City Council - Regular Meeting

now 6 30 and the meeting will come to order good evening and welcome to the july 21st 2026 kennewick city council meeting council meetings are streamed on live on our website go to kennewick.com viewers can enable closed captioning by accessing this feature this setting feature in their preferred web browser either during the live broadcast or when watching the recording will the city clerk please state who is present and whether quorum is established

Good evening, Mayor McShane. All council members are present with the exception of Council Member Beecham and Council Member Trumbo, and a quorum is established.

Thank you. Is there a motion to excuse the absences?

Mayor.

Council Member Anderson.

I move to excuse the two absences.

Is there a second?

Mayor, I second that.

It has been moved by Council Member Anderson and seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Torelli to excuse the absence of Council Member Trumbo and Council Member Beecham. The floor is open for discussion. There being no further discussion, it has been properly moved and seconded to excuse the absence of Council Member Trumbo and Council Member Beecham. Will the clerk please start the vote?

I hear that one.

That's passed five to zero. Thank you. Next, we'll have our Pledge of Allegiance. Will Chief Guerrero please lead the pledge?

Please join us in the pledge.

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.

Thank you. No one's registered this evening to provide tonight's invocation. Persons interested in giving the invocation can find information on our website or through the city clerk's office. Next, we'll have a proclamation for Parks and Recreation Month. Will Parks and Recreation Commissioner Ruby Creek please join Council Member Anderson at the podium?

Whereas this Kennewick City Council has identified quality of life as a fundamental priority and our parks and recreation programs play a crucial role in enhancing and sustaining the quality of life in our communities, promoting the health of all residents and contributing to both the economic and environmental vitality of our region. And Kennewick's parks and recreation programs are recognized for excellence locally, regionally, statewide, and nationwide. And whereas our recreation programs foster healthy, active communities that assist in the prevention of chronic diseases, offer therapeutic recreation services for individuals with mental or physical disabilities, and enhance the mental and emotional well-being of all participants, and Parks and Recreation Services boost a community's economic prosperity by increasing property values, expanding the local tax base, attracting tourism, retaining businesses and reducing crime rates. And whereas parks and natural recreational areas improve water quality, safeguard groundwater, prevent flooding, enhance air quality, create vegetative buffers against development and provide habitats for wildlife, And whereas our parks and natural recreational areas preserve the ecological beauty of our community, while offering spaces for both children and adults to engage with nature and enjoy outdoor activities, now, therefore, on behalf of the Kennewick City Council, I do hereby proclaim the month of July 2026 as Parks and Recreation Month and urge all citizens and civic organizations to acknowledge the year-round benefits of our parks and recreation resources. So thanks, Ms. Creek.

Thank you.

Thank you. Next we'll have the City Manager 2026 Award of Excellence. City Manager Erdmann, will you please take this next session?

Thank you for the opportunity to present these this evening. At the Employee Appreciation Barbecue, I usually do three awardees of City Manager Award. The City Manager's Award of Excellence recognizes employees who have shown exceptional performance in leading the way. They demonstrate our core values, integrity, inclusiveness, stewardship, and communication through their daily service to the citizens of Kennewick. So this year's first Award of Excellence goes to someone who truly stepped up when his department needed him the most. So can I have Jared Williams? Our parks maintenance supervisor, join me. So when park maintenance found itself without consistent leadership, Jared didn't wait to be asked twice. He stepped into the interim supervisor role and got to work, and it didn't take long to see the wheels turning. Jared brought fresh ideas on how to improve not just day-to-day operations, but the overall look and feel of our entire park system. It was clear enough that we moved quickly to make his position permanent. since then jaron has been steady a steady hand that this division has needed even through a full year without permanent department leadership above him park maintenance has genuinely improved and that's a direction direct result of his foresight and his work ethic he communicates clearly leaves with a level head and is always willing to jump in wherever he's needed He's helped research and document costs the city has incurred in Columbia Park for the Shoreline Reconveyance Project, and he's costed out multiple park improvement projects to help us find smart, budget-conscious ways to move forward. Jared represents exactly what this award is about, stepping in at a hard moment, leading with integrity, and making things better through steady, thoughtful work. So please join me in congratulating Jared.

