City Council - Special Meeting

with me, right?

It is now 6 PM, so I will call the meeting to order. Clerk, will you take the roll call?

Deputy Mayor Winkler?

Present.

Council Member Elliott? Here. Council Member Walton has asked to be excused. And Council Member Gassick has asked to be excused.

Is there a motion to excuse him? Council Member Wargill? Here. Oh, let me try again.

He used to click back on.

Click it one more time.

Yeah.

We are going to see if we can get someone else up here.

No, you're not either.

No.

Here we go.

Yeah, you can hear. Oh, mine is green now. Yeah. OK. Paul?

Is there a motion to excuse him?

So do you want me to make a motion? Yes. Okay. I'll make a motion to excuse Susan Walton and Sean Agasek, council members.

Is there a second? right tom i'll second thank you is there all in favor say aye aye all opposed hearing none the motion passes uh please stand as sergeant sable leads us in the pledge of allegiance wait i need to finish roll call oh i am sorry go ahead

Go ahead. Okay. Council Member Wargo. Here. Council Member Barrow. And Council Member Thakur. Here. We have a quorum.

All right. Please stand as Sergeant Sable leads us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

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.

Okay, we're up to the public comment session. This is the opportunity for the public comment on any item. We have no new business this evening. Therefore, this is the only comment session. Please remember to keep your comments to three minutes and that you're addressing the council. Is there anyone who has called in or online?

No, there's not.

Are there any written comments?

No.

Okay, is there anyone in the audience who would like to make comment this evening? If so, please come forward and push the button on the mic. Seeing no one moving forward, we will move to the next part of the agenda. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? Council Member Elliott.

I make a motion to approve the agenda.

Is there a second? Council Member Barrow.

I second that.

Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Hearing none, the motion passes. we are up to uh number six recognition of sergeant sable and just so that everyone understands how we're going to do this this evening we'll start out with chief moore having the opportunity to recognize sergeant sable immediately after that we'll have the council have an opportunity to share any comments we'll follow that up with some photos in front of the diaz first to be chief sergeant sable in the council And then anybody and everyone who would like to come up and be part of a photo with Sergeant Sable right up front here, that would be great. And then we're going to end up with giving Sergeant Sable the final word. So that would be your chance to share anything you may want. Okay. It's all. Okay. Okay. Chief, it's all yours.

Well, thank you, Deputy Mayor. Good evening, Council Members. Just for the record, I'd like to say that The council chambers is packed. It's a full house, probably the most people I've seen since I've been here. And that says a lot, speaks volumes to the man we're gonna honor tonight. So thank you all for being here. And so I'll begin by saying tonight, we have the privilege of recognizing Sergeant Dan Sabo in a career spanning more than 30 years in law enforcement, including over 21 years of dedicated service to the DuPont Police Department. 21 years and 10 months to be exact. We can round up and call it 22. A career that has left an indelible mark on the DuPont Police Department and the city DuPont and the law enforcement profession. When Dan started as a DuPont officer in August of 2004, the city and police department looked considerably different. The resident population was only about 3,500 people, and many of the residential and commercial areas that we now know were virtually undeveloped. The police department operated out of a small building on Barksdale Avenue, and Dan was one of five officers. Needless to say, both the city and police department have experienced considerable growth since then. And just a fun fact, since Dan's been at DPD, he's been through seven different chiefs. Words out on it. Words out on who his favorite was. Yeah, but during that time, Dan has been instrumental part of our expansion and our operational success. His tenure and institutional knowledge made him a tremendous asset to the city team and the relationships he built over time proved to be an invaluable commodity. Whether it was a conversation with a resident, collaborating with another city department, working alongside our regional law enforcement partners, or simply getting to know the vendors who supported our department, Dan recognized that every relationship mattered because every person had a role in making our community stronger. As a resident, a neighbor, and a member of this community, Dan had a personal investment in making this city the very best it could be. Every decision he made, every problem he solved and every interaction he had was guided by a genuine desire to improve the community for everyone who lives, works and visits here. As a police officer, law enforcement leader and mentor, Dan was equally as invested in making the DuPont Police Department the very best it could be. Over the past 22 years, Dan has served in a variety of key assignments. He was a defensive tactics instructor where he helped prepare officers for the moments that mattered most. There are many officers whose confidence and survival can be traced back to the time Dan invested in them. Dan served as a field training officer where he didn't just teach new officers how to write reports and answer calls. He helped shape their judgment, their professionalism, and their commitment to serving others. He also served as an operation sergeant, acting lieutenant and special events coordinator. He was a steady voice during difficult moments and the dependable team members that others could count on to be there when it mattered most. One of Dan's most enduring contributions has been his service as the regional honor guard commander. For 15 years, Dan carried one of the most solemn responsibilities in our profession. He ensured that our fallen brothers and sisters were honored with the dignity, precision, and respect they deserved. Those ceremonies were never about recognition of the honor guard. They were about honoring sacrifice, supporting grieving families, and reminding all of us of the sacred commitment we share in this profession. In the three years that I had the opportunity to work with Dan, what always stood out to me was something that can't be found on any resume. It was his willingness to make himself available and do whatever was needed. No matter the assignment, no matter the challenge, no matter how difficult the task, Dan simply stated, yes, sir, and asked what needs to be done. His work ethic has been matched only by his commitment to people, partnerships, and the community we serve. As your chief, I sincerely thank you for protecting this community. I will protect you too. I thank you for preparing generations of officers to serve with a sense of duty, professionalism, and dedication. Thank you for honoring our fallen with dignity. And finally, I thank you for over 21 years of dedicated service to the DuPont Police Department and this community. Dan, you can come up here. As a token of our appreciation and in recognition of your time here, you're over 20 years, 22 years here and a 30-year career. I'd like to present you with this plaque with your Sergeant badge, some coins, and uh this it says presented to sergeant dan sabo for over 21 years of unwavering commitment professionalism and dedication to the city of dupont and the dupont police department 2004 to 2006.

if you can hold in there we're going to give you the last word okay okay i don't need to say nothing all right uh i'm going to open up to the council members what i forgot to share is after the council members i believe there may be a couple people in the audience who also want to share a couple comments so with that shared sergeant sable thanks for your many many years of service From one retiree to another, there's life after work, and there's many great ways to volunteer and support our city. You could offer so many things to our city in whatever way you decide to continue to serve. So keep that in mind. Thank you so much for what you've done, and I'll turn the mic over to Council Member Wargo.

