City Council - Regular Meeting

Recording in progress. Uh, we have two remote members cuz they're sick and I banned them from the council chambers. So, uh, that way they didn't spread it to the rest of us. But now, thanks to CO, you have to work when you're sick, too. So, thank you for joining us remotely. And with that, will the recorder please call the role?

Councelor Duggar, I am here. Councelor Hartmmy Pri here. Councelor Hassan here. Councelor Kimmy here. Councelor Teter here. Thank you. Councelor Tivan here. Thank you.

All right. Tonight is a fairly short but packed agenda. We're going to start with a proclamation followed by visitor comments. Uh then we have a presentation from our uh special district fire. We have a really robust consent agenda and we'll be acting as a contract review board this evening. So I will start with tonight's proclamation and I do know that we have htag our housing technical advisory committee members here tonight to receive the proclamation. So after we read it, we'll kind of come together for a quick photo. Um and I know Javier from staff is here as well. So, if you had any comments after the proclamation, happy to receive them. Uh, tonight's proclamation, whereas the city of Beaverton upholds diversity, equity, inclusion as core principles that strengthen and enrich our community and recognizes that access to fair housing is essential to achieving an equitable society. Whereas the month of April 2026 marks the 58th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which established a national policy of fair housing and continues to serve as a vital tool in combating housing discriminations on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, familial status, while reminding us that disparities persist and ongoing efforts are needed. Whereas Oregon fair housing law further guarantees that housing throughout the state of Oregon must be available to all residents regardless without regard to marital status, source of income, sexual orientation, including gender identity, and status as survivors of domestic violence. Whereas equitable access to housing strengthens the entire community by promoting economic stability, improving health outcomes, expanding education opportunities, and fostering diversity integrated neighborhoods where everyone can thrive. Yet barriers to equal housing opportunities continue to disproportionately affect communities of color, people with disabilities,

immigrants, refugees, and the LGBTQI plus individuals. And whereas the city of Beaverton partners with community-based organization, housing advocates, and local agencies to eliminate discriminatory practices, educate housing providers and residents about their rights and responsibilities, enforces fair housing laws, and advances inclusion development that meets the needs of our diverse communities. And whereas the city of Beaverton reaffirms its commitment to strengthening its policies, programs, and practices to advance hair fair housing, removes systematic barriers, and foster inclusion, welcoming neighborhoods for all residents. Now, I Lacy Batty, the mayor of the city of Beaverton, do here proclaim the month of April 2026 as fair housing month in the city of Beaverton and call upon all residents, businesses, and organizations to join in reaffirming our commitment to fair housing, advancing equity and inclusion, and working together to ensure that every member of our community has access to housing opportunities they deserve. So, I'll be happy to do a photo with our HTA tag members if they want to come up and do it with the council. Do do you want to Sure.

Good. Should I just start? So, I'm Sha Rutder. I am the education outreach director at the Fair Housing Council of Oregon. I use she, her, hers pronouns. We are very happy to be able to be here and to celebrate fair housing in Beaverton in the month of April. We know that there are attacks on people's civil rights on the federal level. And I will say that I have never been more grateful than to live in the state of Oregon where we have done a wonderful job of codifying protections for uh for these groups that need protections because they're more likely to experience housing discrimination. Um happy to have this acknowledged by the city of Beaverton and also your continued interest in enforcing fair housing law and also supporting education. Thank you. Do I get a round of applause for that? Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Mayor Batty and council members. My name is Lisa Gets Mutler and I'm here on behalf of HTAG, the Housing Technical Advisory Group. Uh I want to express our deep appreciation for this proclamation and the commitment that it represents. Fair housing isn't just a policy goal. It's a promise. A promise that every person, regardless of background, income, or circumstance, deserves a safe, stable, and dignified place to call home. At HAG, we see every day how life-changing that can be. We see families finally a able to breathe a little easier, seniors staying rooted in the communities they love, and folks getting the stability they need to move forward. And of course, we see the challenges that are still out there, and that's why moments like this matter. They remind us that we're all in this together. I want to take a moment to thank Shy from the Fair Housing uh Council of Oregon for joining us today. She generously brought along several fair housing posters to share which are awesome. Honestly, these are very cool. Um, we're grateful for her ongoing partnership and we're excited that she'll be one of our presenters at our upcoming event. Her participation is a great example of the kind of collaboration that we're hoping to highlight. So, with that in mind, I want to invite everyone to join us on April 14th at the library at the downtown Beaverton City Library from 400 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. for our second annual hagousing resource event. We'll be offering sessions on fair housing laws, practical guidance on how to buy a home, and mediation strategies for tenants and landlords, resources designed to empower residents with knowledge and tools to navigate their housing journey. In addition to these sessions, we'll have representatives from a variety of organizations at resource tables offering additional information and support to help community members connect with the services they need. Thank you again for recognizing this vital work and for standing with us as we continue building a community where everyone has a place to call home.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you. Okay, we are now on to uh our public comment portion of the evening. Uh the city requires pre-registration for online in-person visitor comments at council meeting. Registration closed at noon today. All registration was conducted through the city reporters office via email or phone in preparation for this meeting. There are six people registered to comment at tonight's meeting. As a reminder, visitor comments provide the opportunity for the community to speak about matters even if they are not on our agenda. Visitors may state their comments and should not expect the council to engage in back and forth dialogue regarding the comments as this time is for the council to hear from the community. The city council seeks to be a welcoming inclusive towards all speakers at public meetings and we strive to create an atmosphere of mutual respect and care. While community members may disagree with each other or the city on issues and may give critical feedback, they're expected to do so respectfully and without disruption. Disruptions interfere with the ability of others to present in person or online to participate in this meeting. Council members do not interrupt community members during their public comments and we expect community members to offer the same courtesy to other speakers. Visitor comments are limited to three minutes for each person. If follow-up is needed, our city manager and city recorder are taking notes. Uh, tonight we're gonna start with Daniela, followed by David. Daniela. All right, David. Uh, after that is Tino. David, please. Yep.

I'm back. Um, I'm David Witter. I'm the uh president of the Louiswis and Clark chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. Um, and I'm here to uh give you an update on where we are with the Revolutionary War Memorial that's being placed in the uh Veterans Memorial Park. Uh the installation of the uh tablets and the benches will occur this Thursday. So there'll be a big crane at the park to be able to lift those uh tablets and get them in place. And on April 19th, that's Patriots Day, the 251st anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord, we'll be holding a dedication ceremony at 1:30, probably last till about 3:30. Uh, Mayor Bey is going to be joining us for that celebration. We want to invite you all, and I'll leave uh brochures in the back here for the public. Uh this has been 17 years in the making. Uh but we've had great cooperation uh from the Legion Post 124, from the city, and from Twallen Hills Park and Wreck. So uh this is something to really celebrate as part of the nation's 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. So, uh, good news and I think a very this will be a very innovative, uh, addition to the park. There's nothing like it, um, in the in the United States that's been done in this way. So, we look forward to seeing you all at the park.

