City Council - Regular Meeting

And then we make sure that this is going.

And how you know, Scotty told me, is that that's it. It'll have a link. That shows that our link is going. And then as soon as 7 o'clock hits, hopefully before she hits her gavel, you're hitting this. And then you make sure that it starts to run. Scotty, all good.

Good evening, citizens and staff. I'm Mayor Kara Westfall, hereby call to order this council meeting Tuesday, September 8th, 2026. The time is 7 p.m.

Roll call, please.

Please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. we'd like city managers to do an introduction please

Council, I wanted to introduce you to Peter Hughes. He's our new Development Services Director that we just hired, and he's been on the job for about 10 days, two weeks now. He and his wife, Rebecca, have just moved here from East Riverside, a suburb of Chicago, is that right? Yeah, North Riverside. North Riverside. has experience yeah 10 years of experience in uh community development services and we're excited to have him he's previously to that spring hill tennessee a suburb of i guess nashville area so he brings a lot of experience we're just thrilled to have him here and i wanted to introduce

Super. It's nice to meet you all. Hopefully we get to engage a little bit one-on-one. Happy to be here. My wife and I are really excited about the community. We've enjoyed our time so far, and we hope to make it our long-term home. So thank you so much.

Well, welcome to the team. Thank you. Thank you for choosing Klamath Falls. Yes. It's very much like Chicago. Only better pizza and hot dogs.

I have a proclamation to read and could I have Ron Johnson up from the VFW? Thank you for coming and thank you for doing this. City of Klamath Falls, Oregon has a proclamation in the matter of commemorating the 25th anniversary of September 11th, 2021 and proclamation September 11th, 2026 as a Patriot Day and as a National Day of Remembrance. Whereas it has been 25 years since September 11th, 2021, when across the country, daily life was put on hold. Millions of Americans were horrified as we witnessed an unimaginable act of ruthless and evil unfold. Horrific scenes and personal accounts were broadcast on television of the four hijacked aircraft. The media coverage was huge. Graphic photos and scenes indebtedly were etched into the American psyche of the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. Whereas solemnly and ceremoniously, we gather to remember and honor the thousands of innocent victims murdered by terrorists on September 11, 2021, or 2001. We are here to never forget 9-11, the day that galvanized and effectively changed our country forever. We vowed to never let it happen again. Whereas today, we gather to remember the lives lost, of the courage shown, and of the common unity forged in this tragedy. On this solemn day, we honor the lives that perished, the innocent, the first responders, and those who stood in harm's way to protect others. Whereas we lift up the families that still suffer and process the heavy weight and extreme loss of precious life. To put around them a hedge of comfort and peace, we commemorate this day for the loved ones to remember and never forget this memorial. Whereas the destruction and carnage were unconscionable, But the acts of heroism proved unprecedented to the firefighters, police officers, medical technicians, military personnel, and ordinary citizens, as their actions truly were extraordinary. Whereas this is a tribute to our community's responders, men and women of the armed force, law enforcement, firefighters, and first responders past and present. for their continued diligence and valor in serving and protecting the Klamath Basin. We thank you for your service, dedication, and commitment to others. Whereas this day is a day of reflection on the aftermath of 9-11, you answered the call then and still answer the call brilliantly today. Whereas as a community, we vowed to never forget these events and throughout the country this day is designated Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance. So let us hold a moment of silence to reflect in our of our past experience. And now, therefore, it be proclaimed by the mayor and city council as a community, we vow to never forget that September 11th, 2026 is Patriots Day, a national day of remembrance. And thank you for all you do.

Thank you. And you can. I'm Ron Johnson. I'm the commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars here in the local basin here. Thank you. Thank you for the tribute and the proclamation this day of reflection and remembrance. On the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001, we honor the lives that perished, the innocent, the first responders, and those who stood in harm's way to protect others. We give thanks to the men and women of the armed forces, law enforcement, firefighters, and the first responders past and present in answering answering the call of 9-11 and the continual aftermath. Over 3,000 innocent lives were lost and families destroyed by the carnage and the destruction. This day is a reminder of not only the loss of life, but the families still suffering, processing, and the memory. This Friday, September 11th, we give a tribute and a thank you for the heroism as America riddled from this change forever, a change forever. Today is a day of reflection, prayer, and a vow to never forget these events. Throughout this country, this day, September 11th, 9-11, is designated Patriot Day and a national day National Day of Service and Remembrance. As a member of the Veterans Advisory Council, I'm inviting the council and also the community to the Patriot Day 9-11 ceremony at the Veterans Park at 10 o'clock Friday, 11 September to commemorate the 25th anniversary of September 11th. Please join me then. God bless. Thank you for the proclamation. Thank you.