Sergeant Sabo, hey, so absolutely honored knowing you and working with you. Thank you for what you've done for the city. It's a big deal. Best wishes to you and your family in retirement. And thank you for everything. Appreciate you.

Jugo, all yours.

Well, I have to be longer than chief. Well, Dan, it's been 18 years of knowing you. And first of all, thank you for your service as a Marines. That's a big deal, big achievement. And I know that you are very proud of it by yourself also. You always have that on back of your truck. When you are working in the cold nights, you think about that you are a Marine, you are not a police officer. And that's how I have seen you for last 18 years. I know you personally also beyond professionally, but you are a great son. I have seen you driving to Montana, taking care of your parents. And very few people do that the way you are taking care of your parents, to be honest with you. You are a great father. I have seen you taking care of your kids. You've been a great brother to me. And you are the only one who might take it to the India trip with me where you learn how to fly kites and kite fights too. And you've been an amazing husband. I will leave it up to that. Lean has to say that. yeah one thing i mentioned in a few minutes ago but i would like to say that again 18 years ago when we moved in my kids started going to the chloe clark and we see the two resource officers standing out there and helping the kids and they help on every different aspect of life even some kids don't want to go to school and they no, no, no, it's okay. You can go to school. Mom and mom will come back and pick you up. And I'm like, really, is that your job police officer? But that's what we love it. You have built the community and this is what we are proud and what we love about our community. So thank you for doing that. I don't think you will be ever retired. No, I think you are just moving on to the next chapter of your life. You cannot sit at home. You cannot wake up at 9 a.m., not even 9, even 7. I will be surprised if you, he usually texts me at 6 a.m. I'm like, please don't text me at 6 a.m. So that's what you are, Dan. So, okay, I'm not going to be chief's speech here, so I'm going to cut it short. But thank you for everything you do and love you as a family. Thank you.

Beth, all yours.

those are awfully tough to beat but i can see that dan you are loved this as as the chief said this council has not been as packed except when jugal's family came so it's a toss-up but but you're certainly well that's true so you are loved and um you know i'm not sure if i'm going to be able to recognize you walking down the street without your uniform on because you know that's who you are but um anyway thank you for your service to the city and for going beyond the call of duty also and helping your neighbors with doing non-police things too so thank you so much and happy retirement my turn

I just want to say it's been a pleasure to have you as an acquaintance and a friend. I've gotten to know a little bit about you over the years, and I think that you've done an excellent job of being a community member as well as your job here. And it's really great to see you be able to retire. And I look forward to handing off some new jobs for you in the future. So yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Congratulations.

All right, this will be the opportunity for anybody in the audience going off script a little bit. I'll probably get myself in a little bit of trouble, but you know what the heck. Mayor Young, go ahead.

You're welcome.

I'll turn this thing around. So for those who don't know me, Steve Young. I was mayor here for a little while. So let's do a little bit of history. Nearly 22 years ago, in 2004, I had a vacant police patrol officer position to fill. My first hire in classified staff as mayor, Dan's package rolls across my desk. He'd already gone through the screening. Chief said, I recommend this guy. So myself, having served as a patrol officer both in Steilacoom and here in DuPont, looked over his package pretty carefully, casting a pretty critical eye. I go through the package. I go through it. And I'm just finding flaw after flaw on why I just don't think it's going to work. But I was able to set many of those aside. But there was one critical flaw. that I just could not overlook and had to really wrestle and pray over that I could get over it myself, you know, and him being a former Marine bit me as a Navy guy. I just had to keep reminding myself that the Marine Corps is part of the Department of the Navy and that technically he worked for me, that I was good. Yeah, so Dan actually was my first classified hire. I brought him on board right at the end of 2004. So for that, DuPont, I apologize. Anyway, Dad, congratulations. Like I said, we've known each other, obviously, over the years. Had a lot of interactions then, but you've done good for the community. The community obviously appreciates you, everything you've done. I know, again, it really is your next chapter coming up. If not, I'm sure the list is long of things you've got to get done, so I'm not worried about it. It'll keep you out of there. So anyway, congratulations.

All right. Is there anyone else who would like to have that same opportunity? Chief? Yes. No, you're good, too. No, man. Sweet.

So over the 21 plus years that Dan served this community, I had the privilege of serving with Dan for almost six of those years. And there's a few things that... And we have three things in common. We both were Marines. We both served in Arizona as police officers, and we both served this wonderful community. A couple of things, Lynn, it's been my privilege to get to know you. People don't understand what a challenge it is to be a member of the law enforcement family, particularly as a spouse. And you certainly understand that. So congratulations having Dan now all to yourself. And that's not a joke. I mean that. So a couple of things, when you're a brand new police chief, you make a lot of mistakes. And when I first came on board this is a lot of people think policing and DuPont's easy. It's not. Just these folks make it look real easy. And there were many times where you make decisions that are in the best interests of the community, but you don't please everybody. And Dan was always the guy that said, I know her. I'll go talk to her for you, Chief. I know him. I'll go talk to him for you, Chief. I could take care of that. And then many times you'd get emails when it was really, really hot, Facebook posts or emails saying, hey, Sergeant Sabo installed an air conditioner for me while on duty. Hey, Sergeant Sabo shoveled the snow off of my sidewalk. So there are a lot of things that, you know, I've seen Dan do some heroic things, but it's the conduct that most people hadn't seen that makes Dan so special. And I will tell you, I could go on and on and I won't, but you privilege me by asking me to be here tonight, the people that I care so much about. But I'll say this, Dan and I, we worked through a lot of things. I think the successes were that a lot of the community didn't know about it. It never made the media. And that's because Dan was able to navigate things in such a skillful, ethical manner. But above all, whether we had good days or bad days, the one thing I always appreciate about you is you always asked about how my family was. So, Dan, thanks for having me here. It's great to be back. And I'm only one phone call away. Congratulations.