Thank you. I know it took a lot of effort to get it done for the 250th anniversary. And if anyone is wondering uh where complex city issues reside, it's in a veterans park owned by the city, operated by THPRD, and being overseen by American Post 124. So, it is no easy task to get a monument or placement in that park. It requires extensive coordination among many groups. So, thank you.

Thank you, uh, Tino. and with a new logo tonight. So, thanks for joining us.

Uh good uh good evening, mayor, city council. Um I just want to say before I speak, I just want to acknowledge that I understand that on this particular city council that there are some good pl people uh on this board. And so, uh, but what brings me here tonight and especially something that I just want to kind of highlight and landmark as this project moves forward and that is the metallark place. Um, projects like this where there is resources from Metro and also from Senate Bill 5531. While these projects have um very great potential and the intentions of the city are very valid, however, there is still collateral damage that is going on. Uh workers are still being taken advantage of, not being paid correctly. And this happens not just on private sector jobs, but on projects just like this where the funds come from, let's just say, from the taxpayer. um these kind of jobs uh kind of fall into a category that I have seen where contractors score this project to work with the city or the public but there is no accountability for their subcontractors that they choose to use and the one thing that I have learned by being in this position in the last in just a few for the few you know not not too long is that by the time the shovel hits the ground we're already too late and maybe even as I'm talking before you tonight I'm too But most contractors and projects rely solely on bullying. And unfortunately, as we've talked about this before, but waiting for that to happen, the damage is already done. The worker is already missed out on a paycheck. The workers already been taken advantage of, fallen victim, him, his family, to a broken system that doesn't work, that is supposed to fund something to bring benefit for the community, but fall

short because of solely relying on bully as its enforcement mechanism. One thing that as I'm standing here tonight is that not necessarily am I against or for the project. But my question is is that if we are going to do something to protect workers, we can't wait till the shovel hits the ground. It needs to start right here. And it needs to happen not waiting for bully to get funding or what have you, but it needs to happen between this group of leaders right here. what's in the language with the developer or what does the city have in place that when these things do happen and are proven? What are we going to do when that does happen? Or is this just going to fall in line of another trail of projects that this happens on? And so I want to thank you so much for your time and just to give you guys something to, you know, take with you as we think about this. And lastly, as uh I close, the working class supports Ashley Pri for House District 27. You guys take care.

Thank you,

Lakota. Good evening, Mayor and Council members. My name is Lakota Tao and I'm a worker here in Beaverton. I'm here today speaking on behalf of local workers who depend on fair, lawful wages to support their families. So to tack onto my colleague Tino's message, this is to add on to that. Many of us work on publicly funded projects, projects that are supposed to uphold prevailing wage laws and protect both workers and taxpayers. Unfortunately, what we're seeing on the ground is very different. There are contractors on these projects who are mclassifying workers, paying cash under the table, falsifying payroll reports, and avoiding taxes and workers compensation. This isn't just a technical violation. It's downright wage theft. It hurts workers, undercuts honest contractors, and defrauds taxpayers funding these projects. And the reality is the bad actors are winning, frankly speaking, because enforcement and accountability are too weak or too slow. Bully doesn't have the funding, doesn't have the backing. They don't have the workforce to deal with it. This affects real people. It affects the worker who doesn't get paid what they were promised. The family that can't rely on stable income. The honest contractor who loses bids to those cutting corners illegally. When public money is involved, this should never be acceptable. Period. I'm not asking for anything unreasonable. I am simply asking for accountability. That could look like stronger enforcement and audits on prevailing

wage projects. Not at just the beginning, not here, just here, but throughout the entire project and at the end as well. Real consequences for contractors who violate the law. Not simple petty penalties like fines. Real real consequences. Clear reporting systems for workers to safely report violations, transparency and payroll and compliance. At the end of the day, we just want to ensure that these workers that those who break the rules are held accountable. These are taxpayer funded projects. They should reflect fairness, integrity, and respect for the people doing the work. I urge you to take action to protect workers, support honest businesses, and ensure these laws are actually enforced. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for joining us, Evelyn. Get to close us out tonight. Thank you, Mayor, members of council. For the record, my name is Evelyn Coacher. I use she her pronouns and I am a lifelong Beavertonian. Last week on March 28th, thousands of folks from Beaverton turned out to the library quad not a half mile from here for the No Kings protests. Mayor, you were there speaking uh and I saw many of you there. We were all coming together to fight against the tyranny and the lawlessness of this presidential administration and this federal government and to show that this is not Beaverton values that the people of Beaverton are against this. One hour after this protest, many of those same people were at El Re Park on Lombard at the memorial for Pino Martin, a Beavertonian of over 30 years who was kidnapped by ICE not a mile from here from city hall and died shortly afterwards upon his return to Mexico. I was disappointed to see that there was not any representatives from the city of Beaverton at the memorial and that the family has not been contacted by any people on this council. The story of Palino is the story of Beaverton. He made a home here for over 30 years. He raised his family here and he literally used his blood, sweat, and tears to build this city by building the homes for people who lived here. And his

story tells us the real human cost of the policies of this administration. On the same day that we brought the community together to mourn his loss, thousands of Everonians turned out to show that our values that we hold dear in this city are not the same as the ones espoused by the federal government. I've been here speaking in front of you most meetings since October. It's been six months since I've been showing up here and asking for stronger action. I commend you for the actions that you have taken, the $25,000 that you have allocated to go to immigrant families who have been impacted by ICE detentions, the state of emergency that has been declared. But I'm once again looking at the agenda and there are no updates on immigration and the status of immigration enforcement in Beaverton. There's no further actions scheduled on immigration. If this is what an emergency looks like, then I don't know how we get anything done in this city. Neutrality in the face of injustice is taking the sight of the oppressor. If this is an emergency, we need to act like it. We need to act like our colleagues and friends in Hillsboro and Portland and take stronger action to protect our immigrant neighbors. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. All right, we are on to our scheduled presentation of this of the evening. It's the Toalatin Valley Fire and Rescue annual state of the district. It looks like a whole bunch of you. So, please uh they're welcome to join you. We could pull up an extra chair. I mean, I know he's the talent, but you guys are probably the workers. So, feel free to join them.

