City Council - Regular Meeting

Yes, we have more to pass up. Want a wristband? Oh, OK.

It's okay. No, no, no, stop, no, no. Where's the back? Sorry.

Good evening, citizens and staff. I'm Mayor Kara Westfall, hereby call to order this council meeting on Monday, August 17th, 2026. The time is 7 p.m. Roll call, please.

Councilor Steenberg? Here. Councilor Angeli? Here. Councilor Russo? Here. Councilor McClellan? Here.

Please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay, we've got a lot going on today. So the city has a certificate of service to award to Jeremy Princeton Finance and Business Service Department Information Technology Division for the completion of 10 years of service. He's not here, but we'll make sure he gets that. Come on up, Officer Terry Amos. Officer Terry Amos has been with the Klamath Falls Police Department for the completion of 20 years of service on August 3rd, 2026. And thank you so much for all you do. Thank you very much.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

I just want to say a couple things about Terry. He is a fantastic officer, first of all. He has been doing most of the heavy lifting on the livability team and has done an outstanding job about that. One of the things that impressed me about Terry the most is his empathy. He is probably the most caring and empathetic officer we have. That can be attested to all the letters of commendation that we sign for him from citizens and always bragging about how nice Terry is and how much he has feelings for other people as well. So appreciate that about you, Terry.

The city has a certificate of service for Mark Wilbert, Public Works Department for the completion of 30 years of service, August 12th, 2026.

A few things about Mark. If you look at this community, Mark's fingerprints are all over it. I tried to go through a list of everything that he has done in his 30 years. I couldn't even begin to mention everything that he's done. He's assembled an amazing team that respects him and works hard for him. He's a friend. I appreciate everything you've done, Mark. Congratulations, 30 years.

Tony Ford. Thank you so much for all you do. The City of Klamath Falls City Council, Klamath Falls, Oregon, in a matter proclaiming September 2026 as National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month. Whereas Recovery Month promotes the societal benefits of prevention, treatment, and recovery for substance use and mental disorders. Celebrating people in recovery lauds the contributions of treatment and service providers and promotes the message that recovery in all forms is possible and behavioral health is an essential part of one's overall wellness. Whereas prevention of substance use disorders works, treatment is effective and people recover in our area and around the nation. The journey to recover requires a great fortitude and a supportive network. Whereas preventing and overcoming substance use disorders is essential to achieving healthy lifestyles both physically and emotionally. Whereas we must encourage relatives and friends of people with substance use disorders to implement preventative measures, identify the signs of addiction, and guide those in need to appropriate treatments and recovery support services. Whereas to help more people achieve and sustain long-term recovery, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, HHS, and Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, SAMHSA, and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, ONDCP, and the City of Klamath Falls invite all residents to participate in the recognition of National Recovery Month, and now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Klamath Falls Mayor and City Council that September 2026 is recognized as National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month in Klamath Falls, Oregon. We encourage all residents to join the council, citizens, and community service providers in spreading the positive message that behavioral health is essential to overall health, that prevention works, treatment is effective, and people can and do recover. Thank you so much for all of your efforts.

And if you'd like to say a few words.

All right, so it's an honor again, though, because every year I stand right here in front of all of you, but this is a big deal for me to have Klamath County and the city of Klamath too. you know, joining the National Recovery Month. And related to recovery, we're getting bigger and bigger all the time. This year we have, well, this year we got, because of sponsors, the community partners in here, we got like 30 sponsors this year. And so 350 T-shirts, the hands across the bridge, will be handed out free of charge to everybody. because one year I seen where somebody only had one day in treatment and other organization was selling them and it really broke my heart because they didn't have any money. And that's what it's about, you know, and so that also shows that we'll probably have 30 community partners because it's a recovery rally slash resource fair. You know, whether they got one day or we got, like me, I just, two weeks ago, would celebrate 31 years in Klamath Falls. And I would have never known that, huh? Never known that. As a matter of fact, Phil defended me a couple times. Yeah, so you know, it's just, it's an honor to have this done, and we hope that we will outdo. We have two this year, instead of one, we have two well-known recovery rap artists that are coming in from the United States, and Skylar Ray from Portland, and Khalichi from back in Pennsylvania, and so it's gonna be just, everything's free except for the raffle tickets, of course, but...

appreciate it just a moment go ahead would you like to speak thank you so I just want to say as up two days ago I have 4.5 years in recovery Recovery's given me everything and I just kind of wanted to touch on we have such a powerful recovery and behavioral health in Klamath Falls and a lot of times it just goes unnoticed because everybody's their own thing and this month everybody just comes together so it's powerful so I just want to thank you guys. Thank you. Wonderful.

Just real quick, I'm new to Klamath Falls. I got here in October and I... had a very long stretch in recovery, and the community, I came from bigger cities, and the community there was not as tight-knit as this community here for recovery, so yeah. This means a lot.

Thank you for sharing. And your name, so we can get? Jennifer.

Just Jennifer? Thanks, Jennifer. Scythe Jones. Okay, thank you. Anybody else? Very good.

And Councilor McClung?

Yeah, I just want to thank everybody in the recovery community and sitting where we sit and in a lot of the positions in the room, we see a lot when prevention fails and we see a lot when treatment fails. But if you want to show up in September and restore your faith in humanity, there's events going on most of the month, Max's mission related in recovery. and to see that health and the wealth that comes with it in relationships. And I see all of you there doing all that good work and being good role models. So thank you for the work you're doing in our community.

Thank you. Okay. At this point, we will now do a public comment. So public comment. Okay, so public comment is a time for citizens to present information to the city and if based on what is presented, additional information is needed and or an answer warranted by the city. Citizens will be contacted by the appropriate city staff and or future agenda item will be scheduled for further discussion. Public comment is not a time for question and answer. If councilors have any questions, they will be presented to staff or the speaker at another time. So we're going to start with those that filled out forms, obviously. Teddy Williams. Go ahead. You'll have three minutes.

