City Council - Regular Meeting

Recording in progress.

Good evening and welcome to the 01/26/2026 Toalton City Council meeting. I'll go ahead and call the meeting to order. First item on our agenda is a pledge of allegiance. Tonight led by Councillor Gonzalez. Thank you, councilor Gonzales. We have one announcement. It's a proclamation for Black History Month and now be read by councilor Brooks.

Thank you, mayor. Here's our the city of Twalight since proclamation for Black History Month. Whereas Black History Month serves as both a celebration and a powerful reminder that black history is American history, black culture is American culture, and black stories are interwoven into the fabric of the nation through shared struggles, progress, and aspirations. And whereas historian Carter g Woodson established Black History Week in 1926 to recognize the significant contributions of African Americans selecting the February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. And in 1976, the observance was formally expanded by congress to National Black History Month.

And whereas the theme for Black History Month twenty twenty six, a century of black history commemorations marks the one hundredth anniversary of the first national observance of Black History Week and honors a century of organized efforts to study, preserve, and elevate African American history, culture, and achievements. And whereas the 2026 theme encourages reflection on the evolution of black history, commemorations, and their enduring roles role in shaping public understanding of African American contributions across generations, institutions, and communities. And whereas during Black History Month, all are encouraged to reflect on the rich history, enduring lessons, and significant contributions of African Americans and to recognize the progress, resilience, creativity, and achievements that continue to strengthen society as a whole. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the city council of the city of Tualatin, Oregon that Tualatin recognizes February 1 through 02/28/2026 as Black History Month and calls upon the people of Tualatin to observe this month with appropriate programs, activities, and reflections, and to continue our efforts to create a world that is more just, equitable, and prosperous for all. Introduced and adopted this January 2026.

Thank you. Okay. That brings us to public comments. This is an opportunity for anyone to address the council regarding item that's not on tonight's agenda. Please keep your comments to about three minutes. If there's anyone here who would like to address the city council, this would be the appropriate time. I have folks who have signed up. I'll take them first. So sign ups in the room. You don't have to be signed up if you get the urge to speak after these folks get have their three minutes. You can certainly come on up and give us your public comment. And then I'll go switch over to Zoom if there's anybody in Zoom who'd like to give public comment. So first person I have is Chris Paul. Chris?

Hi there, mayor of city council. It's me again. I know I've been talking to you a lot this this couple last couple of weeks, but I think it's important to be engaged with the community. So off, I just wanna clarify that all my statements tonight are on behalf of myself as a private concerned citizen and not as in any part of my role as on the ADA committee. But I just wanna come and talk to you tonight.

I had a whole thing written, and this week was crazy. So I had to throw it out, and just gonna kinda speak from the heart tonight. But first, I wanna thank you all for the support that you've shown for the Martin Luther King Day rally. And I also wanna thank there's several people who showed up for that in this room, so thank you to them. But I just wanna kinda talk about one of what I view is Tualatin's greatest value, and that is that we love our neighbor. As soon as I moved to Tualatin, I was immediately greeted by all of my neighbors to say hi. Do I need any help? Do I need anything moving in? So I knew this was a community that really valued loving your neighbor and coming and helping him out. So I just wanna remind us of a few things and and ways we can do that.

First, emergency preparedness. I think emergency preparedness is extremely essential, especially given the many, many possibilities for natural disasters that we have around here, wildfires, flooding. You know, we we have volcanoes around. So just be aware of that, guys. Cascadia, all know. So just make sure that you guys all have your emergency preparedness stocked up, you have enough to share because maybe your neighbor didn't get to go to go the grocery store that week. So just just keep that in mind, guys. And then just I just wanna remind you that everybody's your neighbor. You know? Our neighbor, it doesn't matter where they're from or how they got here.

They're still your neighbor. Doesn't matter what clothes they wear or what pronouns they use. They're still your neighbor. And then I just wanna say, you know, I've made it obnoxiously obvious that I'm a follower of Jesus. And a while back, there was a phrase going around, what would Jesus do? And I use that to guide my life. I think Jesus would have showed up to meetings regularly to discuss with his fellow community members how they can make their city a better place. I think Jesus would have stood on a street corner and called for justice. And I think Jesus would have come to places where decisions are being made and reminded people that the most important thing is to love your neighbor. So with that being said, I think Jesus would have come to city council meetings. Thank you.

Thanks, Chris. Alright. I have we're just gonna be a tag team effort. Kelly and Ed, come on up. And they'll be about six minutes since we're doing it together.

Give the audience just a little Sure, please.

Here. This is what we're gonna be referring to in our discussion right now. What you're seeing here are our poles going up on Stafford Bowes, that's what we're going to be discussing. Thank you very much. My name is Ed Blackburn.

Go ahead, Sikh, we got to get you on the mic. Okay.

I usually talk so loud, I'm bolder than that. So my name is Ed Wagner, and this is Kelly Bartholomew. We are the two primary organizers of a group called Safe Stafford Road, which was formed in towards the 2023. We've been in opposition to these high voltage transmission lines from the Rosemont station all the way to Wilsonville now for almost three years going through the county and the Oregon Public Utility Commission. And we've kind of reached the end of it because these poles are being installed as we speak.

The county approved a what's called a conditional use permit a few months ago. We have filed an appeal with LUBA, the Land Use Bureau of Appeals, and that is in process, but a decision won't be made on that now because of delay with the county. We're not sure when. But the point we would like to make, and we originally came in and Mayor Frank, we appreciate your patience with us because we've bombarded you with a lot of emails as we have with the other two mayors. We wanted to try to tie this to the IGA, but I think our theme tonight really has to be focused on there's a lot of dirt under the rug in the last three years, but I want to focus on this.

The county basically approved the permit based upon PGE's reference that the visuals on these poles would not be that significant to our rural neighborhood. I want to stipulate that Stafford Road through the comprehensive the Clackamas County comprehensive plan is designated a scenic road. The reason the comprehensive plan was created was to prevent industrialized infrastructure on all the scenic roads in Clackamas County.

23.

Big part.

23 of them.

23 of them. And so we, as an organization, did a lot of analysis on all of these polls. I did write off of PG's website, they have a dot that shows every poll, the before and after heights. And we went through an analysis and the average pole height is somewhere around 65 to 70 feet and the average pole the new pole height is going to be somewhere around 100 to 130 feet. And what you're seeing in this picture right here are the first seven or eight a representation of first seven or eight that are going that are being installed right now.

