City Council - workshop

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Recording in progress.

Good evening and welcome to the July 27th, 2026 Tualatin City Council Work Session. Our first item on the agenda tonight is Camping Time, Place, and Matter Ordinance Update and Discussion, led by Megan Cohen and Kevin McConnell, our City Attorney. Welcome, Megan and Kevin.

All right.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council. My name is Megan Cohen, and I am Tualatin's city liaison on homelessness, and I'm joined by Kevin. So we have all the attorney expertise in the room. And we're here to chat about our time, place, and manner ordinance and about some potential updates to that ordinance, explore sort of where we are, how that ordinance has been working, and where we might want to go from here. So with that, next slide, please. Okay, so for some background, I'm sure you're all very familiar, but Tualatin's time, place, and manner ordinance was passed in July 2023. That was, of course, in compliance with House Bill 3115, which was passed by the Oregon legislature. Since then, we have actually, I think, seen our ordinance working in a way that has been advantageous for the city and has been running pretty smoothly. There have been some changes, policy changes since then. And one of those is that the Supreme Court actually overturned the Martin v. Boise decision in June 2024. And so for many states, that meant that there is no longer any protection for public camping, but for Oregon, since we have House Bill 3115, that was still in place. But it does have an impact on some of the language, as we'll talk about later, on available shelter, which is written into our ordinance. So part of this is just to make changes that recognize some of the changes that have happened at the national level. And then as a reminder, House Bill 3115 requires all cities and counties to ensure camping ordinances are objectively reasonable to time, place, and manner. with regards to people experiencing homelessness. And so we end up getting those three parts of the ordinance. And in the last year, I know you have heard from businesses here, we've seen an uptick in vehicle camping, specifically RVs. And despite, you know, trying to have sort of one-off responses to those, whether it's, you know, on the enforcement side or making no parking rules to specific areas, we wanted to look at what may be a more comprehensive response to that would be and to some of the impacts that we're seeing from that vehicle camping, which include, like, public materials. or camping materials outside of the vehicle and in our public spaces. Next slide, please. SO THIS IS OUR CURRENT ORDINANCE. SO JUST TO GO OVER WHAT'S IN THERE, THIS IS THE ORDINANCE, IN THE ORDINANCE LANGUAGE ITSELF THAT'S ALSO ACCOMPANIED BY DEFINITIONS AS WELL, WHICH WE'LL GET INTO IN MORE DETAIL. THE TIME IS THAT CAMPING TIME BETWEEN 7 P.M. AND 7 A.M. and then place really the dedicated places that lawn on our public safety building. Everything else, including public right of way, is prohibited within our current ordinance. And then the manor really talks to sort of the specifics of that, which include NOT ACCUMULATING, DISCARDING OR LEAVING BEHIND TRASH, EXCAVATING, THOSE TYPES OF THINGS. WE HAVE SEEN FOLKS CAMP ON THE LAWN BY THE PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING. THEY'VE COMPLIED WITH THE MANNER PIECES, WITH THE TIME PIECES. We've had outreach go out and touch base with folks there on the lawn and see if they can offer services. And it's been a good place to be able to meet people there and see what connections we can make. And I would say overall this current ordinance is pretty similar to the other ordinances throughout the county there's some differences small differences in time and in place but overall really not too different from what we're currently seeing with I think one piece that we're going to talk about this evening next slide please OK. So updated language options. There are a couple revisions that we're exploring. And I'll let Kevin go into a little bit more detail. But one is to add language within the definitions that defines vehicle camping as camping. So at the point at which you all initiated the ordinance for time, place, manner, the decision was not to include vehicles. Defining vehicle camping is something that several other jurisdictions in Washington County have done, including Beaverton, Hillsborough and Cornelius. And what that does is then apply the other time place manner rules to that vehicle camping. which we can talk about in more detail. The other language options are removing references to available shelter. That's a change with the Supreme Court decision that would no longer apply. And then if we are to add that language that defines vehicle camping, we would need to discuss options for where that could happen. Because right now, I don't think we want vehicles parking on the public safety grassy area. So everything else would be prohibited. So there's some examples of what those particular locations for vehicle camping are. It could be whether that's public right of way, public right of way in specific zones, or dedicating a specific parking lot, which is something that Wilsonville does. They dedicate their city hall lot during that time period for both vehicle camping and tent camping. So those are just examples of what that could look like. Kevin, do you want to add some detail?

Yeah, and thank you, Megan. Megan's done a great job in giving the background here and correct. So one of the big issues, the big holes in your prohibited camping ordinance right now, if you want to address the instances of persons camping in vehicles your current ordinance does not cover vehicles so you would need to we would recommend updating a definition of camp camping materials to include vehicles which we will make clear that includes recreational vehicles so we catch all types of motor vehicles a lot of cities they use their prohibited camping ordinance along with their parking regulations but OUR PARKING REGULATIONS IN AND OF THEMSELVES, IT DOES NOT WORK TO ADDRESS THE ISSUES THAT WE CURRENTLY HAVE WITH PERSONS CAMPING ON PUBLIC PROPERTY IN THE CITY.

So next steps would include reviewing some amended language for the ordinance. So if adding vehicle camping to the camping language is of interest to the council, then we would draft some language so you all could see what that would look like and bring it back in August. At the same time, we would need to define, again, the specifics around how that car camping would work, including what the allowable location is. And then I think alongside this, again, would be reviewing Tualatin's parking ordinance. These two things are going to work hand in hand. There are different ways, different consequences, right, for how something is addressed in like the parking ordinance versus camping ordinance. So if, for example, somebody were to be violating our time, place, and manner ordinance, currently it lays out a process of what citation looks like and possible exclusion through that versus parking ordinance, that process of sort of citing and towing and the other things that come with that as well. The other thing that I just wanted to note is that our... Um, time, place, manner ordinance is enforced by police, but the encampment cleanup is managed through contract with Metro. Um, and so they are the ones that actually do the camp remediation and cleanup. Um, So that would be something to think about and look at as we define vehicle camping as camping within that ordinance as well, too. So a couple pieces to that, but those are the next steps. Kevin, do you want to add anything else?

Yeah, and thanks, Megan. One of the other issues the council may want to explore when it discusses the issue of of camping and vehicles on public property. Is the city council interested in maybe potentially exploring what Wilsonville does and allow a camping in certain spaces within the city? If you do that, there's a statute that does apply. You have to provide basic necessities like the toilet, hand-washing facilities and trash facilities or is the intent to not allow vehicles to camp anywhere on the public right-of-way to make that clear or do you want to have allow certain types of vehicles or maybe all motor vehicles to be able to park in accordance with our camping ordinance in certain areas in commercial zones or industrial zones, there's many choices that you have. And really just looking for some direction on what the city council, the desire is to see when we come back with a proposed draft ordinance for your review.

With that, turning it over to you all.

All right. Thank you. So the questions for us to discuss tonight are, one, The amended language for the ordinance taking in effect the available shelter option. And then how do we address vehicles? And when we do address vehicle camping, the discussion about, you know, if we have allowed vehicle parking, where would it be? So three kind of tasks. Yes. Just so I know where we're going. Okay. Great summary. Thanks, Mayor. So I'll open the floor to discussion on one or all of those three points where we would like to start. Council Brooks.

Thank you, Mayor. Hi. Thank you very much for your presentation and for bringing this up. I know that's been an issue and we've heard about it here. Part of me... is for the parking lot because there's several reasons, but just it seems less random for just where people are going to be. And then I'm curious, when you're talking about having to provide, what was it, a bathroom?

Thank you, Councillor Brooks. If you have a designated space for people to park their vehicles, there's a state law that applies. It's an ORS 195. I think it's ORS 195-530. But it requires that you have certain basic health life safety facilities, like a bathroom. You have to have hand-washing facilities and, I believe, trash facilities for people to use.

Okay. So, I mean, my question is, are bathrooms, if we decide to do it in a place where there are bathrooms, like a park or something like that, would that cover it?

Councillor Brooks, I believe it's available for those people to use 24 hours a day. The bathrooms are open and not closed at night. Potentially that would work. We would make sure it does conform. If that were the path forward, we would make sure that that path was in accordance with all applicable state laws.

Okay. And then my other question was about the metro cleaning up of campsites. I'm also curious if They were doing that with us with that also include like a place like a parking place and my other question is. And this is sort of unrelated, but there's you know. People that aren't necessarily camping, but there's a place places where people stand a lot and that gets. Dirty and I don't know if that's part of metros purview as well.