Sure.

So I'm Teddy Williams. I'm a resident of the city. I'm very passionate about this community. 20-something years, and there's a number of things that have been happening that kind of bother me as a citizen. You know, the flock camera thing is a big controversial statement, or big controversial thing in the city. And I know the police department stands on it. I know different council members have stands on it. The community doesn't want the city to go away from flock cameras and go to some other software, maybe utilizing Axon, secret cameras, or some type of streetlight camera. People are saying, hey, we don't want this, and you guys aren't listening. It's very frustrating because you guys are public servants. We vote, we elect you guys, and you guys aren't listening. Very bothersome. The three-minute thing, that's also bothersome. The fact that I have to fill out a permission slip to give you guys my public comment is kind of silly. you know it should be a simple sign-in sheet so you guys can hear from the public um there's a huge disconnect with the city and the community um third thursday or third friday like we had a few a few months ago i put all the barricades out by myself because the city no longer does that because i was told that the expense of the city is 20 000 a year because there's 26 events to do That number is, I believe, inflated. It took me an hour to put the barricades out by myself and to pick them up by myself. Please explain to me how it takes a city street worker four hours to set them out and to pick them up, or whatever the time is. Because I was told it cost the city $20,000. That's ridiculous. 26 events. Some events utilize more resources than others. There's a huge disconnect. Even just things like the parks. And you look at Veterans Park. And two weeks ago, I spoke to one of the council members. And then all of a sudden, the boat docks got cleaned, which is great. That type of stuff affects our community. People talk about the bird watching. People come into Klamath to watch the birds. OK, we have a huge pigeon problem and seagull problem at Veterans Park. It's disgusting. People go down there. They feed. The animals, I've talked to John a few times about it. There was some signage that was put up down there. But it's not stopping people from doing it. And with all this money being poured into the kayaking, whatever it is, kayak trail over there, the city should care about this stuff. There's just a huge disconnect. Yeah, it bothers me that... Going through the effort of putting the barricades out and picking them up by myself, and there's a two-hour call out for two employees to go pick up, let's say, the reader boards at the end of Third Thursday. And I was told, well, those are like $20,000 a piece. We can't just leave them out there. You guys just put a new stop sign on Esplanade, and you guys left them out for a week straight. It's just, come on. I understand being involved in your community and donating your time, and I have no problem with that. My issue is the disconnect between the city and the community. And the fact that people don't really understand that there's a council meeting.

Thank you, but we've got more people that are going to speak. Thank you so much. Warren, Orin, Shaki.

Hi, my name is Wren Shockey. I've been here since I was a child. I first got to Klamath Falls actually on the topic of Recovery Month as part of a youth program. I was living in a halfway house and Lord, my parents did not have the time to raise me and I was very glad to be able to be in a place like Klamath Falls where there were resources for people. I wanted to say that in the aftermath of the Wright Spring Fire, I went to the Tuesday County Commissioner meeting last week and was informed by Commissioner Nichols that our county actually doesn't have a public information officer. So for the last couple of days, I've been kind of doing my best to read out the updates for the fire on 89.5, but I've also been reading out stuff with this recovery festival that's going to be on August 29th. I know that this has already been mentioned with other things related to the festival, but I wanted to say that Access Taxi will be giving free rides to anybody who wants to go to that. So if there's anybody who has difficulty with transportation or disability, they should reach out to them. And I think it really is an awesome thing that Max's mission is putting on and being involved with. uh i wanted to talk about another item in relation to the city specifically the the speed minder uh notification sort of things where you will drive by and it'll let you know if you're over speed i know this is not going to be popular but i think they're a good thing they're definitely annoying but they're effective and a difference of 10 miles per hour between 25 and 35 miles per hour can be a really big difference between a 90 or 80 percent chance to survive getting hit by a vehicle, and 60 percent chance, 50 percent chance. So I am glad the city is doing that. Also, I wanted to support what had been previously said by the man who came up and spoke here about not switching to something like Axon after Flock if we do cancel the contract. And on the topic of that, I did want to read out some headlines, and I will submit these to the city to copy to your records. Flock's biggest investor also backs a company that can rewrite camera footage. Andreessen Horowitz backs both Flock Safety and camera hacking firm Toka. That's a very interesting article. One in three alerts wrong. High error rates and data concerns force citizens to drop flock. Sorry, cities to drop flock. A 32% LAPD false positive race and immigration data fears have pushed 82 contracts across 28 states to collapse. And then a final one. Florida woman spent seven months in legal hell after cops used flock to ID the wrong car. It's a very bad situation. I wanted to say that on the topic of things like this, I'm sure that you know this being very involved in a therapy background. Healthy relationships are built on a power, balance, equality, and trust. Abusive relationships are built on power and balance, disregarding the boundaries of the other person. And very specifically, as somebody who was a survivor of domestic violence, that's why I ended up in Klamath Falls, very often you'll see in situations that are abusive relationships, one of the first things that the abusing party will do is to restrict the movement, surveil, and disregard the boundaries of the person who they intend to abuse. So I just, I think that that's important to recognize, and thank you for the three minutes. Thank you.

Thank you. Here's this, if you'd like to copy it.

Yes, we would like it, thank you.

Let's get it back afterwards, thanks so much.

Oh, today, we don't have a copy machine here.

Oh, fair enough, then I'll print out one.

Can you put your email address on it and I'll just send it back to you.

It's not on the form. Okay, we'll get that from you after. Mike Norky or Nork?

Madam Mayor, I'm representing 53 people willing to be named on the record. So may it please the council if I could have about six minutes, I'll probably keep it under that.

Okay, he would like, he requests six minutes. Are you all good with that?

Yeah.

All good?