All right. As I continue to break all the rules tonight, is there anybody else? Okay. Anyways, with that shared, go ahead. Come on. So if I never run another meeting again, you know why I broke all the rules. Okay. I'll just make this short and sweet.

My wife and I have been in this community for roughly 23 years. We've known Dan since he's pretty much come on the force. Dan's been a really good friend to us. He's been a good friend to my grandson. And with me being a scout leader for 11, 12 years, I know how important it is for people to stand up for our kids in the community and Dan, how many years did you do the scout camp? Or the police camp, the law enforcement camp? So for eight years, he took young men out to do law enforcement camp. And I saw it make a lot of difference in the kids' lives that he took out there. And we really appreciate the time and effort that he took to do that. He's always been a brother, a friend, and from one Montana to another, and from one Marine to another. Semper Fi, double dog.

Wow.

All right. I'm looking around. Go ahead. Yes, please.

Okay. Um, I just, I couldn't, I'm sitting there like sweating, like I got to get up and say something. So Dan, you're amazing and you are loved so much. And, um, rolling back, I didn't know what year you started the, the DuPont PD, but I had the opportunity of telling you where to go because I was a dispatcher for, in my former life. And, um, I can say Dan never said no. Lynn, I don't know what he, you know, if he ever listens or doesn't listen, but he was you know, very agreeable then. But anyway, um, Dan, thank you for all of the years of service and knowing where your heart is. And as a member of Champion Center Church and all of our family that's here, we want to say, I don't know if anyone wants to get up, but I'll just say it. We thank you. We love you for being a part of the family. And your tender heart for Jesus just is so precious. And The example that you've set for being a strong Christian man to our community is huge, and we just thank you for that. I don't know what else to say. Um, but Dan is definitely one other thing is what'd you say Lynn? Okay. He's a team player. So Dan has also graciously, we have this thing, it's called the Barksdale station. He's going to be in a dunk tank on Thursday. So if anyone wants to come out and dunk him, you know, it'll be your opportunity to do that at Barksdale station at five o'clock Yeah, just wanted to say that on Thursday. So anyway, Dan, we love you so, so much. We are so proud of you. We support you. Lynn, you've made him better like 100%. You are an amazing partner. And I just love that we get to celebrate and see you as you take this journey and stepping over to, like Jugal said, maybe not retirement, but the next phase in life. And we're excited to see what you do and where you go next. So we love you.

all right i think i'm looking and we have an opportunity to do a quick photo first with chief and dan in the console and then um and then what's that bringing everybody and then we'll bring everyone up second photo ready chief back to you And if you want to drive. If we want to try a group photo or anyone wants to get up here, by all means, we can do it. All right. All right. Let's do it.

um um

No, I think. Oh.

all right thanks everyone thank you

All yours, Stan.

HR is not in the office, I can. I'd just like to thank everybody for being here. It truly does mean a lot to me to have this much family and friends, counsel, state administrator, Kerry, everybody. This is a true honor. It has been a great 30 years of law enforcement. I've been very blessed to be in DuPont for 22, minus two months. But it's been great. The relationships I've made in the city, the people I've gotten to know, the friends, add-on family, with Jugal and that entire family and my church family and everybody else. It is truly an honor. As Chief said, I've went through seven chiefs. I have to say my last two have been the best ones I've had as far as the most stability, the most vision, the most wanting to move forward with the department and take it to a new level. Before we kind of go up a little bit and then we stagnate, we maybe go up a little bit and then we like take two steps back. But Doug was awesome. He was great to work with, a great mentor. Had to go to his office a few times, just like Brian had to go to his office a few times. But like I told them when they first came in, I'm the kind of person, if I screw up, smack me, let me know and I move forward. And that's how they treated it. So it was good. It was good. It was learning just to kind of get that next level and take the next level of responsibility that they entrusted me with for this city. As the acting lieutenant, as the acting chief, when they would take off and stuff like that, it was a great honor that they put their confidence and trust in me. Council backed them on that, which was great. All the way from the mayor down to the city administrator, I never had ideas or thoughts that somebody didn't want me there or didn't trust me. So it was great to have that support for the last 20 plus years in this department. I am looking forward to the next chapter, taking these two weeks off and then getting back to some school and then take two weeks off and then get back to work. I can't sit around. That's not my style. Got to keep busy. Lots of projects coming up, things I'm doing. But I'm blessed to have the family and the support and the friends in this building right now that have my back. They'll always be there for me and I appreciate it. And, uh, it's just, it's been great. It's been honor. Um, I truly have had a remarkable career. I haven't had the bigger agencies where I've done a lot of the extra stuff, but the things I've done, most officers don't get an opportunity to do at my line level, which has been awesome for that responsibility. And, and it's been great. Um, Lynn, uh, great support the last four plus years. Um, she's definitely helped stabilize me, um, and make me grow. Auntie Lee, Uncle Terry that I got five years ago, six years ago, when my aunt passed away, got them. Privileged, very honored for everybody here. Thank you again for being here. Thank you for all your support. And I'll still be around another year and a half in the city and then I'm leaving. I need my woods. I need to be in the country. Maybe two years if I have to take Tina. So, but no, it's been good. I'll still be around. I've told the chief, I've told the deputy chief that if they need anything to, my number's not changing. If they need anything, they can call me. I do have a lot of contacts and institutional knowledge after the last 22 years that I can still need to pass on. And I'd love to do that. Look forward to where DuPont goes the next year, two years before I leave and where the city goes. Appreciate it, everybody. Thank you very much for your time and God bless.