Okay. At this point, we will now do the public comment.

And we have one form.

Bob Keynes.

Two.

And we are splitting this to three minutes. And one is for Fran as well.

Yes. We all remember what we were doing on 9-11. I was running a golf tournament at the Running Y. I mean, it sounds silly to say that was such a somber event for the country. They had no idea how to handle that. There were no regs for terrorism. We played on all day. It was the most unsurreal day of my life, running a golf tournament on 9-11. Well, thanks for the chance to talk. Councilman Angeli is gonna be one of the leading speakers, the leading speaker for that event, and so I think we should all go. That's gonna be terrific. Thank you for doing that and working on all that. Okay, so I'm not known much for gargantuan exultations or hyperbolics, but I'm pretty fired up about this package. We're asking you to join the partnership with us. So we want you to help take a leading role with RRT, the Ragland, Kingsley, and a number of terrific sponsors. And this is as strong a project as I've been involved with locally. I was proud to bring the President's own Marine Band from the White House twice, that was pretty cool too. A little bit different, but this one's pretty neat. So we have kind of a trifecta of benefits first. The Ragland's bringing top quality country artist, Kafei Anderson, he's by far the most patriotic country star in the country. Again, go see Red and White and Blue on your phone, or you can't say hero without her, which is honoring the women who are underrepresented and being honored, and so I think that is very cool. And so, second partnership part is that CAFE is going to Kingsley on Thursday. So that's a big piece because we're honoring the entire base and we would like you to go and be there So talk about that just a little bit more in a minute But he's gonna be out in the biggest hang of the entire base population will be there and I think the city should be well represented that way so we'd like all of you to go and be a part of that and then third the partnership is going to have the Raglan regain its role as the finest performing arts center in Oregon's small towns. There's nothing like what we have. We don't think of ourselves that way, but that is what we are. So what I'm going to focus on in this session is asking you to join the partnership of a number of generous sponsors, including Klamath County, um, they gave 10,000, we're asking you to match that. And we have a number of other sponsors that are bigger or similar sized to that. So just really quickly, if you can make it, go to the regular airport, not the base, and there will be a military transport that will pick you up so you don't have to fight getting through the gate and finding the big hangar, because they will drive you right to the event. You need to be there at 4.30. for the 5 o'clock event. So that's key. So be there at that time. And then it'll last about an hour and 15 minutes. Kafei will talk. He's incredibly supportive of the military, as you will see from his songs. He is terrific, and then after it's over, there will be transportation back to the hangar, so all you have to do is get our airport parking lot. Unfortunately, it's very empty, so you won't have a problem parking there. So I'm gonna pass it on to Fran now, and then go watch my granddaughter play soccer. She is the goalie for Henley.

Well, good luck to her. That's awesome.

Hello, everybody. It's good to see you all again. Fran Marseille, executive director of the new Ross Raglin. It is the new Ross Raglin. And I'm really excited to be opening this season with CAFE. I'm here more than ever to just say I want to be longtime partners with you all. I want you to come and welcome CAFE to our beautiful little town. Let him know, he's done a lot of media so far, but let him know that you welcome him. And I am really proud of the fact that we've partnered up with Kingsley and we're doing things with the military where Kafei can talk to the families and then he can sing. He's gonna do a couple songs for them. But at the Raglan, we're gonna honor our military. Dana Worth is gonna be opening and she'll sing the national anthem as well for us. Kafei will do a really sweet little concert. We have a meet and greet. um or as i call it eat angry we'll have some little munchies for you earlier a red carpet experience i hope if anything you will be able to just join us at the eat angry and hopefully stay for the concert It would be very meaningful, one to CAFE, two to me, very much so. I would really enjoy your presence and to welcome you there. I'm not asking for anything but us to build a long-term relationship. and that's what I would like to see because you went to the 85th. We're making a difference. If anyone else got to join the 85th, a little Broadway and fun. But it is something very special and it's a special place and we're ready for you and we hope you're ready for us.

Thank you. What time is that? What time is the meet and greet?