Okay, go ahead. Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Michael Nork and I am a resident of Clown Falls. I want to address the city's use of flock cameras or any other type of surveillance system by any other name and our objections to them. I understand why KFPD likes this private technology company. As a third generation former street cop from this community, I understand the value it can bring to investigations. My concern is the trade-off for that value. These systems collect information on everybody driving past them and store that information in an Amazon web cloud. As cameras multiply and systems become interconnected, we are building an increasingly powerful surveillance state whose future repercussions and expansion we cannot predict. Climate Falls was safe before Flock. Remaining safe doesn't prove Flock's value. We don't want to become like Oakland or San Francisco with cameras everywhere we turn. We already know FLOC can help solve crimes. The question is, do we want it so the KFPD can solve those crimes more efficiently in trade for the additional risk created by collecting and processing surveillance data through privately operated systems? For me and the 53 people joining me on this statement, the answer is no. We are willing to give up investigative efficiency to maintain boundaries on government surveillance. Officials, laws, companies, and technologies change. What matters is the infrastructure we steward, who can access it, what limits we the people place on its use, and whether we can ever realistically take it back. Council has heard about FLOC's wins, put them in perspective. Recovered stolen cars, located missing persons, and apprehended felons are legitimate results, but they don't necessarily represent outcomes we couldn't have achieved otherwise. Measure FLOC's actual net benefit to Klamath Falls, not simply every event in which FLOC played a part. And please look at the research attached to my written statement. The links document innocent motorists stopped at gunpoint after Aaron's flock hits. They document wrongful detention, incarceration, litigation, alleged stalking, and personal misuse on these systems. Nationwide, officials have been investigated, fired, and arrested while safeguards fail. My written material also identifies governments that have reconsidered FLOC after adopting it. Cities and law enforcement agencies have turned cameras off, declined renewals, terminated contracts, and removed the equipment. Any participation is not some theoretical option. Other communities have already decided the liability isn't worth it. In 2025, Captain Rob Reynolds asked to redirect unspent grant money that was partly for additional flock cameras because those cameras were not as high a priority as replacing a detective's vehicle. That demonstrates something important about priorities and value. When Flock identifies someone wanted in another county or state who is not presenting an ongoing criminal danger in our community, the resulting arrest may be legitimate, but it isn't free. Without Flock, KFMPD is knowingly letting that person go and likely wouldn't have known they were here in the first place. Through FLOC, Council is allowing local tax dollars to create enforcement opportunities for other jurisdictions, and with those opportunities, Climate Falls assumes safety risks to officers and citizens, liability exposure, processing and correction costs. Those risks and costs, consideration. require consideration. I also want to call council's attention to something else contained in my written addendum. Oregon Criminal Justice Commission records show that the KFPD requested $49,999 to utilize a mobile surveillance trailer in the local retail corridor and purchase equipment for it. I'm asking council to stop that project. The public record I've been able to locate doesn't adequately tell citizens what we're buying, what cameras and sensors are in it, what additional ALPRs, AI analytics, thermal imaging, facial recognition, or other automated identification capabilities. Will it record continuously? How long will that data be retained and who gets access to that? that information to be shared with other agencies or other private technology company clouds i'm not claiming the trailer has those capabilities i'm saying we shouldn't acquire a mobile surveillance platform at all or at least until the capabilities are known and look at the price tag 49 9.99 my written addendum explains why that number deserves council attention in relation to the city's purchasing threshold as i understand them which is fifty thousand dollars I don't have evidence that anyone deliberately structured the purchase to avoid council review, but when surveillance equipment comes in one dollar below a significant approval threshold, we are concerned. Flock's true net benefit does not justify its cost to Klamath Falls. We were satisfied with the level of service we had before it, and we're not willing to wait to discover what its true cost is, either in money or our freedoms. In summary, effective investigations are valuable, efficient investigations are valuable. Limited government is more valuable. Fiscal conservatism does not mean buying the cheapest enforcement technology available or even at all. We the people define the level of service we want. We want Klamath Falls' involvement with Flock ended, certainly not expanded, and we want the mobile surveillance trailer project stopped. If council isn't prepared to act on that tonight, we respectfully request that you schedule public work sessions, reach out to the community, hear from the people you represent. Please do the due diligence before allowing the surveillance infrastructure to continue to expand. Thank you for your time.

MS. Thank you.

MS.

Thank you. MS.

Oh, yes. We were going to have a talk with me for three minutes.

Will that work?

Yes.

So you need more than three minutes.

Mayor Westfall, Manager Teichert, members of the council. That was really an uplifting start to the meeting. That was nice. Very cool. So talking about the Ross Ragland Theater tonight and a very important package with Kingsley and the Ragland in mid-September when Kafei Anderson is coming, the most patriotic country western singer in the country. Snippets about Francine Marseille, our brand new director at the Raglan. She has more energy than 10 people and is a fantastic addition to our team. We needed that at the Raglan, so this is very quick. Francine Marseille has more than 30 years experience in public relations, social media, fundraising and grants, talent and events management. Marseille possesses a strong emphasis in development and customizing of tactical marketing media campaigns, I love that jargon, with content creation for traditional and alternative markets. Marseille has worked with such entertainment greats as DreamWorks, Hallmark Entertainment, Paramount Home, Showtime Networks, et cetera, et cetera, and I'm gonna let her now talk about Cafe Anderson and what he's gonna bring to Klamath.

Thank you, Bob.

Thank you, Bob.