At least somebody likes my shirt. My wife's not exactly a fan. It's too bright. I just want to say thank you. It is a tremendous honor. When I first heard it in the employee appreciation luncheon, I looked around and I was like, oh, they must have hired another Jared Williams. And it wasn't until Crystal kind of nudged at me. She's like, no, that's you. So it's truly an honor. I would not be in this position without the support of quite a few people across the city. encouraging me supporting me and believing that i could be able to get this department to where it need to be some people i would like to name are ryan brisby haley pink shannon marsh cindy meyer uh sandra quantic i can't i'm gonna mess up her last name comment uh marietta comes i can't pronounce her name Marietta, there's many more people I could name, but it has been a tremendous honor. This last year has been full of challenges and victories, and I look forward to this next year. Thank you.

So this year's second award goes to someone who has quietly become the backbone of the entire department. So Brandon Lang, Recreation Manager, you can join me. When Parks needed someone to step up and keep things moving forward without direct department level leadership, Brandon didn't hesitate. He took on more responsibility and in doing so became the right hand the department needed. Someone with the expertise and steadiness to keep operations running smoothly through the tough stretch. What stood out most is his communication. Once Brandon stepped into a bigger role, it became clear just how much of a difference clear, consistent communication makes, knowing what's needed to succeed and knowing what's actually working. Brandon has brought the clarity to the department and it shows. But beyond the operational skills, what really sets Brandon apart is how much he genuinely cares about his job and about the people he works with. He constantly lifting his staff up, sending praise upward and encouragement outward, offering suggestions for improvement, and stepping in on extra assignments wherever asked. He has a real gift for motivating people, and his helpful management understands concerns and perspectives we might not have otherwise seen. Brandon exemplifies inclusiveness and communication in everything he does, and this department is stronger because of his professionalism and positivity. So congratulations, Brandon.

Well, I didn't say anything at the luncheon, so I'll say something now. When you win these types of awards, I've been here for 15 years, you often reflect on what you've done. And as cliche as it sounds, what I do is never done alone. I have a dynamic staff that I just enjoy working for. As Jared mentioned, we have ups and downs, as do all of us in our jobs. But the people just... They make it incredibly easy to come to work every single day. And what we do in Parks and Recreation is incredibly important. Our department is no less valuable than any other department in the city. We're different at times, and we strive to be different on purpose at times. And whether that's bringing 27,000 people to River of Fire in about a week, we are working with the B-5 Learning Center. It's a center that supports refugees. And they have a group of individuals, teens, who have never been introduced to the water safely. And for religious reasons, gender reasons, they are not able to partake in our regular swim lessons. And so we've provided a private swim lesson for their groups. And so that sort of work really fills my cup. And again, I appreciate Aaron and leadership giving me this award. And I appreciate all the work that you do. And I couldn't be more proud to work for the city of Kennewick. So thank you. Thank you.

And I will say, when we look at these awards, I kind of try to spread them out amongst all the different divisions of the city. But this year, we picked two parks and recs because they really truly have, the entire department has stepped up. We had a lot of turnover in some very key leadership positions, and they've really stepped up to the challenge. And so we did two recognitions with parks. Our last award, unfortunately, he is out on vacation today, so he won't be able to join us, but it was Scott Sendry, our city surveyor. If I'm really being honest, he's probably a little tired of seeing my name come up into his inbox and the projects, because I've asked a lot of him this year. So he's brought no shortage of unique and sometimes downright unusual requests, but every time Scott has been asked to help with something, he's shown up, dug in, and delivered thoroughly, timely work, no matter how big or strange the ask may have been. scott has been instrumental in pulling together the documentation for the army corps tracks and easements of our shoreline reconveyance project which is detailed painstaking work that takes real skill and patience and while he was in the middle of that he was also pulling deed and property information for several of our park properties scott also created legal descriptions on tight timelines for our shrub step conservation easements that help finalize the permitting for the convention center project all while keeping up with his daily work Scott's organization, responsiveness, and willingness to take on whatever comes his way has made him one of those people that this organization really relies on. Scott represents stewardship and integrity in the truest sense, quietly doing excellent, exacting work that makes so much of what this city accomplishes possible. So please join me in congratulating Scott, even though he couldn't be here today.