We're going to change it up tonight. Okay. For the record, my name is Patrick Fail, Deputy Chief Twalton Valley Fire and Rescue. Mrs. Mayor, members of the council, thank you for having us there here this evening. Um, tonight I'm going to introduce my friend and colleague, uh, Karen Haning. Karin is a rising leader within Twin Valley Fire and Rescue. And last time I was here, I walked up here alone and Miss Mayor reminded me who is with you in the back. Please come up here. and it was just a powerful message that my job is often to make space for others. So tonight, um Karen Haney, public affairs officer, is going to lead it off. So you

want to enter? Yeah. Really quick, our battalion chief's in the back. Um Chad Ledson is C5. He protects Beaverton. Uh he's the command incident commander for um this area. And Casey Henry is C71. We are working towards a fourth battalion and he is the first battalion chief uh towards that goal. So

you thank you. All right, deputy chief fail and I are so pleased to be here this evening to present our annual state of the district to you. Tonight we will cover a snapshot of the calls for service that crews responded to within Beaverton in 2025. We'll also touch on the upcoming wildland season as well as the ever evolving EMS landscape. We'll highlight the bond capital projects underway that are in closest proximity to you here in Beaverton. And finally, we'd like to share about work being done around post-traumatic growth through a program called Struggle Well. So, it's a little bit of an eye chart. You might be able to see it in front of you. Um but because in Beaverton all your council members are returning, this graphic is not the first time that you're seeing um the data that we collect and present in this way. So we call these our incident snapshots that we gather and compile by city. And um just to kind of um do a little overview of what you're looking at um you may recall from past state of the districts that we take pride in being highly data informed. So um at the top of those rows you see kind of broader categories of u categories that we collect information on. So medical, fire, hazardous materials, good intent etc. And then the rows across are dispatched as and then situation found. So the difference in how the call is first coming in to 911, what callers are reporting to dispatchers and then once crews arrive on scene, what they're finding. So sometimes it's closer to being one and the same. Sometimes there's a bit more of a discrepancy. So if you look in that

first far column on the left under medical when the calls are coming in and it's being reported by people out in the community, it's actually upwards of 86% that there's believed to be some type of medical component. Uh when crews arrive on scene, it's closer to 70% of what they're finding has um a ends up being a medical call. And this isn't specific to Beaverton. It is also representative of our broader district. These numbers um are fairly similar throughout our whole service area. We want to touch on um that fires, hazardous materials, I think you see a little further down MVCs, that stands for motor vehicle crash. While these types of calls happen less frequently, our effectiveness depends on our ability to get our highly trained personnel in heavy assets to that incident as soon as possible. So, lower frequency but higher acuity and working to get there as quickly as we can. Um, near the bottom you'll see that we also track time of day, day of the week, um, and the stations that are responding to these calls throughout Beaverton. Um, Mayor Batty and Councelor Hartmmyer Prague participated in our community academy this past fall. Mayor Batty stayed at station 67 uh which you can see is the the busiest um on this list and the crews had hoped to attend tonight. They are on a call right now. So probably not a surprise to you for how busy you were that night. Um we also track the concentration of where our calls occur. So you can see on the map areas in red usually align with the location of care homes and assisted living facilities that generate a significant number of calls per year.

And we'll get into that a little bit more um in upcoming slide. While our call volume has moderately increased over the last few years, the distribution of the types of calls that we see uh remains consistent. So, you may remember from last year we talked about the record-breaking wildfires that Oregon had seen across the state in 2024 and then early in the year last year in January the response that we were able to support uh down in Southern California. So, this year we're already getting the questions. You're probably seeing in the news. Many are wondering what the with the mild winter we've had, what we might expect for Oregon's summer. Um, particularly as it relates to wildfires. Last year's wildfires and mobilizations through the state fire marshall's office were moderate in terms of acres burned, but were very deeply impactful as far as the number of homes that were lost to wildfire. and we have learned not to make predictions even with the unseasonably low snow pack um and drought conditions across the state. So, it's going to be a wait and see. However, all TVFR firefighters are trained in wildland. So, there's a baseline training that all firefighters receive. Um, and in addition to that, we have a wildland team that has further training and they are prepared to deploy and protect communities at risk when called upon. This year, actually, not in this moment, but currently in March and April, we have a wildland training block that is taking place. So that ongoing continuous training for

firefighters throughout our district that is taking place on a donated property behind Mountainside High School. So if you're over in that area and you happen to see some extra rigs, don't be alarmed. It may not be a call. It may be training that's happening out in the community specific to continuing to hone their skills in progressive hose and mobile fire attack. Now, the last several years, um, we always include something about EMS, and that's, you know, earlier I mentioned that seven out of 10 of the calls that we respond to are medical in nature. So, it makes sense that we just continue to not only be looking how to maneuver and navigate in that space, but continuing to update our partners on where things are at. Um, the way our communities are using the 911 system has changed significantly over the past three decades. So, um, pause for a moment and think about what used to be required of somebody even to call 911. If you're driving down the road, you see a fire or you see a car crash, you had to pull over to the side of the road and stop your vehicle. and you know whether it was going to the nearest business or maybe knocking on a stranger's home just to get on the phone and activate 911. Whereas now, our phones are in our pockets or they're connected to our watches or they're synced up with our cars. And if we're in a crash or if we have any type of significant bump or fall, that alone may be enough to alert 911 and get those dispatching of resources started. When someone calls 911 for a life-threatening medical need within our service area, they can rest assured that

they have one of the strongest advanced life-saving resource responses in the country. And this is noted in our incredible cardiac arrest survivor rates as well as the hundreds of lives that our crews save each year. A great number of calls still require our skilled medics and advanced life support capabilities. However, a growing number of our medical calls now require a basic life support or BLS response. Often, these patients have non-emerent medical needs or social service needs as their primary um reason for initiating or seeking out um that care. And that's starting with 911. We're seeing more people utilizing 911 as their access point to health care rather than seeking help for ailments through a primary care provider or through urgent care. And these shifts in utilization impact our response reliability to critical emergencies. So, we're always looking back to that um all the data that you saw. There's even more. Uh we're always looking at ways to evolve our system and analyze data to understand trends and customer behavior when considering how to tackle these challenges. We'll touch on a few programs that we have implemented in the last year or two to meet evolving needs. A couple we touched on last year. A couple are or one at least one is new. Um but advanced practice community paramedic program that's um on the right side or depicted on the right side. We have specialized paramedics with additional training and equipment not only to assist crews on critical call types um but they also engage with

high utilizers of our 911 system. So they are trained not only in parame medicine but also in knowing what community services are available in the community and working to connect those patients to whatever um would most meet their needs. nurse navigation with dispatch. So think tele medicine is creating opportunities with that prevent ambulance transports to emergency rooms when they're not necessary. So, um, for particular call types, when a caller calls in to 911, if they're describing certain symptoms, they may be routed to an advice nurse, and then that advice nurse can help determine or recommend if it's actually a primary care provider, alter um, urgent care, other sources, and and also at the same time determining if it does need to be kicked back, it can still go back to dispatch for a BLS or ALS response. Um, our EMS and community risk reduction staff recently launched a care facility outreach program to work with the 70 licensed care facilities in our service area that account for 14% of our incidents. So, those were those red dots. Um, as the health care system continues to experience stressors, we know that traditional response models are not sustainable from a fiscal and resource perspective. We will continue to evolve our approach and have sought collaborative partnerships at the city, county, state, and federal levels to meet the needs of our community and address larger system challenges that impact emergency medical services. All right, transitioning over to bond

