Lord as we dedicate, rededicate our lives, city, and nation to the glory of God. signed this 27th day of April, 2026. And I'm signing that right now. [sighs] We need it. We need the guidance. We need the help. And please do. I don't know how to be any more than that. Next up, uh, [clears throat] excuse me, presentation, uh, I love my city from Oasis Vineyard Church, Pastor Dan May.

Sir, hello, Mr. Mayor and Council members. Greetings.

Good to see you again. I'm here actually on behalf of the um executive team of the I love my city preparation and planning committee and we were commended by council member Alan Hayward who's uh absent tonight but uh he suggested that we bring this before you all. It was brought to the faith-based advisory committee uh where we updated those members of what was happening. And so, uh, this year, May 16th, Saturday, May 16th, is our annual, um, I love my city celebration and work day that we will be doing. I believe this is either the 10th or 11th year consecutively that we've been doing this. and um been a great collaboration amongst the churches and the city and um various organizations now that have begun and continued uh participating in various ways with us. Just a couple of highlights that want to draw your attention to. Um it it runs from 9 to noon. Uh there is a website that you can go to i loveherston.com and you can go on and sign up there. anyone can sign up to participate in any of the events that are not already filled. And so this year we made it uh something in the spirit of collaboration to say, "Hey, let's get the people from different churches, different groups to partner together in doing this." And so that's the way we've organized it this year. Signups are live and active and people have been filling those and we look forward to that continuing to happen. This year we also um are partnering with the code enforcement officer in terms of doing some uh graffiti cleanup and other activities that he may have for us. That's a new uh thing this year. Uh last year we added haircuts in three different locations

including stepping stones and at Sherwin Williams and then a site over off of um West 11th Street. and that will be happening again this year primarily for the homeless and uh those in in need. Um we are also returning the uh diaper drive at Agape House. Uh so there will be a diaper drive for those in need and um at both that site and at the haircut sites we will have multiple uh prayer tents available for anyone who would uh be in need or request or desire prayer. Um, yeah, we're going to be partnering with Brandon Arts and the park department in uh cleaning up the streets as well as in in multiple parks. So, there's there's a lot of of activities happening around uh the I Love My City. We're excited to have Walmart and Amazon and Rotary participating as well, as well as over uh 10 plus churches that we know of already who are participating. Um seems like there was oh there is a lunch at noon at McKenzie Park that is free and welcome for all those who are participating. And similar to last year uh we are partnering with the um first responder chaplain and blessing the first responders in our community and they're going to have some toys there I believe uh for everyone to come and see and and and hang out and be a part of that. So, we encourage everyone to come out for that lunch. Um, the folks that do the community dinners are uh blessing us with that with that meal. And so, it's a great just overall community uh morning and event. So, any questions that I can answer for you?

Council questions. Council L. Um the uh diaper that you said was going to be at a guppy house. You're giving out free diapers. Free diapers and wipes as uh first come first serve. Uh we've done it the last two years. This will be our third year doing that. If anyone would like to make donations, uh they can um let us know at Oasis Vineyard. They can drop those off. uh we'll be receiving and we've been partnering with different groups and so uh just a way to bless those in the community. Yeah. Okay. And that'll be that'll start at 9:00 a.m. to 12 the same time.

Um we might start that at 8:30. We'll be advertising on Facebook and and because they do it's also the day they do their yard sale and so um that one might start a little bit early but 8:39 right in there. Okay. Thank you very much. Yep. Council Kelso,

I don't have a question, but I have a couple comments. We hope to have some Kanians there, too. So, Oh, that'll be nice. And, um, Brandon has asked me to volunteer. He's not here tonight, but he's asked me to volunteer to be the gatekeeper at the recycling event at New Hope. And I felt compelled, mostly in my own self-preservational interest to note that there's a limit of 10 tires this year and no rims. [laughter] I almost met my end last year trying to stop people from bringing tires in. So, please be gentle, people. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. So, anything else other than trying to save counselor Kelso's life?

All right. This is a you know, a great event. We've we've uh we've been doing this 10 or 11 years. I I I too cannot remember how long it's been taking place, but I know that I love the partnership that the city works with on this and the amount of people that literally show the love for this city and it just can't be said enough that this is such a fantastic event. Um, as a reminder, May 16th, 9 to 12. Also, sign up for things on i loveh hermistston.com. All one word. Yes. Uh, sign up. Um, so please, pretty pleased with sugar on top if that's what it takes. Yeah. Help.

And if you do sign up, there will be um communication sent in advance to let you know, hey, show up at this place at this time for the event that you are registered for and and that way everybody knows what they need to to wear and be prepared and so forth. So, thank you. Wear sturdy shoes and back braces. All right.

All right. Thank you. Anything else? Any others? None. Okay. We are now at the first opportunity for citizen input on non-aggenda items. Anyone wishing to bring anything before the council that is not on the agenda is asked to b please do the following. Please limit your comments to not more than five minutes. State your name and place of residence and direct your comments to me. Anybody? Uh your hand up first. on the back of the um first meeting that we had with Kim Lelant and the arts um Carnegie Center um proposed idea. Uh a little bit about myself. Uh my name is Leah.

Yes, Leah Stalker. I live now in Umatillaa, Oregon. My address is 16112nd Street. We live down by the park and marina. So, we get to enjoy Umatillaa Landing Days. But I have lived in Heriston most my time in this area about 40 years. But um one thing my background is a designer, art teacher, artist back in 1980. moved into this area, there was a studio up above the Bliss building, if any of you know where that was at. And I was with uh Sandra Campbell. There was just a few artists in in town. And we Bonnie and Glenn Grryer, the wild goose, worked with them on projects out of this area. And we were always working with the high school arts in the park. Um you know uh Hermiston Art Walk um and these these are um somewhat well attended. We were always hoping for more. But the thing is about the arts in this area, [clears throat] it's you have to know who to seek out because there's really no one to find us or no place that promotes the arts in a in a way that the arts could really benefit the community largely. And I think with living in Umatillaa and seeing all the commuting traffic into this area for people that live up in Tri Cities and come into Heriston, it's really discouraging or a shame. I feel that we could benefit if we had more presence of the arts music. We had Desert Arts Council, art auctions, you know, bigger events and

it's just been a struggle throughout the years to keep those alive. Um, Baker City, Pendleton, Lrand, uh, have a Carnegie building and all of them have been reestablished as an art center. Um, also Enterprise Joseph and Burns, they don't have a Carnegie building, but they have an art center. In the Eastern Oregon Flyer, uh, travel flyer, we are not mentioned because we don't have an art center. So, the importance of the arts is not just for a place for children to come and paint cute little pictures. We consider ourselves very important to the community and passionately want to be used more by having a designated area for in the Carnegie building will be a place that even people from out of town if they don't know where to go if the city hall is closed they can come to us and we would be able to show them the benefits of living here or performing here. So, please give us a second chance to prove ourselves and we would love to be a part of enhancing Hermiston, the greater Hermiston area.

Thank you, Mr. Dorm.

Well, I'm kind of in a place to tag on perfectly to what she's talking about. So, my name is Arby Doran. I'm at 950 Southwest 7th Street here in Herms, Oregon. Uh, a lot of you folks I know, a lot of you may not be familiar with me, but you are familiar with my brother and the rest of the family. Um, I'm here to talk about a way that my wife and I have decided we want to give back to the community. Um, I've always believed, um, I retired as a a high-tech executive that the rising tide lifts all ships. And so what we decided to do is we want to start utilizing EOTech for something other than the fair and rodeo and a few horse events and some kinsenatas. Um but to try to establish another festival on the other side of the calendar and that is the cartoons music festival that we'll have on June 12th and 13th out at Eotech which will involve a car show as well as a music festival inside the arena. A lot of people don't realize that our rodeo arena out there without any modifications can seat 8,000. And you know, once again, we're talking about music coming to town. We're trying to bring in, you know, something that the city can definitely be a part of and have as a destination. We've never been able to establish ourselves as a quote unquote destination city, much like Pendleton or Tri Cities and Yakimon, some of the others. So here we're trying to give the city an opportunity at this point. So I guess the easiest way I've handed out the posters, do I have questions? Council questions. Um looks like looks like your your uh flyer tends to uh answer most of them. Yes. So, um I'm sure that if you know if we uh do run into some of those questions that we will actively seek you out.

I have actually have some business cards. My name is not on any of those things. So, I'll hand those out real quick before I step off. That would be fine. Um but uh I'm obvious I'm surprised you're not asking the obvious question which usually comes from a city council that says, "What do you want from us?" Um and really if you want to answer that question, I'm looking for engagement. I'm looking for participation. I don't know what that looks like. You all know what that looks like better than I do. Um I'm one person, you know, originally I planned on staying more behind the scenes, but I've kind of got a new job now that I'm retired. Um but uh really what I don't know what that looks like for each entity on how you would engage. For example, I'm got a meeting with uh uh you know, Chief Edmiston.

Chief, sorry. It's because I knew you before. uh uh you know in a couple of weeks or a week or so we'll talk about how the police can help us out. I'm trying to get a hold of the fire department. You know I've talked to the National Guard. Um but you all are involved in the city. I have notworked in Hermison. That was never my job. I was more out in the rest of the United States and you all know people and things like that. On the website, there are sponsor forms, which, you know, sponsorships are great way to get involved, get your banner up, as well as vendor forms if you know people that want to um, you know, be part of the festival and, you know, have a food or beverage or, you know, merchandise kind of thing as well. Um, the whole festival, please picture it as a festival. It's not a concert. It's not a car show. It's a festival. So along with that, so when you walk onto the grounds, the car show is basically free and over to one side we will have what I'm going to call the the 67 zone. Basically the kids zone. You know, they get the name. I don't get the name, [laughter] but they you know, that's the whole idea. So, you know, so we want it to be something that if you don't have any money other than $10 for parking, you could bring the whole family and have a fun day goofing around and, you know, seeing some eye candy and stuff like that. Um, but then if you know you want to be part of the concerts, the ticket prices are really way under what you would normally find at most of your festivals nowadays. Any other questions?

Uh, are you planning on alcohol service? There will be alcohol there. Yes. Okay. We're we're we're shopping vendors. We're getting um our requests for uh proposals. Okay. Um, I don't see a concert ticket price listed.

No, on the on the ticket sites, what you'll find is, so for Friday night, it's $55. For Saturday night, it's $65. For two days, it's $110. Then that gets you a general admission, which means you can go up and sit in the bleachers or you can go stand down on the floor. We're not going to allow in, you know, lawn chairs and that kind of thing this time around. We'll see how it plays out. But the box seats are all reserved. And the funny thing is is we price the box seats which get you eight two-day GA tickets bas two-day tickets is priced only $20 more than if you bought eight two-day GA tickets. So and that gets you a reserve spot right there you know around the ring as they say. Any other questions? All right, let me real quick.

