City Council - workshop

Tuesday August 11th it is 6 o'clock and I will call this Lacey City Council work session to order for the record we have I believe council member Greenstein is online or is he not yet the mayor is absent he is excused we may see council Greenstein in a moment and and I'll read our land acknowledgement. We, the city of Lacey, are on the ancestral land of the tribal people of the Treaty of Medicine Creek, including the Nisqually Indian Tribe and the Squaxin Island Tribe. We acknowledge and remember those tribal people not recognized today who were absorbed or relocated into other tribes for survival. And with that, can I get a motion for tonight's agenda?

I move approval of tonight's agenda.

Second. It's been moved and seconded to approve tonight's agenda. Is there any questions or comments? Seeing none, all in favor of said motion, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye. Are there any opposed? Seeing none, that motion passes. We have an agenda. And the first item on tonight's agenda is public comment. It looks like we have one person who signed up for public comment tonight, Michael Howard. Mr. Howard, if you'd like to go to the podium, please state your name, the city that you live in, and you'll have three minutes for comment.

Thank you. Michael Howard. I'm an attorney with the law firm of Williams Castner in Seattle. I'm here as one of the representatives for Waste Connections, and I'd be happy to reserve my remarks for that agenda item if you prefer, but otherwise I'll just continue within my three minutes here. I'm privileged as someone who grew up in Lacey, went through K through 12 in the city to speak before my hometown city council and to be representing Waste Connections, including its subsidiary, LeMay. And LeMay, as I learned today, has been serving the city of Lacey since 1942, actually. And I think the important thing from the company's perspective is is that the decision before the city council of whether to continue under UTC jurisdiction or to select a franchise or execute a contract with the company, this is the city's decision to make. The company's here to be the city's partner and to provide information and support in that decision. I found the company reviewed staff's materials for today's agenda and found them well researched and I would only have a few minor clarifying points I might raise here. The first major point I might raise here is that the rates for solid waste collection services are likely to increase for Washington residents over the near future for a number of reasons. And the staff materials noted the Recycling Reform Act, which is a very significant new law, where the costs of recycling recycling products and Landfilling products is going to be baked into the cost of that product and that's going to increase solid waste rates throughout the state Some other factors that are going to be increasing rates across the board would be the organics management laws that are going to be requiring mandatory organic collection for first for businesses and then for residential customers tip fees the Thurston County tip fees for disposing of waste. There's going to be a 13.5% increase this year and another 13.5% increase next year. And then there's always the rising cost of fuel, which is a major cost item. The next main point I'd like to point, just address briefly here, is that these rates are all based on cost of service based accounting. And the company's books are transparent to the UTC. They can be inspected by the state agency and they would be transparent to the city as well if the city chose a franchise or contract. And finally, I'd like to just very briefly touch on what regulation under the UTC right now, the Utilities and Transportation Commission for a solid waste company looks like. The UTC very closely scrutinizes any requests for rate increases. And in recent years, a company such as Waste Connections would actually face scrutiny not only from UTC staff the enforcement staff, but also public counsel, which is a separate office of the Attorney General's So they're facing scrutiny from two different offices in the Attorney General's and they can investigate the company's books So there's there's a quite thorough process, but we welcome any questions during the after on that agenda item Thank you.

Thank you for your comments Next on our agenda, we have a briefing for the Lacey Veterans Services Hub strategic plan.

Brian.

Go on then.

Good evening. I'm waiting for the slides to come up here. Deputy Mayor, Council Members, thank you for the opportunity to present the Lacey Veterans Service Hub operations update as well as the strategic plan. Here's our agenda for the operations update. So for service overviews, the only two updates from the last time I briefed you is under legal assistance. We now work with the VA Veterans Justice Outreach Program, which is a program that the VA has to help veterans that are dealing with criminal legal issues. And then under employment, we recently worked with St. Martin's University and brought on their Washington Vets to Tech program, which is a program they have that helps transitioning service members, their family members, and then veterans get into the IT profession. Depending on any questions or feedback, there's no other updates for that slide. So for the client summary, for calendar year 25, we had 3,317 clients that came into the Lacey Veterans Service Hub for services. So far in calendar year 26, we've had 1,573 clients come to use our program. For calendar year 25, we had 975 clients that were new clients. That's 29%. So far this year, we've had 667 of our clients are brand new. That's a significant increase to 43%. Moving down to transportation, in calendar year 25, we transported 269 clients just over 9,700 miles, which averages to just above 37 miles per trip. So far this year, we've taken 165 clients to over 7,700 miles. averaging about 46 miles per trip, moving down to the VSO appointments for, we started our online scheduling in October 13th of 2025. And since then we've helped 1,337 veterans file their VA claim. Uh, that's an average of almost seven clients per day, moving down to housing support. We conduct that weekly veteran housing options group every Thursday, Calendar year 25, we helped 198 clients receive housing support, and so far this year we've helped 90. Under financial assistance, this is a Thurston County Veterans Assistance Fund stat. They helped 93 clients last year, totaling over $244,000 of financial assistance to veterans in Thurston County. And then calendar year 26, they've helped 71 clients with over $164,000 of financial support. And then lastly, with our partnership with Thurston County Food Bank, we've helped 118 community members receive assistance through our program as a satellite location for the food bank.

Has American Lake been taking less appointments? Is that why there's an increase in miles per trip headed up to Seattle?

You're talking VA?

The miles per trip on the client transports.

