City Council - Regular Meeting

Minute. One minute. Good evening. Thank you for coming to Albony City Council work session Monday, January 26, 2026 at 4 p.m. I now call the meeting to order and please have a roll call.

Councelor Newton, present. Councelor Thompson here. Councelor Van Drimlan. Councelor Mloud present. Councelor Smith here. Councelor McGee is excused. And Mayor Johnson here. Johnson, do you come on? Councelor Grimmlin had sent an email earlier that he's with a sick child. Okay. He mentioned he did mention he's going to be on online, but they must have changed it. Public comment is the time for Al residents.

Can I interject? I'm sorry. if you can indulge me for a moment. Um, we have a happy coincidence today on this council. Um, we have two members. We're having a birthday. And in the spirit of birthday, kind of like at school, I brought I brought mini cupcakes for everyone. I'm just going to pass them along. Thank you.

I'm I'm excited for cupcakes. Thank you. I'll get one after the meeting. Thank you, councelor Thompson. That's so kind of you. Councelor Thompson. Thanks for that moment.

Public comment is a time for Albony residents to speak and for counselors to listen. The council won't discuss topics or make decisions during public comment, but we'll take comments and requests under advisement. Speakers are limited to three minutes and must follow the council's rules and observe the standard same standards of the quorum. If unable to do so, you'll be asked to step down and take a seat in the audience for the rest of the meeting. When you get to the microphone, please give your name, state whether or not you live in the city of Alb. Written public comment was submitted by Cameron Salomar Das. Community survey results. Okay, sign up one.

Thank you. Mark Stewart. Yes, please have a seat.

Uh, good afternoon. My name is Mark Stewart. Uh, I live over on Queen Avenue. I've been in Albany for about four and a half, five years now. uh considering the gravity of what I would like to address with the council. Uh I do not possess the oratory skills or the requisite um even the requisite education to do so within the three minute allotted time period. Uh if you would like to hear me out in my entirety all today, I am happy to do so. Uh if not, uh I can also come back in weekly and try to pick up where I leave off. I leave that up to you guys.

Would you feel like submitting written comment? Uh how would uh how would that function? He'll get that information to you. Well, you send us written comment. We can read it and be prepared for it when you come back. Be pretty lengthy. Is it is that all right?

That's right. Yes, you actually still have a minute and 50 seconds, but I'm offering to you send us public comment through him or council's website and we'll read it for the next meeting and prepare for you. That might work out better. Um, in the minute and a half that I got left, I'll let you get to know me a little bit. Uh, I am medically retired from the army. I served one tour in Iraq. uh made the rank of sergeant and I've been just trying to live quietly and peacefully under the radar in my house. Um and it's given me a great deal of time to think and reflect and consider things and I will not waste any more of your time than I have to. I will write that up and submit it that uh I think I saw the link online for for that. So I will try to submit that and for consideration in your next meeting. Thank you.

Come back and talk to us. Okay. Absolutely. Thanks for your service. By the way, 11 years 10 years in the Navy. I I I got to be honest. I I've been feeling real bad of late when anyone thanks me for my service. Understand. But thank you for Thank you.

Next on the agenda is Community survey results, presentation by Matt Harrington, and FCO information. All right. Good afternoon, everyone. Um as most of you know the National Community Survey or NCS uh is a product from a company called PCO and we um have used it in the last uh three time periods 2020 um 2023 and again last year uh to provide a statistically valid survey um of national benchmarked data in a in a um for information about our community and community sentiment. So, this is, like I said, our third time using this product. Um, as in 2023, uh, bilingual invitations, uh, and reminder postcards were mailed out to, uh, 1,000 randomly selected uh, addresses in each council ward. Um, oh, sorry. Um, in each council ward. And then in addition, uh there was an open participation study or survey that um people were able to fill out online. It didn't matter if they were invited to the statistical survey. So uh participation in both of those was promoted through posters in our email newsletter, social media, and other um community partners networks. So, we hope that these results offer some more valuable data as you guys go forward with uh the strategic plan update. Um, this will provide some more feedback

from the community and you can find all of the the uh report summaries from the past three PCO runs plus some other older ones where we used other methodology and that sort of thing available on our website. There's a link on the homepage or you can just go to alorggon.govs survey. And uh with that I'll turn it over to Grace from PCO and she'll lead you through the rest of the summary.