I want to thank everyone for having me here today. Mayor, council, very important. My name is Francine Marseille, and I'm the new executive director at Ross Raglin, and I'm trying to kick us off with a great, wonderful country guy. His name's Kafei Anderson. i love him with all my heart i've known him since i think my daughter was five and um she's in her 30s now but he's really a spectacular artist and we're going to do a meet and greet we've partnered with the military base so i'm really excited about that we'll go out there a little bit and let people hear a couple of things, do questions and answers, oh God. And then they'll come back the next day to the Raglan for a eat and greet, red carpet experience. And I really hope, for me, I wanna make sure that each and every one of you know that you are personally invited by me at my You're coming, and I hope you do. I expect to do wonderful things with Kafei while he's here, as well as bring the Ross Raglin back to the glory that it was in the heyday. And I know I'm running out, but.

We're gonna ask if you would partner with us.

Oh, yeah.

With the chair base and the county. The county is being a sponsor. We're asking you to be a sponsor. We're gonna have a work session before this happens, so we can talk about that. What we're doing for Kingsley is fantastic, and that's what we want you to help sponsor.

If we can, if there's a way to do that, I would love to talk to you about what, I know it went away. About what it means for all of us here. I'm new to Klamath Falls, I've been here a whole like 30 some days. And I love it, and I'm not leaving. And Jacob's School of Music, Los Angeles, the Oscars, all that fun stuff in red carpets. That's where I come from, and I hope to bring that excitement here to Klamath Falls. Very nice. Thank you.

Very nice meeting you. Very good. Thank you now.

George Tyson.

Hello, City Council. George Tyson. I'm a resident. I wasn't going to speak tonight except an incident happened to someone I like and a very good store owner. He was spit in the face by a woman I consider to be just completely nuts. She was taken to jail. This happened on Saturday. We had an open mic in the park. It had to be that she wasn't put in jail at all. She was down at the park and very scary. I know she's nuts, but it shuts down businesses. It makes us consider in the store whether or not we really, really want to be there because financially, I think most of us don't need to be down there. I'm asking, in fact, I would like to request, but everyone's told me to demand. I'm not in a position to demand anything. I strongly request that we get full-time code enforcement down there. I'm not gonna say the code enforcement officer's name. I just like to protect their identity. Full time, not part time, full time. We would like to see what we used to see with a man named Richard. He did three rounds per day, but it's not so much about the parking. It's about the code enforcement officer to notify police quickly by radio. It's about the familiarity with what's going on down there to try to anticipate the problem. This is really serious and when I hear the gentleman, I'm totally against this flock thing. When I hear them talking about money for computers or flock cameras and that, then it makes me feel, and correct me if I'm wrong, there is money for code enforcement. Isn't there? Yeah. I mean, I heard the number 49,000 that would easily pay for another officer, but instead we're going into, uh, you know, some kind of trailer that has surveillance. I don't know what that was, but anyway, let's just say none of that. There must be money because when my son and I are thinking about closing our store and the cherry blossom closed its store after this tonight, after the incident, cause this person reappeared, um, you know, We're trying to run, Cherry Blossom especially is making something very beautiful downtown. It's just a happy place to go to and it's nice. And we're trying to do something nice. We're trying to do more, I would say, than the Downtown Association does. Sorry about that, but all I see is Third Thursdays or something like that. The people downtown trying to create a better place for people to come to do far more than that. And we deserve the protection of the law enforcement. We're not allowed to do it ourselves. So I did want to say one thing. I use the word law enforcement. We have a great police department. I'm very happy with them. And code enforcement, I really like code enforcement officer. I want, and we're not going to let go of this because if we just quietly disappear, no one will say anything. You know, they close, that's too bad. Or we can put up enough time consumption to get what we want. I don't want a flock camera. I don't want surveillance. I want officers who know me. I want code enforcement who knows me. I want them to know the people who have violated the law. I don't want them to know their history. I'm glad the clock thing was brought up, because it just shows me there is money for more manpower, womanpower, on our police force and in code enforcement. Thanks. Thanks a lot.

Thank you. Jacob .

And I think that my wife yielded her three minutes to me, so I'll get a total of six, if that's okay. Six minutes.

Will that work for all of you? Yeah. Okay, six minutes. Very good.