Sounds like it could be an interesting event. I think I'm out of town that day, but um those days. Any case, uh so those of you out there in the public know that this is coming. Um it looks like a fairly well-rounded event. Thank you, sir. And we'll I'm sure look forward to additional information as becomes available. Okay, next up, uh, consent or any other citizen input. Seeing none, now we'll move on. Consent agenda items. We have consent agenda items A through F. Uh, are there any council questions in regards to consent agenda items A through F?

Yes, ma'am. I would like to pull uh C and D. Okay, we will get to that in a couple minute or a couple seconds. Any other questions? Okay, public comment on consent agenda items A through F. Okay, council comments. Now, does council wish to move any items? Sorry for uh jumping the gun. That's okay. I would like to move uh agenda items C and D. Consent agenda items C and D. Any others? Council Roberts, I would like to pull uh item F.

Okay. Consent agenda items C, D, and F are being removed to the have their own little deal. So, uh, in regards any other removals, you got it. Yeah, there's three left. So, okay. So, uh, can I get a motion to approve consent agenda items A, B, and E? So, moved. Second. Okay. Been moved by councelor McCarthy, second by councelor uh Roberts. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Okay, motion passes unanimously on consent agenda items A, B, and E. All right, items are moved. Item C. Councelor Linton, you wish to have it count have that one removed? Yes. um [clears throat] in the proposal it was saying with the um liquor application that children will be um present and so I wanted to know um is a it's a restaurant license. It's a restaurant license. So children are there like like you are in most restaurants.

Yes. But it also said they was they're they're put in for a liquor license and that children were present. So, are they going to what my question was going to be, uh, is there a certain time like say, uh, up until 900 p.m., then children are not allowed because then they'll be serving liquor with the meals. Well, I believe the restaurants can serve liquor with the meals throughout the the time um uh under the under this type of a license. And that's what um you know the other other restaurants in the community have as well. Oh, here in Hermiston they have it where they Okay. Cuz a couple places I've gone to the children can't be

Well, they they're not supposed to go in the bar if there's a dedicated bar area. A minor can't go in there, but they can serve alcohol in the restaurant when any age person is there according to the rules. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions or any questions on C? Yes, sir. So, this um wouldn't be different than any other standard restaurant liquor license that we would have granted in the past. Correct.

Correct. Okay. Any other questions? All right, Mr. Tubby, do we need to do these approve these one at a time after we've gone over them or do we do them all at once? Let's do it once one at a time if we got one. Let's do the motion and then let's

All right. Perfect. Okay. So, can I get a or can I get a motion to approve or wait question? Any other council comments? Okay. And public comment. Any public comment? Council comments. Council, can I get a motion to approve consent agenda item C? So moved. Second moved by council Roberts or councelor McCarthy, second by councelor Roberts. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Okay. Motion passes unanimously. Okay. D. Right ofway construction acceptance Northeast Aspen Drive. Councelor Linton. I thought this was the one with excuse me with the uh triple A. It is. Okay. I just want to make sure. Um my question is um because I didn't have a chance to read all of it. I got sick. So I'm behind. Apologize. Uh the uh price that they're asking for. I wanted to know the difference of the price um and what they paid for it in 24.

Um, I could not tell you the purchase price off the top of my head. It's in the neighborhood of 2 million, but for the whole parcel. For the whole parcel. Yeah. Right.

Okay. I saw that they bought it for 1.5 million, but I didn't find the the selling what the asking price was. So, it would be about 2 million. So, okay. All right. Thank you very much. Any other council questions on consent agenda item D? Seeing none, council or public comment on consent agenda item D right of way. Seeing none, council comments. Seeing none, motion to approve. So moved. Second. Okay.

Uh, council Roberts speech. Motion by uh councelor McCarthy, second by councelor Roberts. Again, roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Motion passes unanimously. Consent agenda item F. Council Roberts. Consent agenda item F has to do with moving the uh May 25th meeting to May 26 because of the Memorial Day. Um, I know that we've struggled to engage with city, uh, you know, it's been one of our things is to engage with them. So, I figured I wanted to bring it up and open council, make the the statement on the record that that's what we're intending to do and also just give us all a chance to say, are we all available that day and and could we have a quorum? So, I am available that day by the way. Does anybody

The 25th or 26th

26th the 26th So the the the question on this is can we or should we reschedu the city council meeting dated Monday 25th which is Memorial Day to Tuesday May 26th. Does anybody have can you know if you want to check your schedules does everybody good with that as a as a change? Anybody have a problem with that? Let us know. Okay. All right. So it appears that there is a at least a consensus at this point of moving it. Can any other council comments or questions? Public comment. Seeing none, council comments. Seeing none, can I get a motion to approve consent agenda item F?

So, second. Uh, well, Miss Meyer beat you to it. Councelor Meyer on on the uh on the motion and second to councelor McCarthy. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Motion passes unanimously. All right. So now we are at the change of the uh order of things. We're going to move go to the uh

review and discuss. We don't we've we've covered all the consent items. So, we're going to move to the review and discussion of the next steps for charter review committee results. Mr. Smith,

Mr. Mayor, members of the council. So, tonight we're going to talk a little bit about the process we went through to to come to this point. Um, that started out with a resolution adopted by the council uh establishing a committee and they've gone through a process. Now we're back to the council uh for a possible recommendation to place some items on the ballot. So they started to meet the the committee first met in October of 2025. They held four different meetings, completed their review. The these were the requirements in the resolution. They've they've met the six to nine months. Uh they've held a publicly advertised public hearing uh town hall. There were seven members. Mayor Pimemer was the city council liaison and here we are uh making a recommendation to the council. So they reviewed the entire charter. We walked through uh all of it uh page by page, section by section uh with paying particular attention to these specific sections. Here's the names of the members of the committee. We have a number of those here tonight. Uh if you want to wave your hand or I

think we have all but one here, don't we? Yeah, I think I think you're right. So, um

they did a very thorough job as far as taking a look at all of these uh issues. So, this is a presentation that I used to introduce the charter changes at the town hall. So, I'm going to skip a through a little more quickly the some of these early slides as far as what is a city charter. It's our basically our city constitution. Um, here is kind of a history of a number of different uh amendments that have been made. The original was adopted in 1910. The most recent was adopted in 2015. And so, why why again why are we doing it? Uh it's it's really kind of a good practice just to kind of take a look for changes in the law, making sure we're meeting the needs as far as representation, dealing with the complexity that continues to uh to get worse or to get more complex and making sure we're staying accountable. Is the charter performing the way we want to? And just making sure we we're paying attention. And one thing I emphasize, review is not equal change. So the changes recommended came kind of in four areas. Elections, the roles of elected officials, city managers role and then kind of charter maintenance. So the first item uh was to move the ward boundaries, the actual language of the the description of the ward boundaries out of the charter, but also directing the city council to adopt ward boundaries by ordinance and to keep them roughly equal in population. And there's some other language of of trying to not you know try to make it an e more easily understand understandable

boundaries. So here's our existing boundaries with some populations. You can see the uh some of the wards have gotten bigger than the others and and that doesn't give people equal equal representation. Then uh another election and and candidate related is currently and we're in this process right now. We have four ward counselors all up for election. they have to live in those wards, but the whole city votes for them um in the election process. And we had a discussion about that. And the recommendation is that we change that to be where the ward council members are elected by the people who live in those wards or the the voters who live in those wards rather than as by the city as a whole. Then as far as some of the elected official roles that we're that are being proposed, first to change to an appointed municipal court judge, whereas currently we we elect our municipal court judge. Uh we are only one of five cities right now that do that. And um so we talked about the challenges [snorts] um you know just the the limitations that puts on who could be the municipal court judge because if you are elected that you have to live within the boundaries of the city and so then uh that just limits the number of people who might be qualified. And then uh the other elected official role is to right now our when we select a city council president uh they go every other year. So kind of right after an election a new council president is selected that this would change to every

year potentially giving more people the opportunities to be leader you know kind of a leader uh on the council. Then uh related to the city manager um this would allow currently the the way the charter reads the city manager is required to live in the city limits. This would just was a little bit of flexibility um for allowing up to 12 months for the city coun or for the city manager to move into the city limits. Um and the and just the other day uh at the LOC uh spring conference in Pendleton, we there was a session uh particularly on chart city charters and uh this is a an an item that a lot of cities are taking a look at just because the the challenges of recruiting and and uh and and and then retaining uh city managers and so there's some people who are going away from the requirement particularly more maybe in metrop metropolitan areas where you might um you know have a bunch of cities that are right next to each other. Uh the next item uh the right now the the council appoints the city attorney but there's really no language related to how that s how that position is supervised by the council. So this clarifies that the day-to-day supervision of the city attorney would lie with the city manager the proposed changes. Then um for city charter maintenance this requires a review of the charter at least once every 10 years. It doesn't have to be I mean it could be more frequent than you have to wait 10 years but at least once every 10 years we take a look at it to make sure it's meeting the needs of the of the community. And then there are a number of other language changes in there that align the charter with the current language of the of the League of Oregon Cities model

charter. And so that is a summary. Be happy to answer any questions and I'm sure the committee would be happy to talk about their discussions if you have questions about that as well. Um I just for the purposes of um elections coming up because I know there are some candidates in the audience. I know we've talked about this before, but if the ward lines are redrawn, that would not go into effect for this election. Correct. Correct. Because this, let's say you recommend putting this on the ballot, it would go in November. Likely an effective date would be January 1. So that' be after these elections are are completed. So any changes to the boundary lines would apply to the next time the board council members are elected. And it also provides for the changing wouldn't nec wouldn't kick them out immediately. It would come into play when the

during the next cycle takes place. Go ahead. Um, one is I really wish they would have addressed the barnyard animals in the city limits. I have had issue for two years with barnyard animals. I'm sure the poor um code enforcement office officer just would like to block my number. [clears throat] I can't help it. I

Well, I would propose that that should be um an ordinance change and not a charter. Well, however you want to do it. So maybe in this meeting when it's council comment time, you could make a motion to to consider at a future meeting an ordinance regulating chickens or barnyard animals if you want to be basically chickens. I don't have any other wandering barnyard animals. Just the chickens that have eaten my landscaping from the front of my office for two years. Must have been tasty, huh? must have tasted really good. I'm gonna plant something bad. [laughter] Oh, have them for dinner. Going

down going down a rabbit hole now, guys. Come on. Let's get back on task. Okay. Okay. And the other one is um on the wards, red um distributing the wards and only allowing the people from that district to vote. Do we I I know we can't know, but do we have any kind of an idea on the voter um like feedback on how many of the people from that district vote?

We don't re I mean we didn't do that level of analysis. it it would take a little effort to try to do that. Um the the biggest concern and one of the reasons that the staff wanted to do that, I recognize, you know, it could be low voter turnout and there could be very few people who vote for in in a specific ward, but the whole idea of uh the reason you put wards in place is to try to distribute representation and to give that those different areas of the city that voice and doing it the way we currently are does not meet that guid doesn't meet that and cities in other places have been challenged uh in court for the kind of situation that we have right now and so this is trying to look ahead and maybe head off some potential lawsuits that could come under that current status.

