City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I'm calling to order the meeting of the City of Salem budget committee for April 22nd, 2026. Will the recorder please call the role? Member Bletch here. Member Nishoka, present. Member Brown, present. Member Manville, here. Member Cohen, present. Member Allen here. Member Matthews here. Member Gwen here. Member Julie Hoy here. Member Fuller present. Member Vang here. Member Nordike here. Member Vney here. Member Dixon

here. Member Murray here. Member Guyer here. Vice Chair Vier Brle is absent. And Chair Tigan

present. Well, before we proceed, um I graciously accept your patience as I'm away from Salem uh this week again. Um I'm virtual this week and as we heard in the role, Vice Chair Beer Brendle is absent. Um before we move any further, how about let's stand and say the pledge of allegiance. Thank you. Apologize for skipping ahead. Um, I'm virtual this week and as uh vice chair VR Brendle is absent, I'd like to ask our uh experienced chair Russ Allen to step in as the chair for tonight's evening. If there are uh for tonight's meeting, if there are no objections, uh I would hand it to Russ to take the chair and I will be back in Salem next week. They all had an opportunity.

Thank you, Member Allen. All right. Uh, thank you, Chair Tig, for one one night only. All right. So, um, I will go ahead and run the meeting this evening to the best of my ability. Um, we have some additions to the agenda which includes written testimony, multiple ORATA sheets, and a staff report. Uh, could I have a motion to approve the additions to the agenda? I so move. I second. I'm Oh. Um, okay. So, I have a motion from member Nishioa and a second from member Vney. Um, is there any discussion? Um, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I.

I.

All those opposed, please signify by saying no. Uh the motion passes unanimously. Uh public testimony, you do have public testimony, written public testimony in your packets. So I would certainly ask um members to review the public comments from Linda Beerley, Larry Cip, and Elise Strauss. Um as well as Linda Oh, additional comments by Linda Beerley. So, um, at this point of the meeting, it would be public comment on everything other than the CIP. Uh, everything on the agenda other than what's in the CIP. I have no one signed up to speak at this time. Um, is that correct? Okay. The next order of business on the agenda is the approval of the April April 15, 2026 budget committee meeting minutes. Uh, may I have a motion to approve the minutes from the April 15, 2026 meeting?

I move to approve the minutes from the April 26th meeting. I'll second that. All right. We have a motion from member Gwyn and a second for member Nishioa. Um, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. All those opposed, please. Sorry, I got to wait for that delay. My bad. All those opposed, please signify by saying no. All right. The motion passes unanimously. All right. There are two action items this evening. Mr. Egleston, would you please walk us through a rata one, two, and three?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have three aratas for your consideration this evening. The first is uh addition to the capital improvements fund for a Fiser Road Park grant on both the revenue and expense. Uh we did not know about uh the grant during development of the budget. So we'd like to add it to the budget to make sure we're ready for when we receive that grant. Arata sheet two um is an omission of the traffic signals operations and maintenance program. a very important program um in the program pages. Uh we just want to make sure it's reflected there. Uh and then a rata sheet three is removal of a state street project um just due to some mechanisms with uh some conflicts of interest. So we're pulling it out so we can address it separately uh from the budget process to make sure all members are able to participate.

Member Nordike. Sure. I'd like to declare a conflict of interest with regard to Rata 3 regarding the State Street project. My family owns property there. So, I am declaring actual conflict, which means I'll take no participation in the deliberations or the vote on this matter and I can step away. I don't know if the city attorney needs me to step away from the from the meeting. All right, off I go. Thank you. I'll have my city cell phone. Just let me know.

Um, member Nishio Okay. Thank you. Actual conflict. I need to step away as well. Thank you. So, the Arata number three, we I believe that the committee received information from the city attorney on this matter earlier today.

That is correct. Yes. Um their conflict of interest is voting on a rata sheet. Um it says due to the conflict of interest with some members regarding a rata 3 it we were we were going to adopt each of their rata separately. Should we start with three so that we might invite them back for one and two? Yeah that would work well. Okay. So um may I have a motion to approve staff recommend um well yeah well we will have conversation after the motion. May I have a motion to approve staff recommendation for Arata sheet number three? Remember we're talking about number three. Member Manville. So moved. Second.

All right. I have a motion from member Manville and a second from member Gwyn. All um is there any discussion on the motion? All those in favor, please signify by saying I.

I. I. Um, all those opposed, please signify by saying no. Uh, the motion the motion passes unanimously. We can invite the the conflicted members back in. One is racing back in. continue. Okay. So, member Nishoka, we only um made a motion and voted on ARTA sheet number three. Um so, we're going to go back into one and two now. Okay. So, may I have a motion to approve staff?

Oh, I'm sorry. It was um member Nord. I I got I I was given an a a motion to continue, but now I see that she is back. Okay. I was f I was following orders.

Member Nordike, we have taken action on Arata sheet number three. We did not on one and two. So that's what we're going back to do. So you can participate in a rata sheets one and two. Okay. Um three. We have completed action on number three. Okay. Um, so may I have a motion to approve staff recommendation for a rata sheet number one? So moved. Second. Um, we have a motion for member Gwyn and a second for member Manville. Is there any discussion on our sheet number one? Hearing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. I.

All those opposed, please signify by saying no. Motion passes unanimously. May I have a motion to approve staff recommendation for Arata sheet number two? So moved. Second. Um we have a motion from member Gwyn and a second from member Matthews. Is there any discussion on Arata number two? Yes, Mr. Bellich. Uh thank you chair. Just a quick question. Is this is a router because it was forgotten in the sorry that not forgotten. There was a formula error where it was uh omitted. Um so we're adding it back to the program pages.

Follow up. I just I just used the wrong word for the same thing. Yes. But it's a very important program. So I don't want to discount. We would never forget traffic signals. Sorry. Did you get your answer, Mr. Bellich? Okay. Um, all right. Is there any other discussion on a rat sheet number two? Um, hearing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. I.

All those opposed, please signify by saying no. The motion passes unanimously. All right. Thank you for that um administrative uh detail. Next, we will move on to information items. These items include three staff reports and four quarterly reports. And I believe that is you, Mr. Egleston.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, the first item 5A is a summary of budget committee actions through our last meeting. 5B is answers to budget committee questions. Uh, items 5 C through F are quarterly financial reports. Uh, the quarter four are the final reports for the city and UR. Um, so we finished the annual audit process for fiscal year 2025. Um, so there were some small adjustments between the preliminary financial reports and the final ones. So these are the final ones and they include a little bit more detail. Um, and then the quarter 2 financial reports for fiscal year 2026 through March. Uh, and then 5G is additional responses to budget committee questions and I'm happy to address any questions on those.

Thank you, Mr. Ergleston. Are there any questions for staff regarding these information items, Mr. Manville? Uh, thank you. Uh, there were a few questions that I submitted in writing. Um, should I ask those orally? Should I just wait until next meeting? How should I handle this?

So, if uh there's a few questions we didn't have time to complete uh that'll be on the next meeting. If they're related to an agenda item tonight, uh like if they're a CIP question, I'd recommend asking those during the question answer portion of the CIP public hearing. Uh if not, uh let me know if we miss something. We'll make sure we get it addressed. Thank you. Uh the next item on the agenda will be to conduct a public hearing on the proposed capital improvement plan for fiscal years 2027 through 2031. We will first hear a presentation on the proposed CIP. After the presentation, there will be time for public testimony regarding the CIP. At the conclusion of public testimony, the budget committee will then have the opportunity to ask questions of staff. Um the public hearing is now open. Um, James Wharton Hess will provide the staff presentation on the CIP.

Hello, budget committee. My name is James Wharton Hess. I'm an analyst in the budget office and I'm here to present the 2027 through 2031 capital improvement plan. Uh, so I usually start these hearings with what is a capital improvement plan? Um, it's a five-year plan for capital spending. Um, it's primarily a planning tool as opposed to an appropriation document like a budget. Um, and it's governed by council policy C9, which uh last year this committee recommended a change to city council, which they passed. Um, and we'll get into a little bit of that later. Um, and in addition, state law requires that projects financed by system development charges or SDC's uh be part of an uh adopted financial plan and the CIP is used to fulfill that requirement. So, uh, how are CIP projects, how do they get into the CIP? Um, they're identified in multiple ways, including via infrastructure assessments, planning processes, plan documents, and other updates. Um, for urban renewal, master plan updates, strategic action plans, and advisory committee meetings uh provide guidance for direction for included projects. Uh the city's various infrastructure plans such as the transportation system plan and the parks uh master plan are also important to um the CIP development process. In terms of public outreach, uh my apologies. Uh in terms of public outreach, the CIP is noticed to the public in several ways and often the projects that are included in the CIP are part of a master plan or other process that includes outreach to neighborhood associations or advisory boards. Uh the CIP website includes information about CIP development process as well as uh prior CIP documents. And the website

also includes a project request form that allows residents um to submit projects to the city and that's available year round and can be accessed at any time. Um also on the website is a CIP map that's interactive that the GIS team has updated. Um you can click on individual projects and it'll pop up with a brief description of the project and the CIP. Um and finally each year a public hearing is held. That's why I'm here. Um, and this public hearing was noticed through the weekly email Salem Community Connection, the city's website, and the Salem Reporter. Um, I also like to go through the distinction between a CIP and a budget. So, the CIP um itself is primarily a planning document. It contains projects where likely funding sources have been identified um have a cost of over $100,000 um or include uh new projects and new funding sources. Uh projects that have been identified but don't have an identified funding sources are not included included in the CIP until that funding source can be identified. So, as the process moves forward, the year 1 CIP projects uh move into the budget. Previously funded and carryover projects uh contained in the current 2026 budget will then roll over into the 2027 budget. And so then the budget will include year 1 CIP projects as well as carryover projects, uh mid-year ads, reappropriations, some administrative costs, and some smaller capital projects that don't quite hit that $100,000 threshold to be in the CIP. So the CIP is primarily um made up of these pages for each individual project. And I just like to go through what everything is here. So up in the top left corner there's a project number. That's the unique identifier for each project followed by the category of infrastructure of that project. Uh the

neighborhood association or neighborhood associations that that project is in. Um and then the title in bold underneath that. Up in the right hand corner, you will see a score if the project is scored um followed by the ward or awards that the project um is in. The middle section is the financial section. It has the funding source and the year at the top. Under that is the funding sources that make up the funding for the project. Uh and then the current CIP total. Under that is any amount funded in prior years. And then those add up to equal the total estimated project cost. Below that is a brief description of the project and then I sort of prefaced it earlier but um at the direction of this committee actually um we added an anticipated operating impact statement for all new projects in the CIP. So projects that have been in previous year CIPs aren't included here. So you'll see um those in only a few projects, but as we go through the CIP process, we're going to be adding more and more. Um the lift of that work is just pretty significant. And I think longterm the plan is to um have be that a little more hefty, but we wanted to make some progress. So that's why that's in there right now. So before moving into specifics of the CIP, I did want to reflect back on some of the city's recent project accomplishments. Um in fiscal year 2026, 12 construction projects have been or will be completed. That includes the new gear skate park, uh the boiler replacement project at Willow Lake, and athletic courts at Hoover Park. All pictured here. Um there's also some projects starting in 2027 that we wanted to highlight including the McKay Park Improvements Project. Um a rendering that is on the left and you can see that on page 229 of your city budget book. Um and then the Maran Parcade Capital Improvements Project. That's the rendering on the right. You can see some detail on that on page 48 of the URA budget. That's the smaller budget book.