Thank you very much, and thank you for your service. What a great example of dedicated employees and people that really want to make a difference in our community. Next on the agenda is visitors. For clarification, our public hearing this evening, which will be later in the agenda, should concentrate on testimony concerning the moratorium or the placement of LRA facilities in our community. Comments regarding the moratorium will need to wait until the public hearing is officially opened later this evening. testimony related to specific LRA projects or facilities does not align with the guidelines of the hearing, those remarks should be and can be made now during the general public comment period. The city clerk has informed me that there is no one registered to speak remotely. 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. If you need follow-up after the meeting, please reach out to her and she will connect you with the right person 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. A three-minute timer will be displayed on the screen and will start when you come to the podium. A total of 30 minutes is allocated for visitor comments this evening during this period. And the city clerk will please start that comment period now. And then if you'd like to speak, please raise your hand, and they'll recognize you to come forward. Yes, please, first row.

Thank you. My name's Ken May. I reside at 227th Place. And I've got an issue to bring to your attention. Several of you have already been made aware. My residence is directly adjacent to... a development, Sunny Meadows. And I lived there for 35 plus years. Anyway, starting in late 24, all through 25, probably early 26, the developer was dumping tremendous amounts of fill dirt right off East 49th Street. And I assumed that that was all legit. They had done what they needed to do as far as city permits. Well, it kept going and going and going. So I was a little curious. And so I did a little digging, talked to a few city employees. Turned out they had no permits. And to add insult to injury, not only did they not have permits, but the city staff knew about it and just looked the other way. Now, I'm not a terribly picky person, but I've got some chronic health problems. And this pile of dirt, which is one of really two, is humongous, probably 15 to 20 feet high, 75 feet across, 100 yards long. You've got to look on a county map. So in February, early March, I filed a complaint with the city about it. And one thing led to another. And the city did respond. They issued a stop work requirement, decree, whatever. That didn't stop them from dumping immediately. They continued. But during this period, no controls, no oversight by the city whatsoever, even though you guys knew about it. And so I've been in touch with virtually everybody who's somebody here in the city on this, including several council people. So... It's the dust, the air pollution. It lies, that pile lies directly upwind of our residence. And when the wind comes through there, I mean, it's right against our house and right against, and so it does affect my health. And I have expressed that concern multiple times to staff.

Ken, sorry, your time's exhausted for this evening.

Oh, three minutes is up?

Yeah, it's over, thank you.

Oh my gosh, well, okay. Thank you. The city staff knows what's going on. I just wish that they would add.

Would anyone else like to speak this evening? Yes, please.

My name is Carlos Sanchez. Good evening, City Council and City Manager Erdmann. My name is Carlos Sanchez. I'm here today to propose an establishment of a standardized residential curb address policy for Kennewick. As our city grows, ensuring that emergency service can locate homes instantly is vital. In dark or when port sites are out, trees block house numbers every second counts. Reflective curb numbers provide a uniform eye level indicator for paradigmics, firefighters, and police officers. When they pull into a street, I'm not proposing unregulated painting. I suggest the city adopt an official layout such as standardized four inch reflective numbers to encourage neighborhood spirits. We could allow small pre-approved four by four inch local school sports or community logos next to these numbers. This keeps our streets uniform, supports local high schools like Kennewick, Mike and Southwest to prevent unpermitted DIY work. I want to thank the city manager office for already routing this idea to Chief Hefner, and I ask the city council to support a formal review of this policy so we can make Henwick safer and protect our residents from unauthorized door-to-door solicitation, scams, and that'll be everything. Thank you. You're welcome. Other comments this evening?

