City Council - Regular Meeting

It is now 6.30, and the meeting will come to order. Thank you for the lights. Good evening, and welcome to the July 7, 2026 Kennewick City Council meeting. Will the city clerk please state who is present and whether a quorum is established?

Good evening, Mayor McShane. All council members are present with the exception of Council Member Anderson, and a quorum is established.

Thank you. Council Member Anderson provided advance notice of his absence. Is there a motion to excuse the absence?

Mayor McShane.

Mayor Pro Temporelli.

I move to excuse the absence of Council Member Anderson.

Is there a second? Mayor, Council Member Millbauer. I'll second the motion. It has been moved by Mayor Pro Temporelli and seconded by Council Member Millbauer to excuse the absence of Council Member Anderson. The floor is open for discussion. There being no further discussion, it has been properly moved and seconded to excuse the absence of Council Member Anderson. Will the clerk please start the vote? That vote has passed five to zero, plus one more. That vote has passed unanimously. Thank you. Next is our Pledge of Allegiance. Will Council Member Milbauer please lead us in the pledge? No one's registered this evening to provide tonight's invocation. Persons interested in giving the invocation can find information on our website or through the city clerk's office. Thank you. Next on the agenda is visitors. Visitors are welcome to state their opinion on any topic except for election matters and the two items we will consider this evening under public hearings. The city clerk has informed me there are no online visitors signed up to speak. The city clerk routed all written comments to council before the meeting and has published them to the online meeting portal. If someone in the audience wishes to speak, please raise your hand. Okay, as we have those that are interested in speaking tonight, I'll just run through very quickly how the public comment period works. Public comment period is not an opportunity for mutual conversation with council members or for posing questions with the expectation of an immediate answer. Council members will listen closely to your comments but will not directly respond to you. The city clerk's business card is on the table near the door. If you need follow-up after the meeting, please reach out to her and she will connect you with someone who can help. When it's your turn, please come to the podium and state your name and city of residence before beginning your remarks. Each person is permitted to speak once for a maximum of three minutes. Their three-minute timer will be displayed on the screen and will start when you reach the podium. A total of 30 minutes is allocated for visitors' comments. The city clerk will please start the 30-minute timer now. Warren, did you want to start?

Warren Hughes, Kennewick, Washington. So you all have seen me at many workshops and I've been watching a couple of the things that are happening lately. One thing that struck me was at our downtown presentation for the downtown strategy. I've been to a lot of these planning meetings, and this was the first time I think I've ever seen where council had not received the packet that was being discussed at the meeting, which struck me as odd since the city's had that report since September. So I look forward, I believe it's the 11th is when the next workshop is, and I look forward to seeing what you all have to think about it. On that note, I've also heard lately in workshops a lot of talk about fiscal responsibility and best use of the taxpayer's dollars. So, HDKP as an organization has a very special tax mechanism that is unique to it amongst other organizations as Main Street. They get a B&O tax credit. You can donate against the B&O tax liability and get that money back. The city recently funded HDKP, and they will next year get 75% of that money back from the state of Washington. So via this mechanism, we can use our tax dollars for downtown and keep those dollars away from Olympia. And I want to reiterate, we, using this mechanism, can keep our tax money local instead of Olympia getting it, to the tune of about $200,000. And I look forward to continually working with the city to make sure we can utilize every dollar of that and keep it here instead of sending it to Seattle. There are certain things that small nonprofits are much more efficient at. The city used to run the hometown holiday parade, and I believe it used to cost around $30,000. HDKP runs it for just about $10,000. Some of that is... prevailing wage, more expensive staff, and we can take advantage of efficiencies as a nonprofit that the city may not necessarily have available to them. So I think this is a great time to look at ways that the city and HDKP can partner to provide a better community space at the best value. Thank you.

Thank you, Mark. Would anyone else like to? Ken, please.

I'm Ken Hahn, city of Kennewick, and I'm speaking as a citizen, not as a commissioner tonight. I, like Mr. Hughes, attend a lot of the workshops, and the last one was the grueling one talking about what to do about City Hall. I think The two councilmen on the right, as I look at you, were very adamant about getting some numbers in front of you. One of them being, if you tear this place down, what do you do for two to two and a half years? I think the number will be high financially. There's how many people here? 400 people work in this building. A lot of high-end communications, a lot of computer systems. That's not cheap to move. You'll have an inefficiency of staff, as I don't know of a facility you could move everybody into. So you might be scattered all over the city and you can't just walk down the hall to get an answer. You have to make a phone call or take a drive. And then the other would be the effect on the citizens. Customer service will struggle. You can't come to one place to see everybody. You have to know where to go all around the city. So I just think those things should be considered. I'm looking forward to the next workshop and hopefully they will have our first glances of numbers because it's getting pretty late in the process to not have a clue as to what this is going to cost and what all the indirect costs to be associated with it. Thank you. Thanks.