And finally, I just wanted to uh highlight a few of the projects you'll see in the capital uh in the CIP. Um so the first one is the 16th Street covert replacement project. This project provides a critical infrastructure uh improvement at the culvert crossing of East Fork Pringle Creek at 16th Street Southeast. The existing corrugated steel cover, which has been in service for approximately 70 years, has deteriorated significantly due to corrosion, leading to roadway settlement and safety concerns. The public works department has implemented temporary repairs to stabilize the curve uh to stabilize um the street above. Um but the replacement project will replace the existing covert with larger concrete box with a larger concrete box coververt designed to enhance roadway safety and facilitate improved fish fish passage within East Fork Pringle Creek. The second project is the uh Garren Island resanding program. So slow sanding filters clean water by letting it flow through sand using gravity. The water passes through a biological layer forms on the surface and removes impurities. And over time, that biological layer thickens and slows or stops water flow. To restore the filter, the layer and a small portion of sand beneath it are scraped off. And repeatedly doing that um eventually erodess all the sand. So the resanding process involves removing the current sand, adding new sand to the bottom, and replacing the original sand on top. The filters were last resanded about 10 years ago and now need new sand added to maintain proper performance. and uh details of those projects are on page 69 and 85 of your CIP document. So the details uh I just wanted to start by saying this does include um the adoption of RA 3. So that has been stripped out of these numbers. Um but the 27 through 31 CIP is just under $400 million over the five years. It's 165

projects, 26 funding sources and 11 categories of infrastructure. Um, and then on page 14, you'll see a result area summary, which is sort of how we view the budget. Um, uh, and you can see all of the result areas are represented in the CIP. Uh, this is just a pie chart of fun uh, CIP projects by funding source. Uh, the 2022 safety and livability bond as well as utility rates uh, make up the vast majority. And that all other category there includes parks, utility and transportation SDC's, donations, lodging tax, street light rates, radio rates, uh among others. And a breakdown of that is on page 13 of the CIP document. Similarly, uh transportation and utilities make up the vast majority of project categories in the CIP, followed by smaller portions for municipal and community facilities. Uh this is another way to look at it in the in the smaller categories. So historic structure and parks projects make up the $26.7 million in community facility projects. Airport building, IT, and parking structure projects make up $59.6 million in municipal facility projects. Street and street light projects make up 151.4 in transportation projects. And water, storm water, and wastewater projects make up the $171.6 million in utility projects. So that concludes the staff presentation for the proposed capital improvement plan and I and other representatives from city departments are available to answer my question after public comment. Thank you.

Thank you for the presentation. Um I do know that um Linda Beerley from Ward 8 has signed up to testify on the CIP. Um, so if uh she would come forth. Thank you. Um, you have three minutes.

Thank you, chair. Good evening. I'm Linda Verely. I live in Ward 8. I am here to ask that you adopt Eco Earth Restoration as a budget priority for fiscal year 2027. Last night, I attended the CANDU neighborhood association meeting. Councilors Tegan and Nishioa were there to report on city news and city council activity. It was so heartening to listen to such a positive message from both counselors. They focused on the city manager's message of a welcoming and living and livable community and the city priority of clean safety and safe and healthy city. both mentioned upcoming events to draw people downtown and coming improvements such as the Pringle Park pathway from the Civic Center to Riverfront Park and the new inclusive playground coming to Riverfront Park, both within close view of the Eco Earth Globe. These major attractions will bring many visitors to the Riverfront Park area. They will be coming to experience the park and the activities. They will not be coming to watch the tiles fall off the eco earth globe. The restoration of ecoear needs to become a priority. It is impossible to overstate the value of urban art. Art reflects the spirit and the ethos of the community. It tells the world who we are. Ecoear is a unique artwork and a unique story. It brought the community together to celebrate this to create this beautiful mosaic structure to work through the challenges and celebrate the success of the final product. I am advocating for the budget committee to allocate additional funding for the renovation of Eco Earth. According to new estimates, the costs for this

project come to 1.5 million. Currently, the Eco Earth CIP revenue stands at 383,620. 300,000 of that was raised by the Salem Parks Foundation. The Ego Earth needs an additional 1.2 million for innovation, administrative costs, and contingency funds. The public works engineer supporting this project suggested that the funding come from the general fund. Other possibilities include the transit occupancy tax, the public art trust fund, and working with partners to raise funds. Ecoearth has been neglected for far too long. Literally thousands of visitors pass by it. It can remain an eyesore and detract from the surrounding new projects, or it can be restored back to its place as the most valuable artwork in the city's collection. another jewel in the Riverfront Park crown. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony. Um, is there anyone else present who wishes to testify on on the CIP? All right. I do not see anyone else who would like to provide testimony. So now it is time for questions for staff from the budget committee. Member Dixon first and then Fuller. Fuller. I have I have a cheat sheet here. Member Member Fuller.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, I have three questions that aren't they shouldn't require long answers. What's the given the share of capital improvement plan funding from the general obligation bond? What's the lifespan of that bond? when does it run out? Uh thank you, Member Dixon. Uh currently we're forecasting those projects through about uh 2033. Um but similar to other bonds, they could stretch a couple years uh depending on the specific projects.

Thank you. And then um traditionally, what share of CIP projects are likely to be completed? I realize that um these have been recommended but the funding still needs to be authorized and the work needs to be done. So traditionally what percentage of those that are in a CIP actually get completed?

Yeah, I appreciate the question. So sometimes we see projects move around uh certainly the years or the funding amount shifts um but but generally most CIP projects are completed. uh they might might not be in the specific start and end time as depicted in the CIP document. Uh but in general, we do complete all the projects unless circumstances change uh priorities change and things are shifted. Um and there is a section in the front of the CIP document where it shows you the changes from the last CIP document to this one.

Thank you. And then Mr. Chairman, just one more one more quick question. Um, does the staff I know the staff is starting to calculate uh the operational cost implications for new projects. Does staff have a sense over time of what the net impact of CIP projects is on city operational costs? Is it typically net positive or net negative or just net neutral?

Invite the public works director to come up and answer that one. Good evening. Brian Martin, public works director. I think over the long run it actually costs more to maintain because we have facilities more to maintain. However, there can be short-term gain. So when we build something that's new, it doesn't typically need to be maintained for well significant maintenance I would say, you know, for a period of time like 10 or 15 or 20 years. uh that doesn't mean that streets don't have to be swept and striping doesn't have to be replaced, but that generally would happen for that street anyway. So, uh generally it's kind of a positive in the early stages, but then longterm it can get to be more expensive.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Member Fuller. Thank you. Um on slide nine, you um directed us to the top right corner where there was a score for the project. I'm just curious um how is that scoring system? Can you describe to us a little bit how that's used and what it means? How would one project get scored differently than another?

Sure. Yeah. Let me just find that page. There's a page that um explains the scoring process a little bit in the book. Yes, page seven of the CIP describes this uh process and each category is scored a little bit different, but they're all scored, I believe, uh on a 100 point scale. So, um, yeah, you can see the breakdown of that score now. Okay, thank you. Member Manville.

Yeah, just a a little bit of a follow up on that. So for example um the uh Lone Oak uh bridge is scored 30 or something and that and then it's compared against other potential projects for systems development charges for transportation like compared against different by funding source.

Yes. So, while they all score 100 points, we're not comparing a general fund project with a transportation funded project. So, the transportation projects stack up against each other. The general fund projects typically stack up against general fund projects.

Well, go ahead with your unrelated question. All right. Uh, sorry. Um, I have a few if they're short, but I I Anyway, um, you're short. Uh, thank you, chair. Um, uh, just so I'm clear, um, on page 34, there are two fire stations, and I asked this question in writing, and you answered it. I just wanted to be clear that the difference between the two fire stations. Uh, the first is an $8 million fire station overall, and the second is is a million because and it says that it's for construction as a project description, but that's because the construction is past uh, fiscal year 31. That's why it's not appearing. That's correct. Okay. Thank you.

Um why don't you ask one more and then I'll see if somebody else want to interject. No, I'm uh related to that. I didn't see any um projects for uh the library branches um that were in the uh livability bond. And did I miss them? Are they not are they somewhere else? I believe there are some projects in the budget document that have gone from the CIP into the budget. Um, so I would have to look at exact pages to get you those. Yeah.

Yep. All right. So, we we will hear from staff at some future time or in a written document with regards to the library projects. I believe that member Manville might have some more questions, but does another member of the committee, uh, Member Nordike.

Sure. Thank you so much. Um, so much good stuff in here. It's exciting to see so many projects underway and I commend you and all the staff for keeping all these balls in the air. It's really impressive. On page 54, you mentioned the Pringle Creek Path Civic Center to Riverfront Park with uh funds committed for this upcoming fiscal year 2027 for the design and construction of a pedestrian bridge crossing Pringle Creek under the Commercial Street Southeast Bridge and a new path along Pringle Creek from Commercial Street Southeast under the existing railroad bridge to Riverfront Park where it also includes creek overlooks and an art wall. And I see no further funds committed in the subsequent year. So is the intention to complete this project this year? And if so, is director Martin available to give us an ETA?

I believe he is.

So uh what you're seeing there is the year 2 funding. So we already have funds that are allocated to the project. And if you give me one second, I can tell you when it's going to be completed. It is under design right now. And in fact, I think we've gone through our first public outreach phase of uh holding a meeting and taking public comments on it. So, it is coming along, but I'm not certain if it's going to be completed next year, the following year. So, in one second, I will be able to tell you construction will begin in 2028 and it'll be completed in 2029.

I'm sorry. Construction starts 2028. 2028. It'll be completed in 2029. I had one other question if I may. Uh, this is on a different topic. Thank you, Director Martin. I saw there were several new projects added for the Salem Convention Center with a lot of the funding coming from convention funds. Can you just explain? Um, I saw a little bit of a reference that this building is getting older. It gets a lot of you. So, I feel like I'm in that building every other week for one event or another. I'm just curious why now and can you explain for those following at home how are convention funds different than say general fund dollars or transportation dollars? What's the funding source exactly?

Sure. So this is the first year that convention center projects have been in the CIP. Um so that's why you see so many of them. Um the the Salem Convention Center is funded by its own operating revenue. So and it is tax money does not necessarily support the convention center. So, it operates as an independent entity that sort of funds its own capital improvements. I'm going to follow up on that. Is there a general fund transfer um to the convention center funds? No, there's not. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, chair. I have two questions. Um the first one is on project 1500, the Bush Pasture Park uh shelter improvement. I see that uh there's going to be um sorry trying to read in the glare. Uh the new restroom uh at the lower Oak Grove, but the upper Oak Grove is where I have the question. Is that restroom just going to be torn down? Is there going to be replaced? Is it going and then if is it my my ultimate question is will it be sufficient just to have one bathroom for the entire park? I know there's one attached to the Bush Arts Center, but I don't know if that's always open. Hey, parks planning manager Rob Rumnack here. Uh the project in the CIP, just to be real clear, is a replacement of the restroom that currently exists at the top of the Derby track in the upper lfell. Um aside from that restroom, there are two restrooms in the park. There's one in the lower left near Philips Field and then there is the one you mentioned that's associated with the art barn. Um the only one in the CIP currently is the replacement of the one at the top of the derby track. And then uh thank you. Uh next question was on uh the HVAC replacement for the center 50 plus. And it's it's uh this one specifically because it caught my attention, but then uh also just trying to figure out the overall plan. When looking at replacing HVAC units, are we uh going to replace them with natural gas or are they going to be um heat pumps? And I was wondering that because I would assume heat pumps would align with the city's climate action plan whereas natural gas would not.

I have someone coming down who can answer that question. I don't have an answer on that one, so I'm looking for There he is. Thank you. Take that. Uh Jim Schmidt, technology services director. Uh so they we'll place the units what they are typically whether it's gas pack or electric. If it some of the older buildings we have like 60% plus would probably be uh natural gas and or heat pump. Is there a long-term plan then to transition all natural gas to uh heat pumps?

