Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Tuesday, September 15th, 2026, Thurston County Board of County Commissioners business meeting. All commissioners are, I still do that, all commissioners are present with the exception of Commissioner Menser, who is at a conference for the lot. We will begin this meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance from Commissioner Grant. Everybody please rise.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Mr. Mejia, would you read the land acknowledgment, please?

Yes, Vice Chair. We would also like to start today with a land acknowledgement. We would like to acknowledge and thank the indigenous Salish peoples whose elders and ancestors have lived on and stewarded the lands and waterways of this county. with great care and who continue as sovereign nations today, specifically the Squaxin, Nisqually, and Chehalis people. Truth and acknowledgement are critical to building mutual respect and connection across all barriers of heritage and difference. The purpose of this acknowledgement is to disrupt ongoing erasure of injustices done and to remember history as a stepping stone towards healing. We commit to working together to honor our past and build our future with truth.

Thank you, Commissioner. We have an agenda before us with two different proposed motions to consider.

Vice Chair, I move to amend the agenda by moving consent item 11, request for proposals for inmate chemical dependency program services to department item eight. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Motion passes. Are there any other Any further motions?

I move to approve the agenda as amended. Second.

We have a motion and a second to move to approve the agenda as amended. Is there any discussion on that? Hearing none, all those in favor?

Aye.

Those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. That brings us to presentations. We have a presentation for Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month.

Thank you, Vice Chair. Good afternoon, board. Today we have Hispanic Heritage Month as your proclamation, and we have some incredible speakers and some incredible attendees. So with no further ado, I'd like to invite up Olivia Salazar-DeBrow of the Hispanic Roundtable.

Hello, thank you so much for inviting me to be part of this wonderful celebration. My name, for the record, is Olivia Salazar de Bro. I'm the vice president of the Hispanic Roundtable. You may also know me from my role at the City of Olympia. Very, very grateful to be here. And so I'll tell you a little bit about the Hispanic Roundtable. We were founded in 2002 as a nonprofit to improve access to community resources, services, economic development, education, and employment for Latinx people in the South Puget Sound community. Our vision is a stronger Latino community, and our mission is to do that through partnerships, education, community building, and cultural representation. Our board includes 11 members with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and ages. And our diversity is one of our many strengths. You don't have to speak Spanish or be Hispanic or Latino to join us. We welcome anyone who cares about our mission and wants to support the Hispanic community. Since its second year of inception, the Hispanic Roundtable has sponsored the annual Latinx Youth Summit. Over the years, the summit has grown into an annual event serving more than 500 Latinx high school students from five counties every single year. Hosting at rotating college campuses, it's a day centered on college readiness, career exploration, and health and wellness workshops each one culturally informed and celebrating our identities. For the 25-26 school year, we made the very difficult decision to shift the summit from an in-person event to a virtual event. This was really heartbreaking for us. This was in response to the troubling political and social climate in which the Latinx students and families we serve have been increasingly targeted for harm right here in our own community. Their safety remains and has always been our highest priority. This decision serves as a reminder why it is so important to keep doing everything possible to ensure the well-being of all community members, especially those who are the most vulnerable. The summit thrives because of strong partnerships with colleges, educators, businesses, and community members who believe deeply in our youth. We're always looking for new board members and new roundtable members and volunteers to support our efforts. In conclusion, I'd like to remind everyone how important and vital it is that we protect spaces of joy as well. Places where culture is honored and community is strengthened. Events like the Hispanic Round Tables, Latinx Youth Summit, and LulaFest, which you'll hear about in a minute, help us celebrate our diverse cultures, our numerous similarities and our collective humanity. This kind of work builds community and it's what heals us. At a time when Latinx and Hispanic communities are being dehumanized by harmful rhetoric and practices, one of the strongest responses is connection, human to human. So we invite you to show up. We ask you to support these cultural gatherings and local businesses. We implore you to protect our ability not to just exist, but to experience joy, community, and togetherness. So thank you so much again for allowing me to be part of this proclamation on behalf of the Hispanic Roundtable. I really appreciate it, and I'm so excited to see the rest of the festivities today. Thank you.

Thank you, Olivia. Next, I would like to invite up Lynn Glor, who's the board secretary for the Legal Immigration Services of Olympia, or LISO.

I named my little presentation to you honoring heritage and securing justice. And I want to say good afternoon to everyone here today. And it's a real honor to be before you as we celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month. From September 15th to October 15th, we pause to recognize the profound histories, cultures, and contributions of folks whose ancestors hailed from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Here in Washington State, and specifically with our Olympia community, this month holds deep significance. Hispanics and Latinos are not just part of our history, they are an essential part of our present, and our future. We see this vibrant heritage reflected in our local businesses, our schools, our arts, and the very fabric of our neighborhoods. but at Legal Immigration Services of Olympia, also known as LISO. Hispanic Heritage Month is more than just a celebration of culture. For us, it is a call to action. It is a time to reflect on the core values that define this community, values of resilience, family, perseverance, and solidarity. And it is a time to look closely at the systemic challenges that many members of this community continue to face. The journey of immigration is often fueled by hope, but the reality of American immigration system can be incredibly daunting. Navigating complex legal frameworks is difficult under the best of circumstances, but it becomes a crisis when an individual is separated from their family and placed in immigration detention. We know that detention centers are isolating. We know that inside those walls, fear and uncertainty thrive. And we know fundamentally that true justice cannot exist when an individual's future hangs in the balance simply because they cannot afford legal representation. In immigration court, unlike criminal court, there is no public defender provided if you cannot afford an attorney. That is why our mission at LISO is so critical. We are deeply committed to providing completely free, high quality legal services to individuals held in immigration detention. When our attorneys step into the detention center in Tacoma, just right up the street, they bring more than just legal expertise. They bring a lifeline. We are ensuring that a father, a mother, a worker, or a dreamer has a voice. We stand beside them to protect their due process, fight for their bond hearings, and advocate for their right to stay with the families who love and depend upon them. Every single day, our team witnesses the incredible resilience of the clients we serve. Their courage inspires our work. By fighting for their legal rights, we are not only defending individuals, we are upholding the very ideals of justice and humanity that our country aspires to. As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, let us honor the past by protecting the present. Let us celebrate the rich culture of the Hispanic community by actively defending their dignity and their rights. We cannot fully appreciate the community's contribution to our society if we turned a blind eye to their struggles for basic fairness As such, LISO has consulted with more than 100 detained individuals and taken on more than 20 full-blown cases. We've been in existence for just a little over a year and our phone rings off the hook every day with people seeking legal representation. About half of our cases have ended with release from detention. One very dramatic case that I'll briefly tell you about had a very dramatic turn. Although our client had been told he might be transported to a different detention facility in the middle of the night, our lead attorney felt it seemed unlikely that that was about to happen. Sure enough, when she arrived at the detention center early that next morning, she was informed that he had been removed. It was only through her perseverance and push for justice that she learned that he was still shackled and seated on a plane at Boeing Field. Because she is relentless. She and seeks freedom for her clients. He was eventually taken off the plane and returned to Tacoma and he is now home fighting his fight at home with his loved ones. And just, I'm sure you know, we, this little small nonprofit of two full-time attorneys and one part-time attorney and four board members and two legal assistants cannot do this work alone. It takes the entire community, whether through volunteering, spreading awareness, providing financial support, The community helps to ensure that no one has to face the isolation of detention without an advocate by their side. Thank you for celebrating with us today. Thank you for supporting Legal Immigration Services of Olympia. And let us continue to work together toward a more just, welcoming, and equitable community for all.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Lynn. Next, I would like to invite up Natalia from Michiyama.

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Natalia. I am a program coordinator and facilitator over at Michatla. I have worked for many years since we first originated in 2022. Our name, Michatla Mi, is Nahuatl for my home. It comes from our story from our executive director when he studied in medical school in Guatemala. One of his friends who was local from the area would invite him over to his house after medical school. after their classes and he would say, come on, come over to meet Chantla. And so that's where that name came from because during that time in medical school, he was alone by himself in a new country since he originally was from Honduras. And so while he was in this new country, having this door open to him, having this house to be able to go to after his classes another home it really helped him in that time and it really gave him that strength to push forward in his studies and to continue on and find that find that source for people today so that is exactly what our mission purpose is is to create a home for the people who are looking for that home in a new country coming into a new country means you are completely on your own looking for new resources starting from the bottom up you have left your family behind you have left your community behind. So with me, Chantla, we just want to be a lighthouse, a lifeline, a lifeline for the families that come here, especially for the youth that come here. Because in me, Chantla, we know that every single youth, every single kid, is our future. They are going to be our guides. They are going to be our educators, our teachers, our doctors. They are going to be our foundations. And so this includes our migrant youth. And so Michantla wants to make sure those needs of our youth are prioritized. So we do that by making sure that they aren't exposed to the substance use and violence that is prevalent in our communities and that spreads throughout communities because unfortunately, once our youth get into that pipeline of legal troubles where they're either institutionalized or they're in juvie, it's hard for them to come out, and once they are in that system, their potential is squashed, their future is squashed, and us at Mee Chan Plan want to make sure that that doesn't happen, because we want to make sure that every one of these people are able to flourish and that Thurston County, the South Puget Sound area is exactly that soil for them to flourish. So we do this by implementing a new sort of implementation that our executive director came with, which is community ambassadors. So we find people in our community which are known by the community who have worked with migrants in our community, especially with times now people are scared with what resources are actually viable or not people are scared of who they can trust which of their neighbors is with them or who secretly is against them and so with that they don't reach out as much you know that is something that we've had an obstacle that we've ran into multiple times with our programs is that People don't know who to trust with our resources. So even if our community has the resources, we need community members that people trust to actually find these people. And so Meet Shatla has been able to find ambassadors in different districts since we serve across six different districts to help go to the people, to help find these people who know these people's families, who know these people's backgrounds and who's able to connect them with Michantla so that they know that Michantla is another home for them, is another resource for them, is a place where they and their family will be safe and where they will be helped and they are seen for the potential that they can bring to their community. So the programs that we offer, like I said, we really prioritize substance use and violence prevention. So that journey starts with the family. We believe that Youth and parents must work together in order to get the resources they need, in order to get that trust that they need. That foundation in the family is strong. So especially in the Latino community and our culture where family is highly prioritized and the community is highly prioritized. So we start with a family strengthening program where we invite families to, both parents and their teenagers, their kids between the ages 10 to 16 to come with us to we do have lunch together and then we do parenting classes together and with youth we do communication classes together, mental health classes together, ways they can recognize stress, ways they can recognize peer pressuring. And so after they have their separate classes, they join together where they're able to have a family class together and they're able to actually communicate as a family and share time together as a family and learn together as a family. and learn how to grow and communicate together as a family. And once that program is complete and once everyone is finally done with that first step, then they are invited to our other programs. So this includes, for our parents, more parenting classes that can really help them get that sort of edge with communication, especially with teenagers. We also, for our youth, we have STEM education. So they are able to be in classes that allow them to experiment with engineering and bioscience, where they're able to learn more about sound, where they're able to learn with actual equipment. They're able to build a speaker. They're able to use a stethoscope. Things that would usually cost them money if they were an extracurricular activity that they would have to pay out of pocket. IF IT WAS ANOTHER PROGRAM. WE ALSO PROVIDE MUSIC CLASSES JUST SUCH FOR DRUMMING. WE ALSO HAVE CONTEMPORARY DANCE, PHOTOGRAPHY, ARTS, RECREATION. WE PROVIDE A LOT OF ACTIVITIES FOR FREE THAT ARE FUNDED BY THE COMMUNITY FOR THE COMMUNITY. THE ONLY THING THAT WE ASK FOR OUR FAMILIES IS THAT THE ONLY THING THEY NEED TO BRING IS THEIR PASSION, THEIR DRIVE, AND THEIR MOTIVATION. AND OTHER THAN THAT, THEY ARE MORE THAN WELCOME. OUR DOORS ARE MORE THAN WELCOME TO THEM. And so one more thing I would like to note before I put an end to our presentation, thank you so much for listening. Since our community is growing, our Latin American community is growing, I do want to acknowledge that Because Spanish is a language that was introduced to our region and not originated from our region, that means Latin America has a diverse, diverse selection of languages. indigenous language mayan languages aztec languages and we are seeing that a lot in our districts in different districts now and so that is something that is so important when we are looking for community ambassadors that they're able to speak those languages because with those languages that bridges the trust and that creates so much more rapport with these communities and so much more And this trust builds consistency with our programs, which is, you know, essentially what we like to see with our participants. So thank you again for listening. It's truly a pleasure. And I am so as someone who has grew up in the Thurston County area, it's truly so I am truly so grateful to see so many communities today that support, you know, Latino. So thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Natalia. Next, I would like to invite up two speakers from the Colectiva Cocuya. We have Catalina Ocampo-Lodonia and we have Alice Nelson.