Ubi. I may as well call on the president of Henwick.

Good evening. I'm Ubi Creek. And first of all, I'd like to say thank you to whoever continues to paint under the, not the graffiti people, on top of the graffiti. Appreciate all of that covering up of the graffiti, especially like on Canal and the overpass by Vaughan. So thank you so much, whoever's doing that. Appreciate it. And number two, thank you to the police officers and the firefighters during the 4th of July. We happen to live on Canal and Lots was going on all around the whole city. This year, unlike any other years, Recently, there were a lot of folks parked on the railroad property, which can be kind of scary because, you know, they start doing fireworks. There were a couple of small fires. My concern was a gentleman that parked right in front of our house, right in front of the fire hydrant. And I went across and I said, sir, please don't park there because it's illegal. First of all, I said, and second of all, there's a fire. the firefighters can't get to that. And he was not very nice about it, and he didn't move. And I did want to call the police because I knew they were busy. But maybe, you know, a couple times during the night, drive by to make sure that folks are not covering up the fire hydrants. But other than that, appreciated all the hard work that the departments did during that evening. So thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else would like to speak this evening? Yeah, please.

Good evening mayor and members of the council. I'm Max from Kennewick and these are my brothers. So my family wanted to come tonight to thank you for not only preserving the roller rink at Highlands Grange Park, but adding two amazing nets, making the playing experience even better. We've had some great group games there since. There's a group of us that meets most Friday afternoons and the nets allow for more convenience and better games. We really appreciate that we have a mayor, council, and community that looks out for its residents. Thank you for this service. Thank you.

Warren?

Warren Hughes, Kennewick. If y'all don't know, we're planning an art show for Kuwait and Park this fall, and this weekend is Art in the Park in Richland, and if you haven't been, it's a great opportunity to kind of see what we're envisioning for going on in Kuwait and Park. I have to go get ready for Art in the Park, so I won't be able to stay tonight, but I just wanted to invite y'all to come down and check it out. It's a great two-day show happening in Richland. Y'all have a good day.

Thanks, Warren. Any other comments this evening?

Okay.

All right, this comment period is closed. Next item is 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 would want to remove for further discussion, and that item will be considered separately. I'll entertain a motion.

Mayor McShane.

Mayor Pro Temporelli.

I move to approve the agenda as presented.

Is there a second?

Mayor?

Yes, Council Member Milbauer. I'll second the motion. It has been moved by Mayor Pro Temporelli and seconded by Council Member Milbauer to approve the agenda as presented. The floor is open for discussion. There being no further discussion, it's been properly moved and seconded to approve the agenda as presented. Will the clerk please start the vote? 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'll entertain a motion.

Mayor McShane.

Mayor Pro Temporelli.

I move to approve the consent agenda as presented.

Is there a second?

Mayor.

Council Member Milbauer. I'll second the motion. It has been moved by Mayor Pro Temporelli and seconded by Council Member Milbauer to approve the consent agenda as presented. Will the clerk please start the vote? That is passed unanimously. Next is a public hearing regarding the six-month moratorium prohibiting less restrictive alternative housing. An emergency moratorium is a temporary, legally binding pause on a specific activity enacted by the city to address an urgent crisis. It halts ongoing actions to prevent further harm while council members study the issue and draft permanent regulations. After the staff report, council will have an opportunity to ask questions or to request clarifying information of staff. Following those questions, the residents interested in testifying about the moratorium will be invited to speak during the public hearing. General discussion and debate by council must wait until after a motion has been made. Will the city clerk please read the ordinance by title?

This is an ordinance adopting findings in support of retaining the June 16th, 2026 moratorium on citing secure, less restrictive alternative LRA facilities serving sexually violent predators.

Thank you. Ms. Beaton, will you please provide a staff report?