It's attributed to the fact that we have clients at further locations. We're picking up people out in Rainier now. We're picking up a lot of people out in Yelm and they're they're routinely using the service over and over again. So the same clients are using the service quite a bit for a lot further distance. Depending on any other questions or feedback, we'll move on to the next slide. So this is our client locator data. For this slide, we combined calendar years 25 and 26. The total number of clients when you combine both those years that we've seen is 4,890. Of that, we're able to accurately locate 4,839. which is almost 99%. And if you look to the far right there, that's almost a 34% increase from the last time I briefed you in February when you were down at the Vet Hub. Washington State has 4,821 of those clients, which is just over 99%. And then Thurston County makes up 96.1% of them. For the local area, the city of Lacey has 1,286 clients that have come through our door when you combine those two years, and that's just over 26%. and the city of Olympia has just under 18% of our clients come from the city of Olympia, with the rest of the region kind of filling in the rest of those gaps. Depending on any questions, we'll move on to the next slide. So for operational updates, we have 17 policies, 7 SOPs established, and we have a Lacey Veteran Service Hub handbook that we put into place that helps onboarding of our volunteers and our providers. We've developed nine step-by-step guides that help veterans and families navigate VA. Those guides are anything from what to do following the loss of a veteran, what our VHAWG actually is and what providers are there, home modification that's available through VA and the process to request it, along with education assistance. What we saw is we saw The same questions coming up again and again from clients. And instead of just having to research it every time, we develop guides that we can hand out to them. We can email them. They can go to our website and pull it down. And they're useful tools that we created to help the veterans navigate VA. It's not anything VA has in place. So under media and advertisement, we established our Facebook page. We've updated our website. I highly recommend you take a look at it. It's much more modern and cleaned up. The brochure and volunteer flyers have been updated and modernized. We had a magazine article that we published in the JBLM Ranger and Air Lifter magazine for calendar year 26, and we're finalizing an advertisement with that same magazine for calendar year 27. So the Lacey Veterans Service Hub will have an actual advertisement in that, so we'll reach out to the JBLM community. And then lastly, we put together a volunteer driver recruitment campaign video that we shared via social media and on the city website to increase the number of transportation specialists we have. We currently have 14 transportation specialists that are volunteers that conduct all of our drives for clients. Under data accuracy, we developed a unique ID for each client. We cleaned up the location data. As you saw on the previous slide, we can now accurately locate 99% of our clients. and then we streamlined our intake and daily sign-in process, which was cumbersome and created a lot of concerns for the clients that were coming in. We continually work with the JBLM Sergeant's Major Association to make sure that the Lacey Gold Star Memorial stays cleaned. Under shared space agreements, all providers now have signed shared space agreements or MOUs signed for use of our facility. Moving over to outreach program, We currently have four volunteers that are trained as outreach specialists, and them as well as myself have participated in 17 outreach events across the region since I came on board last July. Moving down to projects, we're finalizing the ADA van wrap. You'll see that in a couple slides from now what the concept is. The elevator lift, the construction started last Friday with the exterior construction project beginning in there. It was actually concrete being laid today when I left. the facility to come here. You'll get an update on the strategic plan here on the second half of this brief. We're working with an SPSCC student on a veteran-focused art project for inside the Lacey Veteran Service Hub. We're going to use a space in there where the student's going to put the art project up. And then we'll have a CCTV installation down at the Lacey Veteran Service Hub. Pending any questions on operational updates, we'll move on to the next slide.

Real quick. Um, so for, I'm grateful and happy about the elevator coming and being put in like what, what, what right now, like people who can't, you know, walk in there. What, what, what is our procedure for that?

We have two, we have the ramp to downstairs and we have the ramp to, uh, upstairs. So right now, if some, yeah, we've got to take them all the way around. That's right, sir. Yeah. So right now I normally escort them. Like good example is for the V hog. We'll they'll come downstairs. They'll do an intake. And then we,

Is there a demographic that we're just not reaching?

So we have 19.4% of our population is 65 and older. So the word is getting out for a veteran to the community that the services are available. I couldn't pinpoint one specific demographic that is not using our services. As you can see, based on our new client intake from this year, we're up 43%. So we have a significant, the word's getting out about our program. and what the city of Lacey has for veterans across the South Sound region.

Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions? So for volunteer updates, for calendar year 25, we had 22 volunteers that provided just over 3,200 hours of service to the program. And this year we have 31. That number as of today is 34 volunteers that have provided over 2,300, almost 2,400 hours of service to the community. The roles our volunteers support are outreach specialists, transportation specialists, and front desk specialists. They're the face and the foundation of our program. Without them, we can't do what we do. So a couple events that the Lacey Veterans Service Hub has hosted over the last couple months. In June, we conducted annual first aid training with our volunteers in the community room. In May, we worked with the Sergeant's Major Association to conduct Gold Star Memorial cleanup just before the Memorial Day weekend. And then in February, Hire Heroes USA conducted a career workshop where a lot of active duty, most of those are active duty, transitioned into the civilian world, came to the program. Hire Heroes USA does an event there every 90 days. Penny, any questions?

Is that like an agreement that you worked out with them? Correct.

It's a recurring event that we worked out with that organization. They're a nonprofit, and they... Every 90 days they come in, and they've done them specific for spouses. They've done employment for veteran spouses or active duty spouses that are looking for employment. They've done for transitioning service members. They've done it on veterans. They help with resume building, job searching. It's a pretty good program. It lasts about three hours per event. Awesome. So here's the Lacey Veteran Service Hub van wrap, current design as it's still being finalized. But the concept's being developed by Design Automotive Concepts. It's a veteran-owned business out of Olympia. The important thing to note here is this design closely matches our brochure. So that way, when somebody sees it on the streets, they can align it directly to our program through our brochure.

I really like the Let's Connect brand there.

Any questions? That completes the first half of just the operations update. With your permission, we can move on to the strategic landscape, whatever my boss has.

Ms. Brian, if I could just jump in for a second. I just want to highlight, I know Brian, last time he came here, was starting, he was at the Hub maybe for a handful of weeks, maybe a month plus.

Mr. Yeah, put me on the spot.

Ms. Brian's now been there. And as you can see, Brian has done just a phenomenal job of putting in new practices, new policies, doing additional outreach, getting more volunteers, getting new folks to the Hub, getting new folks connected to services. And I think, you know, we look at the long list of operational updates that Brian's been working on, and that has taken a lot of hard work and dedication to supporting our veterans and our active duty service members and their family. So I just want to highlight the phenomenal work that Brian's been doing at the Lacey Veterans Services Hub.