No, there's not. Some of Because some of the old buildings have do not have the electricity uh um infrastructure to handle the new new units. All right. Are there um member member Manville?

Thank you. Uh chair, um I'm curious about uh a project on page 62 um the commercial street uh urban upgrades um from Wilty to Wong Drive and um and it looks like there's an added travel lane in there and I'm curious as to uh whether the city did a 8:30 30 analysis um as required under the transportation planning rules or am I misreading the transportation planning rules? I'd ask the public works director to come up for that one.

So when we requested this grant uh through ODOT, I'm not sure if we did that 8:30 rule that you're referring to and quite I'm not that familiar with it myself. Uh but this project was going to help solve some problems uh on South Commercial where we had a uh pavement RNR project. I believe it was last summer. We did what we could for sidewalks and bike lanes, but it's still kind of a mismatch roadway. And the plan for this grant was to try and allow us to put consecutive sidewalks on both sides of the both sides of the street and bike lanes so that we have something that's consistent.

I'm question on that. So I'm trying to identify the location. I shouldn't know by the names, but is this where commercial goes down to one lane on either side? I believe that's true. Yes. Yeah. Sorry for jumping on on you there, member manual. Thank Thank you. And it's possible that it was granted and it was under when it was granted it was under $5 million. That that's a trigger. So the A30 analysis, just so everyone understands, is you're required to study alternatives to roadway expansion for expensive uh road windings. Um, but I did have two final questions or two final questions. Well, we'll see. We'll see. We'll see.

We'll see based on the answer. Depends on where Gohead, Chair. Um,

I guess the the the first is a um question about things like the Lone Oak Bridge um where we're where we've got it um a couple years out to do some design on that. uh given the overall der of transportation funding both at the local level and the state level and at the federal level, maybe international will help us. No. Um like I I'm just wondering uh if we're skeptical about our ability to actually fund large infrastructure projects like new bridges. Um, does it make sense to try to pull this from the CIP now? To wait a couple of years until we're actually going to spend money on it to see if uh money comes in. Like I I'm just I I I'm just curious as as to um whether it'd be prudent for me to just wait and see or whether to try to say the money is not going to be there and we shouldn't be spending this sort of funds.

So on these grant projects, we will not start spending money until we have the grant in hand. So when we put this together, you know, this was a few months ago and we know some of the issues the state is having with transportation funding. At the time we put this together, uh, you know, we had approval for the grant, but we have not started any work yet. So before we would actually start any work on this type of project, we would end up having to negotiate a intergovernmental agreement with ODOT, bring that to city council for adoption. And to go through that process, they would we would have to have the money in place. if it if they say sorry we struck that funding and moved it somewhere else because you know we had these other shortfalls then we would not start the work and we wouldn't come to council with an IGA just a follow clarification I was referring to the Lone Oak one that looks like it's funded through SDC's not the not the previous project I was mentioning that's the no do grant

okay I'm sorry I thought we were still on the on a grandfunded project uh the Lone Oak bridge yeah I We know there's a transportation connection issue down there. We're addressing it with another project that's actually in the construction budget to allow a connection to Reese Hill Road. Uh but we still have that north south uh gap that's been there for many years. Um we put in we put it out a few years to where we thought we would be able to do some design work. Um if we're not at a point next year where we think we can do that, we would likely move it out again. Um, so we won't spend the money if we can't do the work. This is our best approximation of when we think we'll have funding in place and we could actually have resources start to do that work.

More questions? Yeah, my last question is just a process question. Um, given there's $49 million here, uh, does it change anything if we postpone a vote on this until next week? I don't want to postpone it too much, but like just the volume of stuff that I've been processing, it's like, oh, these are hundreds of millions of dollars and we've had this for a week. So, does does it impact anything if we were to vote on the CIP next week instead of this week?

Uh, no, not particularly. What I'd recommend is you could continue the public hearing and leave the written record open uh if you wanted to receive more testimony. Um but then you could continue deliberations uh at your next meeting. I I will say you do have additional material review at the next meeting. Also, uh Josh, um would that require a vote or just a consensus?

It's a good question. Uh Dan Aches, city attorney. I think it should be a vote and I would just clarify with Josh whether he intended to say close the public hearing and keep the record open or continue the hearing. Close the public hearing.

I think you said so his recommendation if he wanted to continue discussion on the CIP would be to close the hearing. So no more oral testimony but keep the record open so you can continue to receive written testimony. Um, member Manville, I would, if you're thinking about a motion, I would ask you to wait until we finish questions. Um, and then we can address that if that if that's okay. Yeah. Member Dixon, I just have a question about the procedure. If you close the public hearing, would that preclude discussion among budget committee members? Uh, no, it wouldn't. Thank you. And I meant public discussion, not private.

Yes. At your meeting. Yes. All right. Are um Yes. Uh checks. Thank you, chair. Uh I just wanted to thank the staff for adding the anticipated operating budget impact. I think that was based on our conversations uh last year and um just looking through it. Um I think it captures the spirit and it's helpful when we make these decisions. So, thank you.

Um I two I have two questions. One is a personal senelity check. It seems to me that the CIP used to contain unfunded projects. Um, and there I don't see any unfunded projects in here. Was am I correct in my memory and was there a change of practice?

Yeah, I appreciate the question. I think it might be correct in your memory. It's certainly not in mine. Uh, because it's because it's been uh quite a while, but yeah, if you go back uh 15 or 20 years, yeah, there were unfunded projects. Um but it really doesn't make sense. Um we're not planning those projects if we don't have an identified funding source. Uh so we really uh put that structure for the CIP to have identified funding sources. There are a few exceptions where we're anticipating potential grants uh where we're projecting uh SDC's and it requires something else to happen. So there's other triggers. Um but they are identified funded projects. So you're saying I'm not scenile, I'm just old. I'm not saying either of those things.

The first one is debatable. All right. Um, my second question is I wanted to ask a quick question just about Eco Earth. Um, I don't know if anybody here from public works that's been involved in those cost estimates. Um, I I've been to Eco Earth not too long ago. Um, it's a wonderful um piece of public art. Um, a million and a half dollars even today buys a really nice house. So, I'm just curious how the cost estimate um get got to a million and a half dollars.

Good evening. My name is Aaron Kimsey, assistant city engineer. Um yeah, so what I can tell you is um we had an initial report done by a art restoration consultant back in 2020 and at that time the uh globe was in in better condition honestly and uh they gave us an estimate for essentially restoring and patching together what was there. And that's um the reason why we have the roughly three to $400,000 that's in our current um plan. Fast forward to essentially today. Um we just recently received a um a report from the same consultant um recognizing that there's been a significant amount of additional deterioration, a lot of organic growth on um on the globe. And so it's at it's in a state now where they can't essentially uh patch it back together. They essentially have to remove all the tiles um and then put the tiles back. And the other issue is that um the the acid ball has asbestous on it and so in order um the way that's it's deteriorating they're not they're unable to remove the tiles without exposing the asbestous. So the part of the estimate includes abatement of the acid bulb. So um because it's a because it's um it's a very unique piece obviously um part of that high cost is um meticulously taking the tiles that are there apart and then essentially kind of recreating the ones that are missing and then putting back um the ones that that we still have. So my next question is is not to infer that I want it to go anywhere but um is the asbestous costs the same if the ball was simply removed?

Uh you mean like completely remove the the ball altogether? If if it was um abandoned or removed and and some new eco ball or some other piece of public art was put in its place. I'm just curious if the asbestous cost is because of removing tiles and putting tiles back on and whether it would be the same enormous amount of the cost for abatement if if it was simply um removed.

Um well, I'm not sure. Um I don't know how we would go about removing the acid ball um to to be honest. I I'm sure it was brought in up the river. I'm sure we could send it back down the river. Um, so I I don't have, you know, I don't have an estimate for that. I do know that the abatement is required. If we want to keep the ball and restore the art, the abatement is required. And so, um, I mean, the other option is decommissioning the piece. It is part of the art collection that the city owns. And so, that that has a separate process that I'm not familiar with. All right. Thank you.

Yeah. Um, member Nishoka, thank you. And on that same note, I'm wondering if there would be an opportunity to speak with the consultant and asking those questions about Eco Earth ball to find out if they have any concept of total removal. um what that might cost so that we could potentially see if there's options to restore it in the sense of bringing it back but not using the contaminated ball.

We certainly could look at other options. Our focus has to this point has been um how how do we restore it? How do we bring it back to its former glory? Um and so their focus has really been um just that. And so, um, I I still think the asbestous ex there's a there when you remove the tiles, you're going to expose the asbestous and so there is there is a health risk there. So, um, if you were to put something else back, I mean, there's been a lot of conversations about maybe you don't do tile. Maybe it's not a mosaic at the end of the day. Maybe it's some other material um that could still represent a globe but not be tile. Um I'm not sure. So I think that might be up for another another art conversation on what that might look like. So u but yeah, we certainly could ask the consultant to um look at what some other options might be.

Is abatement required as tiles are falling off? No. um the tiles so that there's multi multiple layers um there and so and it's far enough away from you know if if it didn't have the fence around it and people could go up and like poke at it and you know that would be exposure but um in its current state it's not an issue. Yeah. Thank you. Uh member Brown had a question and then member Fuller.

Thanks Mr. Chair. Uh my first question is on um in regards to page eight. So page eight it mentions the Wallace Natural Area Enhancement. Is that that sidewalk we were talking about? We meaning the counselors. Is that what that is? The sidewalk in the natural area. I see someone coming up to answer that question.

Mhm. Page eight. Hi. Um, yes, this this was a project that was initiated as a mid-year project uh a council and at the council meeting we we did discuss uh that we would be proceeding with the design of a a paving a path through the natural area. Um, however, we have taken a step back and currently what we are doing with the project is we are initiating a planning process. Um, so we're about to have consultants do some analysis and then we're going to engage the community in discussion about what is the vision for the natural area. Um, as part of that work, we will have some more detailed look at the potential of routing a path in that area. We might look at alternatives, but we I guess what the point I want to make is we're not starting the project with a foregone conclusion that we will end this planning process with with a paving project through the national area.

And that in that project, was it a $1.2 million deal? Initially, that's that's what we um estimated the paving project to be. Um and uh right now uh I believe the CIP or the city budget it's a much lower amount. It's less than $250,000. Um and that that's proportionate to the planning process we are doing now. Got it. Mr. Chair, can I follow up?

So Mr. Roman, so my my next question is in regards to page 10. We are removing several projects and we're adding projects for the removal of the projects. several of them are in the northeast area. How do we come to the decision that we're going to remove some? How do how do we get there? Uh that that would be driven by the CIP score that James spoke about earlier. So So we would we would look at um the score and and essentially the the the lower scoring projects drop off,

right? And and I do I do recognize the score the process. I'm familiar with all of that. I think my concern is that there are so there's several there are several in Northeast that are being removed and several of them involve pedestrian safety. So I'm still stuck as to the why.

Um generally when projects are removed it's because all the funding is in place and it doesn't no longer need to show up in the CIP. So if you look at uh on page 10 in the comments section for those removed transportation projects, the project is bud budgeted. No additional funds required at this time. So it's not that we are not doing the project, it's that we have all the funding in place now and it'll actually be in the capital construction budget which you'll be looking at after this public hearing. So the project is still happening. So unless there was a note that says it was rescored and it fell out, it that's not what the case is. It's so so although it says removed, it's not technically removed.

Removed from the CIP because now it's fully funded. This was this was a question that came up uh a few years ago. Uh people would see projects in the CIP and then all of a sudden it would be gone and they weren't tracking that, hey, it's actually in the construction fund now. that's fully funded. Mhm. Uh so this removed and added was a way we tried to help explain, hey, you're not seeing it here because it's fully funded. Obviously, we didn't hit the mark because there's questions, so I think we have some work to do with it next time.

