City Council - Regular Meeting

Ready? We ready?

All right.

All right. It is 7 o'clock. Time to call the Monday, July 13th edition of the Hermiston City Council and Urban Renewal Agency to order with a declaration of a quorum. I believe we have Councillor Hayward online through via Zoom. Councillor Meyer and Councillor Barone are excused. Can I have everybody join me with flag salute?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right.

Okay, Mr. City Manager, do we have any changes to the agenda?

No changes, sir.

None noted. All right, well, might as well get it started off right off the bat. Citizen input on non-agenda items. Anyone wishing to bring anything before the council that is not listed on the agenda is asked to do the following. Limit your comments to not more than five minutes, state your name and place of residence, and direct your comments to me. All right. This is working, I take it?

Yeah. Good evening. My name is David Hanson. I live at 1737 West Alleluia Avenue in Hermiston, Oregon.

Good evening. My name is Eric Ricey. I live at 78926 Melody Lane, Hermiston, Oregon.

And we're here tonight to do something that doesn't happen very often. often here at the council, and we're here to thank you for being great supporters to us at Rotary. We're representing the Rotary Club of Hermiston tonight, but you guys helped us as a donor and a very, very fine supporter of our recent Watermelon Slam Pickleball Tournament. That tournament had about 23 to 24 donors from companies around the area, as far away as the Tri-Cities. Our major sponsor was the hospital. The goal of the pickleball tournament was to basically bring a healthy event, a fun event, a great event to Hermiston that we could duplicate and bring people to our community and show them what a great community we have. And indeed, I think that we achieved that. We were using the funds from the event to the Rotary Club here in Hermiston. The Rotary Club here does a great deal of work in basically supporting a number of events. So I'd like to thank you on behalf of the Rotary Club for being a great sponsor and helping us very much. We really, really do appreciate it. We thank you.

Absolutely.

And I'm here not only as a Hermiston Rotarian, but I've also been involved with one of the partners, charity partners that a Hermiston Rotary Club works with known as Shelter Box, which we are partnering with that organization to do disaster relief. relief training. We've done it now for six years out in Echo, Oregon, and it's raised close to $4 million for Shelter Box. Many of you may or may not know who they are. It is a disaster relief organization out of England. We do not only international deployments, but we do do domestic deployments such as California, Katrina, the floods that you saw in North Carolina. The people that are partnering with us to come up on the three-day event are people that are major donors and so on. And we put together a realistic type of scenario, three-day event. And again, it's something I can say that as a community, we should be very, very proud of since we are also the only training organization Area in North America for a three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominated organization.

So thanks again So on behalf of rotary and shelter box we'd like to actually take a picture of you with the council with a one of the signs many signs That we had out for the pickleball tournament so that we can put it on the rotary website if that would be all right

Yeah. Council okay with that? All right. How do you want to do this? Yeah, I want to put it right here, and one of us or two of us can hold it, and we can gather around.

We're playing next year.

Jeff?

Oh, yes, I can get on.

I just remember I had this. Stand up straight right next to it. Come on Maria, stand up.

And then, Dave, maybe you come this way just a little bit. Yep, there we go. Ready? Perfect. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Appreciate you saying so. You know, what you guys do is fantastic. I don't have any big words to throw out there, so I'll just keep it simple. Rotary is a pillar of our community. We actually put one out.

We appreciate all you're doing for us. I don't think it's often that you get thanked, and we really wanted to thank you a lot.

Well, you're welcome. How about that? All right. Any other citizen input? Going once, twice. Okay. All right, next up, consent agenda. Consent agenda items A through H. Do we have any council questions regarding the consent agenda items? Councillor Linton. I'd like to pull A. Okay. I'm going to pull A. Any others that wish to discuss or pull? Okay. Okay. Public comment on consent agenda items B through H? Seeing none. Council comments? Councilor Kelso?

Yes, thank you. I am one of the two liaisons to the Hispanic Advisory Committee, so I'd like to comment on item F and say that Jessica De La Cruz, since she has taken the chair position of that committee, has done just a fantastic job, and I think reappointing her is a great boon to the city. So I want to thank her publicly for her service and just say that, in my opinion, she's doing a tremendous job for the city. All right.

Good job, Jessica. Others? None? Okay. We've already seen. Any others that need to be removed? Okay. Can I get a motion to approve consent agenda items B through H? Second. and moved by Councillor Duran and seconded by Councillor McCarthy. And when we take roll calls with Councillor Hayward online, we'll call him last. So just so we do it the same way. OK. Roll call. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

All right, motion passes unanimously. Thank you for joining us, Councillor Hayward. Thank you. All right, consent agenda item A has been removed. Councillor Litton, what you got?

It's saying that this is for 2026. Is this for next year, correct? Not the 27th? It says 26-27, am I right?

Current budget, July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027.

Essentially this year, July 1, starting now. Fiscal year. Yeah. All these other dates have passed. Okay, that's what I wanted to know. I do have a question now on, hold on a second. Oh, Made to Thrive, because I see that they're only getting like $3,000, and that is a very, very good program. It helps all children, no matter what age, gender, rating, you know? And so they do a lot. I was wondering how they came up, or if the committee came up with just giving them that low amount of money.