Thank you, Shannon. I appreciate that. So here's our agenda for the strategic plan. We're going to discuss the strategic context We're going to look at the planning process. We're going to discuss our vision. We're going to look at the strategic plan at a glance, how we intend to measure success, what our implementation roadmap is going to be. We'll look at the proposed city council message, at least a snapshot of it, and then we'll go through council consideration, next steps, and then discussion, feedback, and questions at the end. So for strategic context, we needed to understand the environment that would shape the future of the Lacey Veterans Service Hubs. So we did this in four areas. First was we looked at growing regional demand. We knew that demand for our services would continue to grow as the military-connected community evolves and services become more complex. Next, we knew that our role has been expanding in the region. So the Lazy Veterans Service Hub has grown from a local resource into a regional center that serves veterans, active duty service members, and their families throughout Thurston County and the South Puget Sound region. It gave us an opportunity to look at organizational growth, which we knew would require sustainable funding, expanding our partnerships, developing our volunteer program, and modernizing our system to continue to support the services that we want to provide. And lastly, we saw this as a strategic opportunity to develop a plan that provides a roadmap to strengthen organizational capacity, enhance regional collaboration, and position the Lacey Veteran Service Hub for the future of our program. Pending any questions, we'll go on to the next portion. So during the planning process, we wanted to make sure that this was a data-informed roadmap for the future of the Lacey Veterans Service Hub. We did this through four areas. First, we conducted an environmental scan where we assessed the regional demographics and our service trends. Then we evaluated our current operations, our demand, and our future needs. Once that was complete, We conducted a SWOT analysis where we identified strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. And then we also evaluated our organizational readiness and the future priorities that we wanted. Once that was complete, we moved on to stakeholder engagement where we gathered feedback from veterans, military families, volunteers, service providers, and community partners. We also reviewed community input received through the city's commission on equity. And then lastly, we created our strategic direction, We developed strategic goals, objectives, implementation strategies, and performance measures that helped us align our priorities. The bottom line is the proposed strategic plan reflects data analysis, organizational assessment, and stakeholder input to guide the future of the Lacey Veterans Service Hub. Penny, any questions or feedback? So moving on to our vision, we knew that we needed to develop the foundation of our program, which meant we needed to define the organizational's long-term direction. Our vision describes what the future of the program needs to be. And in our eyes, that's a centralized, comprehensive support location for veterans, active duty service members, and their families. Our mission reminds us of why we exist, honoring service and supporting veterans. Our core values are guide how we carry out that mission. And our end state defines what success looks like. We see success as the Lacey Veterans Service Hub becoming a fully sustainable, regionally supported, digitally innovative, and recognized center of excellence for veterans, active duty service members, and their families. The hub will be viewed as a model for regional collaboration, military-civilian partnerships, community volunteerism, and efficient access to support services. Penny, any feedback or questions? So the strategic plan at a glance brings together everything we've discussed and translates it into five strategic priorities. The priorities work together to strengthen every part of the organization. We begin with sustainability, then we move on to our people, then we expand our partnerships, improve our operations, and lastly, we strengthen our military collaboration. Together, they support day-to-day operations and ensure long-term growth. Progress in one area helps strengthen the other. Pending any questions or feedback, we'll move on to how we intend to measure success. So how do we measure success? We look at strategic objectives. Each goal needs to include specific objectives that define what the Lacey Veterans Service Hub intends to accomplish. This helps provide clear goals and allows us to focus our work and attention. Under performance indicators, We developed KPIs that allow us to measure outcomes and track progress over time. Some things that we would measure are volunteer growth, outreach events, client services, transportation utilization, and grant funding. Under annual performance review, we intend to make this progress will be evaluated annually to assess results, celebrate our successes, and adjust strategies as needed. Our intent is that the plan adapts to our community. Pending any questions, we'll move on to the implementation roadmap.

I have a real quick comment. So in reading your SWAT, I saw that you were going to be, you know, aggressively going after more volunteer and greater volunteer base, which I thought was great. And also you said in there strengthening the relationship with the base. In some cases, soldiers, active duty soldiers are coming, you know, have come and helped do things like even picking up trash. And I don't know exactly what the program is or how it works. Are you familiar with the program where they send active duty, young active duty soldiers to do city work or community work?

There's a couple different programs that they have on Joint Base Lewis-McChord. There's Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers, which is a community volunteer program of soldiers that live in the barracks and airmen that they try to get out in the community to do community events. That could be one of the programs. Joint Base Lewis-McChord also has the volunteer, it's called the Installation Volunteer Corps. That could be another one of the programs that are helping support those community events. The Sergeant's Major Association is a volunteer organization on the base. That's another one that does community events. They're a nonprofit, but that's another organization. They have the Warrant Officers Association. There's quite a bit on the installation that helps support community events.

Okay.

So for our implementation roadmap, the next five slides will break each strategic goal down into objectives, actions, timelines, and how we measure successes. The roadmap turns the strategic plan from vision into an implementation plan, and it's phased over five years in order to remain flexible and realistic. For goal one, sustainability, we identified three objectives that we thought would support that goal. Explore and establish shared funding agreements, submit at least two grants annually, and establish a donor engagement strategy. With each one of these goals, there are strategies, a realistic timeline, and KPIs that are gonna help us maintain our glide path. Penny, any questions or feedback? We'll move on to goal number two.

Do you have a target for the amount of grants that you want to receive?

So no set limit, like high limit, but the program, I think two would be reasonable. for us to be able to manage. We have one currently, which is through Thurston County for the van grant, but are you talking financial number? I'm talking about dollar amounts, are you looking to? No, we would owe you that number, but I think it's just based on what service at the time we need.

I think, Councilmember Turner, just to follow up on what Brian was saying, I think one of the things we want to do with the first step is to really understand what kind of grant opportunities are out there that match where we are as an organization. And so that could change, you know, on a year-to-year basis depending on what our needs are, whether, you know, it's adding additional folks to be there, adding additional vans as we phase out vans. So part of that question is it really is dependent on the needs every year and what could be a possibility.

Now that helps. I didn't know if you were looking for a total of $100,000, $10,000, what? So that helps. Thank you.

And are these grant sources, are the grant sources federal at all or federal, state, and local?