PGE is accelerating the installation as fast as they can, And I suspect they'll ask for forgiveness later should we prevail with Luba. So I think, Kelly, you might want to say a few words regarding your photos and the pictures you've taken and you know, your your position on this.

Sure. Thanks, Ed. Thank you, everyone, for allowing us to be here tonight. This is going on three years of this. I had a a little talk prepared, but I'm just gonna say it like it is.

So, my main reason for speaking with you all here tonight is because twenty years ago, the urban reserves were established through a statute that said, hey, we're growing too fast. We need to set aside some land for when the cities grow. So they set aside the urban reserves, Metro did against what the cities wanted because the cities said, well, we don't have infrastructure. How why are we setting this aside? So litigation ensued, and IGAs came out of that litigation, where the cities and the county and metro all came together and said, listen, we can't have any development in this reserve unless we all agree.

Because whatever one does is gonna predispose what everyone else can do. So under that pretense, the understanding is PGE is just gonna upgrade the lines along Stafford Road. This is not an upgrade. This is major infrastructure. They're going to remove two fifty eight trees or something like that. And these are industrial power lines that are going to be over 100 feet tall. So they don't belong over homes. They don't belong on a rural scenic road. They certainly don't belong in the middle, as you can see in the map, the red line, smack dab through the middle of the urban reserve. So the IGA was created to protect you.

This isn't about our neighborhood. This isn't about I mean, it is about our neighborhood, but this is about more than our neighborhood. It's about you protecting your seat at the table. Because the county decided they're going to approve this without consult maybe they did consult you all. I don't know. But I find it hard to believe that all three cities would be like, yeah, let's put these in on our rural scenic road. That'll be great. So if you weren't involved in the process, you're losing your seat at the table if you don't defend the IGA. Because the IGA was created with the three cities to for your benefit. So what we're asking here tonight is not to protect our neighborhood, but to protect your seat at the table so everyone gets a say.

And what that would require, since PGE is not waiting for the appeals to be completed, they have decided to just ask for forgiveness later, I guess, if we win is for you to file an injunction with the court to stop construction until you can at least evaluate what is your role in this. Should you have a seat at the table? And if these go ahead, they'll be done before the appeals are completed unless you intervene. So we are asking for the cities to please step up and defend your own rights in this situation. And if anyone has any questions, I submitted comments.

That has my email if anyone has any other questions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up I have is Wanda. Welcome, Wanda.

My name is Wanda Lichtenberg. I live at 22333 Southwest Stafford Road, Tualatin. My husband and I purchased this property in 1986. We moved here five years later. Oregonians have repeatedly heard from city, county, state, and federal authorities that we should protect our environment.

PGE also reminds us with flyers and monthly statements. I would say most, if not all of us, moved into this area because of the environment. The Stafford area is considered rural in terms of current population density. It's characterized by agriculture, farmland, large acre lots, single family homes and significant green spaces rather than dense urban development. Stafford Road is characterized as a two lane road in a rural setting, not designated for high density urban traffic volume.

Removing two fifty trees to accommodate installation of new high voltage transmission lines on 55 industrial towers with larger conductors up to 140 feet tall and condemning property without public input and minimizing fire safety issues doesn't seem like protecting our environment to me. A new water treatment plant to supply needed drinking water will not apply here because as far as I know, all property owners along Stafford Road South Of I 205 are on private wells. Excuse me. I lost my track. There is no public water service in our area.

The Oregon fires of twenty twenty were the most devastating record setting destructive wildfires in modern history. More than 1,200,000 acres burned in seventy two hours destroying communities, thousands of home homes and killing at least nine people. Canby also in Clackamas County, just a stone's throw across the Willamette River from our area was severely threatened and placed under evacuation orders. By then, the smoke was so thick, I felt like I was suffocating inside my own home. The twenty twenty fires are considered a transformative event in Oregon's approach to wildfire, significantly shifting policies on prevention and emergency response.

However, I am confident that if there were a fire in our Stafford Road area, we would suffer extreme loss. Many homes do not have escape routes because of their locations. In our unincorporated Stafford Road area, there are no water resources to mitigate destruction. According to previous testimony, it took two hours for fire department response to a brush fire resulting from a downed power line in this area. Last year, a plan by PGE to cut down five acres of trees in Forest Park for a new transmission line was approved by a hearings officer, but it was appealed to the Portland City Council, which voted unanimously to overturn the hearing officer's decision.

So denial can be done. I am asking that the city council oppose the PGE project South Of I 205 along Stafford Road. Please protect the properties and the natural landscape features which define the Stafford urban renewal renewals. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up I have is Jim Walker. Jim walkie? Jim? Welcome, Jim.

Thank you for having me.

And thank you for saying the pledge of allegiance at the beginning. That's refreshing. My name is Jim Walker. I live at 23232 Stafford Road. I'm here to ask the city to protect my property, to protect the city, and to intercede and stop this process.

The Stafford area is a residential area. In a grid, electrical grid, the distribution of it is there's transmission lines that are high powered, and those are 112 kilovolt, which is what they're thinking of putting in. And then there's distribution lines. That are limited to 35 kilovolts. So a residential electrical lines in a residential area are classified as distributional top 35 kilovolts, and that's for safety.

And now and this hasn't really been brought up. In fact, PGE has not elucidated in great detail what they're actually going to be doing and why, except for this seems to be a less expensive way for them to route power through the area. However, there's a lot of issues here. And as I agree with the previous speaker, most of the homes are driveway. We have one driveway.

It's along Stafford Road. So if a power line goes down, we're trapped. We can't get out. And to respond for the fire department to respond to a fire related to a downed power line, they have to be they have to have confirmation from the electrical company that the power has been shut off. So by the time all that occurs, you can forget about our lives or our property.

And it's well documented in research that when wind speed exceeds 60 miles an hour, the rate of failure of a power line increases 10000%. So we're not talking about something that may or may not happen. This is a real risk. And considering that Stafford is off to the East of Tualatin, it's a big issue for Tualatin. Cause when we do have these high winds, they're from the East.