Would anyone else like to wish to speak this evening?

Misty Ayers, Kennewick. Regarding the remarks made by Councilman Lauren Anderson during the June 23rd meeting, I would like to clarify the visitors' statistics for the museum at Kuwait. Councilman Anderson cited a figure of 771 unique visitors over the past two years, presumably derived from AI-based location tracking software. Please know that such data collection methods often have limitations in small-scale applications, as they frequently under-report individuals who do not utilize smartphones, including many children and seniors, as well as those who have opted out of location tracking. Our internal records indicate significantly higher attendance. As of late June of this year, the museum has welcomed over 600 visitors, even after accounting for the six-week closure during February and March for facility improvements. Last year, we recorded 900 visitors. While we are continuously working to increase our engagement, the 771 figure cited by Councilman Anderson does not accurately reflect our actual visitor traffic. Furthermore, there is significant community concern regarding the proposal to demolish the museum at Cubadan, with over 1,000 citizens currently voicing their support for its preservation. As a vital community resource for Benton County, our facility plays a key role in the local history and public service. Reducing our space to 3,500 square feet would severely constrain our capacity to exhibit collections and provide storage. While the current proposal references the Moses Lake Museum and Art Center as a successful model for an integrated municipal museum, it is important to note that the City of Moses Lake plans to discontinue their partnership with the museum by 2029. We urge the City Council to carefully consider the long-term impact of this reduction of our local heritage and explore alternatives that mean our museum's ability to serve the Kennewick community effectively. Thank you. Thank you.

Any other? Yes, please, Mike.

Michael Uzo Kennewick. I wanted to assure you that I'm a graduate of Webster University, class of 2002, Texas A&M University, class of 2005. I helped Ms. Ayers, a volunteer, come on and bring in volumes to help her. The museum in place, in question is also part of World War II historic cities. The museum supports that along with Bear Stream Museum in Pasco and the regional museum out of Richland. At this time, I would think it would be a big mistake to even ask for this museum. I really don't want to say anything else, but that's where I stand, thank you.

Yes please.

Courtney Ayer, Pasco, native of Kennewick. I just want to have people reflect on their memories of O'Henry's, if you can, for a second, and think about how special that place was and the connections with Henry and with the special sauce. And those of you who are locals, you guys will remember that. And when it was gone, there was no getting those There was no special sauce that could compare because of the connection in that building. And so preserving our museum is so similar to that because it's not just about artifacts, it's preserving connection across generations. And it is such a unique museum And we need it to maintain the way it is for the past and for our future.

Any additional speakers? Yes, please.

My name is Cindy Solis, and I reside in Washougal, Washington, but I did grow up here, and I have roots here, pioneering roots with the Lum family and the Guest family, and I could go on, a pre-atomic family throughout the entire history, starting when Kennewick was first a town. So I did review the package that was presented at the workshop, and I have to say that one of the guiding principles that really resonated with me was... the fostering of community and an extension of historic downtown. And I feel very much like she does that the museum currently works hard to foster community. Keeping those connections do foster community. And so it is in line with kind of what you want to do with this entire project. The square footage, the capacity of the museum is currently strained, but it takes all of that space to tell those origin stories. It takes space to do that. The other thing is the archive there. I travel from Washougal, Washington several times a year to do research, and accessibility to that archive is really vital. It's very key. And once you lose it, you lose it. And it is utilized. And so I would ask that you consider that very carefully as you move forward. We need the space. It's a pretty good building. I have a feeling like with option 1B and 2 that retains the current square footage, however, it does impact the downstairs garage entrance that we move artifacts in and out of, and it also impacts an exit, an emergency exit, and maybe also some access for disabled people. In looking at the plans, I see that there's a plaza planned there, and I don't know exactly what that means, but I would ask that you retain the building, if possible, at least the square footage, work something out where you can incorporate the existing use of those garage doors there. And I appreciate the opportunity to come speak with you early on in this planning process, but I will reiterate again that once you lose those connections, once you take those artifacts out of the sight of the people, you do lose that connection, and you can't do it in any space smaller than what we're currently using. We are stretched to the limit there. So I would just ask your consideration in, I think it's the guiding principle of making those community connections is really well tied into what we've already got going. So thank you.

Thank you. Yes, please.

