City Council - Regular Meeting

Well, good evening. It is Thursday, August 27th. I want to welcome you all to this session of the Ridgefield City Council, as I call it to order. As you rise and join us for the Pledge of Allegiance, please from the back, feel free. This isn't a Methodist church. You can come forward. We can sit in the front pews. We're not going to call on you to testify. But with that, would you please rise and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance led by Councillor Fevella. All right. Please be seated. And I wasn't joking. Please come up. Fill in. All right. Miss Julie, would you please call the roll?

Council Member Davis.

Present.

Council Member Fevella. Here. Council Member Wells. Here. Council Member Burkle.

Present.

Council Member Hamilton. Here. Mayor Pro Tem Chipman. Here. Mayor Cole.

Here. Thank you. Mr. Stewart, any late changes to the agenda tonight?

Yes, Mayor, one late change. That's for ordinance number 1497, an ordinance of the city of Ridgefield adopting a moratorium within the corporate boundaries of the city on the filing, acceptance, processing, and or approval of applications or permits for any new gasoline service station facilities. We would add that to business item number, forgive me, business item number four.

Number four.

Correct.

Oh, yeah, there it is. OK, cool. All right, we got that changed. Thank you very much. Looks like some of you guys are here for a certain purpose or another tonight. We are, we're here tonight to conduct some business, but before we do that, we're gonna take a few moments and recognize somebody who is, I think, very important and very dear to all of us as we celebrate Chief Kathy Doriot. As she... Well get your clappers and your Kleenex ready because there's a lot more where that's gonna come from. But we're gonna take a few moments and do that and the first thing we'd like to do is just call up members of RPD to come up as a presentation of a gift for her. With that we'll turn it over to Lieutenant Marvitz and you can come up to the podium, sir.

This is actually about you, so. It's not always about us. I know.

Yeah.

So we'll be short and sweet, but this is from the RPOA. We just want to be able to recognize your life of service. So 37 years, so that's the first time said here. Chief Dorian has served 37 years here for the Ridgefield community only. That is a rare thing in law enforcement to serve 37 years, let alone in the one department. So you'll hear stories on stories, but she has dedicated her life to this town. She loves it, and she absolutely grew up in it, So we want to be able to give this flag as a representation, sorry, of the RPOA. So we appreciate your service. Thank you. So that's from us.

Thank you.

I'm going to talk, but I don't know if I want to talk seven times. I've got to work it out here.

Thank you, everybody. No words from members of the Guild at all? We're just, okay. Well, don't go too far, Chief, because you probably need to be just closer here, because there's a lot coming your way. We took the time, members of council, we got together and we thought we can't just leave you empty-handed as well and you're gonna probably leave with an armful tonight. But on behalf of all of council, we'll invite you to come up. We have a presentation of just a gift for you that we got for you. Everyone knows that Chief is a big fan of Disney. You can, yes. Open it. Yes. Yes, go ahead. Read privately. Whatever you want to do.

I'll hold that for you.

She wrote the book, right?

You know, I do have to thank my team because there have been moments in my history where my office has been pretty Disney-fied. I just walk in and just sit there.

I don't always do well in adulting. Thank you. Aww.

Aww.

Yeah, and you don't want to take that with you.

You come back with more swag than you need, right? Yeah, you bet. Thank you. Thank you again. At this time, I'd like members of council, I'd like to invite you all to say a few words if you'd like, give you the floor. So I don't know if there's anybody who's itching to go first. Okay, Councilor Burke, we'll let you go first.

I would just like to say, To the very, very best. You are about to enter a remarkable part of your life. Enjoy it. We appreciate everything you've done for us here in Ridgefield. You're very, very special.

I'm not a guy of many words, but Kathy, you've run a wonderful journey since you graduated in 1984 from the Ridgefield High School. She graduated with my oldest daughter. So staying in the community and serving our community, and I know that you will still stay here from here on out. And we really appreciate you. I appreciate you. We haven't been real close, but we still had a bonding between us for all of the years. Thank you.

I think your journey here has been very unique. I don't know of another police chief that grew up in a community that then went on to serve and become the chief of police in the community, Kathy. So I think it's very special, and I think you have done a wonderful job for us. So thank you very much.

All right, I am the crier on council, so I apologize in advance. I wish I could do better, I can't. I was thinking about this, oh God. I'm sorry. I moved to Ridgefield when I was nine, and I remember you from when I was a little girl. And I remember always knowing, like there's a Mr. Rogers quote about finding the helpers. And I remember always knowing that you were a helper and that you were a safe person that would do anything that she could to help whoever was in front of you. And so I just want to properly thank you for all your service. I'm sure it was not an easy ride. So thank you for always showing up. And I'm done.

I don't necessarily want to follow that one, but you know. No, Chief, it was, the Guild spoke about it as well, like to spend your entire career in one community, the other one in the community that you grew up in is absolutely remarkable. You know, the impact that you've had on Ridgefield is gonna be felt for generations, and so I just really thank you for the service, the heart, the literal heart that you gave us at the stoplight, and just for everything that you've done. So thank you, and congratulations.

I, too, am a crier, and I want you to know, because you'll appreciate it, when Steve was letting us know about the timing of the council meeting, your retirement, I said, please give me enough heads up so I could get tanning and lashes done so if I cry, they're not ruined.

So we are good.

Kathy, I appreciate everything about you. All the sentiments of everybody on council, they've said, just being a woman in the community who has championed your community, you've grown up here, you have spent 37 years with the department, and I remember being in this very room on the interview panel when you became the chief of police and being so enamored with a strong woman in the room and honestly the first woman police chief I've ever met. And I am so excited that your retirement doesn't mean goodbye. It means that I get to enjoy life with you in a different capacity, not in an official capacity and not as chief, but just as Katie and Kathy. I also want to recognize BAM. So if you can come up, BAM, please. As a first responder wife, myself and you, and you also know what it is to be behind the badge as well, and the honor that it comes with that, and being able to support Kathy along this journey, and the missed dinners, and the phone calls, and the vacation mix-ups, and the support that you provided her. It is not easy to do that. So I have a first responder challenge coin. It's a first responder spouse challenge coin for you. And what a great time. Yesterday was Women's Equality Day. And to celebrate two phenomenal women who have just championed this community. And I am excited to watch you on your golf cart with the dogs driving around. hanging out at the splash pad and hearing about all your vacation journeys. So I appreciate you.

All right. Thank you, counselors. At this time, I'd like to invite Chief Doria to come up and say a few words. I know you don't like to do this, but we're going to make you your last official councilman.

I'm going to go with a mic because I hate standing with my back to all of you. So I'll try not to stand with my back to you either. So I'm just very appreciative. It's been a great 37 years. I mean, starting as a reserve back in the day, I didn't know I'd be here today. So that is fantastic. I'm a little bit of a crier, so bear with me. I'll try to maintain my composure. First of all, to my team, I couldn't have done it without them. The Ridgefield Police Department is an amazing group. You guys are very fortunate that they're going to be providing your protection and safety. So just a huge shout out to them. I can't tell them enough. I am confident that they will continue to serve this community and they will continue to protect all of you. So with that, I have a lot of pride. So first, thank you to them. Secondly, my spouse. I don't know that I can say it as eloquently as Councilor Fevella did, but it's true. She's the rock. If it wasn't for her, I think maybe I wouldn't be here today because there were some tough stretches, and she was always the rock. So thank you to Bambi. One of the things you guys may not know, and you don't get to see it always out here in the front, is the mayor and the council. These folks are true believers in public safety. And they want our community to be safe. And there are times that they fight for that in the public. But there are also times where they do a lot of silent supporting in the back. But this group up here, you're not going to find a council that is more supportive of public safety in our police department right here. So please give them a hand. Another group that I'd really love to mention are all my fellow directors, and a lot of them are getting ready to do Hood to Coast, right? So they're not even here tonight, but they were excused, and I understand why, because they got a long couple days ahead of them. But when I talk about Kirk, I mean, we all know he's a numbers wizard, which I am the opposite of that. When you start talking numbers, my eyes roll back in my head, and I start to just not know what's going on. But I'll tell you, every time I needed to lean into him, he was there. He is a wizard when it comes to finances, and there's reasons why we're constantly getting awards for that department. Claire, Claire is a savant, a planning person. I mean, she's very young, but she's meticulous at what she does. Jeanine, our legal, she's new to the group as far as physically, but she's been a support for us. She's amazing. We got a little baby Ryan over there who is sitting where I was not that long ago, just soaking it all in, but he's an amazing part of the board.

All units, stand by for the final radio call for Richfield Police Chief Kathy Dorriott. After more than 37 years of dedicated service to the community she grew up in and called home, Kathy has completed her final watch with the Richfield Police Department. Throughout her distinguished career, Chief Dorriott rose through the ranks as a reserve patrol officer, sergeant, lieutenant, and for the past three years as chief of police. She's walked the beat, answered the call, and led this department through times of growth, challenge, and change. Under her leadership, Ridgefield expanded its ranks and strengthened its ability to serve the community. She spearheaded important advancements, including the department's drone program, the implementation of BIPOC, She's doing its service extended far beyond the borders of Ridgefield. She served as chair of the Clark County Law Enforcement Council, on the board of directors for the Police Activities League, and alongside Titaness 911. In 2018, she launched Ridgefield's Pink Patch Project, now a countywide effort supporting breast cancer awareness research and the pink lemonade project. She received the greater Vancouver chambers virus award, recognizing her exceptional dedication to her profession and community. She has been a pioneer, a regional leader, a mentor to generations of officers and a steady hand through every storm. She led with courage, integrity, compassion, and a deep commitment to public service. Chief, Kathy, my friends, thank you for your lifetime of service, sacrifice, and leadership. Your impact on this department in Ridgefield and the community will continue long after your final shift. Six out of one, Congratulations.

I guess that means I'm done, right? So anyway, my point with all the directors is that, once again, you guys don't always see what's happening behind the scenes, but you have an amazing group of department heads, and they love this community, and they fight for this community, and they work hard. So cut them a break once in a while, because they really are working hard behind the scenes. What do I say about Steve Stewart? No, I adore Steve. He gave me my chance along with the council to kind of come full circle from reserve to chief. Not everybody gets that opportunity. And so I am forever indebted for having that opportunity. Steve is an amazing human to watch as he works. Many of you know Steve in different capacities, but I've been able to see him kind of manage the city from every capacity. And I can tell you that every meeting I go to with him, I learn something. There is something I can take away from that meeting. Sometimes it's what not to do, but most of the time, most of the time, it is what to do right and things to think about and ways to keep the city safe and ways to protect the city. and just kind of make sure that we keep doing what we need to be doing for our community. So I'll always love Steve. He's great. Thank you so much. Deputy City Manager, Leenat Naras. She is not here. She's out getting ready to do her thing at Hood to Coast. But if not for her, I think I would have had some mental health issues for sure. Because there were many tough days that she was the sounding board. She was the one that said, hey, this is, you know, you're good, you're going to be okay, and we're going to get through this. So she was just the sound of reason most of the time. So I owe her a huge thank you. And then I have some entities. There's some people here from now, neighbors on watch. I see Charles back there. Neighbors on Watch is a great community, people that volunteer their time to support the police department. They're your community members. Please make sure that you recognize them when you get a chance and thank them because they spend their free time doing stuff for our community, helping the police department, and they're invaluable. Police Activities League, I'm on that board of directors. Jesse Jimenez, he's here in the audience. He's a fantastic human. He's got it all dialed. He's doing what he needs to do to make sure cops and kids connect. It is so valuable that we are able to reach our youth. And we have some amazing PAL patrol officers on our department that interface with the kids. And I can't say enough about Amanda's here as well. I can't say enough about PAL. So, and Jason Hattrick over there with Mira. So I'm gonna steal the dog, but now you can, but Jason is amazing. He is Kindness 911. So I'm sure that you guys have heard where he encourages acts of kindness in the community. So those are all the people that I partner with in addition to my amazing team at the Ridge Hill Police Department. So I just, the journey wouldn't have been the same without all of you. My last thing is for my friends that are sitting here in the audience, because I have some amazing friends that have nothing to do with law enforcement. And they honestly are my rock. And that's Erin Nolan, her daughter Grace, Sharon, Sandy, Perry, Rhonda, Michelle, all the people from my friend group that are not in law enforcement and are going to be standing with me when I put this all up. So I love you guys all. Thank you very much for being here. If I forgot somebody, I apologize. I did forget somebody. You guys will not believe my high school teacher and coach is here. Yes. That is Terry Weisar. We won the Washington Volleyball State Championship, my senior year. And she was the coach. So I can't say enough that you guys are here. There's so many people in the audience. I wish I could name all of you. But just know from the bottom of my heart, I love you all.

Thank you.

