City Council - Regular Meeting

For us in Denver for the All-American City Award. So I'll invite them in. But they were fantastic. So right now I'm going to call our meeting on July 14th, 2026 to order. We'll start with the flag salute. The only flag we have out here is at the corner of the Mother Works building. So if I may, please just stand and turn around. Councilor Hall, will you please lead us in the flag salute?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States

with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Could we have a roll call, please?

Here. Here. Here. Here.

Here.

Here.

Here. Here. since they're such a large crowd this is a great crowd thank you all for coming tonight so this is part of uh our this is our first meeting in july uh we have a second meeting scheduled the 27th of july but this would be a short council meeting uh it's also a barbecue tonight that is free so please help yourself to every hot dogs i want to thank willoughby's out of salem for catering that tonight for us A few things I would like to acknowledge. We would not be an all-American city if we didn't belong to an all-American county. And we do have Councilor Cameron from Marion County Commissioner's Office is here. I want to recognize him. Thank you for being here. I know Councilor Bethel is going to be here tonight. Is she here? Thank you so much for coming. Councilor Willis, Paul Willis is here, thank you. And again, Marin County has been so helpful and grateful to Woodburn. Just in the last year, we've gotten support in signs for some of the roads around us, for 250,000 economic development grant for Settlemyer Park, help with urban growth boundary. A couple announcements then. We do have our Wigram Fiesta Mexicana's coming up at Legion Park on August 21st and 23rd. There'll be over 60 vendors featuring authentic Mexican cuisine. On Saturday, our much-anticipated parade highlighting the amazing Wigram community. Starting right here, going out to Legion Park. There'll be a lot of candy pastels. fiestas such as live music, dancing, cultural celebrations, and more on the main stage, and additional entertainment such as soccer, pickleball tournaments, wrestling, and carnival rides. It is free all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It's free until 5, and there's a $5 entry fee after 5 p.m. for those 10 and under. While we're here, Woodburn Library has just gone through a renovation with a brand new roof, windows on this side, new paint job. Not only do they do a great job with programs and projects inside, it now looks very, very good and very becoming of Woodburn. So I thank the Woodburn staff and the Woodburn Library Board and the city staff for helping to see this through. very well, however it will not be open until sometime next summer. The other project is a complete renovation of the park itself, which is well overdue. It's one of the older parks in Whitburn and definitely needs upkeep and that is going to happen. It's going to be closing down completely to the city here in a couple weeks and close for about four months while this renovation goes on. But please make to the city. It's going to be a true asset to the city. So we're proud to get that going. Oh, the the Butteville Road with Marion County's help, Butteville Road behind Amazon just changed the speed limit from 55 to 45. So getting you all a warm I did forget I hear our assistant Marion County DA Brendan Murphy is here and I want to acknowledge and thank him for showing up. We are doing some recognition of people here. I do not have any other announcements. a Grand Marshal that happens to be here tonight. A Grand Marshal that has been very active in the City of Woodburn for many years on our Arts and Mural Committee, part of the Chamber, part of the Arts Center. Judy Masaya, who runs the Senior Estates. Judy, stand up, say hi. Very glad to have you as our Grand Marshal this year, Judy. Thank you so much. So moving on, we have a couple of awards we want to give out, recognition of people that have gone above and beyond to our city. The first one is going to be our Nancy Kirksey Award. Nancy Kirksey was the past mayor of Woodburn. Three different terms she served. Was the first lady elected as mayor of Woodburn. Nancy, back over 25 years ago, brought Chemeketa to Woodburn, and she was the director there for many years. And after she... and it was she was very important to nancy to recognize volunteers and people that go above and beyond for the city nancy was one that did so much for the library and so we're going to recognize the nancy kirksey award and i'd like our counselor mark wilk to make this presentation for us tonight and announce who that is hi there we're riding high here in woodburn these days