Yeah, so my name is Kyle Ryan. I was born and raised in Richland, currently reside in West Richland. And I'm hearing this argument, I mean, when you're hearing these numbers of, well, X number used it in the past three years or whatever, you need to think in terms of, you can't think this as a business and the numbers aren't the thing. Walking in historic downtown Kennewick, next to some very early Kennewick buildings, in their presence, going to the museum and i'm researching in clara bremer right now as an early resident anyway but to be able to hold her writings in my hand i'm thumbing through them i find a hair you know on these old notes i wonder is that her hair you know there's a the thing going on you could argue that why not put everything on the internet you could argue all the documents could be scanned etc etc anyway we're i know that i don't know actually the relationship between east benton county historical museum and its relation to Kennewick. I know there's a lease that's gonna expire. You guys have a construction thing going on. You're planning that. And that's great, but whatever you end up with, as far as the museum's concerned, it'd be great if you could maintain the ability to display much of the inventory. Because people, when I go in there, there's not very many people sometimes when I'm in the middle of the day or in the middle of the week or in the middle of the school year, but the people that are there that can actually look at things, hold them, read the little blurb, I mean, you can't replace that. So regardless of its attendance on any given year, having a place to display the physical objects that relate to this area's history is a wonderful... It's one of the things we ought to consider maintaining. Thanks. Thank you.

Any additional comments? Please.

Hello, my name is Ryan Bennett. I'm a Richland resident currently, formerly living in Kennewick, Mike and I graduate and volunteer at the museum. I had a couple quick questions that I had directed to a council member and haven't gotten a reply back on. Some of my main questions were as follows. There seemed to be somewhat of a... point made about unique visitors, and so I asked the question, what are the unique visitors that attend City Hall on a regular basis, apart from the people that just come to City Council meetings, which I understand they're usually fairly poorly attended, and then just the people that come here in person to pay their bills. So again, I was curious about that. I also was curious, as I was looking through the packet, I didn't see anything that would basically accommodate one of the key exhibits at the museum, which is very, very popular, which is Maxie's floor. That floor was originally donated to the museum. It is one of the foundations that museum is built on. It was originally appraised back Pre-1980s has a million dollar floor that was just donated because Mr. Maxey believed that that piece of local heritage should stay local. And so he donated that to the museum so that it would be a part of that building as part of what allowed that museum to win an award when it was first built. as a museum for its size, and I haven't heard anything said about what would happen to that floor during the demolition process if that museum is taken down. So, considering that's a fairly key piece of our local exhibits, and there's other key exhibits that are there, Another gentleman spoke to the fact that why can't these things just go online? I also made a point in my comments to City Councilmember Anderson that as a former employee of the Tri-City Herald, I had a hand in trying to get as many documents taken from the physical building when that building was basically demolished, for all practical purposes, as a newspaper. And I can tell you online today, there are whole decades of online material that are not available from the public library. There are probably some editions of the Tri-City Herald that can only be looked at when looking at the actual hard copies in our archive. So, again, I just encourage you guys to be cautious, to be conscientious, and certainly not destroy history that's going to be irreparable or irreplaceable. Thank you.

Additional comments this evening? Sorry, just one time. Sorry. No. Doesn't matter. Okay. All right. If there are no additional comments tonight, this comment period is closed. Next item is approval of the agenda. If a council member wants an item removed from consent agenda, please be recognized by the mayor and state the item you want to be removed. For further discussion, the item will be considered separately. I'll entertain a motion.

Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Pro Temporelli.

I move to approve the agenda as presented.

Is there a second? Second. Council Member Trumbo.

I'll second that.

It has been moved by Mayor Pro Temporelli and seconded by Council Member Trumbo to approve the agenda as presented. The floor is open for discussion. There being no further discussion, it has been properly moved and seconded to approve the agenda as presented. Will the clerk please start the vote?

Council Member Trumbo.

My vote is yes.

Thank you.

That is passed unanimously. Next item is the approval of the consent agenda. All matters listed within the consent agenda have been distributed to each member of the Kennewick City Council for reading and study, are considered to be routine, and will be enacted by one motion of the council with no separate discussions. I'll entertain a motion.

Mayor?

Yes, Council Member Milbauer.

I make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented.

Is there a second?

Mr. Mayor, I'll second that.

It has been moved by Council Member Milbauer and seconded by Mayor Pro Temporelli to approve the consent agenda as presented. Will the clerk please start the vote?

Council Member Trumbo, I see you looking at me. Is your screen not working?

My vote is yes. Okay. Okay.

Okay, thank you. Chance, thank you.

I think we'll go ahead and continue if that's all right while we're getting that assistance.

Thank you, Chance.

Tonight we have two public hearings. Each will be considered separately. Each hearing will be conducted as follows. After the staff report, council will have an opportunity to ask questions or request clarifying information. Following questions, persons interested in testifying for or against the matter will be invited to speak. General discussion and debate by council must wait until after a motion has been made. The city clerk is informing there's still no online visitors signed up to testify for the public hearing. When testifying, please remember, the testimony period is your opportunity to speak for or against this matter. Council will not directly respond to comments, questions, or concerns. Everyone will be allowed to speak once per hearing. When it's your turn, please come to the podium and state your full name and city of residence before beginning your remarks. Each speaker will have three minutes. The timer will be displayed on the screen. First is a public hearing for an amendment of the 2025-2031 Transportation Improvement Plan. Mr. Malott, may we have a staff report, please?