All right. So long as you've looked into it, we can we can look into it. I mean, it would be more um because we we would be redrawing the boundaries. It then that gets a little more tricky as far as trying to figure out who voted and but we could do some mapping to try to to look at that. But we still can't guarantee that the people who are registered to vote are going to vote. So, okay, they already other council comments or questions.

Councelor Linton. Okay. Um there are a couple of things that I would like to see the um municipal judge continue to be voted in by the citizen because I think that would help uh the constituents to be have a part in what's happening within her because it's hard to get the people to get involved. And so I feel that I would like to see that to continue to be um voted in. Is there a question in Oh, I thought you said we're on questions. No, we're on questions. Oh, I thought you say qu questions. Okay, I can hold off to them.

Okay, Council Roberts. I've got a couple of questions. Um first one's probably one of the easiest. Um said every 10 years we would have to have a charter review. Let's say that we get to year five and we decide we want to review. Does that reset the clock or is it opinion going to be on a set? That's the way I would interpret it. I guess we could leave it up to the city attorney to interpret that, but yeah, I mean I think it would.

Okay. Um the second uh question or actually set of questions um has to do about term limits because I've had a bunch u couple of people around town ask me about this. Should the city councilors have some kind of term limit where they have to step away for a certain amount of time? I'm not saying a lifelong you've done eight years and you're off of it, but just um the way it was posed to me is sometimes people don't run because somebody's been in there for 8 10 12 years and they're like, "Well, I'm not going to get elected because that person's been in there forever." And so their feeling was if if there was an opening there, um maybe some other people would run and we get some fresh ideas on the council. Um, not saying this has to be the way it is, but uh, one of the ideas was um, if you do two consecutive terms, let's say that you're award position and you do two consecutive terms and you have to step out, you'd be eligible for the atlarge positions in two years or something like that. So, uh, I'm just putting it out there as a um, something for us to kind of consider and then if if yes, we think that's something that needs to be discussed. not necessarily that it it will be or won't be, but if it's worthy of discussion. Um, is that something we'd want to send back to the committee? Um, and also, um, how long do we have before we need to make a decision one way or the other before, um, the deadline to get it on the the election ballot?

Yeah. So, um, the final time we we feel comfortable with as far as getting it on the ballot would be the final action taken by the council on August 10th. August 10th, but that does require some other steps in there that have waiting times and so forth. So, you know, we we would need to be done with any discussion 1st of July, middle of June, so that we have time to make sure we take all the steps. Okay.

So, I guess my final question related to that because that's the only things that really popped up is uh I I would love to hear from you guys on that and and ask that maybe if you could give me your thoughts on it. Councelor Drum. Well, since we have the members of the charter review committee, um I want to know if they had any kind of discussion about this as they met over six to nine months. Mr. Chairman, would you u are you prepared to step forward and address any of these questions?

Sure. Um thank you uh for inviting me and uh feels a little bit foreign to be standing on this side of the dise and address for the record. Uh before you before you get started could you give us your name and I just assumed everybody knew who I well sir you know we do have we do both have rules and uh you know kind of got

uh my name is Dave Dzman. Uh my address 935 Southeast Banker Drive. Uh, and I was appointed by you as the chair for the um, charter review committee. So, I'm here to not just speak for the committee. The committee can speak for themselves. They're here, most of them are here present this evening. Um, it was a very, um, diverse group, a very broad group of individuals, uh, brought different perspectives, um, different areas of the community. They were, uh, appointed by you. uh they applied for this position and all of the members are were public members. Uh we had one uh representative uh the mayor sat with us but he didn't get to vote. Uh he had lots of opinions but he didn't get to vote and so the committee brought these presentations to you themselves after thoroughly vetting them. Uh it was a I my timeline if if I'm correct we actually did six meetings not four and um we we thoroughly went through this being respectful of the years of institutional development that this council uh and the pre previous councils have put into developing a charter. um you know it is the framework in which we operate our city and as unique as that is to um uh cities and um the process of governance across the United States, it allows us to be you a separate and unique city. And so we wanted to be mindful and respectful of that first and foremost. And so um we in thinking through that, you know, we always wanted to respect what previous counselors had approved or done. And so the changes that we brought forward to you um are just our recommendations. They were all fully um unanimous if I remember accurately uh in these recommendations. But ultimately that decision is up to you and how you change it and how you like it and add stuff to it if you want

to. It's your decision ultimately. But um this was vetted by your community uh and supported by your community. We did have public open comment at every single meeting. Uh not a lot of people took the opportunity. The last meeting was pretty well attended. Uh and there was many members that spoke at that time. Um and probably the most contentious one was as Miss Counselor Linton had pointed out uh the judge. And so um and it and it wasn't something that we took lightly either. Uh we understand the challenges that um you know attorneys finding professional uh to come to rural parts of the state is very very difficult. We even had the attorney uh Mr. Ben Dixon uh was here one evening. I think he's here this evening. He could probably speak to that if he would like to. Um and so we were able to ask him questions about it as well. And so we tried to do a a deep enough dive in that conversation to formulate an opinion. Taking the recommendations of the administration, how difficult it is to find professionals to fill that position. Uh we felt it was best if we brought it in-house in an appointed position rather than an elected position and also the oversight of the person that works closest in the administration, the city manager to have the oversight of of that position as well. So, um I don't know that I got to the question that you were asking me. What were you asking me about?

Term limits. I don't think we ever talked about term limits. If it did, it was Yeah, it was it was never brought up at all. Yeah. Was it committee? Yeah, we we never talked about it.

So, might be a conversation for the council. I have my own personal opinions, but um I think you know that's something the council wants to sit. I don't think we have uh an opinion. We didn't formulate one. Um I don't know if I could speak for the committee as well if we would come back together, but um we've presented you our best effort and um think it's a great recommendation. And one of the things that we talked about to councelor Linton's um point is you could run simultaneous ballot issues um and so you could pull out you know the judge as an election versus you know all for one one for all kind of approval. So that way you don't sync the everything that you want to do with one issue. So, that would be one way to frame it, but I would be happy to answer any other questions, other council questions. Council L,

can I comment the committee first or do I have to because I want to come at the Okay, this is just questions. Okay, I'll come at you all later then. Did the committee have any other thoughts or No, we uh we enjoyed the process. appreciated you inviting us to come in and um give you a recommendation. It was an honor to help us support the city again and so thank you for the request. And I do have one question. Yeah, sure.

Uh I want to know your opinion on um the municipal judge being voted in or appointed and if they're appointed uh with the do you think that the council should also be the ones that take part in the appointment?

Yeah. um my uh personal opinion um I supported the appointment and so but I will tell you that was the one thing that people spoke to the most during uh public presentation gave feedback the most on some in support some you know it's challenging as you guys all know you do the deep dive you do the six weeks worth of work you do all the homework behind the scenes and then a person comes to one meeting and here's your thoughts and and wants to speak to it. And so, um, it's ultimately up to you and what you want to decide. Um, I found it challenging as the mayor, uh, when we had to, um, have a municipal court that was operational and to the benefit of the community uh, in a previous environment. And so, I supported the appointment from that perspective in my previous experience. But I also defer to the city administrator who has to manage that department and understand the challenges that he's presented with. And I also in my capacity as a a professional business person in the community understand how difficult it is to hire professionals to come to rural parts of the state. And so um we were fortunate enough to get an amazing uh attorney to step forward here locally uh and fill that position. I'm sure he's got lots of other things on his list of stuff to do that would keep him busy besides this, but finding another individual if he wasn't available, I think would be extremely challenging for the council.

And m Mr. Mayor, can I clarify real quick part of what councelor Lynn's talking about? So, the proposal is it says a majority of the council may appoint and remove a municipal judge in consultation with the city manager. So that's the proposal is that the council and the city manager together would make that come together to make that appointment. We did have that conversation in the as part of our recommendation that the council would still maintain that uh authority to stay involved in the process. Mr. You guys have any more for me? We're good. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, your honor.

Good evening, Cameron Bendixon. I live in city limits. Um, it's good to be here. We'll give you a pass on that one. Thank you. [laughter] Well, my question is the your opinion on being appointed or u someone being uh voted in Yeah. to this position.

Um, when I ran for this position, I've been the judge. I was a prom in 2021 and then ran for election. uh took that on in January 2023. So, I've been the judge that long. Hasn't been a real long time. It's gone by quickly for me. I really hadn't thought about it a whole lot as long as I've been the judge until the charter committee uh approached me and asked me to speak at their meeting, which I appreciate and I appreciate all their good work. I know that uh you and and those on the committee do this just a time that away from families and it's meaningful stuff. So, thank you. Um, I'm also grateful that Dr. Drosman gave gave me a little bit of a pass there. I was feeling like it was like bottom of the barrel. We don't have any attorneys and we just got this one guy who's willing to do it. I want to say I want to say that I'm very grateful to be the municipal judge and I really enjoy it. And so I I hope you'll have me as long as as long as I can do the job. So that being said, I I think that uh there are benefits that the common lawyer answer is always what it depends, right? Okay. The common lawyer answer is always it depends. So, uh I you know if if you if you have an elected judge, then the whole city gets to decide the guy they want to sit right there a few times a week and make decisions about people's guilt or innocence, right? And so, uh some might think that a judge would be worried about what the public would think when certain decisions are made. I don't necessarily I don't know even know that that crosses my mind when I'm sitting up there. I'm I'm taking the facts as they come and make a decision based on what I understand of the law and uh and so I I make the decision. I again I don't I don't think that ever crosses my mind. Well, what what do the members of the community think about this decision that shouldn't cross a judge's mind, right? So there's that

issue that the public fe may feel that that is something that would sway a judge. So that that's one side of the of the coin. The other side of the coin is if it's appointed then does the city council or or the city manager or anyone else do they have any sway with the judge in what the judge decides? You know, are there are there meetings going on behind the scenes of what uh what the city leadership wants the judge to do or decide on certain things? And of course that wouldn't be appropriate either. So my I I don't I guess what I'm getting at is I don't really take have a position. I think whatever the city council decides is fine with me. I think there are benefits to both. Uh I know that we are a community that like uh uh city manager Smith said that um we are one of five I think in the whole I was looking at the chart as I was sitting back there in the audience that yeah I think there's might maybe five or six in the whole state that still elect their municipal judge. So I don't know that that's a reason necessarily to make the change. Um just because a few communities do it doesn't mean that we should necessarily just jump on board with what everybody else is doing. But it seems to me that what what uh the big driving factor behind all of this is that we are we are in an interesting time when it comes to the legal community uh in Hermiston. Uh I just from my my own experience as an attorney here. I'm not able to take I'm only able to take a fraction of the work that comes to my office. I I don't really want to work crazy hours. And so I I I know I see this this issue we're dealing with where it's really hard to find attorneys that want to set up shop here and stay here. And so I think there is some wisdom in looking at this and saying, "Okay, are we going to uh expand the the the boundaries of of what an eligible elected judge where they could live maybe?" uh or or do we just make it an appointed position and then just

leave it up to the council and city leadership to appoint that judge no matter where they live? You certainly open up the pool a little bit more there. So, I guess that's a really long answer to your question, but well, um, I have been to your courtroom a couple of times and over the years, and I think that you are doing an excellent job and you also have a reputation to being a very good lawyer. So, my question is, is my opinion correct? Say, [laughter] well, I have to make a question. I just can't comment. not comments that I'm not sure I can I don't even know how to answer that.

