City Council Regular - Regular Meeting

Force me to follow. I'm going

It's that was taken off.

I would do.

I'll trim it.

Vote.

Right.

I'm in the fifth. You don't mind him. But But you Louise Tyros. Yeah. I know. I know. And I would expect that to

be 20 by 16 or 20 by.

It makes sense. You email that hopefully the area, bring in a fireplace. And

I I literally I spent half another day.

Two sides of it.

And I look We're looking like something.

They're in No.

I'm This will be

Have your attention.

It's not about it. It's not about sneaking.

Not even that far.

Hours has changed.

Well, we're we're

line. There's three

of us, and

I've offered Yeah. That's Following meeting to order, please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Can we have roll call, please?

Here.

Here.

Howard? Here. Here. Burke? Present. Reschke? Here.

All in gray is excused.

Okay. This is the public's opportunity to provide comments to the council. While you may supplement your comments with printed handouts, electronic or digital aids will not be permitted during the public comment. Please state your name and your city of residence. You'll have three minutes to speak.

Please direct your comments to the council as a whole instead of individual members, staff, or audience members. Please come forward if you're in the chamber or raise your hand in the Zoom app. And please remember that public comments are not a discussion. Public comments are to inform the council of your views. Is there anyone within the chamber that would like to step forward and make three minutes of of the comments. Who's that lady with you?

She's my boss. Just making sure I stay and I behave myself today. So Brad Richardson at Camas, Washington. I'm here on behalf of, Port Of Camas, Oshoegal just to provide some update about things that are happening at the the port. I'm glad to say that we have signed, the contract for our consultant, Century West, to do an airport layout plan and airport master plan.

And we've also accepted the federal funding that will help us do that, the 450,000. And that funding is Aisha money, so it's part of the infrastructure project. So it's not a direct FAA grant, but instead it's actually a grant that's administered by the FAA, which gives us a lot of really great flexibility as we move through the plan. And the deliverables that the plan is going to produce is just the plans. And so, you know, as we look at the urban growth foundry and all the opportunities of us having this official partnership with the city of Camas, we're gonna have a lot of flexibility and opportunity, based on setting up this plan, with that funding and then the future of what we're gonna do up at Grove.

The port is very excited to, be, coming into Downtown Camas to table for the first Friday in May. I'll personally be there. So if anyone's walking around, come by and say hi, and we're just excited to get out and engage with the community. Up at Grove on May 30, there's going to be a fly in done by CEWA. So if anyone's available for that day, please pop by and check out the fly in.

There'll be activities throughout the day. We're excited for July 31. We're gonna be having if you've heard about the Parkersville Day that we've had, on different Saturdays in the past at the port, this year, it's gonna be on that Friday from four to six right before the kickoff of our concerts, season. So if you're out looking for some history and some music together at last, then you can come check that out. I do wanna say I'm proud today to let you know that our, executive director, Trang, is over in Vancouver at the Civicsbee with the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce helping, forge the next generation of leaders in our community through that.

So she's serving as a judge, so we're really, proud, that it that's happening. We're also looking forward to the next comp plan hearing that's coming up, in a matter of days, and we do, plan to send a letter to just reaffirm our support for, Grove to be brought into the urban growth boundary and just for what the opportunities bring, the job opportunities, safety opportunities, all the things that we can do if we have Grove, in a way that we can maximize the most cost effectively manage that site in partnership with the city. And then finally, we have, our airport advisory committee, which is gonna be, this Thursday, April 23 at noon. And I'd I'd really recommend if anyone does have that have that available. It's gonna be a port budget one zero one, which you know is gonna be riveting.

But, it is really great to be able to understand, and it will be focused on airport, budget operations. So if anyone wants to get that one zero one and understanding of that, this is gonna be the best advisory committee to come to you on, April at noon. Thank you. At the port office.

Thank you.

Mayor? Yes. I wanna ask a question. Quickly. Yeah. Who's the sponsor of the flying on 05:30?

Aviation associations are the ones who are putting it on. K.

Is there anyone else in the chamber that would like to make three minutes worth of comments? Seeing none. Do we have any hands raised in the Zoom app?

There are no hands raised.

Good enough. Mayor announcements, I'm going to, not have any You're answering. But I do have a proclamation. Agenda. Proclamation. Just wanna do the consent agenda. Oh, the consent agenda? Yes. I did miss that. What would the council do with the, consent agenda?

Mayor, move to approve.

Second. It was moved by Burke and seconded to approve the consent agenda. Any discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. All in votes say nay. Are there any abstentions? Motion passes. Okay. Thank you.

No announcements. The library proclamation. Okay. We have Bonnie Urquhart here representing the public library. So I will read it.

Whereas the campus public library is dedicated to serving our community with meaningful connections, engaging enrichments and pathways to knowledge, and whereas the library is a welcoming place where people of all ages discover stories, learn new skills, access technologies, and connect with neighbors, and whereas the library strengthens our community by fostering curiosity, creativity, lifelong learning, and shared love reading, and whereas library staff, volunteers, and supporters work every day to ensure free and equitable access to resources that enrich the lives of Camas residents. Now, therefore, I, Steve Hogan, mayor of the city of Camas, do hereby proclaim April 19 through the twenty fifth twenty twenty six as National Library Week in the city of Camas and encourage all community members to visit the library to explore the wealth of available resources. With that, I will sign this proclamation.

Thank you very much, mayor and council. Just wanna say quickly this as this is National Library Week, the theme is find your joy at the library. And, just today, in one day, I, found so many things to be joyful about. Two examples of which were I came across, our close knit, program, which is, for if you knit or any other kind of fiber arts, and there were 20 plus people there just having such a great time chatting and building community. And I said, can I take your picture?