Fantastic. All right, everybody. My name is Mayor and members of the council. My name is Jacob Zaremba. My wife Jen and I operate a business here in downtown. And I want to tell you what downtown public safety looks like from our side of the counter. And before I describe what happened to me, I'm going to give you some context. So two days before my incident, George was in the store visiting. And we had a vagrant come to the store and say that she was killing pedophiles today. and then got in his face and basically made it he was the person that she was going to kill. Two days later, I had my encounter with her. I was outside blowing off the sidewalk at the front of our business in the morning, and as a pedestrian was approaching, I shut the electric blower off. I went to let her pass, and she tried to give me a high five. I told her, you're welcome, and I stepped back because I don't want to touch her. She's a vagrant and dirty and smelly, and I've seen her before, so there's no need for us to touch each other. At that point she became enraged, her demeanor changed, and she became aggressive and started advancing towards me. I'm a very capable man, so at that point I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. I took a defensive position and she spit on me. So I called the police department and She's still here. She was never booked. I'm looking at the booking. She never even went in. We haven't even processed her. She got arrested again today. We haven't processed her. How is it that somebody can come in and make a terroristic threat and basically say they're going to erase somebody and we just let them walk on the street? It's wrong. So less than two hours later, she's back on Main Street. Today, she came to the store, got aggressive with my wife. We had her arrested again. She was not booked into the county jail. So no, there's no repercussion for breaking the law if you're poor. I'm sure if I had somebody representing me and the state didn't have to cover me, they probably would be happy to prosecute me if I had spit in somebody's face. So what I really want to talk about is at what point are we allowed to expect this behavior to actually stop? And I want to make something very clear. This is one individual and one series of incidents. This is not the entire problem. We're not the only people that deal with this. Other business owners deal with this. Their employees deal with it. Customers deal with it. People simply trying to visit downtown deal with it. And what we're seeing with vagrancy, aggressive behavior, public intoxication, harassment, trespassing, intimidation, threats, and repeated disturbances, it's becoming an epidemic downtown. This is not the same town town that I moved here 10 years ago. Our bleeding hearts are pushing us out of the county. Anybody here that's working and trying to make this place better, we don't wanna be here. It's not normal for a business owner to get spit on while cleaning the sidewalk. It's not normal for someone to walk into a business and intimidate people. It's not normal for my wife to wonder whether the person who threatened her will be standing outside this door in the morning. It's not normal for customers to decide whether they feel safe getting out of their cars and walking down Main Street. And it should not become normal simply because it happens frequently. So tonight I'm standing here at a crossroads. What am I supposed to tell my wife tomorrow? Do we trust that the law will be upheld and open our business normally? If this individual is released again, which she never was detained, so she's out on the street. I wrote this before I knew this. Am I gonna spend my day worrying about my wife's safety? Or do we just close the business tomorrow and not open? Why are law-abiding people the ones that have to be forced to change their behavior? That's not right. So, If downtown businesses are repeatedly dealing with trespassing, harassment, intimidation, intoxication, threats, vandalism, you go down to Sugarman's Corner right now, there's nothing but a bunch of drunks in there drinking. If I was out on the street walking with a beer in my hand and a police officer decided he wanted to see me, he'd stop and arrest me because now guess what? You've got some money you can get from me in court. You can make me pay some fines, make me do some things. But these vagrants, they're just sitting out there drinking, doing whatever it is that they're doing, leaving needles on the ground, leaving a mess on the ground, taking dumps behind our businesses. This is not normal. okay we have a downtown public safety problem i'm asking the council to look beyond the arrest itself i want you guys to ask what happens next what tools do we currently have what tools do you guys need you know where is the system failing and when the same individuals repeatedly cycle through the system and return to the same few blocks of downtown what are we going to do differently Because this isn't working. As a business owner here in this town, this does not work. Your front porch looks like a dump. We got people coming in from all over the state, all over the country to come visit Crater Lake, and they come down to downtown Klamath Falls, and they're dealing with vagrants that are out there sleeping on the sidewalk drinking beers. I mean, when the business is closed, they come out in force. They're everywhere. And they're creating a huge problem. They're damaging people's property out on the front of their businesses. They're coming into the stores and stealing things. I mean, we're a nonprofit. I don't have the profit to just give away to people so that we can spend it on something else. We're trying to actually make this community better. So this is about whether or not Klamath Falls is willing to protect the basic safety and the viability of its own downtown. My wife and I invest here. We work here. We want to grow here. We want families and visitors walking down Main Street. That's what we want. We shouldn't have to choose between doing that and protecting each other. And neither should anyone else downtown. And that's all I have for you guys.

Thank you.

Okay, that's all we have. So we will close public comment. Thank you. Number five, consent agenda. What about, excuse me?

Jill?

Yes. Did you have a form? Pardon me? Pardon me?

I have public comment too.

Did you have a form, Jill?

I did not know I needed it.

Oh, I'm sorry.

She did approach me, Your Honor. I thought a form had been turned in.

OK, go ahead, Jill. Come on up. State your name, Jill, please.

It's Jill Russell. Good evening, mayor and council members. I'm here tonight regarding Ordinance 2608 and the restrictions on e-bikes in our city park trails. First, I want to be clear, I support protecting our trails. Dirt bikes, ATVs, motorcycles, and high powered vehicles, high powered electric motorcycles do not belong on our motorized trail system. Oregon law already gives us a framework for distinguishing these vehicles. A class one e-bike provides assistance only while you're pedaling and stops assisting at 20 miles per hour. A class two e-bike can use a throttle, but motor assistance also stops at 20 miles an hour. A Class III e-bike provides pedal assistance up to 28 miles an hour without a throttle. And there are e-motos, electric dirt bikes, some capable of 40 to 50 miles per hour, which are an entirely different category. The ordinance says its purpose is to address trail damage caused by motorized vehicles. So I think we should ask a simple question. What vehicles are causing the damage? If it's electric and gas dirt bikes, motorcycles, ATVs, and high-powered e-motos, let's enforce against these vehicles. But if we're going to prohibit legal class one, class two e-bikes throughout our entire city trail system, I believe there should be evidence that those bicycles are contributing to the problem we are trying to solve. I would ask council to consider allowing class one and class two e-bikes on trails where bicycles are already allowed, while continuing to prohibit class three e-bikes, e-motos, electric and gas dirt bikes, ATVs, and motorcycles. If throttle operation itself is a concern, we could prohibit throttle-only recreational use on natural trail surface, other than banning the bicycle itself and potentially setting a speed limit. I also think we need to look more carefully at accessibility. For some people with disabilities or mobility limitations, electric assistance isn't about going faster. It's what makes riding possible. And for some riders, a throttle may provide assistance when pedaling continuously isn't physically possible. The ordinance recognizes ADA compliant personal mobility devices, which is important, but before we exclude an entire class of low speed e-bikes, I believe that we should consider people who may use these devices because of a disability and whether reasonable accommodation may be required. accessibility should not be an afterthought in our trail policy I would also clarify that the ordinance statement that class 1 e-bikes emergency vehicles vehicles used for maintenance purposes and personal assistance mobility devices with the ADA may be exempted with a potential fine of up to $2,000 people should know whether their bicycle is permitted before they get on the trail this isn't about choosing e-bikes over protecting our trails We can protect our trails, address accessibility, prohibit the vehicles causing damage, and provide reasonable access for people responsibly using legal low-speed e-bikes. I have packets for each one of you here with some proposed language to potentially change the ordinance. I thank you. Thank you. We'll take this. Oh, yes. Thank you.

Super. Thank you.

Okay, and that concludes our public comment. Number five, the consent agenda approval of the meeting agenda and prior meeting minutes from July 20th, 2026 and August 3rd, 2026 provided under separate cover.