Well, thanks everyone for being here. If you don't want to stay for the rest of the meeting, we understand. It won't probably be quite as exciting, but we do have a very good news report, a water report for the DuPont residents. You might want to stay for that, but thank you everyone being here for Dan. With that shared, Gus, I'm turning the floor over to you.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Mayor. I'll just take a few minutes to allow the group to move on to continue the festivities and party.

All right. Again, thanks to everyone who came for Sergeant Sabo's retirement. And Goss, I understand you have a great report for us. Go ahead.

all right thank you mr deputy mayor uh the the reason why i'm presenting this is uh kind of twofold one is it is a requirement uh with department of health to publish this report uh on or before july 1. We do this and essentially posting on the city's website. We also put a message in the late June water bill. If you're like me, I still get a mail water bill and it's actually in the note statement where the website's located. Also on the insert is a QR code listing to this water quality report. So what's in the water quality report? There's essentially about three different items. One is it just talks about where does our water come from? What is our water infrastructure? And what do we do to essentially keep it safe? The other part of it or part two of it is essentially what are the sampling results that we have in here? And just maybe just cut to the good news. It's all good, it's all good from there, but I'll get into detail on what those are. And then the last piece is basically, I wanna say it's a page and a half of mandatory language that's in there for things like hotline calls or what do I do if I have concerns or have questions. So what I like to do is walk you through this and then I'll also, I do have a couple other graphic slides I'll show to talk about a future grant opportunity that I'm looking to pursue. So first part in this water quality report, we have five wells. Three of those wells are located at the Bell Hill neighborhood. Two of those wells are located in the Hoffman Hill. Four of those wells pull from the same aquifer, the Red Salmon Springs Aquifer. One of those wells pulls from a deeper well called the Lakewood liquid wash aquifer and and when we get into the constituent components i'm going to talk more to it and and because that is the one well we actually pull more iron and manganese so i'll be able to talk more to that then Moving on to the page two of the document, we have some mandatory language talking about what is a cross connection. We also have mandatory language talking about when do we test, how do we test, a 1-800 number. I also included the PFAS statement on page two. I use a different picture from a ribbon cutting. Wanted to show people it's actually six. uh large vessels uh and the relative scale to the ribbon cutting uh where we actually have uh two of these uh plants one over at bell hill one over at hoffman hill on page three where we start getting into the constituents uh items on here so these are the things that we actually sample uh in our wells and we actually send those uh uh to a a lab that's qualified to take on those results and then we essentially get a report. The good news is no matter what I say on here, it's the bottom line. We have no violations. Everything is clear and clean. But what I want to do is just talk to you a couple of things. On the upper portion where it says regulated at the groundwater source, you see a couple items there, iron and manganese. They are definitely below the highest maximum contaminant level. As a matter of fact, we have to multiply what we sampled five times or three times to get to that amount. And that is from one location. That is Bell Hill well number two. That is our one well that pulls from this Lakewood area. aquifer that's a deeper well, so that is over 500 feet below grade from there. The other items, arsenic, sometimes that surprises people that we have arsenic in our water, but that is a naturally occurring element. We have to multiply what we sampled eight times to actually get to the maximum contaminant level from there. I'm skipping to item in the middle, total trihalomethane or TTHM as what is probably the short-term acronym. What that is is when you disinfect water and that water sits in the pipe for a while, it's kind of a by-product. So we actually go out to one of our dead end lines. The address is there, 4301 Pioneer Avenue. We purposely go to that location, test it, and good news, we didn't have any detects for that one because it's telling us where our process of moving water and flushing it is doing well. The next item has to do with lead and copper. What I have to say is our water does not have lead and copper. We do have structures in our city that are old enough to have components of lead and copper in it. So what will happen is the water sits inside the pipe and essentially that lead and copper leaches out as part of the process. We actually sample. About 33 homes, we take the 90%. That's what we report on here. Those people that sample it, they do this voluntarily. We drop off some sampling containers and we explain to them how and when to sample. Typically it's first thing in the morning, but we want it to be flush. We want them to do the first flush after that. The next group is related to PFAS, and I'm going to call them by their four letter names as opposed to their, I don't know, 26 letter names that's on there. So what you have on there is probably the ones that's gotten the most amount of publication. It's PFOS and PFOA. There's some other ones with even a longer name, PFHXS and PFPBS. That's like some branches off of that. What you'll notice is we have two groups, one at Hoffman Hill and one at Bell Hill. and what what you see in that first column is what's called a state advisory level so in 2025 those are if we exceed that amount before it goes to distribution we have to tell the state and all the consumers what's going on if we if we actually sent this out in 2026 the state advisory level actually goes down to four pfos per trillion four parts per trillion for p p f o a and PFHXS goes down to 10 parts per trillion and PFBS goes down to a no, to essentially a no sampling item. And that's just because in 2026, the state advisory level has reduced it. And we'll see that at the next water quality report. Just so you know, the Department of Health will have these levels, these same amounts for four and 10 for PFOS, PFOA as maximum contaminant levels in 2029 as part of their process. So similar to what the items we have upstairs. What you'll notice also right next to that is an acronym, MD, which means node detection. So with the PFAS plants that are getting run through the system and out to distribution, basically we're getting node detection because the granulated activated carbon filters are doing their job and is doing a very good job in essentially putting out a node detection component of it. As a matter of fact, I'll talk a little bit about that at the next section on how good a job it really is doing. It's actually surprisingly too good. The next items are related to other items that we actually check in there. The amount of chloride really has to do with the amount of sodium, calcium, and manganese. Sulfate is a combination of sulfur and oxygen. Hardness testing is basically looking at the minerals. Calcium, manganese are the two biggest ones. conductivity is basically a test if you run electricity to it if it has a bunch of dissolved solids like a bunch of just gunk in it it doesn't like to be uh uh to allow electricity run through it but uh if it has less of that dissolved solids electricity will run right through it uh turbidity is just what it sounds can you actually see through it Typically, with water systems, turbidity is a 1.0 NTU. Comparison to lakes and streams, it's 10 compared to the Pacific Oceans, anything from 100 to 1,000, so for a reference point. Gross alpha really has to do with radiation because we do have some conditions There is in the earth items like uranium and radium that may be in the ground as far as groundwater. We do have basically a barely detectable level. And then radium-228 really has to do with the decay of thorium, which is located