One of the reasons that we got that award is because of the people that live and work here in Woodburn. I'm going to pause for a moment. And the trains, we have the trains too. Tonight we're going to award the Nancy Kirksey Award to somebody who does a lot of hard work. And you may not know her because she's always busy working. She's getting things done. Not just for Woodburn, but throughout the state of Oregon. And we're real lucky, fortunate to have someone of her caliber here in Woodburn. Meg, as we like to call her, Maria Elena Guerra, she goes by Meg, is the executive director of Farmworker Housing Development Corporation, FHDC. Another somewhat, you know, big secret here in Woodburn, one of the first housing development corporations in the for farm workers and their families to provide decent housing away from labor camps into a leader in the affordable housing industry. And that's in no small part due to the efforts of our awardee here. I met Meg probably 20 years ago when we hired her as the property management director of FHDC. but it owns and operates housing and it manages all of its own housing. So we're eyes on the prize and we are very, very much involved with our tenants. And that exemplifies Meg as well. So she's the executive director of FHDC as well as our sister organization, Evolve Property Management Company. She wears both Meg is also someone that you know doesn't like to toot her own horn and so we asked her to send a resume and even though I've known Meg for 20 years I learned some new things about her for instance she has been named one of 40 nationally recognized leaders in affordable housing currently serves as the co-chair of the Governor's Office on Racial Justice Council and Homeless Committee, as well as the Vision and Prosperidad Oregon Boards and on the Advisory Board of the Oregon Latino Community Reinvestment. And so I'd like to call Meg forward and recognize her as the 2026

This is always the problem. Sorry, I'm giving you my back. When the mayor called me to tell me about this war, I was speechless. And if, you know, people know me, I never quiet for the right reasons. But it was an honor to accept this award with the understanding that it's not for one person, but for a community. For each of you that at some point opened your arms in the community to us and allow us to make So thank you to all of you. Thank you to all the council members. Mayor, the city staff, which is awesome and is working with us alone, with us. But also thank you to my family, the farm worker house and all my corporation staff. that every day wakes up and goes to the work. Not because it's an easy job, affordable outcome is not easy, but because they know that is the right thing to do. For all those people that has always helped us and give us a hand when we must need it. I really appreciate this award and it's an honor for me and I really hope I can live to this honor. Thank you everybody.

This award is for honoring those who make a difference in the lives and places in our community. Yeah, this is a community award. Next up, annually we pray and honor a member of the city staff.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So the Mary E. Kennedy Award is named after Woodburn's long-term, long-serving CDB coordinator, We try to select an employee that exemplifies service above self, commitment to community, somebody who's gone above and beyond and probably doesn't get the recognition they deserve for the contributions they've made to our community and to our organization. people who uphold the mary attuned award have impacted the lives of everybody in the city in ways that we don't even know so this year i'd like to as my honor to announce that the recipient of the mary attuned award for excellence in service is our chief deputy andy He's worked for the Woodburn Police Department in 2006 and served with them for nearly 20 years. He's held leadership roles in the community response division, operations division, and is an attendant on the board of supervisors. He's specialized assignments and certifications will include tactical services unit, firearms instructor, the emergency vehicle operator, field training officer, detective supervisor, supervisor field training evaluation of the FBI National Academy, the PERFC Organic Limited Policing, and the Internal Public Safety In my time, my 20 years almost as city manager, I have seen Andy's star rise and I've seen his arc take him to the level of leadership and assume the role of a trusted member of our inner leadership team. He leads by example, fostering a culture of accountability, teamwork, respect while his party goes around him to uphold the highest standards of public service. His dedication to the safety and well-being of the Woodburn community, combined with his genuine investment in the development and success of departmental personnel, is true and i want you to know how much we appreciate you and how deserving you are of this and i just look forward to see where you're going to take the police department in this community in the future so thank you very much