I entertain a motion.

I move to approve the consent agenda. Second.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Okay, any objections? Number six, land use public hearing, quasi-judicial, none. Number seven, land use public hearing, legislative, none. Number eight, general public hearing, none. And number nine, legislative actions, 9.1. Authorization to accept a rural and tribal assistance grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation for the design of the East Main Bypass. And reporting, Mark Woolrich.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and Council. I'll try to be brief with this. So with your permission tonight, we'd like to have you accept the RTA grant through the USDOT for design of the East Main Bypass project. The East Main Bypass, I think most of you have probably heard of it, but it's been in the works or been discussed for probably the past 20 years or more. It would connect up at East Main Street and Shasta Way, go through a bunch of vacant property, and then tie in at Maywood and Crosby. So we put in for the grant last year. We received a notification that we got it this year. The grant is for $2.5 million, and there is no match. And with that, I'll answer any questions you might have.

Questions or comments? I'm really happy to see this. It's really needed. Questions or comments? If not, I'll entertain a motion. Great job.

I move to authorize the city manager to sign the necessary documents to accept the Rural and Tribal Assistance Grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation for the design of East Main Bypass. Second.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

Thank you.

Thank you. It's a big grant with no match.

Yeah. 9.2. The authorization of a consultant service contract with Meaden Hunt for the design service and rehabilitate the North General Aviation Park apron for the amount of $251,764.50. And reporting, Colin Grandy.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. I as well will attempt to be brief with this one. The matter before you is a consultant contract with Mead and Hunt who provide design services for the rehabilitation of the North General Aviation parking apron out at the airport. As you'll recall, back in May, Council approved me to submit an FAA grant request for this project, our original project. Strategy was a design build FAA Rejected that proposal and so we went back with them with a design Proposal and that is what we've landed on right here. So I'm open to any questions you may have regarding this contract and a reminder. This is a FAA grant 95% of it is funded by the FAA 5% is the city's match Questions comments If not, I will entertain a motion

I'll move to authorize the city manager to enter into a consultant services contract with Mead and Hunt in the amount of $251,764.50 for design services associated with the rehabilitation of the North General Aviation parking apron.

Second.

All in favor say aye. Aye.

Any opposed? Very good. Thank you. Under other matters, anybody for other matters? OK. Number 11, adjournment into executive session held under ORS 192.66028, consultation with legal counsel. Excuse me, Your Honor. Before we go into executive session, I do have a statement I'd like to read.

Very good. Go ahead, city attorney. The city council is about to adjourn into executive session as a representative of news media under 192.660 sub 4. We have one. If so, then I would invite you to please come forward for some questions based upon the Attorney General's opinion number 8291. If you would present information so the City Council can make its determination. And the questions are not designed to embarrass you in any way whatsoever, just to get some information.

So if you would step up to the microphone.

If you'd like to come to the podium, please.

There's two.

Hi Mike, I'm Courtney.

And again, as I shared with Brent, these questions are not designed Do you have a formal affiliation with an institutional news media entity through an employment contract or some other authorization with the institutional news media entity?

Yeah, I'm a staff reporter with the Herald and News.

Okay, thank you. And how long have you been with them? Like I said, this is the first time I've met you.

Right, right, right. Just, I think I'm at like one and a half, maybe two months. Okay.

Yeah. Welcome to town. And so... I'm going to ask you just a few more questions, even though we all know Herald and News. Yeah, have at it. So did you take over for Zach? Is this the city B?

Zach is a contract. I'm staff, and I'm actually taking over for Molly O'Brien, a previously held this position.

OK, thank you.

Yeah. Okay, great.

Excuse me, could we just state your name for the record, please?

Courtney Neubauer. Okay.

Very good, thank you.

Thanks.

And Ren.

Awesome.

Okay, hey there. Hi. First question, do you have a formal affiliation with an institutional news media entity through employment contract or some other authorization with the institutional news media entity?

I am disabled and am not employed, but I am affiliated with the Oregon Institute of Technology and its student journalism provisions through 89.5 and the public broadcast station that it has.

Okay. And can you describe what the affiliation is? I mean, you kind of touched on it. Absolutely. And then how the institutional news media entity provides oversight for your activities.

So basically, the way that I'm affiliated with them is that they have an open DJ program where under the First Amendment, since the Oregon Institute of Technology receives public funding to help them operate their radio station, people are able to access that for different things, such as, for example, if they were to want to be a radio DJ, I chose to do it to do some investigative reporting, but also to do so as like kind of repeating and giving commentary on news stories. Let me see, what was the other part of that question?

Oh, oversight.

So the oversight would be through the FCC. The FCC has a lot of different guidelines. We have to keep up with Safe Harbor and other things such as that. But also there are like basically the student outreach part of Oregon Institute of Technology Sometimes I will send them interviews that I do with congressional candidates or little segments, and then they review those. It's basically entirely up to who reviews the automated system. Ray would be one of the people who does that.

Is there a news Is there a news group within it, or are you kind of a one-person show?

I'm a one-person show.

Okay. Because KTEC, as you said, has kind of a free-form thing, so there's no specific news program there.

Yes, they do have a print publication through, like, student journalism. The Edge? The Edge?

Is it the OIT The Edge? Yeah, I believe so.

I believe so.

Are you also associated with the Edge or strictly on KTEC? I'm strictly on KTEC. Okay. I'm going to ask you another set of some questions.

Absolutely.

Like with the newspapers.

It's very straightforward and clear-cut. Yeah.

And these questions are based on 192.660 and Attorney General's opinion 8291, and also another city attorney I spoke to earlier today. So that's how I got this information. How is the entity then structured specifically, and is its primary purpose to gather and disseminate news? I can't anticipate the answer on that, but I want to make sure that we go through everything so we can explore the different opportunities.