Mayor? Yeah, go ahead. So I sit on that committee. So we had a rubric, and at certain points, we... decided which particular requests garnered the most towards the purpose of the Transit Room Tax Committee. Councilor Kelso's been on this committee before, and the purpose of the committee is, the purpose of those funds is designed to promote economic growth, stimulating the economy and tourism. So since we had some limited funds, we decided to award them a portion. In fact, everybody, I think only one person got everything they asked for because it was a smaller amount everybody received a reduced amount so that we could give things weighted as we saw fit according to our scoring parameters so they I think they came in at five thousand dollars of a request and we were able to award three thank you that's all I have all right any other Council comments questions Council Kelso

I'll just comment, having sat on that committee before, that is one of the most agonizing committees to sit on as a decision maker because everybody who comes in front of you is just a great cause and there's not enough money to go around. So it's always a matter of trying to figure out how to divvy up the available funds equitably or to the projects that provide the most benefit given the mission of the TRT funds. So I would just wanted to chime in with that. If you're looking for a challenging committee to sit on, pick that one.

Okay.

If you'd like to say no to $100,000, then, you know.

Councilor Roberts?

Since it got brought up, I didn't get a chance to ask this before tonight, and I just found it late, but Parks and Rec, what is a mobile video trailer? I'm curious about that.

Yeah, great question. A mobile video trailer is a, if you think about movies in the park, we right now use a projector. We can't start that until the sun goes down. So this mobile video trailer is like what you see in churches or big venues, a large LED screen on a trailer. And so we got to demo one of these trailers. at 10 o'clock in the morning when the sun was out you could see that thing clearly and uh so it would be uh used in different uh events such as movies in the park uh different uh other things like showing a fifa world cup soccer game out in the park you know things like that and so just uh instead of using a projector and a screen waiting until darkness, this could be deployed in many different fashions.

All right. Thank you. Any other council questions or comments?

So what I'm hearing is that in four years from now, we could actually have our own Fan Fest?

Yes.

Yes.

Definitely.

I'm excited.

Well, there was the request to try to have a watch party at the last game that the U.S. team had. But we couldn't have done it at 5 o'clock live. We wouldn't be able to see it. So this would allow us that opportunity.

Nice.

And I'm still waiting on my casting call notice for Survivor 2. It's legitimate. I did notice you.

Any other appropriate council comments?

Would that not be inappropriate? No.

Okay. So can I get a motion to approve consent agenda item A? So moved. Second. And moved by Councilor McCarthy, seconded by Councilor Duran. Roll call? Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

All right, motion passes unanimously. Next up, resolution number 2435, lift station number seven, contract award. Mr. Smith.

Yeah, Mr. Morgan.

Yes, Mr. Mayor, members of the council, this resolution would award a contract to C&E Trenching for approximately $500,000 to reconstruct and move lift station number seven. So that is a sewer lift station over on Northwest 11th Street. I don't have a presentation for you this evening other than this is the page from our capital improvement plan website. And I feel like that picture speaks for itself because I think anybody who's driven down 11th Street recognizes that concrete structure that is sitting right in the middle of the sidewalk so obviously it's an obstruction there's a whole lot of reasons why it is the way that it is but ultimately that lift station was installed back in the early 80s so it's pushing over 40 years old all of the associated electronics and mechanical components associated with it are operating well beyond their anticipated life and so this project would not only Rehabilitate the lift station itself, but also it would physically move the lift station itself to the west so back From that vantage point of that picture would move it away from us back into an existing easement behind the sidewalk so it would remove that obstruction and yield a new updated mechanical and electrical equipment. So we received some good bids and particularly from C&E Trenching. They were actually the contractor on our last two lift station rebuild projects, lift station four and lift station six here just in the past few years. So they're very familiar with our systems. We're very familiar with them. They do good work and we'd recommend approval.

Okay. Council questions? Councilor Litton?

Yes, I would like to know, have they always come in within budget, or have they ever had to come back and ask for more money in order to complete a project?

I couldn't say that they've never come back for a change order, but there's none that stand out to me. So they've been a good partner to work with and haven't come back with unreasonable change orders.

Thank you. Other council questions? Okay, public comment? Seeing none, council comments? OK. Can I get a motion to adopt resolution 2435 and lay upon the record? So moved. Second. And moved by Councillor McCarthy, seconded by Councillor Roberts. Roll call. Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Resolution 2436, Amendment to IGA for IT Services with the City of Pendleton.

Mr. Smith. Yeah, Mr. Mayor, members of the Council, Pendleton was not our first customer, but one of our early customers. And when we started our agreement with Pendleton, they had some issues. new in-house IT staff that was kind of getting trained up. And so our staff kind of did a mix of higher level engineering work as well as some desktop support work. Now their internal staff has kind of gotten more comfortable and more ready to provide the desktop support. So we're adjusting the parameters of our IGA to focus only on engineering level services. And so it increases our hourly rate, but we're proposing to decrease the number of hours. And so our contract will go from about 168,000 down to almost 150,000. But with all of our other contracts and balancing out, The needs that we have as far as we need more desktop support hours to be able to offer some of our other clients. So we're comfortable that we can provide the services that that are required with the staffing that we have. And so with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions. Questions.

Well, so you already answered the question that I would have asked for Councilor Meyer. Do we have the staffing for it? So we're good there. Public comment? Seeing none. Council comments? Seeing none. Can I get a motion to adopt Resolution 2436 and lay upon the record?

So moved.

Second. Moved by Councilor McCarthy. Second by Councilor Roberts. Roll call. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Excellent. League of Oregon City's legislative priority discussion and recommendation. Minister Smith.