There's a bunch of different grants available. Thurston County's got their Veteran Assistance RFP one that recently came out. Washington State Department of Veteran Affairs, so state level, has what's called the VA Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Program, so that may be something we want to look at in the future as a need that we need to bring into the Lacey Veteran Service Hub. I have a list here of other grants that are available, and that's just a quick snapshot. There are federal grants that are also available for veteran programs as well. So under goal number two, which is our volunteer corps, some of this we've already actively been doing, but One of the main things we want to do is develop and launch the Lacey Veterans Service Hub Academy to professionalize the training of our volunteers as they come in. We also want to continually increase our volunteer pool and implement a volunteer recognition retention framework. Just like all the previous goals, there's strategies, a realistic timeline, and KPIs associated with it to make sure we stay on target. Penny, any questions?

Is there an ideal volunteer? I'm sorry? Is there an ideal volunteer?

Like a number?

No, like a person.

No, I mean... You know what I mean?

Like ex-military?

We have military. We have veterans. We have an active duty spouse down there right now. We have people who have no military connection whatsoever. No, I don't. It's just somebody who's willing to support the program.

Okay, and I only ask this for the benefit of the public who might be watching.

Yeah, thank you. I appreciate that clarification. Yeah, just anybody who's willing to support the program and live up to our core values will 100% be appreciated down at the vet center.

Brian, if I could too, do you mind just going into a little bit more detail of the three positions you have for volunteers and what their jobs would do? Sure.

Yeah, so we have the front desk specialists, which is the heart and beat of our day-to-day operations. They are the first person that veterans and their families see when they come through the door. They have to triage every single client that comes in and figure out what resources best suits their situation. Then we have the transportation specialists who, you know, have put in already 7,700 miles this year who will go out to a veteran active duty service member or family member's location, pick them up anywhere in Thurston County, take them to any medical appointment in Thurston County and up to American Lake VA. And then lastly, we have the outreach specialists who are external face outside the actual physical facility of the hub at community events that help sell our program to a broader range of the community.

Okay.

So for goal number three, which is community awareness, we want to continually increase our outreach events. We want to increase our higher education partnerships. Currently we have four. We want to also develop a marketing campaign. Just like the previous goals, we have strategies, a timeline, and KPIs associated with this. And a lot of this will be accomplished through outreach events, direct contact with some of the local universities. Any questions or feedback? So for goal number three, which is our modernization of our systems, we want to implement an enhanced client appointment system, which was important. If you remember during the update brief I talked about, every client now has a unique ID. That was step one in getting to this eventually, this objective. We need to enhance our intake process. Right now it's all done through Smartsheet. and then expand our ADA transportation scheduling capacity. We now have that ADA van. The drivers are all going through training currently, myself included. So we'll have five total drivers able to go pick up clients and take them for ADA appointments. So just continually selling that program and expanding on it. Just like the previous goals, we have strategies, a timeline, and realistic KPIs associated with it. And then for our final goal, which is enduring partnerships, we would like to establish quarterly meetings with Joint Base Lewis-McChord, develop transition pathways for service members that are coming off active duty and they need assistance. We're there for them. And then lastly, recruit active duty and military families to support our volunteer program. which some of that already happens currently anyways, but it's just another goal to continually strive towards getting better at. Penny, any feedback or questions? That is our plan on how we're going to get there. So the proposed city council message, this is just a snapshot of what's in the proposed message from you, but the theme of it is that no veteran active duty service member or family member should have to navigate the systems on their own. That's kind of the theme of what's in the message. So truly appreciate any feedback you can provide on that message so we can craft it appropriately. Penny, any questions or feedback currently? We'll move on to the, I believe it's the final actual slide. So our intent for tonight was to get council feedback so we can go and conduct staff refinement and take your suggestions and your feedback and come back at a future time for council adoption and bring you the final strategic plan. So pending any questions of me for that, that completes my portion of it. I'd like to thank you again for the opportunity to present both the operations update as well as the strategic plan. I stand by for feedback and questions.

Anything from the council?

Well, as I guess the most senior council member who's president unless Lenny's online, I just want to say that Change that you have brought is really impressive for the relatively short amount of time that you have been there. Before, I think we were more concerned about getting the building and getting agencies to work with us and creating relationships and that sort of thing. And you have brought things to a whole new level. So thank you so much. And I mean it from here. It's very impressive.

Thank you. I appreciate those comments.

We know where you started. We know what you inherited and what it looked like at the time that you transitioned into this role and you've really knocked it out of the park from what we can see and all your numbers are up, which is great. And I appreciate you expanding the programs and the facility as well. I like your approach to the expansion, which is a better communication and relationship with JBLM and increasing the volunteer pool so that we can help more people. And so I was thinking about it, because when I looked at your SWAT and I saw that, it reminded me, because last night I was in Joint Animal, and we were talking about more volunteers as well, and elevating the existing volunteers and giving them more specific training so that we could bring in more volunteers with a little more general knowledge. And it sounds like that's maybe the path that you're on as well. And I was thinking, where would we get these volunteers? And then I thought about all the people in the senior centers locally with a little more time on their hands than active duty people or full-time employees like ourselves and thought, you know, I think of places like Panorama, I think of places like the Reserve, right, where we have the senior community who is wanting and willing to help, but maybe we haven't reached out to them yet and they don't know that there's opportunities to help available. And so those are just a couple of thoughts that I had while I looked at your SWAT and looked at your presentation yesterday. So if that helps, right? But as a council, I think we'll probably be weighing in and reaching out to you a little bit more as ideas develop. and as we kind of come to a realization of, you know, things that might be helpful to you and your team and your staff and what you guys are doing over there. So, again, a very heartfelt thank you for all the work that you've done. You've taken on a lot of responsibility, and you've really transformed the way things are happening over there. And we know what you inherited and what you've built is really great. So thank you.

Thanks, John. Appreciate that.

Okay, all right, well, with that, thank you, Brian, and we will move on to our next agenda item. It looks like we are going to take a look at the solid waste franchise updates. Looks like we have assistant city manager, our special projects administrator, and been there consulting.