And so if you you don't have to be too imaginative to think that if a fire gets started, a serious fire gets started in Stafford, it's gonna be threatening Tualatin and the thousands, tens of thousands of people that are here very quickly. You know, there's fires in California that we can all, you know, see. There's one that was in Ventura County about seven years ago that traveled 20 miles in twenty minutes. You know, people literally had five minutes to get out of their homes and a whole swath of area was totally destroyed and obviously we can see Altadena and the Palisades. So thank you for your time.

I'm I'm gonna leave this here for you because this is PGE documentation from '21. And this is a generational topic. This is something that affects us today, but affects our grandchildren. And it's a serious health and safety issue. Please intercede. Stop this. It's one thing if it's 35 kilovolt. It's another thing to put a transmission system through a residential area. Nobody allows that.

Next up I have is Keith Okerstrom. Keith, welcome.

Thank you. I want to well, first of all, say hello. I've not been to this before. Also, fellow my neighbors who have spoken, I 100% agree with what they said, and I have followed this for the last, three years with them, giving and sacrificing personal time and money, but them even more so. They are definitely valuable assets to Wallatin and Westland as residents.

I'll just add a personal appeal. Please save Stafford. It's a gem of our area. It's something that is a treasure. I know twenty years ago, my wife and I were just married and we drove through Stafford on Stafford Road. And we dreamed. We said, what if we lived here someday? And it wasn't a dream that we had because of transmission lines. There's a lack of them. And it was the beauty of the wooden white fences and the, you know, amber ways of grain.

And we were able to do that ten years later and fix up a house a little bit and work real hard. And, you know, two nights ago, there was a beautiful sunset. It was orange, and I did not have to look through a 110 foot transmission lines to see it. And then the next night, we had a purple sunset. And you can see straight down the valley.

And this is the Willamette Valley. This is the view of 100 and more. And this is what we can save and protect. And there's the IGA, and I think that's a tool that your city attorneys can use for us to save our community. But this is going to be a scar right down the middle of Stafford.

And I hope that other people will come and drive through Stafford and dream that one day they could live there through hard work and then you become a steward of the land. Wasn't a farmer, now I have chickens and goats. And when you invest in a home in Stafford, the cost of living there is about 30 times as much. If you want to redo your driveway, it's a lot more than in a subdivision. If you want to redo your fence, it's a lot more because the lengths and the linear feet are all multiplied so many more times.

So I want future generations to want to live there. I want them to want to invest their time and money in keeping up these little hobby farms and the community. And one, the transmission lines are not going to help with that dream of future generations keeping this going. And certainly, it's not going to help anyone want to invest in their little farms and their properties when PGE destroys the property value. But it's not about the property value, but that is definitely a side effect.

It's about the aesthetic and it's about people wanting to be there, wanting their grandchildren to be there, wanting new people to come into the area and keep it going. Then the IGA will help us protect that. And I really plead and beg as a resident of Tualatin, please help us, Thank you.

Next item I have is Joe Ratti. Greetings. Welcome.

Thank you for this opportunity, mayor and council members, and thank you for the comfortable chairs to sit in as we go through this meeting. The first gentleman talked about preparedness, and I'm here to ask you to consider being prepared for what can happen if you allow this project to go through. These are industrial grade utility poles. PGE has not been transparent throughout this whole process. As other speakers have mentioned, we were supposed to be getting poles that would be unobtrusive, taller to accommodate the transmission, but nothing like this.

And if you've been on off Nyberg Road, you've seen what these poles look like, and it's it's gonna be a travesty and a safety and a health issue for us. PGE, as I mentioned, has not been transparent through this whole process. They are saying right now that these poles are going to be carrying a 120 kilovolts of of power. I have worked with Tacoma power. I've worked with Idaho Falls power.

I've worked with Peninsula Light in the Gig Harbor area. I'm telling you that these poles are graded to carry much more than a 120 kilovolts. And that is a safety concern for anybody who is on Stafford Road. These poles and the wires are gonna be in front of the if you've been on Stafford Road, there's a Catholic church. Those wires will go right over it.

There's this Westland School Administration building. Those wires will go right over that building. There are homes that are maybe 50 feet from Stafford Road. Those power lines are gonna be right in their front door right over their front doors. So I urge you to really consider intervening in this process to get a better handle on what the heck PGE is trying to do.

And I would just can I ask you a question? Has the county informed you of this process? As I understand it, the the county is supposed to inform the cities that are involved in this IGA about any new development such as this. Have they contacted you about has the county contacted you guys about this?

An email was sent to our planning.

And when was that?

How long ago? Kevin chime in here, our city attorney.

I'll have to look for the exact date, your honor.

Okay.

But they did send an email. Would that

be within a year?

Yeah. Yeah. Would like to know the timing. I think the timing is

Yeah.

I I think the timing would be appropriate as far as that's concerned. That's all I have to say. But please really consider this because this this is not just aesthetic, it's safety as well. Thanks a lot.

Okay. The last sign up I have, there's no name which is says Safe Safe Stavroek Road, but

it's

Anna Goponte. Am I seeing her? Anna? Email address? Okay. No worries.

My name is Laniel Vander Mullen.

Okay. Welcome.

Thank you. Yes. I'm a member of Safe Stafford Road. And ever since PGE planned these industrial sized electric poles, probably more than six years ago now, it has practiced industrial levels of deceit against the Stafford Road landowners who stand to see those massive pulls shrink our property values from between 30 to 40% according to the realtors that we have contacted. And for people who've spent their life savings trying to get a decent piece of property on Stafford Road, That means selling it at a loss at this point.

The the next problem is, that subject to the fire hazards that our one truck fire district can't handle. And I concur that there was a fire probably three, four years ago now at the base of our hill when a PGE transponder exploded, set the brush on fire, and our fire truck could not put it out until they got permission from PGE to do so, and it just raged for two hours. It really threatened properties along there. And I can see that problem being multiplied by these giant poles all the way up and down Stafford Road. At numerous public meetings, PGE has told us different versions of their plans and bluntly dismissed the possibility of putting these poles along I 205 to connect to I 5, then go down I 5 where it's just a relatively short jump to its its, destination.

They they don't even wanna talk about it. They just say they can't do it. They don't have the right of way. And they use every excuse they could think of for avoiding the steps needed to get such a right of way. As a result, we've been forced to mount a legal battle against them ending in this current LUBA appeal.

