City Council - Regular Meeting

I'm ready. Is everything running? Is everything running? Yeah. Oh, it just turned. Yeah, everything's good. All right. Good evening, everyone. Thank you all so much for being here. It is 700 p.m. on Tuesday, January 27th, 2026, and I now call to order the 2075th regular meeting of the city of College Place City Council. Madame Clerk, will you please take roll call? Yes. Council member Peterson. Council member Sherman,

Council Member Cleveland, present. Council member Williams, present. Council member Bole, present. Council member Sling, present. And council member Green, present. We have a quorum.

All right. Thank you so much. Will you all please join me in the pledge of allegiance? It's now time for public comment. Madam clerk, did anyone submit a written comment in advance or request to speak via telephone or virtually? There were no comments.

All right. Thank you. If anyone in person in council chambers would like to speak, please raise your hand.

All right. Seeing none, we're going to move on to our consent agenda. Then the consent agenda consists of the agenda for tonight, January 27th, 2026. Approving the council regular meeting minutes from January 13, 2026. Approving the April 2025 financials, approving the 26-001 salary ordinance and employee contract updates. Accept resolution 26-003, David Evans and Associates. Accept resolution 26-004 for the Washington State Department of Health drinking water state revolving fund loan for planning and design. And that's all for consent agenda. Is there any item any member of the council would like to have removed from consent agenda at this time?

I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda. We have a motion to approve. We have first and a second to approve the consent agenda as presented. All in favor say I. I. I. All opposed? Any abstensions.

All right. The eyes have it and the motion is passed. Tonight, Heather Lee, EMS director, will present information about the 2026 EMS uh EMS levy and fire chief David Winter may be joining her. Well, it's only if Miss Lee needs your support, but I somehow I think she's got it on her own. And if you can just press the button on the microphone to There you go. Welcome.

Thank you. Thank you for giving me a few minutes of your time to talk about the uh EMS levy for Walawala County. Um we have just a brief slideshow for you. Next slide. So the RCW that is listed there establishes the requirements um for the EMS levy both what the funds can be used for and how long a levy can be whether it be a six-year a 10year or a permanent levy. So in 1990 um the EMS levy was established here in Walawala County and every six years we put it back before the voters to see if they would like to continue funding EMS in this manner. So the RCW is very specific about what those funds can be used for can be used for the personnel the equipment any training that they may need. um also can be used for the structures that house the EMS personnel. So, it does a really good job of establishing how those dollars are used. We're going to we're requesting that the voters continue the current EMS levy at the existing rate of 50 cents per,000 of assessed value. And if they approve it, this next levy will run for six years. So, it'll be January 1st, 2027 through December 31st, 2032. Next, please. So, just a little bit of background. EMS was actually started in the valley in 1969 by Walaw Wala Fire Department. Uh, since then, it has grown to include six of our rural fire districts plus the city of College Place. So, those eight agencies cover over 12,000 square miles. They also serve over 60,000 residents and visitors um to the valley. So it's a lot of work done by very few entities um with Walaw Wala Fire Department starting

in 1969. They actually started their transport of uh advanced life support system in 1973. That actually makes them the third oldest ALS agency in Washington state. So they've established EMS uh for a long time in this valley. Next slide, please. Some specific facts for College Place. When the levy was originally formed, there were 135 emergency medical calls. Um, in 2025, there were over 1500. So, it just shows the growth that we have every year that this levy has occurred. um for your specific fire department. College Place started their basic life support transport in November of 2018, making them one of only four transporting agencies that we have in this county. So, the majority of our agencies actually do not transport. Um it is just the city of College Place Fire Department, City of Walaw Wala Fire Department, and then fire districts four and five. So if you think about those being the only transport agencies, they cover a very large area. College Place specifically has 37 state certified EMS providers. Um with that they have the majority of those are EMTs. So at our basic level, so they're emergency medical technicians. They can provide the basic life support. Um that's kind of the foundation of EMS. It all starts there with our basic life support providers that are basic life support agencies. In 2025, they received over $500,000 from the EMS levy. I got updated figures