inside rocks. from there so those are the things that we looked at and sampled as you can see our results are orders of magnitude below what you're seeing over there and that bottom line bar talks about that there are no violations in the 2025 report they're in there so this is a this is a good news report when it comes down to it not to say all previous ones are good news report but to say there's nothing in here that's shattering. The next two pages are mandatory languages where we have to explain what are units, what are abbreviations, what are some hotline numbers to call, and essentially, you know, where does lead in drinking water come from? It's really not from the water itself, but from plumbing components, what comes down to it. The last page also is mandatory language, but we put it in a question format because we'll always get asked, is bottled water safer for me to drink? It can be. I just don't know where I got bottled. And it's run by the Food and Drug Administration as opposed to the Department of Health. They just have different standards in there. A classic question I always get asked is, do we add fluoride in our drinking water? the answer is no we don't have the only thing we really add is chlorine for on-site chlorine generation and then this last piece here talks about water use efficiency performance what you notice is there's a downward trend on the last bar it's downward and what this really has to do is are we finding our leaks and right now we are at the age of our system where the leaks are really associated with uh our meters and we've replaced our our individual meters when we when they start to go uh i say a little a little they're a little bit off they're not reporting as what they're really intended so with that uh we're able to curtail uh some of that uh from that perspective then so The last page I have, which was not part of the water quality report, was just a summation and a website link for what is the national, the US EPA drinking water regulation. I broke it down in categories just so you can see, okay, where does this all fit in? Interesting enough, they broke out PFAS for organic chemicals. just because it's stood out. But I have it on there. They used to do this very nice four-page or five-page chart, but now they've relegated it to the website from there. So I want to essentially switch gears a little bit, but it's on the same topic. And Ms. Muir, if you can pull up the supporting slides. graphics here and this is this is more of a informational and advisement from there so I mentioned earlier that we have five wells and one of those wells pulls from a deeper aquifer that deeper aquifer has iron and manganese intrusion just because of that's where the groundwater is In its location, what we found is the upper level aquifer, the Red Salmon Springs, that's where we're getting the PFAS. That's the level we're getting the PFAS and we're getting treatment. So well number two, which pulls iron and manganese right now because it doesn't have PFAS detection, we are not running that through the PFAS system or the granulated activated carbon. And if we did... I would foul up our granulated activated carbon that I'd have to replace it within three to six months or so because we're pulling out PFAS chemicals at parts per trillion, whereas you all can probably imagine what is a chunk of ferrous material or manganese in your drinking water that you can actually visibly see. So that was done intentionally, done on purpose. But if you can push to the next slide. So what I'm looking to discuss here and provide background on essentially a grant opportunity I'm looking to pursue later this year in October related to essentially having an iron manganese plant for well number two at Belle Hill. Next slide please. This is just the picture graphic you've probably seen before. On the left side of the graphic is the Belle Hill location. That upper zone relates to the pressure zone because we're higher in elevation, and that's where our more than 3 million gallon reservoir is located. Basically, that is where the bulk of our storage is. Also up there is Hoffman Hill well number one. Just down the street from it at Burnside Place is Hoffman Hill well number two from there. Going across to the left page, or correction, to the right corner of the page is the Bell Hill location where we essentially have three of our wells, Bell Hill one and three. are pulling from the Red Salmon Springs aquifer, and then Bell Hill well number two pulls from the deeper liquid aquifer. And then my intention is not, this is not an eye chart. I'm not looking for everyone to read it, but I'm just using it to show where the visible location is. Next slide, please. And then in this slide, if my geology friends would, their stomachs would churn, because this is an oversimplification of what a a pie slice of the ground is related to where our wells are located. On the left side are the Hoffman Hill wells. You notice there's that bump going up. And then on the middle of the page is the Bell Hill wells. You notice two of them are shallower and then one I put a red circle or one is deeper. And then the far left or correction, the far right are the JBLM wells that's pulling from there. So as you can see there, four of our five wells are pulling from the same aquifer where we've gotten PFAS contamination and essentially we're doing that by removing it with granulated activated carbon. You see that deeper well is essentially pulling from a deeper location does not have contamination. But theoretically, if it ever did, then I'd have to essentially do pretreatment to it before I take it into the PFAS filtration, the granulated activated carbon. Otherwise, I would foul it up within three to six months. So the interesting thing about this is, Before PFAS became an item of much discussion, before it took up all the oxygen in the room, so to speak, in water treatment and water filtration, Department of Health was actually going down the road of essentially spending more funds in helping communities with removing iron and manganese out of their water. So that was where we were heading before PFAS said, whoa, we got a bigger problem to resolve. so what happens with iron and manganese iron manganese as you saw on the table has a maximum contaminant level but what's we call a secondary maximum contaminant level meaning it's only there for aesthetics meaning if you put it in a white tupperware container it may stain it You may look into it and you say, okay, it looks darker than clear water. You may see some sediments at the bottom. If you drink it, and if it's not diluted enough, you may say, hey, it has a metal taste to it from there. But our normal practices is we dilute it before we sit it out in distribution. But from a pragmatic perspective, from the water treatment operator, the the amount of scaling that happens when we bring well number two online requires us to actually do a lot of hydrant flushing we're essentially flushing our system to get that iron and manganese sediment out of our system it's going to be in the reservoir it's going to be in the pipes and it's just gas to be in there and and anytime especially during the height of before the the pfast plants were were fully operational we actually had to use well number two More because the the the Hoffman Hill Wells were exceeding the state advisory level at that point. So we're essentially living off of just Bell Hill Wells at that stage. So what what's also also very interesting is. Another thing came into play is we take with us kind of our knowledge and background of what other experience we had come into. So my experience with iron and manganese has been with plants that are heavy in staff use, meaning every day an operator has to do something to it. It's almost like a Navy ship. Somebody has to be there to turn the dials or whatever. Some of those plants are what's called as a reverse osmosis plant, very similar to where you have desalinization plants or reverse osmosis. You do the same thing. But where it's labor intensive is there's that buildup of iron and manganese on that membrane that has to be backwashed. If it doesn't get back washed, there's a bacteria that gets built up on that iron manganese that causes other problems. It's that heavy staff use that became OK, can we can our team really support that? The