It's always me that finds this out. Um so I I guess the final thing is that when you compare this year's book to last year's book, I do want to give the staff credit. things are definitely more clear and easy to follow. I think that this is the only area that really gets me like it's hard to explain. Yeah. Um I mean for for example, we have on here the Gussy Bell Commons pedestrian improvements. We put that on here. We meaning us collectively and we just opened that particular apartment complex a week and a half ago um or two weeks ago. So I'm just you know what I'm saying? It's like we opened something but now it's on the removal side. So

So what I can share is that project is fully funded. It's in the construction budget. We're working on design now with the hopes to get the construction completed this fall. Okay. Thank you, director. I yield the floor, Mr. Chair. Member Fuller, we kind of got away from the topic of the acid ball, but I just wanted to down the river. Um, I just wanted to make a quick comment and that is that Linda, you described the value of urban and public art perfectly. Thank you for that. That was all.

Thank you. Um, other questions, comments um, with regards to the CIP? This is the CIP hearing. Um, member ble.

I'm just following up on member Brown's comments. Thank you, Chair. Um, it sounds like most of these projects that are on the remove list are being done. There are a couple that have actually been removed or postponed. Some are in the North Salem, Northeast Salem area. AC Gilbert Discovery Village roof hopefully can last another year before it needs to be replaced. And uh, Hammond Park got noted as their higher priority projects pushing this down the road. Um, so when I'm thinking about it as things that are moved from the CIP, but that's because they're being done. They don't need to be in the CIP anymore versus things that are being pushed down the road. The roof, Hammond Park, any other ones that

come to mind, should be pointed out, I guess, for the good of the order. Yeah, that's correct. The vast majority of these uh like the public works director said are are just the funding has moved into the budget and the sort of conveyor belt of funding that is the CIP sort of dumped that funding into the budget. Um but there are a few projects you're correct um especially um recently with water issues. Um some of those water projects have been moved down to make room for some mitigation efforts at Detroit things like that. They do happen where we move around funding and things drop off the CIP. Um, but yeah, the vast majority of them are just because they were sort of the funding is now in the budget, so they're no longer in the CIP.

Perhaps in the next CIP, there could be a section that dedicated solely to projects that have moved to the capital projects fund. Yeah, we'll take that under advisement. member Matthews.

Also, just while we're kind of talking about the ward specific aspects, is there I'm kind of looking through the priorities of scoring and I'm wondering I see like a geographic or yeah, geographic equity in some of these. Um I don't see it I guess it's in all of these, but where does the waiting system on that rate? So like for instance, if I'm looking here just at what wards are getting more treatment than others, for instance, like Ward one has 23 projects. Ward two has 37, W three has seven. And so when it's kind of we're looking at that equity aspect across the geography, where does that kind of play in on a scoring waiting system? So with the uh the equity scoring, it's uh 25 points out of the 100. It's actually not geographically focused like, oh, we want to make sure each region of the city has the same number of projects. It's based on census tracks and then um what disadvantaged um uh parts of of our community are located in those census tracks. So, there's eight criteria we look at. It was kind of based off the Salem Kaiser area transit uh system model. And so we apply those that criteria against each of the census tracks. And if it's a a track that checks almost all the boxes, it gets a higher score. And so it would get 25 points. If it's a census track that, you know, gets the least amount of scores, it's going to get a very low score, zero or one. So it's kind of weighted between zero and 25 points.

Chair Tyen. Um I I'm I don't know if I've missed any missed you at any point. Do you have any questions? No, thank you. Appreciate being uh asked though. Are there other questions? Uh remember we are in the CIP member Brown.

Thanks Mr. Chair. Uh my final question I suppose um and this is really for u director Brian. So, so director, you know, in the past few years, we've been talking a lot about our infrastructure. Uh, you've given us tours and I think the last time we were in the space, we also discussed, you know, what happens when there's a water man that breaks and we recall last year, you know, your team hastily got there, fixed everything with and within the CIP. Are we discussing any plan that helps us to replace all those old pipes underneath the city?

So, we have a scoring um system uh based on numerous things. So, there could be capacity needs in the system. There could be maintenance records that show, hey, we've had a lot of maintenance on this line. We probably should look at replacing it. um we uh we enter um work orders anytime we have a failure in a system and so we we track those things and so we have uh categories of what's called uh rehabilitation and replacement and uh one of the uh members had asked a question about you know how what's the percentage of uh pipes that are in need of replacement we're actually replacing with the budget

and we did our best to try and answer that question we don't have all the data we need to really know everything we need to know about our system. And so what we're trying to do and and there are some projects you'll see in the budget is do more investigations on our pipelines so that we know what type of condition they're in. Um one of the key areas and I'm I don't want to get I could talk about this for a long time. So I'll try and keep it somewhat brief is our major uh sanitary sewer interceptors and forest mains big pipes hard to get in and televise and see what the conditions are. We've hired some specialty consultants to take a look at a first group this last year. We're going to be looking at more coming up. We need that data to really know what the condition of our pipes are. And so, generally speaking, just like anything you buy, you know, generally there's a life to it. And uh we look at the ages of our systems and say this this pipe's only 50 years old. We should have another 25 to 50 years to go. But not all things are equal. Sometimes things fail early. Sometimes things last longer than you expect. So, uh, we're always trying to get more data so that we can try and keep up keep up with the curve, but I can tell you it's not a perfect system and we're not perfect in how we're doing this, but we are allocating uh the majority of our funding towards existing infrastructure that we're replacing versus adding new.

And and you said the consultants, you have some that you're working with that will come in and and do that for us. So, we'll have that data later on down the road to look at. Correct. Got it. Um, thank you.

Um, member Nordic.

Thank you. I want to talk about sidewalks. Pages 55 and 56. I see 5.4 million in funds committed for sidewalk infill and 8.84 million for sidewalk replacement. and a little bit more money for uh the Union Street Bikeway. Does that capture those two uh items I identified? Project number 1519 and 1520. Is that the totality of sidewalk funding that we have committed? And the reason I ask is I walk a lot of sidewalks around Salem and I know you could probably spend the entire CIP on just sidewalks. Isn't that right, Director Martin?

That's correct. Right. So, I mean, it's just it's a frequent, you know, community concern that I get. So, I want to make sure that when I get questions from the public about the state of our sidewalks, I is this the totality of funds we have dedicated the 5.4 for sidewalk infill and the 8.84 for sidewalk replacement. Is that accurate?

Uh, so for the sidewalk uh infill, that's fairly accurate. And I say that because we had a special project in the 2022 uh safety and livability bond program that was focused just on it. Uh we also get grants for sidewalk infill projects. Um not to the amount that we need, but there there are occasional projects that we do infill work with. When it comes to replacement, uh what you're seeing here is what's funded with the the bond, but in addition to that, we do about I think it's about $2 million a year of sidewalk replacement work with our uh city resources, our in-house uh did you say 2 million?

About 2 million. Yeah, I I know I have that number here uh broken down. I think it's about two roughly

three, sorry, three million. So, in addition to what you see here, there's an additional $3 million a year that's going towards sidewalk replacement and maintenance. I have a a quick general question. Um, I noticed that the threshold is $100,000 in order for it to be included in the CIP. Um, so obviously if I'm buying a piece of equipment and it's over 100 or $100,000 or more, then it be a CIP project. What if I'm buying 10 items that are $10,000 a piece? And there's a reason why I'm asking that question.

It depends. Uh so so CIP projects exclude rolling stock. Um the one exception would be I think we've shown fire apparatus in there before just due the the magnitude. Um but in general, if we're replacing one or two or three items and they don't add up to that, they're not going to appear. Um, if we're replacing a system, they might appear. So, it's not it's not consistent how they show up in the CIP. It is consistent how we capitalize them. Um, I'm specifically asking because I thought it was odd. In the convention center, there's a project in here for table replacement. And that seemed like an odd thing to be in a CIP project plan.

Yeah, agreed. Um, so as as uh Mr. Wharton Hess mentioned, you know, this is the first year the convention center projects have been in the CIP. I think we're still figuring out what the threshold and um tolerance is there for those projects.

Okay. Thank you. Um other questions on the on the CIP? I am not seeing any other questions on the CIP. Um this would Oh, therefore, I am closing the public hearing. All right. Um, at this time we would be entertaining a motion and I would say we're either we're entertaining any motion that the committee would like to do likely either a motion in favor of accepting the FY2027 through FY2031 capital improvement plan or perhaps a motion to close the public hearing but um, keep it open for written testimony and continue conversion at the next meeting. So the floor is open for members to make motions. Member Manville.

I I would move to close the public hearing and keep the record open. I'll second. Member Manville, would you like to speak to your motion? Uh, sure. I I don't want to draw things out too much, but I do want to take a moment to consider the the answers we've heard tonight and uh look a little bit more into the uh legal issues about 8:30 uh on that project and and a couple other things. So would be open to voting next week, but would would love a little bit more time. Is there other discussion on the motion? U member Dixon, could you repeat the motion, please?

Uh I move to close the public hearing and keep the record open. Thank you. Yes, member Brown. Uh just for clarity, uh member Manful uh asked a question earlier in regards to the library. There's an opportunity for us to come back to that. Is that the plan? I think that's encompassed and in we would have an answer from staff before we voted on the CIP. So it's a part of that motion somewhere in there. We'll talk about the library. My my understanding is we can talk further among ourselves at the next meeting. Got it. Thank you.

Yes, there will be a further opportunity for budget committee discussion on the CIP at the next meeting if the motion passes. Uh member Bellich. Um we already closed the public comments. So, we closed the public hearing, but I understand that we can we can open it up for written uh for written testimony. We can continue we can continue it for written testimony only. See, thank you.

Are there any other uh questions or comments on the motion before we vote on the motion? All those in favor of the motion. Oh, I'm sorry. Um, member Gwyn, I just want to confirm with our city attorney. So, we'll be able to have further discussion next week, not just open I mean emailing staff questions. I'm confused.

So, the the motion would would close the hearing so there's no more oral testimony and continue the the written record so people can continue to submit written testimony. at next Wednesday's uh budget committee meeting, we would have that uh as a action item where you can uh have deliberations. We wouldn't receive any testimony. Obviously, the written testimony that's submitted over the next week would be included, but you wouldn't receive any more oral testimony, but you can discuss uh amongst the committee any item uh relative to the CIP. Member Gre and we'll be able to ask staff questions too then. Yes.

All right. All um I don't believe we need to restate the motion. I think we all know what the motion is. Um, all those in favor of the motion say I. I. Um, all those in opposition of the motion say no. No.

Um, it says for members that say no to raise their hand, but I don't think that's necessary. I believe it's just member Tyan or chair Tigan. Thank um, thank you. Uh, so the motion passes. Um we are now at item seven on the agenda which will cover the urban renewal agency budget as well as two results areas of the city budget. We we continue on the topic of infrastructure with a presentation by CFO Egleston on the safe, reliable and ei in efficient infrastructure result area. Thank you Mr. Chair. M Mr. Chairman, I'm sorry. Um the agenda I have shows the safe, reliable, and efficient infrastructure. Um before the URRA

I am reading off the agenda that I have Josh. Yeah, we're going to cover the the infrastructure results area first and then we'll cover the URA and strong and diverse economy. So I apologize for any confusion. Okay, I'm just reading my script. We wrote the script so I apologize. Take it away Josh.