Absolutely. So the way that it is structured is that there will be different sort of things that I do. Obviously, since it's free form, I can go in whenever I want. All I have to do is log the times that I'm there. That way, in case there's any FCC complaints, those can be associated with my person having been in the broadcast studio. The structure of it would be that I look into an issue. I read into it. I find corroborating sources through other legacy publications. I will rebroadcast that. I do sometimes give my editorial perspective. A lot of what I do is interviewing sort of stuff. So for example, I went to Michigan. I went to Dearborn. I went to Southfield and Lincoln Park. to speak to people involved with the Abdul Al-Sayed campaign. And I spoke with a couple of prospective nominees for Congress, including Malak Kiros, Chris Rabb, a couple other people. Was not able to get Donovan McKinney, unfortunately. But just basically interviewing journalism, since I'm mainly a spoken word person.

And you already touched on this, that basically you're a one-person show, sort of a news department. With what regularity is the news published, or in this case, broadcast? And obviously, it's by radio.

It would be typically biweekly. So, you know, I am signed up for a segment from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesdays. You know, sometimes I will just do what I'm doing right now where I'll pop in every day or every other day to do a 50-minute broadcast during, you know, a similar segment. Like today I did 5.30 until 6.20. That was what I did the day before. I also have one on Thursday afternoon that I have had that slot since, I believe. February of 2025 so that one is the much more consistent one and I have from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. so approximately it would be about five to seven hours a week

And you touched on this earlier about sharing opinion on certain things. So what separation does exist between your fact gathering and the broadcasting of that versus the

Absolutely. So I will do certain stuff where I will be very, don't want to use the word surgical, but I'll just be like, here's what happened with this, here's what happened with this. I will do read broadcasting, where basically I will read that if I am going to give an editorial. And then I will say, here is my editorializing. Here is my opinion. something that I'm able to do but you know I also will for example you know gather quotes that are given by officials and I typically do a very like you know clear-cut like here's the information portion here is my editorial izing segment on it thank you to make yeah yeah absolutely

What is your commitment to supporting the terms of ORS 192.660-4 as far as maintaining the confidentiality over designated information during?

Absolutely. If there is something especially bound by a statute, I am not somebody who will exploit being able to be in a room in order to, for example, churn up drama or to share information that is privileged in any way or that the public is not supposed to get access to.

And is there a process in place for reporting conflicts of interest and correcting any errors, including violations of the executive session statutes we just touched on, by a person with authority to take corrective action?

Yeah, that would be the Oregon Institute of Technology. You would be able to reach out to Ray, which is the person who runs the KTEC sort of student radio segment. But also, there are a couple of trustees that I've spoken to while doing broadcast. There's definitely ways for me to get in trouble.

So basically there is a chain of command that if there's any issues, they go to you and say, hey.

Yeah, I'll get wrapped on the knuckles pretty hard.

So I'm not trying to put words in your mouth. That's A-OK. But when you said you're a one-person show, that's when it comes to gathering the news, but then there is a structure above you over what you report on radio.

Yes, absolutely. And especially with regards to safe harbor, safe harbor, like not putting out things that would be, you know, offensive based off of, you know, certain words in the FCC that you're not allowed to say. But also specifically when it comes to, you know, like abusing your position to, you know, like spread falsehoods and other stuff like that, there's absolutely ways for me to get in trouble. Thank you very much.

Those are the questions I have. Thank you very much. Okay. Counsel, I'm going to divide this into two. First with Ms. Neubauer. Yes. With Ms. Neubauer, she is a representative of the local media, the newspaper that we've had here before. And so she would fall under the, having demonstrated she's formally affiliated with an institutional news media entity because she does have an employment relationship with them. And then with Ms. Schalke, I learned a lot, thank you very much. I'm not sure if that would fall specifically under what's referred to as institutional news media entity. But she did describe certain safeguards that are in place. So this could be more of a non-traditional situation. The main thing we're looking for is to make sure that there are structure in place and that there's no offense, someone who we can go over the head if there's some issues. And Ms. Shockey described safeguards that are in place. And so it's a closer call, but she does have a regular news broadcasting and she does have, she shared with us that she takes steps versus the opinion. So I would submit that to council, but again, both of these admissions are to council. Again, in my opinion, legal opinion, Ms. Neubauer is formally affiliated with Institutional News Media, and with Ms. Shockey, it certainly looks like that based upon the information we have, I haven't heard anything that would be disqualifying at this time. So I would submit it to council. Council make two different motions, one regarding Ms. Neubauer and one regarding Ms. Shockey about whether you find them to be representatives of news media for the purpose of attending the executive Very good entertain a motion

I still have questions. So are we allowed to ask questions or? Go ahead. I'm still concerned because I think she falls under the exact ORS code of why it would be legal to have press in the executive session, right?

She being?

Yeah, because she's affiliated with an actual institutional news agency. Correct. I love your passion. I love your doing what you do with KTEC. That's awesome. But I don't know if it falls under those guides. I mean, it wasn't clear to me because it's not a national news agency. So, you know, executive sessions have such tight rules. I mean, we could specifically note that it makes sense for Neubauer, but there's some gray areas of something weren't to happen just for your own sake and mine or council or city. I think it's not as clear.

so it's not a national news organization and it doesn't necessarily need to be a national news organization i thought it had to be like an institutional part of that the um i read some attorney general's opinions in which they allowed members of a high school journalism newspaper to attend meetings at the school board because they were reporting on school stuff at the school institution. So it kind of falls into that. You're zeroing in on really what the crux of the matter is.

Were they executive sessions with the school board?

Yes. All the research that I did was focused upon closed sessions because obviously the public sessions, everyone can come to it specifically with closed sessions. Based upon the research that I have, and again, The definition would be a representative of news media that are consistent with the meeting intended by the legislature as described in this opinion. The biggest hurdle would be that Mishaki is a one-person department and that they don't have a news entity as such. And that does make it a little bit trickier. that she shared with us is news focused. But then the question becomes, as a volunteer DJ, is that correct?