Hello, thank you for having us today. We really appreciate having the opportunity to share with you. Alyssa and I are here as representatives of Colectiva Cocuya. We are an intersectional feminist collective based in the Seattle Olympia area along the corridor. Our mission is to highlight the role of art in the work of equity and social justice. believing that art and cultural production have an important place. I really appreciated the highlighting the importance of joy at this moment and highlighting the importance of Latinx communities and our contributions to the citizenship, to the cultural citizenship of this community. So this is part of our work. We also seek to bring in communities, not just as consumers of culture, but as producers of culture. We create events that bring people in, participate in that work, and also do that in contexts, in non-traditional contexts. Our name comes from the Taino word, cocuyo, which is a small beetle that is found all the way from Chile to Florida, and it's the most luminescent creature on earth. It's a very, very small creature, but it shines very brightly. So this is part of our inspiration. We seek to visibilize what is not, to remember the fact that Latinx communities continue to be underrepresented in the world of high arts. and to visibilize, to value and acknowledge all the forms of knowledge production, cultural production, and artistic production that Latino communities bring to this region. And also acknowledge and value and highlight the right to migrate, the value of migrating, and what that brings to our communities.

Hi. It's great to be here with you today, and thank you for opening space to celebrate Hispanic Latinx Heritage Month, and may this celebration continue beyond the month. The mission that we have with Colectiva Cocuya, we did make a little slide, is, as Catalina said, we are trying to activate... public spaces or non-traditional venues for exhibiting art, places where people might come across art that they may not otherwise. And part of that is because, as Catalina said, we're trying to visibilize and value knowledges and contributions of Latinx communities. We want to honor modes of expression that are undervalued as art. So the posters exhibit, as I'll speak about in a minute, is one of those. And we're also trying to strengthen networks of artists and creatives and organizations connected with Latinx communities. in the Pacific Northwest and across the continent in Latin America as well. And so some of the examples of work and projects that we've done, we regularly put on peñas. Peñas are collaborative concerts poetry readings with a social justice theme, often anchored in music, canto nuevo music from Latin America. But the audience participates, and the audience can bring music, the audience can bring poetry, and the audience can bring art, dance. And so there's a very communal aspect to doing a peña. So we try to do one every year. And we'll maybe send you an invitation next time we do that. And the photograph is from our most recent which was a winter 2026 exhibition at the Evergreen State College. It was called Chicanx Latinx Posters, Art, Identity, and Resistance in the Pacific Northwest and Beyond. That's our collective there in front, and the Cocoya Beetle is up there in the left corner. But the exhibit was, we actually have this incredible treasure in Olympia, which is this archived collection at Evergreen of Chicanx and Latinx art that was put together by a whole series of folks in the 1980s, and really was the first collection of art by Chicanx and Latinx artists in our region put together in the United States. And so it is known for that, and it includes things that aren't always considered art. Some are, like... framed art pieces, paintings, but also we have many posters, we have many movement publications, we have little figures that people gave to the archive. So it's an incredible treasure and part of pulling it out in the winter and exhibiting it. It brought together a lot of different cross sections of the community and also students were involved in curating and cataloging some of those materials. So it crossed some of the generations and activated the archive in exciting ways. And we're going to bring a little taste of that to LulaFest, thanks to Miguel. So you'll see when you come to LulaFest on September 26th, you will see a sample of the posters. We're going to have six larger pieces downstairs. and a dozen more in the Capitol Theater. And really, this is, again, the heart of what we do. We try to bring art into public spaces to honor and visibilize Latinx communities. And so that's what we're doing at LulaFest. And I just wanted to share this one poster that's part of the collection and will be at LulaFest because it has a beautiful message for us for Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month. Ten orgullo en tu raza. Be proud of who you are. Aspira a lo mejor del mundo. Try to achieve your highest goal. This was a poster made by Daniel DeSiga, who passed away in 2020, but long-time Chicano artist, born in Walla Walla, made many murals throughout the state, Washington and Oregon. Really amazing artist, and wanted to end on the note of that message. Thank you for having us.

Thank you, Catalina and Alice. Our final speaker today is Miguel Pinela of LulaFest.

Wow.

Thank you for having me. Thank you for everyone that's invited to be here. Jay's here. Oh, dude, see? Now we're, okay, this is great. This is great. That's a nice surprise. First of all, thank you, commission. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, Leonard, also you guys. Thank you for being here, giving us the opportunity to talk about what we have going on. I'M THE OWNER AND OPERATOR OF LULA FEST LLC. THIS IS THE FOURTH YEAR WE'VE DONE LULA FEST. AND I COME HERE WITH A LOT OF JOY IN MY HEART AS WE SEEK TO CREATE INTENTIONAL CULTURAL ART SPACE FOR OUR COMMUNITY, FOR EVERYONE, FOR THE YOUTH, FOR THE ELDERLY, FOR ARTISTS, FOR MUSICIANS. WE WANT THIS EVENT TO REALLY REFLECT WHAT OUR COUNTY HAS TO OFFER, NOT JUST OUR CITY, BUT OUR COUNTY. And I'm reminded of how I got here. If it wasn't for my parents, Maria Pineda, and my father, Juan Jose Pineda, and my older brother, Jose Luis Pineda, helped me be the man that I am today, standing in front of you, advocating for what we learned. I come here as the grandson of Lupe and Chela Guzman from Sunnyside, Washington. Sorry. And also my grandparents who are from Mexico. And I stand here as an act of remembrance and resistance to all that have suffered at the hands of injustice and all still fighting for equality and for justice. Lula Fest is an act of resistance. We remember because we want to create revolution. So just existing, just living your day is living proof that we're not giving up and we're not going anywhere. My parents were migrant farm workers when they were like five and six, picking our crops. trying to get through high school and raise all of us to who we are today. They faced more racism than I could probably talk about or ever think about. My father being punched in the face by people that were harassing him. My parents being told, English only please. Why? It's not the language of this land. So don't tell me that. My grandfather was terrorized by a sheriff in Texas. He went to go take some oranges, and the sheriff made him eat more oranges to the point where he was puking out of his nose. When I was in elementary school, my PE teacher had the gall to tell me that when I didn't want to do partner dancing, that, well, Miguel, sometimes there's things in life You may be working a job at McDonald's and the person behind you doesn't like Mexicans. What are you going to do then? Well, first of all, I ain't working at McDonald's, so no disrespect, but I ain't going there, man. And yet we still persist. We resist. I choose to remember the people that made my life better. One person in particular that we will never forget this community should be forever grateful for. His name is Jose Valadez. He was a community activator. He was me and my brother's godfather. And he taught us many lessons. And one of the biggest lessons that he shared with us, and he just passed away just recently, and we celebrated his life for what he did for this community. He made us remember. He made us celebrate. He made us tell our story. And he told us his. And through that, We built community. We had parties, we had bodas, there were weddings, there were funerals, there were everything. But we all did it together and that is community. We broke bread, we shared meals together. That is community. That is who I choose to remember. The people that went before us, that had to deal with everything so that I could stand before you and tell you that we are here to make things different. We're not gonna let things just be This is why we have LulaFest. LulaFest is a way for us to remember everyone that came before us and celebrate and be in our joy and be in our intention. That is what community is like. That's the community I want to raise my four children in. I stand before you as somebody who loves his community and I will continue to fight for my community. I will continue to exist. We will continue to exist, everybody here. And I just thank you all for allowing us just the space to talk about community and what it actually is. And so I invite all of you to LulaFest to help remember, tell story, break bread, dance, be in our joy, be in joy with our community. It's the same community. I also want to thank all the people that helped to make this possible. My sister. Well, my sister, Olivia Salazar, helped us get this off the ground. My other big sister, Desiree Freeland, who's part of the ODA, and all the countless other mujeres that carried all of us towards this opportunity. No hay revolucion sin mujer. There is no revolution without women. And so it is our job to... It is our job to remember the people that did the work. And so I'm also very thankful for the Colectiva for being a part of what we are trying to do. And I just thank you again. And let's keep it going. Thanks.

