City Council - Regular Meeting

It is now 06:30 and the meeting will come to order. Good evening and welcome to the 05/05/2026 Kennewick City Council meeting. Will the city clerk please state who is present whether a quorum is established?

Good evening, Mayor McShane. All council members are present and a quorum is established.

Thank you. You're welcome. Will Chief Hefner please lead us in the pledge of allegiance? Proud of our invocation this evening? As he's not present tonight, we'll go ahead and jump into proclamations this evening.

We're going to start with a public service recognition week and I've asked council member Jim Milbauer to please provide that proclamation this evening. Ms. Stewart. If Ms. Stewart would join Jim at the podium please.

Okay let me introduce Miss Stewart here. She is a revenue agent for Washington State Department of Revenue, and she's joining on behalf of the organization that puts together this annual recognition for public service. You're welcome. I'll

start this proclamation with whereas, every day, residents of Kennewick and visitors to the city directly benefit from the dedication and commitment of city of Kennewick employees, those public servants, and unsung heroes that keep Kennewick running. And whereas, city of Kennewick employees represent numerous occupation and trades, possess a broad array of skills and expertise, and put these to use with efficiency and integrity for everyone in our city. And whereas, while elected officials come and go, the consistency and institutional knowledge of the city of Kennewick employees offers continued service across years and election cycles and is essential to smooth functioning of our city over time. And where as many city of Kennewick employees, including our police officers, firefighters, risk their safety, in some cases, their lives and service of the people of the city of Kennewick. And whereas we all owe a substantial debt of gratitude to city of Kennewick employees.

Now therefore, on behalf of Mayor Jason McShane. The city of Kennewick Council do hereby complain proclaim May 2026 as public service to

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that's you're comfortable with that question. Picture. Next we're going to be honoring National Police Week. We'll commander Trevor Davis, sergeant Jim Scott, and officer Sebastian Castilla join please at the podium. Whereas the congress and president Kennedy of The United States proclaim May 15 as National Peace Officers Memorial Day and week in which it falls is National Police Week and whereas the members of the Kennewick Police Department are guard are guardians of life and property defenders of the individual right to be free people warriors in the war against crime and to the preservation of life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness.

And whereas it is important that all citizens know and understand the duties and responsibilities of their police department and that the members of our police department recognize their duty to serve the people by safeguarding life and property by protecting them against violence or disorder and by protecting the innocent against deception and the weak against depression or intimidation. And whereas the police department of Kennewick has grown to be a modern and scientific law enforcement agency which unceasingly provides a vital public service. Now therefore I, Mayor Jason McShane, on behalf of the Kennewick City Council, do hereby proclaim May the sixteenth twenty twenty six is National Police Week in Kennewick with appropriate ceremonies in which all of our people may join in commemorating police officers past and present who by their faithful devotion to the responsibilities have rendered a dedicated service to their communities. I further call upon all citizens of Kennewick to make every effort to honor these peace officers who through their courageous deeds have lost their lives or have become disabled in the performance of duty. Thank you.

Next we'll be honoring our building officials team for the National Building Safety Month. We'll building official Dan Woolsey, inspectors Darren Clark and Andrew Knowles, and plan examiners Chris Babkin and Chris Stokes please join me at the podium. Whereas Kennewick is committed to recognizing that our growth and strength depends on the safety and essential roles of our homes, buildings and infrastructure play, both in everyday life and when disasters strike, and whereas our confidence in the resilience of these buildings that make up our communities achieved through the devotion of vigilant guardians, building safety and fire prevention officials, architects, engineers, builders, trades people, design professionals, laborers, plumbers, and others in the construction industry who work year round to ensure the safe construction of buildings. And whereas these guardians are dedicated members of the International Code Council, a nonprofit that brings together local, state, territorial, tribal, and federal officials who are experts in the built environment to create and implement the highest quality codes to protect us in the buildings where we live, learn, work, and play. And whereas these modern building codes include safe to we're going we're able and affordable buildings that are essential to our prosperity.

And whereas each year in observance of Building Safety Month, people are asked to consider the commitment to improve building safety, resilience, and economic investment at home and in the community, and to acknowledge the essential service provided to all of us by local and state building departments, fire prevention bureaus, federal agencies in protecting lives and property. Now therefore, I am Mayor Jason McShane on behalf of the Kennewick City Council, we hereby proclaim May 2026 as Building Safety month in Kenilac. You. Alright, here. Please hit the mic.

Thank you, Mayor McShane and City

Next, will invite Mayor Pro Tem Chuck Torelli and our City Clerk Crystal Johnson for our next proclamation.