The safe, reliable, and efficient infrastructure is the first result we'll review this evening. This result area begins on page 114 for the operating budget and page 224 for the construction budgets. The resultar's total operating budget is 147.6 million. The construction funds have a total budget of 145.2 million and there's 195.63 full-time equivalent positions included in this results area. There are two career position changes we wanted to highlight. The first is a new engineer position to assist with delivery of utility projects. Uh the second is a transfer of administrative analysts from the airport fund for the utility fund. And as mentioned on the slide, it's going to allocate uh 50% of their time back to the airport fund. Uh and I did want to note there's also some seasonal dollars added for maintenance at Garren Island for landscaping and ground maintenance. uh saving operators to perform more technical work. There are a few service enhancements or highlights that we wanted to share. Uh the first is $100,000 of additional funds to relamp failing or malfunctioning street lights that are included in the fiscal year 2027 budget. Uh the second is the safe streets for all action plan is continuing. Uh it's a comprehensive to safety plan for all road users with the goal of eliminating deaths and serious injuries from traffic accidents. The plan will identify current safety challenges and provide a framework for future safety investments to progress toward this goal. In addition, the city is seeking software to track and manage the city's fiber optic infrastructure and usage. Uh first looking at existing software tools and then expanding the search if existing products don't meet that need. And then a grant-f funed study is underway to create a conceptual design for a safe pedestrian and bicycle

crossing of Highway 22 between Lancaster Drive and Cordon Road is included in the budget. Uh project funding will be sought after a preferred solution is identified. Uh we've talked about water lines a little bit uh this evening already. Uh several waterline replacements are funded in fiscal year 2027, upgrading old cast iron or steel water line with ductile iron which has superior durability, strength and service life. Uh the Davis Road pump station will be upgraded for additional capacity to and to prepare for future development. And then uh one existing pump station is being upgraded as well as design and construction of a new permanent pump station. Uh both stations will connect to the city of Kaiser's water system to provide a backup backup water source uh for Salem residents. Uh for utility maintenance and operations, uh the fiscal year 2027 budget continues the $400,000 allocation for the utility assistance program. Uh this increase was requested by the city council in November of 2024. The storm water master plan effort began work in fiscal year 2022 and is scheduled for completion in 2027. This work focuses on an inventory and condition assessment of storm water system facilities and identify capital projects that reduce flood risk and support land use. And then al already mentioned this evening uh preparation for the draw down of the Detroit reservoir by the Army Corps of Engineers continues with more funding dedicated to ensuring C's drinking water needs are met during the project. Uh the first draw down is expected in 2026 late 2026. And with that staff are available for questions on this result area. Thank you. All right. Just to be clear, that was a report on result area safe,

reliable, and efficient infrastructure. Um, are does the committee have any questions on that result area for staff? Member Dixon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, you mentioned completion of the storm water master plan in 2027. Is that the plan itself or the work that's um already in an existing master plan? Uh, that's just for the plan itself. Just the planning part. That's correct. Okay. Thank you. And then um a couple more questions. In the

agenda narrative for the first meeting, there was a reference to the city council meeting sometime this year to discuss options for transportation funding. Did I read that correctly? Uh that is correct. Yes.

And it included one of the options it included was a local option gas tax. So the two questions are what's the timing for the transportation discussion and what other options are on the list for discussion besides the gas tax. Yeah, I appreciate the question. I'm not sure if that work is ready for display. Um but the gas tax has been a continuing uh theme theme through each of our revenue task force. Uh but it could be on the decline. We'll see. What was the last part? Uh it it's not as popular as it once was, believe it or not.

Thank you. So you expect that discussion to be on the transportation funding to be completed this year? The discussion part? The initial discussion I believe is scheduled for a work session later this year. Yes. Thank you. In August. Thank you. Uh, member Manville. Yeah, thank you. Um, do you have a uh status update on a transportation system plan update?

I do not, but we're going to get some help. So we made it through the regional scenario plan which was the phase one and uh we've negotiated a scope of work with a consultant and we're working with ODOT on an IGA uh so that we can start utilizing their funding and that consultant to start the work. So we're hopeful that we can start that work this summer. Awesome. Thank you.

Uh other transportation questions. So, generally, I I really appreciate um all the work that the city's doing on this. Like, we talk about public safety, but safe water to drink and safe roads to travel on and safe sidewalks. Like, these are saving lives. So, I really appreciate all the work this city's um been doing and the progress on on transportation safety um and the dedication for streets for all. Uh just two two questions on on that. Uh, one you talk about um the downtown no turn on red um studies and I'm wondering if if there have been discussions of just like hey it'd be easier for everyone if we all understood going downtown none of the intersections or no turn on red instead of doing it intersection by intersection. Has that been a a discussion?

I don't think that's been a discussion at this point. And I think there are places where uh you have more conflicts than others. And so we I don't think we've really looked at just making it universal everywhere downtown. The other part of that study is looking at the the speeds. And so the proposal is to drop the speed limit down to 20 mph. So we're studying the progression analysis to make sure that we're not causing a bunch of congestion, which it doesn't look like we are. So uh the plan actually is for that work to happen this fall. So when I say the work, actually making the changes, not doing the design and the analysis. Amanda,

one one final question. Um the you talked about uh doing some signage on four-way stops out in the Northstar neighborhood, I believe. Four-way intersections. And and in planning school, we kind of learned that unsigned four-way intersections are are actually the data. So, they're often safer because drivers are scared and they they approach those with caution. Um, is there something in particular about this neighborhood where the data don't show that or there's just enough public demand that hey, I don't like unsigned uh intersections or or is there something that's or has the science changed since I was in planning school because it was a while ago.

Yeah, so we uh you're absolutely correct. Uh four-way stops are not required. In fact, uh, uh, we get questions frequently. We just had one in the last week about, hey, why don't you put a stop sign here? And we look at several things. We look at what's the accident history? Are there sight obstructions? There are things that definitely trigger a stop sign. If those are not present, we generally will let that be. However, that being said, when we embarked on our neighborhood traffic management plan a couple of years ago, we're looking at ways to try and slow down uh, vehicles and neighborhoods. And, uh, you can do that multiple ways. You can put speed humps in and you can put um uh uh radar signs in that show how fast people are going. Another way to do it though is to to put together an organized stop sign plan where you can actually control that speed by using stop signs. And so uh the one up in Northeast Salem and Northstar, it fell underneath that neighborhood stop sign plan. And so we're looking at doing that in neighborhoods throughout the city uh each year. Member Cohen.

Thank you. Um I'd actually like to follow up on the neighborhood stop sign plan. Um and I have a series of questions on this if you don't mind, chair. Go ahead.

Okay. Uh so um the city safer streets program I love. It's an ARC GPS uh website in which you can go in, zoom into your um cross where you want it to be, put in I need a stop sign here or something like that. Uh my question is a series of questions. Um, so what I don't like about that pro that program is that unlike the capital improvements projects dashboard, the report a neighborhood traffic concern portal basically just shows where the stop sign or speeding uh concern is and if it's pending or not for scoring and proposed solution. uh there's uh no project description um there's no dollars associated to it and so it just leaves uh a lot of information to be desired I would say um and the same I would say about the active construction projects it just shows locations um I would love to have a dashboard one dashboard to rule them all in which you can have um all of the capital improvement projects, the active construction report neighborhood traffic thing because a lot of them align uh that shows uh when it's funded, the status of it, when it's going to going to be completed. Uh because right now we basically, if you're a nerd like me, you can go on and you can look at like, you know, the the flowchart and the flowchart tells you specifically um how your stop sign or speed cushion is going to be put in there. And so I'll just say last year me and 20 other of my fellow residents uh at the corner of Baxter Reed by Pringle um Elementary

School in uh Westbon Park put in a request to have a stop sign there for stop sign. I went back today and I looked at it and they all still say pending. So the question and thank you for allowing me to get into this is um what would it take to have more information on the dashboards? uh when should people or how should people expect to see updates? Uh how is the city going to communicate these updates? Is it through neighborhood association meetings? Other uh just want to know and it's not just my ward. I looked at all the wards and all the wards have pending projects probably from a year ago. So how often is that updated? Is there a way in which we can communicate that we are updating these projects? Thank you. Um I I would say we have some work to do on our web pages. Um especially when it comes to the transportation and the sand motion, you can go a lot of different directions. Uh so I we have some work to do there. We are working on uh project management software that we're using for our capital project delivery that hopefully is going to have a dashboard that people can see. So you would be able to look at a project in the in the budget that you're looking at now and go onto a dashboard and see what's the status of it. So that is a work in progress, something we're we're trying to implement. It does have hiccups as we're seeing as we're going through it, but ultimately that will be our goal. Uh with the neighborhood traffic projects, these are separated generally because they're very small in nature. So, the neighborhood traffic management plan, when we're putting a stop sign implementation plan together, you're talking maybe $10,000. When you're putting speed humps out, speed humps are about $5,000 a piece. So, they're you put three of them out, it's $15,000. So, it doesn't meet that threshold of, hey, is it $100,000 or more to make it into the CIP? And so,

we've kind of treated them more like u kind of like our maintenance work because it's small in scale, small in nature. Uh, and so each year we come up with a list of projects and then we go out to the neighborhood associations and follow that chart you were showing to try and get consensus on whether we should do it or not, but I'm not sure how we're reporting back to the community so that they can look and see, hey, these are the ones that we're doing this year. U, I will look into that though so that we can try and pull that together. So yes, we do have some work to do there. U member Brown,

thanks Mr. Chair. Um, Mr. Director, I have a a couple things. The first one is I want just a members to know that I'm referring to page 168. Uh the fir and in that page um in the middle of the paragraph, it says this just so people can hear it. Public works crews also install 38 stop signs in the North Star neighborhood. And I just want to highlight that for our members and those folks that are in the room and at home that um I'm giving public works a tremendous applause for this uh because um this is an area that belongs to us, but this this group does not have a neighborhood association. And so yours truly along with public works work with um some parents in that area to get those stop signs. There's schools there. They've had accidents there. And so I just want to say thank you to you and your team of engineers for putting those stop signs in the Northstar neighborhood. They are highly appreciative of that particular work. So I want to highlight that for you. So thank you. And right behind that on the next page on 169, we're we're discussing um the green bicycle markings, right? Can you walk us through how we decide who gets those particular bicycle markings in the neighborhood? Like like how do we arrive there say, "Oh, we're going to put one here versus here." How do we do that?

Absolutely. So, uh, excellent question with the green bike paint. We were fortunate in that ODOT did a pilot study of our bike facilities in Salem a few years ago and they put together a list of recommended locations where the green bike paint should go. So, we use that study and we use their priority list. Uh where we've been focusing on is where there's right turn lanes. And so, providing that striping, you know, between the right turn lane and the through lane as that was one of the most dangerous uh aspects of an intersection. So each year we're just trying to, you know, pick off five to 10 or or so of those uh bike markings that we can get done. So we're just kind of slowly trying to go through and and get that work done.

And and would it be fair to say that the places that are listed on page 169, would it be fair to say that there are a lot more? There are a lot more. Yes, that's correct. Got it. And is the plan down the road to share those with us or is that too long of a list? I'm sorry, I didn't hear that question. Is the plan later on to share that list with us or is it too exhaustive to share? Uh, I don't think it's too exhausted to share. If we haven't already shared it, we can certainly share that with the group. Okay. There's a full report that was put together that we could share. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Director. I yield the floor, Mr. Chair.

All right. Are there questions on this results area? I don't see any. But before you go, Josh, this might have been discussed last week. This is more of a general question. Um, it might have been discussed last week. Uh, I'm very appreciative of the sections where you're saying what's new. Um, and then staff changes. Um, is is what's new is that is that all incompassing? Meaning if there's an area of of the of that particular proportion of the budget that has been um reduced significantly would that be highlighted for example?