and capital projects. Um, again, we touched on this last year. Several station rebuilds and remodel projects from the November 2021 voterapproved general obligation bond are underway. So, at the direction of our board, all stations that are part of this current bond, both rebuilds or remodels align with the following goals and objectives. So, we've been tasked with um prioritizing seismic security and equity needs. Stations must be able to fit any size apparatus. Stations must be able to accommodate future growth. So thinking more about multi-comp dual houses um not just for current staffing decontamination spaces that incorporate hot, warm and cold zones and all stations should now include a battalion chief bunk or office. Um so uh station 62, you see a rendering there that's currently in Aloa. It's moving to a new location from 209th to 185th in pheasant about just a mile or so away and site preparation grading of that site has begun this spring. Station 67 there in the middle right here on Farmington has been the design build team has been selected. So that's Howard S. Wright and the design both for the temporary station and the permanent station is underway. And at this point, it's a it's a really key location for us. And we spent some time looking for where the crews may temporarily relocate while construction is happening there. But as you know, it's very tight and dense and not a lot of land. So, right now, the current plan is for crews to continue to

be able to respond from that same site, just having modular units in the back of the lot. um which is great as far as um you know them still remaining in what we call their station zone. So their primary area that they respond to and station 17 in North Plains and station 19 in Midway. So, um, out on Highway 219 are concurrent projects that PNC Construction has been selected and will be contracting with Scott Edwards Architects. And last but not least, um, our training center, which is near Sherwood, but serves the entire district. That's this last image on the right. That larger building in the back is our administrative building that will be um coming down while and the staff and our firefighter recruits will continue to work out of modular units on that site while the new one is built. So, um several of the board priorities that I mentioned for fire stations place an emphasis on what is referred to as traumainformed design. While the average community member may encounter three to five traumatic events in their lifetime, first responders are exposed to approximately 500 traumatic events over the course of their career. And creating spaces for wellness and downtime in between these calls increases a firefighter or paramedic's likelihood of being able to complete their full career as a firefighter or as a first responder. And that's a helpful segue. So whether we're discussing cardiac arrest calls, um, community

paramed medicine and our paramedics, our fire response or wildland response, at the core of it all is our people. And people, we know that our people are deeply committed to serving our residents and our communities. Since 2022, Towalitton Valley Fire and Rescue has partnered with the Boulder Crest Foundation to provide Struggle Well, which is a program that they developed and they offer two-day, 4-day, even longer versions of workshops. Um, we've been working to have all agency personnel go through these workshops. The framework of the struggle well program was initially developed for military personnel and veterans but proved to be impactful in dealing with post-traumatic stress and it has now expanded across the country to include law enforcement and fire agencies as well. Struggle well is a paradigm shift for folks that moves from PTSD to post-traumatic growth. So proven model to dramatically improve the health and wellness of first responders. And at the core is the understanding that while in life we all have struggle um that with deep struggle we can cultivate profound strength and it can actually help us achieve the life that we want to live. So while everyone experiences struggle we can all learn to struggle well. Um to date approximately 40% of TVF and our staff have attended one of these workshops whether two-day or 4day or longer. Um but we have now had some of

our people trained. So these trainings are being offered inhouse by TVF&R personnel who have become struggle well guides. And during the state's legislative short session this spring, we sought state investment to provide one-time financial support for us to continue this program internally, but also to be able to expand and offer it to our Washington County fire and law enforcement partners. Um while budget constraints at the state level did not result in the desired outcome this session, we continue moving forward with our commitment to ensure that all agency personnel at a minimum are able to complete this at least two-day struggle well training. And lastly, of course, there's so much more that we could share. Um, but we encourage you to take uh your phone if you'd like and get grab that QR code for a video that provides a year in review from our fire chief. Um, and with that, that concludes our state of the district, but we're happy to take any questions. uh we know what she'll be doing after this meeting. Uh we'll be checking out your state of the district. Thank you so much for joining us this evening. I think sometimes it's often hard for community members to understand Beaverton's complex governance. Right. Uh some might call Hillsboro a full service city. Uh I call ours a full government relation city. We have uh special district fire, special district park, special district water in part of the district, clean water services that treat storm water and it requires immense um relationship building to get

things done that we need to do. I think one of our greatest partnerships is with you guys for a multitude of reasons. I've stated in the past that a special district fire gives us the ability to respond across cities and it's not impacted by um individual cities budget. It gives upward mobility for firefighters choosing this as a profession and gives them opportunities to work in rural parts of the county or more urban at 67. Um and just really gives them a more rounded out what are you just you're trying to middle school out the 67. Got it. 67. Um, and I think it just it really shows that we can do these services uh justice. And I think in, you know, in past we've talked about how often it makes your property t uh insurance a little bit lower um because of your guys' AAA bond rating. And so as a mayor that has to operate in special district heaven, as I like to call it, um we're really really glad at the professionalism that exists with TVF&R. I will say one of my greatest prides this year was making it all night at 67. Uh through both rig rides, my own pride would have not allowed me to tap out and sleep. And I reminded Roy Rogers in our meeting this year that I am far better than him because I made it through the night. And for the record, I also beat Senator Solomon who did not make it through the night either. So, uh if anyone goes to their academy, if you pull 67, I'm extremely sorry for you. But those those those guys over there, they're tough, man. Like they um fed me a steak and I should have known because in military culture when you get a steak, it is always bad news. Like if they serve you steak, bad shit's coming. So I appreciate that. I will also say and I've shared with you and and Chief Weiss that my husband and I both have done Warrior Path, the military version of struggle well, and it was by far one of the best um experiences for both of us in dealing with post-traumatic growth. And I think that it's led by people that share a lifestyle and

background as you, which is so different than going to seek therapy from a civilian that's never served and can't even have the capacity to understand what you've gone through. I know I supported your legislative ask uh to bring it out. So, I'm in it again. If we can do it, I would love for this to come to our police department. presumptive PTSD with what you experience is the baseline of where we need to start taking care of first responders because the impact to you and having been a service member and the wife of a 25-y year veteran, it is rough for not just you but your entire family. So kudos for bringing it to the district. Keep us in the loop on how we can partner together. Uh we don't have a lot of money, but we like to get other people's money. So if we can partner together on that, that would be great. And thank you for the switch up tonight in presentation. Great job. I do the council does have a couple questions. Councelor Hust.

Yeah, thank you so much for this presentation. Uh I have a very technical logistic question from slide three and I have it up. So if they want to show it, they can. When you say total incidents, does that include a call for like when does it go from call for service to incident to critical patient? Does that make sense?

Yes. So we consider it all one and the same. I we use those terms interchangeably. Um I would say there are some are like that we maybe that that wouldn't be captured if it's small enough that a report is not written about. Yeah. Um this is a combination of of data points from um the CAD the computer a dispatch. Okay,

so call taken. Uh, Oregon RS says once they receive a call, they have to push a call. That creates an incident. So that's your incident count. And we combine that with situation found to get a clear picture about uh how many incidents came in and what was actually happening. So if they send a call, that's an incident count. Okay. And when you look at like the false alarm row, which is like zero, but then 668, that's basically like you showed up and that there was something that that you didn't expect. Um just the opposite. Okay. So 668 uh fire alarms with zero fire found on arrival. Okay.