And if you wouldn't mind I'd also like to maybe also include Brandi and Dylan. Thank you. So also joining us will be Brandi Ralston. She is the public records officer in the city attorney's office and Dylan DeRamos. He is the executive assistant and deputy city clerk in the city manager's office.

I do want to say, because I can't talk, one of the things that these three folks have in common is they keep us out of trouble, and that is hard. Yeah, that's why she's drinking so much. I kid, that's a joke. Don't take that seriously. Whereas the office the municipal clerk is a time honored and vital position in local government and exists throughout the world, and whereas the office of the city clerk holds the distinction being the oldest amongst all public servants, and whereas the city clerk serves as the community's historian, as they hold the responsibility for preserving the entire recorded history of Kenilworth and his residence, and whereas the office

I have very few words. I just wanted to say thank you to mayor and to council and to mayor pro tem Charlie for the proclamation. We appreciate the recognition and it is a pleasure to serve the community.

Thank you all for those Next on the agenda is visitors. This is the only opportunity for visitor comment at tonight's meeting. Visitors are welcome to state their opinion on any topic except for election matters. The city clerk has informed me there are no online visitors signed up to speak. If someone in the audience wishes to speak, we'll ask you in a moment to raise your hand and then be acknowledged, to come forward to the podium.

Just a couple of notes. The public comment period is not an opportunity for mutual conversation with council members or for posing questions with the expectation of an immediate answer. Council members will listen closely to your comments but will not directly respond to you. The city clerk's business card is on the table near the door. And if you need follow-up after the meeting, please reach out to her and she'll connect you with the right person in the city, who can help you.

When it's your turn, please come to the podium and state your name and city of residence before beginning your remarks. Each person is permitted to speak once for a maximum of three minutes. Three minute timer will be displayed on the screen and then we'll start when you come to the podium. You for the, yeah. We'll start when when you come to the podium a total of thirty minutes is allocated for visitor comments. Will the city clerk please start our thirty minute timer and if you'd like to speak tonight please raise your hand. Warren please. 19.

Able And zoning district from the Bridge to Bridge product. There's that little corner lot that everybody can see from the Blue Bridge coming into Kennewick that's been vacant as was pointed out, I think over a decade. And it got me to thinking about the business community in that entire area. As a business owner there myself and knowing a bunch of the other business owners, we're kind of a community. Everybody kind of puts in to generate traffic that feeds over to other businesses that makes all of us more successful.

And it is a little irritating when someone rolls in to do something and then leaves a welcome sign into the downtown that is a large vacant lot, which doesn't seem like the intended use of that area anyway. And it's been exactly like it is for the better part of eight years. There isn't really way finding from the highway into Downtown Kennewick. There is that lot and then I think you can see Apollo when you come over the bridge. And to direct people off of the highway into downtown to potentially spend money, generate tax revenue for the city, help the businesses down there, it'd be a really nice and we're make we're that.

And

do

large projects in the area down there. And I since we're talking about zoning, that would be something I would encourage our neighbor down there to take a look at. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening my name is Pamela. Thank you. My name is Pamela Peterson. I'm I'm a resident of Kennewick. I've been here for sixty nine years.

At the present time, it's a lot different on my street. When I was growing up, back in the fifties and sixties, the traffic was nothing like it is today. My husband has actually lived on our street for probably about seventy years of his seventy nine years. So, things have definitely changed a lot. What we're dealing with now and what we've been doing over the past three years, there have been multiple traffic studies that have confirmed what all the residents have been saying all along.

There is a clear and persistent traffic safety issue. This is not an exaggeration. This is your data. And yet, despite meetings including I I think, wanna be clear about something. The role of government is not merely to acknowledge problems, it's to act on them, especially when public safety is at stake.

A law in unenforced is not a law at all, is a suggestion. And when traffic laws become suggestions, the predictable result is disorder, risk, and eventual harm. What makes this situation particularly concerning is that it's just not the problem itself. It's the pattern it reveals. When repeated studies confirm an issue, when citizens engage in good faith, when consensus is reached, and still nothing changes, it sends a message. That message is that process has replaced responsibility. Thomas Sowell once argued, one of the most dangerous illusions in public policy is the belief that intentions are enough. They are not. Results are what matters. And here are the results speak for themselves.

So the question is not whether there's a problem on 7th Avenue. That's already been answered. The question is whether the city of Kennewick is willing to fulfill its most basic obligation to ensure the laws are designed to protect the citizens and actually enforced. Because without enforcement, there's no accountability. Without accountability, there's no safety.

Without safety, the trust between the city and the residents begin to erode. This isn't a request for another study. It's not a call for another meeting. And but respectfully, we're asking that action is taken before something serious happens. And, you know, I to refer back to that tragic incident that happened, with the driver that from Kennewick that was going over the cable or the Blue Bridge at the Lewis Street exit there.