Yes, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. So in every even numbered year, the League of Oregon Cities goes through a process of trying to set some legislative priorities, what things do we as member cities want them to focus on. There are seven policy committees on various topics from housing and land use to energy and the environment, finance, taxation, water and wastewater, a number of different subjects. And so they all come up with four to five priorities from their standpoint. And then the league asks member cities to discuss and then take kind of prioritize from each city's standpoint. And then the results of all that then goes to the board of directors and they make the final decision of what will be the the legislative agenda for the next two legislative sessions. So the long session in 27 and then the short session in 28. So what I did is I went through the list of 27 policy priorities that came out of those committees and pulled out the ones that I think the nine that I thought might be the most impactful to the city of Hermiston from our perspective. And then, and so those are pulled out, and I did send you the full list with all of the information a couple of weeks ago, so you had some time to take a look at it. And then, so then what's in the staff report is kind of a short, the shorter summary. And then the ones that I've highlighted in, with just a highlight of a yellow, Those are the ones that I would recommend. But, you know, those are just my thoughts. Totally open to discussion and thoughts from the council. If you'd like, I could go through the ones that I'm recommending. Okay, so first, the first one of the list is public meetings law clarity. We've had a number of... confusing rulings coming out of the Oregon Government Ethics Commission, and the governor vetoed a law that we thought was gonna clarify a number of those. And so again, The league just sent another letter recently to the governor and all the legislative leadership to kind of express our concerns. So this is hopefully to clarify some of the things that, frankly, some of the opinions coming out of them would tell council members like you not to talk to the press and not to talk to your constituents because it might create a serial meeting. And that is just ridiculous. I mean, that's, you're here, you're elected to talk to those people to try to represent them. And so it's really kind of getting out of hand. So this one was one of the, that's one of the reasons I felt like this was a high priority. The next one, land availability and land use streamlining. This is really a broad, covers broad topics all around land use. So trying to streamline UGB expansion. You know, the one we went through took, two years, basically, of process. And also clarifying wetland statutes and things like that to try to help. You know, the state continues to want cities to help development happen, but they continue to give us more rules to follow and things to do before we can help development happen. So... That's the second one, alcohol revenue modernization. There's been a number of years since the rates on the tax on alcohol has increased, and the state has been taking a greater percentage to various projects. And so this is just to try to get back on a little bit more solid footing where i mean it's really our law enforcement that bears the brunt of most of any challenges that come with alcohol abuse then next one emergency communication system resources um you know we continue to need more funding for our 911 center all of the you know all the jurisdictions that use our joint center And across the state, they're thinking that 40% of those costs are covered, whereas that's not really the case in most of the dispatch centers. So trying to get another increase. We did one a few years ago, but that hasn't, it wasn't as large as was requested and has not really been able to cover the additional costs that we continue to experience. So that one. And then water reuse is the last one of the five. Again, just trying to have the state policies being more in line with greater stewardship over water. We're trying to do projects where we're trying to make the most use of the water with our Aquifer storage project and other things, but they continue to they're giving us some difficulty on getting a permit to put some water back into a canal that could be used for agriculture and so just trying to get some Better policies that that could help us to from a sustainability standpoint. So those are the five that that I've recommended and Not that the rest of those aren't valuable, but just be happy to have any discussion or questions.

Okay. Council questions? Seeing none. Public comment? Seeing none. Council comments? Council Roberts.

I just want to say that, as you said, all of these have merit, and so it is very difficult to pare it down from the list that we have, even to choose the top five. I mean, I can look at some of these, like the prevailing wage issue. And we even talked about how difficult it is to get people to work in the water workforce. And so those are just two of worthy causes. So I appreciate the thought that went into this and the analysis. And I think we're tying into the goals that we set quite well with this recommendation. I appreciate it.

Other council comments? Councilor Duran?

I did too. I appreciate that you were able to go through and look to see which ones would mostly benefit the city of Hermiston and you kind of also including how those would line up with our budget goals. So I just wanted to say that. Thank you so much for doing this.

Councilor Kelso?

Yeah, thank you for making the recommendations that you did, Byron, and I was with you for the first couple, but the alcohol revenue modernization and the emergency communication systems resources proposals are both tax increases, and I am not a fan of tax increases. In fact, one of my chosen one was the targeted prevailing wage changes because that is a lowering of cost rather than an increase in tax, which could both accomplish the same sort of thing. So yeah, other than those two recommendations, I'm fine with everything else that you've put forward. But again, thank you for your recommendations. I think that might make our discussion tonight a little bit easier overall. Thank you.

Councilman, I just want to say thank you as well as putting this together. And, uh, I'm in concurrence with, uh, Councillor Kelso. I don't, I'm not a fan of, uh, tax increase either because Hermes has probably the highest tax in this area, Umatilla County. So, um, but thank you.

Councilman Carthy. Councillor Hayward, you got anything?

No, besides good work. Bye.

Another bite at the apple or go ahead.

I guess I hadn't read closely enough that that was an alcohol tax increase. I thought it was just a redistribution of the funds and how the state allocates it. And because I was on the fence as well about the prevailing wage, I think the prevailing wage actually would benefit us quite well and so I don't know if with what I'm hearing would we want to maybe change from the alcohol revenue modernization as one of our five to the targeted prevailing wage is that I'm just throwing it out there to see. I can make that a motion if there's support for that, or if I need to. I don't know. I would need to make a motion on that, Mr. Smith.