Hi. Good evening. Council members, deputy mayor, it's good to be back here again with you tonight. I'm Chanel Pierce, the city's special projects administrator. With me tonight is Shannon Kelly Fong and Jeanette Jergensen, a bin there consultant who specializes in solid waste contracting. Tonight's briefing will be an update on the solid waste franchise options and build out on our presentation from May 26th. We previously discussed the city's interest in implementing a franchise fee in addition to the existing utility tax. However, we've since learned that the city's current solid waste collection arrangement regulated by the Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission makes it ineligible for solid waste fees other than a utility tax, as is the city cannot have a franchise fee. We also learned that to establish a franchise fee, the city would need to first negotiate an interim UTC transition franchise agreement with the current hauler, LeMay. Under this franchise agreement, a city can take over the rights but must continue to use the local UTC services and rates. After seven to 10 years under a UTC transition franchise agreement, a city may enter into a contract with a private hauler. Based on this information, the council agreed at the May 26th work session that staff would contact LeMay to discuss options and then report their findings back to the city council, which is why we're here tonight. I'll guide you through this matrix we built to illustrate what we learned. Starting from the top row, which captures the benefits, those benefits include whether an option generates additional revenue for the city's general fund, whether the city would receive solid waste collection services at no cost to the city for city-owned facilities, whether UTC continues to manage the administrative duties and bear the administrative burden, whether Lacey ratepayers maintain their current rates, and whether the city's Positions itself to contract for services in the future and estimated seven to ten years One option as always is to keep things as is with no changes The advantage is that Lacey ratepayers maintain their current rates and by that I mean they're gonna go up to the things that were mentioned in the public comment earlier That's out of our control, but meaning we're not taking an action as a city. That's doing something ourselves to raise those rates also So one advantage is they maintain things as is there with the rates. The UTC would continue to bear the administrative burden. However, continuing as is also means no additional revenue for the city's general fund. There's no opportunity for solid waste collection services at no cost for city-owned facilities, and there's no option to negotiate a contract in the future. Another option is to enter into a UTC transition franchise agreement. If we pursue this route without a franchise fee, it wouldn't generate additional revenue for the general fund. However, it might be possible for city-owned facilities to receive solid waste collection services at no cost. We ran the initial calculations with finance and estimate the service costs about $100,000 a year. We mark the yes option with an asterisk in a lighter shade of green cell to indicate it's not guaranteed but a possibility. Similar UTC franchise agreements in Washington state do include this benefit. On the downside, the city would assume the administrative responsibilities for reporting and contract oversight. And we would hope that Lacey residence rates would stay the same. Those are a possibility they might go up. We'll revisit this in a few slides when we examine the UTC rate making process more closely. This option also does, though, set the stage for the city to negotiate its own contract in the future. A third option is entering into a UTC transition franchise agreement with the franchise fee. This would generate additional revenue. It might also mean that city-owned facilities receive solid waste collection services at no cost, and the city could negotiate its own contract in the future. On the downside, Lacey residents would end up paying more for services, and the city would take on the administrative work. And then lastly, the current solid waste utility tax can be adjusted at any time to generate more revenue. There are a couple ways to do this. You could raise the percentage rate and or you could change the city code so that the utility tax applies to more than just garbage. Right now it applies only to garbage. For example, it could also cover recycling and yard waste and construction or demolition waste. Some disadvantages are that Lacey rate payers will pay more for services. Also, this option has no effect on the city's ability to negotiate its own contract in the future unless you combine it with one of the other options above. It's the wrong way. As you can see from the matrix, there's many advantages and disadvantages to consider. During the May 26th work session, several council members expressed a desire to avoid increasing rates for residents. As shown in the matrix, the only guaranteed way to prevent any increase, meaning by an action taken here, is to keep everything unchanged and continue as is. However, switching to a UTC transition franchise agreement might also avoid rate hikes. We'll revisit this in a few slides when we examine the UTC rate making process more closely. For a moment, let's take a look at franchise fees and utility taxes. While they share many similarities, there are also differences. One thing to note is that a solid waste utility tax payments go straight through Lomé to the city, while franchise fee is built into the rates and taxed. Because of the taxes, customers end up paying more for the franchise fee than the city ultimately receives. Since the franchise fee is linked to the franchise agreement, it only affects LeMay. On the other hand, the utility tax will be applied to all haulers operating in the city, including LeMay, and most of those haulers are LeMay, but there are others, so it expands to all. The franchise fee typically covers all services listed in the franchise agreement, such as recycling and organics, but usually it doesn't include drop box disposal. Those are those big boxes, metal containers you can rent for home clean outs or doing extensive yard waste or renovations. Utility tax covers only the services listed in the code. And again, right now that means garbage collection only. You could change that code so it applies more than just garbage, like I mentioned a couple slides ago. A concern LeMay raised was the uncertainty surrounding the Washington Recycling Reform Act. As little is known about it at this time, and although little is known, here's what we do know. The Recycling Reform Act requires producers to manage the end of life of their products. It shifts the financial and management burden of recycling from taxpayers and local governments to the companies that produce and sell consumer packaging and paper. This includes items such as boxes, cartons, cans, bottles, and jars. These producers must join and fund not-for-profit organizations that run the recycling system. Beginning in 2030, these producer-owned organizations will reimburse local waste providers for most their costs related to residential recycling, collection, and processing. The Washington State Department of Ecology oversees the program. The key benefits include that by transferring recycling costs to manufacturers, households may see their recycling bills decreased by as much as 90% by 2032. Curbside recycling will be expanded to about 500,000 additional homes across the state, mainly in rural areas and multifamily complexes. The law creates a single standardized statewide list Specifying exactly what can and cannot go in to the recycling bin and the program has strict guidelines To ensure that materials are collected are in fact recycled into newer products rather than ending up in the landfill We're filling you in on this because lip may raise concerns about the uncertainty of the rates over the next several years There's no action the city needs to take regarding the act itself, but rather just to be aware of the unknown unknown impact of rates

I remember discussions on SWAC. So it does say lower the bills on the end, but that's still going to get tied into the cost of, so it's going to get passed along somehow. I've always tried to clarify that it's not a free pass for savings.

Good for you. Thanks for pointing that out. Under UTC's jurisdiction, as we talked about, LeMay currently provides solid waste services to Lacey residents at UTC rates. A UTC transition franchise agreement typically matches UTC service levels and rate structure. So when UTC rates go up, residents' rates will rise under this agreement. One thing to keep in mind is that removing Lacey's large customer base could spread overhead costs over fewer customers, possibly leading to higher rates. Without these customers, services would be provided to a smaller, more geographically dispersed customer base, making collection routes longer and less efficient. But to fully understand the impact, we need to wait until the UTC completes its rate making process, which would occur after the franchise process is complete. For the rate making process?