I drive that every day to go to work. And it's scary. And obviously, you know, speed is such a factor. I really appreciate our police department, and especially Chief Guerrero. He's he's come to our home, and he's met with us and discussed the issue. Whoops, my time's up. Thank very much. Thank you.

Anyone else like to speak this evening? Yes, please.

My name is Cameron. These are my brothers.

My My dad. It's looking good tonight, dad. A little bit closer. Go ahead, Cameron.

Okay. And I live in Kennewick. I am here to address the issue of the roller rink at Highlands Grange Park. The roller rink is more than just an empty court. It is a place where people can exercise, play hockey, roller skate, and spend time together.

I remember making a movie and presenting it to my grandmother for her birthday, and I play there for hours with my family and my friends skating, shooting, and passing. I once met a young boy who, even though he kept falling, kept getting back up, and he played there for hours, enjoying every minute of it. More recently, I played a four on four game with 18 other guys. We set up two nets and played the most fun hockey I have ever played. We enjoyed that rink then, and we would like to continue to enjoy enjoy it now.

People exercise, laugh, play and enjoy the outdoors together because of that rink. The Tri Cities already has several futsal courts and this roller rink is the only one in the Tri Cities. Please allow us hockey lovers to enjoy a space where we can play our game. I implore you to keep this roller rink so that all people can enjoy this park, so memories, stories, and laughter can continue to be shared because this rink is more than just a place to play hockey or skate. It fosters community. It fosters a love for sports and activities. So I ask you, please keep this rink. Thank you.

Thank you. Yes, please.

My name is Marie Radout. I'm a Richland resident, but a citizen of the Tri Cities overall and spent a lot of time here in Kennewick as well. I came last week and mentioned the business of the new legislations that we're trying to develop to help with the family court issues, and that we've presented some of that to the legislators that have been given the green light to go ahead and move forward. We're again asking for input, so if you guys had anything to consider or wanted to review anything that's going forward because it does impact everybody. I did want to talk briefly about the former person that was up here talking about if you have laws on the books and they're not being followed and if you have law enforcement that's failing to make any arrests or failing to do the jobs that they're out there doing and I'm speaking from the point of being a retired law enforcement officer.

So I'm not bashing on my fellow officers. I love them. But I'm seeing that there are laws that are not being followed and that's evident. I brought it up about the custodial interference second degree. Okay? Those words I was sitting right there listening to the entire conversation and trying to make sense out of it. I have a copy of that if you want to read it yourself. It clearly outlines that that is criminal offense. I want talk about it's not going to be just a suggestion when it matters to the families. The Attorney General presently has talked about the fact that there a perception within communities and through the Washington State that there's no more faith in our government.

And then one of the things that Attorney General Brown wanted to do was to restore that faith. He tasked his department with making those changes so that there's accountability for those in power, that there's going to be that the priorities are going to include protection of civil rights, the safeguarding of vulnerable population, the promotion of families and accountability within the justice system. And those are the things that are implicating that we're talking about that are implicating the families that are going into family court when you have those rules that are being followed. Doesn't have anything to do with law enforcement, but on the topic of the law enforcement, there's no reports that are accompanying that and that includes CPS. So, for example, if there's a law enforcement that doesn't do the report for custodial interference, that doesn't get triggered to CPS, it doesn't get triggered to the court, nobody is aware of what's going on in that situation unless that person has to hire an attorney, go to the court, present a motion, get on the docket, and then you get it.

But then where's that taking it? It's back on the person trying to get the attention to it that it deserved in the first place. It could have been avoided. You have an incident where some CPS records, if you make an arrest on a gentleman, for example, of the Kamikin High School that crashed his vehicle into a car. He went out there, had three children in the car, he's out there amongst other children that are protesting. He's flipping them off out the window, burning his smoke at them, and then crashes into another car with the kids there. Was that CPS report generated? I know there was a report, but public records show that. I'm not going to ask for any response. Understand that.

You.

Any additional visitors this evening? As there are no additional speakers, this comment period is now closed. Next item is the approval of the agenda. If a council member would like an item removed from the consent agenda, please be recognized by the mayor and state the item number you want to remove for further discussion. That item will be considered separately. Entertain a motion. Pro Temporelli.

I move to approve the agenda as presented. Is there a second?

Mayor. Council Member Millbar.

I'll second the motion.

It has been moved by Mayor Pro Tempterreli and seconded by Council Member Millbauer to approve the agenda as presented. The floor is open for discussion. There be no further discussions been properly moved and seconded by have been probably moved and seconded to approve the agenda as presented. Thank you. That's passed unanimously.