I'll I'll just say thank you. Yeah, good lawyer question. Other council questions of uh our judge. All right. Thank you, sir. Thank you. All right. Any other uh council questions in regards to the charter? Yes, sir. I'd like to ask the city manager what would happen in the scenario where we had an election for a municipal judge and nobody ran in. Then the council would appoint someone to fill that position. Okay. Thank you, Cer.

From what pool? Uh, I would I would say it would be the same pool that the that the judge could be elected from. So, you're still talking about the same limited number of potential candidates. I mean, and that really at the bottom of staff's discussion and our recommendation to the committee, that is really the the crux of it. Um,

my point. Yeah, we just have we have such a limited, you know, if Judgement Dixon didn't want to run for reelection. I mean, who I don't know. I mean, there's probably three other attorneys that live in town, maybe. I don't know that 100%, but that's it's pretty close.

Council, other questions? Um I just don't want to forget uh councelor Roberts hadn't had had entered into discussion. I wanted to see if there were counselors or whatever on um opinions regarding term limits. Um may I make a comment in regards to that? Do you want are we approp so discussion on the term limits part of it? I guess I guess since it is discussion go ahead.

Okay. Um just in in my experience and it's really and I just say this only as my opinion being a candidate that's been in a few elections now. Um um I I don't know that we have the candidate pool to want to um impose a term limit. Um, I know I know in the past, uh, I think for councelor Meyer's last election, uh, she had put in her, correct me if I'm wrong, put in her application literally the very last moment. One tell. Yeah.

Yeah. Uh, because there were no candidates that were that were running and councelor Myers has been running for some significant time. So, that didn't seem to be a roadblock for anybody to run at that point. Um, so I I would I would hesitate to um and I would hesitate to impose a term limit um because we may run into a situation like for example with a judge where we may have to appoint someone from a similar pool. I see some issues with imposing term limits right now. Okay, councel.

I would second what councelor McCarthy just said, but I would also be interested. I'm not completely against the idea. I would also be interested in seeing what other cities our size do. Are there any others that have term limits for for city councilors? And that would take some research obviously, but um I think it's worth looking at. And we did some research just in general reviewing and Mr. Tvy just said I mean he could think of one that's kind of in a similar size that might have had term limits. So, we we could be more specific and more thorough if you wanted us to, but that's what we currently found.

Okay. Uh, Council Roberts. Oh.

Um, I really don't see a problem with term limits. I think that what could happen with it like it I wouldn't for me it'd be like one term and then see if anybody else wanted to run and um what I would say is that if we had term limits and we would also and say no one decided to do to run for uh that council position ward one through four or the alternates that u the person that had that position that they would be uh appointed back and then the next time see if it'll work the next time. If not, then you have the same person in that ward. Well, there is there is one part that I'm going to use council or mayor privilege here. Um, one of the things that was that was brought up during the recent LOC conference by uh, Patty Movill was the fact that um, one of the problems that they're looking at, they're seeing is, you know, as a deal is the rules on basically quorum because, you know, if you're if you know what what constitute a quorum and because in the event of a, you know, a a major decision, you know, a major major problem that happens within the council and say you have four members of your council step down. You have so who's going to appoint that? what creates, you know, as if your rules in in your in your charter do not include something about, you know, what actually constitutes a quorum for that purpose, then we, you know, that's something that may need to be addressed at either this or, you know, future charters because, you know, the the the uh you know, I mean, I I don't see, you know, I don't see any huge issue where, you know, everybody's going to step down

at once, but you know, that uh as soon soon as you as soon as you fail to prepare. So, um you know, so that you know in in regards to term limits that you know if you had you know all four of your all you know all four of your wards or all four of your uh uh at large uh are you know aren't elected or you know don't sign up and you don't have anybody that runs for them. Who makes the decision and how is that you know how is that decision going to be made? isn't going to be made by the remaining members of the council. So, you know, we need to we need to at this point, you know, at some point in time, we need to address that part of it. So, well, perhaps this is a perfect time to to think about those scenarios and and try to incorporate it. Um, I think if I'm not mistaken, we could take in that worst case scenario, you had um people who stepped down and and u there wasn't enough for a quorum. We could probably address that in our charter now. But also, let's take councelor Meyer's position as the example. Nobody ran and so she ran last minute. Um, if you reach the end of the term and nobody runs, could we write in a provision that if nobody runs, this person could get reappointed if if they're they're still willing kind of thing.

You could. I think that gets a little slippery. Yeah. trying to say you're going to automatically put in the person who didn't run. I think I'm not saying automatic. I'm sorry. But they could be a camper pit a point bill. I mean, I think that's already in place. Seems like they would run again. Yeah. I mean, if they wanted to be, they would have run again. And I feel like there's some challenges with but yeah if I remember right though didn't the didn't the uh current didn't this last legislative session change the sign uh the the period in which you can you know like an incumbent has to file a week before the end of the

it's more than a week but yes the incumbents have to file sooner they're required to file sooner than a new candidate would be required to file but we're talking about something different we're talking about we don't have a candidate and so it goes unfilled. Right. But it also addresses the concern that you brought up in that if somebody's afraid to run against a longtime incumbent, if they don't file by the earlier deadline, they can know then they can go file within still file within the the normal period

because I think that was that was part of the impetus for that for that that law or that that change is to is because of of that particular situation if I remember correctly, but I don't remember everything. So my final comment on that is is this something that we want to have further discussion on I guess um before we make a decision and that to me is just what we think as a council the majority I'm good with drone

is it something that we can table perhaps for our next meeting I think I want to think about it a little bit more I see a lot of benefit in having someone like Mr. Harden or uh Miss Meyers with all the institutional knowledge that they brought because they've been part of the city council uh where they can give us the background on how decisions were made way back when uh subject comes up. Um and not only that, not only with the institutional knowledge, but at the same time, these are people that are have the time, go to conferences, are actively participating in the council, you know, still wanting to learn. They're not just a body that comes, you know, to a meeting, but they actually are actively participating. So, they're not occupying space, but they're engaging. They're fulfilling their role. So, I don't know that I'm quite prepared to make a decision right now about the term limits.

Okay. Um, so as as for term limits, are we at a conclusion of the discussion of the term limits part of things and and maybe look at moving that as something that to have the staff look at further? I'm okay with that. Yeah. I don't know what that does to to this issue tonight if we Well, it would definitely mean we'd have to put it off tonight. Yeah. But there there are other items that we can discuss in regards to it because tonight is move you know we would direct staff to prepare the necessary documents to place this on and and as we don't have a

a uh basically stock and trade uh position or language for them to move forward with. the you know we've not made a decision as to that. So, well, even the attorney limits wouldn't affect any of the recommendations that are but the charter as a whole would. Right. We wouldn't want you to make I mean there are certain doc things that we have to prepare for you to say, "Yeah, we're going to put that on the ballot. We don't want you to do we don't want to do that until we know what going to go on the ballot." So, if there's a chance you're going to add another item, let's wait. We still have time. But that's

So, so are we directing staff to to come up with uh to to further look into the matter or what are we what are we doing on term limits part of things? I think if we're at that point that would be the motion, but I'm not making it yet because I don't want to cut anybody off. Okay. So, all right. But we're we've discussed we've discussed it. Is there is there any more discussion on the matter of term limits? I have a question for the city manager. Okay. So, Mr. Smith, does that does that mean that our question or our idea will go back to the committee, the charter review committee, or does it go to you guys for language proposals?

Well, um I would not want to necessarily impose on the committee uh when we told them. I mean, we've kind of they did what we asked. And so, um, I would say if you want to table the discussion on the charter and direct us to bring more information about t term limits, I think that would be more of what we're talking about and and then you decide what you're going to do with term limits. All right. So, there are other parts of the charter that we, you know, we can discuss as well. Um, yeah, if there's any concern about other things, but

um, councel, city manager Smith, how long would you say we have to deliberate this before you need a an answer? So, end of June, 1 of July, we need to be done. Okay. Other questions in regards to any other parts of the the charter? Okay, seeing none, I thought we wanted to be able to go back and do some comments. We're on question. We'll get there. We'll get there. We'll get there.

Let the record reflect that Council Bron is with us now. Uh, okay. So, at the at this time, do we have any public comment in regards to what we've done with the charter? or on the charter as presented so far. I think you guys Okay. All right. Council comments. Councelor Linton, you're up. Thank you, Mayor.

Okay. Um I have wanted to discuss the two two items. The first item would be to um leave the voting of the m municipal judge to the uh citizens of Hermiston. I think that helps them to participate in the government because we have a hard time getting people to participate and uh usually folks don't come to the meetings unless it's something that's directly affecting them. And most of the time it's like maybe one to three people in the audience. And so I think I'm hoping that it would help continue to help uh individuals be take a part in and find out who's who and want to know who is who.

Okay. Oh, you want me to do the second one as well? Yeah. Okay. This is council comments. Okay. Um, my second one is the the for the uh council president. I would like to see it stay as it is now for every other year. Okay, that's my two. All right. Other council comments? Councelor

Meer. I'll get there. I'll get there. I would like to disagree with the um what Jackie just said about voting to elect the judge. I think it's a far better idea. We get a better quality candidate if we appoint. Okay. Okay. Roberts,

first um thank you to the committee members. Um I you guys did a fine job. I was at that last meeting. I think you brought forth a very wellthoughtout u you know document for us and and changes. Uh like I said that that term limit thing was after the fact. You guys had already adjourned. Um but uh everything you've brought forward um I I like. Um, I appreciate Councelor Linton's thoughts on the election process bringing people in and wanting to engage and I get that sentiment. Um, but at the same time, we've just had a conversation under the term limits about how hard it is to get candidates sometimes. And so if we can't get enough candidates for the city council positions, which is open to the whole city, we're going to be a lot more uh have a lot harder time finding candidates, I think, to run for the municipal judge. Uh for that reason, I'm I'm in favor of the appointment, but um but I do appreciate both sides of that.