Yeah. Which is very common for us. Okay. And one more thing that I'll add um that you probably intuitively know just looking at this map is that these calls and incidents that we've captured here only reflect the calls within Beaverton city limits. So it doesn't represent, you know, calls in the unincorporated parts that are so closely neighboring yours. Okay. And if the 911 call is made, does it go to you over the police or do you do it together?

So it depends on the call. Um sometimes depending on how it comes in, police may be dispatched first and or jointly depending on so a good example is a cardiac arrest that both of those are dispatched at the same time because sometimes police may be closer and they often carry AEDs. So if they're able to get there first, they can start compressions. We've had a number of cases where they even are able to have um an AED, you know, a shock given um but it's uh in concert together and sometimes um you know, one or the other.

Okay. And last question, and I think you were saying it, but I'm trying to like dumb it down. you're saying that a lot of calls are coming in from homes and from places where people need help and that's really because the health care aspect in terms of people having access to health care has sort of decreased and so whether it's like a li senior home I'm assuming is what you mean or just a person who doesn't know how to access resources you're sort of becoming the catchall for that

correct I mean it's complex and that's that's simply stated um but yes as we see uh social services struggle as we see access to health care struggle, housing access, all the social aspects that have really been some of them that have been discussed already this evening. Uh increased usage of 911 occurs. Um and you add on the fact that it's just so easy now to call 911. Um cars automate in a crash to 911. All great things, but they are straining the system. So we have to look for alternatives to get our community members help, the help they need. We don't try to question whether something should be there or not. We try to respond and that's the programs that we've put in place and we'll continue to work with partners on the back end around responsibilities and access to care. But for right now, we're putting programs in place to just get people help.

And I I just wanted to say it out loud because I think you were saying it and I wanted to say it because it is important any of our first responders across the board to say that out loud. So, thank you councelor Hartm Pri. Thank you. I was at a um community participation organization meeting a couple weeks back and I don't remember which station numbers over there off of like by Sato Elementary School, but the TVF&R rep that night was talking about how you're trying to move to four shifts.

And I was just curious if you could share a little bit more about that. um you know when Mayor Batty and I did our um community academy like you know you hear from the folks about just like how disruptive sleep is and to your longevity in your life and you know your health generally um and I was really excited to hear that and I was curious if like moving to four shifts like is that happening regularly throughout the district now? Yeah, go ahead. You too.

Um yes, it's been implemented. Um it's been so far highly successful. Uh we're hearing from our troops that um you know their relationships are doing better. Um they're feeling better. Uh their uh number of times they're getting sick a year is going down. And yes, it's expensive, but they're all we have and they're they're all we offer the community and if they're not whole, we're not whole. So, um we just decided it was worth it. We made the move. We worked with our local to make it happen. Um and here we go. We're doing it. us. Uh Portland's on an alternative schedule, Vancouver, Eugene, and Clacamus. And I think those are the big departments in Oregon and Washington that have made that move.

I mean, I would just say like we know better, so we should do better, right? I'm sure when you were a first a firefighter, like your grit and everything about you was toughing it out, which we making the shift a struggle. Well, we understand cancer now, which is why so many of the upgrades that you're doing, and I think we kind of glossed over that piece in the presentation, but we understand so much more about cancer and sleep and the impact. And I would just say having served on both sides of the military equation, when we can adjust the schedule so parents can on occasion carry the load, like taking kids to school, no matter which partner is a firefighter, I think that's why you're inferring relationships are better because um when we shift loads to one side of the marriage, it often doesn't last. And I know there's a high rate of divorce among service. So kudos. It does cost more, but we're going to get and if I called in the middle of the night, I want a sharp, ready to go, not sleepdeprived, half divorced firefighter showing up. So, I appreciate that.

And we have a moral imperative of leadership to act when we're informed. Yeah. And um and so I'm proud to say that we've done that. In response, if I could just make a quick statement, we absolutely want you to feel that Twan Valley Fire and Rescue is your fire department. Yeah.

I've offered it up many times and you've acted on it. I am your director just as if you had a fire chief in your community. Uh please use us that way. That's how we want to be involved across 11 cities and four counties and that's the secret of our success. And I must own and we are owning that we waned for a while there. Uh especially during difficult times 2018 till about 2024 and we're back and uh we're ready to continue to serve but also serve the leadership of our cities in the manner that we have in the past and hopefully even just a little bit better. Councelor Teter,

thank you. I really appreciate those last comments you all just gave. Um, I want to echo the the mayor's comments about the the struggle well program. I was talking with the firefighters union actually and they were speaking very highly of it. So, I would love for our team members to be able to access that program in the future too. Um my only question is you talked a little bit about the uh rethinking of the strategies of of first response how you respond to certain incidents and we recently start or we are starting up a new drone as first responder program and I'm curious if you all have had any conversations with the city about partnering with our future coming soon drone program to analyze situations that might be fire or emergency related. Uh and then also just comparing uh comparing that with your current response times if that would be helpful. Uh so any any comments on there would be great.

Yeah, sure. Thank you so much. Um so Wolf, Beaverton PD, um known him since he was 17, so that was kind of wild. Um and we just uh met with Washington County as well on DFR, drone's first responder. And over the last several days, they've been responding with station 67,6165s uh on almost all their incidents. It was incredibly impactful. Today, we responded on auto versus pedestrian. Uh the cavalry is coming. A big response package. Drone was first to arrive on scene. Uh contacted uh the first arriving deputy, said it didn't look non-injury. Deputy confirmed that it was non-injury. Uh went to dispatch. dispatched, cut everybody back to code one and quickly returned our crews, which what happens is you're on a low acuity incident, but high acuity is coming in. So that time is valuable. The quicker we can turn those crews off and turn them around and get them back to their first due area, we're saving lives. So yes, we have are heavily invested in the drone as first responder uh program um just in our own research and our own drone program, but we are quickly going to work towards consolidation uh with Washington County and Beaverton on their programs. The more that we're joining in, the more that we're pulling money, the more that we can pull this off.

Yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you, Council President. Uh thank you for being here. Um always good to see you. Easy question to start. What's the timeline for the 67 rebuild? Currently, they are undergoing the design phase. I know, you know, like it's very fluid. So, I was going to check in. Do you do we do we have any updates? I think a really safe answer here is you're going to see a fully built and staffed station within three years. Okay.

But it's complex station. A lot of companies to move around. I think that's probably the safest way to say it. Yeah. Um I I don't know what your comm's plan on that is, but um you know in central Beaverton we have quite a few retirement facilities um certainly that use a lot of those. So I think people are a little well might be a little nervous sometime, you know, around that. So maybe if we can think about that.

Um I I was able to attend the board um the meeting with the mayor and and board member Rogers. Um navigating the EMS challenges. Um wow. That's that is a complicated one. Echo what councelor Hust said like that that is you guys solve that or if even make just please keep us up to date on that because you know I worked in St. Vincent for a long time. I've worked in hospitals. That problem's been at the ER for a long time. So now that it's backing up and making its way through the entire 911 system.