The meet and greet is at 5.30 and it will be in the Cultural Center And then we move over to the Ross Ragland Theater Park for the concert. And the concert's expected at 7 p.m. And there will be some special military on stage and some special honors to some of our military families. um it's going to be a really speaking of 9 11 i remember where i was and i was taking my daughter to school and we didn't know whether to let her stay or take her home and we let them stay we felt that was better for them to be together and this is what hopefully we can do be together as a community as a family with our kids moms dads and i'm out so Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, Teddy Williams.

Hello. Good evening. So last council meeting, I voiced some concerns I had about different things in our community. Here again to say, hey, we don't want the flock cameras. We don't want a lot of this technology that's being pushed upon us. And I feel like you guys aren't listening. The city hasn't even had a public comment about it where the community is addressed. So that's kind of disheartening. And just the community engagement from the city standpoint seems to, again, that seems to be something that there's a trend of less of it. Third Thursday, the city wasn't really present. You know, I went to the planning commission open house and there was a lot of really great information there that the community could have had access to if you guys were at third Thursday, right? So stuff like that. And it's hard when I hear that the city doesn't have any money, but then we're developing another park. We're doing beautification projects. Great. I love it. I love that we have a beautiful city. But one hand, we don't have the money. And then the other hand, we're spending money. I understand there's a lot of grant money that funds a lot of these projects. And that's fine. But I feel like there's other things that need to be addressed to build a stronger community, such as the engagement. and you know last last time i came you know sitting there for 20 minutes while the young lady from k-tech was grilled by our city attorney here that was very disheartening and i sat there in the audience and i said what are they hiding because that's how it was presented to me is you guys were very serious about trying to keep her out of a meeting for 20 minutes and then to watch the youtube video and his microphone's off How is that transparent? The city council and the city need to be one, right? I feel like a lot of people don't even realize there's a city council meeting going on. They don't even understand what it takes to talk to you guys. Is there another way I could communicate with all of you? Probably. Is this the way that I prefer to communicate? Yes, it is. And that's why I choose it. And it's like last time I mentioned the sign boards, the electronic sign boards. Because when I did the barricades, I was told, we have to go pick those up. every time because they're $20,000 to $30,000. In the San Francisco Bay Area and other places in the country, they pull the tires off of them because they have jacks in all four corners. They actually pull the axle out of them. So when we have city employees where there's a minimum call out of two hours for two people to go pick these things up, they can wait till the next day. We don't need to be using overtime for that. And I really would like to see the city do the street barricades again and support all of these different events that we have annually. Every time I do it, people ask me, how did you get this contract? What do you mean? I'm volunteering. They're blown away. The city doesn't do this anymore? Nope. Oh, wow. And so there's just a lot of stuff like that. Yeah. Anyways, I think that's all I have to say tonight. So that's all. Thank you.

Thank you.

And we don't have any more forms, so we will close public comment. Consent agenda. The approval of the meeting agenda and meeting minutes from August 17, 2026 provided under separate cover.

Move to approve the consent agenda.

Second.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Land use public hearing quasi-judicial, none. Number seven, land use public hearing legislative, none. Number eight, general public hearing, none. Number nine, legislative actions, 9.1. The authorization of a contract amendment number three with RH2 Engineering Inc. in the not to exceed amount of $42,824 for the South 6th Street booster pump station. Water Manager Robbie West reporting.

uh thank you mayor and council uh yeah here tonight for uh the contract amendment three with rh2 uh this is for our booster station project we've talked to you guys about this quite a few times uh this is the booster station and water line together um just looking for a contract amendment for rh2 for a few more things that have come up a lot of times with these contracts things are based on time and materials and on a project of this magnitude Some things ultimately usually come up that we're not aware of, and RH2 has stepped up and helped us with those things. So we're just looking to get that contract extended. And I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you guys have.

Questions, comments? No? I'll entertain a motion.

I move to authorize the city manager to execute contract amendment number three with RH2 and the not to exceed amount of $42,824. Street booster pump station project.

Second.

All in favor say aye.

Aye. Any opposed?

Thank you. 9.2, the authorization of a contract amendment number three with RH2 Engineering Inc. for the not to exceed amount of $20,653 for the bulk water fill station project. Water Manager Robbie West.