Uh not necessarily. I think the only area where there was a a trade-off discussion last week was at the library, but there's no other significant reduction anywhere else in the budget. Okay. I I'm appreciative of what's there. For me, it's more of a what, you know, what are the significant changes in this area over the prior year as opposed to just what's new. That's just from me. Yeah. So, that would that would um that would fall under there as a highlight. Maybe not a service enhancement, but it would be a change. So, if there was something significant, we were recommending it, we would highlight it.

Thank you. That's what I was looking for. Thank you very much. All right. Um, thank you everyone for the discussion. We will now have a presentation from budget manager Kaylee Linenbach on both the urban renewal agency proposed budget and the strong and diverse economy result area. Uh due to the link between the two budgets, questions for both will be taken at the conclusion of the strong and diverse economy presentation. Take it away.

Good evening budget committee. My name is Calli Linenbach and I'm here to present to you this evening the strong and diverse economy result area as well as the urban renewal agency budget. Um the city programs start on page 171 and we'll review those first and move into the URA. So on the city side, primary services for this result area include tour tourism and convention promotion, uh economic development support, airport operations, parking management and enforcement, and management of city-owned lease spaces. The proposed budget for fiscal year 2027 is just under 17 million, and there are 21.35 full-time equivalent positions in this result area. So, moving on to the URRA. Um, the Salem Urban Renewal Agency is a distinct corporation with the mayor and city council serving as its board of directors and the city manager as executive director. City staff primarily in urban development support urban renewal programs through an intergovernmental agreement with the city. The purpose of Uras is to encourage redevelopment in areas it might not otherwise occur without public investment. So there's the eight urban renewal areas are featured on this slide and from north to south they are North Gateway which is the largest at 926 acres and it is scheduled to end property tax collections in fiscal year 2027. Riverfront downtown, which is the oldest area formed in 1975. There's West Salem and South Waterfront. Uh Jory Apartments, which is the newest and smallest area established in 2020.

McGillrest, where improvements to Miguel Street are underway and tax collections have ended. Fair View, which also ended tax collections quite a while ago. and Mil Creek Industrial Park. Um, also scheduled to end collections in 2027. So, as noted, there are three areas shown here that have recently stopped or will stopped collecting property tax increment in fiscal year 2027. And this slide shows um the increase in assessed value between when the property tax base was frozen at the inception of each URA compared to the most recent assessed value information. And we just wanted to highlight the significant growth in assessed value in each area. And since these uras are uh no longer collecting taxes, this means that there will be increased property tax collections based on these higher assessed values to all the taxing jurisdictions. And this also benefits the city's general fund which will receive higher property tax revenue as well. So there are four funds that make up the URA budget. uh the debt service fund and that's where the property tax increment is collected for each urban renewal area. And then the expenditure budget of 22.5 million is for debt service payments and also returning excess revenues to the counties for areas that are no longer collecting taxes. The capital improvements fund receives the proceeds from borrowings in the debt service fund to pay for construction and improvement projects. Um the expense budget for this fund is 40.3 million which is significantly less than the resource budget uh to reflect uh anticipated expenses. And then a question came up last week um

regarding the reimbursement to the general fund for staff time spent working on URA related projects. So as recommended in the URA performance audit, the cost recovery methodology was adjusted and simplified which resulted in a higher general fund reimbursement and corresponding higher expense in the URA. Um in fiscal year 2025 for example before the adjustment um the reimbursement to the general fund was about a million dollars and with a new method fiscal year 2026 is estimated to be 1.6 million. And then in 2027 the budget is 1.7 million for the reimbursement. So the convention center fund um the proposed budget there is $8 million for operations and then the gain loss reserve which we talked about a little bit earlier the proposed budget there is 1.4 4 million. And this reserve was created to cover an operating shortfall or to fund repairs or major improvement projects at the convention center. There's a goal of a $4 million balance in the reserve. And fiscal year 2027 continues to meet that goal. At least the projections continue to meet that goal. And new in this year's budget is a project page for um the gain loss reserve and those projects that are funded there. So you can find that in the budget book. A few service enhancements and highlights. So beginning in July 2025, the downtown transition to paid on street parking. Um the city council approved refunding the downtown parking tax payments for 2026 and finance staff are currently working through all of those to get those out to um downtown businesses and also ending the assessment of the tax for future years. Um, in 2026,

the airport contracted with a thirdparty provider to collect landing and tie-down fees. This program utilizes publicly available technology to track air aircraft activity, send invoices, and collect payments from operators. So, with the seismic retrofit of city hall, urban development will be moving back to Civic Center from a downtown lease space under the Schmecha parade. And this will free up that space to be renovated and leased out to other businesses or entities that want to locate downtown. So, this will also temporarily reduce the revenue to the parking leaseold fund, but it will also save the general fund ongoing rent costs for that space. Uh, also related to this move is $1 million budgeted in Riverfront downtown for improvement to these tenant spaces. Uh, urban development staff are finalizing agreements with selected developers for both block 45 and block 50. These high-profile downtown projects will deliver market rate and affordable multif family housing along with commercial space. Block 50 is coordinating with the Department of Environmental Quality to finalize environmental monitoring while both development teams are working to secure financing and investors to advance these projects. And finally, a proposed new urban renewal area is currently under consideration and will be discussed at a city council work session in May. If approved, it would be called North Waterfront URA and it ab butts riverfront downtown moving north along Front Street. And that concludes my presentations. We're happy to have any questions you you might have.

Thank you. Um are there questions of staff on urban renewal or strong and diverse economy result area? Member Brown. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Budget manager Kelly, how are you? Great. Thank you for asking. Hey, so can you walk us through a couple of things? So on slide 13, the con the convention center gain and loss reserve is a 1.4 million. I know we own that particular facility. C can you walk us through the loss reserve, please? Or is there a page that that's on?

Yes, let me grab Wrong book. Hold on. Thank you. Apologies. So, it's near the back of the small budget book. Let me get to the page here. Um, you can see the gain loss reserve um financial detail on page 61 and then the project pages are on pages 62 and 63. Member Brown, do you have a followup question?

Um, so Dr. Brown, it's in the URA. It's in this URA budget. Is that the one? Okay. Yeah. So, so my question is this. No, no, I don't have a question about that. I'm good. I do have one more though. Go ahead. Um, and this is on it's in the big book on 148 because I think that's still within the section we're looking at. Correct. Let me get there. Did you say Did you say 148?

Mhm. 148. Let me see. It's Huh. I think I'm on the wrong page. Oh, okay. I think the page 148 is in the infrastructure section. We're not discussing that right now. We aren't. I'm sorry. I'm always ahead somewhere. Thank you, man. Um I have a I have a question with regards to the airport fund um which I believe was in this result. Okay.

Did I read somewhere that the airport fund is being budgeted as if an additional commercial carrier was going to be found and therefore it's at a $3.5 million level which is similar to previous years? Yes, that is correct. And and so the budget would the actual expenditure budget would be much less if a commercial carrier was not identified. That's cor that's correct as well. Yes.

And then specifically my concern is with the $752,000 transfer from the general fund. If there is no commercial carrier, do we know what the level of transfer would be from the general fund? I would expect it to be $100,000 less because part of that transfer is for an MRG, which is a minimum revenue guarantee to go towards an airline. So, um, even without an airline, there would still be a $650,000 transfer from the general fund to the airport. That's correct. Okay. That's it's a lot of money. All right. Um, member Dixon.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And this is an expression of concern more than a specific question. Um, one of the areas of focus of the city's economic development work broadly um, is job growth. And I look at census data and my analytical skills aren't that great. But what I see in census data citywide, not just in the URAs, is that the poverty rate is higher than the national average and median household income and per capita income are lower than the national average. Uh I do know that um the city develops information about the impact on property values from its URRA work and may do the same thing for its broader economic development work. But I am concerned that um well I would like to see more of an emphasis on the impact on working people and everyday families in the community. Um, does the city, for example, have targets for the poverty rate or the median household income or the per capita income or other indicators that would give a sense of what difference its economic development efforts are having on the lives of everyday people? Um, so I would like to see more of that. Uh, and I hope we can get there.

Member Dixon, embedded in everything you said, I think there was a question you said, are you said, are there does the city currently have means of determining whether or not those measurements that you discussed are impacted by um, city expenditures in economic development. And it is somewhat rhetorical because I've I've gotten a written response, meaning you know that the answer is no. Okay. I I didn't have the Thank you for clarifying on that. Okay. Um it it it apparently is uh technical uh and uh it's something that I would like to see some work on. So that's that is a a a desire put out there with regards to changes. It is. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Member Dixon. Um Member Manville. Yeah. Just a a followup there. Um, and I'm sorry I didn't see your written the written answer to you, Member Dixon, but uh, is that something we could add in the result area statistics in some way or is it that not make sense?

Uh, it's something staff can look at and consider and bring back. Um, one challenge we have is, um, the exact question, right? If you expend more dollars, if you uh increase the input, if the output changes, uh in some cases those larger economic statistics, uh while interesting, even if we increase twofold, uh it might not be super impactful, but it's certainly something we can look at. I think would also be difficult to identify that A was directly correlated to B.

Yeah. And if I may, I think uh member Dixon, one of the questions he asked uh it's in the written comments was specific um to the job growth and impact to GDP within the urban rural areas and that's not something that we can drill down to feasibly. Um certainly we have that information for the wider um Salem area. Member Manville.

Yeah. Uh thank you, Chair. Uh a followup to kind of your question about the airport and the assumption that commercial air ser is going to be there July 1st. Um most of the budget is structured as to certain incomes and like known known incomes and known expenditures. And this is there something about commercial air service that feels at all likely to happen soon um that that we're not aware or is this an aspiration and hey if we plan for it people will notice it and we don't have anything lined up for July 1. So when we were uh when we're putting the budget together, we were looking at different scenarios and um with the unknowns at the time, we felt maybe we should go with this as this scenario and then we'll see what happens over time. Um we just we did just recently attend a uh a commercial air service conference and that was I think there's seven different airlines. Some of them are showing interest. uh council's going to see a grant application to to try and get FAA funding to boost the MRG that we're offering. Uh if we're successful with that, that may get us over the finish line to get uh an airline here, but I don't think we'll know the results of that until probably this fall, which is not going to help us right now. And just with the volatility uh in oil, in uh what's happening with with airlines, we all read and hear about Spirit Airlines and whether they're going to make it or not. We've heard that some of these lowcost carriers are waiting to jump on those Spirit routes if Spirit does go under. And so there's just a lot a lot of stuff moving, a lot of moving pieces, I guess I would say. Uh so it's going to take

some time to see how that works out. Oh. U member Gwen. Um I believe even I mean the airport is more regional, right? It's not just Salem. Um I believe the Kaiser City Council just um agreed to submit a letter in support of that grant application. Am I correct? Uh we have reached out to multiple people. Well, I'm not I haven't heard the the latest on that. I can tell you that there was an airline that submitted a a uh a letter of support as well. So, we're we're trying to get as many regional partners as we can.

Is it on the airport? Okay. Then I want to I want to jump in on the airport. It's more of a request for information. Um I don't know. I assume that at some point there had been a um a survey done of similarly sized cities with similar type of airport structure. I mean, we're similar to Eugene, but our airport is nothing like Eugene's. Um, my my question is comparing us to other similarly sized airports cities and and the amount of subsidy um from the general fund into that airport. I don't know if that's been done before. I don't know if that data is available. I I would have to do some research. We may have it. I just don't have that at my fingertips.

All right. Thank you. Um uh member Bicheks and then member Manville. still on the airport. Um Jar, if you're digging in information about how Salem's airport compares to other airports, public airports around the state. Um maybe some information about which ones are owned by a port district versus the city that they serve. I'd be interested in knowing that. I think that question came up a couple years ago and I don't recall ever getting an answer for it. Okay. We can certainly uh get that answer and and share it with you for your next meeting.