So next up I want to give a couple special awards to a couple board members that have served Woodburn so well. Woodburn would not be where we are if we didn't have some great volunteers that stepped up and helped our community. We have a planning commission. We have a public arts and mural commission. We have a library board. we have a park board and we have a budget committee so i'm looking at anywhere from 30 to 40 people that gratefully step up and serve some obviously some of those meetings a lot more than others but tonight we're going to recognize two of the people that have gotten a little more above and beyond the normal just attend a meeting and the first one is to john reinhardt John Reinhart has been a member of our budget committee for over 21 years and has been the chair of that budget committee for just about all those years. And I can't begin to tell you how much that helps a budget committee be having that type of stability year after year. When John came on 21 years ago, our city budget, our city budget 21 years ago was $51 million, which isn't bad. We just had a budget meeting in April, and we passed that, and it's $252 million. So that takes a lot of dedication and time, and city councilors have come and gone but the stable factor in all this has been John Reinhardt. Woodburn has received recognition and financial reporting recognition on an annual basis. Also an award of GFAO recognition. So this wouldn't happen, obviously it happens because we have a very good finance department, people that manage the budget, but it begins with the committee and working with those people. So John? So the next one is recognition of one of our long-standing Farquhar members. And I'd like our social service director, Jesse Cuomo, to come up and make that designation. Thank you.

Good evening. Unfortunately, tonight David Piper couldn't be with us, but I wanted to say a few words while we have a good crowd. David Piper has been dedicated to the Park Board for the past 11 years. He brings a ton of experience, whether it was involving himself in youth sports, he coached his kiddos as well as many others throughout this community, as well as he's a dedicated teacher within our Woodburn School District. Under his tutelage on our park board and as our board chair, David has helped oversee projects such as the Centennial Park Splash Pad, Legion Park revitalization project, and obviously the projects we have going currently. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to be here tonight. He's on vacation with his family, but I'd like to just say thank you so much for David's contributions to the city. And he will actually be stepping down this fall. He's going to be taking the assistant coaching position with the Woodburn High School basketball team. And so he just thought he wouldn't be able to split his time, and he wanted to make sure there was a dedicated person in his seat. So congratulations to David, wherever you are, and thank you so much.

So again, thank you for your pause. The city couldn't function without the great volunteers and input that we get from our citizens. So if any of you are ever looking to serve, please step up and talk to a city member or myself, and we'd love to see what we can do to get you on the board and involved. So next up is one of the main reasons we're here tonight, is recognition of our All-American City Award. So this started several months ago, back in February and March. This comes from the National Civic League. The National Civic League has been around for about 110 years. They have been making a designation all-american city for about 72 years so they're well known they are a non-profit and do a lot to help civic civic assistance different activities within a within a community this year the theme was america 250 strengthening civic health And I want to recognize our city staff that was involved in this first. So, Jessie, please come back up here. Renata Wakely, please come up. Jamie, Jamie John, are you here? Jamie, did I make it? Okay, Brenda, bravo. Jamie, is that really? Don't blame her. Jamie got married just before we went to Denver. But these people, along with Jamie Jonk's department, the economic development department, started in probably February putting an application together. And it was a very long application on why Woodburn should be thought of as an all-American city. under those guidelines of trust and civic health. They put out a long application. It goes back to the board. They spent hours looking at it. I'm thinking that they had several hundred applications that came in. They picked 20 out of those applications to invite those 20 communities out of the whole United States in regards to come to Denver the last week of June to compete for an All-American City Award. So the application obviously opened the door, and these are things that just didn't happen at that time. So I'm going to bring up everybody that went back to Denver with us, but it's the whole community that was involved in this for years. the boards, city members that have worked on these projects and programs, and you'll hear, that made it happen. And the people that we're bringing up tonight maybe brought it home. But don't forget, this is a city community recognition, not just the city staff or just us up here. So starting out, I want to recognize our student leaders that we heard. far with the student leaders. So those of you, please come up here. Julimar Perez and David Villanova. David and Julimar were our dancers and performed. Don't you guys leave? We're making room. Yeah, okay. These guys were fantastic presenting and dancing. Beautiful dress that Juliara had and the outfit that David had certainly brought a lot of attention to Woodburn, but the cultural aspect of what they did and performed was beyond belief. We had about 12 and a half minutes to make a Sunday about noon. We were the last ones because Woodburn is somewhat down the alphabetical list. So out of the 20 cities, we were definitely the last ones. But the energy that these two guys brought was just fantastic. And then not only that, David also made a presentation on his work on the bison, and that are up there with the Bison family on the hillside going up to the high school. David had worked on that, and he made that presentation to the judges during that and went over it very well. So that's not easy to do in a full room of people and judges and press for time. So you guys did fantastic. Thank you for that. So some of the band members I want to bring up. Juan Larios, Jr., And Joaquin Lyles. And Alondra Saldana. Thank you for it. Elena Rolos. No, well, Elena, I'll talk about Elena in a second. Is Elena here? Okay. Deandra Kotcher. It's a lot from here. They performed Saturday night. They got up with another group. They were fantastic. So everybody recognized the talent, the culture that these guys brought. And it was fantastic music. And they represented Woodburn. They represented Woodburn High School very well. So very proud to be part of this. If it hadn't been for these young, Woodburn High School leaders that we have that are growing to be future leaders and come back and help control and run Woodburn. It would have been a very difficult All-American City Award to win. So guys, thank you so much for what you did. So the other people that helped on this, and the social services that we have and did a great job presenting that. And then I have Juan Loreals, please come on up. Juan is a school superintendent. Talked about the programs, the city that the school has, and how affluent that the kids that are graduating are and the dual language programs that are going on there. Two people I want to mention. and our counselor, Jen Cantu, who... Jessica, come on up. Carlos, I forgot Carlos. Oh, how can I do that?