Good evening, Mayor McShane and fellow City Council members. My name is Heath Malott. I'm the Design Services Manager for the City of Kennewick and here to present an amendment to the City's Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program, or TIP. short please note that tonight's amendment is to the current 2026 to 2031 tip that was adopted in june of last year and not the tip that was adopted by council last month on june 2nd of 2026 that one won't go into effect until next year The amendment before you this evening is for the Columbia Drive and Clearwater Avenue Pavement Preservation Project. Last fall, staff was successful in securing $3.3 million of National Highway System's federal grant to grind and overlay an entire roadway and improve ADA ramps on both Columbia Drive from Fruitland to SR 397 and Clearwater Avenue from Kellogg to Union. Projects utilizing federal funding are required to be included in the current TIP as a complete program project. Therefore, this project must be amended to the 2026-2031 six-year TIP in order to start design this year. We anticipate this project to go to advertisement for construction early next year. Thank you. Any questions?

Any questions this time? Yes, Council Member Trumbull.

Is there, in approving this Transportation Improvement Plan, is there any consideration coming from Kennewick relating to seeking a grant for the continued revitalization of the historic downtown Kennewick area through the Transportation Improvement Board's Complete Streets Program? Can you comment about that?

I cannot. I haven't really been involved with that just yet. Okay. So it's premature as far as you know. Yes. With this amendment, this is to last year's plan, which was adopted to be implemented this year.

Okay. That clarifies it. Thank you very much.

I can add to that, Council Member Trumbo, if you want. Separate from the TIP process, we are evaluating the potential of seeking TIB funding, complete streets funding for downtown areas. So that is something we're currently looking into separate from the six-year TIP process.

Okay, thank you again.

Additional questions? Heath, the $3.3 million in grant funding, is there any local match required with that?

There is no local match. This is... We were pretty excited on getting this. So it's 100% funded for staff time to design and manage the project and construct the project. So it's 100% refundable. How does this compare with our transportation benefit district funding on an annual basis? uh... so this is uh... federal funding just the dollar or dollar amount so we we get three million dollars each year for payment preservation through our transportation benefit district so we're gonna have a fairly large preservation program next year to the tune of around six million dollars so i mean you your efforts in getting this grant secured for the city of more than double the amount of money

correct yeah that's a great job right there yeah thank you thank you any other questions all right thank you all right and it will now start the public hearing and the public hearing is now open if someone in the audience wishes to speak please raise your hand yes please

Are we only allowed one issue at a time?

So only this issue on the six-year transportation improvement plan amendment.

Oh, this is regarding the transportation. That's correct. This is just the amendment. No, my issue is regarding the fireworks.

Okay, yeah, sorry. That part of the meeting is already passed.

It did pass.

Yeah, sorry. Okay, thank you.

What about Seventh Avenue?

Seventh Avenue is not part of this public hearing, I don't think. I guess if it was related specifically to a transportation improvement project in the six-year TIP, I think that would be okay. And I don't believe that's the case.

Excuse me for not understanding, but how do you find out when you can present these issues?

I'd be happy to have you talk with the city clerk right after the meeting. She'd be happy to help you with that.

Okay. And if I'm not available after the meeting?

Then take her card at the door, and she'll schedule a time to meet with you.

Okay.

Thank you for that. Okay, any additional comments for this public hearing? Warren.

I just wanted to say good job. Thank you.

Yes, I assume that was limited to the tip, not just anything in general. No, that's only on this public hearing. All right, are there any additional comments? Okay, if not, this public hearing is now closed. I'll entertain a motion.

Mr. Mayor?

Mayor Pro Temporelli.

I move to adopt the resolution as presented.

Is there a second?

Mayor?

Council Member Millbar.

I'll second the motion.

It has been moved by Mayor Pro Temporelli and seconded by Council Member Milbauer to adopt the resolution as presented. The floor is open for discussion. I'll just say again, it's a great job. It's exciting to see us take that kind of federal funds into the city. That's an amazing opportunity. We've got a lot of needs, and so this gets us a long ways towards some of those. Thank you again. With that, it's been properly moved and seconded to adopt the resolution as presented. Will the clerk please start the vote?

And Council Member Trumbo's computer is still not operating correctly. So, Council Member Trumbo, what is your vote?

Yes.

Thank you.

That is passed unanimously. Next is a public hearing for vacation of a 44-foot access easement, 10-foot utility easement, and 15-foot utility easement at and within 101 and 109 North Oak Street. Mr. Kaling, may we have a staff report, please?

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and Council. As stated for your consideration, tonight is the vacation of a 44-foot access easement, 10-foot or 15-foot utility easement, and 10-foot wide utility easement. This is the result of a boundary line adjustment between the city and DH land. This is located just east of our new biosolids facility at the wastewater treatment plant east of Oak Street. We had some irregular boundary lines between the two properties. So back in 2024, we did a boundary line adjustment. The old property line is the light blue dashed line, and the new property line that goes directly north-south is the navy blue line. As a result of that BLA, some fragment easements were left on the DH property that were formerly on the city property. He's now looking at building a structure in this location as requested removal of those easements. We've reviewed these, and obviously those easements are completely unnecessary at this point, so we have no objection to that. I'm happy to answer any questions. I'd also be happy to take a great job from Warren if he warrants that.