But PGE is already building during this appeal, building its massive eyesores along Stafford North. And I think this city council should be angry that PGE has ignored its obligations to fully inform you of its application for a conditional use permit. Apparently, they sent an email. It's pretty easy to to miss an email, and it's required by law that they do inform you. And in the end, I want to know if you're going to ignore this rogue company's arrogance towards the homeowners, property owners along Stafford, or can you do something to resist them?

PGE has acted in bad faith from the beginning, driving over Stafford Road residents like a bulldozer and ignoring proper legal processes. So I hope you can get creative in giving us some relief from this. I own a a very nice historical county landmark home right next to the Historical School District building. We are actually a historical district, and this is cutting right through us. Thank you.

Thank you.

Your honor. Yes. Just to follow-up on your question, Clackamas County notified Steve Coper in the Planning Commission on 08/26/2025.

That's all the people I had signed up. Is there anyone else who would like to provide public comment that you didn't sign up? It's fine to come up if you want to do that. To speed the time.

Can I just make one comment on the pictures? What you're looking at there is only half of

the pole.

That's not the whole pole.

A bit the pole that's gonna

get added to that pole, the

the right picture or picture of Kelly is is the next section that goes on to it.

Just so you know what you're looking

at there. Alright.

Do we have anyone in Zoom? Oh, do you want to come up? Yep. Great. Just state your name. You don't have to say your address.

My name is Susan Vandenberg. I'm on Stafford Road. So I wasn't planning on speaking, but I admire my neighbors for doing so. Just to put a little personal point on this, our piece of property is right on Stafford. We have four power poles on our property that are going to be replaced.

They are approximately, I think I measured it, but I can't remember now, 70 feet from our deck where we look out over Stafford and all of our living is right there. We're going to have four of these giant things right at 70 feet from our bedroom, from our living room, from our deck, and it's just going to as far as property values, not only the fire hazard because it's also surrounded by a pasture there, so if it goes down, it lights the pasture, it gets the house. And then property values, I mean it's would you buy a piece of property even though the house was nice with four giant power poles 70 feet from your window. That's all I

have to say.

Thank you. Anyone else in the room? Sorry. No. No. That way it works. Anyone else? Okay. Anyone in Zoom? Alright. Okay. Just thank you all for attending tonight. I took lots of notes. It's it's a frustrating situation. I saw the emails coming back from, Mayor Buck and and Mayor Rory from, Westland, to Kelly and to Ed.

Our city attorney is is still trying to talk to the other two city attorneys, but right now it's TBD and what we're going to do. But I very much appreciate you all coming. The whole city council has heard you rather than just me, which is good. But again, you for coming tonight. There's not probably going be a resolution tonight, but I do appreciate you coming.

Sure. That brings us to our consent agenda. Our consent agenda, those items considered routine. They will be adopted by one motion unless someone on the council would like an item removed and heard separately later tonight. The consent agenda tonight consists of two items, consideration of approval of the work session and regular meeting minutes of 01/12/2026 and consideration of resolution number 5941Dash26 authorizing the city manager to execute deed acquiring the Gertz construction company property for a public right away. Would any city councilor like one of these items removed from consent? If not?

I move that we adopt the consent agenda as read. Second.

I have a motion and second to adopt the consent agenda as read. Any comments on those motions, discussions on those motions? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Abstentions? It's unanimous. All right. That brings us to special reports. Our first special report is there an outside agency grant awardee to Altam Valley Pride, and that will be Kit. Welcome, Kit. Welcome, Kit.

Hello, council and mayor. First of all, just wanna say thank you for allowing us to come and tell you a little bit about our organization and what we try to do for our community. As you know, I am Kit Lorelein, at least all of you

know by this

point. I've worked as a librarian at the Tualatin Public Library for seventeen years. That seems way long and way short all at the same time. I also have a kid in high school in the city and live within the city limits. Last year, after I sued the state of Oklahoma in order to get an X on my birth certificate and went through the ups and downs of that process, I began to realize that things needed to change, the way to do that is locally.

And so that's when I founded Twelfth Avenue Pride and president and founder and here's the rest of my board. Hello.

My name is Andy Dettinger. I work for the Oregon Department of Human Services. I'm not there as a representative,

but that's

my job. I've lived in Tualatin since I moved to Oregon five and a half years ago, and I'm the treasurer. So I do money stuff.

Hi. I'm Rachel Grime. I use she, her pronouns, and I am the secretary of Toowalton Valley Pride. And I work at the Oregon Primary Care Association on the HIV STI team.

Alright. Our mission here, as you can see, is we're trying to just create community for for people that are in the queer community here in Tualatin. We're following in the footsteps of some people that have started growing the community events that we have, and we just wanted to provide a space for people to be able to get together, to celebrate, to feel safe, and eventually we'd love to grow into something a little larger where we can provide resources and connections in that manner.

Alright. So, our organization really came out of the annual pride event that's been happening in Tualatin since 2023. Thanks to a lot of folks in this room. And so, yeah, kind of as Kit mentioned, the organization was founded mostly to help that annual event be sustainable and to help it grow. And so that is our main goal. We are also hosting smaller events throughout the year, and we do hope to, again, just grow a little bit larger and continue to support the community throughout the year as well. And our main goal is really to make sure that we can celebrate the queer community in Tualatin in this big event at least once a year.

Awesome. So Tolerton Valley Pride was awarded, $400 from the outside agency grant award, and we will be using that to support outreach and marketing for our twenty twenty six Pride event. That will go hopefully towards a banner that will go on Martinuzzi, very similar to the one that you see, except we are hoping to make it slightly more generic so that we can add the date on it. The idea of having a million discrete banners makes me break out in hives. Yes. And so it won't cover all of the costs, but we are super appreciative of the funds, and we're hoping to be able to use our banner for many years.

And just so you know, we did have just this last week, we've confirmed our dates. It'll be on May 31. We're working with the city to use the the splash pad again to have a little walk around the the square. So we invite anybody who would like to come out or learn more about us. We do have our website. It is towallatin valley pride dot org up on online, and we're excited. So hope to see you there.

All right. Questions for the board? Council Brooks and Council President Pratt.