Yeah. Well, thank you, Chief. Thank you. And thank you all for coming today. Whoever decided I should speak right after that last call owes me an apology because I don't know if I can make it through this. But I've been asked to bring this little ceremony to a close. This is just a segment, just a sliver of looking into Kathy's career. And it's a remarkable one, to say the least. I want you to picture for a moment. It's 1989. When Kathy joined Ridgefield Police Department, this was a town of about 1,300 people. 1,300 people, let that sink in for a second. When she started here, and tonight we sit at roughly 17,000 people. Kathy served when it was a small town, when it wasn't even designated a city. She served it when it became the city that we know today, and both to and through that growth. And Kathy might be the only person in this room to say who can say that she served the city when it was a small town and served it also when it's now becoming this growing city that it is. So it's the same community, the same badge, but it really is two different jobs. And along the way, Kathy did every one of those jobs. She wore a reserve officer badge. She was an officer, a sergeant, a lieutenant, a chief for more than 37 years. She never once had to ask what it was like in the other ranks because she lived it. She experienced it herself. She had already been there. She knew the work, she knew the people, she knew the department, and she knew what the growing city was asking of them. The department that Kathy is handing over is a very different department from the one that she joined 37 years ago. We've added things like a detective. We've added two more police sergeants. We've added four more officers and counting, a body camera program, a new station, a drone program, to name a few. And the funding that doesn't, that funding and the efforts that she put in that doesn't evaporate when she walks out the door because she's leaving us in good hands. because of her advocacy through state programs, through advocating for our CJTC certification, through the public safety sales tax we passed this last year. None of that could have been done without Kathy's persistence in her advocacy. She built for the Ridgefield that's coming and the Ridgefield that's here. And that's the hardest kind of leadership that there can be because sometimes you may not be here to see it all pay off, but you did it because it was right and because that was the mission. And then there's the Pink Patch. Kathy started the Pink Patch program here in Ridgefield back in 2018, and nine years later, it's still working. It's still going strong. It's teaming up with local merchants, teaming up to sell collectible patches, and raising money for the Pink Lemonade Project. And it started here in Ridgefield, but now nearly every law enforcement agency in Clark County participates in the program. That tells you something. She sees something worth doing, she gets people around it, and she gets it all to work together. What has always struck me about Kathy, too, is just how approachable she is. You just heard her now. She talks like your neighbor. And sometimes we get caught up in the idea of titles and positions. And police chief is a pretty big title. It's a pretty impressive title. And it can be a pretty intimidating title. But when you talk to her, it's like you're talking to a neighbor. Because beyond her service to the city, she has just grown up here. And she is just that. She's a neighbor. And so I look forward to seeing more of you around town wearing cooler sneakers than you're wearing right now. Warm for you tonight, yeah. But 37 years is a long time to carry a phone that tends to ring only when something has gone wrong. And the rest of us got to sleep through those moments, but she had to meet those calls. and her family didn't get to sleep through those moments either, but she, her family, and BAM, to all of you and what you've done, thank you. Thank you for what you've given. We presented BAM with a spousal coin tonight, and it doesn't begin to cover the 37 years of missed dinners or interrupted weekends or late nights or unexpected calls. but it carries our gratitude with it. And so I hope that you feel that. And just like that coin, I also have a coin that I'd like to present. When I became mayor, I asked to have a coin because I'm a military veteran as well. And this is the challenge coin thing is something you often do. And so I have for you, Kathy, I've been waiting to give this to you. This is the make a difference coin. So again. And again, here's the good news. Again, because she's not going anywhere. She grew up here. She lived here. She's still going to be your neighbor. You're still going to see her. She may not be your chief, but we get Pier Cathy if you're going forward. So she'll be around town. I have every confidence that we'll hear her speak up, that we'll see her be involved. We'll see her around town. And frankly, I'd be disappointed if she didn't. So chief, you leave this department larger, stronger, and ready for what's next. You served this community for more than 37 years. You wore every rank that we can give you, and you're leaving behind programs and institutions that will keep serving Ridgefield long after we're all gone. And that's a huge part of this contribution. So on behalf of the city council, the city of Ridgefield, thank you. Thank you for your service, for your multi-decades of commitment to the city. Thank you for being invested in shaping this community, and we are all better for it. So congratulations on your retirement, Chief. If you'd brace with us just for a minute longer, we want to do a photo op of our own here. So Chief, if you can come front and center.

Thank you. Okay. Listen, I think I'm hid. I think I'm hid.

Very sincere, very believable, nothing artificial, nothing.

R.B. Police Department. Oh, sorry. Sorry.

I was in a crack there.

Thank you, everybody.

I'm going to call a five-minute recess just to let everyone clear out. I know people want to shuffle out and not be disruptive. So we'll resume at 7.07 p.m. All right, council is returning from its short recess here. We're gonna get back to work. And with that, it's now time for public comments. So anybody wishing to address city council regarding items not subject to a specific public hearing may come forward at this time to the podium or use the raise hand feature located on the toolbar at the bottom on your Zoom screen. For controls over the phone, press star nine for raise hand, press star six to unmute. Please state your name and please limit your comments to three minutes. Mr. Jennings.

My name is Michael Jennings. Recently we interacted with three insufficiently managed organizations. I won't give their names. One is sloppy in everything it does. Another has a website that is amazingly inoperative in some ways.

Another was charging 43% more for the same product than another company.

As I have said before, I appreciate your caring. and your carefully logical management of Ridgefield. In my opinion, Ridgefield management is not perfect. There should not be decorations on bridges or streets. Decorations distract people from safe driving. However, Ridgefield management is far better than the management of many organizations around us. Thanks to everyone who contributes to Ridgefield's excellent management. Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Mayor Liase Lee, Ridgefield Citizen. I'd like to take a moment and share one of my favorite memories of Chief Doriot. When my dog Tango, most of you know him, when he was young, it was one of the city events where the streets were shut off. No cars. All the vendors had their booths up. I'm walking along with Tango. And Chief Doriot's coming the opposite direction. We're walking down the middle of the street there. And she sees my puppy, and he sees her. And she had something wrong with one of her knees at that point. She literally sat down on the street. And my dog jumped into her arms, and they cuddled. And where else would the chief of police just sit down in the middle of the street? I was so impressed. So I love Chief Dorriette, and I'm really grateful that I can call her a friend. So anyway, I wanted to share that special memory.

Thank you.

I'm Angela Zwingli, and I'm here tonight to formally request that the city update the red option for South 35th corridor project to accurately state that it will affect 177 plus homes. The red option currently under evaluation is not merely a different route. It is a direct violation of the environmental and design standards mandated in 2017. To transition from the original 2007 plan to the 2017 approval, a binding compromise was struck. The developer was relieved of building the access road to Pioneer and the city took fiscal responsibility for the south 35th access road. In exchange, the developer was required to decrease sellable lots from 200 to 177, increase lot sizes, and dedicate 37.8% of the site to open space. As a binding condition of approval, this land was dedicated to the city specifically for public park purposes, requiring the construction of 1.13 miles of recreational trails. This open space is a vested binding component of the subdivision's approval. The city cannot legally mandate land for public park purposes as a condition for building 177 homes, only to later reclaim that exact same land to pave an arterial road. Doing so destroys promised community amenities and strips away the environmental protections that justified the development's approval in the first place. Finally, it is deeply concerning to learn from Steve at the last study session that the red option actually originated with the city. This contradicts his previous narrative in a past study session about the first neighborhood meeting at Windy Hills, a meeting I was not aware of, where he claimed the residents were given blank maps and markers to dictate where they thought the roads placement should be. The city must be transparent about where this route came from and abandon an option that violates its own binding agreements. Thank you.

Thank you.

Nancy Fakin, Ridgefield resident. Good evening. I stood before you two weeks ago and let you know that Preserve Ridgefield Waterfront is showing up, and we're back. In the past two weeks, our members have continued to engage with the residents of Ridgefield. Our petition has grown by over 400 signatures. That's over 3,800 people, almost 25% of the population of Ridgefield saying no on this proposal plan. This movement is not slowing down. Our amazing leaders have been featured on three television news stations or programs, in two different newspapers, and even on the radio. We will continue to canvass neighborhoods, post yard signs, talk to the press, and attend meetings. We're looking forward to the next port meeting on the evening of September 9th. Stay tuned. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Fagan.

Sorry, I wasn't in line. I'm Peggy Quall, and I'm here regarding the Port Waterfront plan. I want to address again traffic issues. Now I'm hearing numbers of up to 350 apartment units, so the traffic issues in Old Town and along Pioneer Street corridor just get worse. A morning traffic jam for commuters, along with the school drop off, and a jammed afternoon-evening commute would really degrade the quality of life people and businesses who live and work in the old town. It seems this would become the city's problem. I have no idea how traffic problems would be alleviated except through very expensive road modifications. Why are we going to let the port create such a big problem for the city and its citizens? Everyone loves a small town, Mayberryfield, Richfield, but with constant traffic in the old town, especially at Manning Pioneer, the town won't have that small town walkable community anymore. What about the fact that we have a very popular overlooked park right there with a splash pad for children? This palindrome scenario down at the waterfront is just a poor fit for the port site and for our old town. We constantly hear about efforts to revitalize old town, but this current proposed port development plan won't enhance the old town. Again, traffic issues will cause people to avoid coming into town at certain times of the day so they won't get stuck in traffic. Putting retail down at the port will not necessarily revitalize old town. It is competition, and it's already tough enough to get people into the old town since so much commercial retail is now located out towards I-5. I think retail would have a tough go down at the port. You're at the end of the road. There will be slow days. Retail has changed so much in recent years with the Amazon effect. So unless you have something truly unique or specific, people will generally shop Amazon or Costco or other big box stores. Small retail is really hard. And let's talk about a boutique hotel. In phase one of development, the port projects an 18-year build-out at the port. Who wants to stay at a hotel with long-term, messy, dirty development going on around you? And the fact that this development is a detriment to the birds and wildlife, as an adjacent property to a national wildlife refuge, we should place a priority on low-profile eco-building, a landscape design that serves the wildlife, and we should honour our city's commitment to dark skies. So what about the port's current plan is good for Richfield? We can do so much better. I wish the port was open to exploring better options for our beautiful waterfront. If we work together, I think we could come up with something iconic and amazing for the port waterfront and for the city. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening. Robin Knight, Ridgefield resident. I'm here to share updated numbers from Preserve Ridgefield Waterfront civic engagement work. Our petition today stands just shy of 4,000 signatures. This summer so far, we visited over 500 doorsteps across Ridgefield neighborhoods, talking one-on-one with residents about the port's proposed waterfront redevelopment. 76% of residents we spoke with are familiar with the project, up from 74% a few weeks ago. Of those familiar with it, nearly 80% are opposed or have serious concerns. Scale and density, loss of public access, including boat trailer parking, proximity to our wildlife refuge, increased downtown traffic, impacts on small businesses, and how this would permanently change downtown Ridgefield's character. Only 6% are in favor, and that number keeps dropping. I also want to share some concerns that have weighed on us as we've learned more. I want to be clear. I don't have a personal issue with any port or city representative, but despite public statements to the media, we've heard port staff say things directly to us like, quote, the birds will figure it out regarding impacts to the neighboring wildlife refuge. We've heard concerns about whether organizations whose mission it is to protect that refuge will have the courage to speak honestly about the impacts they know this development will have. We've heard from residents that city representatives have said traffic won't be an issue because the plan is to remove on-street parking and widen Pioneer to four lanes downtown. And we've been told city staff have long favored selling the waterfront to a private developer for the tax revenue it would generate. I know some of this could be written off as hearsay, but most of it was said to me directly, and the rest was independently reported by multiple unrelated parties. There's a concept from a book I read years ago called Fierce Conversations that feels relevant. Honest, direct conversations are not a threat to a relationship, they're what a strong relationship is built on. Avoiding hard truths doesn't preserve trust, it erodes it. I believe that's true for the relationship between our community and the people who represent it too. I really appreciate Council's willingness to listen, even when we keep you here until 9 p.m., but I hope you understand the mistrust that comments like these have created in the very agencies tasked with representing our interests. Transparency has come up a lot this summer. It means openness and honesty in how decisions are made, the reasoning and process being visible to the people affected, not hidden or explained after the fact. I'd love to see real radical transparency in Ridgefield from everyone involved in this project. It is incredibly frustrating hearing things that make you wonder what's really going on behind the scenes and then struggling to find out. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, I'm Jan Haig. I recently came across a newspaper article from December of 24. The port had just announced his partnership with Palladrome. They wanted to do more community outreach, stating that the population had grown since their last survey in 2022. In that survey, it was stated there was one key takeaway, the desire for the waterfront park to have public access. They were going to start that right away in coordination with the city to get the permits approved. That was almost two years ago. They showed a nice picture of most of the area being a waterfront park with shelters and event space, a play area and restrooms. Their mixed use development would be two story buildings with retail and commercial on the floor and housing on the second. However, housing will not be the main driver for the development plan, as quoted by Randy Mueller. The port's mission is to drive job creation and economic activity. If Palidrome is used, that money will be heading out of state. If the port decides to build the buildings one at a time, like Kamas-Washougal's port, that money can stay right here in our community. And if we go with their plan to make this huge, vibrant area of hotels, businesses, and apartments, are Ridgefield residents going to be unwelcome guests on their own waterfront? If you remember what you fight for, every challenge becomes a reason to stand stronger, speak louder, and never give up. And that's what we're doing. Thank you.

Is there anybody else wishing to give public comment this evening?

My name is Rick Grins. Congratulations, Kathy. Kathy and I have something in common here, which I wasn't aware of until tonight. She started her career as a police officer, I believe, if I'm getting this right, in 1989. That's when I moved to Richfield, built a house, purchase land, build a house, and raise a family. And part of that plan was to access our Columbia River because I enjoy the outdoors as much as a lot of people that I've grew up with over the years have. I've been in contact with the city since they owned the property, the boat launch, the Mill Street boat launch from 89 to 2000. Nothing was getting done as far as expansion improvements that were needed even at those years. And I was glad to see the port take over, because I thought that would be their mission, part of it, to improve and expand that facility, which has not occurred. To have a population in 1989 of 1,300 people, if I'm getting the numbers right, versus today at 17,000, and still have a two-lane boat launch with the same capacity for parking, boat trailer parking, today as we did back in 1989 just doesn't make sense. And to have parking without additional launch lanes to avoid the hassles and just the frustration that boaters feel during the busy times of the summer and fall, that should be properly addressed. Whether that facility is upgraded or it's moved north, either way, we need to have much better access for the boaters. I'm saying without necessary improvements at the port's Mill Street boat launch or another facility further north, and that includes the designated boat trailer parking, additional launch lanes, dredging at that site if we stay there at the Mill Street site for safer access. Then I'm saying the port's conceptual waterfront development plan is dead on arrival. even before the 3,500 Preserve the Richfield supporters of the petition came along. And I appreciate the support because they're including the boat launch access as part of their petition. I spent some time on the river this past week, and it just reaffirmed why I moved to Richfield. And that boat launch is absolutely a requirement to enjoy the Columbia River that we have out here. The Richfield National Wildlife Refuge and the Columbia River are your two biggest assets here in Richfield, whether you know it or not. I'd recommend, I'd encourage you to do everything you can to preserve those and seriously look at what you're building down there because it's going to impact both.

Have a nice evening. Thank you.