Well, we would need a motion and a vote on what your five-year award is.

Which are five?

Yeah.

Any other council comments? Chair Merrilees, throw my two cents I to in same risk same thought process of your last comments, Mr Roberts in that. Chair Merrilees, You know the alcohol modernization. Yes, it does raise the cost on alcohol, sin tax, basically. But the prevailing wage, that's always been one of my biggest sticking points, too, is that things like our costs, because we have to pay Portland wages for work done in Hermiston, and it's not an equitable wage. way to do things in my opinion but um but yeah if i were to if i were to pick my five i would i would swap the prevailing wage with the alcohol modernization so that's that's my two cents i'll give you three cents since prevailing wage so um so what do we want what do we want to do how do we want to do we want uh we we've got three for sure everybody's everybody was 100 on on the meetings the land use and um the water reuse well no we had we had two two on uh and without the 911 but yes i i would

I would suggest rather than the tax increase that goes along with the 911 tax proposal that we focus on also water workforce development because that was one of the first things that I heard from our city manager when I was touring the lovely sewage treatment plant which is not necessarily loveliness but very necessary and it's very interesting how that works FYI but you know our manager at least at that time was getting a little long in the tooth and trying to find people who are willing to work in that field and we're going through the whole long certification process to become proficient at what they do is not easy or was not at the time at least so I wonder perhaps rather than support a tax increase that would be statewide and affect by the way not only businesses but also school districts like ours and and I don't I believe the city pays a 9-1-1 tax as well But I don't know that for sure. I do know that I, in the school district, we do. Rather than increase taxes, we would perhaps support water workforce development as one of the priorities instead.

Okay. So... all right so once again we are we are in agreement that the the meetings the land use and the water reuse reuse are for sure 100 everybody agrees with that one okay so we've had a little bit of discussion on on uh the other three other four so

you what what are the two that you want and we have so we have to pick we have to pick two yes sir um i agree with uh council carol so that the uh workforce development um would were it not for the 911 would probably be my next one um While the alcohol revenue modernization is a sin tax, in my opinion, we're basically taxing people, a lot of them, for their addiction. Not everybody, but a lot of people. And that, just like with the marijuana tax, rubs me wrong. I'm not a fan of the alcohol tax, although I understand why it's there. However, the 9-1-1 tax... is paid by everybody for everybody's use in an emergency. And I can speak definitively to say that the costs of 911 centers across the state are outpacing the revenues at a rate that is just untenable for many 911 centers. And when we need help and we dial 911, we want to make sure the help is there. And that's what that money goes for. And so some taxes, while I don't like increasing them, you know, the, the, the benefit of that tax is that we're, we're a safer community. And so I guess in my mind, I weigh a little bit, if I'm weighing them because they're both very important, um, I would lean a little bit more toward, um, the recommendation for the, um, uh, communication systems resources, uh, being one of the ones that we choose, um, and for those reasons. So

Councilor McCarthy.

I would also agree with Councilor Roberts on that and then also recommend that we take item number six targeting prevailing wage changes for to round out our five.

Okay. Councilor Duran.

I would also be in favor of the

emergency communication systems resources and the wages as well.

The prevailing wage?

Yes.

Okay.

But I have a question for City Manager Smith. By us changing the priorities, was there another reason like for your selection, will that negatively, by us changing those, will that negatively impact?

No, I mean, it's really hard to say from this list, which is going to be more or less impactful. I mean, if we could, I'd love to have 12 recommendations that we put on there, but they want five. So I just picked the ones I thought, I mean, We've struggled with revenue and things, so those are the two that kind of came up. But absolutely, you know, the prevailing wage change, you know, that would give us some more flexibility on projects that we do without having to pay the higher wages. And then absolutely, we're still always needing more money. Of the water and wastewater employees so trying to develop that pipeline is always good, so I mean it wouldn't. And you know, frankly, we don't know what the five are going to come out at the other end anyway so. This is just what we, you know what you are with the group so yeah.

That's when. we're trying to we need to figure out which which which which are the two that you the two that you think we need to put on.

Okay. You have to speak up.

There we go. I was saying I would like number seven taken out. That's the alcohol revenue modernization. And in its place, number six, target prevailing wage changes. I'm up in the air about the 911 because we definitely, as you were saying, we need that. And so I'm going to go ahead and have to compromise. So number eight, I'll go for that one to stay.

I don't know.

Emergency communications resources, sorry.

All right.

Ms. Kelso?

Well, I'm still in favor of not supporting the increased tax for 9-1-1, but it sounds as though I'm a little outnumbered on that issue.

Okay, still.

No, I know. I've said my piece, though, and I'm willing to go with the group on that.

Councilor Hayward. Yes, sir. I'm kind of with Mr. Robertson on his committee, what he's recommending.

Okay, so our other our other two are going to be the emergency communications and the prevailing wage. Does everybody agree on that? Yes. All right. So yes. Okay, so can I get it? Well, just say we've we've done all the discussion and all any public comment on on the five that we've put we've picked. Okay.

Had a chance.

Okay, so can I get a motion to adopt our recommended policies as we've decided? So moved.

Second.

Been moved by Councillor Kelso, seconded by Councillor Litton. Roll call.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Do you want to hear? Yes. They want to hear what we.