The next item is the approval of the consent agenda. All matters listed within the consent agenda have been distributed to each member of the Kennewick City Council for reading and study are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion of the council with no separate discussion. I will entertain a motion. Mayor McShane. Mayor Pro Tem Torelli.

I move to approve the consent agenda as presented. Is there a second? Mayor, I second.

Thank you, Council Member Anderson. It's been moved by Mayor Pro Tem Torelli and seconded by Council Member Anderson to approve the consent agenda as presented. Will the clerk please start the vote? That motion is passed seven to zero. Thank you.

Next on the agenda, we have a docket of 15 ordinances pertaining to a municipal code update transitioning regulations from the outdated Kennewick Administrative Code to the Kennewick Municipal Code, together with miscellaneous housekeeping ordinances pertaining to public works. All matters listed within the ordinance docket have been distributed to each member of the Kennewick City Council study are considered to be routine and may be enacted by one motion of council. All matters listed within this ordinance docket were also presented to the Kennewick City Council at the April 14 workshop meeting. Following the staff report, council may request additional information or may speak to any of the ordinances under the docket. If the council members opposed to one or more ordinance, they may strike that item from the docket for separate consideration and vote.

Will we start off with the city clerk please reading the ordinance titles for the docket items?

This is my favorite show. Okay, here we go, 15 ordinances. So in item 5A1, we have an ordinance relating to meter tampering and amending section fourteen point one two point one zero zero of the Kennewick Municipal Code. For item 5A2, we have an ordinance relating to damage customer payment of repair costs and amending section 14.12.110 of the Kennewick Municipal Code. For item 5A3 we have an ordinance relating to general provisions and amending section 14.23.10 of the Kennewick Municipal Code.

For item 5A4, have an ordinance relating to general requirements and amending section 14.23.020 of the Kennewick Municipal Code. For item 5A5, we have an ordinance relating to building permits, street and right of way improvements required and amending section 5.56.0 seven zero of the Kennewick Municipal Code. For item 5A6 we have an ordinance relating to public works and contracts and adding chapter 5.25 to the Kennewick Municipal Code. For item 5A7 an ordinance relating to public works and contracts and adding chapter 5.3 to the Kennewick Municipal Code. For item 5A8, we have an ordinance relating to public works construction standards and adding section 5.56.151 to the Kennewick Municipal Code.

For item 5A9, have an ordinance relating to public works construction standards and adding section 5.56.152 two to the Kennewick Municipal Code for Item 5A10, an ordinance relating to public works construction standards and adding Sections five point five six point one five three to the Kennewick Municipal Code Item 5A11, an ordinance relating to public works construction standards and adding Section five point five six point one five 4 to the Kennewick Municipal Code. Item 5A12, an ordinance relating to public works construction standards and adding section 5.56.395 to the Kennewick Municipal Code. Item 5A13, an ordinance relating to public works construction standards and adding section 5.56.40 zero zero to the Kennewick Municipal Code. Item 5A 14, an ordinance relating to classification of public streets and adding section thirteen point zero four point one zero zero to the Kennewick Municipal Code. Item 5A 15, an ordinance relating to classification of public streets and adding Section 13.04.110 to the Kennewick Municipal Code.

Work.

Didn't hear it. Could you say

it again?

Would you like it backwards?

I was going say that is why it is municipal clerk's week. And we appreciate that. Mr. Cowling, will you give our staff report, please?

And now I'll read each individual

Directors

of Directors of Board Board Board of of of right of way improvements, event and oversized vehicle permitting, pedestrian safety during construction, access management and state highway access standards. This aligns City Code with current practices that we enforce right now in regulatory requirements. With that, I'm not quite as out of breath as Crystal, but I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Do we have any questions of staff? Does council wish to pull an item from the docket? I will entertain a motion. Mayor McClain. Mayor Pro Tem Torelli.

I move to adopt the ordinances docket items five A one through five A 15 as presented. Is

Mayor? Council Member Millbauer.

I'll second the motion. Thank you.

It has been moved by Mayor Pro Tem Torelli and seconded by Council Member Millbauer to adopt the ordinance docket items 5A1 through 5A15 as presented. The floor is open for discussion. It has been properly moved and seconded to adopt the ordinance docket items 5A1 through 5A15 as presented. That is passed unanimously. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Callan. Thank you again, Crystal. Next on the agenda, we'll have council comments and discussion. And we'll go ahead and start if we can with council members.

Don't have any. Member Milbar.

I do and try and be quick. Two weeks ago, did attend the ECA Energy Community Alliance, a new nuclear initiative down in Augusta, a a of more a government in the area around the UE sites. Here we have Hanford. So the communities of the Tri Cities, West Richland surrounded, if you will. So ECA represents those.