Hello, Shawna Fisher, Ridgefield resident. So I'm going to change up the topic. You guys are going to be surprised. Shawna's talking about something different. So I wanted to talk about like safety in Ridgefield and the importance of residents being safe and staying safe in Ridgefield. So I was down by the splash pad actually just last night and I saw somebody that was there with their family and they were walking up the steps, you know, the concrete steps, you know, kind of on the, the side of the, oh my gosh, of the main street there, I'm drawing a blank, you know, by the restroom side, right? They were walking up the stairs there, sorry, little momentary. Ah, so anyway, they were walking up the steps and they tripped and kind of slipped a little bit. They were able to catch themselves, right? But I've heard about other occasions of people slipping by the splash pad. So I think that would be important before somebody has an injury, you know, maybe to look at maybe some improving some surfaces to make it not as slippable right or maybe putting up some signage or just some things to maybe prevent that in some way i don't know what could be done for that and then i also too would invite the city to maybe i don't know if it would be a committee that you have or if you guys have a chance to just walk around and check out the different sidewalks and just say, okay, hey, there's this sidewalk here in front of the post office. Cool, we fixed that one spot where somebody fell. So that's great. But maybe just kind of section it off to look at little different spots to revitalize the sidewalks, I feel like would be very important. And then also my last little talking point about safety on third, when you're going on third and you're turning left onto Pioneer, That can be really tricky because there's a stop sign right there where you're on third turning onto Pioneer, but people go on Pioneer and it's really hard to be able to navigate turning because of the way people park right at the edge, right? So I think it would be... nice to maybe have a stop sign or something right there. Not a roundabout. We don't need any more roundabouts. Ha ha ha. But anyway, something like that to just kind of help to maybe prevent an accident from happening because that's a real big blind spot. So yeah, so that's all I wanted to bring up. So thank you for listening and congratulations on your retirement and thank you for all you did for the city. And I just learned a fun fact about the chief that I did not know from the exhibit at the Greeley building is her mom was in service too and was a mayor of Ridgefield. What a fun fact that is. So how cool continuing the legacy of public service. So that's amazing. So thank you. Thank you.

Hi. Lars Jones, Sarah Scott. We just wanted to thank Kathy for being such a wonderful police chief. And she's helped us so much over the years just to feel safe. I moved here as a single mom with a high schooler, a middle schooler, and a elementary school child. And it was just really... The main reason I moved here was safety. I looked it up, researched this, and the library, of course. And I just want to say that I hope that as the replacement person comes that we just really look at Kathy's style, her personality, her background, and try to keep it as much as possible. Because I grew up in Seattle, and I'll tell you what. You cannot make an appointment with the police chief, go in, and actually sit down and talk about your concerns. But I'm not talking about just average concerns with an average police chief. This is somebody who is asking you the questions that you want to be asked, listening to you with her whole heart. So I really, really wish for Kathy, for you to have lots of time on the beach now with lots of fancy drinks, alcoholic or non-alcoholic, whichever you want. And lots of time with the dogs and lots of picnics and to come over every time and be able to enjoy the community without the constant stress of the responsibility of the community. And I just thank you so much.

Thank you. Is there anybody else in the room this evening wishing to give public comment? Okay, Miss Julie, anybody online?

We do have Jamie Kaiser online.

All right, we can go ahead and... Jamie, it's all you. You're free to talk whenever you're unmuted.

There we go. So I'm Jamie Kaiser. I'm a Ridgefield resident, and I'm here to talk about the Waterfront Project. Hold on.

I got to pick something on my phone. Okay, there we go.

So I was on social media, and I saw a new, well, not new, a newly published article from Ridgefield. about Ridgefield wanting to balance growth with small town character. And that Matt Cole said the city's updated comprehensive plan is intended to ensure that growth does not come at the expense of the qualities that have drawn residents to the community. And like many, I think that what's proposed by the port in downtown Ridgefield is going to help a small town . And to be honest, to me, that's the only place at the moment that still has kind of the roots of Ridgefield, because everything that's happening . . Jamie, your connection keeps breaking up. Maybe put the apartments in the hotel. Oh, is that better?

Yeah, we can hear you now. Yeah. Oh, did we lose her? Oh, she's on mute again.

Kind of.

Hold on. Hold on.

I'm sorry, Jamie, I think we're losing the connection here. We do have another public comment period at the end of the meeting if you wanna try again, but I don't think we're gonna be able to keep you on the call because we can't hear anything. Thank you and I apologize about that. That's unfortunate. Ms. Scheele, is there anybody else online wishing to give public comment?

Not seeing anyone else.

Okay, we're gonna close public comment for right now and we will return to that at the later portion of the meeting. Thank you everybody for coming and speaking to council tonight. We're gonna move on to the consent agenda. Council, I'd accept a motion.

I move to approve the consent agenda as presented. I'll second it.

All right, it's been moved and seconded. Real quick, council, I would like to remove the contract for the PD recruitment campaign from consent agenda tonight so that staff can work with the vendor to reconfigure the timeline that's in there and also adjust the scope for the paid media deliverables. Staff said they would meet with the vendor and then they'd bring it back with a corrected contract. Everyone's okay with that? Okay, so with that, with the removal of that item, all those in favor of consent agenda say aye. Aye. All opposed? Thank you, council. Motion carries. Okay, we're gonna move on to the business portion of our evening tonight. Our first item of business is the approval of the ADA transition plan, and this is gonna be presented by our public works director, Ryan Thamer. Over to you, sir.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. Tonight we're going to be discussing the ADA transition plan. But before we get into that, I wanted to let members of the public know that the city is gathering information on how to assure that all of our activities, facilities, and programs are accessible to everyone and are in compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. You can help by completing a short voluntary survey. The surveys only take a few minutes to complete and all responses are kept confidential. Paper surveys are available at the table in the lobby or can be completed using the QR code on the table. So with that I would like to introduce Ryan Peterson with Transpo. Ryan has been working with our Deputy Public Works Director Miranda Lang and our

Infrastructure team to put together this ad a transition plan and with that I will turn this over to mr. Peterson Good evening council I'm gonna kind of run through our what we did with the transition plan real quick and then be available for any questions that you might have So we were hired by the city to help develop this plan and There's a couple reasons why the city wanted to develop this plan. First of all, it's the right thing to do. The city has a commitment to provide equitable access to all of its residents. And the second reason we have up there is that it's a federal mandate. The ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act, was passed in 1991. Part of that act requires a transition plan and requires communities to be compliant to provide accessible facilities. The plan that we developed has a right of way focus, meaning basically the pedestrian facilities within the city. An ADA transition plan needs to cover many facets of what the city does. But during this first phase, we concentrated on the right of way. Next slide. A couple of goals. This is really kind of the process that we went through as well. In order to find out what needs to be done to be ADA compliant, we needed to do an evaluation of the existing facilities. And so we did that. We looked at the existing facilities, identifying barriers on sidewalks and curb ramps and the other aspects of the pedestrian system. And then we prioritized those barriers and developed a plan for removing those barriers. Next slide. So this is just kind of an overall map of some of the things that we found. It's kind of at a scale where you can't see detail, but it just gives you kind of an idea of the roadways that we focused on. We focused on the arterials and collectors for this phase of the project and looked at various elements of those facilities. Next slide. So our evaluation methodology really started with the standards and policies that the city has in place related to accessibility. We reviewed the design standards that the city has and recommended some changes. I'll talk a little bit about that later. We did a field inventory where we collected data on all the facilities. And then we went through a pretty extensive prioritization process that I'll talk about a little bit later. Next slide. So the field inventory. was done last year. It was performed by Ridgefield staff and community volunteers. I will say that that's a first. We've done over 30 of these plans and it was pretty interesting that you had enough community support that you actually had volunteers to help collect the data, which was pretty cool. Before I get into the next slides, I just wanted to pause here and kind of talk about some of the some of the data collection. I want to make sure that you know that our data collection is considered conservative. When we start looking at the numbers, the numbers will look big at first look, but there's some reasons for that. Some of those reasons are, one, there's a concept in the ADA and the design standards that revolves around building to the maximum extent feasible. It recognizes that you might have some topography or infrastructure limitations where you can't actually meet ADA requirements. And so it provides an accommodation for that. We did not look at that when we inventoried, but that's something that can be looked at as you start developing projects and that kind of a thing. Another thing we didn't look at is it also allows grandfathering if it was built to a standard previous to the current standards. You don't have to replace it, basically, but we evaluate it to the current standards because if it is replaced, it will have to be built to the current standards. And then there's also just a lack of tolerances in the ADA requirements. If a sidewalk isn't five feet, it doesn't pass, even if it's 4.9 feet. So technically speaking, it wouldn't be compliant, but practically speaking, it's a pretty low risk. So that kind of factors into the prioritization that I'll talk about a little bit later. So let's go to the next slide and talk about some of the numbers that we found. So this is just kind of an overall look at what we found. You know, a lot of the curb ramps and sidewalks had issues on them, accessibility barriers. This is pretty typical with the communities that we've worked with, other communities in Washington that we've worked with. And I think the difference with Ridgefield is that most of the, there was a higher percentage of minor compliance issues. So that's good news.

Let's go to the next.

Slide for curb ramps and crosswalks. As I was mentioning, curb ramp compliance, we had some significant issues. And the cutoff for that is significant issues requires a rebuild of the curb ramp, where minor issues may not require that. So some of the things that the most common deficiencies we saw were slopes and widths. That's always the thing that we see. A lot of that has to do with topography, so that gets back to that maximum extent feasible situation I was talking about. And so some of those issues may not actually be issues. Another thing that I'd point out is that 84 locations that we inventoried were just missing the curb ramp. A curb ramp wasn't where it was required to be. So that was kind of an interesting find. Next slide. Sidewalks, so we looked at the physical characteristics of sidewalks, which are widths and slopes, but we also looked at hazards that were along the sidewalks, so fixed obstacles like mailboxes or utility poles that were in the sidewalk. We also looked at protruding objects, overgrown bushes, things hanging into the pathway that might present a hazard to a sidewalk. maybe like a sight impaired person kind of a thing. We also looked at, you see vertical discontinuities up there. That's a fancy way of saying cracks in the sidewalk. If you have a crack that's wider than a half of an inch, technically, it's considered a barrier. So we looked at every crack in the sidewalk. Next slide. So as I mentioned before, we also looked at your design standards and did an audit of those. You have current city standards covers many of the facilities that you'd have in a public right-of-way, but there's information missing as far as curb ramps, crosswalks, and pedestrian signal push buttons. And so a lot of our recommendations was to add some information for that and We also had recommendations in there to maybe make the requirements a little more clear and to refer to the national standards a little bit more. Next slide. So the prioritization process, once we collected the data, we went through a prioritization process and we looked at two different areas. One was the severity of the barrier So that got into the physical characteristics of the facility. So I mentioned the example of a five foot sidewalk. If it was 4.9 feet, it was technically not compliant. But in the prioritization process, it would score less points than, say, a sidewalk that was three feet. So the severity of the barrier was taken into account during that portion of the prioritization. The other prioritization, the way that we prioritized was based on how close that facility was to high demand areas. So schools or transit stops, that type of thing. And those land uses were identified through a public outreach process as well as input from city staff. And so those two areas combined ended up being the overall priority score. So what you end up with is a prioritized list of the most severe barriers in the highest demand areas. And those are the ones that you want to tackle first. Next slide. So we identified eight different action items in the plan. Many of them are in process. Some of them have been completed. But that's what a plan is, right? It's a plan to become compliant. And so the city is actively working on these action steps and moving forward. Next slide. Again, just a list of next steps. This relates to the slide before and the action items that that we just showed. Updating engineering standards, adopting some of these policies that we recommended. Streamlining the grievance process, I will kind of mention that specifically. I always tell agencies that the best thing you can do is have a dialogue with your community and make sure that you're interacting with people who may be having challenges with certain facilities and addressing those barriers first. If you have somebody actually saying, I have a problem with this barrier, then that's your highest priority, regardless of what our plan said. So having that streamlined grievance process is an important process. Next slide. Yeah, with that. I think we can take some questions.

Thank you, yeah. Questions, so we'll start with Councillor Davis, and we'll move over.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor. I really appreciate this, because I think access in our city should be one of our highest priorities. I guess... I mean, obviously, you prepped us. We're gonna get some big numbers, right, in terms of noncompliance. But you also said that some of them are due to, you know, it's 4.9 out of five, or it has to do with more topography. I guess my curiosity, and I don't wanna hold you to this, some exact number, but I'm trying to get an idea what percentage of the outstanding issues would be reasonably considered probably almost unfixable, right? If we have a... if it's a topography issue where, I mean, in theory, but it would be an outrageous cost to fix it, and there would be several challenges. Or 4.9 sidewalk, but you're either having to go into a building or go into the street. You know what I mean? I'm not saying that's great, but how many are outstanding that really we're not going to be able to do anything about?

Well, I can't really speak to a certain percentage. But I will say that Western Washington is full of hills and difficult topography. So I would say that a good portion of them would fall into that category. And that's where this maximum extent feasible idea comes into play. And the reason why we didn't, we were just limited on, if we were going to look at every one of those situations, the cost of this effort would be pretty high, right, because it's an engineering kind of decision. So the approach that we took was to collect the data, and then as the city goes out and develops individual projects, that's one thing that they need to look at is if this facility may have scored high on the prioritization list, but when you go out there and actually look at it, you might say, well, actually, this is on a 15% slope roadway, and there's nothing else that we can do here. And if you document that and show the process that you went through, then that's perfectly acceptable. So as far as a percentage, I don't really want to give a percentage, but I'd say there's a good amount of it, I think. maybe a quarter that would warrant some consideration towards that. But again, don't hold me to the word sandwich.

Fair enough, fair enough.

Anybody, Councillor Fevella?

I just appreciate the presentation. You know, as we talk about accessibility through our community, this is a priority for council for us to focus on. So I do appreciate having this information with what Councillor Davis brought up. I would be interested to see in especially the sidewalks issue. That is something we're actively looking on with our sidewalk preservation program and what portion of that to what he was saying, can we actually use some of those funds to get those sidewalks fixed, and which ones are really just not going, you know what I mean, to be able to get that, yeah.