I think we got it.

Yeah. Yeah.

We did. We did say the. Yes, it was the meetings law, the land use, the emergency comms, water reuse, and prevailing wage.

Yeah, I think that's what I had.

Okay. Good discussion. Way to go, guys. You know, that's why we get the big bucks, right? Okay. Next up, council goal setting update. Minister Smith.

Yeah, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. So it's kind of our quarterly, take a look at our council goals and just kind of give you an update on some of those. I'm gonna have to blow this up a little bit so I can read it. All right, so our downtown, update our downtown urban renewal plan to kind of adjust to the fact that we've done a number of the projects. We've got a review committee, and Mr. Spencer's starting to work on that project. Pursue additional retail investments and educate on retail efforts and processes. We've been working with various developers on potential projects and always trying to educate folks on... The fact that the city doesn't decide what retail businesses locate here. Retail businesses decide if they want to come. So we're always talking about that. We're explore, evaluate strategies to increase tourism and entertainment. We're in the process of updating the EOTech strategic plan. SSW Consulting, the ones that help us with our goal setting, are working on interviewing stakeholders and getting started on that. Partner with the chamber to evaluate how the city can support a workforce pipeline. We're kind of in discussions and in process on that. Complete the transportation system plan. That we're in the final stages to be bringing that forward for your adoption in the near future. Then let's see, update to the city sidewalk plan and prioritize student travel. We were just, that one's in process. Mr. Morgan and I were just talking about that this morning as we kind of look forward in our, Transportation planning and how we can continue to prioritize sidewalks that are most benefit to to the community. Continue to pursue safe streets grant. We're just kind of evaluating projects as far as what project would give us the most benefit. We felt like we. kind of threw maybe too much at the first grant opportunity, so we're trying to recalibrate what we look at as we apply for the next opportunity. Work with regional partners to improve transportation access and circulation. That one kind of is in process as we, you know, we're talking about some different regional transportation-related projects, both public transit as well as some road and highway development attract market rate rental housing developments to increase middle housing so we're working on projects as far as infrastructure around the hub development out on diagonal and also working with others to approach us about other projects in that in that kind of genre Continue to fund infrastructure improvements to support new housing and other developments. That one's kind of in process. We're always evaluating, looking at how our infrastructure investments can help encourage development in various places. And then evaluate commercial retail incentive opportunities. And again, this is the same that we've done with our housing incentives. We try to target it to what the project might need. If so, what a site might be lacking or different things, we try to target that. So that one is kind of an ongoing in process type of a process. Then the feasibility analysis on the Hawk. We're out getting public outreach right now, having more detailed discussions with potential financing partners, and are shooting for a discussion with the council in September related to our final recommendations towards that. Complete a street light study, that one's in process. Develop a security plan for parks and trails, and that's also in process. implement red light photo enforcement along Highway 395. So we have secured approval to do it from ODOT, if we so choose, at 395 and 207, two of the four approaches. But now we're going out for an RFP to see what companies would be interested, and then we would be bringing the results of that back to the council for any questions. Discussion and potential approval. Conduct public engagement to identify use scenarios, evaluate all options, and finalize plan for Carnegie Building. Had some great discussions with the groups that came. and presented to the council, and the initial building assessment's been completed, so we're actually shooting for our next meeting to come forward with some more discussion and more information for the council to take a look at related to the Carnegie. And then finalized water allocation for EOTech, We've been working with some water rights experts, and we think we have a plan for some sustainable irrigation water up at EOTech that we own and not having to lease it every year. So we're working to finalize that at this point. This irrigation season, we're continuing to lease rights to do that. Let's see, finalize data and seek council direction on next steps related to digital infrastructure. We've been reporting to the council individually on that. And if I've missed you in our meetings, then we need to just, we'll catch up at our next meeting and I can give you an update. Then developing a five-year financial plan to support staffing and operations that's in process. Finalized records digitization, that one we have a new records clerk starting in the middle of this month to help us really start working on that on a regular basis. Evaluate senior center partnerships to align with the needs of the community, aging community. We've updated our agreement with the senior board. I think things have been going well in relation to that. evaluating the partnership with the Chamber to better align with business needs. We are working on an updated agreement with the Chamber with some potential new items in partnership with them, studying potential general fund projects and funding streams, That one will be shooting for a discussion with the council in the fall to just kind of review some of the additional funds that we've been able to secure and how we're going to move forward with that. Then develop a communication engagement plan, identifying goals and metrics. I have a draft that's in review right now that we would be moving forward. And bring bring to the Council in the near future and then finalize charter review. So those changes will be proposed changes will be on the November 2026 ballot. So that's kind of a quick update. If there's any other more detailed discussion, I'd be happy to answer any questions. Council questions.

Seeing none public comment. Seeing none. Council comments? Seeing none. It looks like you got quite a bit accomplished there. We're moving forward. That's always a good thing for us. Yeah. So, all right. Since no action, this is an informational, there's no action needed or being recommended. So go forth and conquer. Next up, committee reports. Do you have any committee reports? Councillor Kelso?

Thank you. This isn't a full committee report, but just before the city council meeting, I had a meeting with some of the members of the Hispanic advisory committee, and they have reserved their date in October 3rd for their Hispanic Heritage Month event, which last year was great fun, and I suggested perhaps that some members of the council might like to attend to interface with the citizens who show up. So if you would save the date for October 3rd from 11 to 3 and show up, I think it's a great opportunity for us to reach out to the Hispanic population of the city. Thank you.