All right, thank you again. Same thing, another contract amendment with RH2, this one for that fill station. little bit different on this one because of the nature of this project and as you guys know this is being reimbursed through the county which is through grant funding and so we're trying to have the contractor or excuse me the consultant do a lot of the in-house stuff that we would typically do so a couple things have come up on this project and again that time and materials thing so i'd be more than happy to answer any questions but just looking for another contract amendment with these guys for this one questions comment if not i'll entertain a motion

I'll move to authorize the city manager to execute contract amendment number three with RH2 Engineering Incorporated in the not to exceed amount of $20,653 for the bulk water fill station project.

Second. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Thank you. 9.3, the authorization of the contract amendment number two with RH2 Engineering Inc. in the not to exceed amount of $14,874 for the California lift station improvements. City Engineer Andrew Lakey.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. As Robbie had mentioned, these are some cleanup items on some contracts with RH2 Engineering. This is for the California Wastewater Lift Station. We had some additional time on the contract getting as-built documents as well as the operations manual and some other items from contractor and the providers and implementers. The costs are warranted and they are within the wastewater collection capital outlay budget. Does anybody have any questions?

Questions, comments? Go ahead, Councillor McClung.

Question. You said capital budget. Is this different than what Robbie just presented that's county reimbursed and grant funded?

No, this comes directly out of the wastewater collections capital budget.

OK. Thank you for clarifying that. They were back to back and about water. I'll move to authorize the city manager to execute contract amendment number two with RH2 Engineering Inc. in the not to exceed amount of $14,874 for the California lift station improvements project. Second.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Thank you. 9.4, determined 2027-2028 legislative priorities for submittal to the League of Oregon Cities and the city delegate to vote on behalf of the city and city manager Jonathan Teichert reporting.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, Council. So the League of Oregon Cities has opened up the ballot for selecting priorities for this upcoming 2027-28 legislative sessions. And each city is asked to submit one ranked list of their five priorities. that were chosen from options that were developed by the League of Oregon City's policy committees. These rankings help shape the League of Oregon City's statewide efforts and their legislative agenda for the year. Staff, we've reviewed some of these priorities, evaluated those based on what our council priorities are for the year, and I've come up with five that I've shared those with you, those being water reuse, and that was specifically in mind of our wastewater treatment plans, which we're going through our permitting process with DEQ now. The 27 transportation package, to support a comprehensive statewide package that helps ensure adequate funding for cities. Full funding and streamlining for the housing production. Um, the other two that we had was strengthening economic and workforce development and infrastructure funding. So, uh, following council's discussion, uh, confirmation of any cities of the city's top five selections, then I'll submit those to this, uh, to the voting portal ahead of the September 25th deadline.

Yeah. Questions, comments.

comment. Go ahead. Same one that you and I discussed. So these five, just because our city votes this way, it's no guarantee that it just goes into the ballot essentially for League of Oregon City. I'm in agreement with this with just the one caveat being that I was really tied to the priority around some sort of a low barrier centralized homeless shelter. And so I would just be on the record of saying I would have probably... put that one up there over the housing production but understand that they're competing priorities and we need both yeah i joined in that senator

Council, they did have under housing land use funding and coordination for shelter and homeless response. Without getting into all the details of what that is, which I'd have to go back and read, it's been a couple weeks since I've looked at this, but that is one of the priorities. If you would like to change that one for one of the other five that I'd recommend, it would be up to you.

How do you feel about that? Would you like to change that, or do you want to? And if so, which one do we change? Go ahead, Councilor Studentberg.

I think that the housing statement here is broad enough to cover our concerns about I shared Councilor McClung's emphasis on homes. But I don't want to really change the vibe here.

Councilor Angeli.

Yes, I feel fully confident with the palette that's set out there. The housing production and that, from what I understand of it, does have a broad spectrum coverage. So I think it would be more than adequate for that.

OK. Counselor? Same. Same? OK. So do you have a consensus?

I just need that they can make the motion.

We would like to take the motion as presented.

Who does the voting? Do you do the voting for it?

I would submit those. But we would also need, along with that, a voting delegate at the upcoming League of Oregon Cities meeting. So maybe two separate motions is probably what we're looking at.

Or you could do them as one. As long as you're to be the city delegate at the LOC conference, I should have added that language. But I know that Mike's attending virtually. and no one else had approached me about attending it so it's a lot of times it's best to have it the person that's attending so I just wanted to throw that out there I'm not telling anyone how to

That makes sense.