To be completed. Would you want to speak to that, Jeanette? Yeah, sorry.

Good evening, Council. Haulers may submit a rate package to the UTC at any time. Generally, it's every two to three years when they have significant rises in costs due to fuel, tipping fees, and other things. So we don't have a specific timeline for this, but the UTC says basically any time you have a major change you can submit. Thank you.

Thanks, I appreciate it. We'll pass on the mic back and forth over here. I do just want to highlight too that with this we could have applied an asterisk here as well that this is all just kind of broad strokes. We're just trying to provide some background information on possibilities in the future and that this is really just for background information and things that should the council want us to explore the topic more in detail, that there would be more conversation, especially with LeMay. I know we've met, like Chanel mentioned, with Tom and Austin before, and I know we've talked to Michael as well, and that those conversations would be continuing on in this process, provided what direction the council may be looking for some additional information. So we're really here tonight just to report back on our initial conversation and some of the broad information that we received based off of doing some more diligence and also just starting that conversation.

Can I ask one more question? Olympia has been doing its own recycling and trash collection and my understanding is they are moving away from that and will be obviously negotiating for private service for that. Is there any potential opportunity here for Lacey to join forces with Olympia that might help leverage for either one of us? I know it's pretty abstract at this point, and I don't expect a solid answer, but I just...

I'll start, and then maybe Jeanette or Chanel, if you want to just answer that. I think we absolutely want to just learn a little bit more information about that, and that would also just be kind of an additional diligence that would need to be had before we can provide any type of answer to the question. Jeanette, anything you want to add to that?

Thank you.

Sorry.

I'd just like to clarify that because Olympia is coming from a municipal collection rather than UTC regulations, they have a slightly different setup where they can go directly into a contract and they can negotiate different services and rates. So that's absolutely something that the city could talk with them about, but it is two quite different elements.

Okay.

Any other questions?

Yeah, I just had a quick question. As we were talking about rate payers maintaining current rates, I recall from our previous conversation about some of the franchise agreements being able to have exemptions or at least to offer lower rates to low income or seniors for those rates. And we're also seeing at SWAC some comments about how their rates and they're struggling to pay some of those bills. Are we still looking at trying to get some of those aspects built into a franchise agreement to make sure? Like, is that something common or is that kind of rare?

You want to speak on that, Jeanette?

Excellent question. Generally, the franchise transitions match the UTC. However, working with a hauler, you can negotiate specific things. Everything comes with a cost. So if you are lowering bills for low-income, whichever category you want, low-income, low-income senior, low-income disabled residents, low-income veterans, there has to be a cost to make the hauler whole so everybody else's rates would go up. We don't have the information on what that would look like. But as we move along the process if that is something that that council is interested in exploring That's absolutely something that staff can talk with the hauler about I Imagine it probably happens somewhere.

I mean the assessor's office does it for you know discounted property taxes And and what that means is you are automatically going to be reconsidered next year at the highly recommended level so Good to see that. Obviously would have preferred an award this year, but we'll take that as a consolation prize. And then policy priorities. I've said surface transportation reauthorization a lot tonight. That is gonna be a big topic for next year. And we have priorities we wanna talk about there. Preserving fair and predictable federal grants framework. Earlier this year, the administration proposed a new rule that would basically provide whatever the administration is, either this one or a future one, increased flexibility to cancel federal grants. Obviously, that's caused a lot of alarm bells, especially because we've seen this administration you know, cancel grants that have already been awarded. They would provide more say from political appointees on federal grants that are awarded. This is something that the National League of Cities has come out strongly against and, you know, we're certainly tracking it. The rule itself has caught the attention of Congress in a bipartisan way. So the Senate continuing resolution that was passed right before they went on recess, actually includes a moratorium that they cannot implement this new rule. I would expect something similar to, ideally, and this is what we're working on, we'd like to see it in a fiscal year 27 appropriations bill. Again, just preventing the administration from implementing this rule because there's a lot of, you could be under a grant agreement with them and they could just cancel it, and that would be hugely problematic. Build America, Buy America flexibility. I know there's been a lot of examples here about those requirements, increasing project cost and being completely inflexible. This is something, again, we've been talking about for several years. It's a bit of a tough one, frankly, just because on the surface, nobody wants to say don't buy America. But in practice, it just doesn't quite work out so well. Community development block grant funding, this has become increasingly important. The administration in their appropriations request this year proposed zeroing this out. Congress said something different to say about that, but it's one of those items that, you know, is pretty consistently under threat, at least over the last couple years. And then of course, I-5 Nisqually River Delta, that is the next, and I've said this before, that is the next mega project in Washington State after the interstate bridge replacement project is complete. So continuing to advocate for that. Today, and I mean really over the last several months, we've been talking about potential additions to these. We had a chance to go out and tour some of these. So College Street and Seventh Avenue, adding a roundabout there, potential city hall improvements, septic to sewer, and then potentially a lacy food court plaza work. And again, staff is continuing to vet these, I know, and we're continuing to throw ideas around on this and, you know, of course, welcome your feedback. Thank you.

I would just add on to that last section. We're continuing to take a look at what could be some additional possibilities moving forward. And one of the benefits of coming here in August is to kind of go over like, hey, what are some of the things that we know? And to also give us some time to look into some other potential projects. And so we just wanted to provide some of the things that we're going to continue to work with different departments on searching to see if there is an opportunity to pursue a funding source. So I just wanted to highlight that.

Council? Oh, I was just, I had a question about the surface transportation reauthorization as well as the I-5 Nisqually River Delta. How linked are those two? Like, do you need to have the surface transportation reauthorization done before we can start lobbying for the I-5 Nisqually River Delta projects?

Basically, yes, because that gives us the funding pots that we know we can potentially go after. Now, I think... There may be a little ways off from that, from being able to pursue federal funds, but regardless, the surface transportation bill, it's a five-year bill. So, you know, within the next five years, we want to know kind of what the playing field is in terms of the federal dollars that we could go out and ask for for that. Thank you.