Thank you, Mayor McShane and members of City Council. Tonight's really a two-step process. One, hold the public hearing, and two, consider the ordinance before you, which includes affirmation of findings of fact and then retaining the current moratorium that's in place. So by way of background, I know all council is aware that in the first quarter of this year, Kennewick faced the potential placement of a less restrictive alternative secure facility intended to house sexually violent predators in a residential neighborhood in Kennewick under a process established in state statute, which is RCW 71.09.096. This particular state statute authorized the indefinite civil commitment of individuals who've been determined by a superior court to be a sexually violent predator. And these individuals have completed their criminal sentence but have been found likely to reoffend if not confined in a secure facility. Due to federal litigation that occurred shortly after the state statute was adopted, state law was amended to require an annual review to determine whether an individual had been determined to be a sexually violent predator whether or not they could be released to a placement that's less restrictive less restrictive alternative secure lra facilities under state statute include two components one being the secure community transition facility which are facilities which are owned operated or contracted through DSHS. And there's significantly greater protections for those facilities with respect to security. The other component of the statute allows for any residents to be used as a court-ordered placement under the statute, and that's what Kennewick was facing in the first quarter of this year. Under state statute, secure transition facilities ARE CONSIDERED ESSENTIAL PUBLIC FACILITIES SO EACH CITY IS REQUIRED TO INCLUDE PROVISIONS FOR THE SITING OF THESE FACILITIES. YOU CAN'T PROHIBIT THEM FROM LOCATING WITHIN YOUR CITY. OUR CURRENT REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO ESSENTIAL PUBLIC FACILITIES IN GENERAL DO NOT ADEQUATELY DEFINE SECURE LRA FACILITIES OR SUFFICIENTLY ADDRESS THE POTENTIAL LAND USE COMPATIBILITY and life safety impacts associated with the siting of secure LRA facilities intended to house sexually violent predators. As a result of that, and to ensure any future regulations are legally compliant and to give staff adequate time, we proposed to Council, and Council did adopt the emergency moratorium on June 16th of this year. The ordinance established a six-month emergency moratorium prohibiting the siting of any new LRA facilities as defined in state statute within all zoning districts in the City of Kennewick. And further prohibited the filing of any applications for licenses permits or other approvals for the citing of such facilities during the moratorium period. Tonight is the public hearing that's required by state statute for cities to hold. Within 60 days of adoption of an emergency moratorium. The purpose of the public hearing is to entertain public comment related to the moratorium, whether council should retain the moratorium or extend the moratorium or adopt regulations. Staff has proposed findings within the ordinance in support of retaining the six-month moratorium. Those are provided within the ordinance. This moratorium is meant to be an interim temporary measure to allow staff time to review potential code provisions. Our review will be twofold. We have a comp plan update currently in the works. We need to make some modifications to the essential public facilities provision that's in our comp plan and that's proposed currently, then the second step will be to look at code amendments with respect to our zoning code on defining this particular component of a secure community transition facility. Um, the, the residential to define that and then determine what would be the permitting process and what locations should that be permitted? We're also. Joining with the other jurisdictions within Benton County, as well as in Franklin to make sure we're all consistent in how we're defining and treating and permitting these types of facilities. WITH THAT SAID, STAFF RECOMMENDS COUNCIL HOLD THE PUBLIC HEARING AND THEN UPON CONCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC HEARING TO AFFIRM THE FINDINGS OF FACT AND ADOPT THE ORDINANCE AS PRESENTED.

THANK YOU. ANY QUESTIONS OF STAFF THIS EVENING? All right, so next we'll have our public hearing, and this public hearing is now open. This hearing is required by RCW 35A.63.220, and it's important that the testimony is specific to the emergency moratorium rather than for or against a particular person, site, or project. The city clerk has informed me that no one signed up to testify remotely. If anyone in the audience would like to address the moratorium or discuss the placement of these facilities in our community, please raise your hand.

All right.