Other council council Brun, thank you, mayor. Uh, and thank you for welcoming me back. Um, I had the opportunity to listen to your guys' conversation on the bus ride back from Tri Cities from our baseball game. Uh, and so, uh, I just wanted to say that I appreciate, uh, the committee that did all the work. I understood that it was we had six meetings. Uh, and so, uh, I appreciate, uh, the work that every single member of the the committee did. uh you guys had a long opportunity to have these long conversations and I I really respect uh a committee putting in a lot of work and bringing it forth to the council. Uh and so I respect the work that you guys have done. Um I quite frankly am in favor with uh the committee recommendations. I believe they spent an adequate amount of time, looked it over, had open public meetings uh in which people could comment on. Um, frankly, I wish uh even the county would have gone with their charter uh re review committee recommendations. Um, because I think the the work that the people do on this committee is very valuable. And so I understand uh what was mentioned about whether it's appointed or um elected. I hear both sides and I really appreciate uh Judge Ben Dixon uh kind of going over the pros and cons. Um there is a lot to think about honestly. Uh but at the end of the day whether it's the public feeling that they have uh maybe some buyin with the judge or whether it's even the the council uh I think there is a slippery slope from both ways but understanding the the legal crisis that we have where we we just honestly don't have very many attorneys in the area. We have some high quality attorneys in the area um but we just don't have very many. Uh, and so I think that poses uh difficulty, especially when we're trying to get

through cases. Um, we don't we don't want cases or justice to be hung up uh because uh we're lacking an attorney when we need one or a judge when we need one. And so uh frankly, I agree with the recommendations. Uh and I want to say again, thank you uh committee members who took the time to look over the charter review. uh you have a lot of experience uh and many of you guys like I was really happy to see that the mayor uh was a part of that committee. Um you have a lot of years uh that you dedicated to the city. You have a lot of institutional knowledge about what's happened, where we've been, and where we're going. And so I really respect uh uh you leading the committee um former mayor Dave Dotszman. So I appreciate you uh I appreciate the work that the committee has done. So thank you. uh council drone [sighs] was has already has

yes I also want to thank the committee for the for the work I attended the very last meeting and uh I I think we have we've talked about the low voter turnout right and so I think having the opportunity for the city council to be able to appoint the judge um is a better option Um the council are elected officials. Um the community members have put the trust in the city uh city manager, the city council, the mayor to be able to carry out those decisions. So I think um that's a better option. Um, as far as the term limits, I don't know if you were able to hear, councelor Bon, but um, we were having a discussion about that and uh, we decided to think about it a little bit more. The city is going to be bringing back some information, but we do have to make a decision on the the city charter before July, but

I got to wait till give everybody a chance first. Council Kelzo. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I in an ideal world, I would agree with councelor Linton if and I can't believe I'm about to say this. If we had many more lawyers in town and oh lord, [laughter]

sorry sir. Um and and there was a slate of candidates to choose from. I am all in favor of the most fundamental level of democracy possible and we would have one person one vote and we would elect that person. But I'm a bit of a pragmatist and I've seen a recurring theme throughout my time here on council and that is that there is a shortage of attorneys. um people who are qualified to be a judge and especially those people who live in our city limits and we saw that when the DA came and presented when we were talking um about you know giving the um um sorry misdemeanor cases back to the county and he was just saying he can't find enough lawyers to hire even countywide. So, um I think we need to do what we can to make um hiring a a city uh municipal judge as easy as possible on the city management. And as councelor Jerome said, um we are elected and we will be appointing that judge. So, in a way, the people will have representation in that decision. And I wanted to echo everybody else's sentiments. I attended a couple of your meetings uh committee and I think you did a fantastic job and I appreciate your time and effort that you put into it. So, thank you for that. Any other council comments that hasn't talked yet? We already talked. Councelor Linton was ahead of you. So, I also want to thank the committee. I think you did an outstanding job on putting this together. My concern, however, is with um the council, not us individually, but I have seen it where politics came into play. And I don't want to see a lawyer have to come up and think they have to, you know, talk to each and everybody and give favoritism. I've seen that happen. And uh that's why I feel that we should let the people decide who whoever is running. Then the people can decide. They can look at what the candidate is

saying about himself. They can look at his record or whatever. But um I'm not saying that that will happen to where you got to play politics and you know uh buy me dinner. I like um prime rib just in case anybody wants to know. But anyway, that is my opinion on that. Thank you. Council Brum,

well, I agree uh with councelor Kelso on uh what he mentioned about uh the judgeship. Uh just kind of what I was mentioning earlier. I think that's just that's the better idea. And unfortunately, if we had uh more competition or more people that are willing to go out for that um or if we had an abundance of lawyers, that'd be great. But we we just don't. Um, and just to comment on councelor Don's point, I did hear u uh you guys have a conversation about term limits and I mean personally I don't think it's a great idea. Um, just because we all know being counselors the first four years you're basically learning. Uh, and that's not to say that we can't introduce new ideas. We have people that can get involved in committees or run at large where it's just the top four that win. And so, uh, honestly, there's, uh, opportunity, and I mean, I'd be in favor of maybe a certain limit of of term limits, but I think it's also valuable to bring a lot of institutional knowledge, especially a nonpartisan position. Uh, at the end of the day, everyone that's running for here for the council is just wanting to see the the best for the city. And personally, I think the best for the city is being very informed and making informed decisions. And so, I think experience goes a long way. I've have a lot of respect for the counselors that have been here for a while. Councelor Myyers, councelor Harden, uh councelor Primmer when he was a counselor, the mayor for 12 years. You can tell when you have someone in leadership for a while, um that experience does carry a lot of weight. Just like with anything, if you have a seasoned teacher or a seasoned coach, uh the first few years are kind of you're just learning and then after a while, then that's when you start to get in your group, you can start to do more things than you possibly could have envisioned the first couple years. Now, I think it's really important and and to councelor Roberts's points when I heard uh you mention the idea, I think it's great that we have more ideas presented to the council. Um I I feel like the city is trying to do its best to communicate more. We uh have had more uh

opportunities to do more public comment um or to even have our city chats just try to go out and see uh meet the community and it was great. Uh I'm sure a lot of you guys were here for our last cadets forum, but every single race was contested. So I think that's fantastic. Um at the end of the day, I think uh it's uh the experience of a counselor or any individual is invaluable. So I just I disagree. Um with a term limit, we can maybe do maybe four or something like that or I'm just not really in favor unless there was just a lot of people that wanted to run. And at the end of the day, a race is a race. The best man or best woman is going to win. So that's how I feel about that. Uh just want to borrow on some election um experiences. When you look at um the last ward elections, most and even in previous years, most positions were only within contest by less than 100 votes or about 100 votes or so, which is not not really indicating well and for example, councelor Linton was not the incumbent. Councelor Barone was um and there was there was a small amount of votes that could have swung either way if many if more people showed up. So I don't think it's also indicative of the incumbent gets it because they've been doing it for so long. Certainly councelor Davis would have had favor in that position with councelor Linton and there wasn't a huge number of votes but enough to separate councelor Linton into in to getting that position. So I don't I don't think based on that there's um an inability of a person to be able to run. Um certainly that hasn't been in my experience the pattern and I've attended even before I was running a number of these forums and paid attention to that with my experience being in a media outlet. So I don't think even our voting pattern indicates that it's not possible for a complete newcomer to a position to to win that position.

Any others? My turn. All right. Cool. So, um, in in in in regards to the to the term limits part of things, um, and I and I appreciate council Robert's position on this, but at the same time to go towards, uh, actually to use I think it was councelor Kelso's or councelor Baron's uh, deal season, you know, a a new a new counselor on the on commit on this. You know, I started out as new. We know everybody up here was new at one point in time or another. And when I when I ran the first time, I came in with an agenda, unfortunately. And so, you know, and when I got in here, I found out exactly how much my agenda really had to do with what was going to go on. So, it wasn't, you know, it wasn't a uh wasn't that thing. You know, you get in here and you don't realize just how much you don't know about, you know, we've I mean, everybody's supposed to have gone through civics classes in school. You should know how government runs. But until you sit up here and are part of some of those decisions and even if you're sitting out there in the audience, you don't see how much or how little you have to, you know, you have of what's going to happen. So, you know, you can't you can't just come up here and well, I'm going to change this. And getting, you know, getting to the point to where you understand how to, you know, how the thing actually how this thing we call government works is difficult at best. And so, I think, you know, to to do away with that quote unquote seasoning, the seasoned uh professionals that we get up here would be a shame quite frankly. Um, you know,

councelor Meyer has has put a lot of work into it. You know, I had some bad things to say about her at one point in time and I you did and uh you know and and I was proven wrong

and I was [laughter] I was wrong. But but at the same time, you know, I I I got to see exactly how how this works and how tough it is to set up here and make some of these decisions. You know, knowing about how how a budget works, you know, everybody, you know, everybody has a budget at their house, but budgets your house doesn't work like a budget in the city. You can't just take from this pile and put it there. It has to be a certain way. and getting up here and and being part of that season, that seasoning is what gets you to that point. And so to learn, you know, to learn from that is necessary, I think. Um, made notes here, make sure I cover that. Um and I you know I would I would I would you know if we did do term limits I would have to say that you know the absolute wouldn't even start before three before three terms but you know I can I can understand the thought process behind it as you know again going back to when I first first got on the council I was one of those that was dead set against the taking away the the people's choice for the judge. I I fought, you know, that was a hill I stood upon and planted my flag. And I'm telling you right now that I have changed my opinion on that. And mostly it's because of the the current climate that it takes to you know we had to give up our you know some a portion of our court because we can't get attorneys to come in here and do that. We can't even import them by phone to get them to do the job that we need them to do. to to ask somebody that to

actually live inside the city and be a judge that has an attorney experience is I mean the fact that the fact that we have uh Judge Ben Dixon in the position that we do is a blessing to say the least and he does a he does a fine job and I am I am happy every single day that he is in there doing the job that he is. I try not to mess his chair up too much. So, but in any case, the thing is is that, you know, we to to take that to take the the the the fact that what folks have been saying up here is is that, you know, we are elected officials. You know the people tell us what they want and we it's our job to interpret and or make the decision based on what they have told us what their mandate is and to and I would I would say that it is you know it is within our our purview to do that and the fact that I mean the you know the the because everybody's doing it we should too that's you know for me that's not the biggest issue part of things you know because I mean how many of us have sold that to our Right.