I think I can respond. So for the encampment cleanup, it's pretty specific to encampments that have been created and then are noticed for cleanup by police, and then they work with Metro to come out and clean those up. IF WE HAD LIKE A DESIGNATED PARKING PLACE ON CITY PROPERTY, I ASSUME WE WOULD PROBABLY BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT. AS FOR JUST GENERAL TRASH, ONE THING THAT I'VE BEEN UTILIZING MORE OFTEN OR HAVE SEEN UTILIZED MORE OFTEN IS METRO'S RID PROGRAM. AND SO IF THERE'S JUST AREAS WHERE THERE'S LIKE DUMP TRASH on public right-of-way or in areas, RID can come out and pick that up. And they've been pretty responsive in this area recently, so it's a good, give me a good opportunity to remind us that that's a good tool for us to use.

Thank you. Yeah, I think that near the freeway seems to be neglected lately, so.

Thank you.

Okay. President Pratt.

I'm gonna go back one. So I'm taking out that that available shelter language. What's the purpose of that?

Thank You council president and really we're I think at least for my end it's it's Taking out language that had everything to do with the Boise case that was overturned by Johnson V grants pass and in using the language that's in House Bill 3 1 1 5 and instead to make sure that if we do have a legal challenge, we at least are using the language of the state law.

Right. Okay, that makes sense to me. And then how many, do we have any clue of approximately how many of these campers we have around? I mean, I see people in cars sometimes, but approximately how many people do we have living in vehicles?

I DON'T HAVE A GOOD NUMBER. I JUST KNOW FROM WORKING WITH OUR CSO THE SORT OF REGULAR REPORTS WE'RE GETTING ON RVS SPECIFICALLY, I THINK. YEAH. AND THEN SOME INDIVIDUAL CAR CAMPERS AROUND. YEAH.

SO IS THERE A WAY FOR US TO Allow it but not have to provide all these facilities like the bathroom and I guess I guess the main question first to you is would these people do they need these facilities like the bathroom in the washing station because they're living in RVs do they tend to have some water to use or question.

Thank you, Council President. I believe that that requirement only applies if the city is designating a certain area for vehicle camping.

So if we didn't designate, how do we limit where they can camp other than saying you can't park here all over town?

Well, I think how we do that is we have time, place, and manner required. restrictions already in place. And I think the recommendation is number one is to add vehicles as camping materials. Now you have no constitutional or state law right to camp or use a certain type of camp material. But if people were camping in vehicles, and the ordinance did apply to motor vehicles, then those time, place, and manner regulations that you have in place, those would also apply to people camping in their vehicles. And right now, I believe we have a restriction on camping in the public right-of-way. the one field, and so there's some practical things that will need to be addressed by the ordinance. Number one, going back to the Wilsonville example, one of the positives of that, and there's a lot of things that are negatives as well, but one of the positives is that if the city were to designate a certain place, space for vehicles to camp, in accordance with the law, then given that House Bill 3115 states that any law that you have regulating sitting, lying, sleeping, camping, et cetera, has to be objectively reasonable as to usually looking at the totality of the circumstances, There's actually been a federal court case. It was Bilodeau versus the city of Medford that analyzed this. And they looked at all this totality of the circumstances. And what they found was there were other options for people that were camping in the city of Medford besides not being, the challenge was they were severely prohibiting where people could camp on public property. So if the city were to then have a ordinance that said you can't, camp in a motor vehicle anywhere else on city property, that I think would be very, I think a court would look at that and determine that our ordinance was objectively reasonable because we give an outlet for vehicles to camp, even though we outlaw it everywhere else in the city of Tualatin.

Because that field obviously isn't feasible for vehicles. Can't use the field. So if we added, say, one of our, I don't know, a parking lot or something, a city parking lot, that would, I'm back to, is there a real need? Like, if we did that, then you avoid the having to have a bathroom and washing station, but is that a need that people have to, or you have to have that?

You have to have it when you designate a spot.

When you designate a spot, even in the camping order.

Yeah, the alternative would be something like it's generally allowed, like, in public right-of-way. Okay. And so, you know, currently people can car camp within the restrictions of our parking ordinance. So like not being in the same spot for 72 hours or whatever that might be. Versus, you know, if something like this were to apply, then you're saying, you know, that camping time should really be overnight. And I think what Kevin is saying too is those manner pieces start to apply of you can't have your camp materials outside of your vehicle you can't have them on public property that type of thing but we could we could designate public right-of-way be more specific about public right-of-way that's broader than the lot itself if it's the lot then that the rule about the restrooms would apply in that scenario but if we have something more general that we wouldn't have the same application of that rule.

And then I guess the next big question is where we would have this that lets people have a little space and dignity without... you know, disturbing other people. So that, that could be difficult.

Oh, just where we would have it. So I'm sorry.

I will talk louder. It's just the, the idea of where it would be would be the big issue. I think. Thank you.

Yeah.

Can I, but as I understand it, if, if you said, if you just added vehicles and allowed it in the public right of way, that would limit to, like, 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., and then you would have to move. So, like, that would be an enhancement to what we have now.

I guess my question would be, where are these public right-of-ways?

Can you define what public right-of-way is, please?

Anywhere that you can park.

So even on getting to the point of where people are parking now, They routinely park in Fred Meyer parking lot. They move from parking lot to parking lot. I've seen it happen.

We can't define private parking, but anything like basically a long public sidewalk would be allowable unless it's restricted for any other reason, like zoned or anything like that.

But it's not a private parking lot like they're doing now?

No, it would not include private lots.

Good clarification.

Councilor Gonzales. So thank you very much. So I just want to be candid and clear here that I am for full restriction. I am for where we can limit parking. I think in total, when driving around Tualatin for some time, I see about 15 cars thereabouts, okay? That's what I've seen, and I've seen them move around. We manage a lot of commercial sites around this area, so we get to see them On the parking lot, we're going to move them out. I would be for heavily restricting a less designated location. The police station has that time and place. They have a pretty large parking lot. I'm sure we can probably designate a few parking spots, maybe four of them, for people to come in. But I would not want to even open this up or accommodate in any way. We are really close to Highway 5, close to Portland. We build that they will come. And I am for that. We can provide a place for them. And that's it. No looking for right-of-ways, no looking for special provisions. Let's find that place and location and make that and just keep it strict. It can get out of control really fast if we open it up. And the next thing you know, we're managing other people's lives. And as a city, we already have other things to deal with. I know it's hard to say that. It's people go through difficult times. I understand that. But we could create a place and time. I am not full flexible right of ways anywhere in the city.

Thank you.

Ms. Reyes.

Thank you for the presentation. I think my take is definitely on the next steps. amend the language to add, that would be my recommendation to add vehicles. I like the idea as far as the location for where someone, where these vehicles can camp. I would think, I recommend a dedicated public parking lot or a parking space because of That way, you know, I think you avoid a lot of businesses. I think we had a couple businesses or somebody come here and talk about. So now that if we know where they could park, we can send them there. It would be easy for me to say, oh, they can park in this place versus some area that's public that I'm not familiar with. So to me, that seems like a recommendation that I would support.

Thank you.

Council Hillier.

Thank you. I too would echo Councilor Reyes' comments. And I guess I'm curious with the, sorry, put these back on. WITH THE RID PROGRAM AND SOME OF THESE OTHER THINGS, SO ONE THOUGHT WOULD BE, OF COURSE, THE CITY PARKS, LIKE IF THERE WOULD BE A PARK DESIGNATION, BUT, BOY, THERE'S, YOU KNOW, AT TWELTON COMMUNITY PARK AND MANY PARKS, THERE ARE ORGANIZED ACTIVITIES GOING ON UNTIL LATER AT NIGHT. WE HAVE THESE BEAUTIFUL NEW LIGHTS AND THOSE SORTS OF THINGS, AND I THINK THAT CHANGES THE... I AM ALL FOR CHANGING STIGMA AROUND... OUR HOUSELESS POPULATIONS AND I'M NOT SURE THAT PUTTING THEM IN THE MIDDLE OF KIDS SOFTBALL PRACTICES AND SOCCER PRACTICES IS THE FIRST STEP THAT WE WANT TO MOVE TOWARD FOR THAT. SO I MEAN, I WOULD BE NERVOUS ABOUT IN A PARK SETTING WHERE THERE IS ALREADY THE FACILITIES THAT ARE NEEDED. SO NOT BECAUSE I JUST THINK THAT that could be a bad first step however like this building but then we'd have to add all sorts of things right is this the building that you were referring to when you said the public safety building that people are camping so could you clarify what building is that the public safety building the police department oh that's what the public safety building is called is our police department yeah

Sorry, working with too many cities.

Okay, I'm like, I just did not know that. Okay, so I just was unclear as to if there was a second place that then I was confused by. Yeah, just that grassy area. Right, and there are no facilities there, but the police officers, they're in and out of there all day and night. So anyway, that's at least a form of security for the people camping, it seems also, so anyway.