Thank you so much and thank you for the opportunity to be here. Today I'll walk through the results of the 2025 National Community Survey for Albany. This presentation will take about 15 to 20 minutes. followed by time for questions. Before I begin, I want to thank Matt Harrington. He was our primary contact throughout the survey process and provided thoughtful feedback every step of the way. So before we dive into results, I'd like to share a brief background of PCO and the National Community Survey. PCO is an online engagement platform that helps local governments gather feedback from residents and employees. Today, hundreds of organizations across the country use PCO for informing strategic planning, budgeting, and empowering resident voices. PCO merged with National Research Center or NRC back in 2019, and NRC is best known for our national benchmarking surveys such as the National Community Survey or the NCS, the National Employee Survey, and the Community Assessment for Older Adults among others. We also partner closely with the International City Managers Association and the National League of Cities as well as many other local government and academic leaders. So, one key benefit of this survey is the ability to compare your residents ratings with those from communities across the country. This comparison helps show how local services and other community characteristics perform relative to other communities in our database. Our national benchmark database currently includes about 400 communities total, and you'll see the resulting comparisons throughout this presentation. So, I want to highlight that there are several ways that these results can be

used. As Matt mentioned, most communities use the survey data to track trends in resident opinion over time and inform their budgeting and strategic planning. The results also allow you to compare your results against the national benchmark. And as we walk through these findings, our hope is that they spark ideas for where you may want to explore further. So, a little bit about the survey itself. The NCS is a standardized five-page survey that measures resident opinions about their community and local government. It organizes questions into 10 key facets of community livability, which are on the screen here. And these are what research shows is most important to overall quality of life. These facets also provide a comprehensive view of resident perspectives and generally align with city departments, making it easy for staff to find results that they might use. So an overview here of how the survey was conducted in 2025. This was Alby's third time conducting the NCS with previous iterations in 2020 and 2023. We started by selecting survey recipients. So to begin, a list of addresses was purchased from the US Postal Services and cleaned using city boundary files to remove any addresses that were outside of Al Albany. From that list, 3,000 households were randomly selected to receive the survey invitations. So those selected households received two mailings beginning on September 16th, and the survey remained open for about six weeks. The first mailing was a postcard invite with a link to the survey as well as a QR code to encourage online participation. And the following mailer was a survey packet containing a cover

letter survey and postage paid return envelope. The survey was available in both Spanish and English and all l all mailings included uh both languages for those instructions. In total, 364 completed surveys were returned, resulting in a 13% response rate. Um, which in comparison, the average we're seeing or we saw in 2025, um, was right around 11 to 12%. So 13% is a great response rate, and that results in a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. The results were then weighted using census and American community survey data to ensure that results better reflect Albanesey's uh demographic makeup. In addition to the random sample, as Matt mentioned, the city also shared an online version of the survey that was available to all residents and this was open for two weeks in October and received a total of 114 responses. This presentation and the main report are primarily based on the 364 responses from the randomly selected survey. However, results from the open participation survey are included in the full online report. So now let's dive into the survey results. In the survey, we have two questions that ask directly about those 10 facets of community livability I mentioned earlier. The first asks residents to rate the quality of each and you can see those results here. So, this represents the percentage of respondents that rated each category here as excellent or good. Looking at these results, the highest rated areas were parks and recreation, natural environment, utilities, and safety. While the relatively lower rated areas were mobility, economy, and

inclusivity, and engagement, all quality ratings included here scored lower than the benchmark with the exception of utilities, which was similar. So, the second question asks about those same 10 facets of livability, but it's centered on how important residents think it is for the community to focus on each facet in the coming two years. Here you'll see that economy, safety, and utilities emerged as top priorities while education, arts and culture, inclusivity and in inclusivity and engagement and mobility were less prioritized by residents. So we ask about both the quality and the importance to use the quality importance gap chart which we'll see on the next slide. So this chart essentially compares both the quality and importance. Um it is also included in the report and it helps us determine which areas are relatively higher in importance and lower in quality to residents. So as shown here, economy had the largest gap, meaning it was lowest in quality and highest in importance. Inclusivity and engagement also showed notable gaps. This chart is one of many ways that you can interpret your data and can be used to help a community determine which areas may need additional focus. Um, and we will certainly be covering the two topics with the largest gaps today. So, of the 123 survey items for which residents provided evaluative ratings, 50 were similar to the national benchmark and 73 or lower. Here ratings are considered similar if they were are within 10 points of the national average and higher or lower if they are more than 10 points different from the average.