I would say not everybody's doing it,

right? But in any case, um that's that's to me that's not that's not the issue. The issue is is what do we do if you know what do we do if you know our our our current judge becomes disenfranchised with our city and decides that uh no no thank you. How do we how do we replace him in the future? So I think that by by doing that I think by by making it our our decision and answering to the public is the best is the best option possible. That's again that's the way I look at it. And finally uh in regards to and I and I and I brought my opinion on this one forward and I will bring it forward again in regards to uh the council president's role. Um, yes, I I understand the thought process by giving additional pe, you know, people additional um, experience, but just as we've said multiple times up here, when you first get into the role up here, you're just barely getting your feet under you in the first couple of years. And I think the same would go for the council president because once the council president gets put into place, you know, at any given time, he could be sitting in this chair having to having to to do the things that I do. And it's not, you know, it's not rocket surgery, but again, it's not uh, you know, there's, you know, there are some things that require a little bit of tact and maybe a little bit of fortitude. I don't know. But being, you know, but to be to be the person that has to make the the the decision from this chair in a in a, you know, in a possibly contentious meeting might make the difference. It might be somebody that needs to have that has a little bit more experience that's had to, you know, had to run the meeting before that knows the ins and outs is what they're supposed to do. And I don't think that just one one and done is is the way. Now, granted, the same person

could be voted back in, you know, every year. It could happen. However, I think that I think that the decision the the decision to to move it back from two or back to two would be would be or keep it at two would be the better the better thing. And finally, I was there at I think every meeting that they had. And the work that the folks on on the charter review committee uh was fantastic. Everybody was involved in the discussion. There was nobody just sitting on their thumbs the entire time. They were involved in it. They were discussing it. They took their responsibility to heart and they made the best effort and they did produce the best product that they possibly could given what we gave them. They took what we asked them to do and made it their own and brought forth what they what we believe is a very very good piece a good document. And the fact that we're discussing it, I mean, you know, the fact that we're only discussing two or three things over all the changes and everything that was made says a lot for what was what was done in that group. And so with that, I'm done. So, um, what what where where do we go from here? Do we uh Mr. uh Tvy, are we at a point to where we we've we've made a decision to send this table this and send it back for additional review or do I need to make a a vote as to the change that we've that we've uh Well, I leave that to the council. There's a couple different topics that have been discussed that if somebody wanted to raise a motion to and and move forward or uh the discussion was to

table um and if it was table and give us some guidance as far as what the council would like to see for the next meeting. Would it be would it be maybe a better thing? I mean, just just my thought here is is if we were to I mean, I know we've got a work session set for the next group, but maybe maybe we could preempt that and have the next council meeting have a work session in regards to these items so that we would be able to discuss them a little bit more at at and provide a provide staff with our recommendations for change. Um, I think we have enough time that we could do go to the next meeting. I'd prefer I I've already scheduled those other two presenters. I'd prefer to not, you know, I don't know what their calendars look like. I'd prefer to keep them on that and that we put it on the next work session. But other than that, I'm fine with that approach.

Mr. Mayor, what are the recommendations? I guess Well, that's that's where the problem is. Okay. is that we don't have we we've really don't have a clear recommendation at this point in time that I that I'm understanding. Council Roberts, correct me if I'm wrong. Um the main issues we have are the term limits, the municipal judge and the council president's uh one versus two year. Um I don't know if if what's that? Seems fair.

Yeah. And so, um, I don't know if we have enough consensus to deal with any or all of those tonight. Um, or if we would do that at a work session. I don't know what would be best. Yeah. I mean, I would just say I don't think this would be too long of a discussion to have in a meeting. I don't know that we necessarily have to have a work session, but we can. Okay. Um, but I mean if you want a motion to table and bring back more information on those three subjects for further discussion, I think that would be a great direction from our standpoint.

Counc um with the three items. Uh can we just go through a vote to see if we want to it to go further discussion and then each item we can say whether or not we want to pass that tonight. Yes. That's what I was saying. I mean if at this point if you feel like a motion uh could be carried or or heard and then you could vote on that. See where you're at. Okay. Far as making those. All right. So councelor John did you have that was going to be my suggestion. Okay. All right. So um the three items were term limits. the judge and council president. Is that correct?

Okay. Um, who wants to who wants to take on term limits? Council Roberts. Mr. Mayor, I would move that we um direct staff to bring back more information on term limits um and to be considered at a future meeting. Second. Okay. Okay, we have a we have a uh motion and a second. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. No.

Okay. And we have uh six to one with council brome being in descent to bring it back at another meeting. All right. Judge [gasps] [sighs] wants to take judge. I would motion that we go with the suggestion from the charter community um and let the council be the one to appoint the municipal judge. Second. Second

just because closes faster. So you're you're first. So okay. So motion by council drone seconded by pretty much everybody else. almost everybody else. Uh but we'll go with councelor McCarthy. Um to keep the charter or the charter recommendation as presented. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. No. Yes. Yes. Okay. Council passes six to one with councelor Linton in descent. Okay. Council President, I would like to make a motion that we keep the committee's re recommendation.

Second. Okay. Can I keep the committee's recommendation as one term limit? Roll call. Yes. No. No. Yes. Is this one term limit or two? One one year limit. No. Yes. Yes. I think is that time? No, there's three nos or four. Do we need to do it again? Let make sure I understand this one correctly. Oh, no. Because we're here. Yeah. Okay. So, three three yeses or three nos and four yeses.

Okay. So, we it moves. So motion passes to stay at one four to three with keeping the charters. Keeping the sharper charter recommendation. All right. Cool. All right. All right, sir. You got one. Okay. So So do we need to do a a uh motion to table and bring back a Okay. So, can I get a motion to table this and bring it back with more information on term limits? So, moved. Second.

Been moved by councelor John, second by councelor McCarthy. Sorry, he was closer. I'm good with it. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Motion passes. Wow. Okay. Spirited discussion. Thank you, council. The c the council thanks the uh charter review committee. I appreciate you guys hanging out for all of this and I'm glad we moved it forward because this would have been a long one, huh? Oh, yeah.

All right. Moving on. Finally, ordinances and resolution. Resolution 2420 improve approve intergovernmental agreement for IT services with the West Extension Irrigation District. City Manager Smith.

Yeah, Mr. Mayor, members of the council, um West Extension Irrigation District approached us uh our IT department about providing some services uh for them. They are asking for a it's a I think it's a four hour per month. Four hours a month. So it's not a lot. $6,200 a year. Uh the agreement includes a 3% inflation area increase each year. And initially they they do want to start immediately or as quickly as this becomes effective. So that uh there will be a partial payment this fiscal year. of $1,040. And since I anticipate the question, yes, we can handle this uh small contract uh with our current staffing. we don't need to fill. We we still have authorized a position that we have not filled and uh we will be bringing some amendments uh to the council with some of our existing customers that will make even a little bit more time available to handle this uh small contract.

Okay. Council questions. Councelor, what's the position you're looking to fill? Oh, we we we requested an extra position last year, but we didn't need to fill it. It was it would be a just a a tech type position. Thank you. Any others? Public comment? Nope. Okay. Council comments. Seeing none, can I get a motion to approve or adopt resolution 2420 and lay upon the record? So moved. Second. Okay. Council drawn on the motion and second by council Roberts. Roll call. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Motion passes unanimously. All right. Uh resolution 2421 approve intergovernmental agreement to operate the practical assistance through transitional housing path program. City manager Smith.

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, this is an update. What's before you is an updated agreement from what we have been operating on under and it really kind of continues and uh formalizes uh some of the budgetary um needs of the the path uh program and um what it what it is requesting um is it it because we've been operating now for a few years, we have now some numbers to help us know what it costs to provide these services at the level we are. So that puts those numbers in for the next for this fiscal year and the next two and um it also provides uh percentage shares for the various partners and it also formalizes the joining of this agreement of both the cities of Oregon and Boardman uh to be a part of it and share in the cost. And so, um, what this would do is it would, uh, formalize our our requirement to pay $49,991.36 for this fiscal year. And then our ongoing uh, commitment uh, will be based on kind of a not to exceed number that's in the budget or in the agreement uh, minus the state funding that we receive each year. And the reason we don't plug that in is because the state uh doesn't tell us very often very early what their commitment's going to be. So be happy to answer any questions.

Council questions. Councelor Bur, you mentioned Ian uh city manager Smith, you mentioned and boardman. Are are they joining in for the first time or have they always been a part? Well, we they have been we we did do they did do agreements kind of short-term agreements with the city of Umatillaa directly. This would be the first time that they that we all kind of sign the same IGA. Okay. Yeah, cuz when I remember it was it was just us and Umatillaa for a while. Was that right or Yes, it was us that usilla Echo and Stanfield have always also been a partner and then county.

Okay. Thank you. Other council question. Councelor Linton. Um, I would like to know how much is contributed from Herman, excuse me, at [clears throat] this time. So, our requirement for this fiscal year will be just under $50,000. So, $49,991. Uh, we don't know yet be what our commitment will be next year. When I bring the budget before you guys, I we will budget some money kind of anticipating what our commitment will be and then we'll go from there. Thank you. Other council questions, council drum.

So why Umatella County and not Pendleton? The city of Pendleton. Um, a couple of different reasons. One, when we started this effort, the city of Pendleton had already uh kind of gone a different direction uh with in conjunction with CAPCO and is it called the promise in? Is that what it's called? Yeah, they are uh that's kind of the their shelter program for that side of the county.

And then I think just that whole idea that I mean we're just enough geographically separated that it makes sense for us to partner with uh the cities that are here close to us. And so that's and and I don't know Umatillaa County's relationship with the city of Pendleton. I I'm I'm not aware of that, but they they were a willing partner in what we were working on here. So, thank you. Other council questions? Seeing none, public comment?

No. You sure? Okay. All right. Uh council comments. Seeing none, can I get a motion to adopt resolution 2421 and lay upon the record? So moved. Second. And moved by councelor McCarthy, second by councelor Roberts. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Motion passes unanimously. All right. March 2026 monthly financial report. Mr. Smith.

Yeah, Mr. Plasios. Thank you. Uh, good evening, mayor and counselors. Um, uh, for you tonight, I have the monthly financial reports ending at March 31, 2026. Hermanson Uber Renewal agency is we are currently 75% of the way through the fiscal year and um the receipts for the Hermison property taxes for the Hermanson urban renewal agency are at 100 a little over 100%. I've talked about this um why that is and that's because of the way the taxes are lev taxes are levied in that in those agencies. We are wishing through the rightway appraisals. Uh well actually those are completed with anticipated bidding this spring. So which we are we're in spring

of now it'll be next spring.