I'M HEARING SOME INTEREST IN DESIGNATED LOTS SO I THINK ONE THING WE CAN DO IS LOOK AT WHAT PUBLIC PROPERTIES WE OWN AND ASSESS SOME OPTIONS IN TERMS OF WHAT WOULD BE POSSIBLE AND ADDITIONAL COSTS THAT WOULD BE INCURRED FROM HAVING TO ADD FACILITIES OR THOSE TYPES OF THINGS AS WELL. SO I CAN ADD THAT IN TERMS OF SOMETHING WE CAN BRING BACK TO YOU ALL FOR MORE INFORMATION.

I certainly see that as a potential roadblock, as the potential cost. If you have these facilities and must provide them, there's going to have to be city staff or contracts in place that clean up the bathrooms and the hand-washing facilities, provide the toiletries you need and the trash facilities. And how much is that going to cost? Do we have the city staff available to do it? And, yeah.

On the third bullet point, going to the last slide and next steps, about the parking ordinances. Yes. So say the council goes the route of a designated spot to allow vehicle camping, then that would then have to be reflected somehow in revising our parking ordinances. In fact, if it's not allowed in public park right away. Wow. and we say designated spot, then you have to update. That's what you're referring to? We'd have to update our parking ordinances?

Mayor, correct. We want to make sure that any changes we make to our prohibited camping ordinance don't adversely conflict with the parking regulations we have. Now, when you read the parking regulations, I think it's 81260, it's arguable whether those parking regulations would apply to someone camping in their vehicle at all, because that The parking regulations refer to parking or storage of a vehicle. And I guess an argument could be made, I'm not doing either of those, I'm camping. And it's just one of those many issues that we have when we're trying to figure out the aftermath of an appropriate and legal camping ordinance after House Bill 3115. Okay.

Is there any – this is a question for Kevin, I guess – distance requirements to the facilities? So do the hand washing and trash and bathrooms have to be a certain distance from the spot, or it's not defined?

I think it's more vaguely defined. I think they just have to be available to the person that's experiencing homelessness and camping in their vehicles. Okay. Councilor Brooks?

Thanks, everybody, for the conversation. Another thing that I've been thinking about is, well, for me, if people don't have those Even the people that are sleeping on the grass, if they don't have those facilities, then what are they doing? And I get into this public health problem. I've been in cities where there have been public health problems. I am concerned because of how many changes are coming to facilities. THE OREGON HEALTH PLAN AND OTHER THINGS WHICH IS A REALLY BIG ROOT CAUSE OF HOMELESSNESS THAT WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A BIG GROWING POPULATION AND SO WHEN COUNSELOR HILL YOU BROUGHT UP THE POINT ABOUT PARKS I AGREE WITH THAT AND THEN I'M JUST CURIOUS LIKE I'M THE SAME WITH I'M JUST CURIOUS IF With the police department, we have a very locked lobby with bathrooms, and that's not a place that everyone's going to go charging to. As far as, like, if you build it, they will come. So in my mind, you have those facilities, you have people that work there, and I think the police and cities are asking for money from Metro around social services and help. So maybe that's how that works, if we're not going to use social workers.

Thank you.

So you have what you need, Megan? Sounds like a...

I think so.

You summarized it pretty well, the feeling of the council. Yeah.

Yes, we will work on some draft ordinance language with what you all have provided. There might be some other things we need to discuss as we actually look at how that gets written out. along with bringing some options to look at location. And then we will bring that back to you all for discussion. And then the parking ordinance will kind of happen on a parallel path. I think there's other pieces of cleanup there that need to happen as well, too. So expect that back here as well. But thank you. That provided exactly what we needed.

And estimated costs if we don't use fixed facilities, if we have to put in temporary facilities.

We can absolutely, yeah, bring estimated costs.

And will you please include a clear understanding of the RID program and how that could intersect? Sorry, Mayor. Thank you. Yes.

Absolutely. Okay. Thank you all.

Thank you. All right. Next up is our Homelessness Services IGA discussion led by the other Megan, Megan George.

It's been a while since I've been called the other Megan. Hi, everybody. I'm Megan George. I'm your deputy city manager. And I am here on the second of three topics all related to homelessness this evening during the work session. This one will be fairly short. I do not have a PowerPoint presentation. but I am here to provide an update on two intergovernmental agreements that we have been working on over the last few months. So the first intergovernmental agreement should sound familiar. It is, in fact, the agreement that grants us Megan Cohen, who was presenting before me, And that agreement is between the cities of Tigard, Tualatin, and Sherwood, and Washington County. And for shorthand, I'm going to start calling that the four-party IGA. So in 2020, Metro voters passed the Supportive Housing Services tax measure. Those funds are distributed to the three counties, Washington, Multnomah, and Clackamas. Washington County identified a need for further coordination between cities and the county. related to homelessness, and so they created several homeless liaison positions. The South County area includes Tigard, Tualatin, and Sherwood, and we get one shared position. As part of that agreement though, they are paying for the position, and rather than allocating the exact amount of money for the position that is required, they write us a check for $200,000 each year of the agreement. We are reaching the Erwin fact. We have reached the end of that intergovernmental agreement that it didn't expire on June 30th But the funding allocation that was determined did expire at that point So since that time we have been negotiating the new intergovernmental agreement Which would extend the amount of money into the future as well as make several other small amendments those amendments include Extending the provision of funds for an additional three years. Increasing the annual disbursement from $200,000 to $210,000. Adjusting the breakdown of the position's time to 60% for Tiger, 30% for Tualatin, and 10% for Sherwood. So that is an increase for Tualatin. of 5%. And then the final piece is providing greater clarity on a few obligations related to the point in time count, which occurs every two year. The next one will be January 2027, as well as the annual reporting process to Washington County about the work that the position does. And finally, the release of data from Washington County to cities that are relevant for the position. So that agreement has been approved by Washington County at this point. They voted on it in June. The city of Tigard is scheduled to vote on it, I believe, later this week. I have it tentatively on your agenda for August 10th for adoption at that point. So I can pause there if there are any questions about the four-party agreement and then proceed to discussing the three-party agreement.

Any questions for Megan?

Since there's an increase in funding, does Megan get an increase in her salary?

That is something that is being worked on outside of the discussions around the agreements, but yes.

Council Hillier.

To clarify the change in the percentages, is it based on need? Is it a data-driven decision, or how did we come up with that, please?

Yeah, so Megan is not itemizing her time spent for each city exactly, but over the course of the year, I guess two years that she has been employed or approximately two years that she's been employed. She does have an estimate for where she's spending the most time, and generally that's coming down with the majority in Tigard as was predictable based on what they're seeing there. But then a significant amount in Tualatin as well and less time in Sherwood And so the three project managers from each of the cities so myself for Tualatin Started talking about it and there was interest from Tigard in particularly in having it particular having it be more accurately reflected And there was we certainly just didn't disagree with getting more of her time. I'm sure what is also willing So that's how that decision was made. Thank you.

Yeah So Brooks

When they do the counts, will they be discerning where people are, if they're homeless on the street, if they're homeless in campers, if they're homeless in homes?

Yes. My understanding of the way that the point-in-time count works is that they do differentiate between THE DIFFERENT LIVING ACCOMMODATIONS THAT PEOPLE HAVE. IT'S MANAGED, IT IS NOT MANAGED BY EACH INDIVIDUAL CITY. I BELIEVE IT'S MANAGED BY PORTLAND STATE AND I'M GOING TO LOOK OVER MY SHOULDER. I BELIEVE IT'S FACILITATED BY PORTLAND STATE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE COUNTIES AS WELL AS SERVICE PROVIDERS. ON THE DAY THAT THE ACCOUNT OCCURS, THE SERVICE PROVIDERS END UP DOING A LOT OF THE DIRECT OUTREACH. BUT IN ADDITION TO OTHER THINGS THAT THEY'RE ASKING THEM AS PART OF THAT INTAKE FORM, THEY'RE ALSO ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT current accommodations.

And then do we have the prior year of this one?

So I believe Washington County released some of the results from the previous point in time count. I'm not sure they released the totality of information that they received from it. It's at the discretion of each of the counties when and how they release that information.

Okay, and then when do we anticipate this one coming out?

January, so the count itself will occur in January 2027. I think that they're looking at maybe multiple days for the count versus one day. Um, so it's not quite yet defined what that'll be. Um, Megan was employed at the time that we did the last count and we participated in it. Um, she worked directly with outreach providers and we also had an intake table at the library in the lobby for folks. Um, so we will do so again in 2027.

I would love that information from the last count and an estimated date when it's going to be released.

Results from the last count or the date for the new no the next one the the other ones were released, right?

The last one was released Yeah, so I would like as much information as we can get From the last one and then the date of when the next one's going to be actually released so it can utilize it And put that on the list.