Thank you so much, Miguel. Vice Chair, with that, I would also like to acknowledge that we have the representatives from the Multicultural Center of the South Sound here today. We have folks from the city of Olympia here today. And we have the stream team that will be having the celebracion del salmon. And they have flyers for that outside as well. And then we have food today from Tacos Dos Hermanos. We have it from Olympia Salsa. And we have it from Twister Donuts, all local organizations here in Olympia. I will turn it back to you to read the proclamation, and then we'll recess outside if you are willing. And then we have Aiza here from Spicy Lounge, who will do some teaching of bachata y salsa for us today. And then we'll have some time to recess and mingle.

Awesome. All right. Thank you. Thank you, everyone, for coming today. All right. So now the Board of County Commissioners will proclaim the month of September 2026 as Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month in Thurston County. I'll invite Commissioner Mejia to please read the proclamation.

Thank you. Vice Chair, if you'll allow me, just a point of privilege to say a couple words.

So I'll start in Spanish. Nuestra cultura es familia, música, comida, alegría. Pero también es trabajo, sacrificio, resiliencia y esperanza. Hoy celebramos a nuestras familias, a nuestros trabajadores, a nuestros pequeños negocios, a nuestros jóvenes, y a todos aquellos que cada día hacen de nuestra comunidad un lugar mejor. I'll read it in English as well.

Good afternoon, everyone, and it's an honor to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with all of you. I came to this country from Honduras when I was 11 years old. I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunities this country has given me, but also grateful I grew up learning to be proud of my roots and where I came from, my language and the sacrifices made by those who came before us. Our culture is family, music, food, joy. but it is also hard work, sacrifice, resilience, and hope. Today we celebrate our families, our workers, our small businesses, our young people, and everyone who make our community a better place every day. And especially to our young people, I want to say, never forget where you come from. Speaking two to three languages is a gift. Your roots are a strength, and you belong in every space where decisions are made and our future is built. Thank you. I will read the proclamation for Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month. Whereas Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated annually from September 15th through October 15th to recognize the multiple Independence Days for Latin American nations, and whereas the Hispanic and Latino communities represent a vibrant tapestry of cultures and traditions with roots spanning the Americas, Spain, the Caribbean, and communities throughout the world, And whereas Hispanic and Latino folks are an important component to the culture of Thurston County, whose resilience, leadership, and creativity have helped shape the social, cultural, and economic fabric of our country. And whereas this proclamation calls upon all of us to listen to the diverse perspectives within Hispanic and Latino communities, recognize both the challenges and achievements they experience, and ensure that their voices and contributions remain an important part of conversations about our shared future, whereas we recognize the strength resilience leadership and continued contributions of hispanic and latino communities and reaffirm our commitment to building a community in which every individual and family has the opportunity to belong and thrive now therefore be it resolved the board of thurston county commissioners hereby proclaim september 15th through october 15th as hispanic and latino heritage month in thurston county AND CELEBRATES THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF HISPANIC AND LATINO AMERICANS IN THURSTON COUNTY AND THE NATION. ADOPTED THIS 15TH DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 2026, YOUR BOARD OF THURSTON COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.

THANK YOU.

WELL DONE. ALL RIGHT. WE WILL RECESS FOR 15 MINUTES AND THEN WE WILL CONTINUE WITH OUR MEETING. EVERYBODY JOIN US OUT IN THE LOBBY, PLEASE.

Recordings.

Next on our agenda is public comment. I'll read the public comment guidelines. The Board of Thurston County Commissioners welcomes comments from the public at all meetings. There are guidelines governing such comments to ensure they are appropriate and do not take advantage of the fact that most meetings are televised. Public comment guidelines include introduce yourself and the address you reside within the county, state which agenda item you are speaking to, Address the board, not the audience or the staff. Silence your cell phones. The board does not respond to public comments, but the county manager may follow up with specific items as needed. Speakers have three minutes to address the board. Meeting attendees cannot donate their speaking time to another person. Please be respectful. The board reserves the right to restrict a person's opportunity to address the meeting for good cause. No comments that are lewd and offensive, inflammatory, hateful, defamatory, or discriminatory in nature. no outbursts of any kind, no comments that are commercial in nature, such as promotion of for-profit businesses. All materials provided to the county may be considered public records subject to public release upon request pursuant to the Public Records Act, Chapter 4256 RCW. Withhold remarks about pending land use permits or similar matters that could eventually come before the board. No electioneering. Thank you for your cooperation. The first public comment period is on... Agenda items. First up is, what's that?

Do you want to open it up just for time limitations?

Well, we'll start, I don't think so. First is Mr. John Pettit, and then Glenn Martucci is on deck. Is Mr. Pettit in the room? All right, Mr. Martucci, you are up, sir. On deck is Joe Jordan.

Thank you. Don't mind the celebratory music in the background. I like that. I reside at 2722 18th Avenue, Northeast Olympia, Washington. Glenn Martucci. And I'm here to talk about the South Bay Tunnel. And I do want to, this is on behalf of the Gospel Outreach Church in Olympia. and just go back a little bit regarding our position there. In 1982, the church bought some property there on South Bay Road at the time. It was much calmer. There was nowhere near the traffic speeds or the traffic volume at the time. As things developed, the traffic increased, the traffic speeds increased. And when we first began there, the traffic volumes were considerably lower, vehicle speeds were slower. But then as the surrounding area developed and traffic increased, we became increasingly more aware of just the pedestrian danger and crossing South Bay Road. it's a big sort of a big corner that when you come in front of the church building, there's very little, little reaction time to see if a pedestrian is crossing the road. So in 2019 we got with public works and we put a school zone in front of the church and put a complete with like flashers and so on and so forth. And we put a nice crosswalk in there and, but still you've got, people standing five or six feet away from cars coming through it at 45 or 40 miles an hour. And many times, many times faster than that. So, um, we appreciate that in 20, that happened in 2020. Then I, myself, I witnessed two accidents at the crosswalk itself. Unfortunately, there were no pedestrians were involved in those accidents. So we commissioned another traffic study because we were just, we don't want to, we wanted to have real facts. And as we did that, we found that 20, there were 35,000 cars coming through in one week. IN FRONT OF OUR CHURCH BUILDING ON SOUTH BAY ROAD. 23,000 OF THEM WERE GOING 40 MILES AN HOUR OR FASTER. THERE WERE EVEN 7,100 VEHICLES THAT WERE that were over 45 miles an hour, 1600 vehicles over 50 miles an hour. We had vehicles going over 58 going over 60 and 33 going over 70 miles an hour, just right on South Bay Road. And then we only had 296 vehicles going under 20. And being that it's a school zone and the school zone operates kind of in the morning for a crossing and for an afternoon crossing. So we commissioned a study, and from there we went through, we got with Matt Unselman, we looked at chicanes, we looked at ballers, we looked at pedestrian islands, all sorts of things like that. But then we found out that really, and it's in several manuals, the Federal Highway Manual, even WSDOT, and even in the Thurston County Manual. Am I over my time?

Yes, sir.

You can take a couple seconds to wrap it up. Long story short, the safest thing for pedestrians is to have grade separation, which would mean either a tunnel or a bridge. We thought a bridge would be just a monstrosity. And then I don't think people really want to use it because people will generally take the shortest possible route to get across something. And so we ended up with, we spec'd it out. There's about 12,000 crossings a year. 70% of them are children. And so the church, we just made the decision that we will privately fund a tunnel and to just to assure the safety of the crossings there. So that's basically how we've come to present this before you. And I, we believe it is actually the best thing for drivers that they don't have to be, uh, they don't have to stop that many times for pedestrians. There's the separation between obviously between vehicles and pedestrians. So we, we believe this is actually the best thing that not only for our children and members of our church, but also for Thurston County and the drivers. So thank you, Mr. Jordan.

I'm assuming. And then Shasta Kelly, you're on deck.

Thank you. I am Joe Jordan. I'm an executive for I-5 Design, who is the architect record for this project. With this, we also worked with a very good civil engineer, AHBL out of Tacoma, structural engineers, geotechs, all kind of the professionals needed to really put together an excellent plan. For the tunnel itself, it's planned as a precast structure. We wanted to kind of achieve multiple things just based on the owner's goal. One, really make it as... kind of invisible as possible for traffic, really just, uh, uh, no visual barriers or anything there, um, to impede any visibility. And also, uh, something that during the construction of it would just be a very quick turnaround and, you know, kind of create the least amount of impact to, uh, during that construction process, a couple of just key things based on comments that have come in that wanted to address is, um, Everything was designed, you know, first with the overall aesthetic, safety and aesthetics in mind. You know, safety obviously being first. This has been done where there's actually a fencing and barrier around the entire opening, both concrete and steel barriers. So even, you know, wayward cars, nothing's going to protrude into the tunnel or break into it. There's also a gate, a coded gate for the opening itself. So people can't wander in, no one can sleep in there, things like that. And then from the inside, it's got motion controls. So no one can be stuck inside the tunnel itself. And that's all code compliant for everything. From a lighting and landscaping standpoint, this is more kind of the finished aesthetic, but really kind of, went kind of above and beyond based on the owner's directive. Just for nighttime, you know, and early and late, just was very visible and safe for pedestrians, kind of pathway leading to it and the tunnel itself staying very bright kind of throughout the evening. And then the landscaping design kind of encompassed the tunnel as well as a redo, actually a lot of the frontage for the property to really improve kind of the overall experience. The last thing I just want to mention for the construction access during the tunnel, which is during the construction of the tunnel, it's a key part. This has been kind of tuned with the county. We've actually widened those construction access lanes, which go through the church property. We've also added bike and pedestrian access additional to the vehicular access, which is beyond the requirements, but we just felt during that several months process that both vehicular and pedestrian bike access being very well maintained throughout. So that's kind of a quick overview just from a design standpoint we want to provide. Thank you, sir. Ms. Shasta-Kelly.