I just want to thank you all for your leadership and also I've worked in with focus on HIVAIDS patients when I was a clinician. And so I really appreciate the work there as well and the idea around resources. And I think that it's really good leadership in a time like right now where I think if people got to know each other a little bit better, some of the ways that this dehumanization happens and so much violence follows. So I appreciate you bringing the awareness, your lived experience, and more peace and possibility to our community. Thank you very much.

And keep in touch with anything I can do. Oh, I just wanted

to say thank you for coming tonight. We gave you $400 and you came and gave this great presentation. And you're, it's it's it's always good for us to know what's happening with the money. So thanks for your

efforts. You. Pastor Osaka.

Thank you. I just wanted to, acknowledge the work, that you've done, thus far and part the participation in the concert last year. I'm wearing my bracelet. And earlier tonight, the the council approved a transgender day of visibility proclamation, that we'll read next month, but I just wanted to make sure that everybody was aware of that as well. So, thank you for all the work that you do. It's greatly appreciated.

I feel like we should have a circle of appreciation here because we heard that tonight too. As a trans member of this community, I feel a lot of support from this council. Really

appreciate it.

Anything else? Well, thank you for covering tonight.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Alright. That takes us to our second special report, which is, republican services 2024 annual report, and that'll be delivered by Cindy and Travis. Welcome.

Thank you for calling it special.

Yeah.

You have the power. I

can't be responsible. Good evening, mayor and councilors and those attending both in person and online. My name is Cindy Rogers and I am your municipal relationship manager for Republic Services and I'm joined here by Travis Comfort, your municipal contract administrator. Our presentation this evening is a review of the essential services that we provided for the city of Tualatin in 2024. I do apologize. We were supposed to be here in November, but I ended up getting sick and I didn't want to share the love. So we rescheduled for tonight. So my apologies. Next slide. You have the power, remember?

I think I'm on. Okay. In 2024, our drivers were at the homes of over 6,000 households, 12 times a month. This is about a 2.5% increase over 2023. The 35 gallon trash container continues to be the most popular.

The residents of Tualatin have a robust waste and recycling program. Residential service includes trash, yard debris with food waste, commingle recycling and the glass bin that's all weekly. As a reminder, customers can put motor oil and batteries in their glass bin. We also offer additional services including Recycle Plus for hard to recycle items, bulky waste pickups for items that won't fit in your roll cart and drop boxes for larger projects. In 2024, we collected nearly 9,000 tons of material.

This averages out to be 1.5 tons per household. This is consistent with what we saw in 2023. Next slide please. For businesses and multifamily, we offer trash up to six days a week, commingle recycling up to five days a week and food waste four days a week and then glasses weekly. In 2024, we serviced 66 multifamily customers and six eighty six commercial customers.

We saw 4% decrease in tons in 2024. The total commercial tons in 2024 was 12,722 versus 13,260 in 2023. Slide four shows the number of industrial hauls that we did in 2024 and then industrial halls are drop boxes ranging from 10 to 40 yard or compactors. In 2024, we did 8,573 industrial halls. This is nearly identical to the number of hauls that we did in 2023.

We hauled over 22,000 tons of material in 2024, which is slightly up from 2023. This means that the average haul that we did for our drop boxes and compactors was 2.6 tons in 2024 versus 2.5 tons in 2023. So again, very consistent year over year. Tualatin residents and businesses have free access to our recycling depot on Ritter Road in Wilsonville. The recycling depot is open eight to five Monday through Friday and is staffed by a Wilsonville High School graduate and I will say that the customers just adore him and we are very grateful to have him on our team.

People can drop off cardboard, electronic waste, glass bottles, scrap metal, metal cans, paper, plastic, jugs and tubs. Oregon's new recycling law went into effect July, even more items can now be dropped off. So this includes black, green, brown nursery pots, large plastic storage totes, pots and pans and then liquid cartons that you would buy like broth or juice in aseptic containers what they call them. And then now you can also leave your lids on your plastic containers. In 2024, we did over $13,000,000 in revenue and paid over $275,000 in franchise fees.

The schedule of expenses shows the disposal continues to be by far our largest expense at $5,400,000 and labor is our second at $2,400,000 We attend a lot of community events and the most common thing that I hear are the how awesome our drivers are and how helpful our staff is at their Wilsonville office. Many customers know our drivers by name, and if they don't know them by name, they definitely know their faces. I can tell you that it means a lot to us when people make the effort and make a point to compliment our drivers and our staff. So when Travis and I are out tabling at events, we always make sure that we share those compliments with their supervisors because it's really important that they hear the feedback that the work that they're doing in the community that the community values that work that they're doing. So I will pass it off to Travis and he will talk about more fun things like the opportunity to recycle, the recycling modernization act, and then our community engagement in 2024.

Thank you, Cindy. Good evening, mayor, city council, staff, ladies and gentlemen. It is a pleasure to be with you all here this evening. Thank you for giving us this time. As you may remember, city of Tualatin ran a pilot project for residential food scraps to see if residents would be interested in putting this material into their bin.

And with the success of that program, the city did formally adopt it in 2023. In terms of our chart here, you can see that winter storm data does kind of impact it a little bit with the ice storm in 2020, but we are seeing, more participation each year in the program. And we will continue, as soon as in our outreach events, to continue to remind residents that this is an opportunity that they have with their service. We also work with Toalton businesses. A lot of them are still getting up to speed on the metro food scrap separation mandate, and the county has ramped up their enforcement.

So we have even worked with businesses on enclosure challenges or service, frequency challenges as well, and all of that work is going very well. Oregon law requires cities over the population of 4,000 to implement recycling programs, giving residents and businesses the opportunity to recycle. We work directly with Lindsay and Washington County staff to ensure that to it meets all of its service and outreach requirements per Oregon statute. Here you can see the updated recycling guide that we just sent out to all of our Tualatin residents and businesses in November 2025, and we also brought copies for you all. So the one that was emailed out has the English and Spanish on each side.

And then the additional one, I'm still working on the Spanish translation for the batteries, but we've been really pushing, how to properly prepare your batteries for recycling as well. On the right hand side, you can see the list of the top five contaminants that we find in the recycling stream. Contamination reduction is a new component to the city's, annual obligations for the opportunity to recycle, and we'll be working with Washington County to ensure that compliance is met on this as well. You might have already seen or heard of the recycle on Oregon branding featured here at the bottom. This was created by the recycling partnership specifically for Oregon's new system, and it was paid for by the producers of paper and plastic packaging and made freely available to all jurisdictions in Oregon.