Thank you That's right Megan do Is there any funds coming from Clackamas County? I know it's Washington County, but part of Tualatin is Clackamas County. Are there any funds coming from that, from their homeless? Because I know it's a four-party, right? Sure, the three cities plus Metro.

Yeah, that's correct, four parties. So Clackamas County is not a party of this agreement. Washington County's response on that has been, no, Megan's time should be dedicated to the Washington County portion of Tualatin. However, people do often cross county lines for a variety of reasons, and so that hasn't been... hard line per se. Clackamas County also receives supportive housing services funds and they have an entirely different model from Washington County for how they allocate and use those funds. I don't remember the exact timing but they did have a process by which cities could apply for some of those funds for a variety of projects and there were a number of projects funded SPANNING FROM STAFF POSITIONS WITHIN POLICE DEPARTMENTS. I THINK OREGON CITY RECEIVED FUNDS FOR TWO AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECTS. I BELIEVE OSWEGO RECEIVED FUNDS FOR THAT. TWALTON DID NOT APPLY FOR FUNDS IN THAT LAST ROUND AND THERE HAS NOT BEEN ANNOUNCEMENT THAT THERE WILL BE ANOTHER ROUND.

Well, I was just wondering, because we do still have a portion that is Clackamas. Yeah. We can maybe drop some funds from there for her salary. Mm-hmm. Thank you.

I just want to point out that we did get money for Clackamas County SHS for the food pantry improvements. Yes. Yes. Yep. That was Clackamas County money. Yes.

I should say the city did not receive funds directly, but Tualatin was represented on the recipient list. Thank you for that. Okay, so that's part one. On to part two, which is the three-party agreement. So I mentioned earlier that Washington County writes a check every year, but they don't write the check for the exact amount of Megan's staff position time. They write a check for $200,000 previously, and moving forward, it'll be $210,000. And while Megan is extremely valuable... Unfortunately, she does not receive all of that in her salary, so there is leftover funds available. Tigard has been storing those funds for the last three years, and we have begun conversations about what to do with those funds. The four-party intergovernmental agreement has some language about how those funds must be used, although it is fairly vague. It says some version of on issues related to homelessness or support of the position. So we have a draft three party agreement that we've been working on in a tentative agreement to disperse those remaining funds, which are just over 400,000 between the three cities based on the percent allocation of the time of Megan's position for those three years. So Tualatin would receive 25% which is roughly $100,000 for the first three years of the agreement. We are still in the process of finalizing that language, so I don't have a draft included in your packet. But when we do have a final draft that has been agreed to, I will bring that forward for the City Council to review and authorize signature of. But I'm happy to answer any questions about that at this point as well.

Council Brooks.

Thank you.

One of the things I love about how this city operates is we do really great community outreach. And I'm just curious, when we're talking about allocating these funds, if when we do that housing meeting that we do because of the affordability problems that we have in our city, if there's any way of having some community feedback on how we utilize these funds as well from the people that are directly affected.

Yeah, absolutely. So at the point that Walton does receive the check from the city of Tiger for that amount, we do not have that currently earmarked for any specific purpose in our budget at this time. So it would be at the council's discretion for how to use those funds and a council could determine a process by which to solicit feedback or identify priorities for the use of those funds. I should mention as well, so the $100,000 is for the first three years of the agreement. Moving forward, the intent would be for us to receive an annual disbursement based on the remainder of funds before the end of the fiscal year or shortly thereafter, I believe, actually.

Thank you. All right.

I'm just going to say, too, I just think that... I mean, we've been listening to the stories from people, the hardships. I've seen the people with their kids in their cars trying to wash them up in the restroom. It's not a problem that's going to get better with how things are going with federal money coming back to communities, which it's just not. And so... I think that there's a lot of people that really want to be heard around these things that are really impacted by this. And I think that understanding what's happening in the communities and especially with a shifting landscape is pretty important for the people themselves and for. uh... insights into how we're planning and what we're dealing with and then hopefully some elected people and some organizations can get past their own whatever their goals are and look at community center goals that the people actually need and the people are asking for just a quick question about the dollars uh... in the language of disbursement

Would it be eligible for eviction prevention?

At this point, I believe so. Okay, thank you.

All right, thank you.

All right, thanks, everybody.

All right, so Megan Cohn comes up for a second act, along with Nicole Morris. Welcome back. And this is the eviction prevention follow-up and outside agency grants.

Thank you, Mayor, City Council. Again, Megan Cohen, Homelessness Liaison for Tualatin. And Deputy City Recorder Nicole Morris. All right. um so this presentation is in follow-up to presentation from back in april where we talked about eviction prevention so we wanted to bring back more information some follow-up to questions that were asked at that meeting and also provide a little bit more detail about the outside agency grants which was part of the discussion from april as well So I will start just by reviewing sort of background and some follow-up from the meeting in April, and then I'll turn it over to Nicole after that to talk about outside agency grants. So just as a quick reminder, we've had a couple different discussions around sort of eviction prevention and supportive services for folks who are experiencing HOMELESSNESS HERE IN OR HOUSING INSTABILITY IN TWALTON, STARTING WITH DISCUSSION ABOUT SAFE PARKING BACK IN AUGUST 2025, OUR HOUSING FORUM IN DECEMBER, AND THEN YOU ALL HAD THE CITY COUNCIL GOAL SETTING IN JANUARY 2026. PART OF THAT GOAL SETTING INCLUDED THE GOAL YOU SEE THERE, 2.4, WHICH WAS SUPPORTING EVICTION PREVENTION RESOURCES AND PROGRAMS. So we had the initial discussion in April, and then we're coming back with more information and specifics about what that might look like this evening. So I'm just briefly going to go over some follow-up Q&A that we had. The first was around, what are the cuts to eviction prevention in the state? So there was a 75% cut representing $129 million by the state in June 2025 in that legislative session. THAT INCLUDED RENT ASSISTANCE DOLLARS AND ALSO TENANT ADVOCACY HOTLINES. SO THINGS LIKE COMMUNITY ALLIANCE OF TENANTS, SEVERAL OF OUR OTHER COMMUNITY, OREGON LAW CENTER, THOSE TYPES OF THINGS LOST FUNDING FOR THE HOTLINES WHERE THEY WERE RESPONDING TO QUESTIONS ON TENANT QUESTIONS. AND THEN OBVIOUSLY A VERY DEEP CUT IN TERMS OF THE RENT ASSISTANCE DOLLARS THAT WERE AVAILABLE IN THE STATE. What is the current state of evictions in Washington County? There's a really great website called Evicted in Oregon. This is an active dashboard of all the evictions that are happening in the Tri-County area, including Washington County. On that, I was able to pull that 4,800 evictions were filed in court in the last 12 months. 2% of tenants and 52% of landlords had representation there. and 95% of evictions were due to non-payment. Just a note that when we look at the 4,800 evictions, obviously those are the evictions that only made it to court. So we have a lot of other evictions that have happened that people make the decision to leave as soon as they get that notice, or they just decide to leave the unit prior to that eviction actually being filed for non-payment. So that's that's a lower number than what we can expect to see In terms of local providers providing support we have just compassion Runs a program called the housing related social needs program That's a rent assistance program specific to folks that have chronic health disability issues and provides up to six months of worth of support. That is through Medicaid, I think, and they have designated certain providers. We're very lucky to have one directly here in Washington County. And then Family Promise is also running rent assistance support as well. They have limited funds that they have put together through multiple sources and are able to offer some support. I actually got two calls from families that are getting evicted. It's the end of the month. So as of August 1st today from Tualatin, which was a weird coincidence, owing anywhere from like $1,000 to $6,000. in back rent. And so really one of the only sources I have at the moment to refer them to is Family Promise, unless there are other health-related needs. Community Action also provides rent assistance. They are getting the funds from Washington County and from Metro through supportive housing services. But whereas they used to run like a hotline where people could call or they would show up to eviction court, they're not doing any of that anymore. You pretty much have to be receiving support through Community Action a different way in order to be able to get rent assistance support. So FOR MANY OF THE FOLKS THAT I WORK WITH, WE JUST HAVEN'T SEEN FOLKS GET SUPPORT THROUGH COMMUNITY ACTION RECENTLY. NOT TO SAY THAT THERE AREN'T PEOPLE WHO ARE, BUT THAT HASN'T BEEN A PRIMARY SOURCE. AND THEN WRAP AROUND SERVICES, that we talked about before, how utility assistance, food pantries, all of that is helping keep people housed just by offsetting those other costs. So we have a good amount of providers providing that service. In terms of number of youth being impacted in Tualatin, I was able to get some numbers from TTSD. They reported 255 McKinney-Vento students from this school year. You can kind of see the breakdown there. School districts define homelessness as students who are also doubled up. The outcomes are the same if you're doubled up versus in shelter in terms of homelessness. OUTCOMES FOR STUDENT WELLNESS, SO THEY COUNT BOTH OF THOSE. AND THEN THEY ALSO HAD YOUTH IN SHELTER AND MOTELS. I KNOW THAT WE HAVE STUDENTS FROM THE DISTRICT WHO ARE LITERALLY UNSHELTERED RIGHT NOW. THAT'S NOT CAPTURED IN THIS COUNT, BUT I CAN THINK OF AT LEAST FIVE THAT CURRENTLY HAVE NO SHELTER AND ARE OUTSIDE. Affordable housing properties in Tualatin. We're very, very, very lucky to have Planbeck Gardens, of course, our regulated affordable housing. But we also have several LIHTC properties that have the funding to do regulated rents as well. So you can see those properties listed here. And then resources that support those with mortgages, there are a couple options. One is Open Door Counseling Center. They help with HUD's program for reverse mortgages, which is something I have very rapidly learned a lot about. And then also we have Oregon State's Foreclosure Mediation Program, that is able to do landlord-tenant mediation around foreclosure or lender mediation and try and see if there are other outcomes that can come out of that. And then last on this slide is how are we using our water bill assistance program? And you can see there we are contracting with Community Action to do that. We pay them $7,800 in administrative costs to administer it. And then the other roughly 20 is for assistance. And we just expended around $7,500 this fiscal year in utility assistance. So I was able to get, I think, a little bit of feedback just in terms of The requirements to be able to get utility bill assistance, you have to be getting that bill directly. So that's not something that folks like in multifamily housing are able to take advantage of and maybe makes that more limited in some situations.