Yeah, so Deputy Director Lang and I are working on cross-referencing the list that we discussed earlier this spring. The sidewalk issues that have been reported to Public Works. We'll be looking at comparing those lists and prioritizing looking at where we can take care of projects that are on both lists.

I would just add to that too, as we consider that, I know there's budget considerations too, and we're in the middle of budget season, we're talking about some sidewalk repair. It'd be great to have that factored in so that as we're drafting a budget, we can make sure that that's included. Is that part of the plan to bring this up, the ADA compliance?

And we are working on that. That's the 100,000 that we're raising our annual budget line for sidewalk repair and maintenance too.

Okay. Okay, great. Councillor Wells.

All I'm requesting, I would like to have a hard copy of this presentation that we have here so I can reference it in the past. So thank you.

Just a quick question, would I be correct in assuming that the majority of our challenges are in old downtown Ridgefield?

Yeah, I would say so. I would say that the newer infrastructure is probably falling into that category of the minor compliance issues and the maximum extent feasible situations. I will say that even, you know, this is a common thing that we see that, and, you know, during construction, sometimes, you know, things get built and they're not per plan and that kind of a thing. And sometimes the inspection process can be improved. And so that's one of the things that we would recommend too, is just making sure that city inspectors are educated and know what they're looking for. And, and that, that, you know, the sidewalk with thing, the 4.9 versus five, that's, you know, that's a forming issue. You know, a contractor just gets it off just a little bit. So, you know, things like that can be caught during the inspection process.

Thank you. Councilor Hamilton.

Thank you. You spoke to the question just now that I was thinking, but in the ensuring ongoing compliance, are we confident in those checks and balances that we're going to have so that we're not having to go back and retrofit infrastructure that wasn't done properly the first time?

Yes. Our inspection team is with the development department, but we have had many internal conversations about beefing up our Inspection program and making sure that those things are caught during final inspections.

Okay, cool. And then just I'm curious Was there any feedback from volunteers that you found particularly helpful in this process since that was kind of a new thing for this process Not not that I can think of as far as like the process of data collecting but I

I will say that public outreach for these plans is difficult for a variety of reasons. One is it's a very narrow focus. It's accessibility and oriented towards people who have disabilities, basically. You know, when we try to reach out to people with disabilities, sometimes they have mobility challenges. So we don't like to do in-person things. We did have an open house as part of this. We actually had a fairly good turnout for that. We had, I think, seven or eight people come who were pretty active in the community and represented other groups that provided services to people with disabilities and that type of thing. We also had an online survey that we put out. and had a limited success on that as well. And we actually opened that up again and tried to put that out to the community to let them know that it was there. So it's just inherently difficult to solicit that feedback and get really meaningful feedback. So that's one thing that you might notice in the plan is that we did have a reasonable amount of people providing that feedback. But it may look like we didn't get a lot of feedback just because of the number of respondents that we got and the number of people that were actually at the open house. But that's fairly typical in our experience just because of those reasons. Thank you.

Sorry, one more. I was just thinking about, so we're beefing up the inspections. We're looking at that process. If something got by for whatever reason, are we financially responsible to fix that? Or would that be the developer?

So we do have a second check after final inspection. We have a two-year maintenance bond. But after that point, if it was not caught, it would be, if it's a public right-of-way, it would be on the city to repair.

We'll go back down the line. We'll go to Councilor Wells and then a couple of others.

I just wanted to use an example on Railroad. and the 15th roundabout on Royal Road if you're going north and you're driving up the pavement and as you're going up the hill, 300 feet from the roundabout, your vehicle does a like that. There's a crosswalk there. And to come off of that crosswalk, the pavement's got to be flat to turn around and accommodate ADA. When you're driving your vehicle, you think they poured the asphalt wrong. But you've got that flat, flat spot where according to the ADA rules. So next time you're on 15th, you're driving that, you feel that, that's what it's for. Okay.

So that's actually an interesting one because the standards have been, I'll say the guidelines have been updated and the standards will be updated eventually to maybe alleviate that a little bit because previously it was required to be a 2% slope, but when you're on a steep hill, like you said, it becomes almost like a ramp for vehicles. And so they have changed that a bit to where you can actually match the grade of the roadway for those crossings. And that's kind of some of the difficulty with ADA is that this is a very evolving science, I guess you could say, in terms of how do we really make these facilities accessible and how do they fit into the environment. Yeah, that's a really good example.

Thank you.

Councillor Davis.

Oh, there we go. All right, thank you, Mayor.

Yeah, just one more thing to follow up as I'm sort of going through. I realize that this is sort of establishing that plan, and we have an inventory that we're going to be able to work off of. And I start thinking about... how we're gonna tackle it. And it's sort of a similar conversation that we've had with parks. Do we wanna tackle like one big one each year? Do we wanna sort of inch up a handful of them? And so I think about Okay, we got a finite amount of money to be able to address some of these each year. Do we take the little hanging fruit, or do we prioritize ones that have a major impact? And I know that Public Works is gonna be putting a lot of thought and consideration into that. I guess I would... I would say, as a council, I don't want to reach too far into that, but I'd like to be sort of dealt into what that looks like. I think that it's an important thing for us in just knowing, I guess, what that mix looks like between, hey, we really feel like we need to prioritize this one big thing because it makes a big impact, or we want to tackle a few smaller ones as we go. I guess that would just be a request to keep us in the loop on how that goes.

Certainly, we'll be keeping council in the loop on not only on this aspect of it, but as Mr. Thamert indicated, we're weaving this in with the sidewalk repair program, the increased investment that council has directed us to move forward with, and ultimately the strategy that you saw in a study session earlier this year that had three different alternatives for how we attack deficiencies within our sidewalk system. That will be coming back to in October as well, and that will be the beginnings of exactly what you're saying, which is what is the strategy for how we are actually going to be attacking this and tackling a large problem but dealing with it in a prioritized fashion. So you will see a lot of this come back to you, starting with the enhanced sidewalk replacement strategies coming in October.

Perfect. All right, thank you.

Because this is a federal mandate, and it is a pretty tall order with the cost associated with that, I'm assuming, or are there grants available to us that we can apply either federally or otherwise that would help us expedite some of these things in a way that we can do on our own?

Yeah, there are grant programs. There isn't anything specific to ADA upgrades, but there are grants Programs that are focused on you know pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure that if you You know say like a safe routes to school Type funding program you could you know apply for that and knock out some of these barriers as part of it that project So there's definitely some grant opportunities out there that it that are more, you know pedestrian and bike Centered that you could use

And we've also been discussing this in our grant steering committee, and we have asked our grant writer to look into these options.

Yeah. I know there's a lot to prioritize in there, but this feels like a pretty big one, especially because we've had public comment talk about sidewalk safety and whatnot, and we want to make sure that, I mean, I think this is a priority for this council, and so the barriers are often cost, and so looking at how to fund it is pretty important.

Not only just programs for ADA accessibility, but just about every one of our CDBG grants that we get involve sidewalk improvements and ADA accessibility. So one of the things that we're doing is we're looking, again, at using grant programs that have a broader impact

to be able to meet some of the needs within this and again not try to raise separate money for separate pieces but integrate what we're doing and get the most efficiency for it i like that okay great thank you council any other questions for staff on this all right if there are no further questions um this is a item an action item for this evening so i'd accept a motion ADA transition plan All right, it's been moved by Chipman seconded by favela any discussion council Hearing none all those in favor say aye aye all opposed Thank You councilman carries All right. Thank you staff for that one. That's a helpful presentation. We look forward to seeing what comes from that I Our second item of business this evening is the approval of the development agreement with Blue Rock Ventures as BRV Ridgefield Holdings LLC for Ridgefield Community and Recreation Center Development. To this, we're going to go to Janine Parker, our city attorney.

Thank you, Council. Have Mike Will travel. So I have to say I'm truly pleased to be able to bring this agreement to you tonight. I've been working on these documents since before I came in-house at the City at the beginning of the year. It's been a long process. And I often get to speak with you maybe not so much in public when we are at the end of projects. So it's really pleasing to me to be able to come to you at the beginning of a project and introduce all of the things that we've been working on. So we are going to be walking through that a little closer. We will be walking through the legal framework of the project and the partnership with Blue Rock Ventures Ridgefield Holdings. Next slide, please. So the project was envisioned long before 2026. And it has a lot of history and important steps that we're probably not going to get into tonight, but I wanted to restate the core vision of what we're working towards. And this has been the touchstone that guides all of the teams at the city that are working on this. And so the community had identified the need for a recreation hub and more than just an aquatic center, but really a place for different kinds of recreation. and a community gathering place where all are welcome. So just wanted to kind of start with that as what we understand our mission to be. Next slide. So the framework of the agreements are more complicated than what I would say has been typical of a development project, or at least the ones that I've been involved in. Because of the project history and because of the financial constraints of the city and BRV, we've developed some creative solutions to kind of get this project where it is today. And we're going to walk through that framework in the context of three different agreements. There is the development agreement. that is outlining the pre-construction and construction responsibilities. There is a ground lease agreement where the city is leasing the recreation center land to Blue Rock Ventures and then the facilities lease where we are going to lease back the constructed facility from Blue Rock Ventures. The development agreement is the first step There are other agreements that are contemplated in this agreement. There are other steps that we're going to take throughout the rest of this year and beyond. So I just wanted to kind of clarify that this is that first step. Next slide, please. So I kind of broke this out by topics rather than walk you through all the legalese of 60 pages of documents. And so we're going to walk through the components of the project and the shared use building. We're going to walk through the public uses guaranteed, the financing and ownership, the pre-construction conditions, as I talked about, construction and change orders, and then risk and operations. So as we sort of launch into these, please feel free to ask questions slide by slide. If we want to save them to the end, it's up to you. But just make sure that we're able to answer questions.

And Mayor and Council, forgive me, we didn't introduce our private partner is with us this evening from Blue Rock Ventures, Durgesh Patel, the representative from Blue Rock Ventures is here. So if you have questions on the private side of the transaction or the contract language or any aspects of that, Mr. Patel is here and can answer questions as well.

Thank you.

And my apologies for not introducing you right at the beginning. So to what, oh, next slide, please. Thank you. So the first hurdle was to address the financing constraints of both parties. We designed the project as two separate buildings or two separate structures on two separate lots with a zero lot line wall and for funding purposes, but then the project facility is going to be operated as a single facility with a single operator doing both the community center and the recreation center. So it looks to the community and acts to the community like a integrated facility. As part of that, the Blue Rock Ventures is going to fund and own the recreation center, and that's going to have a pool and a fitness center. The city is going to fund and own the community center, and that's going to have classrooms, kitchen, and then that also includes all the parking and site work around the facility that goes with that. Several components are going to be shared because of this setup, and so there's going to be a covenant on the property that guarantees those ongoing shared elements like the common firewall, the roof, the HVAC system is going to be shared, different utilities, access and parking, and shared entry and lobby space and signage. So we're going to have a a covenant or a operations and maintenance agreement that's going to walk through how all of those things are going to be addressed over time. So back to what I was saying earlier, that is sort of a later agreement. This is the first step and then those agreements are still coming. Next slide, please. BRV-funded and owned recreation center is going to be constructed on land that is owned by the city, but it is leased to Blue Rock Ventures through a 50-year ground lease. And as consideration for the lease, I think at one point we were discussing whether that would be a sale of property, and I think council's interest was to keep the city's ownership of that, so we transferred that, or we moved that into a long-term lease agreement. And as consideration for the agreement, there's not going to be lease payments, but we are going to have public benefits that are through a covenant, a 50-year covenant on the property that guarantee that those public benefits are going to continue. And the... There are many of them listed in different exhibits of the agreement, but they include discounted rates for Ridgefield residents, financial assistance for low-income families, city-sponsored programming. Certain number of hours will be provided to the city at no cost. Inclusive and adaptive type programs are required. And then there are specific city and city council oversight and approval for programming and pricing and then annual reporting that comes back to the council for the effectiveness of those programs.

I have one question on that. The six hours per week city-sponsored programming at the facility for people with disabilities, are they going to be charged for that, or will that be on the city's...

So those are two separate things. So the six hours a week was just that if we are building this facility, if we wanted to use it for a community event, we shouldn't have to rent it. So that six hours of programming was just kind of an agreed... middle ground of what we might typically use for different things. Thank you. And then the required inclusive and adaptive recreation programs is sort of a separate thing. But yeah, that was intended. Those hours were intended to be no cost to the city so that we could use this thing ourselves for some of the council and the city staff's community initiatives. OK, thank you. That make sense? OK. Real quick.

Sorry. Real quick, I think we'll take a couple of questions on each of these because they're relevant. So it looks like Councilor Hamilton has a question as well.

Thank you. Just so I understand the public-private partnership element of this, do we have to agree on the value of the public benefits together?

Yes, and what we did was we had established sort of the fair market value of the property when we were intending to actually transfer it in fee. And so we used that amount, about $184,000, and that's based on the fair market value of comparable property in the area. And then we took that value as the basis and made sure that the things that we were requesting would at least reach that. I actually think that they exceed that, but that's the bare minimum for compliance with the state law that we have received fair market value for the improvements.

Okay, thank you. Has there been any issue with agreeing upon public benefits, or that's all been a conversation that we all have the same vision?

It's agreed. It's actually an exhibit to this agreement. It's exhibit E to the agreement, and it kind of walks through the different elements that we will put in a covenant that then will be recorded against all of the properties. and that covenant will do the things we talked about.

Council, other questions on the public use covenant? Okay, we're going to continue.