These materials come in more than 20 languages and offer offer many forms of customization for the different communities across the state. As many of you may know, Oregon's new recycling modernization act took effect on July 1, and there are three key takeaways from tonight's presentation. Number one, it established Oregon as an extended producer responsibility system, meaning that producers of paper and plastic packaging now have to pay into the system based upon how recyclable their products are. Number two, it established a uniform statewide collection list for curbside commingled recycling, and that means that residents in Washington County can, recycle the same as those in Malheur or Curry Counties. And number three, there will be even more education outreach to customers supported by producers, haulers, Washington County, and 12 staff.

Part of that support was establishing these universal outreach materials and campaigns that can easily be translated and tailored for each community. Here at the bottom, you can see that both government and private enterprise are working together to implement the new law. One of the best parts about our job is when we can be out in the community. Our community partners are an amazing help, in connecting us with the people across to Walton. And, as you can see, this is our list of the annual events we participated in in 2024, and most of them, like said, are annual.

So we do these each year. In 2025, was the second year we partnered with Safety Town, and that's a great, partnership and amazing opportunity for kids. We appreciate it because our number one priority is safety. So they let us bring a truck down. The kids really had a lot of questions. They'd like getting in it, seeing it, looking around it, and that in person connection is just very important. Many children in Swalton really enjoy garbage day as you can imagine. Most of them do know all three of their drivers, trash, recycling, and yard debris. And, as you can see in these, pictures, we do when we can set up, little truck parades and stops for the kids on their birthday.

Before you go off of that slide, I don't see on there our holiday light parade, which, you have you have participated in for the last couple of years, which is awesome.

And and we love that. If you saw our electric truck this year Mhmm. Leanne, our operations supervisor, she went above and beyond. And we're gonna do that again next year because it looked really, really Yeah. So I apologize for not including a photo of that. Yep. But you'll just have to have us back again this year, and we'll we'll be glad to show you that because that was a lot of fun. And both the driver and Leanne enjoyed participating in that parade as well. So and then the annual bulky waste event, has been very successful. We have more participants each and every year.

In 2024, we saw more than 240 vehicles bring in almost 29 tons of material. And this event is also a great fundraising and donation of collection event for the city. Annual cleanup events in Las Casitas neighborhood are done in participation with the city, and they are well utilized. Residents of this neighborhood were able to get rid of 3.14 tons of material on 09/20/2025. This is solid participation for a neighborhood that has the event each year, so that's really good participation.

Mhmm.

We did receive our first electric truck in October 2024, and we received two more in August 2025. The electrification of garbage and recycling trucks complements to all of this climate action plan and the city's goal for reducing carbon emissions. There are many advantages to going electric besides the low emissions. The electric trucks have more safety technology built into them, including 360 degree cameras and the larger windows you can see up the front for drivers visibility. And again, we really want to thank you for giving us the time today. And if you have any questions, Cindy and I are always available. Questions? Sorry to talk so fast.

No, it's good. Council Hillier.

Thank you. It's always nice to see you, and we're glad you're healthy again, Cindy. Thank you. So in addition so I have people in the community talk to me all the time about, did you know that you could call Republic Services? And if you have things you wanna get rid of, you put them in your driveway, and they come and they mush them up into this little thing, and they take them away for a great price. So could you speak a little bit more to that, please, and how amazing that program is?

Yeah. I think what you're talking about is the bulky waste pickup.

Well, it's the I think you compact things, maybe. It goes into a rear load truck and it

gets compacted. Like, have a couch

excited about this.

If you have a mattress, if you have, you know, an old child's car seat that you can't donate, all of those things. So those are called bulky waste pickup. And for a small fee, we'll come out and we'll pick those because a lot of people don't have transportation. We have the bulky waste events, which are great, but if you don't have a pickup truck, and even if you do, a couch is kinda hard to move. Right? So we'll come to people's houses and pick up

the bulky waste. Yeah. And I've heard people, like, kind of getting together in their neighborhood, putting things together. And so I just I think that's such a great service that, I guess, I wasn't aware of, and I just wanted to be able to raise that up Yep. Here. And, of course, say thank you for your I think you also participate in the big truck day too. Do you not participate in that? Like, you need to toot your horn. I know. I'm teasing you. But anyway, I just wanted to say thank you for for all you do.

Yeah. And and as far as that sharing too, like, the recycle plus program that we have, we really encourage people like, maybe you don't have enough plastic film, you know, but you can share with your neighbors. So maybe your neighbors gets a little purple tote, you know, and you just split it with them or something like that. So we want to definitely encourage people, helps to keep the cost down to share and bulky waste is a great way to do that too.

Just

some curious questions. I did try to go and I was off on a it was a holiday and I tried to go and drop off some like stuff at the at your location, and it was closed. So you're not you're not open on holidays, and I think that would be a good is that am I correct? Because it was It

was on a holiday.

Were trying to go there? Yeah. Because I didn't work, yeah, that day. So I think it was, like, Monday or something like that.

Yeah. And we were closed for a while because of the road construction. We were closed for several weeks because of that road construction because we had all every truck, every passenger vehicle was always going in in one entrance. And so we are down to only one entrance. And so we had to close it because it wasn't safe. So it might have been during that period too. But yes, we are closed sometimes on holidays. Even though our trucks run on holidays except for Christmas and New Year's or Thanksgiving in some cities. But, yeah, we might have been closed. The depot might have been closed, but it also could have been due to the construction because there was a spell where we were closed.

Yeah. Within Christmas and New Year's, it should have just been it's probably the road construction.

Yeah. I just wanted to make sure because it says you're open Monday through Friday and all this. And I didn't I was hoping to go on a it was a holiday. So I just you're you are close on some holidays.

I think we are close, like, on Christmas

and New Year's should be

the only days that

And then, like I said, during during Okay. The Yeah.

And some people haven't signed up for it, but you can sign up for text alerts. And then so when there are holidays or storm delays, those do go out over text message, but a lot of people have not really signed up

for that yet, though.