Back in the... Yeah, I can go back. Yeah, in the resources to support those with mortgages. Can you talk a little bit too about the county program? I know it's underutilized for home improvements and I just want to say I've been trying to think about where the best place of putting those pamphlets would be because I see just even in our work in appraising when it'll just be some kind of fix or whatever to not be able to get an FHA loan or get a reverse mortgage. And I know it's underutilized.

Yeah, that's a great thought. I can think a little bit about where that could be used.

Can you remind me the name of it?

I have to look it up again. I think it goes by two names, too. Of course.

But I think getting the word out about that program, it helps with upgrades to your home. If there's something that is problematic and there's some need-based requirements, but they're not tough, especially if somebody is really wanting to... um, re refinance or if they need to. And I think that right now is a really good time to just bring that information to the fore. It's an awesome program.

Yeah. Can help. I know with accessibility a lot too, um, which might make the difference in somebody staying in their home or not. Yeah. Okay. The last couple of questions we have, how much is needed to help the average household? Family Promise just shared with me that the average that they are paying in eviction prevention is around $4,500. That's usually a couple months of back rent and usually not the full rent, but $1,000 or something over a couple of months adds up pretty quickly. And then we had a question about a rental inspection registry program. I just wanted to note that we do have a rental registry here in Tualatin. So we do require landlords to register their properties. I know we had looked into doing an inspection program. That obviously has staffing and financial budget implications. So If we wanted to look into that any further, that would be something we would need to take into consideration. And then lastly, how do our outside agency grants really cross over with this? And we had talked about in April the different ways of being able to provide eviction prevention support here in Tualatin with one of those options being doing that through the outside agency grant or through potentially like direct contracting to agencies doing that work as well. So just to give you an idea, Nicole will add a lot more. When we looked at sort of what we're currently funding, we had two agencies that were receiving funding for the downstream impacts of eviction. So $1,000 to Just Compassion for some emergency motelling, and then $2,250 for Domestic Violence Resource Center, basically same thing, motelling and some other moving costs and that type of thing. So within that, we're not directly granting any money for rent assistance currently, but thinking about what are the different means for providing that support. AND UTILIZING THE PARTNERS THAT WE HAVE IN THIS AREA IS SOMETHING THAT I THINK WOULD BE HELPFUL TO GET MORE INFORMATION FROM THE COUNCIL. SO BEFORE THAT, I'LL TURN IT OVER TO NICOLE TO TALK MORE ABOUT THE OUTSIDE AGENCY GRANTS. THANKS, MEGAN.

SO TONIGHT I'M GOING TO PROVIDE A BRIEF OVERVIEW ON THE CITY'S OUTSIDE AGENCY GRANT PROGRAM AND HOW IT CURRENTLY SUPPORTS LOCAL COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS. So, the program began in 2014 to provide funding to local 501 nonprofit organizations. And at that time, the total grant funding was $24,000. Over the past 10 years, that amount has increased to $50,000 as the needs of the community have grown. In 2023, the program guidelines were updated for the first time since the program's inception. As part of that update, the council refined the grant purpose to better connect the program with the council's vision and priorities. The council also added a final reporting requirement and began highlighting community partners through presentations at council meetings and on the city's social media. On average, the program has supported about 15 organizations each year with annual funding requests averaging approximately $85,000. In last fiscal year, 19 partner agencies received grants ranging from approximately $1,000 to $5,000. The Outside Agency Grant Program provides financial support to charitable nonprofit organizations whose work aligns with the Council's 2030 vision. As shown on the screen, the vision includes creating a caring and inclusive community, supporting civic engagement and economic opportunity, providing safe and accessible gathering places and transportation, maintaining welcoming neighborhoods with housing available for all, and protecting the environment. The program requirements are straightforward. Organizations must provide proof of their 501c3 status, demonstrate they serve members of the Tualatin community, and comply with the City's nondiscrimination policies. The Council has made it a priority to keep the application process simple and eliminate and reduce barriers for organizations seeking funding. The application asks the organization to answer three simple questions, submit a valid 501 , a copy of their current year budget, and a list of their board members. Organizations that received funding in the previous cycle must also complete a final questionnaire describing how the funds were used. This slide shows the program's typical timeline. We delayed opening applications this year so that the Council could have discussion tonight and provide direction before the next grant cycle opens. In a typical year, applications open in July. Staff notifies the City's distribution lists and promotes the opportunity through social media and the City newsletter. Applications close in September, after which staff conducts a completeness review and forwards the application to the Council to review and discuss. The Council then awards the grants via resolution at the following meeting and funds are distributed in October. As Megan mentioned earlier, one of the questions Council raised was how eviction prevention could potentially fit in with the outside agency grant program. To provide additional context, we categorized all of last year's grant awards by the type of service they provide. The full list is provided in the memo in the Council packet. While the program has never specifically funded eviction prevention, you'll see that several organizations currently receiving grants provide services that can help address the downstream impacts of housing instability. The largest funding category last year was Education and Youth Services, receiving $16,000, or about 32% of total program funding. These organizations included SEPA, Smart Reading, Tualatin Together, the Tualatin Family Resource Center, and the Tualatin Tigard School Foundation. The second largest category was homeless services, receiving approximately $11,000 with 22% total of the funding. Organizations in this category included the Domestic Violence Resource Center, Family Promise of Tualatin Valley, and Just Compassion. The remaining funding supported organizations providing health, housing, human services, hunger relief, mental health, transportation, and environmental services. With that, staff is seeking feedback and council discussion and direction on how you would like us to proceed. The options presented for your consideration include making no changes to the outside agency grant program, maintaining the current $50,000 funding level while adding criteria that prioritize applications supporting eviction prevention, increasing the overall funding level and using that increase for eviction prevention applications, or exploring housing stabilization and eviction prevention options outside of the outside agency grant program. With that, we're happy to answer any questions.

Great. Thank you. Questions? Council Hilliard.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I HAVE MANY QUESTIONS, BUT I'LL JUST START WITH THE ONE THAT IS SO NOT TO CALL OUT COMMUNITY ACTION, BUT I'M CURIOUS, I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT THE GRANT APPLICATION LOOKS LIKE AND I MEANT TO LOOK AND I DIDN'T, SO I APOLOGIZE. DO WE HAVE ANY LANGUAGE IN THERE AROUND WHAT WE ALLOW FOR INDIRECT? I'M ASSUMING THAT 7800 OR SO THAT THEY USE was to administer the grant, but that's a full, what, 8%? It's 28%? Yeah, I mean, even a federal, like, I mean, the Fed has made a lot of shifts around grant applications and allowance for an indirect fee. I feel like... IF WE'RE GOING TO MAKE SOME CHANGES TO THE GRANT APPLICATION, I'D LOVE TO SEE LANGUAGE AROUND THAT.

THE UTILITY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM, I THINK IS WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT, IS DIFFERENT THAN THE AGENCY GRANT PROGRAM. SO WE ADMINISTERED THIS. I'M SORRY. MEGAN CAN SPEAK MORE TO THE UTILITY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM THROUGH THROUGH COMMUNITY ACTION. OUR OUTSIDE AGENCY GRANT PROGRAM IS DONE BY YOURS TRULY.