Next slide, please. OK, so the funding piece, the city is going to fund the community center. And that is through a general obligation bond that the city passed an ordinance for a few months ago. I've forgotten. My months are running together. So the city is going to finance the community center about $50 $15 million, I think, is the expected cost. And then Blue Rock Ventures is going to fund the recreation center. And as a way to fund that, the lenders will have a lien on the ground leasehold interest. So we're leasing it to Blue Rock Ventures, and their lender will have a lien over not the underlying property, but for that leasehold interest. And then to properly divide the construction costs, there's going to be an agreed upon allocation schedule we thought would be further along, but we're still working with the contractor and the changes that we're working on to determine what that allocation is going to be based on the new plans and the new permitting so that's going to be proportionally divided so a concrete order comes in there's going to be a method to allocate what part of that is going for community center versus recreation center and then we're going to allocate the cost of that um proportionally so that um that's how the That's how the prices are going to be determined. And then in addition to that, the project management, architectural review, and then inspection costs and other kinds of administrative costs, those are going to be proportionally shared as well. So it's not just the hard construction costs, but the soft costs that go with that.

So who is responsible for overseeing the allocation? Is that the construction management team? Is that a neutral third party? Like how does that get determined and who's determining that?

It's going to be the construction manager, and they are working right now with the construction contractor to kind of figure out what, using the contractor's schedule of values, they're going to come up with an allocation methodology. And I'm not an engineer, so I don't know what that is, but they are coming up with that methodology, and then it's going to be the bills when they come in from the construction contractor are going to go to the project manager. The project manager is going to be evaluating those and weighing them against this allocation and distributing that. So it will be a responsibility of the project manager and then we are both sharing the cost of the project manager and we are also both being represented by the project manager. So it really is a team effort for that.

Do you foresee any sort of, I always think with stuff like this, like worst case scenario, but any sort of discrepancies and things like that where BRV might say, oh no, our share is less, or something like that, or the city might as well, and how does that get, what is the arbitration or identification process for that?

So we do have a process laid out in the agreement for those kinds of disputes. It is going to be mediated. FIRST OF ALL, IT'S GOING TO BE SEEING IF THE PARTIES CAN REACH AGREEMENT JUST BY NEGOTIATION, AND THEN IT WOULD BE THROUGH A MEDIATION PROCESS.

OKAY. GREAT. THANK YOU. COUNSELOR DAVIS, DID YOU HAVE A QUESTION?

YEAH, I'M STILL FORMULATING IT, BUT I GUESS, YEAH, THAT LAST PIECE, THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW AND INSPECTION SERVICES WILL ALSO BE SHARED. I'm assuming it's a 50-50 split, and we're just kind of assuming, we're viewing this as a one large project. But if there's one area that becomes a consistent issue, does that still stay with shared cost, or is it seen as, well, this is a shared project, not a your side, our side kind of a thing?

I believe it's actually shared proportionally, and so that would be a further thing that's addressed in that allocation schedule. So we would have a methodology for resolving this.

Okay, that helps. That's great. Thank you.

Great. Councillor Fevella.

Yeah, thank you. I have two. Do you want me to just do one?

Whatever, if they're on this, that's fine.

Thank you. So my question is about the, there's a $2 million change order amount, so I want to make sure that I understand the change order amount. If we go over the Blue Rock funding amount, Then go over the additional two million and we can't agree on Who is responsible for the additional cost? What happens then?

That would be an issue that goes to mediation So I and let me explain change orders just a little bit So if it's a change order that does not affect Blue Rock Ventures costs at all, that's a city decision If it's going to be something that affects both parties' costs, then that is a joint decision that we both work to make. And then sort of all of the costs that we're working on are... Let me figure out how to properly say this. We wanted to set a limit so that above a certain amount... that's reflected in the cost structure, that would be a certain amount, above which we need to sit back down. If there is a huge change or a huge problem or a huge issue that's discovered, we wanted to have a mechanism to sit down and talk about it because it's going to affect BRV's financing. And so two million was kind of the number that we set at. So it's not just, it's that cumulatively, if we get to that level, that that's kind of the buffer level that he was comfortable with. And maybe I'm not speaking properly for you. But that then above that level, we would have more serious conversations. But up to that level, I think the parties can meet and agree. address any change orders there. Did I answer your question?

You did. And then the next, in the agreement it says that we can't replace the project manager or make major changes to their scope without Blue Rock's approval, but does Blue Rock still, do they have the same standard? Can they make changes?

Well, so the contract is under the city's name. Right. So the contractor and the project manager are city, Blue Rock Ventures does not does not, is not a, is not a party to that contract.

So why would we need their approval if we want to change the project manager?

Because it was one of the, it's one of the things that we did to work together on this agreement so that sort of maybe think about how to explain this. It's, it's component of the partnership so that we couldn't come in and make major changes that would then change the allocation or change some of the assumptions that Blue Rock Ventures had as they went into this agreement. So that's why we didn't want, that's why that term is there.

Okay, that's all I have for now.

Okay. Okay, I think we're good, yeah.

All right, next slide please. Okay, so we're going to walk just very briefly through the leases. So the ground lease, as I talked about, is us leasing the ground to Blue Rock Ventures. We are doing a weird carve-out through a binding site plan process where it's just going to be the building footprint, which is another one of those really unusual features of this particular project, and that's related to our bond financing that can't be used for... private construction, so we're taking ownership and responsibility of a lot of the site work. So we're defining the recreation center building footprint as the area that is subject to the lease. It's going to be 50 years with joint reciprocal access for construction activities during the construction period. It's going to have the consideration, as I discussed, was the recorded covenant. And then it is secured by a deed of trust for purposes of Blue Rock Ventures financing. And then the city, or excuse me, the BRV is going to own the construction center improvements at the time they're constructed. But importantly, and I forgot to put this point in the slide, and that is that the city is going to own the rec center improvements at the end of the 50-year term. That's another protection that's built in. The facility lease, we will lease the constructed rec center back from BRV once it's complete. It will be an operating lease, not a capital lease, and then we are intending to sublease that to a third-party operator. The term is 30 years with two 10-year extensions, and then the lease payments are going to commence at substantial completion or December 1st, 2028, whichever is earlier. So if we get done earlier in construction, that's when it starts. If not, if it is delayed for some reason, we still have lease payments that are going to commence in... December of that year. The lease rate is still in negotiations, and that particular agreement, while it's an exhibit to this agreement, because there are key things missing from it, it is going to come back to council for further review and approval prior to any execution. And then the final thing in the agreement is that the city does have a right of first refusal. And I think that's, any questions on that slide?

I think so. I think there's a few questions. So we're going to start with Councillor Wells, and then we'll look to my right over here.

The lease rate is $184,230. So for the... No, I mean over 50 years. I guess I'll add that to my question.

So you're talking about the ground lease. And so there's not going to be payment. That is the value of those public improvements we're talking about. So nobody's exchanging $184,000. There are certain public benefits that BRV is agreeing to in perpetuity or for 50 years to do certain things, to provide discounts for city residents, for reporting to council, for giving council access to programming, those public benefits I talked about, we are agreeing that the value of those benefits is 184,000. Okay, thank you.

All right, Councillor Davis.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor. Looking at the lease term, I see that we're still in negotiation for the lease rate and going up a couple of elements there. The term is 30 years of the city right to two additional 10-year extensions. So I would say are the parameters for how those 10-year extensions going to be determined in the current negotiations? I mean, we're not gonna set the extension rate now for 30 years ahead, right? But when 30 years from now, when it gets time to consider that extension, are there gonna be parameters in this negotiation we're doing right now that kinda outline what that should be, how that should be figured? Or is it just gonna be you know, maybe we get into a big dogfight, whoever's sitting there.

I don't think that there are parameters identified in the agreement as to what those will be. If that is a concern of council, we can certainly talk about that and see about how to address those. But I think the intent was that the 30 years, I believe, is sort of going to be the period of time. I don't want to say to recoup investment because it's an operations lease, but it's the time It's the length of time that relates back to the underlying financial deal. But the two additional extensions, I think, are the city's option in terms of whether we want to continue this or if at this point we want to turn it over completely to a third-party operator who would contract it directly with...

I mean, I agree with that segmentation, like the 30 and then the 10 and the 10. I don't know, that's just something that kind of stood out to me was having an understanding of whatever framework would be in place for determining what those extension values would be. So I guess maybe the ask is to see what we can find, right? What can we find? Are there some examples of where that would make sense?

That's something certainly we can integrate into a lease agreement as well and like with additional parameters associated with lease on that side.

I have two again, I think. So in this agreement, it states that the lender has protections if Blue Rock defaults. We've talked about that. But can you help me understand what happens to the city's rights if Blue Rock stops performing and the lender steps in? Like how long would or could the city be tied up in that process before we could actually regain control of the property?

So. The city is both going to be the landlord and of the ground and then the, so the lenders would still have obligations to the city as the lessee to go ahead and do all of the things that the lender, that BRV is doing. And a lot of those are gonna be taken care of through an operations and maintenance and may fall very well on the city anyway.

Right.

So I don't know how else to answer that question.

And that will be, when we talk about the operation and maintenance, that will be coming back to us as well.

Correct.

Okay. And then not a question, but just a comment. When the facility lease comes back to us, this is a two part making sure that I'm pretty sure it says it here, but not just the rent and making sure we have operations and maintenance included. And then with a third party agreement, when this comes back to council details on what the operator is responsible for and versus what remains the city's responsibility under that facility lease. And then if the operator fails what financial obligations still remain with the city versus what was their ownership?

And we do recognize that that is that is Something that is important that we just don't have the information yet So the intent is to bring that back both we're working to get the operator sorted in very short order and then that will inform the other decisions and actually We'll finish the financing and actually be able to show you how it all fits together. So that is definitely coming back, and I think you've hit it right on the head in that the operation agreement feeds into that, the financing feeds into that, and then that will help determine the lease rate as we proceed. So both of those are coming back, and it'll come back with more explanation than I'm able to give it tonight. That's fine.

Thank you.

Regarding the that last followers as BRV must offer city first right of refusal prior to any sale Would I be correct in assuming that this all of these terms and in the lease agreement and the in the agreements we have between the city and BRV are Transferable directly or are we gonna end up having to renegotiate all or part of that? If if BRV was a solid and we were to decline to purchase it, what would then happen to all of the negotiations that have taken place up to this point?

They would be assigned. So if they – I think I'm correct here, but if – Is it run with the land? Usually they take subjects, so if it were to change hands, it would – the lease would go with that. And so the property, the new landlord would have to break the city's lease and would be responsible for the default provisions in the lease agreement. So it doesn't, I don't think it's called run with the land, but they certainly buy the property subject to that lease that the city has.

Okay.

Does that make sense?

Yeah, it does. Yeah. That's kind of what I thought as well. And I have a second question, too. And I'm not sure if I'm understanding this right, but the bullet says consideration for the lease is recorded as a recorded covenant for public purpose and use restrictions which are agreed to be noticed less than... $184,230. That amount, that's not the lease amount, is it, per year?

No, not at all. That is the fair market value of what we are saying the property is worth and what we're saying the public improvements are worth. And they need to balance so that we're not violating constitutional prohibitions on gifting of public funds. And so we're saying that's the number we both agree that are things of value equal.

Okay.

So that's more for auditor purposes than anything else.

And then the rate at which the BRV is leasing the ground from the city, does that stay the same? I'm assuming it doesn't. Does it go up in increments?

So the amount that BRV is leasing the land from the city is $10, period.

Oh, okay.

So the full value are those improvements.

Okay. Great.

The only comment I was going to make, the lease is transferable to the next party that should happen to take over. They can accept it at that.

Yes, and I believe there's assignment language in all of the agreements.

Other questions, council? Okay, we can continue.

All right, next slide. Okay, so moving on to the pre-construction phase, this agreement contemplates that the parties are going to work together to accomplish a lot of these preliminary steps that we need to accomplish before we get to that lease rate and before we get to construction. So construction is expected to proceed in early January, and so the agreement contemplates a whole series of conditions in Section 8 of the... development agreement that are to be completed by December 15th. And if they're not completed or otherwise agreed by the parties, if we're close, then either party can terminate for convenience. So that means they can terminate without any damages. Everybody is responsible for their own costs, but there's no obligation to proceed and there's no it's not a default to terminate. But then after December 15, or after all those conditions are met, which could be earlier than December 15, then that termination for convenience goes away, and we proceed to, you'd have to terminate for default. So the conditions then, we tried to outline all of those things that do reflect things that we don't know that we really do need to know before we start spending the millions and millions of dollars in construction costs. And those things were the funding, which both sides still need to do, the funding schedule, which is how we're going to allocate costs. The lease is being executed and that does involve the facility lease coming back to the council for further approval once we have that rate. There's some revised permitting and change orders. We had some, Ecology identified some additional environmental issues that we are needing to address and that's requiring some site reconfiguration and some revised permitting from Ecology. And then that's going to lead to a change order with the construction contractor to be able to, because it's going to change up some of the things that they're going to have to do. So we put both of those things in as a precondition. And then we're going to have to finish that boundary line changes to actually carve out that rec center land footprint that I was talking about. and then we have agreed to share the pool costs. So those are all conditions that we're going to meet before we get to actually breaking ground and constructing.

Question. Okay. It's on. It's on. So it sounds like that the change order cost has not been determined yet.

I know they are. not to my knowledge but miranda's not here and i know that they are they are working on it vigorously okay bring it back to the council when we find out yes

We will. There's a project team meeting next Thursday that includes everybody involved with this, and they're finalizing those hard costs, like you said, as we speak. We have a meeting next Thursday to finalize the site reconfiguration and get a sense of where we are as far as the hard costs. The work has been being done by the construction management company as well as with the general contractor, Tappany, to be able to ve the project look at value engineering to be able to bring the cost down as well as find areas where they could actually do different site work with the reconfiguration that could help so they're doing that work but once we have that we will absolutely bring it back to you thank you um counselor burkle please

Where are we regarding the site changes and the boundary line changes? Are we making progress?

Yeah, the site reconfiguration is basically complete. I have a site reconfiguration map that Ms. Lange sent me earlier today and sent the project team to assure that we were all in alignment. Not only have we kind of done a site reconfiguration that minimizes intrusion into environmentally sensitive areas, actually removes any impacts from at least one larger wetland complex. We're also working with a property owner directly to the north of our property and finalizing a boundary line adjustment and development agreement with them, which will come to council to add property area outside of environmentally sensitive to complete necessary parking for the project. So that work, the work on the site configuration is basically done. There are follow-up agreements that will be forthcoming to be able to memorialize all of that.