Carlos, I'm so sorry.

Carlos played the trumpet. Carlos turned 18 while we were there on Saturday. Carlos was a hit over there. And I'm sorry that I... Ben and Jessica were our girls that really worked the judges. These little banners that we have over here, as we got into presentations, they would point and direct the judges' attention to those key points of speeches. So, awesome job, you guys did. Elias, Elias, go ahead. Elias talked a little bit about his salsa dancing there, but also talked about the work that Chemekne is doing with students as they graduate, and showing the cultural flavor that Whitburn has, and then moving on to secondary education. Very important part of the program. Matt Geiger. Matt. Matt handled small business development through Chemeketa and shared that as far as some of the programs that Woodburn has through our economic development department, the collaboration we have through tourism collaboration with eight cities up here, and then economic development that we have throughout the North Marion Valley. So very key part of the presentation that brought a lot of what Woodburn's doing together. Irene, Irene Konev. Irene was here that represented the Old Believer Russian community and some of the social services that we offer through the Family Resource Center. Irene was one of the first families of the successful work that that was and how proud she was to still be part of Woodburn. And now also working with our Family Resource Center now. Again, a good asset back there. And brought all of that together with where Woodburn is today. The last person that I have on my list, I want to make sure I go, oh, no, I forgot. Alondo. Counselor Alondo Barlow. Yes. Yes. our art mural committee and the importance of the murals that we have throughout the town. We have about 12 of them, I think, that we have. And again, showing the cultural history and the significance that those have in today's life and where we're looking in the future. Not just the murals, but also the sculptures, again, the Bison family and the art we have over there. A brand new one that if you haven't seen it behind there, art from the field to the table and the people that helped get it there. It's really a beautiful piece of art. So I want to thank you for your work. The last one to drive it home, Pastor Luis Molina. He's here. you know this group brought it brought it home pastor molina brought it home for us his energy his enthusiasm his his love for woodburn he is the uh the chaplain for the fire department he's chaplain for the police department and he was such an asset back there with his his vigor his love for woodburn the energy that he brought up on the stage to bring it home he loves So this is our team that did it. So what does that mean, we're an all-American city? You don't take it lightly. Ten cities were picked. The Civil League felt that Whitburn was one of the best from the get-go. We were the smallest city, the only city west of Texas that won the award. The cities that won it before, that got the recognition, had won it before. Some cities got eight, nine times. This was our first time. We were definitely an underdog going back there, but this team made it happen. What this means is that we now have some national recognition, that the National Civic League recognizes the programs is working. That we, the people that live here, believe in the city. Not only believe in the city, but also believe in your neighbor. And you want to improve and you want to help your neighbor improve. And that's what we showed when we were back there. And so I'm very proud of this group that was back there representing you. But again, it's the whole community that earned this. So we are not just an American city between now and next Something that every one of you should be proud of, that we're an all-American city. Something that people should want to come to Woodburn because of things we just talked about. We are an all-American city. So I thank our whole community for being part of that, and a special thanks to you people up here for bringing it home. So we'll be seeing a lot of banners and announcements as the year goes on. We'll be getting recognition. This gives us opportunities at a national level to work with the National Civic League with projects and programs. So, like I say, tonight's just the beginning. And we're, like I said, very happy and proud. So, thank you.