Good afternoon. My name is Shasta Kelly. I'm with the law firm of Dixon Froelich Phillips Burgess, and we're the firm that prepared the indemnity and license agreement before you for the private tunnel. We worked through several drafts of this agreement with Karen Horowitz from the prosecuting attorney's office as counsel for Thurston County Public Works. As it's an unusual project, we modeled the agreement after a similar recent agreement at the city of Seattle for a pedestrian tunnel with a children's hospital for a tunnel facility there. WHILE BRINGING IN THE COUNTY'S LICENSE AND INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS, AMONG OTHER PROVISIONS. WE WENT THROUGH SEVERAL DRAFTS TO REACH THE FINAL VERSION THAT'S BEFORE YOU FOR FINAL APPROVAL, AND WE UNDERSTAND THE COUNTY'S PROCESS INCLUDED REVIEW FROM OTHER COUNTY DEPARTMENTS, INCLUDING RISK MANAGEMENT. THE AGREEMENT MAKES CLEAR THAT THE COST OF THE IMPROVEMENTS AND ALL RISK RELATED TO THE OPERATION MAINTENANCE AND USE OF THE TUNNEL REMAINS WITH GOSPEL OUTREACH AND NOT THE COUNTY. And we believe this represents a win-win as it addresses a critical safety issue, but does so entirely at private expense. And we appreciate the county's willingness to work with Gospel Outreach to reach this unique resolution. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Kelly. All right. Is there anyone else in the audience who would like to provide public comment on an agenda item? Okay, we'll quickly get to the next portion. County manager's update.

Vice Chair.

What?

I would recommend that we just.

Okay. If you want to provide public comment on general matters. Go ahead, please. We have a public hearing afterwards.

Lynn Fitzhugh, Restoring Earth Connection.

I have several weeks ago sent all of you the link for the recording of the Growth Management Hearing Board lawsuit by FutureWise against the county for not adequately addressing climate change in the master plan. Please listen to it. I think you need to understand for yourselves what happened with both of those cases because you are not receiving accurate summaries. During the writing of the master plan, myself, Tom Crawford, Paris McCloskey, Mary Ann Tompkins, Charlotte Persons, and many others testified multiple times before the planning commission about how the actual language of the mitigation plan, which was actionable language, was not being taken into the master plan, but rather instead vague, aspirational language that was not actionable. As the Planning Commission began to also ask for this, they were directed by CPED staff to instead prioritize items on the plan, which was a complete waste of time since it neither met the requirements for commerce for a climate element nor serves our mitigation plan, all of which has to be done. This lack of actionable language is exactly what FutureWise sued about During the hearing, one of the GMA board members was extremely clear in saying that while Commerce had created advisory language and actions counties could adopt to comply with the legislative mandate, that under the law you were also free to adopt your own elements and language as long as you had a carbon analysis to show that it would be effective. SINCE THIS CONSULTANT WHO CREATED THE TMCP DID USE AN ANALYSIS, I SUSPECT THE TCMP WOULD MEET THE BILL, BUT THE PROBLEM WAS MOST OF ITS ACTION LANGUAGE WAS NOT BROUGHT INTO THE IMPLEMENTATION SECTION. WHEN HE ASKED COUNTY STAFF IF THEY HAD AN ANALYSIS TO COMPANY THEIR PLAN, THEY SAID NO. There are several alarming misunderstandings happening of the GMHB decision. One would be that either the GMHB or Commerce is being rigid with the county. The other misbelief is that this THIS RENDERS PUBLIC OUTREACH MEANINGLESS. THAT ALREADY HAPPENED WHEN YOU DID NOT LISTEN TO US ABOUT USING THE PLAN'S ACTIONABLE LANGUAGE. IF YOU DECIDE, OH, WELL, WE HAVE TO THROW AWAY OUR MITIGATION PLAN AND JUST USE COMMERCE'S LANGUAGE, YOU WILL THROW AWAY A MUCH LONGER TWO-YEAR PUBLIC PROCESS THAT CREATED THE TCMP. You actually have actionable language that has a carbon analysis and matches fairly well with commerce. You just have to include it. You have to have the humility to admit that the county has made a mistake while creating the climate element. When we learn from mistakes, we grow. Thank you.

Thank you. All right, is there anyone else? All right, moving on. County Manager's Update.

AFTERNOON'S MEETING. FOR MANY YEARS, REPAIR TECHS AT OUR WASTE AND RECOVERY CENTER KEPT OUR OLD TRASH COMPACTOR RUNNING. LAST FALL, WE UPGRADED TO A HEAVY-DUTY MONSTER OF A MACHINE, TIPPING THE SCALES AT 176,000 POUNDS. IT'S FASTER, IT HANDLES MORE GARBAGE, AND OUR SOLID WASTE TEAM DECIDED IT NEEDED A NAME. THE COMMUNITY SUBMITTED 130 SUGGESTIONS, AND WE PICKED ONE SUBMITTED BY THURSTON COUNTY RESIDENT RACHEL FREDERICK. And it's perfect. Rachel submitted the name Smash Squatch. Isn't that wonderful? Good one, Rachel. Next update is regarding our public health immunization clinics. Another shout out to one of our public health nurses and staff who hosted two community immunization clinics just in time for back to school. Staff administered 214 vaccines to 90 kids. They provided car seats to families in need. They passed out medication lock bags, and gun locking devices. Thank you, public health. We appreciate how you care for our community. And lastly, an update for our permitting office. We are about a month away, but starting on October 14th, the county will offer some new online options for permitting customers. They'll be able to check their permit status online 24-7. They'll be able to schedule their building inspection online anytime, search their project records online anytime, and a lot more. Some online services may not be available the week before the launch. That's Tuesday, October 6th through Tuesday, October 13th. If you have a time-sensitive request, please plan ahead. Come in and let our friendly staff help you before that week. We wanted to add a thank you to the permitting team and the community for their patience as we go through this necessary update. Thank you, Commissioner. That's all I have for today.

All right. Thank you. That brings us to the consent calendar, with the exception of item 11, which was moved.

I move to approve the consent agenda. Second.

It's been moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda with the aforementioned change. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor?

Aye.

Those opposed? Motion passes, thank you. That brings us to department items. First item is public defense, interlocal agreement with the city of Tumwater for indigent defense legal services.

Good afternoon, commissioners. Patrick O'Connor, public defense. Returning today to ask for approval to enter an interlocal agreement with the city of Tumwater to provide public defense services not to exceed $560,000 for the next two years, effective this January. This is a contract that we take great pride in. And the city of Tumwater should as well. So happy to answer any questions.

Any questions for Mr. O'Connor? None. Do I have a motion?

I would move to approve an interlocal agreement with the city of Tumwater for reimbursement of indigent defense misdemeanor legal services for 560,000. from January 1st, 2027 to December 31st, 2028, and authorized the director of public defense to execute the agreement and any amendments that do not exceed 10%.

It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion on this item?

Vice chair, I just wanted to point out a special thanks to our public defense team and their staff, as well as our budget team who worked to make sure that this was full cost recovery at the board's direction. So thank you to our fabulous director who was already thinking that through in, in his negotiations with our valued partner, the city of Tumwater.

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you for the reminder there. That's a valued partner in the city of Tumwater understands public defense and and they're committed to doing it the right way, and we're proud to call them a partner.

Excellent work, thank you.

Ma'am. Just a question for the benefit of the public. I had a couple questions about the amount, and does this amount, is it $560,000 per year, or is it $560,000 for the duration of the entire contract?

Duration of the ILL for two years, yes.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah, you're welcome.

All right, any further questions? All right, I'll call for the vote. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. Next up is Public Works. Thank you, sir. This is an award for Progressive Design Build Services Contract for Thurston County Work Reconfiguration Project CP90010.

GOOD AFTERNOON, COMMISSIONERS, KAREN WIES, PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR. PUBLIC WORKS IS REQUESTING THE BOARD AWARD A CONTRACT FOR PROGRESSIVE DESIGN BUILD SERVICES FOR THE THURSTON COUNTY WASTE AND RECOVERY CENTER, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE WORK, RECONFIGURATION PROJECT TO FORM A CONSTRUCTION. PUBLIC WORKS OWNS, THURSTON COUNTY OWNS AND OPERATES THE ONLY SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL FACILITIES IN THURSTON COUNTY WHICH SERVES BOTH OUR COMMERCIAL AND RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS. The county is growing and upgrades to our primary disposal facility in Hawkes Prairie, The Wark, are needed to increase safety, serve additional customers, and address projected population growth over the next 20 years. This project will reconfigure and expand the site to reduce ongoing maintenance issues and expand the facility's capacity. The plan will eliminate residential and commercial solid waste disposal cross traffic to minimize customer queue times at scales, reduce traffic issues, and improve customer access and safety. This particular project poses unique challenges requiring a high level of coordination between the county, the design team, and the construction team to provide for the best project delivery while maintaining safety and business continuity at the site that must remain commercially active during all business hours of construction activity. To address this complexity, we are utilizing the design-build-delivery method, in which a single entity is responsible for both the design and construction. This approach streamlines the process by integrating both phases under a single contract. That enhances collaboration, communication, and coordination between the design and construction teams, as well as the county team, and provides for enhanced agility, flexibility, and responsiveness throughout the process. FORMA CONSTRUCTION WAS SELECTED THROUGH A COMPETITIVE REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS FEE PROPOSAL EVALUATION PROCESS AND FORMA PLUS THE TCF ARCHITECTURE TEAM WERE SELECTED AS OUR PREFERRED TEAM. WE'VE BEEN NEGOTIATING THE CONTRACT AND WE'RE PLEASED TO BE BRINGING THAT FORWARD FOR APPROVAL TODAY. the first phase of that contract will be a pre-construction and design services and we'll be kicking off with a validation phase sub phase to confirm the scope of services and the site plan which will become the basis of design for the next phases of the project we expect that that phase will be completed in early summer followed by construction probably late summer early fall OF 2027. AWARDING THIS CONTRACT IS A SIGNIFICANT STEP FOR US FOR THIS LEGACY PROJECT. THE ESTIMATED TOTAL CONTRACT COST IS $24,615,000 WITH A BOARD-APPROVED PROJECT BUDGET OF $28,550,000. THE PROJECT IS 100% FUNDED THROUGH SOLIDWAY'S TIPPING PIECE.

THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. DO THE COMMISSIONERS HAVE ANY QUESTIONS FOR DIRECTOR WEASE? All right, do we have a motion?

I move to authorize Public Works to award the contract for the Thurston County Waste and Recovery Center Reconfiguration Project to form a construction and authorize the Director of Public Works to execute contract amendments for subsequent project phases and unforeseen conditions not to exceed the estimated total contract of $24,615,000 and to award Phase 1A, validation of the Progressive Design-Build contract in the amount of $157,000 $896.41. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion on this motion? I share just as

team and Karen, your leadership, Public Works continues to do big things. And this is a significant project that I know has been in the works for some time. So appreciate you bringing it forward.

Thank you. I would also like to just give a shout out because we are partnering with Central Services on that through our project manager, Tony Shaw. So he has also been very instrumental in keeping this moving forward.

Thank you. Commissioner Klaus.

Yes, thank you. Well, County Manager stole my thunder. I was going to say pretty much the exact same thing. It's been a real honor to hear how this has moved through the different phases of the conceptual idea and then the development of the actual contract that we're looking at today. Since being elected in 2023, I've heard this be discussed the whole entire time. So now that we're actually doing something, taking a real concrete action, it's really exciting to see this get going. And serving on the Solid Waste Advisory Committee has been a real honor and has given me another perspective from a different level about the details of this project. And so I'm just looking forward to seeing it get going and everything public works does is really exciting, but this is a big one. So thank you for all your work on this and thank you to your team.

Thank you, Commissioner Klaus. Are there any other comments from the board? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. Those opposed? Motion passes. We have one more public works item we might be able to get through. This is a license and indemnity agreement number 26112140 for a private tunnel beneath South Bay Road.

Good afternoon, Commissioners. Matt Unsman, Thurston County Engineer. The Gospel Outreach Church, located at 1925 South Bay Road, is proposing to construct a private concrete pedestrian tunnel underneath South Bay Road. In recent years, the church constructed an enhanced pedestrian crossing across South Bay Road northeast to further improve the safety to... But to even further improve the safety, they have decided to construct a tunnel. Gospel Outreach has applied for a right-of-way permit to construct the tunnel. Prior to issuance of the right-of-way permit and construction beginning on this private tunnel, an indemnification agreement for the right-of-way crossing is required to be executed by the Board of County Commissioners. This project was presented to the Board of County Commissioners during a work session on August 5th, 2026. Gospel Outreach has also developed a webpage that provides an extensive amount of information about the project, and that can be found at southbaytunnelproject.org.

Thank you, County Engineer. Yeah, this seems like it was quite a bit of work. It's a unique collaboration, but it's really neat to see the county work with this private organization to put something like this forward. Are there any comments or questions from the board? All right. Hearing none, is there a motion to be had?

Move to execute the license and indemnity agreement, agreement number 26112140 with Gospel Outreach of Olympia for a private tunnel under South Bay Road Northeast at milepost 1.54. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion?

I'll just comment on this. I think just hearing about this along the way, I think this is a really great example of how a public and private partnership can be executed. You know, it appears that your organization, the organization here has had a longstanding good relationship with Thurston County. And it was just really nice to see that there was a problem and we're able to solve it. And this is a great example of how to do that. So congratulations on that. on the ideas, and thank you, Matt, for all your work, as usual, for getting, you know, working with the public to get things done.

Thank you, Commissioner. A lot of, a big shout-out goes to our development review team, Todd Mason's group, on working with Mr. Martucci and Gospel Outreach.

Thank you. Thank you. All right, no further comments. I'll call for the vote. All those in favor?

Aye.

Those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. All right, we're going to hop into our public hearing. Schedule for 3.30. Yes, sir.

We are able to, if we're able to take the next item, Pete, I know the sheriff is needing to address that item. Okay. It's going to take a few minutes.

All right. All right. We're going to knock off. We have two more items, each with the sheriff's department. Next item is Request for proposals for inmate chemical dependency program services.

As we stated earlier, this is a request for a proposal for the CDP program.

Okay, we've met and we've discussed this. Is there a motion from the board?

I move to authorize the Thurston County Sheriff's Office to issue a request for proposal for inmate chemical dependency services for the Thurston County Corrections Facility. AND AUTHORIZE THE SHERIFF OR HIS DESIGNEE TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH THE SELECTED VENDOR. SECOND.

IT'S BEEN MOVED AND SECONDED TO AUTHORIZE THE SHERIFF TO ISSUE A RFP FOR INMATE CHEMICAL PREVENTION SERVICES FOR THURSTON COUNTY CORRECTION FACILITY AND AUTHORIZE THE SHERIFF OR HIS DESIGNEE TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH THE SELECTED VENDOR. IS THERE ANY DISCUSSION? YES. MR. KLAUS.

THANK YOU. I KNOW WE'RE MOVING THROUGH THIS QUICK AND WE HAVE DISCUSSED IT IN PREVIOUS MEETINGS, BUT JUST FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PUBLIC, HOW LONG IS THE CONTRACT TERM AND THEN WHAT IS THE DOLLAR AMOUNT IF WE HAVE ONE OR A RANGE?

THE DOLLAR AMOUNT OR RANGE WILL BE DETERMINED BASED ON WHO BIDS. So it's competitively bid. That's what we're asking for. I will say that we have the same vendor for a long time, which is Olympic Health and Recovery Services. So they currently provide the MRT model inside the facility for CDPs. That's the main focus of that. And then in terms of this one, I think it's three or four years. Give me just one second here. I'm pulling the paperwork up. Yeah, the current contract expires at the end of this year, and the next contract will run through, I believe, 2030. Okay.

Thank you.

All right. Are there any other questions? All right. I'll call for the vote. All those in favor?

Aye.

Those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you, Sheriff. All right. Now we'll get into the public hearing. All right, this is a public hearing to consider the adoption. Do I open the public hearing? All right. Bring this public hearing to order. Public hearing to consider the adoption of the 2026 Thurston County Road Standards. The purpose of this public hearing is to accept and consider public comment on the 2026 Thurston County Road Standards. This is a hybrid public hearing. Those wishing to testify have joined in person by Zoom, emailed in comment, or mailed in comment if you wish to testify. Please visit the Thurston County homepage online and select VOCC meetings, hearings, and work session agendas. The information to join this public hearing remotely is posted there. If you are not providing testimony but would like to follow along, please visit the Thurston County YouTube channel. Before us, we have Matt Unzelman, the Thurston County Engineer. who will provide information on this topic.

We're pulling up the presentation real fast. Okay. It'll just be about two minutes.

Okay. Not Smash Watch. All right. Matt Unselman will now present background information of the road standards update, written comments submitted, and any additional information requested by the board. Thank you.

THANK YOU, COMMISSIONER. TODAY'S HEARING REGARDING THE UPDATE OF THE THURSTON COUNTY ROAD STANDARDS IS THE RESULT OF A LOT OF WORK AND COORDINATED OUTREACH WITH A LOT OF AFFECTED STAKEHOLDERS INCLUDING CONTRACTORS, DEVELOPERS, OTHER LOCAL JURISDICTIONS, AND OUR OWN COUNTY STAFF. AS PART OF THE PRESENTATION THIS AFTERNOON, TODD MASON, OUR DEVELOPMENT REVIEW MANAGER, WILL BE, ONE, PROVIDING THE PURPOSE OF THE ROAD STANDARDS. PROVIDING AN OVERVIEW OF THE CHAPTERS INCLUDED IN THE ROAD STANDARDS. THREE, SUMMARIZING THE UPDATES IN THIS UPDATE OF THE ROAD STANDARDS. AND FINALLY, HE'LL BE SUMMARIZING ALL THE EXTENSIVE OUTREACH THAT HAS BEEN COMPLETED TO THIS DATE. SO WITH THAT, I'LL INVITE TODD UP TO DO THE PRESENTATION. AND THANK YOU, MATT.