Of the potential additions to federal funding priorities, I like the order that they're in. I see the septic to sewer kind of coming together with our annexation plan as kind of one thing. I mean, I guess our annexation plan is, is to take advantage of some state sewer dollars. But the sections that we are looking at will need septic to sewer conversion if we can afford it or if it's affordable. So I guess we can keep you posted on how our annexation plan is coming as to whether that needs to move up or down.

Yeah, we talked about that today. I know Shannon ran me around some neighborhoods today that are in need of that basically. Okay. Definitely.

You know, I was just going to highlight, you know, we stayed in the city, and I think that's just something to bring awareness to, that there are multiple locations within the city that are also in that, and that's something that we're going to be looking with our public works team to identify what are potential projects.

The other thing, too, you look at some of the previous sites that had all the successes, and a lot of those took multiple years. to do and sets the groundwork. And then as David mentioned on the RAISE grant for College Street, we've made several applications over six years, refined that, got feedback, refined that. Just last year, or last spring, we were back there and getting some feedback from them. So this is the first year we got merit set. So there's a lot of legwork that goes in. And so on that future potential list, Those are projects we see coming out that we need to start laying that groundwork so when we do get to that point, we may be in better position to use those funds when it gets closer to be that shovel-ready project. And it just kind of works with the efforts that we've been working on that federal presence and working with CFM and David and Joel and Nassim to be able to lay that groundwork year after year and that familiarity with our delegation.

Yeah, and just very happy with the Project of Merit category for the College Street because just a lot of work goes into those grant applications. They're 30-page applications.

So it's nice not to have to reapply During that time we also you know, you can have administration changes and all those things have done something The focus is different and then you gotta adjust to that too.

So this is a pretty yeah, and that's exactly right Especially with that program, you know with each administration they have kind of different focuses So it's a lot of you know, you got to fine-tune it and tailor it to whatever administration it is Well, thank you so much for the update

Thank you for driving up from Vancouver. Absolutely.

I didn't fly from D.C., so that's not too bad. We didn't have to fly to D.C. Thank you.

Same time zone, right?

Same time zone.

All right. Next on our agenda is going to be our council reports. I am up first. And I do have one quick report. JASCOM met yesterday at 530 here in these chambers. Field calls are slightly up. counties at 42%, Olympia at 25%, Lacey at 23%, Tumwater at 10%. We did get a presentation about a new low-cost clinic that is headed our way in the Tumwater area. It's good for all the county. Most of the cost of surgeries and spay-neuter products are usually around the $400 to $1,200 range. These will be in around the $100 to $200 to $400 range, so We'll be fortunate to have one. It'll keep our population control down. So we don't have exactly a timeline yet. It's still in permit process with the city of Tumwater, but there was a Tumwater representative there last night. So who knows? We might get something sooner or later, but the timeline is the end of the year for that to open. So hopefully in January we'll have a new clinic here that we've never had before with low cost in Tumwater. Let's see. Best Friends. I told you guys about the Best Friends program, which is an embed program where Best Friends gives us an employee an FTE for six months, and the goal is to raise efficiency. Currently, JazzCom operates at about 83% efficiency in terms of save rate and So, for example, we get about 3,278 is the gross intake. And in order to get us to 90% efficiency, which is where we want to be, it's not really an arbitrary number, but, you know, 10%, I guess, is maybe... animals that are not safe to go back into the population. And so the goal is to get from 83% to the 90%, and that is why they've embedded and gave us a full-time employee for six months until the end of the year. She's very nice, very... Very astute in her work and has been here for 30 days so far. So we are one month in. And at this point, we're kind of looking at best practices, best courses of actions, focusing on, again, volunteer, boosting the volunteer base. And you guys kind of heard me talking earlier about taking the volunteers that you have, giving them more specialized training that you can bring in more volunteers. you know bringing in more volunteers and having a more specialized volunteer base is kind of the future of how we become more efficient because at you know in terms of bandwidth with staff we are maxed out in in addition to being maxed out in in terms of facilities uh let's see uh we did have a budget amendment uh last night so there's a 24 000 um Uh, that's going to be used for, um, equipment. Um, there's going to be an, I make sure I pronounce this right, electrocutory unit, uh, which basically is used to, it's, it cauterizes wounds better, faster for quicker healing, you know? Uh, and so, uh, and some, yeah, uh, also, uh, dental equipment. Um, so those two are, and that's a specific pot of money that is already, um, reserved for this purpose. And then we also have an increase in utilities, just like everybody else, just like you're experiencing at home. And that increase is about $33,350 for this facility. So the total budget request that was approved or a budget amendment that was approved is $53,350. Fortunately, JASCOM reserves are really nice. I can't give you an exact number. The last number I remember is 1.9. but Troy could probably supply us with that. The budget will be coming out for our review. The budget timeline is October 12th. We'll get kind of a pre-budget review. November 9th, we'll get a second look at it, and then December 14th, we'll vote on it. So all those numbers will come to you guys. The budget amendment is not going to affect the overall budget for next year with the exception of the $33,350 in utilities that will get built into next year's budget so that we don't come up short on that again. I did tell them about the fact that we... Asked the city manager manager to to see if PSE would like to come in and and just to one of our work sessions and and maybe talk about You know their rate changes and and that kind of stuff. So Let's see there was one new hire that came on, and there is Sierra is one of the people that she's really kind of helped build the program. She's leaving, but she's really kind of helped build a lot of the programming that is in place now and bring it to its level of efficiency. Some of them were her idea, but her time is going to be short. She'll be gone probably in, I think it was September 9th is her last day. Don't quote me on that, but... Uh, so, um, but community events are up, um, surgeries are up, uh, and the joint animal services is operating at a really good efficiency level. Uh, and, and then I also, you know, in our, in our city inventory, you know, the police station was the worst, absolute worst building that we had, uh, and joint animal services was second. Right. And so if you guys haven't been out there, you owe it to yourself to go take a look at the facilities. It is now the number one worst building in our inventory. So I've asked city manager to add joint animal services and the capital outlay to the three cities meeting so that we can talk about it as a group and maybe get some traction going on that. And that is my report. Next we have Council Member Cox.