I I wish more community members knew about that like because that is going to be a massive challenge. it it already is, but just, you know, just figuring that out and navigating it because people aren't doing it because they're they have needs, right? And like figuring out the appropriate way, but that that doesn't hinder our emergency response is going to be that's a tight rope. I I appreciate you guys working on that. I want to echo the mayor's comments on our relationship. Um, I feel very comfortable saying you are our fire department. I think that's a really important part. Um, I think I've told you that before. I think I told you that the other day too, but I can't remember.

Um, uh, really really happy to hear about the struggle. Well, um, that makes me really happy. I know a lot of the firefighters. I've I've worked with, uh, the union folks. Um, I think that's really important and in, you know, a massive area of opportunity for us to continue to double down and invest in in worker safety and well-being, mental um, trauma. That was eye opening. what you talk about the the traumatic events um 500 that is that is not surprising but it's eye opening

um I want to just close a couple things number one not as a counselor just as a resident I'm incredibly grateful for your entire uh the entire team I feel very safe I feel very protected I feel very uh cared for in our community thank you for that um I also want to thank you on behalf of the city for trusting us in Bureau the fire department works very closely with us. I think uh that goes without saying. You also support our Knack program uh every time, you know, I know you can't come every single time, but many many times we had firefighters there. Um you know, that's that's a really important update piece, and you guys uh you don't get paid for it. You just show up and you do the work, and that's really important. Um and finally, I'll close with on behalf of my niece and many of the children in this city, um you always participate in events at the city level. you bring the fire trucks, the kids love it. Uh it's just a really cool experience. So, thank you for being a good community member, too, beyond all the service that you do. Really appreciate you all on so many levels.

Yep. Councelor Kimmy, I I think Council Dugger said almost everything I wanted to say. Mhm. Um I I always I I want to thank you for making intentional effort to come to all the city events and building relationships so that we can become friends and then easy to call make part of our Beaverton family. Uh one question is I know there's um recruiting wise um are you guys having hard time recruiting new recruits and what are your efforts to recruit um like minority population AAPI and other members of the community.

We've put an extensive effort together and luckily the gentleman who has been at the heart of it is in the back of the room. So, I'm going to create a little space and have Casey Henry come up here and talk about recruitment.

Uh well, yeah, thank you for the question. Uh I think all three of us uh four of us share a passion for the recruitment. Um passion for the job with co uh the industry in general across the country has taken a hit. I'm happy to report that coming out of COVID, uh, we put forth extensive efforts through our social media campaign, outreach, restructured our programs for recruitment. Uh, we're able to rebound and, uh, numbers in the 300s, uh, every six months that we go back to, um, dip into the barrel to try and get more recruits. This last round, we doubled that. So 600 I'm I'm happy to say I feel like we're back. Um not only as an industry we're we're growing back out of that, but TBFNR is leading the way and I'm really proud of the work that everybody's done.

Casey, can you touch on the barriers that you and your team have removed to employment? Um you have any that you're thinking of?

Yeah, certainly. Uh the the the program was so complex prior. Um and I'll give you an example. um you want to learn about firefighting, you want to be an intern. Our program was structured. So you you really had to be independently wealthy to do that, still live at home with your parents because the way that we had it structured that you couldn't do that and work. So looking at some of those barriers, removing those to try to get people who are interested but maybe don't have the means. Um the other thing we've streamlined uh the processes for the physical abilities test access to the application uh multiple different languages that we didn't have prior to try to replicate the communities that we're serving. Um Casey's very humble. So but this all came out of his brain and uh and and that rest that team and it's been successful for us. We still have more work to do but

uh the the greatest part of all of it is is definitely not me. has been a full district-wide effort. Um, and the coolest thing about it all has been the collaboration where everybody's plate is full and busy. Um, but everybody took a pause from what they had to do and came together to really uh make things happen uh in an efficient manner. So, he's like running as fast as he can. I can't believe chief for bringing me up and uh the things councelor Tim Non will close us out this evening.

Yeah, I um all the questions I think have been asked that have come to mind for me. Thank you to the fellow counselors for doing the hard work on that. Um, I'll just say it's just astonishing how extensively effective you are in responsiveness, not just related to the actual calls coming in, but responsiveness to what um, firefighters need. uh the the ways in which you're thinking through how these new buildings under the new bond program are being built, the trauma-informed approach you're taking to that to the recruitment efforts to just generally being responsive to your part showing up for the community at the events like councelor Duggar was saying. Um and I also I've always thought of um firefighting as a profession as being a family job. you hear of a lot of gener multi-generational um families that go into service and I I can only imagine that this is going to continue to strengthen future generations who see their parents thriving in these roles. And so going to the um flexing to what the work hours look like and um that just the wraparound services to make sure they have the support they need knowing that they're they're getting up close to um trauma in ways that the average person just won't won't have to deal. And um it's just it's it's absolutely inspiring to see the way you run this organization and very very proud to know that you're the team that backs this up and we need the help. Thank you.

Thank you.

Well, thank you for joining us this evening, spending some time explaining the districts. Um, I think a lot of our job on the city council is talking about how government works and what agency to call when things are going on, and it's incredibly complex. I will leave you with this though, that the hardest constituents any elected officials have are the ones they're related to. And my mother-in-law lives off second, can see the uh 67 from her house, and also is near the Beaverton High construction. and I've had very limited input from her from Beaverton Heist Construction and the neighborhood has been very complimentary of them. So I think you have a good learning opportunity from BSD and how they are uh tackling building and kind of living at the same campus. So I'd encourage you to reach out to their facilities uh to do that because that neighborhood is going through so much transformation right now with the school district. We have another project tonight on Metallark which is very close. a lot. I mean, this is one of our oldest neighborhoods, so a lot of this makes sense that it's happening, but it's happening to a community. So, uh, and they are putting up that construction in almost a year. So, I think three years, we'll get we'll we'll start the timeline after the city approves everything, but I think you could do it faster than that. And we'll be your partners. Uh, we have a city manager behind. We'll get your permits. Just call us when things are going. So, you have the mayor.