I APOLOGIZE. AND THAT'S INCLUDED IN MY SALARY. WE WANT TO ADD TO YOUR SALARY AT ALL TIMES. I'M CONCERNED ABOUT THAT HIGH LEVEL OF INDIRECT. COULD YOU SPEAK TO THAT, PLEASE?

SO THE UTILITY BILL ASSISTANCE IS THROUGH OUR UTILITY BILLING DEPARTMENT, THROUGH FINANCE, AND THEY ARE CONTRACTED FOR SERVICES TO DO THAT. I THINK I CAN ASK THEM MORE QUESTIONS ABOUT SORT OF WHAT THAT CONTRACT LOOKS LIKE. FROM WHAT I KNOW, WORKING WITH OTHER CITIES, LIKE PERCENTAGE OF A POSITION AT COMMUNITY ACTION, SO I'M GUESSING THAT'S HOW THEY CAME UP WITH THE 7800 FOR THAT, BUT I UNDERSTAND THE CONCERN ABOUT INDIRECT COSTS. THANK YOU.

YEAH. JUST ONE QUESTION, COUNCILOR HILLIARD.

I SUSPECT IT WILL ALL GET COVERED, BUT I DO, when we're looking in our discussion at eviction prevention or any sort of funds that could potentially be earmarked specifically And I'm thinking of the $100,000 that we discussed before. Could we spread that out over four years? I don't know. I think there's a lot of ways that we could do different things and earmark those dollars. But I'm equally as concerned in the upstream prevention versus just the downstream interventions that we seem to invest in. So I would like to make sure that whatever we do, we have a balance of upstream and downstream. Because we're not going to just keep paying our way out of it, right? So those are...

I would just make one note, which is I think one of the reasons that we don't see more folks come into our grant process now for Upstream is just, as I mentioned earlier, the cost for eviction prevention per family is pretty significant most of the time. Yeah. something to think about in terms of how that is structured. I think the administrative costs of administering eviction prevention would be really challenging without being able to offer a significant amount to the families that they're serving.

Thank you. It appeared that the average was $4,500, if you indicated. And even if we help the two families that you are talking with today, that would be 100% of the people that reached out to you today, I suppose. But I'm not trying to make light of it. But I do think that to those two families, it means everything. And we shouldn't minimize that. And so, I mean, if we add $10,000 just for upstream a year and $10,000 or $15,000 or $20,000 because it's a bigger impact for downstream, to use up that $100,000, I mean, I would like to see some sort of balance, whatever that could be.

That's right. From this agency, I guess it's probably an agency question, but do they, when they distribute the funds, I'm wondering if they give people also time to, like not have the same person come over and over, like have time to like...

Yeah, that's a great question.

Yeah, because, you know, I mean, that gives other people an opportunity also to be able to be helped. So I'm not sure how that, I mean, I know we can distribute, we can grant the grant, but then how is that being used?

Yeah, that's a great question. I think, um, with like eviction prevention funds, usually, um, it is like a one time a year type of, um, payment. Um, there are, um, for all of the different like examples that I've seen, um, like application guidelines for that. Um, and that's usually paid also directly to landlord, not to the individual themselves. And part of that is a case management conversation about what is sustainable. Are you going to be able to stay here? Do we need to look at some other options? A lot of the conversations I have now are really about there aren't a lot of sources of funding for this. What is your plan? Have you thought about shelter? Have you thought about having to live out of your car? Those types of things. So that's usually part of the process is sort of identifying SUSTAINABILITY AROUND PROVIDING THAT FUNDING TO FAMILIES. AND I WILL SAY THAT I THINK AN IMPORTANT PIECE OF THAT WOULD BE MAKING SURE IT'S GOING DIRECTLY TO FOLKS HERE IN TUALATIN, WHICH IS SOMETHING THAT IS PRETTY STANDARD AS WELL, TOO.

YEAH. THANK YOU FOR EXPLAINING THAT. YEAH. IT'S A GREAT QUESTION.

COUNCIL BROOKS.

I mean, some of what I heard is that there is a gap for sort of first-time users, somebody that's just lost their job, has never been involved in human services before, wants to stay housed, it costs more money, or suddenly got sick and needs to pull it together. So in my mind, those kinds of things, when they happen, as much as people want to feel that they're prepared for crises, oftentimes we are less prepared than we thought, and there's less resources available than we thought. We get this constant hammering about how these people are using all this money and all these services like there's just all this great money available to people that are really sick. So I think that looking at those gaps are good. And I think that doing things in a way that involves best practices, from what I understand, sometimes direct allocation is the most cost-effective thing that we can do. And then I also think being informed by the community and the studies is really important as we think forward in this conversation, because I think it's a progressive conversation. Like, we can have one decision tonight, but what are we dealing with as a community, and how are we setting ourselves up to be successful and for people to know that we... are, you know, we want to utilize this for measurable impacts so that people stay in their homes and don't... I've just seen it too many times. It's just a cascading thing, and, you know... It's just like even early treatment of certain things can reduce chances of people having severe persistent mental health issues because they're not re-exposed over and over and over again to trauma, whatever it might be. And I think there are certain communities, especially right now, that are dealing with extra trauma. So I think that, you know, it's a really big conversation, and it's a really sad conversation, and... But I think that best practices, learning from the community what they want and doing some direct funding might be efficient and effective.

Thanks, Council President.

Yeah.

Council President Pratt.

Yeah, this is a tough subject. And you brought up, and I know I've learned a lot about this this last year, but there are people living in, you know, apartments, but they're not really habitable. They have mold and other issues. So I'm not sure if we're dealing with that issue right here and just eviction, but that is another issue that we, and it's a problem in our community in particular. The... Yeah, the thing with the utilities, the 28%. So I'm wondering if we allocated these funds, how we could most efficiently get them to people without reducing these administrative costs. So we want as many dollars as possible to go directly to helping people. And my second question would be, I thought I read something in your packet about, you know, it's hard. People don't know about these programs and that it's available. So how do we get the word out to people so they can get the help? Those would be my two big concerns. And finally, I would suggest something like if we're getting this $100,000, and of course we'd want to allocate it specifically to these things to meet the criteria, but maybe do it on a, and it sounds like we could potentially get more money in the future, so maybe have it on a four or five year rolling thing where we say 25% of the amount available. So we keep it rolling forward for at least a while as long as we're getting these funds. That's it.

Other comments? My thoughts were similar to Council President Pratt and Council Hillier that take advantage of the $100,000 and use that over a period of years. I'll just pick on three because it seems like the IGA is all three. So, you know, three years and tack that on to whoever... The grant program is going to be in the future designated as eviction prevention. It's one of our council goals, have these dollars specifically allocated to programs or agencies that can help the two families you're mentioning, Megan, make that monthly payment so they don't get kicked out. Because that, you can then, to Councilman Brooks' point, you'll see the impact of those dollars in the community that this XYZ fiscal year that the $35,000 prevented nine families from being evicted this year in Tualatin. Because I think the outside agency grant program is working pretty well. The dollar amounts are low. But, you know, we were bemoaning the fact that we didn't have the dollars for eviction prevention last year. We now have a windfall that we can use this for the three years forward. And then if there are savings year after year and year four, those dollars could be allocated to eviction prevention or the current thing is maybe eviction prevention somehow becomes a lower priority and something else pops up that you can adjust this year to year. But we definitely, to me, use the $100,000, somehow get that into the awards program to an agency that specializes in it so the overhead is low and is specific to Tobolitan residents and it's a multi-year program. I won't be here for it next year, but that would be my suggestions. Yeah, go ahead.

And I think I would support that because I feel like also it will, allowed the other funds to be used for exactly you know we have housing and homeless that can be used for other like arts and health and other things that we have in our community that we would like to support sure the only issue i've got with the solution right now is that i don't know who um who would provide services to first-time users of human services

And I don't know what, in my mind, I just keep rolling around how the MET does trust, and if there's any possibilities around putting a trust somewhere that we could utilize for 1210.

In terms of providers we have that would be able to easily provide eviction prevention and have a system in place already, Family Promise of Tualatin Valley is the first one that comes to mind. I would anticipate we would want to think about some administrative concept COSTS AS PART OF THAT AS WELL. BUT WHAT I'M HEARING IS UTILIZING LIKE AN EARMARK OF THE GRANT PROCESS. THERE MAY BE OTHER PROVIDERS THAT ARE READY TO DO THAT AS WELL. I CAN THINK OF SOME OTHER PROVIDERS. BUT THEY WOULD, THEY KIND OF HAVE LIKE STAFFING IN PLACE AND A PROCESS FOR THAT THAT WOULD BE EASY TO REPLICATE FOR TWALTON.