That sounds like an outstanding idea. So keep the date open if you're available in that general vicinity, October 3rd. Other council committee reports?

We just accepted the TRT funds. Okay.

All right. Well, okay. Do you want me to do the public safety one? I do it. Okay, thanks. We had the Public Safety Committee meeting right before tonight's meeting. We had quite a contingent from HPD to in attendance. I hate using the phrase fully staffed because that usually has bad connotations. So they are doing quite well. Uh, they're about ready to bring on their, their newest, uh, from we're bringing them in from Turner. So well done chief. Uh, all the relevant stats are way down for the most part. So violent crimes down 23% property crimes down 25% on the 10 year average. And, and, uh, We got a report on the teamwork that was put out by the staffing that was on duty the night of the 4th of July. 129 calls for service were fielded by the eight, seven or eight staff that were on, seven staff that were on. They had a couple come in from other team to assist with it, which basically worked out to, for that, for that, that shift 10 to 12 incidents per hour. Now, if you've never rode in a patrol car or had to do anything like that, that's, that's, that's hot foot in it from along from, from everywhere. So, uh, yeah, there is, there is no other thing to be said other than well done by those folks that night and, uh, a large, a large amount of, uh, fireworks, uh, were confiscated. They had 61 calls just as in regards to fireworks of that 129. So, you know, I mean, we all, you know, if you live inside the city, you see illegal fireworks. They're there. You can't not see them. I mean, and, you know, I'm going to get under the soapbox a little bit here. But, you know, the thing is, is that Yeah, they're nice. And yes, you know, everybody equates it with freedom. But the thing is, is that they, you know, the illegal fireworks don't affect just, you know, they're not just pretty for you, but they do affect other folks as well. Some folks don't tolerate it well. I know, you know, just personally from my point of view, my little puppy is scared to death of them things. And, you know, and he's 160 pounds, but yeah. So, you know, I mean, I don't like being the negative Nelly on that, but at the same time, you know, how many fires are caused by illegal fireworks? You know, if you come right down to it, you know, legal fireworks caused the big fire just down the river here a few years ago at Eagle Creek. You know, just a simple smoke bomb. And so, you know, and with everything as dry as it is, it's one of those things that we really shouldn't have to tolerate. But, you know, it's difficult. It's a difficult thing to do, but our guys did really well. And they are, again, to be commended by every way possible. Also brought up was the work that the code enforcement officer is doing. Our new code enforcement officer has been working quite heavily. He was praised by Captain Guerrero on his proactive approach for taking care of things. One of the big things that we all know about is the residence on Cherry Street that's been In all of our, you know, we've all gotten emails, letters, public complaints about that. And the thing to be said is that the owner is now present and is being worked with the city and steps are being taken to abate that issue. So if you have people that talk to you about that, people that want to know, things are in the works. The city is working hard to fix the problem as best as possible. So again, commendations all the way around on that one. Just since January 1, he's taken 26 cases and dealt with 539 incidents. that's a lot of work, you know, and from what I understand the way he's, you know, he's working on, uh, he's working on the mobile vendor issue, some of the construction problems, um, But the process that he's taking is more education as opposed to citation. And so that's just the best way to do it. And so it sounds like he's doing great things, and we support him 100%. He brought up that the national night out is on Tuesday, August 4th. That's coming up. We also have the fair and the fair parade. in August as well. So keep those on your radar, so to speak, for that respect. But the court also brought forward some really great information, and I'm excited to see it get pushed out and talked more about. She brought forward all the citations that have been dealt with, but One of the things that the court is working on now is an updated version of an online method of dealing with citations. If you've received a citation, you can take care of the entire process just like you were in front of them, but do it online. And so at some point in time, there'll be a QR code on the citations that are going to be issued that Hermiston PD is going to be putting out at some point in time, whether it's near or far, but allowing that to be moving forward. And so I've asked that we try to make that as well known as possible that this this is coming forward, and there will be texts that can be sent, and we need to be cognizant if somebody is asking, the Hermiston Court sent me a text saying that I've got this court or that court. Those are legit. So as that moves forward, and one of the cool parts of this new system is that they've cut down the fail to appears by 50%. So that's, that is so cool. I mean, that is, that is too good for words. So, And that's the... Oh, no, that is not all. Then we also had a lady come forward and talking about... And this is a discussion that we may need to have at some point in time in the future about e-bikes and scooters. There was a... From her description, there was a fairly significant accident... that happened here very recently in which everybody was okay, but there was some significant property damage. And, you know, we, one of the things that she noted was the fact that there are, you know, kids are riding these without helmets. And it's just a matter of time before, you know, as fast as some of these things go, It's a matter of time before somebody gets seriously injured. And so we may need to discuss at some point in the, I believe in the near future, what our options are as opposed, you know, for dealing with this issue. You know, as technology increases, I'm seeing more and more of these e-bikes that look more like motorcycles and operate like motorcycles, but they're technically not motorcycles. And so, you know, they're not subject to the laws that would govern motorcycles anymore. And so, you know, where you've got a seven-year-old kid riding a bike that has the power of a fairly good-sized motorbike, and what happens? Yes, sir?

Would that be an appropriate conversation to have, maybe like at a work session or something?

I think it would be worthy of that at some point in the future, yes.