In terms of trends when compared to Albanesey's 2023 results in 2025 92 received similar ratings to the previous survey and 31 uh decreased from 2022. So, moving now into the highlights of our findings, I want to point out a few things that stood out to us as survey researchers, but I want to mention that there is a lot of additional data in the full report that we won't cover today. Um, but today's presentation will focus on a few areas we found to be most noteworthy. However, I strongly encourage you to dive into the full report when you have a chance. So key finding number one, residents value a high quality of life in Albany. About six in 10 residents positively rated Albany as a place to live and the overall quality of life in the city. In addition, about seven in 10 plan to remain in the city for the next 5 years and would recommend living in Albany to someone who asked. Key finding number two, residents continue to feel safe in their neighborhoods and community spaces. So here about nine and 10 residents, a strong majority indicated that they feel safe in their neighborhood during the day while about eight and 10 residents expressed feeling safe in the downtown and commercial area during the day. About eight and 10 residents also felt safe from fire, flood, or other natural disaster, while roughly seven and 10 ft safe from violent crime. Lastly, about six and 10 felt safe from property crime, a rating that was lower than the national benchmark, but positively all ratings here remained

stable with the previous survey results from 2023. When asked about safety services, more than eight and 10 residents positively viewed fire services, while about seven in 10 residents expressed satisfaction with ambulance and EMS services, as well as fire prevention and education. About six in 10 residents positively rated police and sheriff services and animal control, although both of these did experience a decline since 2023. And police and sheriff services scored below the national benchmark. All other ratings here were on par with the benchmark.

If you don't mind me asking what is the number three, economic health and employment opportunities may show room for growth. If you don't mind me asking, what was the national benchmark for? So, when asked about the economy, a majority of residents rated the overall quality of business and service establishments positively, about six and 10. About half of residents expressed satisfaction with the vibrancy of the downtown and commercial area. And roughly four in 10 residents gave positive ratings to shopping opportunities. The variety of business and service establishments and Albany as a place to work. Excuse me, Grace.

Relatively lower ratings were reported for Albany as a place to visit and employment opportunities which was below the national benchmark as well as cost of living. So, a note here, it um is important to note that local government does not have direct control over all of these factors, but together they do paint a picture of how residents perceive the local economy overall. Key finding four, environmental services receive strong ratings while views of the natural environment are mixed. So about eight and 10 residents positively rated yard waste pickup um while about six and 10 were satisfied with recycling services and air quality. Nearly half of residents gave excellent or good ratings to the city's cleanliness, the preservation of natural areas and open space in Albany. I see a hand raised there. I had a question regarding the police rating. What is the national average?

Yeah, we Yeah, we don't disclose the natural or the national average specifically. Um, but just keep in mind that if you are similar, that means you're within 10 points of that national average. If you are below, you are over 10 points uh lower than the national average. Also, thank you. Can I make one request just because I don't know why, but it's it's getting me. Um, it's not Albany, it's Albony. We're all bunny rabbits. This the city used to be all bunnies. That's why we're called all bunny, not Albany. Now, now we have humans here. But, you know, that's how I get people. It's only rabbit.

Thank you so much. That is my um

Nebraska accent coming out. We like the long a Albany. Thank you so much. All right. So, um, continuing. So, about four in 10 residents were satisfied with water resources, which marked a decrease since 2023. With the exception of yard waste pickup and recycling, all ratings included here were below the national benchmark. So residents provide mixed feedback on Alby's transportation system and infrastructure. About six and 10 residents positively rated the ease of travel by car in the city. About half were satisfied with the ease of public parking, the ease of walking, and traffic flow on major streets. About four in 10 appreciated the ease of travel by bicycle while just two in 10 positively viewed the ease of public transportation favorably. All ratings here were similar to the national benchmark with the exception of the ease of walking. Regarding mobility services, about half were satisfied with street lighting, traffic signal timing along with street cleaning. About four and 10 residents viewed traffic enforcement and snow removal favorably. Um, snow removal and street cleaning were rated below the national benchmark, while all other items here were similar to the benchmark. Number six, lower ratings for community connection may point to a need for a renewed focus on engagement. So about half of residents in Albany uh positively rated it as a place to raise