Okay. And then I guess my other question is, now I go to linking. So my question is, if there's, and I know it makes our two, some of these departments that we have go together. So for instance, we just had this economic report. And so say one of our major providers does layoffs that are where the people that live here GET LAID OFF, RIGHT? HOW DO WE BROADCAST MESSAGES LIKE THAT OR, YOU KNOW, WE'RE ANTICIPATING LIKE A MEASLES OUT, LIKE HOW DO WE CONNECT WITH, I KEEP THINKING OF HEALTH AND EMPLOYMENT TO HELP like connect those things especially for people that have never been engaged with i think that it's very laborious and it's harder than people think yeah even for people that are experienced so um i'm just thinking through those like how we can in the future or communicate through those yeah those are i think those are really good questions i think um figuring out

HOW TO CONTINUE GETTING THE WORD OUT IS SOMETHING WE COULD ALWAYS DO A BETTER JOB OF. I THINK BOTH THE PEOPLE I TALKED TO TODAY ARE FIRST TIME USERS SO THEY HAD KIND OF DONE THE OBVIOUS THING OF CALLING COMMUNITY ACTION AND NOT BEING ABLE TO GET AN ANSWER ON THE PHONE AND ALSO TALKED ABOUT CALLING 211 AND NOT BEING ABLE TO GET ASSISTANCE THERE. SO I THINK SOME OF THESE THINGS, ONE OF THE BENEFITS OF EXPLORING PROVIDING SOME support directly to eviction prevention is that also we can also then say we have invested in this and Share that more broadly right now. It's I think a harder thing just because those funds are so limited and definitely one-on-one I'm having a lot of conversations with people but We would I think really want to Prioritize how we share that more broadly if you all decide to make such a significant investment in that

Yeah, I agree with you on that. I just appreciate the thought around it as we think moving forward and we keep learning more. I appreciate your work. I'm glad that you're here working with us so that we can do some of these community needs assessments and look at where the gaps really exist and how we can best funnel those monies and advocate from those greater supportive housing services, monies, and all that stuff that really affects us directly. Thanks.

My last thought going on what you were just saying, Megan, is that in the event that the housing agency grant does say, okay, we have $30,000 per year that gets awarded to one agency rather than dilute the money, have it be one agency that's good at it, that you have a single point of contact that we can send people to. To me, some of the problem we have right now is that the amount of dollars that the agencies get are very small, but if you give one agency $30,000 for the year, that can make an impact versus two or three different agencies and then TO COUNCIL BROOK'S POINT, WE KNOW THEY'LL GO TO X, Y, Z AGENCY.

YEAH, I THINK THERE'S SOME MAYBE EXAMPLES WE CAN LOOK AT HOW uh you know like earmarking grants grant type things have uh worked before um and then uh think about the timing i think of the funding that we're gonna get and and what that will look like moving forward um because uh we'll need to sign some agreements in order to see some of that so um i think uh of course one of the goals will be to make sure that the grant program is still able to um to proceed through this year, and we can address those additional needs that you guys have talked about this evening. Thank you. Nicole, any?

Sure. I just had one more question around what was the other organization, community? Community Action. Action. No, not that one. The one that's funded for Medicare services.

Oh, it's called the Health Related Social Needs Program, HRSN.

Oh, Just Compassion, yeah.

Yeah, Just Compassion.

So are we anticipating them staying whole through these cuts?

I believe so, yes. Yeah. All right. And I think they recently told me, I'm trying to remember, I think they said through that program they had dispersed over, I want to say, $900,000 in eviction prevention in the last year. So very significant. They have something like 60 caseworkers dedicated just to that program. It is a big lift to do all of the, obviously, the health-related work. Administration that goes along with that.

Yeah, I'm just curious too with complex cases if there's I I'm all for making it as efficient as possible, but I also don't want Very vulnerable people to slip through the cracks. So I'm just curious about you know Incorporating things that are gonna help people that are Really compromised.

I can bring more info about that too, too.

It's fairly new to me Yeah, that's a lot of money that they're able to get out. I

Great question.

Okay.

Well, thank you.

Thank you.

All right. So that brings us to agenda review and our roundtable. So tonight, Council Hillier is up for the Pledge of Allegiance. We have three items on consent. Any questions about the consent agenda? Any concerns? All right. Then we have the awarding of the scholarship now be handled by Council Hillier, the announcement and stuff, the scholarship. And with that, we'll go ahead and start with the roundtable. We'll start with Sherilyn Lambos, our city manager.

Great. Frank, can you pull up the visuals for the road closure? I want to start with, I sent this out to you today, but just wanted to make the announcement, and then under announcements, Mike McCarthy will also make that announcement. So as of next Monday and Tuesday, Southwest Tualatin Road will be closed between Southwest Chinook and Sweet Drive, so that entire corner is There will be no crossings of that rail right there where the orange block is There will be local access local traffic into the those businesses and the apartment the the condos right there, so This is a much needed and anticipated Rehab and repair of the rail and people have been asking for this. I'm sure you've heard complaints and so it is a a highly desired and anticipated thing, but it will cause traffic impacts. There's fairly straightforward detours along Sweek and 90th that aren't far off of the beaten path. So that's next Monday and Tuesday. The next slide is, so the next Monday, the same night as your next council meeting, so Monday through Thursday, a complete closure from Martinazi right past city offices across the Tualatin River Bridge to Lower Boone's Ferry. That is going to be a significant closure. There is no straightforward detour. The detour is through I-5 or 99W. Right. So ODOT is working on this one because it is an ODOT facility and so they have been coordinating ADA access and The TriMet has a bus stop right there, so that is significant as well. Again, there will be no, absolutely no crossings of the rail in that orange block, but there will be local traffic to the apartments and the businesses on the other side. Yeah, so again, a very significant and long awaited and desired and needed upgrade to that rail, but it will be impactful those days. So potentially find other routes. Avoid. Thank you, Frank. So a few other things. So on the 10th of July, the CIO leadership had their meeting and they talked about and prepared for They're coming to the City Council on August 10th to give you their annual update, which will also include the boundary map, the map, the boundary changes, and the recommendation to add a whole other CIO downtown. So looking forward to that discussion. On the 18th, last Saturday, there was the IBAC CIO Community Involvement Organization Neighborhood Fair at IBAC Park. It was well attended. It was lovely. I saw many of you there. It was very feel-good and lots of great stuff. On 7-23, so last Friday, the Latinos in Government Alliance, it's called LIGA, of which Betsy Roof, our community engagement coordinator, is the president this year. They held their inaugural conference right here in Tualatin. It was a great event. They allowed me to come and give a welcome. And Megan was there as well and gave a welcome. And they had some really great speakers, including their keynote speaker was Oregon State Rep Ricky Ruiz. And apparently he knocked their socks off. So that was great. Our sidewalk street tree project is, there's a lot of work going on in the south end of town. The contractor has been a bit slower than we wanted, and so it's taken a little bit longer to get back around to fill in the sidewalk gaps. So they've cut down trees and stump grinded ground stumps, and then the next step will be to fill in the sidewalk, to lay the concrete, and then in the fall come back and replant trees. There were a number of questions at the IBAC CIO fair about that, and we communicated with Patricia Parsons and hopefully getting the word out there. The Pumpkin Regatta Paddling Quest, which is the paddler lottery, is open right now. It opened last week, and it's open through the end of August. So if you're interested in paddling, we can find a place for you. But those that participate through the lottery, it's a big deal, and so that's open right now. The Riverfront Park, the design firm request for proposals closed. There were like 16 proposals that came in, and the top three were identified. And so we'll be doing interviews with those and getting somebody on board. That contract will come before the council because of the amount that it will be. So you'll get to see that. And then we were awarded the NAIT. Natures and Neighborhoods grant of $2 million. Thank you to Councillor Brooks for going and speaking on our behalf, and we're very thrilled that we got the grant, and not so thrilled that we didn't get the other one, but it didn't climb up there, and it wasn't recommended, and it was a long shot, but But the nature and neighborhoods one was great. Regarding ash trees, this came up a couple council meetings ago. We are putting together a work session that will include public works, parks, and clean water services, as well as toilet and soil and water conservation district. There's a lot going on on it regarding the emerald ash borer. We did hire a consultant for the inventory and assessment of ash trees in our park system. So... THAT IS A VERY SPECIFIC THING AND IT IS A BIG DEAL AND SO WE'RE WORKING ON THAT ON A LOT OF FRONTS. NEXT TUESDAY, AUGUST 4TH, IS MY SON'S BIRTHDAY. OH, WAIT. AND ALSO NICOLE'S BIRTHDAY. But it's also National Night Out, and there's lots of events in the community going on. We are hosting a party at Las Casitas Park, and so that'll be a fun time. The Midwest Community Involvement Organization is also having an ice cream social at Lafke Park, so that'll be a good time as well. Finally, registration is open for the League's 101st Annual Conference. I believe Councillor Brooks was on the planning committee, so we have lots to look forward to. It's October 15 through 17 in Salem, and if you would like help registering, let me know, and we'll pass that along to Erica. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. I don't have any formal meetings, although the IBAC CIO event was really well attended. It just gets bigger every year, and thanks to so many of the community partners out there who participated. It was a lot of fun.