With no public comments, this public comment period is now closed. I'll entertain a motion.

Mayor McShane.

Mayor Pro Temporelli.

I move to affirm the findings of fact and adopt the ordinance as presented.

Is there a second?

Mayor.

Council Member Milbar.

I'll second that motion.

has been moved by Mayor Pro Tem Torelli and seconded by Council Member Milbauer to affirm the findings of fact and adopt the ordinance as presented. The floor is open for discussion. Council Member Clipper.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to say that I wholeheartedly support the adoption of this ordinance, this moratorium, and encourage a unanimous yes vote. Thank you.

Any other comments this evening? I'll take a moment and just express appreciation again of our staff who've worked very hard to get this to the point where we can put some security into our community for a short period of time here as we try to understand the regulations that we can put forward. And I just recognize again like we did as we passed the moratorium earlier that if the staff needs additional time for that, that's something I would be very supportive of if we find that with the comp plan updates and other things that are going on that we just can't finish these regulations within that time period. We can extend that as needed. All right, additional comments? All right, if none, it's been properly moved and seconded to affirm the findings of fact and adopt the ordinance as presented. Will the clerk please start the vote? That has passed unanimously. Thank you. All right, next will be the council comments and discussion. And I'll start down at the end here. Council Member Mabar. Is that okay? Or do you want me to start with Council Member Tove?

Good evening, everyone. Last week I attended the Glow Crazy Party at Numerica Pavilion. I had the opportunity with my daughter and her two young, my two young granddaughters, her daughters. I enjoyed it very much. It was well attended. It was very well organized. They had a ball. It was just great to see all the kids. I just want to thank staff, Numerica, Parks and Rec, the commission over there working at it. It was very well. Thank you for that. Also, yesterday I attended the AWC Large City Advisory Committee. We had discussions on AWC's 2027 legislative agenda dealing with public works, transportation, land use, affordable housing, and homelessness and public safety. Also yesterday, I attended the KITLO, Keep the Lights On panel. There's some series that Tri-City Regional Chamber's putting on. This one was on data centers. Very well attended, both online and in person. It had four panelists that were experts in their field and obtained a lot of information, which I'll just give you a few highlights. In 2025, between Washington and Oregon, The wages that IBW, just the electricians for IBW, building data centers was $1.2 billion in wages that went back to the communities where they're from. That doesn't count fitters, plumbers, insulators, iron workers, drivers, or anyone else. And that was a huge influx of the economy for them. Also, operational side of data centers, you know, they say, yeah, they're just temporary construction jobs that come in to build these. Well, in Quincy, the operational side for Quincy, that's security guards, tech workers have to replace the hard drives, all those type of jobs, employ 250 workers with family wage jobs and benefits. At the East Wenatchee data center camp, 150 workers. And again, that's not including construction. Let's see. There was, for the U.S., data centers in the U.S., it's less than 1% of water in the U.S. is what they use, less than 1%. If you go to Quincy, 5% of the water in Quincy is used for the data centers. Agriculture uses 45%. Residential, 25%. They're switching a lot of them over to liquid cooling, so the chillers are inside, so you can hear them outside. And... The way I look at it is these data centers are going to be built somewhere, and I just assume they'd be built in our community here and bring in jobs, long-term jobs, wages with good benefits, versus going somewhere else to be built. So I would not be interested in a moratorium on data centers in Kennewick if it comes up. But thank you, everyone, for tonight. Thank you.

Council Member Anderson. I just want to say thank you to the city staff and those who worked hard to bring the river fire event, and what a phenomenal success that was, and how many thousands of people were able to participate in that. And thank you to the first responders for helping that be a safe and fun family event. I think Kennewick's done a phenomenal job on that, and that's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you.

Council Member Klippert.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. had the honor and privilege of going to the employee appreciation luncheon at the sports complex, and the city manager did a great job of recognizing some employees today. More of them were recognized at the luncheon, but I just want to say one more time thank you to everyone who worked so hard for the city of Kennewick. You guys are awesome. We appreciate you, and thank you for making our city the great city that it is.