today and it was actually $52,690 is what what they received from the 2025 levy. So, next slide, please. And really the purpose of this is crossraining our providers. Um this levy enables agencies to crossrain their providers as most of them are fire and EMS. It enables them to train together. Gives them a funding mechanism that can bridge the gaps between what your Medicare, Medicaid, your private insurance does not cover for a transport. uh that fund can help with that. For fire districts specifically, um it really allows them to save their fire dollars for that purpose. Fire districts are a little unique in that they only have two funding sources, whether it be their fire levy that they have or the EMS levy. So they don't have some of the other options uh that cities do as far as supporting those business uh those two different services. So those dollars are vital for them. And all of this enables us to build a prehosp system that allows for a tiered response. And what that means is that when you call 911, the dispatcher is going to take your call. They're going to dispatch the closest uh fire district personnel along with the closest and most appropriate transporting ambulance. So that enables us to use our limited resources very efficiently throughout the county. That is all I have for you. Do you have any questions for me? All right, we going to go through council members for questions, but real quick, u madam cler,

can you please verify that our YouTube um live stream is is working? Got some feedback that it's not working. It's not showing. Potentially not working. We're trying to still see here, but Council Member Green, questions or comments for Miss Lee? Nothing for me. Council member Cleveland, no questions, but thank you for coming down and talking to us about it. Council member Stline, I just had one quick question. You had said um 12,000 square miles did or and then in the presentation had 1,200. I was trying to figure I'm sorry, 1200 miles. Not quite that big. I was trying to do the math and was like, is that wrong? I know

it did get a lot bigger. Okay, that so the 1200's correct. Sorry, it is 1200 square miles. Thank you. No other questions? It's not. Okay. Thank you. I'll tell them to verify. Council member Peterson. No, thank you. Very nice presentation. Appreciate your work on this. Council member Williams. No questions. Thank you for all your hard work. Council member Sherman, no questions. Thank you. And council member Boy, you said that the main purpose of this is for cross trainining and things. So if this does not pass,

giving us some examples of what we're going what we will lose.

So specifically to College Place, um it would be that approximately $500,000 uh that they would lose from their EMS budget. Um what that does is the chief would have to to figure out with the council members how to continue funding the service. Um for all of the agencies it would mean the same thing is they would have to look at their existing dollars and figure out if they could or how they would continue to provide the service to their their respective jurisdictions uh with a lack of funding. So overall, the EMS levy brings in about $3.9 million that is distributed to all of the agencies. So if it were not to pass, they would have to look at how do we make up those dollars.

Thank you. Thank you so much for that information. You know, 500,000 is a huge hit for a city our size and especially for our, you know, mostly volunteer firefighter program. it's even a more significant hit considering that we keep cost as low as we possibly can with all those volunteers and still would lose that much money and that would be very difficult. So, thank you so much for the efforts you put into this. Thank you for coming and taking the time to um let us um know more about what's going on and the need for the to continue the EMS. We really appreciate your time. Absolutely. Thank you.

You have a good evening. I Yeah, David said his job is done. Good job, David. Thank you, everyone. Have a good night. Thanks for being here, David.

All right, so we have um some action items on our agenda. We have first M. McAndrews with us is going to present on the loan agreement for construction funding of the storm water decant facility. Uh yeah, thank you mayor. Good evening council. Um this is a grant agreement, not a loan. Um I believe I'm second guessing myself now. Um did did I say it's a grant, not a loan? Yes. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Let me correct a grant agreement.

Thank you. Um regardless you guys, you all may recall we've talked about our decamp facility several times before um JB engineers was hired um a few years ago to start on design. We've completed design uh submitted that back to department of ecology and they have funded us to con for construction of the decant facility. Uh this is a storm water decant facility that allows us to um when we pick up sweep beans and vector up catch basins and things like that allows us to dump that material, let the liquids sort out um and then make their way to the treatment plant and the solids to dry and typically with proper testing those solids can then be used to fill dirt somewhere um and doesn't become a hazardous material. So, um they're popular on the west side in particular and and more and more cities on the east side have them. The city of Walaw wall has one that that's kind of makeshift. Um but this will be pretty state-of-the-art decant facility being built out near the wastewater treatment plant. Um adjacent to there's a site if you want to pull up a site if you don't mind. Um uh well that's kind of just the site layout of it itself and then the larger site plan kind of shows on the map general location of it um as you come in on Owens Road into the wastewater treatment plant. It'll be kind of right there first thing as you enter a property. So there's the big silver barn. It'll be right next to that if you're familiar with that area. So anyway, uh it is 95% grant with 5% local match. So um for the total 2,