We had several different discussions over new nuclear applications. And if you didn't know, there's several different sizes, starting with micro, small, and large nuclear reactors, which generate electricity, obviously clean, reliable, and affordable, and also creates jobs. We talked about nuclear fuel cycles, fusion, fission. There are 94 different reactors in The United And

second other side

the

S.

U. DOE, spoke new nuclear and opportunities in the Southwest. They spoke, obviously, we're in the South excuse me, in the Southeast. So there's three, four states down there that are doing a lot of nuclear stuff. And through their DOE sites down in Savannah River and down in Tennessee. Thank you. Let's see. Building national, we heard the national state and local workforce. There's gonna be in

to And

own. That. We're of deployment, the XC100 with Amazon to and Energy Northwest. There's the HALEU, which is a type of fuel for projects. That's going to be Framatone and TerraPower here.

Also, Project Dune, which is four twenty five acre former land at Hanford, which enriches uranium, which is going be a $3,000,000,000 project and 1,000 different jobs. That's quite a bit of jobs, and it's going to affect, again, three twenty five thousand workers. Just think what that's going do for our community here. I also had an opportunity to tour on Friday the Savannah Riverside. It's large, not as large as Hanford, but it's really interesting that, it's it's like a forest.

And it wasn't that way when it started. The government hired the the forest department, service department, to plant trees in there when Savannah River started so it'd hide it. And when you're going down the highway, you know there's houses somewhere, but there's trees everywhere. And it's built in town unlike Hanford. It's quite remarkable. We got to tour a lot of their facilities and what they're doing down there. And they're working on cleaning up that site as well and using some of it for their small business.

About the

And excited to area. With those, they know that they can't always do the power. So that's what they're looking for, the different size modular reactors to bring in to, power the data centers, are going to be needed. Even though there's a lot of controversy with data centers, they're needed and there was actually some talk about our two twenty five acres that, might be a good location for a small sized data center. So with that, I'll end my report. Thank you.

Council Member Anderson. Have nothing of substance tonight. Council Member Trumbo.

Thank you, Mayor Mccain. Following up on mister Milbauer's comment about the ECA conference he went to there Augusta, Georgia. I believe maybe you noticed that Mr. Mike Massey from the Mitten PUD was present went there. Was there any comment at all about the interesting relationship of the efficiencies of hydroelectric dams and the restrictions that are placed on those dams to satisfy releases for of water for fish as it that's a loss if I've heard it correctly, of 40 megawatts in our area.

And

the

cost to meet that 40 megawatts through nuclear is significantly higher than doing it through hydroelectric that we have. It's just kind of like, say, fish over here spend a lot of money there. That kind of thing. It would seem that that needs to be part of the equation when we consider how much money it's going to take to to make that happen. It always comes down to the money comes from where, doesn't it?

That's kind of where it is. I wasn't there. I didn't hear it. But it seems like nuclear development good is being discussed but hydro is getting backseat. And I'm concerned about that. I'll just leave that alone. Last Thursday, I went to a community action council meeting again. Connection, I think it is. Community Action Connections meeting. The nonprofit that I sit on their board.

It's based in Pasco. It's a little known and little understood, little appreciated entity. But we have had and told you before, serious leadership issues there. And last Thursday, we had to deal head on with it again. We have a we haven't lost haven't a concerned about it, as are a number of other board members.

It's almost like we do it on a day by day basis to see if things are going to hold together. I don't think I should give any more detail on that. And for the benefit of our chief of police, I have my favorite topic. Today, I'm about two blocks from my house. I'm traveling down Jean Street in Kennewick.

I saw this going, and about fifteen minutes later, I saw it coming back. A man who's probably in his mid teens, young man on a electric get of a driving down Jean Street. And And then I saw the same thing going back. He had turned around. Keep in mind, he's going down Jean Street.

He does his wheelies. He turns around and he's coming back and he sees me at a stop sign about ready to turn left on Jean Street and he weighs me on. And I said, no. You know, I said, you go. And so he passed me and immediately pulled two wheelies. Is this legal in our city? That's my question. Thank you. That's all.

Council member Clipper. Thank you,

mister mayor. Since our my last opportunity to report, to council, I've attended multiple, events, but I wanna just talk about one. I'm gonna do it in a story form. So if the city clerk was to start the clock at three minutes or less, I'll try to knock this out very quickly. I had an opportunity one more time to go listen to the Kennewick or not sorry, the Tri Cities Youth Choir.

These kids are just phenomenal. I think great entertainment center is what she said we need. I And I agreed with that's her and so I'm going to pause the story right there and now add on to it. One day I was delivering the sheriff's boat to place for some maintenance and I was sitting in the in the truck waiting for directions on where to park the boat for the maintenance. And a gentleman walked across the street from the bank and and started talking to me about boating because he owns boats up in in Alaska and was telling me how he's a multi multi multi millionaire.