children, which was a decrease since 2023. Around four and 10 expressed satisfaction with overall neighborliness. About gave positive ratings to the sense of community in Albany, attracting people from diverse backgrounds and the sense of community or civic pride. Um the sense of community in Albany did decrease significantly since 2023. Albany, excuse me. Only about one quarter of residents express satisfaction with resident connection and engagement along with K through2 education, both of which decreased from 2023 results. All ratings included here scored below the national benchmark. So, in addition to the standard survey questions, Albany asked a set of unique custom questions. We'll dive into these results next. First, we asked residents what would encourage them to attend public meetings more often. About 77% indicated that offering meetings remotely would encourage them to attend, while more than half expressed interest in meetings held outside of standard weekday work hours. About one quarter were more likely to attend if meetings were held at a city facility, at a location with food and beverages available, or at any location within uh within the city. Residents were also asked how important it is to increase protection or improve natural resources and recreation areas in Albany. About eight and 10 residents said it was essential or very important to protect or improve significant

wetlands or to protect or improve trees and native vegetation in the city. Around 710 rated it as essential or very important to improve and habitat corridors and improve shaded paths and sidewalks. So here a quick summary of results. Residents value a high quality of life in Albany. Residents continue to feel safe in their neighborhood and community spaces. Economic health and employment opportunities may show room for growth. Environmental services receive strong ratings while views of the natural environment are mixed. Residents provide mixed feedback on Alby's transportation system and infrastructure and lower ratings for community connection may point to a need for a renewed focus on engagement. Um the city can continue engaging with residents on Poco to learn more about the community opinions outlined today. Albanese Pocal Profiles currently has 1300 residents subscribed creating an opportunity for ongoing feedback. Um, and this is included in your current subscription. So, it supports quick polls, surveys, and live events. PCO staff are readily available to support the survey design or engagement efforts as needed. With that, I'd like to thank you all so much for your time and open it up for questions. council.

We didn't get a copy of this report in advance. I haven't seen it at least. Neither do I. I also really wish we would have gotten these slides in advance as well. It would have been nice to digest this information. Give us a chance to prepare questions as well. Absolutely. Also, snow removal. That's kind of not really a thing. So, I'm happy it decreased because personally, I'm not a fan of snow. Is there a way we can get a copy of these slides? End of the report with the cross tabs maybe.

Absolutely. So those cross tabs are offered online only because they are a bit more interactive, but we do offer a PDF overview um that excludes those comparisons, but we have all demographic comparisons available online. Um and we also included the three city council ws as a uh comparison option too. Council,

thank you. Um I am wondering if you know why people were responding that um it seems like they think that meetings are not available virtually or in city buildings when we're talking to you online from city hall. Can you give us some insight into that and outside work hours?

Yeah, you know, I I can't speak to why exactly they responded that way, but that is something that you could certainly dig deeper on. Um, so I think that is certainly an area that's curious. I I wondered that as well myself when I was joining remotely. Um, that maybe that is an indicator that residents just don't know that it is available to join remotely. So perhaps an an opportunity for more communication and um digging deeper on that subject.

One Oh, go ahead. Oh, I was going say the one uh that really stuck out to me was the community pride, how that went down and like community engagement, involvement, how that I'm curious how the question was formulated, how the information was presented. Um, I'm not sure I would I would Yeah, I'd love to get access to this online version and really dig through all this data. This is something I personally love to do. Um, but I'm curious if you could speak to that question. Yeah. Um, that was regarding which rating exactly? I couldn't

the community engagement, community pride. Gotcha. Gotcha. Um, yes. So, again, I can't speak to exactly why residents rated something a certain way. Um, but those are certainly indicators of areas where you can dig deeper. And in terms of the survey question, um, we'd be happy to provide you a copy of the survey verbatim as well so that you can read through how the question was posed. That'd be fantastic. Thank you.

That goes to my question. And I wanted to water resources had a very low rating and it was down from before. How was that question posed? What are they what what water resources are being asked about?

Yeah, there is um a parenthetical for that question. So that would ask about water resources specifically. Um just read this. The parenthetical indicates that those are um one moment as the survey loads here. So water resources are outlined as beaches, lake, lakes, ponds, riverways, etc.

Thank you. And the question was um please rate each of the following in the Albany community with the scale option of excellent, good, fair, poor, or don't know. Thanks, Councelor Thompson. Councelor Van Dremel. Oh, he's not there. I'm sorry. Anybody else? I'm I'm online, but I don't. Okay. Thank you. Hey, thank you very much for your presentation. Are you coming back? Thank you very much and have a wonderful night. Are you coming coming back sometime in the future or or Matt's gonna Matt will share that with us when he gets ready for it? Are you coming back sometime in the future? You are. Sorry, I couldn't quite hear.