And two, I am planning, I haven't registered yet, I am planning to attend. So I could be, or Mike, I think virtually could.

Are you attending in person?

Yes, that was my intent.

So on that, I'd prefer that either Jonathan or somebody else in person, because I will be out of country, so that will be difficult for me, and it would be better to have somebody physically there. I agree. Yes.

Okay, so we're making sure that we know Jonathan to

Yes. So the motion should include that.

OK. Let's see. Move to approve the 20, 27, 28 priorities as presented and for Jonathan Tiger to be the city delegate.

Second.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Very good. Thank you. 9.5, a resolution supporting Klamath Community College Child Care Learning Center project and authorizing city staff to submit a Business Oregon Regional Infrastructure Grant on behalf of the Klamath Community College. And City Manager Jonathan Teichert.

Yes, so council seeking support a letter of resolution in support of KCC's application. This is to a Business Oregon infrastructure funding project towards our child care center. I believe the deadline to submit is the 15th. And so it's kind of a last minute thing. We're just in a crunch trying to get our application in. And so we would be applying on behalf of Klamath Community College for these funds.

And then would we just serve as the financial pass-through for that? Yep.

I'm for it.

Aye.

Okay.

I'd move to introduce the resolution and read by title. Second.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? City Manager, please read the resolution by title.

A resolution supporting Klamath Community College's Child Care Learning Center project and authorizing city staff to submit a Business Oregon Regional Infrastructure Grant on behalf of Klamath Community College.

I move to approve the resolution. Second.

Roll call, please.

Councilor Schumer? Yes. Councilor Anthony? Aye. Councilor Russo? Yes. Councilor McCall?

Yes. Other matters? Anybody for other matters? Go ahead, Councilor Angeliou.

After hearing a lot of discussion across the board regarding the flock cameras, both locally, statewide, and nationally, I have some concern and I would like to see if we at any possible chance would have the ability to have a work session to delve deeply in discussion because it seems to be a changing, um situation every day across the us both for and against and a lot of constituents in my ward have brought it up about things that are going on with that and given the status that we've had the cameras in place for period of time. I think it would be prudent if we looked at maybe reviewing what the benefits and the pros and cons of this are. So I would request that we potentially have a work session to discuss that. I think it's important.

Okay. I agree.

Okay.

Councillor Russo.

Yeah, I think so. I've had some inquiries about it for quite a while. I know we spoke about it at a meeting not long ago. We had the chief come and address the topic. We put a lot of attention onto it at that time, but things have changed. I'd be curious at looking at how much each camera costs. How do we know when those cameras are being put up, where they're being put up? seeing, you know, what options we have financially as well. Like, is it worth putting that money into it? Or could we put that into a be, you know, have somebody hit the streets and, and put more into our community versus it going to a major company? I just think it's worthy of a conversation to kind of look at those things.

Councillor McClung.

Yeah, I agree. I'd like to have a work session about it. I think it's a huge conversation, local, state, nationally. We're hearing a lot from constituents and public comment. And then I'm daily having conversations about plot cameras. I appreciated the data and the presentation that the chief and some of the staff did. But I think, like other counselors have said, it's a hot topic and it's ongoing. So I'd be in support of that.

Okay. Councillor Schoonberg?

I agree.

Okay. Sounds good. Anything else under other matters? Okay, we will adjourn. Oh, wait.

He had something. You want to talk about it? I'm sorry. Go ahead.

I was just going to say, just simply, Friday is September 11th again. And just to reiterate that, it would be really great as our community to come together on that day if we could actually see great participation, especially down at Veterans Park. It's not going to be at where the normal memorial is, the World War II memorial. So Veterans Park, if we could fill that up and show support community-wide, I think that would be really important. And Captain Ron there had done a fine job of presenting that, and he's put a lot of effort into that, and I think it would be great to support that.

Yeah, very good. Anything else? Okay, we will adjourn under executive session.

Are we having the executive session?

Are we having executive session?

It's on the agenda.

Oh. It was on the agenda that I received. Oh, okay. I had heard. So, yeah, adjournment is on the agenda. Okay. So read that. Okay. And then it's going to be under this one.

Okay.

Yeah.

OK. So city council will adjourn in executive session under ORS 192.660. Excuse me? It's OK. ORS 192.6602. H. Consultation with legal counsel. I will need a motion.

Motion to adjourn to executive session.

Second.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Meeting.