Thank you. Of course. Okay, Councillor Hamilton.

Thank you. I think I just want to be clear in understanding funding. So we obviously approved the $15 million for that. We have a capital campaign coming up. And so I'm just curious, I guess, the relationship with, it says both parties secure funding, but at the end of the day, will Blue Rec Ventures have any financial investment in this property?

When you say this property, council member, you're talking about the rec center side of it?

Yeah.

Yeah, we will be funding the entire rec center side.

But we will be paying you back, correct?

You'll be paying lease payments. Okay. Correct.

Other questions, Council? Councillor Fevella.

So those lease payments, though, will essentially go back to repay the portion that Blue Rock is funding, yes?

That's correct. Yeah, your monthly rent.

Right. So we're not looking at a $32 million project. We're essentially looking at close to a $50 million project all in.

We don't know the hard costs yet. Those numbers are being calculated right now. Right.

So when... I understand that we're not talking about funding tonight because there's so much coming back to council. So I want to clarify what this slide is saying right now is that at any time between December 15th, if something is not penciling, something's not right, we can separate and we can be done moving forward. Yes?

Yes. We... we can terminate without any, each party is still in for all the costs that we've each put in to date. But yeah, there's no damages, there's no default for any termination. And that's.

So whatever we agree on tonight, what in this, what we're agreeing upon can be changed without coming back to council? Only in the portion that we're talking about tonight. Once we agree upon it, can anything be changed without us knowing?

So anything that's in this agreement, no, that would have to come back to council. So this will be all of the partnership arrangement that is set, and any changes to that would come to council. Any of the fiscal pieces, and most of those are coming back to council, you would have a chance to weigh in on those.

Correct. Any contractual arrangement between the city and any other entity must come before council for deliberation and action.

I understand.

And any amendment to a contract as well. Correct.

And lastly, just looking at finances, we're heading into budget season. So whatever budget financial components come out of this, I would like to see how that pencils when we're looking at our overall debt capacity for 2027 going into like, how does this all pencil out and what does it look like? It could be a hypothetical if it needs to be, but when this comes back to us, Separately just for this development agreement, but then also looking at budget season how these two marry into each other Of course

And then councillor Davis.

Yep. I just have a niche one and that is can you explain the shared pool cost and the agreement That will pay the initial pool deposit. I'm just curious where that Came from what the history is with that.

Yeah, so it's actually it's the deposit that was done by the city and the remainder is by Blue Rock and

Okay. But it sounds like that's a unique, because it's called out, like unique for the rec side of it. Yeah, it is.

I mean, the Murtha pool is kind of a unique setup. And so there were two, actually two different types of pools that were evaluated by the project team, both of which are high quality and they are used in municipal purposes. But Ultimately, the evaluation team came back with the MRTA pool. The MRTA pool is actually constructed elsewhere, and it's built, and then it's boxed in pieces and put on pallets, and then it is actually shipped to wherever it is it's going to be installed. Kirk, the finance team, the project team had already been looking at the potential cost increases for a Mirtha pool if we didn't move forward with it between now and the beginning of next year and because of you know probable cost increases of approximately 10 percent if we didn't do that then we worked with Blue Rock Ventures to say well what can we do to actually buy that pool now and then it will get installed as it gets put in and that was us paying the down payment for that and then Blue Rock ultimately paying the remainder of the bill is how we we're able to accomplish that. And those funds were already, those funds have already been allocated as part of the bond funding.

Okay. And then it kind of squared up because we're not paying for other elements always directly. So it's kind of squaring up on another side.

Yes. And if I can just add in, The aquatic center is an integral part of what we've been figuring for the whole time. So we actually did recognize that there is some public benefit to the pool and the pool that we chose and for all the reasons just discussed why we went with that. So the 250 represents sort of the public investment in, it's the only public investment in that rec center side because we did recognize the importance of the pool to what we were trying to do and the timing issues, so.

Okay. Thank you for clarifying.

Other questions at this point, council? I think we're good. Okay. Okay.

Next slide. Okay. So then the construction side, the city is going to be responsible for constructing. We've already issued, we already have awarded the bid to our construction contractor. So we're going to be building the community center and the recreation center and doing the site work. And as we mentioned, BRB is going to pay the construction costs of the recreation center in accordance with that funding schedule. And the payments will need to be made within 25 days of an approved pay estimate. So the contractor will submit those costs to the project manager. The project manager will do the allocation, send a pay estimate, and then that will be immediately paid. So we are not fronting anything. It is being paid as the construction is proceeding. It's not covering a big final payment at the end. It's going to be throughout the process. The change orders we already talked about briefly, but any change orders that will extend the completion date or increase BRV's costs have to be agreed by both parties. And then BRV is the third-party beneficiary also on the construction contract, excuse me, on the project management contract and I think the architectural contract. and is the additional insured on some of the construction contract insurance and bonding requirements. So those are sort of the key pieces of the construction side once we do reach that December 15th date and we're actually beginning construction. Any questions on that side? All right, next slide. Okay, I just wanted to talk through sort of how I thought about the risk and tried to address the risk. And I saw it in a couple of different pieces. So we've got that sort of general pre-construction risk and I addressed that, we addressed that by addressing, by setting these milestones and pre-construction conditions that would apply. Each party will bear their own costs up to the start of construction, and then the pre-construction conditions, as I've mentioned, identify the needed certainties that we're going to need to have. The construction risk is then addressed in a lot of ways that are typical to just any construction project, and that is We have joint project management. We have a joint agreement for change orders. We have mediation if there's any significant changes. And then we also have the insurance and the bonding that's typical of a typical project. And BRV is included as a beneficiary on the bonds and the insurance. Then operations risk is going to be addressed through an agreement with a third party. We're still working out what that is. I think the intent is that we're going to have a third party operator that then has certain programming that council can help set and then also make lease payments that will somewhat offset the lease payments that we're making to BRB. Does that make sense?

Yeah. Okay. Real quick, just on the construction, actually, on all the risks. So for this, as it pertains to insurance, are we taking out a separate Builders risk or or like another captive program or something like that for this projects exclusively That's apart from the city's insurance or what is this attached to the city's insurance policy?

So this would be attached to the city's insurance Separately BRV is actually doing the builders risk and we are also requiring the construction contractor to have builders risk so there is that coverage if there was some sort of destruction of the building mid construction and The construction contractors all risk policy would be in first position. I think BRVs would be in second position and then the city.

Okay, so as far as how does that work? So BRVs construction or builders risk policy will cover... The rec center, right, the building thereof. Yeah, the building of the rec center. But not the land, the ground, right, because we own the ground, so are we responsible for insuring that portion of it?

Yes, and I think that's already on our list of, we have a list.

And that's all factored into the financial considerations, that's built into the financing of this whole project, okay.

Yeah, I don't know that there's any extra cost that we pay. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay, other questions, council? Yep, go ahead.

In the agreement, it says that the city shall cause the recreation center to reach substantial completion. But since Blue Rock is responsible for the rec center, can you explain to me what the obligation is in real time? Or is there a reason that the obligation is written that way?

It is because we hired the construction contractor. So we are actually paying the contractor to do the work. we are going to be the ones issuing the substantial completion, or our architect is going to be issuing the substantial completion. And so that obligation is on us to do that because we are in charge of the contractor.

Go ahead. I just have one simple question, a quick one. When is the completion date anticipated?

The anticipated completion date, we set it back, so let me... I'll get it. Thank you. I think it's November 1st, but... Thank you.

Yeah.

I have it highlighted, I'm sure.

Okay, we can keep going.

Okay, I believe it's November 1st, and we can confirm if that's different. this is the sort of the last piece is just operations and we've kind of been talking about it throughout so i'm not sure there's anything new on this slide and that is that the city and blue rock ventures are going to have an agreement whether that's rolled into the third party operator agreement or whether that's a separate agreement we've kind of left a little bit optional but the agreement between the city and BRV is going to address the operations and maintenance of all the joint use pieces like the roof and the HVAC and those kinds of things and then who's mowing the lawn and the allocation of those shared use elements like if the roof needs repaired what happens there and then the third party operator agreement we've talked about is the city has gone out for an RF and received responses that we're evaluating. So the intent is that we have a really experienced third-party operator that's going to come in and operate the facility, both the rec center and the community center. And until we know what that sort of fiscal model is, that's going to inform some of the later decisions that we have to have. But we are working actively to get a third-party operator on board, so that agreement also will be coming back to you. Questions, comments?

Other questions at this point, Council? Okay.

Next slide. This was just a quick visual of all the things that we've been working on this year. We had the letter of intent with Blue Rock. We did that initial design before Ecology had some additional comments. We did the initial land use permitting. We did the bond ordinance. We have the construction contractor and the project manager on board. We are evaluating operators. And the pool has now been ordered. So this doesn't include all the years of planning and work that went in before. This is just this year's. And as we prepare to launch into the next. So next slide. unless you have any questions. And these are the things that we're hoping that aren't done yet, that we are working towards before December 15th, is get the design complete, the permitting complete, get the operator under contract, and then all those pre-construction activities, we've done and dusted, and then we'll be proceeding with construction in early January. I think that's the end of the slides. Any questions?

One count question from councillor Burkle just very quickly BRV how many projects like this have you done?

Good question. So we're in Multnomah County Clackamas County working with VHA and Clark County and then Washington County as well. So we work when the public sector working on rec centers for senior housing as well as schools, very similar to the YMCA. And then we have a project ongoing in Eugene right now, which is preliminary in design phase. I would say four as of now.

Thank you. Other questions? Oh, Councillor Fevella, yes.

It's not a question, just a comment, but really, Mr. Stewart, going back to that financial piece, we have some major capital projects and going into budget season, so I wanna make sure that any financial conversations that we have with Mr. Johnson about budget season line up with financial conversations that we're having about this and we're not having them out of sync so that all of the information lines up, it's accurate and it's on time and it makes sense.

Definitely. Yeah, we can make sure we have that. And as budget season for 2027, because this would be construction timeline that we would be in and not the operations and maintenance and the lease piece, because the lease piece wouldn't kick in until December of 2028 or whenever it got finished. So you won't have that for this next budget. That said, number one, we'll be bringing you a lease agreement. Number two, there will be an operations and management agreement. Number three, we can absolutely make sure that we're including Like the cost for 2027 on the construction side of it as well as looking ahead and what we might be expecting for ongoing so we'll make sure we integrate that for you and sorry and counselor Wells November 1st of 2028 is the Conservative timeline that we have at this point for estimated completion It's about an 18 to 20 month bill timeline is what we were looking at

Okay, council, any remaining questions or comments for staff on this development agreement? Okay. Great, so if there are none, I would request a motion to approve.

I'll make a motion that we approve the development agreement.

It's not on.

Oh, it is on, yeah. I'll make a motion that we approve the development agreement with Blue Rock Ventures.

Do we have a second council I'll second. Okay. It's been moved by ship and second by Burkle to approve the development agreement with blue lock Frenchers as BRV Ridgefield Holdings LLC for Ridgefield Community and Recreation Center development Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? No. And one opposed. The motion carries 6-1. Thank you very much, Council. Thank you. Okay. Our next item of business this evening is the second reading of ordinance number 14. Sorry.

Forgive me, Mayor. We have... Forgive me for interrupting. All of a sudden, I thought we were on item number four, and I missed an item. My bad. Keep going.

All good. All right. Our next item of business is the second reading of ordinance number 1485, the amending the transportation impact fee project list. And for that, we're going to go to our city engineer, Mr. Kast. Good to see you, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and good evening, council. Can you hear me all right?

Yes. Yep.

All right, excellent. So before council this evening is the second reading of the ordinance to adopt an updated TIF list. As we discussed at the last meeting, the primary update to this TIF list this time is the Cardi Road project between Hillhurst and I-5. The TIF list will be updated to raise the cost of that project from the current rate of $25 million to $75 million to reflect the costs that were estimated based on a preliminary design of that roadway. As a part of this design, the sharp bends where Carty Road crosses G3 are proposed to be realigned to improve safety. And in addition, the funding shares of the project was adjusted to reflect the model traffic data and how vehicles both within the Carty Road subarea and from outside the subarea use that roadway. At the last reading, we had a little bit of a discussion about the costs, especially for that center section where the road crosses the creek there. This area makes up about half the total project costs, but more like a third or so of the length of the project. And as we discussed, this area is likely where that 25% grant funding, 10% public funding, and the 10% citywide TIF funds are applied. with the segments to the east and west being constructed with sub area funds and hopefully in conjunction with developers that are building in that area. Also, as we discussed last time, the TIF, excuse me, the urban holding that applies to this area will not be lifted except for on a project by project and case by case basis when those projects come forward and can demonstrate that they have adequate structure in place to support the proposed construction. With this TIF list update, the citywide TIF rate is not proposed to change. However, the Cardi Road TIF overlay rate will increase from $613.97 per trip to $1,073 per trip, or for a single family home from $5,875.59 to $10,268.41. Um, with that, I'm happy to answer any questions that the council may have.

Thank you, Mr. Cast Council. Any questions at this point?

Councillor Davis, I guess it's not as much a question is just, uh, you know, clarifying. We are talking about the tiff rate for the overlay, not. It's not counting the citywide TIF rate, correct?

Yes, that is correct. So with this TIF list update, the citywide TIF would remain the same, but the Cardi Road subarea on that TIF overlay that applies to that area would increase. Okay, thanks for clarifying.

Other questions at this point, Council? Councilor Wells?

Okay, I raised one question in the briefing, but I wanna hear it from our engineer, city engineer. The TIF rate for Geek Creek Plateau is $1141.11 per trip. The TIF rate for this project would be 1,073. Their rate was set 10 years ago, for construction of the road out of the plateau. How come the TIF rate is cheaper now, 10 years later?