Are you coming back sometime in the future? Um, I'm not planning to, but I'd be more than happy to a answer any questions via email. So, it is just gracefull us. Email me if you'd like um any of this information. I'm happy to share it. Uh, can you just send us this information? This is me asking you to send us the information and and the results of the survey are available online and to us and to the public currently. All right. Thank you.

Thank you very much for being here this afternoon. Next on on next on tonight's agenda is proposed amendments to the Auburn Municipal Code AMC 2.27 Community Development Commission, Caitlyn Martin and an Katlin. Thank you, mayor and counselors. I'm Anan Catelan with the community development department and Caitlyn Martin. Um, so in December, staff uh came to council and presented proposed amendments to AMC 2.27 for the community development commission. And those amendments included reducing the size of the commission, allowing for less restrictive composition, establishing term limits, and adding conflict of interest provisions. Um during that discussion, council expressed interest in having commissioners appointed by the full council um rather than solely by the mayor and directed staff to return with options reflecting this approach. Um so we have provided a handout for you guys um outlining two appointment options as well as two term options and we would just like your guys' feedback and what you guys would like to see when we come back for action on this in February. Thank you. Um for the I'm looking at the uh the options proposed to us for the membership number. Um I I would be apt to um to go for option one with the seven members um as well as um option two for the term limits of uh two consecutive three-year terms.

I like both option ones personally. Okay. I'm down with three consecutive three-year terms. Nine years. Yeah, sometimes some good violence, sometimes

I agree. Um, option one, seven members. And I mean, I'm I'm just glad for the change, you know, not this is not hard and fast, but mostly option one. and and yeah, mostly option one three consecutive three-year terms because if someone's doing a good job and they want to continue um we just gone through a round of appointing folks and it's it's hard to give folks and so I want to give that person a chance to stay on you know subject to the council. Yeah. And the appointing council member can always remove them if needed if if they so desired. Yeah, correct. Did councelor Van Gremlin see this

in the packet? It's in this one of yours. Not in that form, but those options. Did you see the options, Council Gremlin? Uh, yeah. I would I would concur on option one personally. Okay. Councelor Smith,

I'll be the outlier here. I I uh like the nine member option uh and the the nine member option and the three three-year terms uh for the reason that um this is a very important commission. It's different from the other ones. Um they're all important. This is important in a different way. Um it we're doing out um carefully handing out um government money to um social service agencies and they need serious consideration. I think the broader the the options of of people to review that those uh applications is better than a than a smaller review. If we're talking about I know we're talking about the the problems of getting a quorum. A quorum of four people looking at a a third of a million dollars to hand out to for very important services is not as good in my opinion as five people. Um so um and we we have the opportunity of of appointing people from a broader spectrum of personal experience and interests. I'm I'm going to stick with the top and I'll just carry that through for the three or three consecutive terms. It takes a long time to get to understand the system and to understand what each of the agencies do and having that kind of background and the experience and the opportunity to evaluate those services over that length of time is um is better. It's it makes for a better distribution of money. Experience is important. Um, I support the the nine because I know how difficult it is to get a quorum. Um, and also having more people with their eyes on those val grants, the grant requests. I think it makes more

sense to do the nine. But I do not I I two consecutive three-ear terms is I believe not enough. But you're right about the experience. So I'll go ahead and capitulate to that. the the two I I'll support the three consecutive terms of three years. Yes,

I'm I'm supporting the two consecutive three-year terms. I think that um while it is important that our our members have experience, I think it's also important that we refresh the um uh who is who is on this body. We we need more um more fresh faces um more often to have a fresher set of um input. That was clear as mud, wasn't it?

Yeah. So, we would like to bring back an ordinance that you are willing to pass at the end of February. And I wonder if anyone has any other thoughts after hearing everyone provide their thoughts on these two items. I think the nine for me for me because I've been on it for several years. I think the nine makes more sense because the quorum it's hard to get a quorum already with with nine. So I think the five would be great. I'd like to hear from councelor McGee. She's very wise. Not here. I know. But we have until the end of February. So, can we have a conversation with council McGee on the dis before we like the next work session?

Uh, I guess we could come back if if there's room on the agenda. I think you're having strategic plan. Um, I I don't know that we have an opportunity to come back. I mean, we can also wait and bring this back later and and get some input on February 28th, I think, is the date that we were planning to come. um that work 25th or yeah whatever your second February meeting is. Well, it's the same time we have the community development commission too.

Just one more thought on the membership number. Um I'm I'm opposed to the to the option two for the membership number simply because I don't think that one person should have um appointments to onethird of the body. That's that's another reason why I I'm opposing option two. It sounds like we're we have a four votes for seven members and the the rest the other choice is three or three or two three.