Now, now. All right. Any questions of staff this evening? Okay. Okay. If there are no other questions of staff, the public hearing is now open. If someone in the audience wishes to speak, please raise their hand.

Okay.

Seeing no members that want to speak this evening, the public hearing is now closed. And I'll entertain a motion.

Mr. Mayor?

Mayor Pro Temporelli.

I move to adopt the resolution as presented and authorize the mayor to execute all necessary documents.

Is there a second? Mayor. Council Member Milbauer. I'll second the motion. It has been moved by Mayor Pro Temporelli and seconded by Council Member Milbauer to adopt the resolution as presented and authorize the mayor to execute all necessary documents. The floor is open for discussion. It has been properly moved and seconded to adopt the resolution as presented and authorize the mayor to execute all necessary documents. Will the clerk please start the vote?

Council Member Trumbo.

My vote is yes.

Thank you.

The resolution is passed unanimously. All right, we're now to the section of council comments and discussion. We'll go ahead and start. Council Member Beecham. I have nothing to report tonight, thanks. All right, Council Member Milbauer.

Thank you, Mayor. I attended the KPD swearing-in of Mayor Pro Tem and City Manager Erdmann to witness the swearing-in of Officer Jeffrey Wood and attended the Ribbit Cutting for Kuki Japanese Pub restaurant on Vista Field. They have very good food. They were able to spread out for those in the Ribbit Cutting and it was really good. And today I attended a therapeutic veterans court to witness the graduations of two veterans, Scott and Steve, who spent been a part of a year and a half and graduated and are doing well i also want to thank the city the staff for the opportunity to attend the 2026 awc annual conference in spokane i was also attended by mayor pro tem torelli senate manager erdman assistant police chief kevil sergeant rozane officer concheris and city clerk krista johnson it was uh Three full days, in my opinion. Tuesday afternoon, I attended a short course on local planning by Washington State Department of Commerce, provided an overview of local planning, the state, and how the growth management act works in that arena. Wednesday had several sessions, one being city debt basics and how the debt works and debt limits and bonding fundamentals. Budget nuts and bolts was another session developing and adopting city budget and understanding the Washington state and city revenue system. and how local governments are funded, and also the Washington State local tax structure in the U.S. and options and how they affect the state and the city, local municipalities. I also want to thank our financial department, because they learned a lot more, and thanks for all the work you do. That was quite a day full of budget issues. Thursday, I attended the economic breakfast with economist Chris Medford, who's the President and CEO of Community Attributes, Inc., also attended Communicating the Age of Misinformation, and they defined misinformation as false or misleading information shared unintentionally versus disinformation as false or misleading information shared intentionally for political, financial, or reputational gain. And a notable example that was discussed was the Kent Valley flooding in December of 15th of 2025. There was a dike breach at the National Weather Service put out an evacuation order as a massive dam break, 100-wall foot of water. So you can imagine what Kent, Auburn, and all those residents were trying to leave town. They were told to go to higher ground. It caused a lot of issues when, in reality, it took a couple hours to fix the dike leak and fix it. The point of that was talk to your local officials first and coordinate everything before you put out something to alarm the citizens. Let's see here. So also attended energy, economic development, environment, opportunities for local leaders, coffee with the council, your city attorney, your ally, question and answer session. Probably have more questions for Lorenzio later because we were told to ask our city. attorney on all the questions. Friday was the automated license plate readers session, current status of Senate Bill 6002. The session covered local government navigation and new requirements related to ALPR data collection, use, retention, sharing, and transparency. I thought that topic was valuable and it was a good workshop update, or I think we should have it for a future workshop update for council because there's a lot more to it now. Maybe we can get that in the future. I also want to thank West Richmond Mayor Fred Brink for his service for the last year as AWC president. Congratulate John Nearing, Mayor of Marysville, on his election to president of AWC. And additionally, congratulations to Jillian Hines on being re-elected as second term as AWC District 2 representative. And with that, I'll end my report. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Trumbull.