AND GOOD AFTERNOON, COMMISSIONERS. SO JUST GOING TO GIVE YOU A HIGH-LEVEL OVERVIEW OF ROAD STANDARDS. I DON'T EXPECT ALL OF YOU ARE READ IT ON A ROUTINE BASIS. BUT THE ROAD STANDARDS ARE BASICALLY USED BY PRIVATE DEVELOPERS AND TO FIND OUT WHAT THE REQUIREMENTS ARE GOING TO BE, WHETHER THEY'RE DOING SUBDIVISIONS OR COMMERCIAL INDUSTRIAL. AND ANY KIND OF IMPROVEMENTS TO OUR ROAD SYSTEM. PURPOSE WITH THE ROAD STANDARDS TOO IS IT'S REQUIRED BY RCW 36.8. I GUESS WE HAVE IT ON THE SCREEN THERE. And to create uniform construction standards for safety of the users of the right-of-way. And of course, we all think about the motorist. We're all, for the most part, driving here and there. But we're also looking at public transportation when it comes to transit system. Bicyclists, pedestrians. And then another large user of our right-of-way, rights-of-way, are the utility companies. And also, Thurston County has our water and sewer utilities also within those rights-of-way. SO AS I MENTIONED BEFORE, THE ROAD STANDARDS ARE PRIMARILY USED BY DEVELOPERS AND ARE ADMINISTERED BY THE DEPARTMENT HERE, DEVELOPMENT REVIEW WITH PUBLIC WORKS. AND WITHIN THE ROAD STANDARDS, I'LL JUST GO OVER THE CHAPTERS BRIEFLY. WE HAVE THE INTRODUCTION. CHAPTER. AND ONE THING THAT'S CHANGED, I MIGHT MENTION THE LAST TIME THE ROAD STANDARDS WERE UPDATED WAS DECEMBER OF 2018. SO WE'RE A LITTLE BIT OVERDUE. BUT ONE THING IS WE'RE ACKNOWLEDGING COMPLETE STREETS, WHICH IS ACKNOWLEDGING THAT IT IS MULTIMODAL TRANSPORTATION AND LOOKING FOR OPPORTUNITIES FOR MORE OF THAT INTO THE FUTURE AS PROPERTIES ARE DEVELOPED FOR BICYCLISTS AND PEDESTRIANS. THE GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THAT TALKS MORE ABOUT THE COMPLETE STREETS AND IN THE PEDESTRIAN AND BICYCLES PLAN FORMAT, OUR CHAPTER THREE, THAT DIRECTS THE DEVELOPERS WHAT THEY NEED TO SUBMIT TO THE COUNTY. NOW, SOMETHING HAS SUBSTANTIALLY CHANGED SINCE 2018, AND THAT IS THE REQUIREMENT THAT WE DON'T NEED UMPTINE PLAN SETS. AND IN FACT, YOU KNOW, WE KIND OF ALLUDED TO THE ONLINE submittals that are going to be occurring here in the months ahead, but we've reduced it to one copy. We don't need all those copies of plans because we scan them in and send them out to the different departments. Road types and geometrics, that's dealing with site distance for the safety of the traveling public, going around corners, turnarounds. And we have had some comments about hammerhead turnarounds or cul-de-sacs. And the county's preference is still turnarounds. towards cul-de-sacs because it eliminates backing movements. And as there's more larger vehicles, think Amazon vans and stuff, we really don't want backing movements. That's usually where accidents can occur. Traffic analysis requirements. So the TIA, Traffic Impact Analysis, That's required on developments that are going to produce more than 100 trips, either AM peak or PM peak, whatever that hour is. And one thing we did add to that, and most of the developers, consultants are doing it, is safety performance analysis. So they can basically get the information from WSDOT. Find out what intersections are prone to accidents. Look at previous and then address that within the traffic report. Because again, this is all about moving our traveling public safely. Road basis surfacing and restorations. That's just basically what that road's going to be made up as. Access. This is where we get a lot of it. You know, our high volume is single family residential. So it's giving the standards for driveways. SPACING FROM INTERSECTIONS, SPACING FROM EACH OTHER. ROADWAY FEATURES. WE'VE REFINED THIS CHAPTER A LITTLE BIT MORE. WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT IT'S VERY CLEAR THAT WE WANT PEOPLE'S PROPERTY LINE FENCES TO BE ON THE PROPERTY LINE, NOT WITHIN THE RIGHT-OF-WAY BECAUSE WHEN WE HAVE AN IMPROVEMENT, OFTENTIMES WE HAVE TO MOVE A FENCE OUT OF THE WAY. Um, we've also added, if they're going to have gates that they have to have 40 feet from the edge of pavement to the gate. So we don't have, uh, people, maybe they're pulling their boat into their driveway and they're blocking traffic while they go to open up their gate to get into their property. So we're asking the gates be set back, um, retaining walls. Uh, that's just, uh, really administered by WSDOT standards. Bridges, we've made it a little bit more general to keep up with standards as standards change, but also giving some specifics there. Our drainage is really referencing back to our drainage manual, and so we don't have conflicting information between the two standards. The utility chapter deals with COMMUNICATIONS AND ALSO OUR WATER SEWER UTILITIES. CONSTRUCTION AND INSPECTION, I'M HAPPY TO SAY THAT WE'RE PUTTING IT IN THE NEW ROAD STANDARDS, BUT WE'VE MADE SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENTS OF WHEN PRIVATE DEVELOPMENTS COME IN TO MAKE SURE OUR INSPECTION STANDARDS AND THE CONTRACTOR SUBMITTALS ARE IN ALIGNMENT WITH WHAT WE DO WITH A CAPITAL PROJECT BECAUSE IN ESSENCE, ONCE THEY BUILD THESE PUBLIC ROADS, WE HAVE TO MAINTAIN THEM INTO PERPETUITY, SO IT ONLY MAKES SENSE TO HAVE THAT IN ALIGNMENT. SO I'VE GONE THROUGH SOME OF THE CHANGES, PLAN FORMAT, AND REALLY WE'RE JUST ASKING THEM TO SET IT UP FOR ELECTRONIC APPROVAL SO WE HAVE SPACES FOR DOING THAT. ROAD TYPES AND GEOMETRICS ENCOURAGING THE ROADSIDE PLANNER STRIPS FOR STORM WATER, WHERE APPLICABLE. WE'RE ALSO TALKING ABOUT ONE-WAY STREETS WITHIN DEVELOPMENT, SO THAT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE ONE STREET OF 20 FEET WIDE OR 24, IF THE TOPOGRAPHY ALLOWS FOR OR WOULD BE MORE CONDUCIVE TO HAVING SINGLE LANE ROADS OR ONE-WAY ROADS, MAKING THAT MORE OF AN OPTION. TRANSIT SHELTERS AND FRONTAGE IMPROVEMENTS, BASICALLY COORDINATION WITH THE TRANSIT SYSTEM. FOR OUR ROUND ABOUT ISLANDS, WE'RE ENCOURAGING AND ALSO THE PEDESTRIAN REFUGE IS CONCRETE. STAMP CONCRETE. RECENTLY THE MOST CURRENT ONE IS DOWN AT MARVIN AND MOLIN ROAD AND LOOKS REALLY NICE. IT'S LOW MAINTENANCE, EASY FOR OUR CREWS TO MAINTAIN. OF COURSE WE HAVE OUR WONDERFUL TRAIL SYSTEM AND WE DIDN'T HAVE DETAILS IN OUR ROAD STANDARDS BEFORE ON HOW DEVELOPERS CAN CROSS THOSE AND THE DIFFERENT STANDARDS AND BULLETS AND ALL THOSE DETAILS. SO THOSE DETAILS WERE ADDED IN. AND I MENTIONED ABOUT THE TRAFFIC ANALYSIS REQUIREMENTS. Defining roundabouts is our preferred option. That wasn't in our current standards. And there's a lot of benefits to the roundabouts, and you guys probably have heard some other presentations. But as opposed to a roundabout, it might be a signalized intersection, but we're not really set up for maintaining signals. That's really more of an urban. And the roundabouts are a lot safer option, too, because... YOU DON'T HAVE THE T-BONE ACCIDENT IF SOMEBODY BLOWS THROUGH A LIGHT. SO WE'VE PUT IT IN THE STANDARDS THAT THAT'S OUR PREFERENCE WHEN NEED BE FOR TRAFFIC CONTROL. IN OUR ROADWAY FEATURES, WE HAVE THE INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS, THAT BLINKING LIGHT THAT YOU SEE WHEN PEDESTRIANS NEED TO CROSS. We've updated our clear zone. A lot of people aren't aware of this. A lot of people think that our county right-of-way ends at edge of pavement, but no, it's the right-of-way width, which typically is 60 feet. And we want to make sure there's not any hard objects that are placed within that. So that's the clear zone, typically 10 feet from edge of a travel way over. So if an errant vehicle goes off the road, it's not going to create more damage or injury than is necessary. Let's see. Oh, private roads. We've had a situation, especially on the end of cul-de-sacs where maybe there's a development, there's a private road going off. Well, the garbage service doesn't go up the private roads. Everyone has their garbage cans, their recycle cans. Suddenly emergency vehicles can't turn around. So we've added that in the standards to provide a dedicated area for people to put their garbage in recyclable areas. BRIDGES I ALREADY MENTIONED WE UPDATED JUST THE STANDARDS JUST TO BE A LITTLE BIT MORE GENERAL AND REFERENCED TO KEEP UP AND CONSTRUCTION AND CONTROL CONSTRUCTION CONTROL AND INSPECTION AGAIN TALKING ABOUT THE NEW SUBMITTALS BUT ALSO WITH THAT COMPLETE STREETS PROGRAM IS PUTTING IT ALSO IN IN THE WRITING THAT KEEP THE BICYCLE LANES OPEN KEEP PEDESTRIANS ABLE TO WALK PATHS DURING CONSTRUCTION. SO WE HAVE SOMETHING MORE TO REFERENCE BACK TO THE CONTRACTOR ON THAT. OUR OUTREACH SUMMARY. SO THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON ACTUALLY, YOU KNOW, FOR WE'VE BEEN WORKING ON THE STANDARDS FOR A COUPLE YEARS. AND THEN THIS YEAR IT'S FINALLY ALL COMING TOGETHER. SO IN MARCH AND MAY WAS THE SEPA OUTREACH. SO THAT WENT OUT TO ALL THE DIFFERENT JURISDICTIONS FOR COMMENT. OF COURSE GETS PUBLISHED. MARCH THROUGH JUNE, THEN WE PRESENTED TO THE PLANNING COMMISSION. HAD A PRESENTATION SIMILAR TO THIS. POST CARDS WERE SENT OUT TO A STAKEHOLDERS LIST THAT WE IDENTIFIED. AND DIRECT E-MAIL WAS SENT OUT 44 INDIVIDUALS THAT TYPICALLY DEAL WITH OUR ROAD STANDARDS. They received the draft and about a dozen of those individuals really took the time to go through it in detail and supply us information back. And then we had a panel that got together, went through all those comments and like, how can we address those? And that was extremely helpful with those stakeholders and very much appreciated. And e-brief was sent to you guys and here we are for the public hearing. So if there's any questions from COMMISSIONERS, PUBLIC, I'D BE HAPPY TO ADDRESS.

ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU, SIR. ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS FROM COMMISSIONERS BEFORE WE MOVE ON TO THE PUBLIC HEARING PORTION?

Yeah, I'll ask. So we received some public comment regarding section 4.06. Okay. Specifically the language that says planterships shall be planted with grass while other vegetation may be approved by the county engineer on a case-to-case basis. Correct. Can you just help us understand the rationale for making grass the default, and is there a reason that the standard can't provide more flexibility?

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. So that's our kind of our baseline requirement for the grass and where this is really occurring is in our grand mound urban growth area. So if you think of there, I mean, cause that's, we're wanting it to be more urban, higher density. And so just like the cities we actually have it, it's all, it's in Thurston County ordinance. It's also now in the road standards that the Jason property owner has to maintain the planter strips, sidewalks, everything in front of their property. So grass is the easiest for most people to maintain. They get out there and mow it, just as you see around the cities. I did see that come through. It was forwarded to me, and they make an excellent point. You know, there's other alternatives. And this is our baseline. If we had an applicant come and go, hey, we want to do easier or, let's say, rockery or some kind of other vegetation, low vegetation, that doesn't affect the sight distance. We're absolutely open to that. But the easiest was level grass. It's also in alignment with what the cities are doing right now. And so that's the reason. There was another point on that about the street trees, asking for the street trees. And the three jurisdictions around here in their road standards, they have the street tree requirement. and it creates a lot of issues with sidewalks and the roots come up, start raising the sidewalks. Uh, they go through, replace the sidewalks. Usually they end up chopping down the trees.