Thank you. And before I go to you, Mr. Manville, I just want to say, are there other questions on the airports? I want to keep the airport theme going. Member Nishioa,

thank you. Uh, not so much, well, maybe more for some clarity. Um, we are, as councelor um or member Gwen was saying, uh, regional. we've, you know, midwami valley and we did have support from the county um for the minimum revenue guarantee. Um and I think it's also um uh important for us to realize that if we have um if we are able to get a commercial air service for even just a few flights a week, we jump into a higher opportunity for f uh for grants. Without commercial air service, we have far fewer opportunities and many of those grants are really to do infrastructure maintenance. Um, so maybe you can speak to that a little bit.

Yeah, absolutely. Uh, uh, uh, budget committee member Nishioa. So, if you have more than 10,000 employments a year of commercial air service, uh, your grant authorization goes from $150,000 a year to $1.3 million a year. So for the two years and then even uh in 2025 we we met that threshold and so our our federal grants coming into the airport are 1.15 million higher than they would have been without commercial air service. So so there is benefit to the airport in doing that as well. member Matthews,

kind of to piggy back off what member Nishio said, there's a similar um comparison and connection with Travel Salem and their ability to be able to recruit um conferences here. So, it's one of the things they've really come up in conflict with is that several of these conferences and sports events, it's part of just their criteria that you have to have commercial air service. Doesn't actually have to go to anywhere that they care about, but it's just one of their check boxes that they have to check. And so they're we're regularly being excluded from multiple of these opportunities to try to increase our TOT ultimately by bringing tourism in by not having just that check box uh to be able to be checked.

Thank you. Anything else on the airports? All right, member Manville. Thank you, chair. Um, is anything in the uh the budget or the URA budget projecting anything happening specifically happening with the North Waterfront Urra or is it just to be determined and in the future it'll be built into the 5-year projections and and other things in the budget?

Do you mean the actual tax revenue that might be received? Okay. I'm not sure, Kristen. Yeah, it's it's not included in the budget and I don't even know if we've begun that work yet. Still in the beginning phases. Yeah. Member Manville. Uh unrelated. Um and the legislature recently passed uh House Bill 4148 allowing more flexibility with the TOT funds. And I'm curious if staff or council have had conversations about shifting how we allocate those TOT funds since we're now able to use more of them for general services rather than tourism promotion.

Yeah, I appreciate the question and you are correct. The legislation did pass. Uh our charter is actually what is restricting us at this point. So u we would have to have a charter change in order to change the allocation how we use that funding. It's not the state legislation. Okay, other questions. U member Nordike.

Sure. I want to go back to the URRA budget under the URA budget book, page 48, riverfront downtown capital improvements. I just had some questions about some of the projects. I see one is the vacant building space analysis a study to assess long-term downtown vacancies and market needs. I'm just curious if you could give like a a short explanation of what that will look like. And then I also saw under a TB determined on page 48 property acquisition and renovation opportunity purchase purchase and renovation of property within the riverfront downtown URA for future redevelopment. Do you have that property identified or is that what is the status? Thank you. Director

Kristen Rutherford, community planning and development director. So the first question, the study that would look at the vacant space. That study would be to look at what are the needs and the barriers for some of these spaces downtown that have been vacant long term and are there changes in our grant programs or other things that we could do that could help switch that. Okay. And then regarding the opportunity purchase, this is something that we budget for on an annual basis so that if an opportunity does come forward then we have the ability to move forward with that. There is not currently a property identified.

And uh if I may a followup, I saw also public art in downtown. There's a a budget of 50,000 set aside for acquisition, installation of public art in the downtown area. Could that include um it doesn't say renovation, but I know we have some existing murals and other pieces of public art that could absolutely use some maintenance or some repairs. Would that be included in this budget? It's not. We cannot use urban renewal for maintenance or repair. We can only use it for the new acquisitions.

Member Cohen. Thank you. While the director is up here, um I had a question. I read an article in which you were quoted a lot uh in the Salem Reporter about block 50. So I was wondering if uh you can uh address some of the concerns that were in that article um the DEEQ uh with the gasoline there. How long is that pushing us out on the on the uh project? Is there a timeline status of completion? U and then also the the new canery if you if you might as well.

Sure. So there are a few different things at play with block 50 that are challenges with that project. So, one that's impacting timeline is the glass flume or gr the gas flume that goes underneath the road. And we need to do monitoring on property that's not under our control. And so that's been a a very lengthy process working with DEEQ and the property owner to get monitoring wells in place. They're not in place yet, but we've recently made some progress. So, that's that's part of what's going on in that situation. Um, additionally, the development team, um, and it's not just this development team. I've talked with multiple developers over the last couple of months that are are saying the same thing. Investors are sitting on sidelines. They're having a really hard time getting uh, investors for projects. Um, you you compound that with the impacts of tariffs and fuel prices and all of these other things. the gaps are just growing and growing in project costs and investors are not eager to leap in right now. So, it's a bit of a waiting game to see if if some of these dynamics shift. Um, you know, we'd also contemplated that we would be filling some of that gap or assisting with that feasibility with urban an urban renewal grant. Um there are some recent kind of new interpretations through bully that we're navigating that is looks like it's also going to be making that more challenging. Uh and then in terms of the Canary, so the Canary project is um or would be located in the new urban renewal area that's proposed. It's going to be the subject of the work session on May 18th.

That property recently has a new buyer and it's supposed to close the end of May. Um I I'm had one email exchange with those buyers, but they have not come in yet to talk about their development plans with the city. So we don't have a timeline for that. There are issues tied to Front Street that we also are working through. Member Cohen, thank you. Um, quick followup for the DEEQ assessment. Is the city paying for that? Yes. Okay. Uh, and where is that coming from? That's urban renewal as part of urban renewal cleanup and remediation.

Okay. Um, and regarding uh the investors, is there anything the city can do to entice uh the investors to move on these projects so that we don't have a pit for another 20 years or land that's vacant for until my kids are where I'm at right now?

So, um I wish the answer to that was yes. the what we're hearing from developers is that investors they're everybody's just hoarding cash right now. Um they they are very riskaverse right now. And in the past one way to remedy that and entice that would be to add more urban renewal assets and larger grants or you know kind of a a bigger incentive. But with these new bully interpretations, there things like a land donation um or the demolition work, that sort of thing that in the past would not have counted towards um the $750,000 that we can contribute to a project. There's been a recent situation in Eugene where that's been interpreted differently by Bully. So, we're still navigating that and we've asked the developer to work with Bully to get a determination. We don't have that determination yet, but that's what would be required to secure that kind of investment is more money, more public funds, and then also public funds that didn't trigger prevailing wage.

I'm going to follow up on the canery. I I believe it was within the last six months that I read a big article about that in the Statesman Journal. Was was that was that not the current owners that was were discussing that project?

Uh it was a potential buyer that was discussing it, not the current owner. So, there was an individual, an entity that had an option on that property and it had been extended multiple times that recently expired and it's um a new buyer that had previously worked with the former group that is now um in the process of closing on that and I think it's around the end of May that they're supposed to close. So the buyers that are the current potential buyers have not disclosed plans about the site. Okay.

Um they have not but they were involved previously with the former team. So I would anticipate that it would be very comparable to what's already been shared with the city. All right. Thank you. Um member Dixon. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Um to follow up on the information about the downtown vacancy analysis, does the city on any regular basis do a city-wide vacancy analysis? We do not. Thank you. Yeah.

And just, you know, to add a little bit more clarity to that, part of that is the way that we're funded. You know, something like this is funded through urban renewal. We don't have a position or funding from the general fund to do that kind of work. You're saying you don't currently have No. Thank you.

Other questions on this results area or urban renewal. All right. Thank you. Um thank you staff uh for your presentation. Um, thank you everyone for the discussion. The final item tonight under special orders of business is an opportunity for the committee to continue any earlier discussion or introduce an issue or concern for the committee's consideration. Um, I think we're on 7D on your agenda if you're playing along at home. Are there any um general questions or um concerns that the budget comm a budget committee me member would like to raise at this time? Um, member Brown.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, just going back to the library question, when are we planning on discussing that staff? Who knows that? Oh, Mr. CFO, appreciate the question. And I had the page open. Are you in the club? Closed it. Uh, it is in the budget document. I think that's a yes, but we we don't have any other specific spot to address it. So, I'm hoping we can cover your question now if that's okay. Oh, really? Okay.

So, my question is obviously, you know, we we passed the levy last year and I've said mult multiple times with this group and with madam city manager in regards to northeast Salem having a library. And so I am still advocating for that because when you look at those results from last year, if you go through your voting record to see all the wards to see who voted for that levy, yes, all wards did vote and it passed. But ward five had the lowest percentage of voters because folks who live 20 25 minutes away from downtown, they don't frequent the library as much as if you're, you know, one or two miles away. And so a lot of voters said no to that. And so my question is, how can we look at funding when it comes to putting a library in Northeast Salem? And I think everybody here, and I'm I'm pretty sure member Nordai could give out a whole dissertation in regards to what a library does uh when it comes to kids and families as to how that can turn around a neighborhood. And when you look at the data in regards to uh police arrest, um drug use, um it's really really high in Northeast. And I'm not going to call on assistant chief uh Ditto, but if you look at the data that we get and when he sends us messages about, you know, incidents that happen, um a lot of those incidents that happen are in Northeast. So my question to this group is, is it worth the conversation to talk about what it would take to put some type of library or funding from the levy for that in Northeast? That's my question.

Uh I'm I'm going to address your other question and then we can get to get to this one. So on page 228 of the the bigger budget document, uh there's two projects. One is for affordable housing/ library branch northern site, affordable housing/ library branch southern site. And these are it's about a million dollars for each site. And this is for site acquisition. This is not uh construction. Um so if we go back to 2022, um we contemplated purchasing the sites earlier in the bond cycle and then constructing uh the actual library branch on one of the sites um uh later in the bond program after operating funding was identified. Uh this could evolve a little bit. Uh we're actually we've had some internal staff discussions and we'll be uh bringing this subject to the bond oversight committee for discussion. Um so so we we have funding uh for two site purchases, some construction on one of the sites. We don't have funding for a full construction of of two library branches. That was never in the in the bond projects. Um and just to clarify, the livability levy didn't contemplate operating funding uh for a library branch uh other than the current West Salem branch. it did expand hours at the west branch and main library branch. Uh so my concern and just um looking at it uh from just an operating funding perspective is the current library uh budget uh the lily levy doesn't have capacity to fund staffing um for additional library branch. So when you're thinking about it, um, think about it in terms of, uh, site purchase, design, acquisition, um, looking toward, uh, the future when we renew the levy, look at other funding sources, uh, for the library, um, and have that, uh, one of the library branches under construction.

Followup, may I? I do see that uh, Mr. CFO um numbers two and three. I see that is on on hold. And so my next question would be, and this is probably a question for the city attorney, when it comes to private funds or even money that could be in a trust, are we allowed to ask for private funding? Dan Aerson, city attorney. So, I I think the question is uh can we accept donations for funding for operations or for capital costs? Yes, we can. I think council actually recently adopted a donation policy that would that would govern that, but of course the city can accept donations.