Thank you, Mayor McShane. I have a number of things to report. I can tell you that I attended, as the city's representative, the Law and Justice Commission 10 days ago, however long ago it was. It was a fairly limited representation, but it was a good discussion on topics that have been in motion for a while on the commission. And I'm going to move on to the next thing. I did have an opportunity to... These are not in order because, well, they're just not. I took it upon myself after the last workshop to volunteer to take a guided tour of our museum, both upstairs and in the storage basement. I want to say two things. Basement is adequate. There are no issues relating to threatening the preservation or harming any of the items that are stored downstairs. I inquired about moisture mold and that sort of thing, and it looks like things are properly cared for down there. It's pretty tight, however, and also... I want to say that I think the museum has a great deal to offer, but they're in limited space. I mean, 1980-something, it's time to do something to provide better floor space for better display of what is there. And then mentioning floor, I want to be clear about this. I don't think there's enough emphasis on the value of the the floor that is valued at a million dollars. People walk in and out and barely notice it, and there's just not enough focus on what you're walking in as a real prize. It needs to be a feature that gets more attention to the visitors. I mean, I wouldn't know. I've been in a lot of new houses that have floors that look pretty darn good, but they're nowhere near the quality of that or the value of that. That needs to be like a front and center feature. It's a one-of-a-kinder thing. And I'm making this statement not only for the council and for city staff, but I'm making this statement publicly for the museum people as well. Promote it. Promote it. I'll leave it at that. I also attended the Benton County Mosquito Control Board meeting, my first ever visit there, and it was very informative for me as a first-timer. I think it's a good and wise thing to step up the equipment that is available going to be basically drone surveying. The technology is adequate enough now to where it can be a big help. And I think Councilman Beecham would agree to that. It's a great expenditure, a little pricey, not bad. Not bad. But that's going to happen. I also went to the Community Action Committee board meeting, which I do monthly. Probably the most important thing that happened there The unrest has quieted down. I'll just say that on the record. The thing that's really important there now is the ability to make the most of a facility that they used to call the Second Chance Center. It will not be named that. The new name is going to be more along the lines of recognizing... that this is a way to go from a bad situation to a much better situation. The terminology's gonna involve the word bridge. But what's important is this is for services daytime only. That's what Second Chance was doing, but it wasn't working very well. So they've retooled this thing as a better way to get the word out and bring in the services that people who are homeless can actually make best use of through education and issues pertaining to making themselves better equipped both in... their ability to get a job and being trained on how to get a job and also all care for family members at the same time. That's moving along. Then I went to the Continuum of Care meeting. Actually, I did that one first before the CAC. There were two presentations made which were quite interesting to me. One of them was how services are being provided through a private nonprofit. I can't tell you a whole lot of details, but basically what it amounts to is people come in and are counseled. And sometimes the people don't have to go anywhere. The counseling program goes to where The recipients who will benefit from it are located. So it's an outreach program. Second presentation was really about how to care for homeless in your community. And this was the Walla Walla program. Perhaps you have heard of it. I can't imagine that no one here hasn't heard of it. I think that it would be a good idea for me and perhaps another council member, less than a quorum, to actually get a tour of that facility. Just go over there and let the guy who runs it show how it works. We might get to where we need to know the details of how that operation is working. It sounds very good. There might be some pushback from some people about we don't want to use city property and city money to do this. Well, right. I get that. But it's better than having them tent camping who knows where in cardboard boxes or underneath bridges in our community. That's my opinion on that. I did take a... did volunteer to participate in a tour by the Historic Downtown Kennewick Partnership of the downtown area, and there's a fair amount I could share with you about that, but I'll try to be succinct. I went to four, I think it was four businesses. I was guided to four businesses and talked to the business owners. Keep in mind, these were hand-picked. I didn't pick them at random, I was taken to them and they were ready to tell me what they thought was a good thing about downtown, which is fine. It looks like there is some improvement with enthusiasm occurring in downtown Kennewick. I said some, and it's not insignificant, but some improvement in some locations, real estate structures, that is all for the good and there's a commitment to make it better and to make the enterprises that are in those locations do better. In the Richardson block there is a place that was built in 1914 that's been completely taken to the brick walls, floor to rafters, absolutely to the skeleton structure. And the quality of work that is occurring in there is very, very good. It's not just a slap of paint or a little sheetrock repair, it's coming along nicely. And the person who's doing this has every intention to make it be top notch. Not to run the business, but to prep the