uh $50,000 of that 1,947,500 are grant funds and 102,500 are local match. So it's a pretty good deal for us to build this facility and it's uh it's going to be really useful for us now and into the future. Any questions? All right, I'm going to start with Council Member Green, but I'm going to give Council Member Bole a heads up. The next question is starting on her side. Okay, Council Member Green, questions or comments? Uh, just curious about the 102,000. I assume that's something built into the existing budget and was anticipated for the year, but obviously not having been here, I still have to ask.

Yeah. No, absolutely. Good question. Um, it is budgeted. It will come out of our storm water utility funds. That's all I've got. Thanks, Council Member Cleveland. No questions, but thank you to all our staff for the hard work in securing these funds that our local residents don't have to fork for fork out for our facilities. So, thank you very much, Council Member Cleveland. I'm sorry, Council Member Stline. Uh, no questions. Council member Peterson. No questions. Thank you. Council member Williams. No questions. I've been looking forwards to this, so glad it's here.

Council member Sherman. Ditto. This is exciting. And Council Member Bole, no questions. Great job. Thanks.

Mr. Mcanders, can you tell us how this um decamp facility differs from what we're already we're currently doing? Yeah. So, currently, um, when we collect leaves and things like that, there's a muddy spot in our yard that they get dumped and liquids sort out. It really is a mess. Um, certain things will get hauled out, you know, in this vicinity out near the gun range and dumped. Um, but we really don't have a facility that can handle this type of waste. And so this will be really nice to have, you know, state-of-the-art facility that's set up to handle this type of material. Probably makes us better stewards of our land.

Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate it. Council member Peterson, I guess I do have a question. So ecology got involved with this and so the potential for an adverse impact on the environment that's obviously why they're giving us the funds and that is the containment of the of the fluids more and or just the whole ball of wax.

The the whole ball of wax they as it stands a lot of the liquids get sorted out. If you dump a pile of wet leaves, the liquids eventually sort out and they find their way sometimes across the pavement. They might make their way into a catch basin into the storm system, which isn't good. So, this ensures that that's going to the treatment plant instead of the storm system and the creeks. And then it also um with proper sorting and and and rotating the solids, it allows them to dry so that they can be put back to the earth in a safe manner without contaminants. So great. Thank you so much. Y

I'm just going to make a quick comment is I once asked Robert what we do with our leaves because I'm a gardener, right? So, I like to throw leaves into my garden. And I was answer asked him what we do with her leaves. And his he didn't even answer my question. He just says, "You don't want to put what's in these leaves in your yard or in your garden." So, well, and that's true. I mean, the leaves we pick up are coming off of the street, the Department of Ecology would consider them contaminated. um any sweepings or anything like that that comes off the street have road grime and oils and things in them and generally aren't going to be something you would want to put in your garden. So, sure, this process helps change some of that.

And that's great because even though we're dumping them still somewhere off by the gun range, it doesn't matter. It's still going into land that's affected in within college place. So, I think it's um so important that we take this next step. So, thank you for that. All right. If there's no other questions or comments, do we have a motion on resolution number 26-002? Motion to adopt resolution number 26-002 to authorize public works director or designate to sign agreement with Washington State Department of Ecology accepting $1,947,500 in grant funding with the required local match of $102,500 for the construction of new storm water decant facility.

All right. Thank you. We have a we have a first. Is there a second? I'll second. Council member Green. Second. Any additional discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I.

All opposed. Any abstensions? All right. The eyes have it. And the motion to adopt resolution number 26-002 has passed. Next on our agenda, um, sorry, is Mr. McAndrews will present an agreement to accept a grant for the 2025 2027 bianial storm water capacity for council approval.