Well, we will bring back the majority uh what we heard tonight and if we're able to hear from councelor McGee, we can add to that and then if there are any other questions about the other amendments, this would be a great time to ask questions about those. um so that you know we are sure to bring back the detailed ordinance. So we brought we provided a draft still with options in your packet. Could you please share about the conflict so people? So, um, Caitlyn discussed this at the last meeting, but we proposed adding the conflict of interest provisions to the municipal code because, um, this past year when we requested approval from HUD, the HUD attorney didn't want anyone who had a conflict of interest, which in HUD's mind is anyone who sits on a board, it it doesn't matter whether there's a financial conflict of interest, didn't want them even scoring the application. So that's one of the main jobs of the community development commission and so we thought we should just go ahead and add that to the municipal code. Um we do have right now we have nine of 10 members on the community development commission and two out of the nine will would no longer be able to serve under this. Um, just for your information, I think we have pretty good attendance at the community development commission meetings if that makes a difference, but um,

it's one less meeting for me. I agree with that assessment. I I believe the conflict of interest um, language should be in the the revised ordinance.

Yeah. We also think making it a little easier to appoint members by having no specific slots to fill will make it a lot easier. And I will say the mayor has done a really good job of trying to appoint members from all the different wards. So that when this converts over to your appointments, um you may find that some of the current members that are serving, you know, are are in your word. And there's no requirement that you appoint somebody from your word. So we hope that'll make it a little bit easier to have appointments.

Any other questions or thoughts? Okay. Well, we'll bring back the majority and we will check in with councelor McGee. My last meeting is in June. Well, we can talk about that. You can resign uh before then. It's fine. Get the current round out. Yeah. Yep. Okay. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Six. Formally document extended enterprise zone uh abatements. Valore LLC. Sophie Adams will be speaking 7 to 11 in your packet.

Good afternoon. Um, as you said, this is an item looking at formerly documenting the extended enterprise zone abatement for Valis score. Um, first I'd just like to apologize that there were some typos in the packet that was published. That's been corrected now. Um, so you should have an accurate copy emailed out to you earlier today as well as I believe one on the dis. So um, the the numbers that were a typo were just occurred in that second paragraph, but they were accurate everywhere else. So hopefully you had a chance to look at those numbers, but I'll go over them now. So um like it says in the memo, the purpose of this type of item is to support innovation, business recruitment, investment, and job creation through use of uh the tool that we have. Um and it's applied throughout the state called the enterprise zone tool. By now, I think you have all heard me talk and others talk about um Baliscore before, so I won't go into their history again right now. Um other than we've been working with them for several years now um as part of our strategy here at the city of Albany to capture the innovation that's coming out of our nearby universities that are turning into companies and trying to get them to stay here and create jobs here and invest here. So, Valis Squareore purchased a vacant industrial property on Ferry Street. They're planning to invest over $25 million in the buildout of their new facility. You'll see that number has gone up since the last time I was here, not surprisingly. Uh the company will retain its current 15 employees and plans to hire an additional 40 and that's just in the first phase alone. So, um in the future they're looking at closer to a hundred. So, a little bit about the enterprise zone program. It's pretty simple. Um, it's a program that is authorized through state statute and it allows um

designated enterprise zones to offer up to five years of local property tax exemption on new investments in exchange for job creation and that capital investment that um a company makes um within the city. So again, um they're looking at about a $25 million investment, 15, 40 up to 100 new employees by the end of their phases. And um in order to qualify for this additional two years, they make a commitment to pay those new employees um an at least an average of a or at least 150% of the Lynn County's median um wage. So offering to pay or committing to pay a higher wage in exchange to qualify for this additional two years. Um I won't go too far into the weeds on this. I'm happy to answer any questions. Um thinking about those survey results results that we saw earlier. Economy is number one. and um she mentioned that there's not a whole lot that we at the city can do in terms of how people in general feel about the economy in the state level or the nationwide level, but this tool is one thing that we can do to help incentivize uh living wage jobs and companies investing here in Albany. So, um with that, happy to take any questions.

Mr. Smith, uh Lynn County has to weigh in on this, don't they? Yes, thank you. Um so, Council will take action tonight one way or another in order for the um the abatement to be approved. Lynn County commissioners will also have to consider this item. Thompson.