Thank you. Mayor Pro Temparelli.

Just a quick thank you again to staff. I've had to interact with staff a couple times this week, and you guys have really been helpful and I really appreciate it. I also want to thank our lobbyists. I'm on the AWC Legislative Committee, getting briefings, getting up to speed, showing areas of emphasis. We have a very engaged lobbying organization. And sometimes the word lobby has a, you know, ooh, those are the bad guys. No, they're the good guys. They're helping us get legislation through at the level that makes the most direct impact to us. And they have just done an outstanding job, and I really appreciate it. Attended all my assigned meetings, and that's about it. Thank you.

Thank you. City Manager Erdmann.

A couple things this evening. I want to take a moment tonight to publicly acknowledge VenuWorks for their partnership and everything that they do for this community. A letter of appreciation, recognizing their outstanding partnership at this year's River of Fire event was sent to the VenuWorks headquarters as well as the local office, and council was cc'd on that today. So, you know, this year's event drew more than 27,000 attendees with nearly 17,000 people in Columbia Park at its peak, the largest single-day event in the Tri-Cities. Then you works in their team, including hundreds of their staff who also give up their 4th of July holiday, um, made that possible and we wanted to formally thank them. I also want to give a big thank you to our own parks and rec department and team. An event like this in this size takes months of planning and long hours. On the ground, and our staff once again delivered a fantastic event for this community, and I'm proud of the work they do. So thank you to parks and rec as well. um second item uh there's been a lot of questions swirling around about city hall as you guys are all aware i know mayor pro temporelli has been fielding a number of calls and emails so i wanted to speak directly to where things stand now um just again want to be clear the decision to keep city hall in the existing location on civic campus has been determined by council however no final decision has been made on the exact placement within the vicinity of the of this current location for um or the future of the museum has not been looked at. No decisions have been made at this point. I did want to let you know that I did meet with our consulting team today. They have, since the last presentation, have been hard at work at finalizing some of the site plan concepts, size of what that building would look like, site plan, master plan piece for Civic Campus as a whole, as well as pulling together a lot of the cost estimates for building that new facility and potential costs for relocation. I will tell you, I got to see some of their renderings and stuff today. It's very exciting. I'm really excited for our upcoming workshop on this, and they have some really cool concepts to show council So we'll be bringing that forward on July 28th. That will wrap up the final RFP process, kind of give us the full report and the scope of work that we requested from them. From there, we plan to come back to City Council tentatively on the August 18th meeting and ask for consensus and approval to move forward into that next phase, which would be to issue an RFP for a design build process. A lot of that is going to be determined on what we hear on those costing estimates coming out of that July 28th workshop. So... and i also want to emphasize that once the consensus is reached and we start into that full design process that will involve a robust public improvement process or public involvement process and we'll continue um to include the public as part as we move through that we want to make sure this project reflects what our residents also want to see here too so i know there's been some concerns that they haven't had a chance at the table and so that will come as we really dive into that design process and make those final decisions. So we will continue to update public and move through the workshops into August and hopefully make a decision on a path forward for what we'd like to do. And last but not least, I know Dylan sent out a request to see if council was interested in a waste management virtual tour. I know several council members as well as myself talked with waste management at the AWC conference and they offered up this option. It would be a tour of kind of look through their, how their recycling facility works. It would be about an hour long meeting they can do virtually. So he sent that out to council today. Just wanted to see if there was interest in pulling that together. This is something we would probably do during, business hours, not at a council time, but it would be more of a virtual meeting. So just let myself or Dylan know if we're interested in that, and then we'll coordinate a time that hopefully works the best for everyone. And that is all I have.