Um, drive downtown right now.

And there's, there was like, I just noticed that downtown Olympia that, yeah, they, they took a lot of them down. So we're, I guess you could say we're not discouraging it, but we're not putting, uh, putting it in the standards. IF PROPERTY OWNERS WANT TO HAVE A TREE IN THEIR FRONTAGE AND IT DOESN'T AFFECT SITE DISTANCE, WE WOULDN'T BE OPPOSED TO IT WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THEY'RE GOING TO BE MAINTAINING IT AND ALSO AT THE SIDEWALKS. Little side note, I get up on little tangents. But you know, in the urban growth areas, the developers have to go by whatever the jurisdiction's development standards are. And the cities do have the street tree requirement. So those have to be put in prior to them getting final plat, but they don't have to be replaced when they become a problem. And so you'll see a lot of roads that street trees are gone and they're not replaced because the cities are under the same situation.

Thank you.

So anyway, that's... We're not opposed to the trees. We're just not making it a requirement because of the maintenance issues. Thanks. Thank you.

All right. Any further questions for staff?

I have a question. So we're not making the trees a requirement because of this issue. I've recently become very well aware of this issue because I've talked to a lot of people recently and been in some neighborhoods where I've seen the tree issues and the roots come up and go all the way into their front yards, it really gets messy. But if we're not requiring them at all, is there an alternative where we could say these species of trees don't create this problem, but we still need to require to have them in there?

I have not researched that. In that person's email to you guys that I read, there was mention of some species that are... less prone for those and I've talked with like City of Tumwater about it too. Certainly something we're open to.

I've seen standards where like there's some streets that are restricted because they're like hydrophilic and they'll go into water lines and things like that.

Yeah, oh yeah, you know, we have an issue maintaining storm catch basins and pipes within the urban growth areas because those street tree roots go up, here's a water source and start getting into the structures. But there's a balance there, obviously.

All right, thank you. Any further questions for staff? If not, we'll get into the public hearing. I do not see anyone on Zoom, so I'll just move to people in the room. You'll be given three minutes to testify. Time may not be given to another person. When you are called, please state your name and address for record. The public hearing is now open. We have two members of the public listed for public comment. First is Ms. Rhonda Larson-Kramer. Second is Lynn Fitzhugh, who already commented and is no longer here. So, Ms. Kramer, you have three minutes. Thank you.

Hi, Rhonda Larson-Kramer. I live at 1814 East Side Street, Southeast in Olympia, and I really appreciate the question. That was my email, and I very much appreciate the response as well. And so I just wanted to do – I can't read this now because it's kind of duplicative. Sorry. So I'm just going to kind of respond. So the turf grass may be easy to install, but it's not necessarily low maintenance or easy over its life cycle. Because in a planter strip, you're going to need summer irrigation. You're going to need mowing and edging, potential fertilizer and weed control inputs, poor drought resilience. I removed the front yard. We removed the turf grass from our yard. And so I know this firsthand how much easier it is to not have grass. SO I WOULD JUST ASK THAT MAYBE I KNOW THIS IS PROBABLY A LITTLE TOO LATE BECAUSE I WASN'T AWARE OF THIS ISSUE DURING THE PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD. SO I APOLOGIZE THAT I'M COMING AT THE MIDNIGHT HOUR WITH THIS SUGGESTION. BUT IN THE FUTURE IT WOULD BE GOOD TO MAYBE LOOK INTO THIS A LITTLE BIT MORE BECAUSE SOME OF OUR ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT TURF GRASS MAY IN FACT NOT BE CORRECT. AND THEN THE OTHER THING IS SIMILAR IS WITH THE STREET TREES, SOME OF OUR ASSUMPTIONS MAY NOT BE CORRECT. I WROTE AN ARTICLE RECENTLY AND DID SOME RESEARCH AND FOUND THAT THERE ARE OTHER CITIES WHERE THEY TAKE A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT VIEW OF HOW STREET TREES ARE HANDLED AND IT AVOIDS THE PROBLEMS THAT WE'RE EXPERIENCING IN THURSTON COUNTY WITH THE CRACKING SIDEWALKS AND THE ROOTS LIFTING UP THE SIDEWALKS. AND SO I SENT THAT TO THE COMMISSIONERS, THAT ARTICLE, BUT In Ontario, Kitchener is a city that says you have to have the landscape architect with the engineers at the very beginning of a development figuring out how much space is in the soil for the tree. So they start at the very beginning ground level of a development to decide the soil in cubic yards for this species that you're going to choose for the tree. Here we kind of do it the opposite way. We say we've got a seven foot strip and what species can fit in that strip. So we need to look at those other cities for those better ideas. And then the other thing to think about is that trees are infrastructure. Because what they do is they shade the black asphalt and they shade the pavement. And this is really important for the heat island effect, reducing the heat island effect. So those are just some ideas I hope that you will consider. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. I have no one else listed for public comment. I see no one else on Zoom for public comment. So at this time, I will close the public hearing. I move to close the public hearing. A SECOND SECOND ALL RIGHT ALL THOSE IN FAVOR OF CLOSING THE PUBLIC HEARING SAY AYE AYE IT WAS OPPOSED ALL RIGHT MOTION PASSES UH WE CAN NOW UM ACCEPT THE MOTION TO APPROVE THE RESOLUTION ADOPTING 2026 GO AHEAD I WAS GONNA SAY CAN WE ASK UH SOME QUESTIONS FROM STAFF CERTAINLY WE CAN GO BACK

Perfect. The county engineer. That was who my question was. OK. Thank you. So just as a follow up, I was waiting for public comment for my questions. And it's kind of in the same vein, I think, of what we've heard already. So I wanted to know, like on Section 8.04, which talks about landscaping, you know, there is already, it gives the county engineer kind of that authority to ensure like landscaping meets that kind of that site distance and that drainage and other requirements. So I'm wondering... in terms of setting that baseline for grass, right? Like why is that kind of the mandatory baseline and could it be broadened or?

We're trying to be consistent OTHER JURISDICTIONS IN THE AREA TO PROVIDE THAT CONSISTENCY, RIGHT? SO YOU DO SEE GRASS IN MOST URBAN PLANTER STRIPS. BUT THAT BEING SAID, AS THE CONSENSUATE MENTIONED, THAT LIKE WE WOULD BE MORE THAN WILLING TO CONSIDER LIKE A DROUGHT TOLERANT SPECIES OF SHRUBBERY OR SOMETHING THAT MAY BE OR ROCKERY OR MULCH. THERE'S ALL KINDS OF DIFFERENT THINGS THAT YOU COULD DO. IT'S NOT LIKE WE'RE SETTING IT UP TO BE GRASS OR NOTHING.

Understanding the consistency piece and making sure that, you know, we're covered in that piece. And, you know, I'm thinking about the individual exception each time and wondering, you know, has this, How often does this come up and how often are you having to provide exceptions?

So we don't get very many requests for variances due to standards. But if the applicant would want to install rock or mulch or some other type of vegetation, I'd be more than willing to consider it. as long as like, as Todd mentioned, it doesn't provide some side of a sight distance barrier that's gonna compromise the safety of the pedestrians or the driving public.

Thank you.

All right. Further questions?

I have a question.

Commissioner Klaus.

So going back to the planter strips section, I'm wondering if the, I mean, so we're kind of talking about like the grass versus the trees and for the street trees to be considered on a case-by-case basis. That's kind of how it's written now. And I'm wondering if there was any consideration given to making the trees the default and then having the grass be the exception or having like the... all arterials have a county approved species list for the trees. I'm just kind of wondering if there's a way that we could prioritize trees over grass versus what we're doing in this current draft.

Um, in terms of like, I think I understand what you're saying. You said plant street plant trees instead of planting grass and the planner strips. Um, with the problem with planting trees in the planter strips is then you end up with your sidewalk conditions in the future with the maintenance issues. And then it becomes an ADA issue.

Yeah.

It's hard. It's so hard to balance all this.

I know. I know. And I can imagine the thought that has gone into this. And I'm not, So I have these questions that you've probably already talked through with the team and everything. But I'm wondering if that's why we could have like a county approved species list that doesn't create the sidewalk issue and have that as like the default. But do we have a county approved species list? I know we're also trying to work with the community REQUIREMENTS THE CITIES HAVE, TOO, WHICH MAKES IT EVEN MORE COMPLICATED.

THIS WOULD ONLY COME UP IN THE GRAND MOUND AREA, BECAUSE THE CITIES, LIKE THE CITY OF LISSEY HAS A VERY EXTENSIVE APPROVED SPECIES LIST.

YEAH, OKAY.

THAT OVERLAYS THE TOP OF OUR REQUIREMENTS WITHIN THE UGA. ABSOLUTELY. creating our own on top of the one that already existed could create conflicts or it's just unnecessary redundancy?

The default would always be to the city because they're eventually going to own the road and so they want to make sure that it meets with whatever's installed there is going to meet with their maintenance requirements in the future.

So we're establishing a very vanilla baseline that makes it easy to also incorporate the city's established requirements?

I would agree with that assessment.

Okay.

I also think that as we've heard from Matt and even Karen and our assistant county manager, Jennifer Walker. Some of the considerations are the ongoing maintenance in the unincorporated areas of the county. It's a much larger area. And so there's a different type of perspective that our county team has to give. And when they put something in place, what type of level of engagement is going to be? Not to mention what a treaty... SIDEWALK, ET CETERA, THE IMPROVEMENTS, BUT JUST THE ONGOING MAINTENANCE IN AN AREA WHERE THEY HAVE LIMITED RESOURCES AND THEY HAVE QUITE A BIT OF GROUND TO COVER, LITERALLY.

DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS? ARE THERE ANY FURTHER QUESTIONS?

ALL RIGHT.

I WILL CALL FOR THE MOTION.

I MOVE TO APPROVE THE RESOLUTION ADOPTED IN THE 2026 THURSTON COUNTY ROAD STANDARDS.

We have a motion. We have a second. Is there any discussion? Quite a bit of good discussion. Nobody's saying anything. I'll call for the vote. All those in favor?

Aye.

Those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you, commissioners. All right. Public hearing closed. Back to our other agenda. Next item is Commissioner's Community Reports. Commissioner Klaus, would you like to start out?