And so we conversed for quite a while and so we had a very pleasant conversation. So here's my challenge to everybody within the hearing of my voice who may have funds like that and to the City Council. I think there's somebody out there who's listening now or in the future and would like to set up a way that they could leave a legacy behind them. So I'm challenging this council, I'm challenging this city staff to look for a place, maybe it's in the old airport where we are now advancing Tri Cities growth and prosperity, maybe it's somewhere else. A place that we could donate land we the city of Kennewick could donate to an arts and entertainment center if someone were to come forward with the cash and say I would like to leave a legacy and donate the money to build an arts and entertainment center for the Tri Cities Washington and I think that would be a tremendous addition and would benefit people everywhere.

That's my addition for today. Thank you. Mayor Pro Tempterlli

attended the Hanford Advisory Board. There was presentation on good good I think Oregon, Seattle, you know. Basically, that's the board is unwieldy. So, if the board wants to have meaning, it has to get more efficient. No other board is as big as us.

Savannah River has 10. Oak Ridge, 11. So, a size this big is a little bit it just makes us inefficient. Along with Council Member Clifford, I presented a proclamation at the town at Elm. It's an $8,000,000 project with one to three bedroom apartments.

It was built by PMI Construction. This is a family that has lived, worked, and played within Tri Cities. They went to the same school as Brad and they are folks who truly know the community and they want to invest in the community, want to make a difference and an $8,000,000 investment is a huge step along that way. Attended the Association of Washington Cities with a focus on fiscal support. Association of Washington Cities has a legislative committee which I'm a member of.

Basically, we discuss what is the things the cities need to fix fixate on for Washington State and it all came down to dollars. There are other issues. I brought up the LRAs but the main issue is somehow we have to manage the dollars and I do want to thank staff. I was armed with information that I was able to hand out to a couple of representatives there and they really didn't understand the impact and also show it to other cities and be able to say, you know, you need to make up the similar type of deal. So, our finance director did a great job and I think it's part of getting that message out of fiscal sustainability.

On Saturday I attended another proclamation and it is owned by Warren Hughes and I'm going to call it Black Cat Antiques. He has it in French. I flunk French twice. So, I'm not even going to attempt to say these words but we see another person active in our community, cares about our community, is committed to the community, has two businesses downtown, going to open up a third. So, he's going you know, he that type of engagement from local residents is really important.

Along with Council Member Clippert attended the disability board today and last week along with again Councilman Clippert we attended the Pasco Aquatic Center. The new aquatic center is going to be like 60% year round 40% outside. So you know limited. I'll just go really quickly through prices because that is the big deal. They run two sessions a day, one in the morning, one in the afternoon, dollars 13 per session for a youth ticket, dollars 11 for seniors, 15 for adults.

If you want a summer pass, it's 168 for a youth summer pass, 151 for seniors, $2.10 for adults, and $3.00 4 for families. And the family is considered two adults, two kids. I think that was the answer. Enough. If you want an annual pass, $3.50 for youth and seniors, $4.69 for adults, and $9.38 for families.

And this is non Pasco resident fees. General hours will be from 6AM to 8PM on second from four to eight. So, if you buy a day pass, you're going to be able to get in one of the two swim blocks. And if you buy annual pass, you'll be able to go any place you want with that. And that is all I have. Oh and just real quickly. Again. Thank you to the clerk's to run away because they were born. Deputy

City Manager.

Thank you, Mayor McShane, members of City Council. Just a couple of comments. One is a reminder to council that the wastewater treatment plant phase two ribbon cutting and open house is scheduled for May 27 from nine to one. Council has sent an invite and request to register if you plan on attending that. As of yesterday, nobody had signed up yet from council. So just want to remind you.

I did.

Okay. A while ago.

I think I I think I was going say I think I was assigned. Okay.

You were voluntold. I

was voluntold. So,

if you plan on attending, please register so we know in advance if we have a quorum. That was the point of the invite. Secondly, just wanted to give an update that our East Columbia Park Boat Launch Project installation is underway and currently on schedule. We are receiving some media attention this week regarding that project, and we wanted to thank our legislators for supporting this capital project request during the 2025 legislative session, and that we're looking forward to the completion of this much needed improvement. And I wasn't sure if council wanted to have a staff, comment or report regarding the Highlands Grange roller rink.

Deputy City manager Carrie Rose the that

do

We

community that had started a petition to is save do that. The roller rink. There's been a lot of misinformation. We actually had Walla Walla Parks Department reach out and said we'll take the rink as if we were going to dismantle it. There's not been a lot of use and it's been rented by one group primarily it's a roller derby group it's a local group they've rented about 25 times that's about it.