other thing is a green is a green sand field type item. And conceptually, if you can think about it, it's almost like a open septic tank where you're washing it through a field. But the realities of it is, hey, if you ever have to take that offline, you have to take the whole system offline. And now you're not doing any treatment whatsoever. So interesting enough, I visited my counterparts over at Lakewood Water District. Wanted to introduce myself because there's a new general manager over there and also to introduce myself in my position over here. And next slide, please. What they showed me is this. This is a system that fits in what I would say is about the size of a cubicle from there. There's about six vessels in here. And on the bottom right corner is a control system which works on flow and everything is automatic. So I asked them, when you go through the backwash process to remove the built up iron and manganese, do you have to have staff do a lot of adjustments? And they said, no. The only time the staff has to do anything is if one of those vessels is not working right, they take that one vessel offline to install a new one, but the remaining five are still working. So you're still able to produce uh filtered water for anger iron manganese so then we started talking well how long have you had this and and they said something that really just stopped me in my tracks they said we've had gus we've had this for 20 years and i just had to stop i said holy smokes i guess my knowledge of different systems is completely out of tune because I was thinking reverse osmosis. I was thinking green sand fields and other things. But they said, no, we've had this system and liquid water. This was actually going to plant another one at a different location because they're having problems with it. So that was one event to be able to say, well, this is technology because, you know, you bring bring with you your experience and your knowledge that I wasn't expecting. The other thing I ran into is discussions with the Department of Health I won't say all of PFAS is done, but what they're looking to do now is get back into iron and manganese removal and actually provide grant opportunities for those water distribution systems that are looking to do iron and manganese removal. And my first reaction, because I did have a interaction with the state revolving fund and Department of Health, specifically for PFAS. I'm not sure if you all know it. At one point, if we didn't get the state funds, I actually had a loan through the state revolving fund. So I thought, OK, hey, it's just going to be the state revolving fund. I got a loan. I'm not sure if I want that because we have a utility rate. It's going to be actually happening in 2031 and 32 in our future capital projects. I say I'll just wait because if it's just a loan, I still got to pay that back. And the reaction I got from Department of Health is they said, no, we're doing grants, but the match is 50 percent. Okay, that's not so bad. Right now, I got a project listed for two $1.5 million phases or $3 million that's associated with that. And if we're successful, and what I'm looking to do is pursue this grant here come October timeframe, pursue this grant. And it's gonna be a multi-year process, because if we're successful in securing the grant, I gotta do a small model, will take about a year, and then the year after that, we can do the construction phase. But in keeping that, you're probably asking, Gus, if it's if it's a 50 percent match, where are we getting the funds? So here's what's happened when we are pursuing the PFAS plants. Timing wasn't right. We had actually gotten another grant from the US EPA. It was five hundred forty five thousand dollars. We end up receiving that just at the end of the project. The project was done already. we're very fortunate i was able to work with the usa apa i did what's called a technical change and i re was able to retitle that to water improvements just generally just water improvements and we're going to be able to marry that up with the hoffman hill corrosion protection uh project so we can save like 545 000 on that job so that's a 545 000 savings the other thing i was going to talk to you about is The granulated activated carbon filters are doing a very good job. It's been over a year. So we can say the month of 2025, it has been essentially a full year in production. We have sampling ports at the 25% mark of the vessel. And these vessels are almost 30 feet tall, right? So we have sampling points at the 25% mark, the 50% mark, the 75% mark, and the discharge mark. after a year of running this at both locations we still received no detection at the 25 or the 25 percent mark um which is to me just astonishing uh because we're preparing for essentially every three years to swap this out because i put 750 000 to swap out swap out the granulated activated carbon at both sites uh essentially every three years So if, and right now, I don't know when we're gonna achieve the 25% mark, but let's say I'm just being conservative. Let's say we're at a year and a half of sampling, which is we're doing sampling now. So if we're at a year and a half of sampling at the 25 year mark, And I'm just being conservative saying a year and a half at 25 year mark. And then it's going to be three years at the 50% mark. And then it's going to be essentially four and a half at the 75% mark and essentially six years at the discharge end of one. that theoretically just tells me we can skip one three-year cycle of GAC replacement. So that's about 750,000 right there. So what I'm telling you is if we're successful in getting a 50% match on a $3 million project for an iron manganese, I think we have the savings already embedded in where we can accept this potential grant and accelerate this project into close to the first five years. I wanted to advise you this of what I'm looking to do and also secure the other portion of the 50% match. But however, just like anything else, it's competitive process. I got to submit a good application. I got to compete against all the other water purveyors. And if we're lucky, then we'll probably get this grant. If we're not lucky, then I got another year. I'll resubmit that grant application again and compete again from that perspective then. So I wanted to share. As a recap, I want to share the water quality report. Bottom line, it is all good and clear. I want to do it in a public format in case anyone was looking into this because everyone in our community who receives a bill is getting notified the water quality report is available and ready to read from that perspective. And then the other thing I wanted to walk you through and also anyone who's listening in the public to say, okay, how do you read this water quality report? And then Why do we have a page and a half of just language and it's mandatory? I have to put that in. I got to put in the 1-800 hotlines and things like that. So that's what it looks like from that perspective. And then the last thing I also want to bring up, and this is not to scare you. Obviously, what you've seen from the sampling results, we are well beyond its capability or what we have for ironed manganese. And we actually put... bell hill well number two off to the side on our bench so to speak and minimize its use so we're actually using predominantly the four wells for production uh for the most part and also only bring up uh bell hill well number two when needed and if needed then we we significantly dilute it with the other well water uh but really what comes down to it is there's a pragmatic reason on essentially having this opportunity to accelerate a grant opportunity based on twofold. One is it's a actual grant vice alone. And then also technology that I have to say, I just was not aware of. I was looking left when I should have been looking right. And it was right there. And it actually could be a system that would be right for us because it is It is something that's done automatically from there. So a lot of a lot of information. I'm not looking for anyone to be an expert, but I wanted to walk people through the water quality report and tell you about this future grant opportunity I'm looking to pursue from there. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Mayor. That's all I have. I'm subject to your questions.