Carlos, I'm sorry. I won't ever forget you again. Future Willamette grad.

Yeah.

So now we have a small thing called City of Woodburn Council Meeting. Oh! Before we do that, we have a special

I'm going to take a few moments to introduce Darren Camel. He is the Executive Director of Working Dogs Corp. and our special guest here, Lola. She is a working, she's a training our wellness canine for the river police department as part of our um at least investment into our department we've been expanding um and reinvesting in our officers and our department in wellness ways whether it's through physical health through mental health services and services and first responder agencies, including a wellness data unit. So to talk more about what that looks like and how that works with Working Dogs Oregon, the nonprofit that we partnered with is Darren Campbell.

Thank you. Yeah, so my name is Darren Campbell. I'm Executive Director of Working Dogs Oregon. And several years ago, we realized that that a new program could arise, and that is the police temper dog. And these dogs aren't just for the law enforcement personnel. It's a big part of their job, but they're really part of the community. They'll respond when crime victims need help. moments of your life if you're a crime victim can be very difficult and people tend to shut down they tend to forget details that law enforcement and I think the DA's here might need to prosecute and these dogs come in and they really do amazing things we call the power dog and it truly is It didn't take long for Andy to convince me to add one more dog to my puppy class this year. I was done. I've got a full roster of puppies. But he talked me into it. And it's because of this community. This is an amazing community. It's hard to follow up that group that went to Denver. But it helps if you bring a puppy to the program. I'm talking every corner of the state from Pendleton to Central Point, Portland and everywhere else. So Lola's got many friends to learn from and we're just very excited to be able to bring this resource to the city of Woodburn and look for her at community events. Community outreach is a big part of her job too. just feel free to come up to us and you'll get a love on her a little bit. So thank you very much. I appreciate you guys giving us time.

Thank you. Welcome to Whitford. It was good to see a new recruit. So I see our one group I did not announce and I should have earlier is our Fiesta Court for this year is leading. And I want to thank them for being here. And that brings to mind, I did not recognize our Fiesta Queen from last year, but they went to Denver Rose. Alayda Robles, and I don't think she was here, but she came in here, she was our Fiesta Queen for last year, and she'll reign until we pick a new queen later on this year. in that presentation. So with that, we do have a few items. This will go very quickly of our council meeting that we're gonna cover. A couple things that are business that we have to cover tonight. So we'll do this quick. First off is the consent agenda. Consent agenda are things on the item, things on the agenda that can be adopted by one total motion Any item may be removed by council if they so desire. I'd like a city recorder to read off what's happening now, please. Thank you. Any council to pull anything up? Then I would accept the motion to adopt the consent agenda as presented. Thank you. Is there a second? We have a second. All in favor, second? Opposed? Thank you. We do not have any table of business. We do not have a public hearing tonight. Next up, I have Council Bill 3307. Council Bill 3307 is an ordinance. It requires two readings. May we have the first reading by federal only against no objection?

Council Bill Number 3307 is an ordinance. Thank you.

We've had our first meeting of Council Bill 3307. May we now have our second meeting again by Pat Longley, if that's not a question? Thank you. We had this in our last meeting. It was public hearing. We had a lot of discussion in the staff report. I'm not sure we need that now. Is there any discussion from the council?

Yes. Yes. Yes.

I have a motion to accept that, please.

um

Move and second it. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed with the same. Thank you. Final decision is passed. Okay, moving on. That is pretty much it. We do not have any planning commission or administrative actions to talk about. Do we have a city management report? Nothing. Do we have any mayor or council reports? Anything that anyone would like to talk about? Definitely do not have an executive session. I have to take a motion to adjourn. Move to second. Move to second. All in favor? Second. Opposed? Thank you all very much. Appreciate you being here tonight. And let's enjoy the music. And please, the tent's open. Please eat.