So my understanding is that both the TIF rates for the citywide TIF and now these two sub areas that we have are increased on On a yearly basis based on CPI index. And so I think back 10 years ago, when we originally set that voluntary contribution for the 1 of the projects at that Ridgefield Heights, it was. is a little bit different. Obviously, the 3% CPI, I don't believe applied to that as does to the standard tip rate. But in any case, you know, the the cost of the projects for each of these tip overlay areas are sort of based on the estimated cost of those project that and it kind of just comes out math that happened to be fairly similar.

May I So Brian, can you talk through the public-private share for Cardi Road subarea versus Gee Creek? Because my understanding is that the public share for Cardi is higher than it was for the Gee Creek Plateau subarea overlay.

Yeah, that's an excellent point. I don't actually have the full funding split right in front of me for the G Creek Plateau area, but I believe based on recollection that it was about a 50% share to the sub area for those projects that serve that area and then the remaining 50% split amongst, you know, public, private, citywide share, etc. For Cardi Road, it is one of our primary east-west roadways and the main one in the south area town. Based on the traffic analysis that was completed, the share of trips that use that roadway is more like 25% for the Cardi Road subarea and 75% for users outside that Cardi Road subarea. So the funding percentage has been updated to reflect that. with that 25% tip overlay share for the new project costs, 25% grants, 10% public, 10% city-wide tip, and then the remaining 30% being private funds from .

Thank you, Brian. I'm glad you're the engineer and not me. We all are.

Sorry. Other questions or comments council, all right Okay If there's no other questions or comments For staff on this one. Mr. Lee, would you please read the ordinance into the record ordinance number?

1485 ordinance of the city of Richland Washington amending the traffic impact peak project list Great.

Thank you. Council. I would entertain a motion. I

Motion to approve ordinance number 1485, amending the transportation impact fee project list as presented.

Second. Second.

It has been moved by Davis, seconded by Fevella. Thank you, Council. Any remaining discussion? Hearing none, Ms. Julie, would you please call the roll?

Council Member Davis? Aye. Council Member Fevella? Yes. Council Member Wells? Yes. Council Member Buerkle?

Yes.

Council Member Hamilton? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Chipman? Yes. Mayor Kolk?

Aye. Thank you, Council. Motion carries 7-0. All right. And thank you again, Mr. Cass, for your work on this one.

Thank you.

Okay. Our final item of business tonight is a late change to the agenda. This is ordinance number 1487, adopting a moratorium within the corporate boundaries of the city on the filing, acceptance, processing, and or approval of applications or permits for any new gasoline service station facilities. And for that, we're going to go to our city manager, Mr. Stewart. Sure.

Thank you, Mayor, members of the council. I'll bring... our city attorney up for just in case you have any legal questions that we can help answer. Um, first, uh, where, where does the legal authority lie to take this action? Uh, RCW 35 a 63, two, two, zero and 36 70 a three nine zero. Give you the authority as a city council to adopt a moratorium for a period of up to six months without notice and public hearing provided that the city holds a public hearing. within 60 days after the adoption of this ordinance. The ordinance would take effect immediately. There are requirements associated with the public use, the public necessity associated with taking the action. The public the public reasoning for being able to take this action this evening is that we have seen the potential for high intensity uses that create higher traffic volumes, increased environmental risks of gasoline service stations, and additional service stations in the proximity of ones that are being currently proposed. that gave pause to council to be able to have the conversation about um should we allow more uh fueling stations within all zones of the city now i would First, indicate that some of these, the ideas that we've seen and that we've heard that there are additional fueling stations that are being considered are through pre-application conferences. As a reminder, pre-application conferences are not formal applications. They do not vest. Most times they do not occur. Most times they are individuals, businesses, developers who are testing theories, are looking at options, are identifying potential fatal flaws, kicking tires. They are not real. They only become real when we see a formal application. However, when we see a formal application, within 28 days of that formal application, we have to deem whether it is technically complete. If it is technically complete, once it hits that point and it is technically complete, they are vested to the uses of the code at that time. So this is a good opportunity for the council as you're seeing potential fueling stations around the city and questioning whether more are either warranted or are something that would create additional environmental or traffic hazards. Now is an appropriate time for you to be evaluating your options and, for lack of a better term, calling timeout through a moratorium to identify what the potential hazards might be, the potential impacts, incompatibilities, and then bring that back in a public hearing. The public hearing within 60 days is not for the purposes of changing code. It is not for the purposes of changing the rules. It's simply to come back within 60 days to talk about the reasons for a moratorium itself. And then from that time frame, you have six months to have a plan of action to adopt amended codes if you so choose. But it just sets that in motion. Happy to talk through any more of the substantive detail of it. That's something that You know, as this has come forward from council, I'd be more interested in kind of your input on that. Procedurally, our city attorney can assist us as well.

Sounds good. Okay, great. Thank you, Mr. Stewart. So it looks like Councillor Fevella might be eager with a couple of questions. Yes.

Oops, sorry, I have no questions, but I am thrilled to see this. Gas stations in Ridgefield are a hot-button issue for me personally, so I'm excited to see kind of what the rest of council, where we're going to go with this, and I think we have enough right now. We don't need any more. Thank you.

Great. Thank you, Councillor. Anybody else? All right, I'll just jump in and say I appreciate this. This was somewhat unexpected, but I think it's necessary now. We talk pretty often about how we have to make sure as a city government that we keep pace with growth here and all of the things that are happening. You hear it all the time from our residents that, Growth is is something that we can't control but it's something we can manage and this I think is just an effort for us to better manage it and to grow smartly and so what you have continually seen from this city is that this is a city that's responsive to the needs of its residents and It's responsive to the needs of development and growth, and it does so thoughtfully. And so to staff, thank you for putting this together in a hasty manner. I know that it came quick. I know that not everyone's happy every time you throw the word moratorium out there, but at the same time, I do think this is a necessary measure so that we can, again, call time out and look at what's necessary to how to thoughtfully grow and make sure that we are growing in a way that reflects the needs of a burgeoning city. And when you look at it as well, we counted, I think there's seven gas stations after the one at Royal Ridge opens up, and that will put seven gas stations, I think, within a mile and a half of each other. So that definitely is cause to look at what is it, and when you look at where, you know, the discussions we had previously on Hill or Hearst when there was a proposed fuel station there, the city did the same thing. So, again, thank you, staff. Thank you, council. This is something that we are responsive to, and we're going to get it done the right way. So, any other questions or comments? Okay, hearing none, Ms. Julie, would you please read the ordinance into the record?

Thank you, Mayor. Ordinance number 1487, Ordinance of the City of Richland, Washington, adopting a moratorium with the corporate boundaries of the city. on filing, acceptance, processing, and or approval of applications or permits for any new gasoline services station facilities, providing for severe ability and correction of clerical errors, declaring an emergency, and establishing an immediate effective date.

Thank you, Ms. Julie. And with that, Council, I'd accept the motion.

I move to adopt Ordinance Number 1487 as presented.

Second, okay, it's been moved by Hamilton seconded by Chipman to adopt ordinance number 14 to 87 as presented council any discussion Hearing none. Mr. Lee, would you please call the roll council member Hamilton?

Yes. That's remember Burkle.

Yes.

Councilmember Wells.

Yes.

Councilmember Favella. Yes. Councilmember Davis I may approach him Chipman. Yes miracle.

Hi. Thank you council motion carries zero. All right Oh OK, that will conclude our business items for the evening. We're going to move into a public hearing. We have a public hearing and first reading of ordinance number 1486. This is the Saddlemen and Leach petition to annex. And for that, we're going to go to Mr. Stewart.

Thank you, Mayor, members of the council. Before you is a petition to annex that includes three residentially zoned properties in the Gee Creek Plateau sub area. The parcels are in the Ridgefield urban growth area and are contiguous with the existing Ridgefield city limits. Therefore, they are eligible for annexation. The property information that you've already seen, there are approximately 17 acres in total. There are two parcels that are owned by a single property owner and then a third owned by another, totaling 735,728 square feet. The proximity, I don't have the map to put up for you, but within the G Creek Plateau itself, this is directly north of North 10th, and it is an extension of 35th Way heading north in the G Creek Plateau. And I don't know, I don't think we can actually show the map within that. Forgive me for that. Excuse me. Um, annexation requires concurrent rezoning from the existing Clark County zoning designations to a city designation. Staff already found that the county zoning of the annexation area is R16, which is a low density residential zone within an urban holding overlay. That urban holding overlay would remain even after annexation, as was indicated earlier from Mr. Cask. When the projects come in project by project, then they're evaluated as to whether urban services can be provided. At that time, then urban holding would be lifted. Um, the 2016 comp plan designation for this area is urban low density residential. Um, but it also is an area that is implementing urban low density, uh, with the adopted G Creek plateau sub area plan and implementing code. So what we're talking about here is RLD four, four units per race per acre with a residential cluster overlay consistent with the, uh, G Creek plateau sub area plan and the implementing code. Again, upon annexation, any proposed development would be subject to the city's land use, engineering, building review processes, beginning with a pre-application conference. The project would vest to the version of the Ridgefield Development Code at the time of land use application being found technically complete, as we spoke previously. The intent to annex came before council, and on April 9th of 2026, you approved the intent to annex an authorization to circulate the petition. The petition was circulated. This is a 60% petition going from intent to petition. When you have the property owners that have 100% representation of this area that are seeking the annexation, not hard to get to 60%. You get to 100% as a matter of fact. This meeting and public hearing and first ordinance reading for the petition to annex was noticed on August 13th via publication in the newspaper of record. and to property owners within a 300-foot radius. City Council, we're asking the City Council hold a public hearing this evening, conduct first reading, and if you so choose, waive second reading and take action on the petition to annex at this time. I'm happy to answer any further questions that you might have and would request that you open the public hearing.

Great. Council, questions for staff on this petition? None, okay. Sounds good. I will, if there's no questions, I will now open the public hearing to receive testimony. This public hearing is now open. If you sign up with the city clerk before the meeting, your name will be called. You'll receive permission to unmute your microphone or step up to the podium. If you did not sign up in advance but would like to speak, please use the raise hand feature on your toolbar. If you are joining by phone, press star nine to raise your hand and press star six to mute or unmute. The city clerk will grant you permission to speak. And when speaking, Please state your name and keep your comments to three minutes. There will be no back and forth discussion between the speaker and the council. This public hearing is now open. Is there anybody in the room this evening wishing to provide comment in this public hearing? I'll ask again. Is there anybody in the room wishing to provide comment for this public hearing? Ms. Julie, is there anybody online wishing to provide comment? Okay We will go back to the room now for everybody one more chance to provide comment Okay, seeing none this public hearing is now closed thank you very much Counsel any remaining discussion on this Seeing none miss Julie, would you please read the ordinance into the record? I

Ordinance number 1486, ordinance of the city of Richmond, Washington, annexing into the corporate limits of the city of Richfield approximately 17 acres, identified as a settlement and leached annexation area, and assigning the zoning of the annexed area as residential low density four with the residential cluster overlay and urban holding 10 overlay.

Thank you, Ms. Julie. This is first reading only, but as staff mentioned, you certainly are welcome to waive second reading if you so wish.

Mr. Mayor, I make a motion to approve ordinance number 1486 as presented and waive second.

I'll second that.

Okay, it's been moved by Davis to waive second reading and adopt ordinance number 1486, the Statlement and Leach Pub petition to annex. Seconded by Buerkle. Any remaining discussion?

One comment go ahead we did we receive an email from an individual I just want that put on the record So we all have seen that and that that's it.

So it's just on the record that we did Thank you, I appreciate you bringing it up actually counselor I thought about the same thing, okay Any other comments? Hearing now, mr. Lee, would you please call a roll? I?

Council Member Davis. Aye. Council Member Fevella. Yes. Council Member Wells. Yes. Council Member Burkle.

Yes.

Council Member Hamilton. Yes. Mayor Portum-Chipman. Yes. Mayor Cole.

Aye. Thank you, Council. Motion carries 7-0. All right. Okay, that concludes our public hearings this evening and all of our business. And so we're going to just move on to council and staff reports. Council, since we've gone kind of late tonight and we've had a chance to speak, I'll ask you to just, if you have something to share, maybe just one thing and we'll make it quick this evening. So anybody wanting to go first? Oh, I'm sorry. You're right. You are right. I apologize. I missed that. All the stack of papers. Actually, we have to go back to public comment before we go into council reports. You before us. Where's my sheet again? One second. Okay. We're going to go to public comment. Anybody wishing to address City Council regarding items not subject to a specific public hearing may come forward at this time to the podium or use the raise hand feature located at the toolbar at the bottom of your Zoom screen. First, controls over the phone. Press star nine to raise hand or press star six to mute or unmute. Please state your name and limit your comments to three minutes.

All right, thank you. My name's Dion Hess. I just got a couple of things to say. Sorry I was late. I started today very early. I got up at 2.20. State Senator John Braun had invited myself and some gentlemen from the Coastal Conservation Association to come down to Astoria. He chartered a guide boat down there to discuss the issues, the top three issues facing the salmon fishing community. The three listed probably in the order of importance would be pinniped predation, hatchery production, and Columbia River access. A simple example of Columbia River access earlier definition would be boat trailer parking. This afternoon I came home, ate dinner, was invited to the Washington Waterfowl Association meeting really to discuss development close to critical waterfowl habitat that's needed for waterfowl that utilize it for resting during the migration, wintering, and nesting areas. A very good example of that would be the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. The main reason that I wanted to discuss, there was an article in the Columbian yesterday, it's titled The survey finds most Vancouver residents willing to pay monthly fee to address climate change. The survey was 165 people out of the 200,000, and I think using the term most on something like that, but this is my opinion. There's been a petition going around, I'm sure you're aware of it, 3,800 people signed it opposing the current development down there. And I've been told that only 65 are Richfield residents, so we'll go down to 24, 2,470. It's still quite a few. And I read the comments, I'm going back to the most, there's 500 comments. And I can't go through 500 comments. I tried. But there was not one comment that supported what the headline said. And if you really look at the comments, if you go to the reflector, if you look at Clark County today, there's been a lot of things that went on Facebook. They have a lot of comments pertaining to the development of the waterfront. And there's some that are up to 100. And I'm not saying they're all. opposed or all opposed to it. But so many of them are opposed. It's just something I think we need to really start really looking at what the people are saying in the community and addressing those concerns and not put it off as a loud minority or I don't know, there's needs to be some transparency. The other thing, I just have two comments. Go down and look at the boat ramp on September 2nd, then look at it on September 3rd, and look at it through Labor Day weekend. You'll sort of see what I'm talking about. And also, one last thing real quick, on September 14th, it's not my event, I'm a volunteer, but they are doing a legislator fishing event out of Ridgefield. There will be a lot of legislators from Oregon and Washington that will fish out of Ridgefield, and we'll probably have lunch at the... I'm not inviting you. It's not my event to invite, but it's a public place, so you'd be welcome.