Yeah, that's cheap, I thought.

Okay. Well, I would appreciate it. But anyway, that's, that was, you know, what the, the, the situation that she brought forward was, you know, it was definitely, definitely a, a, a good idea. You know what I mean? She didn't, she just, you know, the information that she provided is, it was beneficial. So I appreciated her, Bethany Adair bringing it forward. So that's it for the public safety meeting. So no other council committees? Go ahead, ma'am.

I just wanted to say that I didn't get the officer's name. She was a little tiny lady. She came around. She was so cute. She came around. She was going around letting people know about fireworks. That's why I wanted to bring it up. She was very professional, very kind. My nephew goes, there's a police officer out there, so I'm holding my great-grandson. So, of course, I'm going out to see what's going on because, okay, who am I to have to knock out that did something that they weren't supposed to? But anyway. She just said that they'll, excuse me, going around letting people know about the fireworks and everything. And like I said, she was very nice, very professional, and very respectful. And my nephew goes, oh, she's cute. So I'm just warning her, stay away from him.

Okay. With that, next up, Mayor's Report. Well, I talked about a couple of the things we have coming up in the future, fairs coming up. We just had the 4th of July celebration. I attended that for a pretty good portion, and the music was great. The vendors were fantastic. The way that it was laid out, you guys did great with that. That was really well thought out, I think, you know, to get people moving from point A and having a good mix of the way that was set up. So... I don't know. I, you know, we, I think we, there's a, we need to get a little bit more power down there somewhere, you know, because there are a lot of people running on generators and cords were stretched. And so, but you know, that's, that's a, that's a difficult thing to do anyway. So there was one other thing I was going to mention about that. But anyway, um, I was asked to introduce the first musical act and, and I was a good group. Um, yeah, they were, they were fantastic. I wished I could have stayed longer, but noise was getting to the dog. So we had to bring him home. Also, in the For What It's Worth department, I received a letter from a Max Garrett, and I won't read all of it, but just in case anybody asks, yes, according to this letter, I am the best mayor, so... I'm just going to... No, no, no. I haven't accomplished what he wanted, so I can't be the best mayor in the multiverse yet. However, there are... So... But I'm going to be sending something to Max and having a little chat with him, hopefully at some time in the near future. He's requesting some sidewalk, but unfortunately it's on a street that we don't own. So... But yes, I will be speaking with the county about it. But in any case, yes, I'm the best mayor. I have documentation that says so. So, council president report. Follow that up.

So I know we just talked about the... the mobile screen, the trailer screen for Parks and Rec. And I just want to remind everybody that one of the things, the benefits was the movies in the park, which will be going on this week. So on the 17th, what's the movie, Brandon?

I don't have that information in front of me.

It's all right. But it will be at approximately 845, and the nice thing is that once this screen comes into play, that we can start at not when the kids are going to bed. So we'll be able to do that earlier in the day.

I think it's one of the movies that we talked about. It needs to be played at the Aquatic Center.

Well, you could bring the screen out there.

You could. And if you're floating around in the pool, that'd be even better.

I don't really have anything else. No.

By the light. Um,

Yes. On June 25th, I was able to attend with my daughter and my two little grandchildren the fire station grand opening house, open house, excuse me. And got to get a lot of pictures on fire trucks and had a good time. And so I just wanted to congratulate the fire district on their successful remodel of that space. And I want to thank them for you know, providing that opportunity for my grandkids to take a lot of cute pictures, so thank you. On July 4th, I witnessed the fireworks show from the Butte, and much to my dismay, the Butte did not ignite after the fireworks show this year, but I wanted to applaud the Parks and Rec Department for putting on such a great show. It was awesome. I got to watch it from basically right underneath the Butte, which was a first for me, and my family loved it, so thank you. I did notice a couple of drones flying around, which I assumed were owned by the city. They're not. Those are just private drones. Okay. Good to know. Thank you. I was going to ask for the footage, but now I won't, unless some citizen out there with the drone wants to share it.

I do know one of them. He came forward and told me who he was. So if I get some good shots, I'll...

Thank you. I would love to see that. And I would also like to enthusiastically support the idea of discussing... the e-bike situation. I had nearly, about a month ago, almost hit a kid. I was at a four-way stop at 9th and Main, and I was stopped. And fortunately, I saw him coming, but he was doing at least 25 miles an hour with no helmet on, about 11 years old, and didn't even slow down for that intersection. So if I had pulled out, he'd have been toast. But I think we do need to do something about irresponsible behavior by children, as they want to do. Thank you.

Uh, at the last meeting, I mentioned, uh, the special Pendleton city council meeting that they were having on June 29th. Uh, unfortunately I had a family emergency and I was sitting with a family member in the ER that day. So I got to see about the first hour plus, uh, online on zoom. Um, I was impressed by the outturn, um, first and foremost, the, uh, the Pendleton convention center was packed and there were at least 80 people online with me. So, uh, definitely a matter of interest. And at the end of it, they decided to not settle their lawsuit. And so they're going to continue down other avenues. And so, uh, I, and I just want to keep watching that issue because they are our neighbor and they're facing a big issue and, and I'm curious to see how, how the outcome is going to go for them. So.

Yeah.

So, yeah, it was a very good process. I thought that – I personally thought that Mayor – McKenna did a really good job of keeping it in order and without it being too, without not allowing people to speak. And so it was a good process. So anyway, Councilor Lipp.