I have a couple comments and we have some other council members who have questions. First, you know, I'd like to start out by thanking everyone involved. And this includes not only people here in this room, but our federal and state representatives who helped a lot with funding for the PFAS. We couldn't have done it without them. The mayor's been very active involved, the council, and of course the full-time team. Just a phenomenal job. especially your team that's running the water systems. Thank you to you and to them for all that they do. DuPont, a lot of people don't realize, took a very proactive approach to PFAS. And it's paid off. It's paid off great. And this is a very, very good report. And I am personally excited about this additional research for grant that you're looking at right now that you just talked about. I think that's something that we need to explore. With that shared, Council Member Barrow. Try again. Push your button one more time.

Oh, hi. Will it go this route?

Sure, go ahead.

OK. I wanted to ask a question about the, is it on? It was on. Hello? Can you hear me now? Do I have to get closer? Okay. So I know we're going to do the retrofit of the the Hoffman Hill this fall. Am I correct? So that means we're going to be using the Belle Hill wells. Are we going to be using it all the number two? Well, or are we just going to rely on the others?

Thank you for your question, Council Member Barrow. So this fall and winter, that was a timeframe we perfectly timed it because we get away from our winter production or correction, we get away from our summer winter production demand of water to our winter production demand. With our winter demand, essentially our two Belle Hill wells, wells one and three are more than satisfactory to satisfy. As a matter of fact, the 1 million gallon reservoir that we have at Belle Hill is enough to satisfy all our requirements from there. So we did that purposefully so that we don't have to meet the summer demand.

Great, thanks.

Let's see if it's working for you. I don't think it is. Push the button one more time if you would. Now one more time. We'll see if we can get this system working correctly. One of those days. Hey, great water report, though. We can work around this other stuff.

Push the button.

Okay, so can you hear me now? Yeah, okay, all right. Oh, God, I might be eating this. Thanks for your report. They're always really well thought out and very detailed, so I appreciate that. But I have a question about what percentage of water? Is it 2% of the entire system that we get from the lakes well? Is it 1%? I mean, you said it was minimal, but what is minimal?

Uh, uh, council member Elliot, are you referring to water? We pull out of the, uh, uh, the deeper, the lakes, the deeper well, right now it's 0% because we're not, we're not using any of that water. We're essentially using the two wells at Hoffman hill and we're using the two other wells at bell hill.

So would you say this would be like an emergency?

Well, uh, it, the, the ideal situation is, is just like anything else. We have four or five wells. We have five wells and we need to operate them. The realities of it, there's another component to this that I did not get into, which is water rights and our ability to pull both instantaneous volume and quantity requires us to be able to do something with it. Right now, we're limping along, but if we want to continue to defend our water rights, we will eventually need to continue to pull from Belle Hill well number two. But right now, we're purposely putting Belle Hill well number two in standby mode while the other ones are working. Now, in an extreme emergency, and what I define by an extreme emergency is we have a fire event someplace, all the wells are gonna be pumping and and it's basically it's gonna be we're probably gonna be dumping water uh out of our reservoirs by the time we're done with it uh besides wherever the fire location is

okay and my final question is so if we build out more if state farm adds more homes or if old fort lake adds more homes will we will we be using that well more is that well going to be tapped yes we'll actually be using all five wells more uh as a matter of fact the as if we built if we right now we always talk about if one or two more homes

gets brought into our portfolio, so to speak, it's not a big deal. But if we build out Old Fort Lake, or if we build out another neighborhood location that doesn't exist, we're going to increase production at all of our wells. And then we'll also have, basically, almost have to have the potential to need to drill another well. But that would mean all five wells working in full operation in a full demand summer session where Do I dare say it? Everyone is irrigating their lawns and washing their cars and that type of thing. Different from a summer or winter demand.

Okay. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate your answers.

Jugo, I'm going to try this to see. Oh, his light came on.

Yeah. Mine works.

Yes.

There you go. Today, I'm the favorite person.

There you go.

so i have a two question and uh one request and uh correct me if i'm wrong but uh i thought the iron and manganese you wanna it it helps to improve the health and uh so my question was why it's removed because the one picture you showed it it shows that it gets removed but i also got a little confused that I thought you want to add back in, correct? No, okay. Okay, go ahead.

Okay, you want me to wait?

No, no, go ahead.

Okay, yeah, no, it's quite the opposite. Right now is when we pull from Bell Hill well number two, we are receiving water with iron and manganese. the ideal situation is actually remove that. And if we run to a situation where that well gets contaminated with PFAS, I'd have to run it through the PFAS plants. I prefer not to do that because I'll foul up the PFAS plants within three to six months because the PFAS plants are intended for removing things at parts per trillion. And this thing, we can physically see the sediments when it comes down to it. So the idea for the iron manganese plant is actually to remove it before we put it out in distribution. Okay.