We've learned through outreach that there's a fair sized hockey community that uses as well. There were two very old goals that were in that rink. We have excuse me we had a claim from individual family the kid we think climbed on top of the goals fell over and injured himself so we took the goals out initially and assessed what are our next steps when our goal isn't to eliminate any any play on the rank is to get more use of it and one of the other potential uses is a term called foot sole. It's kind of like a soccer. We don't have one in our community.

There's one in Pasco. So to get more use out of we thought we would put foot sole on one end and a hockey goal we'd go by the goals and can share the space and I think that would work I met yesterday with the gentleman named Micah Dunn who was a person who initiated the, petition he was very reasonable he was willing to kind of compromise we're kind of down to detail of how do we get goals on and off the rink safely and how do you secure them, I think that's going to be easier to be done with the, hockey goals. The footfall goals are bigger. One of the concerns that we had, from a legal perspective is is that safe to drag those onto the court and would we allow individuals to do that. So we're working on those details and I believe and I said this morning in the department head meeting I think we're close to finding some common ground but I want to reinforce there was never a scenario where hockey wasn't gonna be allowed to continue on that space and the more we've learned the more that it is a bigger community that uses it and there's a need.

Anyway quick update I'd be happy to answer any questions that council has.

Councilmember Clipper. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. So just want to confirm for myself and the audience that the plan is to make it available that space available for the roller. Hockey or roller rink and for the other activity that you mentioned that I'm not familiar with.

Correct absolutely

so it won't go away. They can still use it for that for that. Sounds like a solution So, anyway, within the hearing of my voice, if that's not workable, please send me an email as you have been and tell me that's not workable. You.

I might just add. So, I I received a number of phone calls and and emails related to this over the last week. I can see the roller rink from my window and can see how often it is being used. I think we have a lot more use than what is being rented. I think that's what we learned this week. Absolutely. Right. So we had a lot more use than what's being rented. I do have a little bit of about the Futsal goal and the ability to move those on and off. If we're going to have a full hockey game, that means that we need both ends to be able to play hockey and that's something that we have seen out there.

I think the other thing that we have to be careful of and I know our parks group is looking to get our parks utilized to the fullest extent possible. We have a lot of need for parks and recreational facilities and so I think they're trying to find innovative ways to do that all the time. But there is some concern when we take and we put and program in some of these other types activities on the only unit that we have for hockey that that may take away from other opportunities for the hockey group to be able to do that. And so I do think it's an ongoing thing that we're going to continue to work with, a food sole goal and having it on the other end. And if that works okay, that sounds great.

If not, that food sole goal could be relocated to another site that would be just fine as well. And so, I think this is a work in progress for us to understand that. And I really appreciate the staff reaching out and clarifying some of those things. I know when I first got reached out to me, I had heard that we were taking down the roller rink and I said, well, wait a second. That just doesn't make any sense. Funny enough that previous week I'd been out on the roller rink with my daughter thinking to myself, how could we make this an actual ice rink in the winter because that would be something really unique. That would be something really unique in our community. So certainly it was very relieving to know that we aren't taking down the hockey rink, but that we could be utilizing it. So thank you for that explanation and appreciate the other comments this evening on that. You're welcome. Okay. Anything else?

Nope. That's it.

Alright. So, just a couple of things for me. I really do appreciate the community coming out in support of our our parks and recreational facilities and our businesses and others. I want to make sure to express appreciation. Proclamations that we put out, our city clerk does an excellent job of making sure that we're getting those out the door. I don't want them to seem repetitive because they're not supposed to be. They're meant to be meaningful. We get up here maybe sometimes we think oh you know here's another proclamation what does it truly mean? But the words matter and it matters to me what we say and and how we interact with that. So I want to make sure we express appreciation to our building officials as well as our police department, our city courts, our public servants who have done an excellent job and continue to work hard at making our community great.

I had a great opportunity on Friday evening to attend a Heritage University MOU signing for the city and Heritage University downtown. Councilmember Clifford, you for attending that with me. It's a great opportunity to go down if you haven't had a chance to get down to the what we call the old Tri City Herald Building. Is that still the official name or are we calling it Heritage University now? Okay.

So, if you haven't had a chance to get down to Heritage yet and see they're doing great things down there. For those that are unfamiliar with Heritage University, it's a different type of learning environment from a lot of what your traditional universities are. And it really provides a different and really another method for some students in our area that would not necessarily have opportunities to go to other colleges. So this is in addition to Columbia Basin College and in addition to WSU Tri Cities, it's another university and they're working in concert with that. They have about 75 students currently enrolled there and they're looking to get that enrollment up over 100 by the fall.