Thank you so much. Year and a half. Okay. Thanks. All right. Thank you. Have a good evening. All right. So, Council President, we have a consent and contract. Thank you, Mayor. I move to approve the consent uh and contract agenda as presented. Second. Uh it's been moved by council president, seconded by councelor Kimmy. Do we have discussion on tonight's agenda? Councelor Hartm Pri.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, I wanted to just acknowledge our friends from the North Coast Carpenters who came tonight and thank you for reminding us like of our duty and our responsibility. Um, during open or during new business this at the end of today's meeting, I would like us to talk about a potential work session um so that we can look at how we can use our contracts for good. Um, so we'll be voting in support um, in terms of the criticality of getting this housing built and I think we have a responsibility to make sure that with our public dollars we are being as responsible as we possibly can with them. Uh thank you for that and uh thank you to Tito and the crew for coming out tonight reminding us of uh that responsibility. And I will say in in similar fashion um you know we worked really hard to bring in uh funding to build the affordable um child care on the bottom and to uh comply with our states and our values around prevailing wage. And so we did a lot of extra fundraising in that project to be able to colllocate uh community action daycare which is daycare for our most vulnerable lowincome community members housed with seniors the treasure of our community right in downtown. And so we are working towards our shared prosperity of um living wage jobs on sites, daycare, housing, and I think we have some work to do on what you brought us tonight, but this project should is going to and I would not want to speak on their behalf, but their their critique isn't of the project. The project is amazing. It's reminding the council of our responsibility to deliver this project where um uh people are are paid well on time and lives with our values around prevailing wage. Councelor Teter,

I always like to point out some good things that are going on the consent agenda that can fly beneath the surface and there's a lot in here. The meadowark funding is really great. There's also the parks agreement with THPRD that'll help make some connections with the Willow Creek Greenway, the Beaverton Creek Trail, helping people in different parts of around Beaverton be able to to move and walk along our trails. Um, that's really big. That's several million dollars is going to help people move throughout Beaverton. Uh, we've also got the the grant with the state that'll help us implement our housing production strategy. And uh the the Beaverton downtown subbasin strategy is also really important for downtown because it's so covered in a lot of concrete right now. And we're thinking ahead about how can we facilitate more development while also improving our own green space and and storm water capacity treatment. So it's just there's a lot of really good work in here that'll really help Peterson in the future. So thank you everybody who's worked on that. All right, with that, will the recorder please call the role?

Councelor Duggar, yes. Councelor Hartm Pri, yes. Councelor Hassan, yes. Councelor Kimmy, yes. Councelor Teter, yes. Councelor Tibdon, Mayor Batty, yes. Seven, yes. Zero, no.

Thank you. Uh, okay. We are on to council items and I will kick us off this evening with a request for uh I know last week or last week our last meeting was really intense about parking and we voted down a contract. Um there has since been staff one-on- ones with city councilors and a lot of conversation. I would and I what I heard from staff is they feel like council has not given enough direction on the desire of parking. Um, I feel like the council has given a lot of direction here, but um, I would like us to come back in a work session um, and and to see the entire package, not just enforcement, but the plan together. And what's most important for me is action because the early drafts of the plan that I've seen is the same things we've been talking about in different words, and different configurations. And so in that work session, I think it's if you need counsel to weigh in, which is what I'm hearing, give us something to react to. What can we do uh in the first three months? What can we do in six months? What could we do in 12 months? We can help you rack and stack priorities based on what council wants to see, but we need the opportunity to do so. I think a work session would be a perfect opportunity for the council to weigh in on what you guys are doing. I will also mention that I've requested the total cost of parking from staff after that meeting and still have not received it. I'm interested in how much we have spent on consultants, how much we have spent in enforcement, and I think it will help the council make a decision about urgency with how much we're spending in parking. Um, councelor Hartm Pri.

Thank you, Mayor. Um um I'm gonna come back to the contract thing because I think I want to respond a little bit on the parking um comment. You know, I've been reflecting a lot on that meeting too and it was a tough one and I think um you know in some of our follow-up conversations talking about the timing of things is really important. Like it was hard to have a conversation about a contract before we had our our individual like briefings on it. Um and I think it's just a great opportunity for us to like really live that team Beaverton mentality together, right? And I think that it's really hard when we have those moments from the dis where we're being disruptive even with good intention and and I think that was a hard night and I think that um we also talked a bit about return on investment and you know government does not exist for return on investment. The the return on investment is that public benefit right I I firmly believe that and that one we felt like the numbers weren't penciling out and I think it's okay for us to take a pause and say let's keep working on this. I do think we we need to do a better job as a council to give clearer direction in those moments about what we want. And one of the things I was thinking about through that conversation was around the policy versus operations. And I think in parking, it's a really hard one for me particularly to distinguish what is a policy decision and what is an operational decision. And so I think that would be something that would be interesting in that follow-up conversation for us to talk a bit about. Like for example, in in my follow-up briefing, it was it's a policy decision that you want to implement paid parking in the city, right? And that's very true and we haven't made that decision outside of our parking garage, right? So there's things like that that I think we need to do better as a council to say, "Yeah, we're going to take a policy stance on this thing and staff's going to help us turn that program into a success." Um, so I just want to thank you for bringing that back up. I do think we have work to do together and for council to show up in partnership to staff to to get to a better outcome and and to serve our community in the way that we're hearing them ask us to serve them when it comes to parking. Uh and then going back to the contract issue, I do I would love if um there's consensus

from council to to do a work session on our contract stuff. Um you know, councelor Duggar, I know you've brought this up before. We've talked about it as a council and this isn't the first time that the carpenters have come to advocate for their members and the working people of our community and we do have that responsibility. Um, you know, I think state law is like the minimum, but we can do better and we can live our values and be written in a greater way in the way that we do our own contracting. So, I would love for us to have that conversation to make sure that um, and I see some of that in the contract this time, but I think we can do more, we can do better. Um, so I would also be um grateful for the opportunity to have a work session on on our kind of what what comes to life in our own contracts.

Uh, I think if the council's a minimal um I already I have a meeting with the carpenters scheduled to to discuss some of this. This isn't our first meeting. This is our second meeting on the topic. Um, but I think I can uh work with them on what they're seeing and can and help the city manager frame out what a work session would be. We have multiple levels of responsibility here. A lot of our projects have many layers of funding in them, the federal government, Metro where we're at, and I think in a work session to be able to understand all of those things. I do think it's going to take partnership with the legal team and the city manager's office to bring a fruitful conversation. Um, and I think the input from the trades that are seeing it on the ground. I think the other partner in this that we need to hear from is the secretary of or not the secretary of state uh bully the labor commissioner on like what their responsibility is so we understand what our responsibility is um because we're not doing duplicative action but I agree there's responsibility that bully has and we have and they're different but it's confusing to me where that line is so I think uh if the council wants to move forward with this which I support um there's three we just need one more I can work with legal and the carpenters and to make sure that we have a full understanding of a work session on what a policy might look like.

Can I and maybe this is a question for you. I don't I want to find a way to not get us in trouble eially, but like how do we also do this for commercial construction? Because to me, it's not just the public ones that we're seeing gaps. And so like like I know Bley has a bigger role there, but like is there is there opportunities for us to make sure because I've heard and I'm not going to name the complexes, right? But but as they were being constructed, there have been allegations of wage theft and stuff like that. And I want to make sure that we're we're not just focused on the public construction here, but that if we if we go down this route, which I'm all in for, that that we do it across the board, right? I think uh that's where I think the legal like a work session where we can understand that our responsibility from the the overseers of of public funding but also our responsibility as in permitting and how things are built. We have different levers but it's important to know what bully is doing their expectation what our relationship is with them and then of course implementation. If we start a program that's where the city manager team needs to weigh in on what does oversight look like? What is that? And I think if we kind of take a combined approach from the electeds that want to see something, including the attorney and the city manager, we can brainstorm out what a work session might look like so we can um so the council has the information to make the decisions they need.