Yes, thank you, mayor. Um, again, some of you that've been here for a while may recall this. This comes up about every two years. Department of Ecology offers uh what they call a storm water capacity grant. um which is 100% grant funding to help cities like us um enforce and operate um under the NPDS permit, the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit that we're bound to by Department of Ecology. So it covers things like public education and involvement, elicit discharge detection, activities supporting programs that control runoff from new development, redevelopment, construction sites, pollution prevention, establishing and refining storm water utilities and rate structures, water quality monitoring, source control for existing development and equipment purchases that result directly in improved compliance. So, um the city can put can and does historically put in for reimbursement from ecology for certain activities like that fall in under those parameters essentially. Um again, they're offering us the $120,000 for the next two years. This is essentially retroactive from July 1st of 25 and will uh be in place till March 31st of 2027 should we accept it. Uh I guess I'll open up for questions.

Council member Boy. No questions. Thank you. Council member Sherman. No questions. Council member Williams. No questions. Thank you. Council member Peterson. No question. Second. Council member Stline. Um, I just wanted to say thank you and I appreciate the part uh about the education piece because I think it's really important to educate people about storm water and what happened. So, I'm excited to hear about that. That's all. Council member Cleveland. No questions. And Council Member Green, no questions.

All right. So, we have no questions or comments or further comments. Do we have a motion on uh resolution number 26-001?

I'll make a motion to adopt resolution number 26-001 to authorize the public works director or designate to sign an agreement accepting $120,000 for the 2025 to 2027 bianial storm water capacity grant. Second, Peterson. Thank you. We have a first and a second. Any additional discussion? hearing none. All in favor say I. I.

All opposed. Any abstensions. All right. The eyes have it. And the motion to adopt resolution number 26-001 has been approved or passed. Um, next on our agenda, Mr. first is going to present the ordinance um present ordinance 26-002 for the transfer of the franchise agreement from Ziply Fiber to BCE Holdings Corporation.

Great. Thank you, mayor. So, yeah, it's it's kind of tough to follow somebody gives you all this money and now here I come along with nothing. So, um but uh put me at the front of the the line next time. Um anyway, no, just uh long and short of this is a situation that's been going on for quite some time. The coun some of the council may recall uh that we initially started talking about this back in March of 2025 and it was based on a letter from Zipley who is uh who has a current franchise with the city college place uh for wireless services uh that was adopted in 2022. And so this letter basically came along in the end of December of 24 and was asking uh because they were currently in negotiations and had signed a merger agreement. Their parent company uh called Northwest Fiber uh had signed a uh a merger agreement with uh BCE Holding. And I am not going to put us all to sleep with describing the the the food chain of how that works. But essentially what it comes down to is BCE Holding is a uh US uh corporation, United States subsidiary of Bell Canada. Bell Canada then is uh is also uh owned by a publicly traded company out of Canada called BCE Inc. Uh and so uh long and short of it is their parent company, Ziply, who is who has your franchise in the city of College Place and lots of other places around here, uh is uh requesting consent based on the franchise they signed with the city back in 2022 and your ordinance. It refers to your ordinance. It basically says that the city uh the part that's I'll try to get through this real quick just so it's in the record but uh uh it basically says the the assignment or transfer of any business registration franchise or lease subject to this title meaning your title uh 20110 may not directly or indirectly be transferred assigned or disposed of by

sale lease merger consolidation or other act of the grantee franchisee or lei by operational law of otherwise without prior written consent of the city which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed except as as expressed by ordinance and then only on such reasonable conditions as may be prescribed therein. So, a lot of fancy words just to say they need your permission to uh because this is a merger uh they do need uh the city's consent uh because now their ownership has changed and so they have this letter that that's in your packets there that they're asking for uh the mayor to be able to sign. uh the uh the reason for the delay may be saying, you know, why did it take almost over over a year to uh to get this done. Uh and again, uh there was uh some issues, let's say, with the current franchise and some of the subcontracted work that was going on in the city. Uh and one of the things that Mr. McAndrews wanted to make sure of is that uh we didn't consent to this uh with uh the uh current status of some of the outstanding permits. So, it was uh quite the ordeal, but we got there. It only uh it only took a year, but uh it sounds like we're good to go and and everything is in good shape. Uh much better than than when we started. So, it's kind of an opportunity, a fortuitous uh scenario. So, long and short of it is we're here just to get permission uh to uh authorize the mayor to sign uh the letter uh which is ironic because norm well in my world it is because normally you don't pass an ordinance to sign uh a letter. Uh it's like you know kind of sawing a toothpick with a chainsaw. It's a little much, but uh in this particular case uh you have to do it that way or our our opinion is that we should do it this way because uh the original franchise was passed by ordinance and as I'm sure you all are very well aware, you can't amend an ordinance with a resolution. You have to have another ordinance. So, long and short of it is uh it it got kind of stuck in the hard to do box for a little while there. So, anyway, that's what we're here tonight to do is to get this