building for quality retail activity. They've had it, I think if I understood it correctly, they've owned that building for 10 years, and it was time to do a complete inside-out makeover. It's all opened up now. No partitions inside. And it will be, I promised, high-end retail. Then I asked the property owner who's doing the remodeling, I asked her what she would like. And she said this, from my notes I'm reading, wish there was a lot more property owners who would take greater interest in their properties in downtown Kennewick. I think that's a very telling statement. The next comment I got was, I want to see the original face come back. And then she added, I had no idea what was under this. The building was made in 1914. She said, I had no idea what was in this building behind all this until I tore it all down, exposing all the brick, sanding all of the beams in what appeared to be about a 12-foot ceiling. There's some work that's occurred here. I had no idea what was under all this, and it's going to look really great. It takes money to end. a lot of energy and vision to do something like this. And that seems to be what is needed in downtown Kennewick because there's a lot of, ah, this is a good enough attitude, I would submit. Comment was, it seems like the focus is on, in downtown is on, what can you get? And where can't... What can you get here? Let me restate that. The focus needs to be focused on what can you get in downtown Kennewick that you can't get somewhere else. There has to be a uniqueness to downtown. And that leads into a comment that was made later, like the next day, when I attended the historic downtown Kennewick Partnership Board, basically as an observer, although I made a few comments. I'm the alternate. Mayor McShane is the primary, and he was there as well. Downtown Kennewick, as I've said for years, is a place in search of an identity. And that's what this one comment was about. What can we have downtown that you can't get somewhere else? I'm not going to give examples, but those of you who have been downtown will know what I'm talking about. The final comment the person said, Carrie Ann Clark, was we need more curb appeal. Then I had a comment that came. concerning the Washington Hardware Store, which is now under no ownership. And this was a pointed flaming arrow at City Hall, having massive permitting issues. The owner of the Washington Hardware is having massive permitting issues. Next comment was, there's a facade on that building, it's all metal. and it's been to Dickens to get a permit to remove that facade. It's been hard to get. Okay, I don't know why, I'm just bringing it to the attention of city staff. The quote was, I don't think city understands the issues we are dealing with here in downtown. And the comment was made that it seems, it seems like it depends from property property where things become inconsistent. It's okay here, but it's not okay there. Again, I do not have detail, but city staff can be aware that's what was said. I went to a store at 113 A and B, which is kind of a mystical, eclectic boutique, jewelry, candles, that kind of thing. There was a fire not far away from there. There was a lot of soot damage in that location, smoke and soot damage. It was a complete remake on the inside, cosmetically, no structural issues. And the concerns at that property or business owner's location were that the sidewalks up and down these blocks are just dangerous to walk on. There are infrastructure issues, so they state. I don't have detail, but I heard this a few times. Water, sewer, things like that, electrical. The trees need to be better cared for. And there was a question that was raised that doesn't affect the city leadership but is worth noting, and that is how do we get property owners to take better care of their properties? This is something that connects to what I've observed for some time, which is some of the hurdles in downtown Kennewick is to get the absentee landowners on board. They just really don't have a whole lot of interest as long as they're getting their lease payments. Relating to vision, what they're looking for is how to make the most of a walkable neighborhood, business-wise, how to be family-oriented. There's some complaint which may not be totally valid, but it goes like this. We have an image of being a dangerous, dirty area And we need something that's not just bars and tattoo parlors. That may be a very unfair statement, but that's what I heard when I made my visits up and down the street. The obstacles are they want to see the council and employees have more consistent presence and become aware of infrastructure issues. I would add my own thoughts here. It would appear that downtown Kennewick has been a stepchild to City Hall for a while, but that can change, and probably is. I'm not saying it isn't. And there was a question raised about obtaining more micro grants. I didn't inquire about that, but that's not my expertise. Maybe that word means something to city staff here. I had a visit with the Four Whistles Winery owner operator. That would be on First, not Kennewick Ave. Biggest complaint, and I heard this from a couple of sources. I wasn't alone doing this tour. First Avenue traffic is just plain old ordinary too fast. not really conducive to pedestrian traffic, pedestrian activity, and that's got to be understood in this context. These trees and these iron grates and these water systems that are watering the trees are not adequately taken care of and broken pipes and lifting slabs and sinking slabs create a tremendous parking hazard or walking hazard on a street where the traffic is too fast. We need to get after that. There has been a comment, the owner of that business said he likes the support from HDKP. So apparently there is some cooperation in working together, which is being appreciated, and that should be noted here. The suggestion was in order to slow traffic, there should be, I was told, diagonal parking, and four-way stops, which are now stoplighted locations. Someone said.