Yeah. And if we could, I'm sure you'll do this, but like if there are other cities that have passed ordinances in Oregon, I think that would be super helpful. Thank you. Uh councelor Hen.

Oh, sorry. Councelor Kimmy. um for few months I was thinking um that I I would love to have more regularly scheduled work sessions um I don't know the timing maybe not monthly maybe every other month whatever because there's there comes a crucial decisions and we are forbidden from speaking to each other and it's hard to discuss thoroughly on a council chamber at the end of the meetings. So uh I rather have a short council meetings and more work session not more work but have a separately scheduled ones if possible so we can discuss amongst each other and pick our brains. I love to hear everybody's opinion that by the time we come here it's a simple decisions that we can make. So uh if you're all for it I want more work but maybe schedule around so that we can have thoroughly have discussion among each other. I think work sessions need to be topic driven. And I think um what we got from Elizabeth today, our interim city manager, her her did all we get it or did I get it? I don't I don't know. Your work plan, everybody got it. Um her work plan for the next year. And I think that's going to paint the road map of what we're doing. And so I think we need to approve her work plan which is going to have some diminished capacity. Um, but I think what you're asking for is more information about things. And so I think we have a work plan where that's existing. I think um we're we're going to see a lot more of it because our decisions over the next year are tougher. It's about reduction. It's budget where we're at. So I think

Yeah. Yeah. So it's not just information, but I love to hear everybody's thoughts. Yeah. So hopefully we can have a you used to have I I remember you used to have round tables and we as I asked for it for last three years I never got one but I love to have something like that uh so pick each other's brains so hopefully we can make that happen. Um, councelor Husten,

I just want Elizabeth to know that I did not say anything to him about roundts, but I did tell Elizabeth today that I missed the concept of roundts, which I was never really a part of because it allowed free- flowing conversation about topics that were going to later be controversial. I literally talked to her about it today. So, it's like I didn't Okay. Um, so I'll just say like I think if and when we have very controversial conversations or things that could become a little sticky, if there's a way for us to have more of a roundt where we are allowing folks to participate, um, I did share with Elizabeth, I wasn't at the parking meeting, but I've gotten most of the debrief like had there been a way for us to engage with the community and hear directly from community because I think what's happening is staff is having these conversations, organizations are having these conversations, businesses are having these conversations. we have, you know, three to five hours to weigh in. It's not always enough time, especially on the more tricky ones. And so, how are we bringing those people in so that it's not doing something that could maybe have adverse effect on the city. So, I wasn't going to say any of that, but counselor can be brought up round tables. So, I will leave that up for interpretation. Um, I have comments on what my counselors are asking. The first thing is about parking. I think my concern and maybe this is a question for you Elizabeth. I imagine that we do need to extend a contract or are we comfortable without a contract because I support the direction that we're going but I am concerned that we are in budget season and I don't want to hold up anything that needs to be done. So the status of the parking contract um the parking enforcement contract expired um as of March 31st. So right now we do not have any contract in place for parking enforcement. And so we're waiting for direction from council about kind of um how you want to explore that further and I think that's a topic that

we can dive into more in the work session going forward.

Okay. So I just want to be thoughtful of like whether we really are comfortable without a contract right now indefinitely until these conversations happen because I do think even if we had a work session in the next meeting which I think is possible but it's not going to the implementation process isn't going to happen right away. So I just want to be mindful of like the uncertainty for people in our community who are like okay we have a parking we don't. So, I'm just going to throw that out there for you all to think about and think of ways that we're doing it really thoughtfully and intentionally in terms of minimizing the impact on our community and our businesses on the contracts. Um, ironically, and I remember like the second or third council retreat where I was like, I want us to institutionalize diversity, equity, and inclusion in our contracts. And I think the city attorneys always kind of looked at me with like really big eyes like we don't know what that means. And I think this is a perfect example of what that means. And I do remember the testimony from the folks who joined us from a couple years ago. And I do remember in more private meetings asking like what does it look like to do something like this and how does it look? I don't know that we need to have um like a formal work session right away. I also will be meeting with them in the next couple of weeks. Um, I think the question really goes back to the city attorney and city staff, like what does it look like to incorporate language that ensures that the tax dollars that we're using on projects is actually centered on workers and centered on community. And so I think that's a bit of a kind of a a a task back to you all to sort of come back to us and say, well, here are ways for us to incorporate language because not only do I want to make sure that we're really worker driven, but I want to make sure we're community driven, right? So when we have projects or contracts or procurement, how are we really centering communities and folks that are local or organizations that are local and I think there's a lot of work to do there. I want to be mindful of staff and staff capacity because I think we have to get through budget. So I will leave that

open but I'm very supportive of of moving forward with this.

Thank you. I just wanted to echo support. Um, I think after the parking conversation too, I was just like longing for like I want us to have a more like dialogue and and with counsel or with with staff as well and I was thinking about our retreats and when we all sit together or when we've had all the great um financial um fiscal sustainability conversations. I do think we were having more robust dialogue and and I think when we're up here it's so formal and that's by nature but like I do think we we could break down maybe some of our communication challenges if we change the format a little bit and you know and and maybe like that's something we can look at what is the trade-off to pull off something like a round table more regularly look like. I agree. It has to be very specific topic driven, right? It's not free-for-all roundt, but on some of those things, like I mean, I won't lie, I didn't know parking was going to be such a um hot button the other night. And and I think that hearing from you all is what really led me to feel like, hey, we've got to make an adjustment. Um and I wish we would have gotten that type of conversation before we were at a moment of now we're choosing not to move forward with the contract, right? So, I think it's just it's a good moment for us to reflect on what can we do differently. And I think that using that mechanism like I think we had great intention of kind of not continuing with the roundt model. I think it there's a time and place for it and we could find what what is that and and that could come from counselor. Maybe it comes from staff because staff says

I'd like to remind you we have been doing it. We did it the entire time for finance. So we are we are responding to the council's want to like set up the room differently, respond it differently. So I think we are I'm saying we I I have a need for more.

Yeah. So, and I think too our meeting cadence is challenging and adding meetings is challenging. So, um as always when we ask for things the council has to be ready of giving up their their second Tuesday. There are things that have to happen and so you are the hardest group of people to challenge with. So, Elizabeth and I will work to get them. We we um to set up those finance one took about 14 iterations of uh getting you guys to comply. So if these are topics we want, we either have to extend the meeting or do some other things. So we'll work on it. We have been setting up the room. We just didn't call it a round table. If it if it makes you feel warm inside, we'll continue. We we'll call it that. Uh but we are being responsive to the council's desire to communicate and and knowing when we need to look at each other during conversations, but I for one knew parking was going to be a disaster. So thanks. Um all right, with that I think we're adjourned for the evening. Uh, before I gave out though, Elizabeth, great job on your first meeting in the in the captain's chair over there. You didn't get to check your emails from the side table like you normally do. So, uh, have a good evening and meeting adjourned.