Councilor Reyes.

Um, nothing formal, but I did attend the announcement of the neighborhood grant from Metro and it was, I did it on a different role in a different role, but I was there and I sat dusting and the team and it was really nice to hear when they awarded the grants, but that's all.

Thank you. I didn't have any formal meetings, so another report council Brooks.

Thank you. I had a call from Wajdi, who's the director over at the MET, talking about some planning that's coming up for the fall. So I went over and met with him. And there was also a request to meet with economic people from the city. So I will follow up. Just don't let me forget. I will follow up with that afterwards. WASHD, the director over at the Muslim Educational Trust. Yeah, they're planning, there's a 20, anyway, they're planning some things for the fall. I did the mayor's call on the 20th, and it was nice. We actually hit each other this time. I went to, it's not really the city, so I won't say that one. The 12th and Arts Advisory Committee met on the 21st, and we discussed goals for the future year. and planning um also in fyi the grants program for the community grants that the arts advisory committee gives is going to line up now with our city grants program so that will be easier and will be more in conjunction with other um other programs within the city and have a better flow And we are also looking at creating specific policy for the group, which hadn't been done, although it's one of the charges of the group. And then there are some other discussions around the box wraps. If people have noticed, the box wraps are up. I think I mentioned that last time, but the box wraps are up. And we're looking at if we'll be doing other box reps in the future so that is ongoing and they have to synthesize some of the results from the polling that we do in the in the meeting it was nice to have it in person um then let's see the um THE NEW COMMITTEE MET FRIDAY MORNING FOR THE HEALTH CARE COMMITTEE. THERE WERE A COUPLE OF PRESENTATIONS. ONE WAS OF THE REPORT THAT HAS JUST BEEN RELEASED AROUND THE OREGON HEALTH PLAN. I THINK IT WAS LIKE 280 SOME PAGES. It was pretty startling information, and there's going to be a lot of cuts, and they're trying to figure out how to manage those cuts for the upcoming year because of the impacts of the big, beautiful bill. And then... I'm sorry. So that was a hard conversation, but they're going to come back again next month with some more conversations around that and what they're going to have to cut out. And it's just the beginning. So this will be a process that will be going on. So this will be the first round of cuts. It's going to make a huge difference, and then it's going to keep coming. Then the next item, there's some work that has been done by Multnomah County around... Dovetailing intake services to help make it more efficient for people whether they're coming in through physical disabilities or Mental health which has been disparate and they're you they're utilizing a program Downtown and it looks like they've been working with the committee the health care committee with the governor to do a statewide integration of that model so that's just coming up and some explanation around that uh... and and oh and then we were at the metro meeting which was amazing that we got the two million dollar grant i was sad about the other thing i do want to say that i do understand that the new chair wanted to do something where there's more input from other counselors uh... And it impacted Tigard, and I was there also supporting Tigard since it's our partner. And even one of the Metro counselors talked about that it was a sort of a, she didn't say messy, but it was kind of a messy experiment. And so hopefully they'll be able to put those two, the goals and the operations together in a different way in the future. I think that it was very out of protocol. So our counselor was pretty surprised as well. HOWEVER, THERE'S BEEN A LOT OF CONVERSATIONS, AND I WAS GLAD TO BE THERE AND SEE HOW ALL THAT WAS GOING ON AND TALK TO QUITE A FEW OF THE COUNSELORS. I ALSO TALKED TO THEM AT THE CLIMATE MEETING THAT WE HAD, AND THAT WAS VERY INTERESTING. THEY WENT THROUGH AND TALKED ABOUT DIFFERENT CLIMATE ACTION GOALS AND DIFFERENT PROGRAMS IN THE AREA. Amber? Why can't I think of her name? Our new climate manager? Amanda. Thank you. Was there, and so it was nice to give her a shout-out. Thank you.

Council President Pratt.

went to a more fun he went to one of the lunch concerts and her moho holler that was really fun and there's a pretty decent turnout because sometimes there's not many people at those so that was nice and then I went to the I back neighborhood fair and that was great weather and great people and a great day and then on the metro grants I watched the work session and then I watched at in live the actual council session as that went through and so i'm glad we got the two million dollars and i'll leave it at that and then on the tuesday the 22nd i went in um to the kai kershoff ribbon cutting and um Oh, I'm going to break the big secret, but they had a sake barrel traditional ceremony. That was very cool. The mayor got to take part in that. And then I also saw the mayor, Matthew Tamason, was swearing in ceremony at the police department. And he had a cousin here from Romania who brought food for the police department.

His mother.

Yeah. And then... My last thing was Oh Thursday.

I just went and heard about the sewer update since it was in my neighborhood On the 15th of July attended the governor's Freight subgroup transportation meeting Starting at the community was starting to gel and certain attacking the it the issues of you know how do we address those needs of free and expand your head if you will about free includes truck ships rail and air and how you dress those needs within oregon uh... under one set of criteria and usually it's through connect oregon the grant process that funds those kind of kind of uh... infrastructure, but starting to look at, okay, what other states do, whether they're funding streams, what are the needs that we have, and what would be supported in Oregon to move forward. And it's coming down to messaging and letting folks know the importance of freight and the impacts of what happens if freight doesn't make it through, and we saw that during COVID. So we've got three more meetings with the freight subgroup. On the 16th, I attended JPAC and Mayor Dillon's spot as the primary. On that agenda that day was the MTIP amendment for the Rose Quarter changes. If you remember, there was quite a large plan to redo the interstate around the Rose Quarter, but that got significantly changed with the Trump administration when some money was taken away. So now there's only phases 1A and 1B with some changes around the Rose Quarter itself, but the infamous cap and restoring the albina neighborhood that is all nonfunded now ODOT continues to pursue funding for the later phases but is unfunded so all the MTIP did was reallocate some of the money and then release the funds that were anticipated from the federal government that will never occur in phases 1a and 1b we discussed the trip in September to Washington, D.C. for federal advocacy of Metro's needs, specifically looking at what's going to happen with the surface transportation renewal and the kind of things that we need in the Metro region in terms of that surface transportation bill that probably will not be touched this year, but the next congressional session will. And then Metro released the work plan for the 2028 RTP on the metro level. I chimed in that we had some concerns, we being Washington County, that some of their forecasting for jobs growth were tremendously low for this part of the county, and that we'd like to address in their modeling when they do the modeling for the RTP making sure that we aren't caught short in terms of transportation needs for those folks to get to and from work every day. And then fun part of the 16th was going to Safety Town and seeing the kids. These were the older kids who were doing projects. Saw some really cool projects on how they address safety, everything from electricity to water, internet, bee stings. It was pretty cool. So I enjoyed spending time with the kids there. 22nd, as Council President Pratt mentioned, the Kai Kershaw celebration, a significant expansion here in town. They have a new facility across the street where it used to be Janice Cookies, 40,000 square feet of manufacturing space and warehousing. So representatives of the family that owns Kai, a couple of the members were here in town for that. And the fun part about the sake barrel was there was no sake, it was water. Yes. Yeah, it was kind of a bummer, but it made sense, you know, but come on.

Did you go to his invitation afterwards?

No, I did not go to his invitation to taste his sake later. I also went to the police swearing-in, the new police officer, yeah, with Bruce from Romania, which was really cool that his family was there. On the 23rd, I had the Tualatin Chambers board meeting. Things were progressing well under the interim CEO. Then went to Safety Town again with the Luttles. I give credit to the counselors. It was 50-something kindergarten through second graders. And, man, they pelted me with questions that were, you know, some were super good and some were just hysterical. Everything from my favorite Disney character, my favorite author. favorite ice cream to, uh, why are you the mayor? Why do you want to do this? You know, it's like, yeah, I asked that myself sometimes too, but I look forward to tomorrow is my last time we had safety town. So I look forward to that. And there's a heads up if people haven't seen it on this Friday, representative Walters and Senator Wagner and I are hosting a little event at community park, the main shelter from five 30 to six 30. It's your opportunity to interact with Representative Walters and Senator Wagner before the legislative session starts. I'm figuring people aren't going to be asking me a lot of questions since I'm on my way out the door. I'll be mainly emceeing and facilitating the questions of Representative Walters and Wagner. So again, 530 to 630, Community Park, Main Shelter. That's it for me. So we'll go ahead and close the work session, and we'll reconvene for our main council meeting at 7 o'clock. Thank you.