So if you find that as something that people can use that would be great. I think that I have one more update on KID. Councilmember Clipper, did you have one more thing you'd like to add?

If I may just thank you, Mr. Mayor. There's a couple of things I wanted to thank people for, and I can't remember the second one, but the one for sure. As I was driving here tonight or earlier today, I saw, I do believe Kennewick City Parks and Rec staff working at the pool and the pool is full and water and I think the cover was being put on it. Just to everyone who made that happen. I'm getting teary eyed. Thank you. Thank you for the hard work because I just appreciate you. Thanks.

Thank you. I think that's a good segue into my next update. As you know, part of my day job, I work for the then, next over And Mike, in progress that's going to necessitate a district wide shutdown of KID. From the city perspective, is concern when any time we don't have KID service when it comes to our water plant, there is a significant increase in water usage. And just be advised and aware of that increase and recognize that our city water is there as a supplement, but really not intended to completely replace that Kiedi water supply.

And we do expect those pumps to be the one pump. Again, aren't pumps that fit in the back of a pickup truck. These are pumps that are the size of a pickup truck, right? So one pump being reassembled starting they've already started the reassembled. They'll have a shutdown necessitated on Friday, get some crews in from Grand Coulee to help with that and then get that reassembled hopefully before the end of next week.

But we'll get on to check and see where that's specifically affecting you at kid.org. On the other note, there's been a lot of communications about drought in our area and just wanted to take a minute to address those. So right now, if you're keeping track at home, the reservoir system in the Yakima Basin is almost completely full. It's 30,000 acre feet, 35,000 acre feet away from being full. In fact, right now, most of the reservoirs are what they call a flood curve, which means they're releasing water to ensure that there's adequate room in the reservoirs for the snow that's remaining in the mountains.

The challenges in the upper reservoir, that snow remaining in the mountains is almost nothing. And so they're very quickly going to be off of that flood control curve and onto what they call storage control, where we're drafting reservoirs which will need to be done for the remainder of the year. And so we expect that to happen as early as the end of this week. And so what's in the reservoirs is going to have to last us throughout the entire summer. For those that are unfamiliar with that, we hear a lot about the Southwest.

And you everybody has seen the pictures of the bathtub rings on Lake Mead and Lake Powell as the water level continues to come down. I've been working at KIT for over twenty years. The Southwest has been in drought for twenty years, and they continue to talk about dead pool and these concerns at Lake Mead Lake Powell. In the Yakima River Basin, there's 1,000,000 acre feet of storage and 2,400,000 acre feet of use every single year, which means that instead of having more than one year supply in the reservoirs, there's less than half of a year supply in the reservoirs and we count on the snow coming off at the right time and the right volumes to be able to have water throughout the summer. And so those big flood seasons that we saw in December and then again here in March, those big floods were the snow melting off and running out to the ocean.

And so that water that we would normally have in the mid summer is not going be available to us. And so we do expect the water season to be challenging throughout the Yakima Basin. Our drinking water at the City Of Kennewick is secure. That drinking water comes mostly from the Columbia River and from the shallow aquifers near the Columbia River and that drinking water is secure. The irrigation water that services our community from the Kennewick Irrigation particularly is a junior water right on the Yakima River Basin and is challenged is going to be challenged this summer.

Voluntary scheduling encouraged. We've done a great job for three straight years and this will be the fourth year of drought. In the historical record modern historical record, that's never happened before. And we can expect that this is going to continue to happen. And so, I just want to give that brief update and then just express my appreciation to our community that continues to come together to solve big problems.

And I couldn't be prouder of community that I get to live and work and serve in. And I want to just express appreciation to everybody's efforts across all aspects of our community. From those that are here as business owners to those that serve commissions, for those that are here as concerned constituents of our hockey community and others. We just cannot express enough appreciation for everybody that makes our community great. And with that, I'll close out the evening. I guess we have an executive session next on the agenda. Do we have an estimated time for that? About thirty minutes? Okay. And so we're going to So if you did it

08:00. 08:00 would

be Yeah. Will now adjourn to executive session pursuant to RCW 423,100 to review the performance of a public employee. The audience is welcome to stay in council chambers during the executive session. However, will not take any action until after action after returning to open session except to adjourn the meeting. The executive session is intended to conclude at 08:00.

Okay Swaggart we're ready to come back for a moment.

Alright. It is now 08:00 and the executive session review of performance of a public employee pursuant to RCW forty two thirty one ten one g is extended until 08:20.

Thank you, mayor. For just a moment, please.

There's no further business on tonight's agenda. It is now 08:30, and the meeting is concluded. Thank you.