finally off everybody's plate. Uh, and nobody is gonna be more happy uh than Jessica Epley, the vice president with Zipley, who uh is is is now mine and Mr. McAndrew's best friend. So, anyway, happy to answer any questions. Council member Green, I got nothing. Council member Cleveland, Council Member Stline, no question. Council member Peterson, you

know, Ziffy, it's interesting there. Um, the service they offer our city is an alternative to, you know, what else is out there and I I hear, you know, good things and whatnot. Um, it is interesting that there are whole swaths of our city that aren't that simply cannot go through. I think that's underground cable areas. They go off of telephone. In other words, it's it's um it's a service that is could really benefit many of the people of the city of College Place with lower rates compared to some of the other services that are out there, but yet there are large swaths that will never I guess see Ziplo's business. Any thoughts on that, Robert, or um I think that is somewhat by their own choice. I don't believe the city's doing anything to hold them back from that, but they pick and choose where it makes the most sense for them. And I don't think the city has any say in how that goes. Um, the only thing that I can think of from the city standpoint that could potentially hold them back is moratoriums on new overhead lines in the downtown corridor, but they could certainly go underground. Um,

and I think this is too a case of people getting along and saying, "Can I use your underground?" And the other party can say no. Um, sure. And it does I mean it does become expensive to go underground to put new trenches in and new conduit and things. It's costly and so um that's unfortunately a challenge anywhere there's already existing development is adding new underground infrastructure. Yeah. Yeah. Something we'll have to deal with. Yeah. Great. Thanks, Council member Williams, no questions. Thank you. Council Council Member Sherman, no question. And Council Member Boy, no questions. Okay.

Um, Mr. Fergus, I I have a quick question. Just this is just a procedural question. Did we make um error is not the right word, but I'm going to use the word error in approving this contract by ordinance in the first place?

No. That's that's a fantastic question because uh that is something that is one of the few uh rare things where uh our our wonderful revised code of Washington uh will oftent times not say anything about how legislative bodies at the local level need to uh uh process process certain things. Franchises ironically are really uh unique in the sense that they are a contract that is also an ordinance. So, your uh ordinance, I got to visual aid here, but ordinance 2022-023 starts out just like a regular ordinance and then literally moves the second page moves into a contract. So, it's one of those rare situations where the statute requires it to be done by ordinance. Uh, and for some odd reason, you can't do it uh within 5 days after it's first been presented to council. You must wait five days. That's got to be something to do with the railroad there because you know how that always you know it's got to be there's there's got to be a story there.

Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. So, uh but no, it's it's an odd thing, but no, absolutely. We have to do it by ordinance. So, okay. Yeah. Great question. Listen. All right. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Um hearing none. Do we have a motion on ordinance number 26-002? I'll make a motion to approve ordinance 26-002 authorizing the transfer of franchise agreement from Ziply Fiber to BEC Holding Corporation. Thank you. We do have a motion from Council Member Green. Is there a second? A second.

Council member Sherman. Second. We have a first and a second. Any additional discussion? Hearing none, let's vote. All in favor say I. I.

Any opposed? Any abstensions? All right, the eyes have it and the motion is passed for ordinance number 26-002. Oh, wow. We kind of went right through those. Um, so there's twoformational packets in your review. I mean, in your Let me try this again. There's twoformational reports in your packets for to review. If you haven't already done so, please make sure to do that. um and reach out to any um departments if you have any questions on them. Is there any other business for good of the order? We are already down to um closing items. All right, seeing none, do we have a motion to conclude the meeting?

So moved. Thank you. That was for council member Bole. We have a motion to conclude the meeting. Is there a second? Second. Council member Peterson second. If there's no objection, the meeting is concluded at 7:33 p.m. Thank you all very much. Appreciate it.

Okay, we're