Yeah. Not not a question. Just what leaps out at me is the commitment to the 150% of the Lynn County median wage. I mean that kind of makes it a no-brainer um and an easy an easy decision. Um well okay not an easy decision because you are we are asking them you are giving up something so not easy but uh it smooths the path with that commitment to those kind of jobs. Councelor Van Gentleman do you have anything? You're online. Uh no no specific input. Um I'm in support of this though. Any other counselors? Councor

Go ahead. Councelor Newton, I hadn't formulated the thought yet.

Okay. Um I I like that this supports a healthy economy um uh as part of our strategic plan. I like that it pays um pays workers more. Uh I I do like that I went to the groundbreaking for for Valiscore. Um and and I'm I'm looking forward to having them in our in our community. Um, however, I don't really like giving tax breaks. Um, I I want to see I want to see taxes pay for road repairs. Um, and so I'm I'm having trouble with this.

Thanks for that, Councelor Newton. Um, I concur. So yes, I understand like economic incentives um and that that it's needed. I will say my one little snide remark was that Valor came before the House Economic Development Committee and said they were from Corvalis. I was like you guys are now from Albany. I'm really sorry. Like please rep your your your city now. Well, they're from here. They Well, they're start I'm like okay.

I think they did say that they were really happy to come to Albany though. They they better be the next they come and come come and discuss things at the state level, they better say Albany is the best. I'm kidding. Um I'm kidding. No, but so I understand the um kind of the icky feeling of like doing kind of like what what can be seen as like a tax break, but there is also the benefits of having um higher wage jobs here. So I understand, but it, you know, still just is feels a little weird, especially when we're, you know, have crumbling roads and infrastructure that, you know, are we still have to pay fees and stuff.

Yeah, there's still going to be and and also hopefully this will attract more people to live here. Um, which will then increase the tax base and so we'll see. This feels like a moment for a reminder that a reminder that property taxes don't pay for road repairs. I'm I'm aware. However, highwage jobs pay higher income taxes and that gets spread across a much bigger pan. So what would we like her want to bring it back? Councelor Smith may also mayor may also point out that there's they're also paying the city services fee as well. Those those who well the company itself will pay that

and also permits and inspection fees and all the things that go with it and SDC's and they may have the opportunity someday to pay a transportation utility fee which would pay for road repair. So bring it back what? When's your when? Oh, you got to talk to the county first, right? Uh it'll appear on the consent agenda on Wednesday and um then depending on the action there, I'll get it on the schedule for the county commissioners after that point. Okay. So Dr. McGee will be back then as well. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Next, uh business from the council. Um who did I start with last time? I'll start with one last time. Councelor Smith,

I don't have anything today. Council van Drumlin. No new business for me tonight. Council Mloud. Yeah, I have a couple things. Um question for the city manager. Um do we have an update on the request? Uh well, I have a couple things. This is the first. Do we have an update on the request for a report of cleanup activities and invasive weed control at Tina Landing Park? Yes, I can I can I can give you some information now or we can wait till Wednesday night when Director Leedine is back. But she has given me some information and if uh if you'd like to hear from me rather than her, I'm happy to run through it.

I' I'd love to hear whatever is more u the more comprehensive report, but if you could maybe give us a a little highlight, that would be great. I'll give her what she's given me and then if you have any questions for her on Wednesday, we can pose those. Perfect.

So about uh with respect to the camp out at Tina, there was a significant cleanup there about five years ago. U and Director Leane will have it on the cleanup list for early this spring again. U she points out that we need to dry out more before the proper equipment can get back into that camp to do the job. Um in general, we put resources into uh more visible areas because we see them and we get more patron complaints. Uh and then earlier this past summer, uh we spent about $20,000 on a cleanup west of the entrance to the park. And this is before we got the money added into uh this year's budget for cleanups. Staff do pick up camps and cleanup uh throughout the year as they can. They tackle the smaller ones these days and um Apex, who's a contractor for us, uh tackles the larger ones that have really drained our resources in the past. Um, as we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, as I mentioned to you when this came up, we've already used 37,000 of the 80,000 that was budgeted. And we will ant we do anticipate easily exhausting that amounts that amount once it dries out and we can uh safely and more affordably get back into the areas. At Tina, we service the public areas and restroom areas every day during the summer and approximately three days a week in the winter as we don't have the temporary staff during the winter. Um, and then also we are waiting to hear from the police department how often they are back there also with vehicles to do uh camp scouting missions. Now that's summarizing cleanup. As far as ivy and invasive uh plants go, our uh city forester has uh advised that we