I need a minute to get my, oh wait, never mind, I have it.

Nope, don't need a minute. Need a minute, don't need a minute. All right, go ahead.

All right, so I've attended several things, but I'm gonna keep it short. because, yeah, many of my events overlap with other community stuff. So I've attended Solidarity Night with the Labor Council. I also attended the Labor Council Labor Day Picnic on Monday the 7th. On Wednesday, we all attended, or most of us attended the Chamber Meet the Candidates Forum, and that was a pretty fun event. I'm glad that the county staff and some of the electeds were able to attend. That was really nice to see everyone there. And then I attended the annual United for Climate fundraising event for TCAT with Commissioner Menser and Commissioner Mejia was there as well. And that was a really great event that highlighted local climate work and recognized some climate champions in the community. The event included a lot of updates from TCAT. The keynote speaker was Jim Cooper and it was a fundraiser in support of continued climate action in our local communities. I really enjoyed hearing from Jim and also we said goodbye to Tom Crawford who was one of the founding members and is stepping down from his role I believe at the end of this month. So he's been a champion in this community for climate issues and the fact that he put in so much effort to get this organization started with some others is a big accomplishment and it's a huge asset to our community to have this group available to help us understand what's going on with climate issues, and help us learn from people who are on the ground doing the work. So that was a great event, and that is where I'll stop.

Commissioner Grant.

LET'S SEE. I ATTENDED OVERDOSE AWARENESS DAY. IT HAPPENED. THERE WAS ABOUT 40 PROVIDERS. IT WAS REALLY HUGE AND REALLY AMAZING. IT WAS RAINING. SO THAT'S NOT THE BEST THING. BUT IT WAS A REALLY INCREDIBLE EVENT. AND I JUST WANT TO SAY THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE PEOPLE WHO PARTICIPATED IN MAKING THAT SUCH A BIG EVENT. I also attended YUM Rotary, our Purple Ribbon, the new Purple Ribbon Commission, which is bringing together local behavioral health and human service providers. Olymap joined and shared about their work and services, and it was really good, engaging conversation. I PARTICIPATED IN THE SEA LEVEL RISE RESPONSE COLLABORATIVE, THE INNOVATIVE JUSTICE MEETING, YELM CHAMBER FORUM, AND THEN ATTENDED THE TRANSPORTATION POLICY BOARD MEETING. WE HEARD A LONG REVIEW OF THE CALL FOR PROJECTS AT TRANSPORTATION POLICY BOARD, AND I SIT ON THE SUBCOMMITTEE, WE'LL BE HEARING more about that as we move forward, but those are, there's a lot of great projects. I attended the Foo Farah, which for the public, you know, that's hosted by the Yacht Club and Thurston County Chamber, and it brings together military members and community leaders, and it was really fun. Our boat put together a potato car, and as we went to this island, and we, I will say out of 45 boats and potatoes, Ours came in second place, which was, and it was really cool because while I was able to create that potato with some members of young guys from our military, and it was just a really cool experience, so I'm really glad that I got invited to do that. And then I attended a Pack Mountain board meeting, and I'm pleased to share that with the announcement of Commissioner Sharon Trask actually effective today, leaving Mason County, she left her position as commissioner I WAS ELECTED THIS MORNING AS CHAIR OF THE PACK MOUNTAIN WORKFORCE BOARD. SO THE CONSORTIUM BOARD. I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO REPRESENTING THURSTON COUNTY AND WORKING WITH THE OTHER COMMISSIONERS TO MAKE SURE THAT WE HAVE A FULL BOARD. IN MASON COUNTY RIGHT NOW WE HAVE NO ONE ON We have three empty seats. And so we've got some work to do there. And then finally, I just wanna announce that on behalf of Emily Klaas' office, I will be out of the country next week in Austria, traveling with Senator Alvarado and Senator Trudeau and a bunch of other Washington leaders for a social housing study tour. Vienna is recognized for its approach to social and affordable housing. And this is going to be an opportunity to see firsthand. There's five straight days of work. It is intense. But it is about how our housing systems work in this country and how projects are financed and developed. I'm looking forward to it and bringing it back and what will be here applicable that we can use here in Washington and in Thurston County. And that is my report.

I'm just curious how that's funded. Is that funded by, is there a group that is? I'm not sure.

Yeah, so I.

No county dollars are being spent to.

Well, we have county funds available to each commissioner's office for travel. I don't know that this is the most appropriate forum to discuss that, but that's okay. I authorized my allowance to commissioner grant for travel and the group how's our neighbors funded the program fee of $3,000. So they took care of that for her.

Yeah. Thank you. Yeah.

I'm excited. I'm really excited to see what she brings back.

All right. Thank you very much. Uh, I, big thing I did was attend to the mayor's form. I didn't get to go to Fufara. Unfortunately, I was at the mayor's form and rain here. Uh, Topics of discussion, public safety regionally. Everybody had questions about the county budget and how we're going through our processes. Representative from the port was there and talked, because it was mostly South County cities, talked about the small cities grant and the approach the port is taking with respect to that. And then we got to hear from the mayor of Rainier on some of their water infrastructure issues. And we got to share on how the county is supporting them in overcoming those issues. So good meeting. Commissioner Mejia.

Thank you. Attended a meeting with governor staff and our staff on the courthouse project along with Commissioner Fournier, attended the partnership council on juvenile justice by loss committee. And so we're going through and updating several sections that haven't been updated in years and participating in that with Tony B from Lewis County. THEN ATTENDED THE TRANSPORTATION REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP COUNCIL RETREAT. IT WAS AN ALL-DAY RETREAT. A LOT OF GREAT CONVERSATIONS WHERE WE TALKED ABOUT KIND OF WHERE WE ARE AND HOW WE'RE GOING TO BE MOVING FORWARD. WENT THROUGH BUDGET CONSTRAINTS AS WELL AS JUST PRIORITIES. Then we talked about kind of like our legislative priority for next year, which it's Nisqually Bridge. Funding is only allocated until June of next year. So making sure that the state continues to fund that as a priority, I continue to raise the alarm that, you know, that is one of the projects that really is a ticking time bomb. And there is a lot of impact both on economic side, environmental side, tribal side there's just uh definitely needs to be addressed attended the national association of counties rural action caucus and we had a very lengthy presentation on the farm bill and uh just as it continues to go back and forth and there's a lot of debate on on that uh nationally um then um on our monthly board of health meeting we had a great presentation from erica from the Thurston Mason VHASO on the 988 transition and the impact that having someone from the area answer the phone instead of having someone from other areas of the state who are not familiar. So if you had called the 988 line before the transition, it would take between seven to 15 minutes. And we're very proud to report that it's taking 15 seconds. So very proud to hear kind of just how they're working through. Attended the affordable housing advisory board meeting from state. It was a great meeting. We discussed multiple things. One of the areas that keeps coming up is just the energy code update and the impact it's having on projects. For not only developers, but also many nonprofits and the cost of retrofitting. So they are also working through that and just the impact it's having on just housing. Had multiple meetings on the liability reform work group. with the Association of Counties, and we have a final proposal lined up. And then I've just had meetings with Legislating Steering Committee Co-Chair Kevin Overbay, as well as WSAC staff, to prepare for the meeting this week. Those are my updates.

Thank you, Commissioner Mejia. All right, that is all the Commissioner Community Reports. That brings us to public comment. This is the second period for public comment. This is on general matters. IF THERE'S ANYONE IN THE AUDIENCE WHO WOULD LIKE TO PROVIDE PUBLIC COMMENT ON GENERAL MATTERS, YOU HAVE THREE MINUTES. PLEASE STATE YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS.

THANK YOU. MY NAME IS RONDA LARSON-KREMER. I LIVE AT 1814 EAST SIDE STREET SOUTHEAST IN OLYMPIA. BEING A LITTLE BIT DUPLICATIVE HERE AND SO I APOLOGIZE. I DIDN'T KNOW LYNN WAS GOING TO TALK TO YOU. SO I UNDERSTAND THAT THE DEADLINE HASN'T PASSED YET FOR APPEALING THE DECISION IN THE GROWTH MANAGEMENT HEARINGS BOARD CASE INVOLVING FUTUREWISE. And so I emailed you today and wanted to reiterate some of those things here. And I hope that the county will choose to comply with the decision rather than appeal it, because I think it would be much cheaper in the long run. I want to emphasize one thing about the decision that I think isn't particularly important. The hearings board essentially said that the commerce guidelines are giving counties a safe harbor. But counties can instead choose different actions that are tailored to local circumstances. If counties choose their own list of climate actions, they need to demonstrate that their chosen actions achieve the required reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and the per capita vehicle miles traveled. So that's an important one is the vehicle miles traveled is kind of sometimes forgotten. In other words, the county still has considerable discretion. And Thurston County, as Lynn mentioned, has done a tremendous amount of work. The climate mitigation plan that Thurston County has in place developed actions for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions and the vehicle miles traveled. So the county doesn't have to throw all that work away. It can draw from those actions and it can determine which ones it's actually prepared to implement and then do the necessary calculations to demonstrate that its package will achieve the reductions required by state law. The board, the hearings board identified another problem that's also fixable, and that is that too many of the implementation measures in the comp plan were aspirational and not concrete. Page 24 of the hearings board's decision provides a good example. The county adopted a policy saying it would, quote, protect and restore natural ecosystems that sequester and store carbon, such as forests, wetlands, prairies, and estuaries, unquote. THE HEARINGS BOARD LIKED THAT POLICY. IT CALLED IT A SPECIFIC DIRECTIVE WITH MANDATORY LANGUAGE. THE PROBLEM THE HEARINGS BOARD FOUND WAS THAT THE IMPLEMENTATION MEASURE MERELY SAID QUOTE CREATE AND STRENGTHEN LAND USE POLICIES UNQUOTE TO ACCOMPLISH THAT GOAL. THE HEARINGS BOARD CHARACTERIZED MEASURES LIKE THIS AS VAGUE PROMISES. And so these are problems that the county can fix. And the county can choose concrete actions and calculate whether they produce the required gas and vehicle miles traveled reductions and then put those in the plan. So I hope you'll spend county resources on doing that rather than appealing. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm not seeing anyone else in the room, nor am I seeing anyone on Zoom. So I will move past public comment. And that brings us to adjournment. Meeting adjourned.