Well, just in my followup to that, just for the folks that are in the space and are, you know, that are at home, that is my goal. My goal is to reach out to as many folks. Folks that love libraries, folks that love kids, folks that love families, um schools, you name it. Because that's an area that we desperately need more um to have folks involved, especially our young people. Because when you look at the data, not only from the city, but also from the county, I've said this before and I'll say it again, that is the area that we have um I think the county refers to as hotspots. And those hotspots, they are triggering a lot of violence in regards to folks being arrested for drugs, folks being arrested for weapons. And so, it's an ongoing feat. It's an ongoing problem. And so, how do we curb that particular violence? How do we change the trajectory of what's happening in the Northeast? And one of the ways, I think, would actually be um more places like a library where people can feel safe. And so I'm just putting this out there that I am purposely looking for um folks that would be willing to give money to have a library in Northeast Salem.

Thank you, Member Matthews and then member Nordike. So kind of while we're on the idea of Northeast Libraries, is there an opportunity to partner with a library that already exists in Northeast like the Shemecka Library? on the opposition to having to create something new from scratch and staff it ourselves and obviously utilize our funding. They have funding already at the Schmeck library. Is there more of an opportunity for us to expand on what they have as opposed to developing something oursel and operating oursel and not being in partnership that way? Uh potentially it's something we'd have to explore.

Sure. Thank you. So, I just wanted to um acknowledge that the goal of having a library branch in North Salem is a wonderful idea and if we had it in the budget book right now, of course, I would enthusiastically endorse it. What I think you're seeing here, councelor Brown, is that there are several steps involved and step one is having funding from the bond to acquire property. uh the bond measures can fund the buildings, the acquisition, the construction, etc. The levy can only be used for staffing and the levy as structured barely gets us back the 10 hours of library time that we lost. So I don't I think to what our CFO is saying is we don't the levy is not structured to give you all the staff you want for a north branch in addition to the hours that we got back for the main branch. Um so this definitely speaks to our long-term needs. I mean I'm in north northeast Salem and North Salem quite a bit these days and I do see an enormous need to invest. I like counselor Matthew's creativity of seeing how can we perhaps uh capitalize on a space that already is an institution of learning that already incentivizes families that's already on the bus route that's already surrounded by housing uh folks who need that. Um the Boys and Girls Club opened a location out there and the families surrounding that area couldn't wait for it to open. the uh they are going to be opening some sort of I I feel terrible I can't remember the name but some sort of youth resource center is in the works. It's all being done by a private foundation however so it could be that the way we get there is by thinking creatively uh is by combining efforts or not. Um, but you would need to dedicate some pretty serious staff time to find the

right place, the right partners, and then to start and then start thinking, okay, now how do we pay for it all? And how do we ensure that we have enough funding to keep it going? Um, are there grant opportunities specific to creating or uh expanding upon libraries? So, what you're asking for is a big ask, but you're thinking big, and that's what we need on council.

Thank you, Council Nordike, and also um Council Matthews. I guess my next question would be URRA money. Can we use URA money funding? Is that a hot no? Uh it's a it's a no for right now. I think all the current areas do not have a library branch contemplated in their plan. So it wouldn't be an eligible cost. Interesting. Okay. Thank you. Other Oh, member Gwen.

So I'm not There's so much so many things that we talked about tonight. I'm kind of stuck on infrastructure and thinking about and I'm not to be selfish but thinking about South Salem and all of the development that is going on out there. My concern is like at Davis and Liberty, it literally took 10 years to get a traffic light at at Liberty and Davis Mildrid and Liberty. a kid died and all we have there is a flashing stop sign. We don't have and I understand that when the apartment the next pay phase and the next apartments come through. Yes, we're we're going to eventually get a stop sign or I'm sorry a traffic light. Is that another 10 years? My my point is there's so much development happening. Um there are like Fabra is supposed to go clear through to Battle Creek and um there's the cane development where um Juniper I can't remember the name of the street is going to go through and then connect on the backside and out to commercial. And I I I know we're working on a going to be working on a transportation system plan, but my concern is we are adding so many multifamily, so much traffic, and I just don't know that we're being thoughtful enough. There's 224 units going on on Lone Oak, and that's going to impact traffic in that area as well. So I my my question I think is more broad in

how can we as a city make sure we have the infrastructure in place and not lag behind 10 or 20 years in does that make sense? It's an excellent uh observation and uh one we don't have a great answer for which is why it hasn't been figured out quite yet. Um one of the challenges is you know grow well growth typically pays system development charges. You collect those system development charges so that you then can build infrastructure. um the fees we typically collect on those SDC's aren't high enough to really get the infrastructure done that we need. Uh in in addition when we have affordable housing they get SDC waivers or they don't pay any SDC's and so you kind of have you want the housing but you're not collecting enough money to really take care of all the infrastructure. So, we are looking at doing a uh STC methodology uh study starting that this summer. There'll be a work session with council to talk about it so that we can look at some of those things. Um but anytime you try to collect more money, it puts more cost on the development and the homes and everything else and it they just don't mesh real well. So, that's a challenge um we have not figured out yet. embedded in your answer I believe is that there is capacity um to raise the SDC's should council um have the will to do so. Yeah, it has to be based on um trips in the TSP and and what type of uh trip generation is happening that you

can actually make the cost um uh equitable to what's being developed. So, it's not just like, oh, let's, you know, charge this much more money and then we'll have enough to do it. It there's a lot more that goes into it. Uh but the council ultimately will be able to make decisions on, you know, what we should charge based on the information that we provide. Okay. Thank you. I was I was keying off of your comment that the current amount being um received isn't enough to pay for the necessary infrastructure. Um Miss Bang.

Uh thank you, Chair. Um, member Gwen, you spoke to me when you started talking about uh infrastructure and traffic because that's um how I started to become involved in our local government. So, I share your concerns and especially traffic and pedestrian safety. So, would you like to join me on a committee about such things? But um with that is I know tonight we're talking about infrastructure and like things, but is there at any point we can talk about the our budget and potentially collaborating with our community partners or other agencies to address traffic concerns or alternative modes of transportation. um to incentivize residents to use other modes of travel other than their car to reduce traffic. Um down in South Salem, I know the same issues are in East and Northeast Salem, too. So, just a thought out there. Um and my initial reaction to your comments, member Gwen. So, thank you.

Other comments or questions at this time? Um, member Barney.

Well, of course I'm gonna have to step in on traffic since West Salem's continuing to grow. I keep thinking about the well 463 plus 22 plus close to 500 units going in right now in the Dos Ferry Brush College area. Um, yeah, we need to do something with SDC's, but is there another option? I mean, I'm thinking when we do the uh approved land use uh permits with all the conditions, etc., Normally the improvements are right adjacent to the property there, but is there a way thinking about uh member Gwyn, um is there a way to set aside funding at a for signal intersection improvements when that increased growth um puts that intersection at a certain level over capacity? Uh so that does exist for certain types of developments. The uh developers do uh traffic impact analyses to determine how many trips and and how that is going to impact adjacent intersections. Generally a single development uh doesn't create enough trips to where that intersection has to get a signal at that point in time. And so they will pay a fee. That fee will go into a trust and agency account and be dedicated for that intersection. And then as developments continue to develop around the area, they each pay a fee and then hopefully when it's all developed, there's enough money there that we could go out and build that signal. So they do pay those fees now. Um I think I I don't know that it's necessarily on single family homes. I think it's more on multifamily and commercial. Uh but but there there are some processes in place. Does it get us over the hump to where we can afford it? Not necessarily. That's how we look for

grant funding and and other types of funding. So

there has to be a better way. Uh because I think about just measuring the impact of one place is great, but what are what happens when there are three places going at once? You know, I mean, how do they compensate for all that additional traffic on a road or an intersection? I guess the intersections and the cumulative effect as they all come together and they hit another intersection. Yeah, I I think that's really looking at the traffic impact analysis process and the SDC's because the SDC's pay share of it as well. So, I'm I'm what I'm hoping for is that with uh the SDC methodology update, you look at what uh trips are expected over time, what the cost of those improvements would be. There's what's called a numerator numerator denominator. You take you take all the uh the cost of all those projects and you figure out how much land developable land is left and how it's going to develop and you divide that out to get a cost per per unit and then people pay that fee and you try to make it work. But I it's not a perfect system. Obviously we have, you know, you're all seeing it as the growth comes. We're not keeping up with it. Um we have work to do. Oh, member Nordic.

Sure. I wanted to just make a more of a generalized comment. I noticed from page 231 of our budget document that the affordable housing opportunity fund, which the voters approved as part of the 2022 infrastructure bond, that fund is still largely intact with $9.27 million in funding still available. It's identified in our fiscal year 2027 as a carryover project opportunity. And I urge our staff, let's spend this money down. Let's find a project. Let's build it. This money is not becoming worth more over time. It's becoming worth less. And I am in looking forward. I know we have an upcoming meeting to talk about our housing production strategy. So, I'm hopeful staff can give us an update on what the status is of this opportunity fund. Um, there are a lot of potential options out there, but I would really love for us to move forward because that need for affordable housing is dire in our community right now. Affordability is very top of mind for our residents. So, I that was just something I wanted to just put a pin in for next time, but it is in our budget book. So, I wanted to make the comment. Thank you. Thank you, member Nordik, member Manville, and then member Gwyn.

Yeah, thank you. Um I I just wanted to make a process comment overall that uh it's been easier for me in past budget cycles to have more time uh for the budget committee process that brush pushing through this like one one a week and like getting a big chunk and like trying trying to get this like I um it's super fast and and it's exhausting and sometimes we've had more time and I I would love if in future budget cycles we could try to spread this out a little bit more. I know that staff, you are so overworked and report after report show that and I know that um you keep up with all the questions I send and I really love that. But uh but just a process-wise if if we can spread this process out, we could do things like um vote on C CIPs the first time. like anyway I I just would would love a little bit more room to breathe.

Thank you. Memberw.

I wanted to sort of piggyback on what um member Nordike said, but I want to remind us that homeownership for middle inome families builds generational wealth, stabilizes neighborhoods, and expands our tax base. So my question is, how does the city weigh the economic and community benefits of supporting attainable home ownership against the heavy focus on subsidized rental and supportive housing? And is there any plan to make adjustments to give middle inome buyers more attention in this next update for the housing production strategy? That's just an overarching question, not one to be answered tonight. No, Josh, I want a detailed in.

Yeah, we'll bring something back. And it might be just we'll have to wait for the next housing production strategy update. Uh, member Matthews.

Well, while we stretch the actual design of the budget committee and what we talk about here, uh, because normally housing production strate, I don't think is a huge piece of it. But I do want to just kind of back up on this and and agree that especially with the home ownership aspect and we talked about this a little bit last time in our council meeting and being much more thoughtful in the way that we of the ratios that we're creating of housing as we develop so much multif family that we've done in recent years and maybe not as much of the middle housing, maybe not as much of the single family. there's no opportunities for people to move from that apartment to the next stage of life and the next stage of life after that, leaving vacancies for people to actually for the lowest income to be able to move into. And so I think that as part of the housing production strategy, I say as a general comment since we seem to be doing that, uh it'd be nice on the the housing production strategy meeting to have some of that um conversation and that data come back on what is a healthy ratio of housing to be creating as far as apartments to middle housing to single family and where are we fitting in that type of design right now.

Uh thank you member Matthews. Other comments, questions, issues to be raised at this time? I am not seeing any. Okay. Um so thank you everyone for the discussion. Um the uh we now move to the final topic of the evening which is public testimony for future budget issues. Um is there anyone present who would like to provide testimony regarding items that are not on the agenda? Okay, I don't see any. As um as we head toward adjournment, yay, for the evening, I wanted to remind everyone the next budget committee meeting will be held next week, Wednesday, April 29th, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. The budget committee will review the good governance and safe and healthy result area budgets as well as conduct a public hearing on the pop possible uses of state revenue sharing and as we know a continuation of the CIP convers conversation and um to everyone's glee um budget committee chair Paul Tigan will be back and with that I think we're done for the evening. Uh we are adjourned.