Oh well so I wasn't wrong. Still in the spring. [laughter] uh general fund. Again, we're seven months of the way through the fiscal year. Monthly revenues ended projections by about 1.9 million over projections. This is primarily due to the receipt of property taxes and franchise fees. Um as uh previously reported, we are received 100% of our budgeted property taxes. Um I did want to mention just briefly that we had a uh minor well, we had a a revenue mclassification. So there was a correction in the financial statements. So that's why if you if you read the financial reports that I had, you saw that we had a negative revenue and that's because of the there was an error that we there's transfers that we make on a monthly basis to other other funds and um because of the timing of that. It was it was mclassified in the general fund, but we're overall the general fund is still about a million dollars to the good. So, um I'm happy to answer any questions about that towards the end or even now. So, um monthly expenses were under projection by about $237,000 when compared to the projected expenses the city council don't read the finance department there please. uh public safety center and the non-EP departmental departments were um were selected for further evaluation of those city council and other department are over budget and this is due to the annual LC membership city council that'll catch up by the end of the fiscal year is what I anticipate so you'll probably get bored of hearing this but I'll be reporting on it through the end of the fiscal year and then of course the transfer that we made to set up the uh building inspection fund for this current year public safety center is over budget. This is due to single-time purchases for the PD

building renovation and the that will be addressed in a final supplemental here before the end of the year. Observations and special revenue on revenue funds EOTech um revenues reflect the partial reimbursement from camp cam cap ground project. We are looking at um asking for another one here pretty soon. We're due for another one and the RV project is underway. Um again, the regional water fund is on is up here. Again, just to let you know that due to some timing of some um maintenance work with um part of the part of the um operations were shut down and so we're about $154,000 under projected revenues, but we still Mark is still really hopeful that we'll get to that before the end of the year because of the changing weather. He just grabbed me by the arm and said, [laughter] "And then the AI some of the offset will come from the ASR project that's underway." Um, with that I will turn it over to Mr. Morgan. Yeah, sorry. Just on that last piece with the regional water system, as I was uh whispering into Mr. Placio Sierra, we will catch up because the city's buying a whole bunch of water from the regional system and pouring it into the ground and we're getting reimbured for that. So that's really why we're going to be catching up here very quickly in the next couple months. Uh so capital projects uh the Gear Harbor project uh you're aware we awarded a contract on that. So get ready for uh your phone to start ringing when we close that intersection. So it's coming. uh North First Place project. Uh continuing to try and work through things with the railroad uh regional water system backup generators. Um uh now we're just at the point where we're waiting on um those to be delivered, which is going to be a long lead time item. The Orchard Avenue waterline replacement project, that's

going to be very disruptive. Uh we anticipate bringing that to at the next council meeting to award that contract. So, uh that one's moving along. the well number six coronation structure. Uh we're having pre-construction meetings here. So soon we'll be starting to uh construct that project this spring. Uh Dogwood and really Second Street. Uh those two projects are uh combined. That's the local improvement district with Northwest Second Street. Uh we also anticipate bringing that to the council at your next meeting for award of both of those construction projects. So those will be going out here this summer for actual construction. Southeast 10th Street Bridge continues to move along. They finished some geotech uh work here recently, so we're still moving toward uh closure and construction during the winter uh this upcoming winter. Uh the Evelyn Avenue uh sewer line project on track to begin that work uh approximately July 1st. And then the ASR project is continuing to move along uh move along well. Uh and then those other projects, they're just continuing to work through some of their uh delays and other issues that they have going on. All right. So, Sherman Park, we're releasing the bid package um before hopefully by the end of this week is the plan. Uh the public safety center uh next Monday, May the 4th, May the 4th be with you. also will be them

is uh hopefully that's when we make final um there's an inspection to take place on Thursday. If that goes as we anticipate then the movein will complete next Monday and we'll be ready to operate out of the building. And then um the other project that just went out to for contractors to start looking at is the South RV park up at Eotech. So that is uh moving on. With that, I'll take any questions.

Um just curious, do we have an update on the ODOT's expected timeline for doing their construction along the Elm intersection? You mean for the uh barricades to prevent? uh I would say after we're done with the Second Street project. So that uh their actual work will be fairly minimal compared to ours. So we've been coordinating with them. So there they won't be installing those until after we're completed with the P. Okay. Excellent. Perfect. We're not rushing to be a Okay, perfect. Nope. Other council questions? K Linton

on your um budget here. Can you go to page nine that deals with EOTech?

Okay. Waiting for him to get to it. Are you there on page nine? Okay. Um I'm seeing a lot of red where they're um negative percentages and I just wanted to know what's going on here and why is it that way?

Yeah. Um for the TRTPA that's those come in quarterly. So we that's why those are under and actually if you look at it um it should be 25% under budget for I'm looking at the second line at TRTPA um so it should be 25 negative but because the actual receipts are higher our turnover so that that negative is actually smaller so it'll catch up by June 30th because of the timing of the receipts of those when those tax turnovers come to the city. Okay. You said by June. Uh, usually they come in after June because they're quarterly. So, we'll see those in in July. Okay.

July. Um, and then for the events, those are only 3% under. And, um, with the event that's coming up, we should that will well exceed that hopefully. Um, I don't want to jinx anything, but we have good hopes for that. And then the miscellaneous that looks stark because that's timing of the reimbursement for that RV project from AWS. Okay. Thank you. Any other council questions?

Sorry. Uh okay. Um public comment. Oh, okay. Council comments. Nope. Okay. Motion to accept the March 2026 monthly financial report. So moved. Second. Been moved by councelor Meyer. Second by councelor Roberts. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Passes unanimously. We already did that. All right. We are at committee reports. Do we have any city committee reports? That's Roberts.

On the 22nd, I attended the library board meeting. Um, they've been working to update their bylaws and u that should hopefully be uh finishing up here shortly. Continued work on the strategic plan. Um so there were two meetings with the the community group for strategic plan for the library and a bunch of uh topics were thrown out uh which were kind of refined down into different themes and then the the committee chose three specific themes that they want to focus on for this next three-year cycle. Um comfortable place to visit uh marketing the library and uh creating new readers basically u from uh young age all the way up to adulthood. And so the library staff is going to be working within those themes to come up with specific tasks that they want to uh to accomplish and they will be bringing that to us um when they're done. Circulation is up 31%. Their outbound uh checkout books is up 22%. Um so that's good. The small study rooms that uh was created when they uh revamped the library have been in near constant use which is very exciting. um so much use that they're um it was just kind of first come first serve and they're going to have to talk about now coordinating that use because they have so much um requests to use those rooms. Um so down the road I I imagine that more space is going to be something they're going to be looking at because they're already using up the space they have. Their little wigglers program continues to go strong. Lots and lots of kids which exciting enough also brings in lots of adults into the library. So, as they're trying to to bring people back into reading, they're not just looking at the kids, but they're they're trying to grab those adults when they're in there as well. Um, the items in their collection are up about a thousand this year. Mr. Rose said that about another thousand next year, and then they're

going to be at the point where they're going to start weeding out the old and and rotating booktock in there to keep the popular titles um in stock and letting some of the older stuff uh flow out. the base of the statue that uh we were hoping to have at the unveiling. Um the base of the statue is here and so the unveiling of that statue will be uh at a date to be determined but hopefully here shortly. And finally, the probably most important thing that uh came out of our meeting is the announcement of Mr. Rose's retirement. He will be retiring effective September 1st. And so the uh board and the city staff are going to have to be looking at hiring a new library director. So that's the report.

Okay. Lots of good stuff. Councelor Broom, I have a question on Councelor Roberts's report. What What is the statue of actually or is that a surprise? He told me what it is, but because there's an unveiling, I'm not going to say. I think we need to encourage people to show up. Community members show up and you'll get to see it when it's unveiled. When when is the day actually then? Again, to be determined. He wasn't sure. They're gonna have to take time to set it up and and make sure everything's good to go. So, where is it going to be? Right out in front of the library here. Oh, outside. Yeah, it's going to be right outside the front door. So, yep. It's not me. [laughter] You didn't model for it? Nope. Oh, good. [laughter]

Wow. She's done. Ouch. Wow. Okay, then [laughter] any other council reports? I do. Hello. No, no, I'm not going to recognize you. Good. Go ahead. Okay. I had a very we had a very very short parks and wreck uh meeting because it was on the night of the forum and so we were only there for about 20 minutes and Brandon is not here so he's got the stats on it. There you go. Okay. My report. Well, that was very short. You're welcome. Any others?

Information is to share about the LLC.

Well, that's you can do that during the your your spot. Okay. Uh we had a public safety meeting earlier tonight. Um C uh councelor Don and I were there as part of that. uh Chief Edmmonson brought forth a multitude of of uh statistics to let us know that statistics is the only science that enables experts with using the same figures to draw different conclusions. Thank you, sir. That's I know another one but was by Mark Twain. It's a little bit different. Um there's there was a lot of information in regards to the everything's a lot of things are moving up, some moving down. Um, overall crime's down 11%, 17% on the uh 10-year average, which is great. They still have one position yet to fill. So, they're getting their other the people are coming off of their uh field training status and getting out there on their own down to just one on one on uh on that status as it as it stands. um officer involve uh officer initiated activities up 52% this year and 129% over the 10-year average. But then you got you know balancing that with you know with the amount of staff that they've added during that time. So you know all these numbers are are you with as they add staff that you know it's going to add to some of the to the percentages which is great. I mean it just means that we're we're doing they're doing uh have a lot of activity in regards to the hospital's um the hospital's uh contract um officer initiated activity property checks and such 488 just uh since they took the contract over which was in June or July. So July

through March this is the the types of things that uh miscellaneous calls for service 135 agency assist the citizen assist that's where they can they can assist both people members of the public and other law enforcement agencies which is great um knowing that how short-handed everybody is you know the fact that we have officers there that are able to assist with that is is is a godsend to say the least uh 36 trespass calls disturbance calls 21 arrests made 25 and case reports taken 55 five. These are all things that, you know, these are all things that may or may not have been had we not had somebody there. And so I I' I'd say that that contract with with the hospital is definitely working in in our favor. And uh those involved with getting that accomplished are to be commended because that all that does is help the members of our community. And I thank Chief Edmonson and his staff for that. Also, uh another number that's really good to hear, felony arrests. Even though crime's down, we're felony arrests are up 54% and 24% on the 10-year average. So, a lot of stuff going on in regards to the police department. And again, they are they are set to uh open their doors. Well, they're they're already moving some of some of their stuff in and hopefully uh hopefully in the next week or so, they'll uh get that final inspection done and be able to uh move forward. They also gave us an update on the uh um where's my notes? The uh what's that?

Accreditation.

Accreditation. Yes. Thank you. I lost my notes on that. The accreditation. Uh Captain Clark gave us a a brief rundown of all that was involved with that. Um there's basically a 111 different items that that have to be checked, looked at, verified, proven that they've that they've done. And out of that 111, there's 98 that are 100% complete. There's nine that they don't have to deal with and only five items left on that checklist to accomplish. Um, and while Captain Clark did give big kudos to all of his staff, I would say that the fact that, you know, his work on that is to be commended by itself because it, you know, it takes that's one person doing a lot of work and I know that there are people on this dis that's had to deal with that and know the work that goes behind that. And so, they've got an an on-site inspection coming up which will be the the final should be the final part of it. And so once that's accomplished um we will be fully accredited. The the impetus behind that is the fact that you know we be once we once the police department went over a specific number which I believe is 35 then uh they're required by law to be have that accreditation. And so when when we brought on the the staff for the hospital that tipped us over that number. So, um, great job on that, Chief, and and pass it on to your staff that we are very appreciative to all the work that has went into getting that goal accomplished. Okay. So, is that it for public committee reports? Good. All right. Next up, uh, mayor's report. Okay. Um, well, we got a lot

done on on the charter review. Good job tonight on everybody participating. I believe that, you know, this the spirited conversations that we had and some of the admissions that one of us had to make and so on. Uh but uh no, a lot of good work went into that and I cannot and I can't thank the members of the committee and the and the members of of the council for all the work that's went into accomplishing this goal. we have, you know, that's probably one of the probably one of the most important things that we can accomplish as a as a council is to provide the the rules, the laws, the direction that the city is headed and keeping our constitution as it were uh current is foremost of that. You know, without without having that, we can't we can't accomplish what we need to do. So, yay for them. Um, I had the opportunity recently to participate in the League of Oregon Cities uh here last week. Um, myself, Councelor Linton, Councelor uh Don, and Mr. Smith all participated in in that uh session. Um myself and uh city manager Smith participated in a onboarding and um discussion for city managers. It was a very good very good discussion. Got a lot of lot of things brought forward, learned a few things and the uh guy that gave the uh speech before it was fantastic. Um, and then councelor Deron also was one of the presenters. So, and she did an outstanding job. If you get a chance to watch that on uh the League of Oregon Cities website, if they if it's available, you should because it was very very well well done. Um, and I'm

I'm proud of you. Nice job.