Oh, I like that. Okay.

And the app does have those as well. Now they need another app on your phone.

I know.

We get a phone call too.

Yeah. Yeah. We can get a phone call too.

So, yeah, if you haven't signed

up for

text alert, you automatically get the phone call. Again,

these are all curious questions. So why lids are now you can throw you say you can leave the lids. Why what changed?

Well, the recycling modernization act changed. So they found that they can recycle the lid. So like say you have, I don't know, like a plastic bottle that's not like a deposit bottle. As long as you keep the lid screwed on, you can keep the lid on there. And then the lid will get recycled as long as it's still attached. So it was this is part of the Recycling Modernization Act where they did a lot of studies. They found that they are recyclable.

Okay.

So, I mean, I don't know. I think probably for a long time they've been recyclable, but they just they looked into it and they found that they could recycle them.

And we all yeah. Like Cindy said, you gotta you gotta crush it so that, like, when our truck compacts it, doesn't pop the lid off. Oh. But, yeah, if if you, you know, crush your milk carton down and put the lid top on there because it it's often denser plastic too than the jug or the liquid container.

Okay. That makes thank you. I mean, like, I'm like I said, they're just curious questions. And the other just because I've been a huge promoter of batteries on your glass container that it's on your ziplock thing. Mhmm. Has that improved? I'm just curious. Yeah. Your fires have gone down? I mean, did you guys Yes. Because I remember that was a big deal, fires.

It's a big deal. And there actually is a piece of legislation that's coming up in this short short session. We'd love to have the city support on that, which is gonna make batteries part of an extended producer responsibility just like this plastic packaging that we're talking about that went into effect in July. They want to make it so that the producers of batteries pay into the system so that they can do more education because really it's about messaging and education that they don't belong in your recycle, they don't belong in your trash, they need special handling. And so this piece of legislation that will hopefully pass in the short session would help that.

So yes, we have seen a decrease in fires. We have. But everything uses a battery. I mean, it was not an external battery, it's an embedded battery. I mean, it's in they're in everything now.

Okay. And participation is way up.

We're collecting more But it's about getting the message out there. And so when Travis and I table at events, we try to make sure we bring samples of what it looks like, how to properly prepare them. And we still come across a lot of people that say, oh, I didn't know you could do that. Mhmm.

And just another, like I say, just things that I observe throughout the year with people that I talk about this. There's a big emphasis in recycle, but I feel like out of the three r's, I know that the one the one of the most important one is re reduce. So are there is there any, like, promoting material that helps people reduce or at least think about what when buying bananas and not buy, like, 20 instead of, you know, buy maybe four that you can eat? So, I mean, that kind of reduction helps actually with all the waste that goes because a lot of people think about recycle and so they go and they buy a bunch of stuff because they're thinking, oh, I can recycle this. But the educational part is teach them to reduce Mhmm.

And buy less. So is there any promoting materials or anything that will emphasize reduce?

Yeah. We do talk about that when we're out tabling at events, like just making sure that you're not buying things that you don't need. Because the reality is that, to your point, it's kind of like on a consumerism issue. Recycling is great for things that we need to buy, but we do promote that. And I think part of the OTR, there is some

Waste reduction is part of, like, what we do with the county. So there's promotion on, like, food waste prevention, like, don't buy too much.

The rotten apple campaign, you know Try rotate

in your fridge, that kind

of

thing.

Yeah. There's like the rotten apple campaign that they did. And so, yeah, we we try to message all of that out too.

Right. I I just think of other things that I you know, because people do think, oh, I can recycle later. I I'll just buy it. And the reality is that it it's actually the reduce of that. Do you really need it or not? And I'm not gonna, like, talk to people, whatever they can do, whatever they want. But I just, you know, I just feel like it's good marketing to continue promoting that. And thank you for doing all the stuff you do with Las Casitas in the city and helping people there with all the bulk bulk collections and all that you do every year. Thank you very much for that.

You're welcome.

Other questions or comments? Council Brooks.

Thank you very much. One of the things you didn't mention about the EV is that they're quieter, which I really appreciate the weeks that the quiet ones come is my favorite weeks and even my and my puppies. So my question is with is there a place right now that we can recycle Styrofoam anywhere?

There is a place that is taking Styrofoam. They do charge for it. I don't know if they're open to the public yet. They were trying to get a piece of equipment called a densifier, which basically so Styrofoam is, like, puffed up plastic. Yeah. So it, like, needs to get the air out of it. And I believe they got the piece of equipment. I'm not sure if they have opened up to the public. They're called Green Sentry. Green what? Green Sentry. They're in Portland. I know that they were trying to do like a slow rollout because we had some big more industrial customers that we wanted to take material to them and they were like, we're not ready for that yet. So I'm not sure where they're at in that process, but I know that they are taking some Styrofoam.

Okay.

So I think I think they are taking it from the public. And I know sorry. I don't know the fees that they charge. No. No.

It's fine. I just was had some stuff in my garage and that other place closed.

I know.

Then I'm like, where do I go? And I haven't been able to find it and nobody has an answer. So I'm like, this is my opportunity. But I've been using the the food part of the recycle for the green, which is really one of my favorite things. My husband loves our own compost and but we can't compost everything, and so I really like it.

And I don't know if I've mentioned that in here before or not, but I just put everything like that in the freezer until the day of because I know sometimes the reason why we can't put it in the compost is too sweet or, you know, it's not the right balance and a lot of they'll attract a lot of ants and stuff like that. So I just wanna put that out there in case anybody was looking for a solution

Mhmm.

For getting that stuff into the green bin. Anyway, thanks a lot for your work. Appreciate it, and I see you everywhere.

Thank you. Yeah. I do the same thing that you do, especially during the summer because I don't want to put it out. My service day is Friday, and I don't want to put it out on Monday and have it be out in the heat. And so I just keep it in one of those reusable, like, ziplock bags and put it in the freezer on my food scraps. It's labeled food food, you know, food scraps. And then I just pop that, and it's like a little food waste popsicle Yeah. And put it in the the, you know Yeah.

Compost. And then it's not smelly.

Right? And then then it's Yeah. And yep. And for

that cart as well, we also do a free washout every year. So if you got a lot of organic material caking in the sides, we we do wash them out.