have had several volunteer events in the past to tackle ivy both at Tina Landing and and elsewhere around town. Uh and Jay is on the Benton County Weed Management uh area steering committee, which is an organization that helps put those on. We also have a adopt a park program. Uh, one person was fairly active on a more regular basis pulling ivy from trees. It's been a while since uh that work party has taken place out there. And for ivy, it is better to mechanically or by hand remove ivy from trees than to use chemicals due to the waxy layer on ivy leaves. Uh, this is the first complaint about ivy at Tequina Landing that Jay can remember. Uh but maybe it's because our previous adopt a park effort was um that adopter was more active in the area. Um similarly, the crew notes that they tackle issues that they see when they're out and about or whenever we get reports on an area um and adopt a park. We'll talk to them about adding that area to an upcoming work party in the spring. But even if we could have eyes on all parts of the parks and open spaces, you know, we just don't have enough people to do the work. And I can't uh yeah, I can't uh I think that's a common problem in cities cities around around Oregon. Uh so that's the summary for you and we'll be happy to if that raises any questions for you, we can address them Wednesday.

Well, I'd love to know when the next cleanup event is and how we can um publicize that. I would love to be there and I'd love to ask um other members of our community to be there as well. Can we u can we get that information about when the next cleanup is? Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Trodson. Um next, I'd like to ask uh or I'm sorry, I would like to thank the mayor for hosting a town hall with Senator Mkeley and Representative Binham and for taking questions from the audience by a random drawing. I felt that was a fair way to handle the questions from the audience. So, thank you for for doing that and um doing it in that manner. Lastly, um I wanted to uh talk about last night I attended a candlelight vigil outside the courthouse for Alex Prey who was tragically shot and killed by federal agents this past weekend in Minnesota. His death is a heartbreaking loss and it reminds us how important it is to stand with vulnerable members of our community. As a city council, we need to have a real conversation about how we can support our immigrant neighbors here in Albany. I've shared with the city manager a resolution drafted by local leader Nancy Greenman that offers practical steps that we can take. I know that there uh may be some concerns about some of the details included in that resolution. And uh I wanted everyone to know that this is a moment for us to come together, not just to make promises, but to keep them and to show up in meaningful ways for our community. I'm an Army veteran, and in basic training, we were taught never to obey an unlawful order. These federal agents are coming into our communities and committing crimes against our residents. I don't see this as lawful. It's unacceptable and we cannot turn a blind eye. We have a responsibility to protect the people who live here, even if that means protecting them from the federal government. The resolution focuses on key actions such as creating a bilingual web page in English and Spanish with clear information on immigrant rights and available resources.

seeking grant funding in partnership with community organizations to provide services for those impacted by ICE actions and taking any other steps that the council deems appropriate to uphold the spirit of that resolution. This is about more than words. It's about action. Albany should be a city where every person feels safe, supported, and valued. And I'm asking all of us to work together to make this happen. Uh let's take the steps to show our community that we are committed. not someday, but starting now. So, Mr. Trodson, I'd like to ask that city staff review that resolution that was sent to you, uh, make any revisions needed and bring it back to council for consideration. Um, when do you think that can happen?

Well, I'll be able to email you all after we take a look at it and let you know when that is. It is there any way we could we could bring this back on Wednesday? If it's pretty simple and straightforward, I we probably can. It would also be good if we noticed it in a agenda packet for a meeting, which at this point it hasn't been, but that doesn't that doesn't mean we can't bring it back Wednesday. I would consider it um an emergency resolution and I'd love to see it um acted upon with urgency. We'll look at it right quick. Thank you, sir. And that's all I have for today. Thank you, Councelor Thompson. I don't have anything.

Councelor Newton, nothing today, but I'll share stuff Wednesday. And I have nothing today also. I'll share stuff on Wednesday as well. Um, with that, we'll go to city manager report. And I have nothing other than to advise you or remind you that you have an ARRA meeting uh on Wednesday as well. So, after the city council meeting,

correct? So item eight on our agenda, recess to executive session to consult with council concerning legal rights and duties of public body with regard to current litigation or litigation likely to be filed in accordance with OS192.66 sub paragraph H sub paragraph 2 paragraph H in accordance with the OS 192.66 66 sub paragraph 2 sub paragraph E to conduct deliberate deliberations with persons designated by the governing body to negotiate real property transactions. It is now 457.

Did city manager have an update or no? He already did. Oh, he said he had nothing. Okay. You have anything? Excuse me. Um, so I will see you all um Wednesday night at 6 PM here in Chambers. And with that, I'll join the meeting.