Uh, we have the I love my city event coming up on May 16th. We talked about that earlier. Um, if you're going to participate in it, I lovemycity.com. Sign up for it. Um, many things going on. It's in the same time time frame as that is the uh uh recycle event also at the New Hope uh church, I believe it is. Um, and remember if you're if you are participating in that and you have tires, they better not be on they can't be on rims otherwise we will hurt Councelor Kelso. He's already made that abundantly clear. and a limit of 10 tires, but they can't be on rims. And they can't be on rims. Did I get that covered? Good. Okay. Uh also, uh let's see. National Day of Prayer coming up. Yes, thank you. Um we did a a uh uh proclamation on that earlier. Takes place on May 7th. many many uh uh there's like 12 different locations for participating in that in between here and the city of Umatillaa. If for more information on that go to all one word national day of prayer hermistston.org or og. Um, so yeah, please if you can participate in that. It's it's for everyone. Um, I think that's everything that I've got at this point in time. I've done a lot of talking here in the last 10 minutes. Yuck. Okay, councelor uh McCarthy, your council president report.

Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Um, I just want to say I um I know some of you were there. In fact, I think most of the council was present at the candidates forum. So, I want to thank you for coming out and listening to the candidates speak. Um, there was quite an evening with a lot of new but also familiar questions, some new faces. Um, I I appreciate that every seat is contested this year. I think that's the first time that's happened since I've been attending these. So, that's fantastic. Um, to that point, I just want to remind everyone that tomorrow is the last day to register to vote. So, if you are not currently registered to vote, tomorrow is the last day to do that. And then election is on the 19th. Um, another point, and this was just put out on our Facebook page, uh, today, but this affects everyone tomorrow. Between the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., the lights at the Highland, um, and Highway 395 intersection will be out while ODOT's doing repairs. So, plan your route accordingly. They'll be in flashy mode, Chief. Okay. So, they'll be in flashy mode. So, the rules of the road apply. It's full stop. It's when it's when the lights don't work. It's a uh it's a four-way intersection. Four four-way stop.

It's a four-way stop. Okay. Don't go that way.

Yeah. Find someplace else to be at that time, I think. Okay. Any others? Anything else? All right. Council reports. Council Linton. I had a lot of things I was going to discuss, but due to the lateness of the hour, I'm going to just do two things uh that went to the LLC and I wanted to discuss I went to uh charter review and I was very surprised. It was ran by Patty Moville. She's the executive director of League of Oregon Cities. And one of the things that she discussed was that in the future, cities are going to need to probably compensate mayors and counselors in order to have a more open larger pool of people. and she said that otherwise you will have counselors that are retirees or wealthy people. And I'm going to give you her email address so you can verify this. It is p mu l v i h i l at o r cities ci.org. Were you there at that meeting? That charter one?

I was not.

You was not. Okay. So, that was um if I don't have her the phone number to there, but you could probably Google it if you want to call and get it information. Now, the other part uh of a meeting, I don't know what it was called, but it was very interesting. I I really enjoyed it. and they this city has a Facebook page and that's where they put a lot of their information because people don't come to meetings or go to meetings and a lot of people don't know what's going on with the city and the people that are in charge basically. So what they do is and what they said that they uh they showed clips of about a minute long maybe a minute and a half where they made videos some of them were funny. We had we just watched the whole thing. It was so good where they would take pictures of people out working and say this here project was approved and this to show you where the money's going. And they had one person that uh had the character of Mr. beam with with trees to make it sound and look interesting. So, it was funny. It was really good. And they showed us about we were actually the people in there and it was packed were asking them to show more videos because it was so interesting how they were presenting their city and their population I think they said was only 7,000 but they had over millions of views and so it's uh it was it's working for their uh community. and they discuss ways to bridge people to causes and how to see the exciting projects that are going on in the city. It was very it was well done both uh meetings are they were excellent. So I'm going to stop there because it's

late and I don't want to talk about the other stuff. Maybe another time. That was the city of independence. City of independence. Okay. Everybody got that? City of Independence. Other council comments.

Um I also got to go to the LOC um conference and it was very well done. Um, you know, thanks to the city of Pendleton for hosting uh city manager also covered um a session with the um the zones, the enterprise zones and um I also sat in on that um session that councelor Linton talked about. There was another one too um that was really interesting how the University of Eastern Eastern Oregon University has a teacher that is working with with students to kind of get them engaged um doing you know internships or doing projects. They mentioned the collaboration that they have made with the city of Gardman. Um and they also have partnered up with um the agency called Uvulry from from Hermiston also um to get them they conducted a survey to find out um if people knew about the public transit in that area. And so they went from 40 writers to 4,000 writers just with, you know, the the students getting engaged and helping um the city of Boardman create an awareness within the um community. So that was a big win for them and I mean I also see a benefit of using them perhaps in the future for some other projects. um their session was really interesting and uh you know it was a great opportunity for me to also participate as a panelist and you know I'm very grateful um for the opportunity to present with u the women's caucus and the people of color caucus. So I very much enjoy the opportunity to be able to learn new things um especially about the

artificial intelligence and how it is to our best interest to kind of learn about it um know more about it feel comfortable and kind of not waiting for you know a a good day to learn and start incorporating um artificial intelligence in the work of the city. Okay. Council Kessle.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I I wasn't going to talk about the uh compensation for city councilors, but since count councelor Linton kind of broached the topic, I will. Um, we had a vote uh on my motion to eliminate the uh the uh compensation for counselors, and it didn't go my way, and I totally support the council's decision moving forward. Um, but I want the council to know that I am a man of my word and I have stopped taking the uh compensation from the city and I've also repaid all of the money that I had received so far. So, I wrote a check for $2,15025 to the city and now um we're even. So, uh I just want people to know that I am a man of my word. I am willing to put my money where my mouth is. So, thank you. And I also wanted to mention that the H rock hounds rock and gem show is coming up May 7th through 9th at EOTech and um it's our local rock and mineral club and they're a great group of people and a fun event to attend and Cinco deio is coming up on Sunday May 3rd at 12 PM at something.

Thank you. Thank you for bringing that up. Let's see. Uh, councelor Broom,

I just want to mention and and thank honestly the police department. One of the things that we do at school regularly um at least once a month or every few months is a lockdown drill and so we always get support from the police department and just practicing and going over drills and responses of the sort. So, uh just appreciate uh your officers are not only very professional but really good with the kids. uh they really understand the kiddos. They understand how the situation may be and so they worked really great with our middle school uh kids. So uh shout out to Officer Nava, Officer Williams, and everybody else that participated in those lockdown drills. So I really appreciate that. Thank you.

Any other council comments? It's you three. Nope. You two? Yeah, you two already. Okay. No. All right. See manager report. Just wanted to make the council aware that a marijuana initiative petition has been filed. Um we're going through the process to um that we're required to and you could anticipate seeing people gathering signatures probably in about a month um at the end of May. Would you like me to answer? What was Yeah, go ahead.

Okay. Um so just to my recollection since we did this a year or two ago um the required number of signatures is somewhere in the vicinity of about 1 1600 of Hermiston voters. Correct? Yes, that's correct. Thank you.

Then um I just wanted to mention a couple things real quick about I love my city. Um, I was approached while I was at LOC in Pendleton uh because councelor Hayward has talked to somebody from uh Hillsboro and they're going to bring three or four of their faith leaders out to wa participate and see how we run that event uh because they want to do something similar in Hillsboro. So, I I thought that was great to have him uh talk to me about that. And then uh the youth adviserss uh from the high school are gonna be participating in I love my city doing some tree planting over in Belt Park. So

very nice. That's all I have. Thank you. All right. [sighs] So we are going to adjourn the city council meeting and reconvene as as the urban renewal agency call the b call the meeting to order. New business bureau resolation resolution 25 number 25 amending text north heriston urban renewal plan detailing land acquired from or the northeast Aspen drive project. Mr. Smith, Mr. Spencer, please.

This is a housekeeping measure that uh we need to do with our urban renewal plan for the north urban renewal district. Section 7 as it stands now states that Aspen Drive is going to be built at a location to be determined and this resolution now goes in now that we have accepted those two deeds earlier in the meeting and amends section 7 to say that the location of the street has been determined and it will be at the location on those two deeds and then those deeds are also added to the plan. Okay, questions. Council questions. Seeing none, public comment. Oh, whip. Okay.

I apologize. Um, it might be to the city manager or or to you, Mr. Spencer, but uh remind me this had to be was it two property two properties that we There are two lots. One is owned by Good Sheepardd and one is owned by a firm called AAA Investments. And so about the first 200 f feet of the street crosses the good sheeperd land and then the rest of it until it gets to fourth street crosses the AAA land. Okay. And since obviously none of us it never came really forth to the council that means it it didn't go through eminent domain or any means. We negotiated with the property owners. We had willing sellers so we did not need to go through the condemnation process.

Awesome. Thank you. Um are we expecting with the connection of these roads are we expecting a light or intersection at some point? We have done we have had KDson do the light the required signal study but it will take development before we will meet the warrants. Awesome. Thank you. Other council questions. All right. Public comment. Okay. Members comments. Councelor Broom.

Honestly, this is one of the projects that when I heard about it, I was really excited about. I mean, what better way to bring more businesses to this area than by building basically a spur off of the busiest road that we have, 395, and to attract businesses. So, I think this is a big step for the city in trying to create more business opportunities, economic development. That's our most valuable piece of real estate right off of 395. And so, by having roads that connect that way, there can be businesses on opposite sides of the road. And so I think that presents an enormous opportunity for the city. Uh so I I think this is a project long coming and I'm really excited for this other council comments or member comments. Seeing none, can I get a motion to adopt her resolution number 25 and lay upon the record?

So move. Second. Uh, I'm going to give it to Councelor Don and for the motion and council Roberts for the second. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Do we have any unscheduled communications? Seeing none. We with anybody have any else to add? We are