Excuse me, Mr. Mayor.

I'm sorry, just a point of order here.

Go ahead. Councilman Trumbo, it's been about 15, 20 minutes now, and quite honestly, is there a way of kind of getting to a bottom line on this, just so we can wrap up?

I can tell city staff about the problem with cleaning up a lot next door. That seemed to have been inordinate interference by city employee on getting that done. I also, excuse me. I appreciate your comments there, Mayor Pro Tem Torelli, but I invested considerable time in all of these endeavors. I will tell you that the HDKT board meeting was very informative for me, but I still see kind of a lack of kind of a unified direction. There's still a lot of conversation that isn't focused on how to get to wherever the goal is. I think the B&O tax is a great idea, as mentioned previously by our citizen over there. I think it's very important to understand that the B&O tax that can be converted into dollars for downtown Kennewick doesn't have to come from just downtown association business area people. It's citywide. So if you know somebody in the city of Kennewick who's got a business six miles away, they can designate that they want that money to go, and it would be for downtown.

Yeah, I might clarify that that's not just limited to citywide. It could be anyone across the state is able to donate to our historic downtown partnership. Thank you for that clarification.

I have just one other item, and then I'll be done, Mr. Torelli. And that is I couldn't help but notice that the fireworks were marketably louder. These are legal fireworks. Remarkably louder this year in my neighborhood. And I don't know if that's something that should concern others, but I couldn't help but notice. Maybe that's enough for now. Thank you for paying attention and for the time. I appreciate it. Council Member Clipper.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to say it's my honor and my privilege to be one of the Marine deputies for the Benton County Sheriff's Office patrolling the river on the 4th of July when we had our fireworks display. Once again, just a shout out to everyone who helps to make that happen. Amazing. We just do a great job. And I remember hearing over the radio that the park is packed. No one else is going to be allowed in. That's just another, to me, another compliment to the city of Kennewick that we do such a great job. The people come from miles around to see our fireworks display. So thank you to everyone who made that happen. And then the main reason for my comment was the next morning we were patrolling the river. and my partner made the comment that it's just amazing how fast they can clean this place out and clean this place up so shout out to parks and rec and everybody who made that happen have people notice your hard work and job well done thank you mayor pro temporelli um i did about four or five ribbon cuttings uh awc along with council member millbauer one thing i do want to emphasize on that with two things one

When he talked about the misinformation, the county was also putting out misinformation. The state was putting out misinformation, not intentionally, but it went from the feds to the state to the county. And the city was the only folks who said, we have a bulldozer. It's plugging the hole. We're done. And everyone's trying to still evacuate. start with the closest entity to the issue if you can and the city will use social media and all those kind of things in these type of events and the second thing was i'm on the legislative committee i appreciate staff they provided me information to give to the representatives and the senators that were there from olympia to say if further down the chain you move the dollars, the more effective those dollars are. Because if you're spending it up at the state level and telling us how to do it, that adds orders of complexity that don't really enhance anything. If you get the grants down to our level, at our level we can do things in a much more efficient manner, even though sometimes it doesn't feel that way. And that's it. Thank you very much. Mayor, can I add one quick thing?

Yeah, please. Thank you. In regards to the fireworks, we are receiving, at least I am receiving, several emails from citizens on the fireworks. I just wanted to say that the next workshop is going to be updated on Independence Day after Action Report, and that's where I'm replying back to let them know if they want to come down and talk about the fireworks and the way they feel about them, for you all to know and those on That's the wrong thing, isn't it? Yeah, I was going to say, we don't normally have a public comment period at the workshop. I understand that. But to come down and hear the report. Yes. Yeah, go ahead, please.

Thank you very much, Council Member Milbauer, and I'm sure our citizens will appreciate that opportunity to be heard. If they would like their perspectives heard, they need to send me their written comments no later than 3 p.m. July 14th, and those will be distributed to Council in advance of the meeting and then also included in the online meeting materials.

Thank you. I'll respond to them that way.

You're very welcome. Thank you. And anybody's welcome to reach out to me if they have questions about that.

Perfect.

Thank you.

And thank you for that clarification. All right. Deputy City Manager, Chief, or what? Okay, Chris.

I have nothing to add.

Thanks. Thank you. You know, I'll just take a moment and appreciate people's attendance this evening and encouragement. And I want to, you know, Reiterate again, what a great job we did getting that grant for $3.3 million. Significant proceeds towards our city, and we certainly can use it. I know that those grants take time. Oftentimes it's not something you guys have programmed into your normal day, and usually it's something extra that's done. So we very much appreciate the work of city staff to do that. I just wanted to add just one more thing this evening, an appreciation of our... 4th of July holiday and the 250th anniversary of our nation. I was excited to see the amount of celebration that we saw on the 4th of July and around the 4th of July. But the celebrating is not over just yet, and I want to invite people to the American 250 Liberty Tree Rededication Proclamation activities we'll have tomorrow. So this is on behalf of the Kennewick Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. and we'll be rededicating the George Washington Tulip Poplar, which was originally planted in 2001, and that will be down at the library range. So that's at 6 o'clock tomorrow for all those that would like to attend. So I very much appreciate everybody's attention this evening. Yeah, please.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And on that, I saw an email. Is there something happening here at the council chambers also concerning that matter?

Yeah, Crystal, would you please?

Yes, there is something very exciting, actually. So tomorrow is the anniversary of the first time that the Declaration of Independence was read aloud. And so across the country tomorrow, simultaneously, I believe, there will be a reading of the Declaration of Independence that will happen here in council chambers. The reading begins at 3 o'clock, but the ceremony begins at 2.30. The public is welcome to attend. And a high school, somebody that I believe that's in Richland High School is the grandson of one of the presiding officers of the Daughters of the American Revolution local chapter. And he will be honoring us with his reading of the Declaration of Independence. So and that's from 2.30 to 3 tomorrow here in council chambers.

So still a lot of celebration yet to be had.

Absolutely.

Probably not enough to celebrate the liberties that we've been able to be fortunate to experience these last 250 years.

Thank you.

And with that, there's no further business on this evening's agenda. It is now 7.33, and the meeting is concluded.