So my second question is a non-technical, but sometimes we smell the water, drinking water when we drink. And I don't know, it doesn't happen very often in DuPont, but many cities it happens often. But I did had experience that. What is the reason for it?

I'm sorry, Councilmember Thackeray, can you repeat your question? There's something with the water?

Sometimes we smell, we get the weird smell in the water, sometimes. Not all the times, but that happens sometimes.

Can you define weird?

Yeah, and that's hard to define. That's why I have to say weird. Sorry.

Okay. All right. So one aspect could be if it has been the first thing in the morning, right, and basically the distribution system hasn't moved, it could be an accumulation of chlorine through that process. What I do and what we tell people is, hey, I know you might be thirsty, but that first tap in the sink, let it run for 30 seconds, 20 seconds, let that thing flush through for anything that's standing there, specifically the chlorine buildup, and then that will essentially flush it out. Another alternative is if you can wait, put it in a pitcher or a glass, sit it on the table, and just let it dissipate. That's the only thing I can think of as far as smells. I can't think of any other smells that would that would come from the water.

Yeah, I think we don't get any smells. And so if we get any smell, it just makes you think about it. That's why I ask question.

I see.

But thank you for that clarification. I think that that really is a good suggestion. OK, the last request is I'm a visual person and I was looking at, I read the entire report and now you show us the visual also. Is there a way being new council member, you can take us around on right and show us what it is, where it is and explain a little bit more?

Absolutely. When the time's right, when we can schedule it, that works for everyone's schedule is I can give everyone a tour so you can actually show where are our water facilities. You'll be surprised how it's hidden in plain sight. And once I show people, you'll never be able not to see it once in that location. I will have staff on board because as part of the process, these are locked facilities. There's also alarm systems and then control systems that are in there. that we access remotely so an opportunity to tour uh can work i'll just have to figure out with you all when's the right time uh that matches everyone's schedule to do it uh from there that's it thank you and your light is working

Oh, it is. See, now I'm on. I have one more question, Gus. The area that's over by Barksdale, where the new roundabout is, is that our water that's being used over there as well, right? That's coming from our wells?

Yes, we're the only water provider in this area. I know during construction, they brought a water tank and done some immediate irrigation. But yes, that would be our water that's being irrigated.

okay because i noticed that they're they're trying to grow some vegetation over there where the new roundabout is and i noticed the sprinkler systems going off so i didn't know if that was part the state or us so i that was my question yes the um the for lack of a better term the maintenance the operations and maintenance of the roundabout will be a city responsibility so a class example is

a box of litter lands at the roundabout. The city will be responsible for picking up that box of litter to go throw away from there. Once we get higher up on the bridge, that change over to Washington DOT happens. So if a box of litter happens on the bridge as you're going up, then I would notify Washington DOT of that box of litter. But for all intents and purposes, we're here i mean if it's causing a problem we'll probably pick it up especially if it's going to cause a problem uh so this is no different than when the staff actually does the snow plowing uh around here as well okay it's good to know that that's city responsibility around the roundabout thanks all right is there anyone else

If not, again, thanks to you and your entire team for that great work, all your work that you do in so many areas. We appreciate it. Now we're up to the consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve? Tom?

I move to approve the consent agenda for 7 July 2026.

Robin?

I second that.

Is there any discussion? Hearing no discussion, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Hearing none, the motion passes. Right, now we're up to council reports and following that will be city administrator reports. I just have a couple of quick comments. You know, I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone, all the staff, the volunteers and sponsors who helped make our 4th of July celebration a great event. I'd like to also thank the residents of DuPont and guests who helped make this event very friendly. Everyone out there were great, and we don't have some of the problems that many other cities have. You know, from the parade, the clock tower events, to the fireworks, it all went wonderful. So thank you to everyone, and we live in a wonderful city, and we have a lot to be thankful for.

I just want to announce the bark sale station party on this Thursday, the ninth from five to 7pm. It looks like there's going to be some great food, some fun activities. Looks like Dan Sable gets dunked in the dunk tank. So if anybody and everyone can get out there, I think that'll be a great opportunity to really show that section of our city our support. Thank you.

Beth, your light is on. They're all working now.

I know. So just quick things. I want to give a shout out to Chief Gilley. He helped with our wildfire presentation in an urban setting earlier this month, and he just did a fabulous job of helping our other presenters. So kudos to Chief Gilley. And I will be representing DuPont and the Alliance for Sustainable Climate Action at a meeting at a round table actually July 16th that's going to be sponsored by the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency. And this morning I met with Lisa Parks and Sarah Buchanan and had a wonderful meeting with them. I thought that was very productive and they were very helpful. and lastly is um i know we've been receiving some comments about e-bikes and e-scooters in the city people flying down our sidewalks flying down our streets and usually these are kids and they don't have helmets and it's it's pretty dangerous so i think we'll be looking at at our code on that and seeing what uh what we can do to help make it safer for for kids and all citizens walking on our sidewalks so that's all i have

all right is there any other council members hearing none keith it's yours thank you deputy mayor i want to echo your comments on the 4th of july i think that was well said so i'll just say ditto to your comments um I talked to Sergeant Sabo earlier, but I just wanted to publicly say, I think public service is a higher calling. I think public service in the sense of public safety is even a higher calling. So thank him for his 30 years in total and 22 years and wish him nothing but the very best. And speaking of kudos, this Thursday will be Larry Clark's 25th anniversary with the city of DuPont. Larry is not only an outstanding public servant, a great leader, a wonderful coworker, but an amazing human being. So I hope you all take some time to recognize Larry in his 25th anniversary. Anniversary, I was talking to him today about it. He says, boy, Keith, time seems to fly. So hopefully, Larry, another 25 years here in the city of DuPont. And with that, Deputy Mayor, I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Are there any questions for the city administrator? Hearing no questions, it's 7.20 and...