So Yep. We'll just swap them out.

Yeah. We'll swap it.

We'll bring you a clean one.

Yeah. Thank you.

So press prep.

Well, you know, my favorite part of tonight is that you have this nice 15.5% profit, you're not asking us to increase our rates. So thanks for making

that part

of our evening easier. It's great for

us too. Yeah.

Oh, I want to thank you for this. I wondered, do you ever, send them out about the, food compost in the yard debris bin?

We haven't sent it out on the bin, but we, have gotten with the county. We're ordering stickers to start stickering all the carts. So the carts will have a rain resistant sticker on them going forward.

Great. Because I think that's the one where I tell people, and they're like, really? Yeah. So was like, no. You really can do this. So thank you. And then I wanna say to your drivers, I didn't realize this, but my husband's retired, and I have a neighbor that's retired. And they, yeah, put those drivers and they're so polite to them. So thank you for the great service we get. Thank you.

I do want to do a shout out to

your drivers as well because sometimes when they're dumping in debris, trash will fly out versus them driving off. They get out the truck and they pick it up. I see that often. So thank you for their training. I mean to give a good shout out for

all of us. Okay? Great job.

Thank you for sharing that. Like I said, we do make sure that their supervisors are we tell them directly if we know who the drivers are. So thank you.

Any other questions or comments?

Go ahead.

One more question. I know clothing is not one of those things that you pick up or do you do that through the recycle plus?

Recycle plus.

It's part of recycle plus.

And is that a specific bin that they people can use or is it any other three bins that we get?

So it's an additional service. It's the purple bin.

The bin.

The way the purple bin or recycle plus works is that there's a monthly subscription fee of $250 and that's just have the bin delivered and then have it and then there are two pickup opportunities each month. And so you just call up, or send Debbie an email. So once you get signed up, you have our our local clerk's contact information, and then she'll set you up for the next pickup. And then it's 11:25, for each pickup.

Okay.

So like Cindy said, some people share it. And then Mhmm. If you don't need to pick up this month, you just don't need to call for a pickup. So then it's just the $2.50 flat fee.

Okay. Thank you. Yeah.

Other questions or comments? I just got two quick ones. One, remind me the cities that you serve out of your Wilsonville facility.

Lake Oswego. We do drop boxes in Westland. We do Wilsonville, Lake Oswego, of course, Tualatin, and unincorporated Clackamas County and unincorporated Washington County out of our Wilsonville location. And

then this one, you don't have to get to me tonight. You know, my little favorite thing to pick on is the metro tipping fees.

Yep.

If you could let me know how much money you donated to metro in '24.

That's a

good great way to put it.

Or are you talking the regional system fee or you're talking about tipping fee? Because those are two Metro fees.

Both would be good. I just Yeah. Just so I know how much is going to Metro and

Yep. Yeah. Yep. I can find out how much. Again, don't

need that immediately, but, you know, that's one of the mayor's favorite topics to talk about with Metro. Yeah?

Yeah. Okay.

And we appreciate it. Because like Cindy said, it's definitely our largest expense by far. Yes.

It's by far our largest expense. We did get a reprieve last year, and the increase wasn't necessarily as much as we thought it was going to be. Was at 5.5%. But as you recall, the year before that, it was almost 12%. And they do have a $275,000 or $1,000,000 sorry, 1,000,000 facility plan that they'll need to be funding. So we will see what happens in July, but we can find out what our donation was. That would be that's not a problem.

Yeah. Because, you know, it's the pass through that always irritates city count every city council

I know.

That is out of your control that we people don't realize it's going to Metro. It's not going to you. It's not going to us. It's to pay for Metro stuff.

Mhmm.

I did have one last thing to say for council Brooks. So with polystyrene, not to go back on topic, but it is a producer responsible organization item. So Circular Action Alliance, the pro that's responsible for hard to recycle items like propane canisters and the plaster. They do have to address polystyrene. It's been a slow rollout because California had a temporary ban that went into effect. So the Oregon was kind of waiting to see if that stayed in effect or not. But they are moving forward. They are funding some densifiers, so there should be some word coming soon. But part of that law also means that the material has to go to a mechanical recycler, not a chemical recycler, which Agilix and Tigard was a chemical recycler. And so that's in part why that's no longer around.

To your question, Meyer, did you want just like the part that is applicable to

To Alton.

To Alton, okay.

If you can.

Yes, we should be able. It's just we just need to look at the weight, wet waste tons that we generated and do the math.

Appreciate it.

I just can't do that on top of my head.

Don't worry about that. All right. Well, thanks for coming tonight.

Thank Thank That

concludes the special report section of our program tonight. Next up, I don't see on the agenda but normally we do any items removed for consent. We didn't have any. So then I'll move on to council communications. Councilor Hilliard,

you had one.

Yes. I was wondering and I'm sorry I didn't bring this up sooner but I've been contacted by several community members saying that the permanent prescription drug drop box is no longer at the police department. And I assured them that that it is. It's probably just the floors being redone. So I was wondering if chief could give us an update on that so I can give people a response. Sorry about that. Since I helped put it in there, I'm a little bit Of course. Wedded to its status.

Yeah. So that box was removed when they removed the flagstone from the front, and they're still working on the floor. There's still some drying issues that are going on. So it's not been replaced yet.

So So tell like, hold on to your stuff for a couple months.

Hang on.

Just say, like, that's something like, no. Chief will tell us. I know that Yes. I will put that in my newsletter or something. Thank you. I'm sorry to pull you up here in the email, but I'm like, okay. If I don't do it now, I'll forget.

You bet.

So thank you. I'll let community members know.

Alright. Accounts communications? House president Pratt?

Just because of what's been going on, chief, I want to thank you and the police force. I know you promote the training for de escalation, and you guys have done the trauma informed training. And, I wanna just read it, guess, like, what I wrote. And that your your skills in de escalation ensure that our community is safe, and, you maintain the dignity of individuals you encounter while you're enforcing the laws and keeping us safe. So I just wanted to put out a thank you for that and for how our I I see how our community reacts with the police, and I I just really appreciate that.

Other communications? Alright. Cindy?

I was what's happening? I was thinking. Sorry. I move to adjourn. Second.

Motion to second adjourn the meeting. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, it's unanimous. Have a good evening.