Great. Thank you, Mr. Hess.

Good evening. I'm Jeff Fagan, Ridgefield resident, frequent waterfront visitor. And I wanted to tell you what's going on down there the last couple of days. Yesterday, we saw hundreds of white American pelicans. American white pelicans is what they are. Big birds, huge wingspans, black wingtips, kind of orangish beaks. We watched them. They were on Cardi Lake. A few would take off and circle around, a few would join them, then a few more, a few dozen more, until there was 100 pelicans circling over the waterfront in Cardi Lake. And then at some point, a few of them break off and head off south, and then a few more, and then a few more. It was a beautiful, amazing sight. Then this morning, I went back, and I watched their feeding frenzy. It was very interesting how they feed. They get in a formation. This is a group effort. It's not a V so much. It's kind of an arrow. And they're packed in really tightly, close to each other, side by side. And they go slowly across the lake, dipping their bills into the water. And they're all dipping their bills. And all the fish are trying to escape, and whatever else is under the water. And all they can do is get eaten by the next pelican over. And I watched them slowly go across the lake. And then they slowly came back the other way, and slowly came back that way, that way. They did that several times. Before, I guess, they were full, and they kind of broke up into groups. And that activity attracts the egrets. So there was over 100 pelicans. And there was over 100 egrets, too. And they stand around next to the pelicans. And all the fish that escaped the pelicans are easy prey for the egrets. Yesterday evening, the pelicans had settled down after dusk. And they had all packed down on the north end of the lake there. And the egrets, without anything to eat anymore, started heading off. And they went up to the trees that were on the east side of the lake. And a few at a time, after a while, when they were all up there, there was over 100. There was maybe three or four trees wide. There was 100 egrets sitting up in the trees on all the branches, something I'd never seen before. Never seen an egret in a tree. But that's things you don't see everywhere, things a lot of places don't have. And that's adjacent to the very narrow strip of land where the port wants to put hundreds of apartments. And their attitude seems to be, well, the birds will figure it out. And I think they're right. The birds will figure it out, and they'll go somewhere else. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Fagan. Appreciate you. Anybody else wishing to give comment this evening?

The quickest public comment ever, because I know you guys probably want to get out of here. Oh, Shauna Fisher, Ridgefield resident, right? Don't want to break the rules. So I just want to say thank you for all you guys do. It's so appreciated, and it's so nice that you guys are for the responsible growth to hear no more gas stations. Yes, thank you, because we do not need another gas station. So thank you. That's like refreshing to hear that. And then thank you for addressing the sidewalk issues. You know, you guys all know about my thing that happened. So, and I just want to put it out there. I think I might've said it before, but any buddy you need to help advocate for like fixing the sidewalks in any way to kind of be out there to be heard. I'm happy to. be that voice to help fix the sidewalk. So just so you guys know that because it's important. So I think it is. So anyway, so thank you for all you guys do. You're appreciated. And then also one thing too, really quick, didn't walk away yet. So the port survey that just closed, I would love for you guys to be able to see if you guys could get a copy of their results. to like look at their feedback. So there could be like a second party that look at looks at that. And I hope that you also take into consideration the canvassing that preserve bridgefield waterfront has done because i've done some of that canvassing and pretty much every door i've knocked on they're not um not in favor of it and a lot of them there was one door i knocked on and he they didn't even realize that piece of mail was for a survey so it's so i think that's you would think there would be more awareness, but I'm surprised that some people aren't aware of the scale of it, so I just hope you and the port come together when there is those decisions to be made, which I know you guys will, because you guys are advocates for the community, so thank you so much.

Thank you. Anybody else in the room this evening wishing to give a public comment? Miss Julie, anybody online?

No one online, Mayor.

Okay, we're going to close public comment for the evening. And now we'll go to our council and staff reports. And council, again, just because of time considerations, keep it the one thing this evening. Is there anybody who's wishing to go first? Councilor Fevella.

Again, congratulations, Chief, on your retirement. So incredible. The one thing I want to talk about tonight is at the Fire Commission meeting, we had a lot of news media there. Back in July at Paradise Point, there was a father swimming with his two young girls. The girls did not have floaties, and they started to go under, and the dad went in to get the girls, and he also started struggling, too. and if you've ever been to paradise point you know it's right under the freeway so noise you can be screaming and it's hard to hear with all the traffic going over Two teenage girls just happened to be coming around the corner paddle boarding, saw what was happening, and was able to get the two girls, get them to shore. The dad actually went under a lost consciousness. They were able to get him out of the water. He was resuscitated. And the two teenage girls on the paddle board were honored tonight for their heroic efforts. And it was just really heartwarming to see that. I'm always championing our youth and our community, and it's just impressive. The last hero award the fire department gave out was in 2019. So to see it come forward and it to be to these two girls who really saved lives and to see the room full of people and just the ripple effect that that happened, it was really heartwarming, and you can catch it on the news. So thank you. Very cool.

I want to tap on top of that one.

Okay. Next. I'll tap on top of that one. We had one of our twins was face down in the water under the bridge there too and was saved. Also we had two neighbors that drowned there in that same spot. right underneath the freeway. It's really a nice spot, but it's really dangerous. So that's my report.

Thank you, Councillor. Anybody wishing to go next? Councillor Hamilton.

Thank you. I just wanted to say thank you to city staff for the employee appreciation picnic that happened. That was really fun to be a part of. Everyone takes so much pride in their jobs, and it's so cool for us to get to see it firsthand. So thank you for that. And then just congratulations again. I'm very happy for you.

Thank you, Councilor.

She's not happy for herself, obviously.

Really nothing exciting to report about other than I had a fabulous vacation with my family. Thank you. Good for you.

It's good to hear.

I just gotta say something else. The luncheon we had on Tuesday with all the Public Works people, This is not a negative comment, but if we get any more employees, we're gonna have to have another building to hold it in Bennett question was full and everybody had a really good time Don't touch don't test staff with a good time.

They might they might take you up on that Okay, councillor Davis

Thank you. Yeah, so I'd say maybe that one highlight was Tuesday I got to ride the bike bus with the kiddos so I cruised down with about 25 kids that go to Union Ridge started up at the top of Hillhurst and Crew's gone down. They've got that cool mural down at Union Ridge now that they park their bikes in front of. And so I'm really, I love seeing that happen. And it was convenient that one of our officers was just approaching the intersection of Hillhurst and Pioneer right as we were coming in. So he just sort of shut it down. And we had all the kids cruise through, and they kind of got a kick out of that as well. The lower point was realizing that I had parked at the top of Hillhurst, so I had to ride my bike back up. So I coasted down, but definitely did not coast back up. But it was good. Chief, congratulations again. I think we saw on full display the thing that makes Our city, not just like the broader community, but like city staff and everything, the difference maker, the love that was in the room, the genuine appreciation for each other, that's the difference. That's the difference that makes us stand out among our peers. And so I love seeing that on full display. So thank you for giving us the opportunity to see that, Chief.

Thank you, Councilor. Mayor Potem.

Just a couple things. I guess probably the one interesting thing this week was just going to the dinner for the Builders Association and getting to take part in that. That was a great event. One of the things that's going to happen, I think it's next year, is they're going to have the Parade of Homes again here at our Paradise Point. Yeah. Is that this year or next year? Next year. Yeah, next year. That'll be fun to have it here. So anyway, yeah, that was my week.

Great. Just a quick note from me, and it's fitting tonight to share about this too. We talked a lot about Chief Doria and her legacy of service here in the city. As she departs, she's also leaving a gap in a local organization I think is very important and very important to us here in Richfield. Chief Doria has sat on the Police Activities League board for a number of years. And if you know anything about PAL, it's an organization that's dedicated to fostering and facilitating positive relationships between law enforcement and our youth in the area. I first got exposure to this organization when my son got to go to a day camp a number of years ago. And he still talks about the impact of that, just how he was able to form friendships. And then he had Detective King come to his first class and got to know him there because he'd come every week and read. And who doesn't love when Detective King shows up anywhere? And so it was always an organization that I was kind of drawn to. And so as Chief Doria steps down from that board, it's leaving a gap here where there's a really notable presence in Ridgefield. And so the board kindly asked me to step in to fulfill his shoes. Those are big shoes to fill, but I'm excited about doing it because I think it's a worthwhile mission to be a part of. I'm excited to participate and represent our community and helping foster those positive relationships with the law enforcement community as well. So looking forward to that. And but again, a little bit remiss because it means that Chief Doria has stepped down from another involvement. But thank you for letting me fill your shoes there. Yeah. That's it from council tonight. We're going to the city manager.

Thank you mayor members of the council of community. Just a couple of quick things. First of all, I had the pleasure of doing a walk with me Wednesday, uh, last Wednesday where at 10 AM, uh, joined about 15 people in overlook park. And we walked around downtown. I think we talked more than we walked. Um, it wasn't a long walk, but we had a chance to talk about a lot of the issues that people were facing and what some of the projects that we're working on downtown. Also, obviously questions associated with not just downtown, but with the waterfront and potential development there, I would say that rumors run rampant in the absence of information, right? And so I love taking opportunities like that to talk to people. If people have heard rumors about what city staff have said, I would suggest that they get a hold of me because I can tell you that I have never said that the waterfront should be sold to a private developer. I can't imagine any of my team saying that. And if they did, it'd be great to know. And so that we can have a conversation internally and use it as a lesson. But again, rumors are rumors. If somebody wants to actually get facts, I'm right here. I would love to talk with them about that. We also have a fact versus fiction page. We have a Q&A online about our roles and responsibilities associated with the waterfront. We have lots of information out there. And if there are ways that we can do better, please let us know. We're always looking for ways to better connect with people and provide better information, because you can never stop trying to be better. Second thing is, thank you so much for coming to the employee appreciation luncheon. I know not only did you guys enjoy it, but our employees really appreciate you being there and representing yourselves, council, the community in that work. I had the opportunity of giving my kind of gifts and blubbering to Chief Doriatt at that time, so I didn't have to do it tonight. But there is one final gift that is, that I do have the opportunity to give her, And it's something that she thought she wasn't gonna have to have given to her that she could just take it. And I said, no, you have to actually have it given to you. And that is the Chief's Retirement Badge. So this is a Ridgefield Police badge and very official and very much says RET at the bottom, which could mean anything. So if she flashes a badge at you, look at it closely that it does have RET on it and then just in case she's at Dutch Bros and there's a discount for retired law enforcement we also have a retired police City of Ridgefield Washington identification card so that she can carry with her to get any discounts that she may be entitled to so we wanted to make sure she had both of those so I will be handing those to Chief Doriot and I love her and I appreciate her and she's meant so much to us and this community, and we are all grateful, and we know that.

So, Kathleen, this is yours. Use it wisely. Don't abuse the privilege. Don't be a sports wearer. Exactly, yes.

And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.

Great, thank you, sir. Any questions for the city manager? All right, thank you. Appreciate it. We'll go to Public Works and Mr. Thamer, then.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. I just had a couple of quick updates. This week, out at the Kennedy Well site, our contractors put in a test pump. And we had water flowing for about four or five days doing some testing to determine what kind of filtration we'll need when we build the treatment system. But it was great to see water coming out of that well, even though it was only a test pump and not our permanent pump. The second update is on the East Side Reservoir. If you have been by there, you've seen there's a lot of activity happening. there's crane going in and they are starting the, uh, pile work and drilling, uh, is starting, uh, or has started. So, um, a lot of good movement on the water projects that we have. And if you want to see the water project live, if you're that geeky, um, the camera's live and operational as well.

So we have the city camera that is, I checked the link and it was working today. It should be, yes. So we have a link that's available through our website. You can watch it in live time. You can watch that one. And you also can watch the roundabout at 56 live, where we're actually doing an evaluation of different traffic patterns.

Man, I'm going to have to do some channel surfing in between.

How many viewers do you get besides Chuck Green?

Besides me and Chuck? Probably like one, maybe. But yeah.

You go ahead.

Mr. Thamer, just a quick, how are we doing with our water conservation program? That's a good question.

It's still going extremely well. We are showing continued lower numbers than last year. And as I spoke about earlier this year, we're on a three or four year trend now where our numbers are continuing to go down, even though our population and our water meters or our water services are increasing. So it's a positive and a success.

Thank you. Great. Other questions for Public Works? All right. Thank you, Mr. Thameron. Thanks for all your team, and you do. Thank you. We'll go to our city attorney, Ms. Parker.

Well, you have heard from me a lot tonight, so nothing else to add unless you have any questions. And just to say I will miss you dearly and look forward to the chance to have coffee. Just happy to answer any questions.

Only I'll just say, I didn't get to say it earlier, or I forgot to say it earlier, is just that thank you for all the work you did on all of these contracts. I know it's not just the DA that you're doing, but there's other lease agreements, there's other operations agreements. You have your work cut out for you, and I know that that's a lot. So thank you for your work on that and being so thorough so that we have the confidence in going forward with these agreements. You're very welcome. Okay, lastly, but never least, we're gonna go to PD and Chief Dorriott.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Not a lot to say, I just appreciate everything that everyone did to make this a celebration for my retirement. Very much appreciated. And I did want to shout out to the community, because I have had so many people reach out to me, and we have an amazing community, so thank you.

Thank you. Any questions for the Chief?

Not a question, but just a personal comment. Chief, you're the only chief that ever gave me a hug.

Okay.

Any other questions or comments? All right. Thank you. With that, this meeting is adjourned.