I don't get paid.

Okay. As a volunteer DJ, would KTEC say that Ms. Shockey represents them when it comes to gathering news? And I guess that's really what the question boils down to. Um, and maybe that's a question we could ask you, would they, would they turn to you and say, you represent KTEC?

I was, I was covering tariffs and trade policy at one point. And, uh, I spoke to a professor and a trustee and they said, wow, you're doing a public service. Thank you so much for doing this, but they, they would, sorry, go ahead. And I'm sorry.

No, no, no, no. I apologize. The question kind of boils down to a, uh, council roosters. being a representative of the news media. And so that's really what the crux of the matter is. You report on news, you distribute news stories and facts, but it is whether or not you would be considered a representative of the news media, specifically the news, the representative of KTEC for the purposes of gathering news. And that's really the crux of the matter.

I'm not sure if it falls under the umbrella of the protection of KTEC and OIT. If something were to be shared that wasn't supposed to be shared is what I'm asking. I don't know if there would be any protection under that umbrella if you're an individual.

Under this statute, there's absolutely no repercussions, for there's no recourse for the city if the confidentiality is violated. If someone was to violate the confidentiality, we can complain. But even at the next meeting, we would not be allowed to bar that person from coming in if someone was to violate the confidentiality issues. It's surprising how few safeguards are in place regarding that particular issue.

Questions? Comments?

Go or go ahead. Councillor Angeli.

I am. I understand the the vagaries here and I see the validity to some extent, but also without it having much more formal background, I think it would be very important for Oregon Tech to be able to validate and verify, since this is new grounds, in my opinion. I think that it's just... Without the assurance of Oregon Tech, we're going by verbal authorizations and things like that, and I think that that could lead us down a path that could cause problems. And no offense to you, Wren. No, it's okay. I just think we're going on personalities instead of hard and fast rules.

May I say something for 10 seconds on that?

Can she? Does that work?

Go ahead. Could you come up to the podium just so everybody could hear you, please?

If I'm going to be rejected today on the request, I absolutely understand that. If I have to do something where I am going to, you know, like print out something on my laser printer and then sell it to people for 25 cents or something, or if I'm going to talk with Ray and develop a more formalized structure or even get somebody else to participate in the same thing or have someone hand me a dollar. I care about the ethics of this and about respecting the confidentiality, and I do not want to cause problems for city administration, but more specifically for people's safety in their day-to-day life and protecting that boundary between your work and your personal life, I just, yeah, I will be earnest and persistent on this matter because it's just, the reason that the law is kind of vague and doesn't have a ton of recourse, in my opinion, is because the First Amendment says that the freedom of the press won't be infringed. And so I think that's part of why there's a lot of vagary in the law. Thanks. Thank you.

Any comments?

I think we're... Absolutely, you can table it. Absolutely.

Just a moment. Councillor Sudenberg.

Yeah, I think we're living in a brave new world where, frankly, everybody's a journalist. I mean, the technology's available. We have all these podcasts and things like that, and I agree with Ren. I think it's a First Amendment issue, and I think, I personally think from what she said, she's going to protect... the executive session. But if you want to table it, that's fine, too. I mean, we can probably get some more assurances from the higher-ups at KTEC. But I think we're – and this is – it really is – it's a whole different world than the Herald News. It's – everybody's out there making news and doing podcasts. And I think we have to acknowledge that fact, that that's part of the world we're living in, and I personally would be in favor of letting her come in, but I don't mind setting it over so we can do some more diligence.

Okay, Councillor McClung.

Yeah, thank you for answering all those questions. I've been just deep in thought listening to everyone, because we haven't had this situation before. And executive sessions are not very common. They're relatively rare, and they're around legal issues. I graduated from SOU, and the student journalists there were student journalists, and they covered what was going on. So I can see both sides. I think it would be beneficial for Oregon Tech to say, and Ray, yes, we know Rin is there and she's representing us and is a student journalist. But I would tend to agree with Phil, that I wouldn't want to be in a position of infringing on free press. And the way that you answered the questions, and this is all public record, public meeting right now, and you're assuring that you'd have those ethics in journalism and keep confidential. So I would tend to agree with Phil. OK.

I don't mean to be a stickler, but do you need some form of a motion? And if it does come down to a two-to-two type motion, then Mayor, I'm sorry to put the finger at you. Thank you.

I agree with Councillor McClung and Councillor Sudenberg.

I agree with what they say, too. I don't necessarily, I'm not going to speak for Mike, but I don't necessarily think that there's a split here. I just wanted to get the information accurately regarding the ORS code so that we knew what we were getting into and we have a similar agreement and we respect that from both sides. And I would just, like she said, we've never had this conversation before, so it's just good to ask questions and find out where we stand.

Excuse me? Oh, thank you.

I will entertain a motion.

I will motion for, I'm sorry, Erin, what's your last name again? Shockey. Shockey. I motion for Ms. Shockey to join us in executive session representing Oregon Tech Student Journalism. Second.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Very good.

And we'll do a similar motion just since we made news. Yeah, we can. Yes.

Sorry.

And you too. Thank you, Ms. Neubauer, for sticking with us. Are you ready for a motion? Yes. I would also motion for Ms. Newpower to join us in executive session.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Very good. So we will go into an executive session held under ORS 192.6602H, consultation with legal counsel. Thank you. And a motion to go into session.

Can I ask a question that shows a little bit of difference here?

Go ahead. We're still having a meeting. Go ahead. I need a motion to go into executive session.

I move to adjourn into executive session under ORS 192.6602B, consultation with legal counsel. Second. All in favor say aye. Aye.

Any opposed? Thank you.