I don't have a meeting report, but the lot board is going to be meeting tomorrow night and I talked with the director this afternoon and it looks like they're going to ask for the standard 3% on the rates that get charged. I don't think anybody seriously considered going up, but they are required by August 31st each year to let us know what rate they're going to be basing their budget on so that we can budget for our own planning.

Is that a 3% increase?

3%, yeah. It's been a standard, kind of like we do with our water.

Our 1%? Kind of annually, 3%?

Well, I think haven't we approved like multi-year at going up 4% and that sort of thing. So it's, yeah, it's that basic agreement. So given that, you know, things are tight, it's just good to know and be able to predict that.

Okay. And, sorry, is it Council Member Dunning? I'll circle back to you at the end. Council Member Seale?

Yeah. Last week we SWAC met for the first time since June, and so we had kind of a long meeting. So some of the things we talked about were some of the public comments we were getting about seniors having a difficult time paying their bills and having pickups and getting charged extra for some of the some of the services, and so we talked a little bit about that, and that's something I brought up earlier when we were talking about the franchise fees. But we had a nice big presentation from Ecology about the new organics law that's coming, that is in effect right now, as well as how it's going to affect residents, and some of the reasoning behind the organics law, such as, like, that the most effective way to reduce waste in our current landfill is by filtering out organics, and it's also the most cost-effective way to extend the life of that landfill. And so that's one of the reasons for doing that. And so one of the things that I found out was that by 2030, everyone will have to have also an organics or a yard waste bin in addition to their own trash. And that is not elective. they're going to have to have it. The people who can opt out are folks who are moving, who already do the self-haul. So people who are already taking their trash and recycling to the dump on their own and they're not having curbside pickup. And so, in addition to that, found out that the We also heard about the Recycling Reform Act. They published their draft today and it's open for public comment. Or not today, last week they published that and it's open for public comment. So that way you can go take a look through and see how that Recycling Reform Act is going to be kind of enacted. And so it's a great place to go in and see how it could affect our solid waste rates in the future. I think the last thing that we discussed was potentially adding a non-voting member to the board who is one of the union representation. So that way they have a little bit of a say or at least a voice at the table when it comes to setting policy with solid waste. Is that the end of your report? Is that the end of your report?

Yep. Okay. Council Member Turner.

Yes, I attended the West African cultural event in Hunter Park on Saturday. It was their first event. I hope they do many more. They had some great drummers and I thought they had a really nice group that came out. I was asked to come up and give some remarks impromptu on behalf of the city and I was more than happy to do that.

So thank you for doing that. And Council Member Dunning. Promised myself I wouldn't cry.

You know this is kind of fitting that we had the Veteran Service Hub presentation here because I remember during our retreat you know thinking that you know with me deciding to run for a different office that that was the last time I might be in the room with the entire staff all together at one time and it was actually I don't know about you guys but I was there kind of struggling with that it was really heavy on me at the time but with the with the primary being over I've been talking with the mayor and the deputy mayor and and the city manager about what's in what's in the best interest of Lacey and knowing that there's a big difference between a district run and a county run that's going to take a lot out on me and it's going to take a toll and take a lot of my time on top of that I'm you know dealing with a wedding and getting married now and then trying to do all the city stuff on top of that and I I really kind of came to the conclusion that that wasn't fair to the city for me not to be able to give 100%. Knowing that I might be leaving no matter what, I thought it would be best if you guys had more of a jump start on finding someone to fill that seat who could actually dedicate that time to the city that deserves. Because there's a lot of important stuff, especially next year, that I think that person needs as much time. as possible to kind of address. So with that being said, next week will be my last meeting. And I wanted to stay on in case we needed to schedule anything for a vote or help transition anyone into different roles. And I hope I'll stop by either later this week or early next week and talk to the staff and say something. But it's definitely a hard hard day for me elections are hard and it's taking a lot out on me and my family and I really hope that you guys find someone to replace me and help push the city forward so that is my report that is your report thank you for

being candid and being real with us about this. Thanks for coming to my office and talking to me about it. So we will have to do some readjusting of council assignments. We'll take a look at that as a group, but I'll hand it off to Rick so he can kind of share with us a little bit more in depth about what we're gonna be looking at coming in the near future.

So real quick on the council and our jurisdictional committee assignments. Right now, Council Member Dunning serves on the Visitor Convention Bureau, which Deputy Mayor Miller is the alternate, and also serves on the Regional Housing Council, which Council Member Hsu is the alternate. So that would be the immediate. And Lee Off. And left? Left. Left one, sorry. I don't believe we have an alternate there, but we'll figure that out going forward. In terms of... with Councillor Dunning announcing that he will be stepping down of council after the next council meeting. The council has, a process in place for filling vacancies on council that's established in the council's policies and procedures. And then also on state law, really the really guiding thing from RCW is that the council has 90 days from the point that vacancy is official to fill that seat. If it doesn't, the council is not able to fill that seat in 90 days, then they would be transferred up to the county commissioners. And if they're not able, a certain time it goes up to the request to the governor. That will start that clock. And so at the next council meeting next week, we'll have an outline of what the council policy procedures provide for our process, lay out some basic information and get council's direction and feedback to start that process and application piece. So more to come next week. Any questions or comments from the council?

All right.

Well, thank you for sharing that with us tonight, Nick. I appreciate it and I understand it and I wish you well.

I have to say I also wish you well. I think as a new council member I have consistently been able to say you've been very generous with yourself and I appreciated all the support and the good wishes and you know allowing me to sometimes second emotion because because you always beat me to it but I I wish you the best I wish you the best and with that unless Ryan you have something

Yeah, I was going to wait until afterwards, but yeah, I was also going to say thank you so much, Nick, for sharing so much of your heart and soul with this council and for the city. You've been great to learn from and so open with all of your comments and your advice, and so I really do appreciate getting a chance to learn from you, and yeah, elections take a lot out of you. You put your heart and your soul out there for lots of, for everyone to see, and I hope that being able to step back from this is going to help find some time for you and your family to be able to stay focused on that. And so thank you so much again for your service.

And with that, we've reached the end of our agenda, unless there's anything further. And as always, and I hope we've been an example of this tonight, Lacey, you keep it classy.