Yes, thank you.

okay um i would like to know oh art there's a maple moose truck on the city is that city at the community center there is that going to be like a food pot or something like that because i was wondering why that was there no they've uh they approached us and asked to uh rent space there and so we didn't uh

request for proposals out uh for food vendors uh to take one of two spots within the hermison community center parking lot and so we opened it to anybody else and they were one of the proposals and so we awarded a lease agreement with them to set up their shop in there okay so it doesn't have to go through city council whether we can say

approval or not? No? I'm just asking. I'm just asking. Yeah.

Okay.

I would like for us to discuss, if anyone is interested in discussing, what we talked about last, at our last meeting, of increasing the money, if it's borrowed, for when we do eminent domain, and it's only 10 years, if we can discuss that, put it on agenda to have a discussion of it, to raise it from 10 years to whatever we decide, 20 years or 30. One of the amounts of money is 200... Okay. Right. Because I know one of the amounts was $247,000. And that's almost like buying a house. And none of us, well, not me. I can't speak for nobody else. I couldn't pay off a house in 10 years at that amount. And I think it would be fairer to increase it to maybe at least 20 years to give them ample time to be able to to pay it off without putting anyone in hardship that's what i'm looking at i don't you know um so if anybody would like to discuss that is that something we want to move push forward okay are you making that a motion to do that well

We can ask to have it put on the agenda no matter what. But you need a motion to put the option to increase the time frame of paying off an LID loan.

Are you moving for the conversation?

Yes, for the conversation that we talk about. Put it on the agenda, discuss it. Okay.

We have a motion.

Do we have a second?

I'd second it. OK. Then moved by Councillor Litton, seconded by Councillor Roberts, that we put a discussion on the agenda for the extension of an LID's repayment for more than over 10 years. Is that? Yes. OK. Roll call. Yes.

No.

Yes. Yes.

No. No.

I was about to use the time.

Yes. I think we should discuss it. Wow, I get to vote.

Hey!

This is my first vote. All right.

I have only, I have two more items. Okay. I'm going to start with this one. This ORS 260.432 solicitation of public employees. An individual told me that they were asked that they would vote according to how leadership within the city wanted them to vote whether or not That has happened. I don't know, but I do know that that is a complaint could be put out if anyone within the city. Director, assistant city manager, assistant, any directors or anyone that works for the city if they were to say to a council individual that's running. and or is on the council that this is how i want you to vote for something that a complaint can be filed that is considered not to be um i won't say illegal i don't even know what word i could use for that but action can be taken against anyone that does that so do we have somebody that is saying that that has happened to me they did yes i i can't prove it one way or the other but that's what was uh told to me and that's why i looked it up And so I wanted it on the record that if anyone does that, that we have the option to file a complaint, because that is considered, I don't know what term I could use, breaking the law. I won't say illegal or breaking the law, I'm not sure, but according to this ORS 260.432, they're not allowed to do that. No city employee is allowed to do that. And my last one is uh i'm not going to read the questions that i have i'm going to ask that i'm going to give the copy to the city manager i have some questions and then you can send them the answers to all of us and then after that i'll read the questions and the response at a later date maybe our next meeting excuse me mr mayor i'll give you one and then that's all i have okay

Any other council comments or council reports? Councilor Duran?

I attended the LOC Board of Directors meeting on June 26th in Lapine, Oregon. We were given a presentation on defensible space code training by the mayor of the City of Sisters and the city manager of the City of Sisters. And we also were presented with a letter that was going to be sent to the OGEC board that city manager Smith spoke of. And that's pretty much what the meeting was about, amongst other things. I also want to say that today is Councillor Kelso's birthday. He told me today that he turned 29. So we would like to wish him a happy birthday, Mr. Kelso. And I also am very happy of the way I think the the parks are looking all the activities that are being offered by the parks and rec for you know kids of all ages and i think summertime is so hard for parents to keep the kids engaged and keep them you know out of trouble so having different things different activities for them to do is is a very healthy choice so thank you for for your staff for all the work that they're doing also i want to thank the the hermiston police department how they are actively keeping our community safe thank you for the report that you provided i'm glad that you know the uh the rest of your team or some of your team members were here tonight it's so nice to see them and i just want to say that you guys have been doing a phenomenal job in in being out in the community um i see you guys see the cars everywhere and um it's nice that i think people are being mindful of when how fast they're going um on 395 so thank you so much for that and i think that's that's about it okay any others okay mr smith

Just one item. We became aware today of a postcard that looks like it's being sent to every address in the city. We're not sure on that, but we got one at City Hall. We've had some city employees receive them related to the settlement that Amazon did on the lawsuit of... related to nitrates. And it's indicating, it's looking like it's a class action where you can apply for benefits from this organization. Anybody that's in the city that receives water from the city is not eligible for anything under that claim because we provide water. They're not receiving it through a well, a private well. And if there's questions, try to contact the people that are the contact information on the mailer. And then if you want to know about nitrates in the city water, we publish a report every year that shows that we don't have any – we're not over any requirements or – And so it goes back as far as 2017, and we haven't exceeded any of those limits. So we don't know if it's going to cause a lot of discussion or if it is going to everybody, but we're not sure exactly what it is. But nobody in the city would qualify for benefits.

Got it?

That's it. You sure? I'm pretty sure.

Okay. Okay. All right, with that, then we are adjourned.