Thank you. Aaron, can you tell us, I mean, this is looking into your crystal ball, when do we think a final design would be considered for final approval for City Hall? Because I think that's been confusing for folks where there's been this thought that we finalized the design a couple of months ago. I know I've had that complaint that the city's already finalized the design, and we're not even close to that yet.

no i mean the process that we went through now was kind of scoping out what size of facility would be required and if it was feasible to do that within this facility or if it made more sense to build a new one so we've narrowed down kind of how much square footage we need we've talked about adjacencies and what makes sense as far as internal business for the city hall but the final design the site location none of that is really started we want to we haven't started that public input process so After talking with Architects West, typically into a design-build process, you're looking at 18 months to go through that final design, and then you're probably looking at another 18 months to construction. So, I mean, we're looking at a three-year project to get this done, so over the next 18 months. And there's a lot of moving pieces within that as well. There'd be, you know, the application for the approval of the design-build process as well as starting in with the architectural firm to kind of work through that in the public process, so...

Yeah, so again, this is really the beginning of that public process to understand what the impacts could be and then make sure the public has an opportunity to begin to comment on that now. Not the end of the process.

Not the end of the process. And what we're going to see for cost estimates and so forth are going to be a generic kind of square footage based on what we decide to do. And as we move into that design process, there will be a ton of questions on materials and designs and location and Does it make sense to incorporate the museum or not? And so that's the next phase of this project.

Thank you. Thank you for that clarification. I too wanted to add on and pile on for the compliments towards River of Fire. It was a great event this year. I will say that the number one complaint I had was people could not understand why they couldn't get into the park. And I had to help them understand that the park is closed when there's too many people there. And so we had people waiting for others to leave so that they could come. What a great event and what a great opportunity for our community to enjoy. I did hear people were coming into Kennewick from miles and miles around, nearby communities that don't have that kind of event. And so what a great opportunity we have to showcase what we can provide as a community. I had an opportunity, I mentioned this at our last council meeting, invited some out to the Liberty Tree rededication over by the Grange Park and the library. For those that are unfamiliar with that tree, the Liberty Tree, I won't go into all of the detail and history. I'll have the Daughters of the American Revolution to come and talk to you guys about it. But that tree is unique in Washington State, and the fact that we have one in our community is a pretty significant thing. It's a hybrid off of a tree that was at Mount Vernon and was part of George Washington's garden itself. One of the things I thought was interesting about that was that when we first received the tree back in the 90s, they had not accounted for our climate. And so the tree itself, as it had come, would not have been able to survive had it been planted. And so they nursed it along for almost two years before they actually planted the tree here in Kennewick. And then it's grown to the beautiful tree that it is now. And there's a new plaque there. So if you're interested in wanting to go see that, I think it's a great opportunity to enjoy and remember the liberty that we all get to enjoy here 250 years later. I also wanted to just report back on our, we had a BFCOG meeting last Friday. The grant navigator program is up and running. There's some discussion about some additional services that may be provided that our city staff will be reviewing and trying to decide. But that is something that's nice to have in our community, to have somebody that is looking at grants and trying to help coordinate those grants, both for the city account, but also for surrounding jurisdictions. So that was something interesting that had come up last week. With that, I think that I'll just close with a quick report on drought numbers that we haven't necessarily heard in a little bit. So the per ration percentage in the aqua basins at 56% of what we would normally receive, that does mean that we have a reduced amount of water available. I'll be happy to report back that our community is doing an excellent job of water conservation. And that message gets a little bit stale after three and a half years of doing this. What I can say is that the projections going forward into the fall and into the winter are strong El Nino conditions, which mean, generally speaking, drier, hotter in our part of the country. And so I think we can expect to see these conditions to continue to persist and And so as much as it seems to be a broken record, it really is something that we have to continue on with. And I will say that just as a quiet moment, you know, with all the rain and the flooding that we had earlier this year, it sure would have been nice to have had additional storage reservoirs somewhere in our part of the country that we could have stored that water. And so we're working to do those types of things in our community as well and appreciate the efforts that go into those things. And so with that, I'll conclude my comments this evening. And as there's no further business on tonight's agenda, it's now 7.18 and the meeting is concluded.