And could I take their picture? They were like, but over there and maybe from that angle.

And they were just having

a great time. And then, just now, I came from our, current gallery artist, artist talk, and, she chose to spend the time instead of talking exclusively about her works of art, as she took the time to have a group discussion about what it means to be an artist and that everyone has creativity inside them. And, it was just a really great discussion amongst community members. So find your joy anywhere, but especially at the library.

Can

we get a picture together?

Of course.

Of this information? Do you want to have to live there

or over here?

You're all there.

The flag's in the background.

Okay.

There's one other thing I would like to say that, for some families that, don't get home from work early, It's a great place at the library to have people come and leave their children, and you guys watch over them so well. So thank you.

And we're open till eight as well. So they they can always come after work.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Council assignments. The I have, two council assignments, or actually three and, a planning commission. So the first council assignment, would be Tim Hine on planning commission, and Tim Hine on the JPAC. And, the next assignment would be, Masa, on the lodging tax. Any comments or questions? Go ahead. Yes, Mayor.

I apologize for bringing it up at this time, but I think that I appreciate the your consideration. I believe I may have too many conflicts between planning commission and C TRAN.

Okay. I Between planning commission and what? And C TRAN.

They're they're have failed to remember planning commission Tuesday meeting dates once a month. I thought it was the third Tuesday of the month. It's the second. There I believe there may be too much, conflict Okay. Between those two meeting dates. I'll do more research on it if you wish.

But

I wanted to let you know that before decision is rendered.

Okay. Any other comments, questions? Councilmember Seneschewski.

Thank you, mayor. I currently serve as alternate on the planning commission, and I've filled in a lot for, when councilmember Lewallen was here. I filled in once for Councilmember Eschke. I really like that group. So if Tim's unable to serve, if he would consider me, I would appreciate it.

All good. All good? Was that a motion? Yeah. It

can be. My procedural understanding is you can add that name, but the council still has to move to approve.

Yeah. The council It needs to be seconded. Correct.

And voted on and debated and voted on. That's what I'm asking.

Any other comments or questions?

Mayor, in January, council member Burke asked about the mayor pro tem. And you said at that time that you were gonna make committee assignments in April. And I think the council member Burke made a a good comment at that time. I think that all of us have different areas of passion, things that they wanna learn about, things that they want to do. And I think that people that are qualified for certain positions and demonstrated interest should have that taken under consideration. So my question for you, we, or have you taken that into further consideration of reassigning mayor pro tem and the backup pro tem for the year, specifically at the request of council member Berg?

I have not, considered it or put it on the list at this point. I will consider it and bring it forward.

How are the other assignments made? You advertise those amongst council members? Or, I think what I just heard tonight is is council member Hine was offered planning commission. There was a backup to that position. Don't know if that person was made aware. I wasn't aware that planning commission was open. So, how do we go about with the assignments or changes midyear? It's

up to you guys to nominate.

Okay. So was did that come up in a previous meeting that I missed? Was there a nomination for planning committee?

Historically, what the mayor does is brings forward a slate, and then the council makes a motion and second, but there is debate and discussion about it. But that's historically, that's how committee assignments have been made. In my experience, I think that's I think that's accurate.

So, with a newly elected counselor, I had come in and met and said these were the things I'm interested in. That's the only discussion that I have had about it. And so see it on the agenda as already filled, but that doesn't represent, any kind of a discussion. So who wants to do this? Like, who's interested in doing this?

And so, I prefer not well, someone needs to make a motion, but I think that having a process where we can communicate interest and then about that, I think, is an important part of sitting on the dais. I counselor's remarks about why I want to learn more. Right? So there are things I don't know yet. My my second term, and I've never had a chance to be on planning commission. I've never had a chance to be on the port. I've got a you know, there's just a lot of things that I wanna learn. So I appreciate you very

Yeah. So, at this point, where are we, counselor?

Well, you presented a slate, which would include, I think I heard JPAC, planning commission. There was a third one.

Lodging advisory. Lodging advisory.

And so that certainly could be a motion that it you know, approve that slate with a second, or that's generally how it usually proceeds. There's a the mayor presents a slate and they there's a motion, but it could be bifurcated out, I guess, theoretically with maybe pull out planning commission because that's seems to be in some questions. So you just have JPAC and lodging tax, which do need to have, you know, council members available. That's a little more maybe a little more time sensitive for those for those two, but planning commission can certainly maybe be moved to the next meeting along with the we're talking about the mayor pro tem. Tim, is that the issue? Okay. Because the pro tem Tim is Tim. Right? That was kind of a joke. Pro tem.

Pro tem.

Tim. Okay. So that we've already set for 2026. Yeah. We'll not set for 2026.

We'll cons I will flex it. And then I'll Okay.

So that's for next meeting. Okay. So I'd suggest you can forward the JPAC and the logging tax advisory late. And if you wanna open it for discussion for planning commission and then the 2026 appointment for the Pro Tem, We could do that probably at the next

meeting. Okay. So I heard you say move planning commission to the next meeting.

Looks like there was other interest in in that position, so maybe that's a good one to bump to the next meeting.

Yeah.

I think is council member Seneschi, are you still the alternate there for right? So then there's coverage then. Okay.

Okay. They're in council member Savarich.

Thank you, mayor. I'm gonna move that this request by the mayor be approved, and I'm gonna vote against it because what we're trying to do is get discussion about this. I'm not willing to I I wanna get a I wanna get a debate on this. I wanna get it out. We're dancing around it.

We're parsing it, and I don't think that's the best way to do it. And so this isn't personal with anyone, but I think, historically, I've been on the council a while, but previously, it's floated past us. Here are my proposed assignments. And we already not only did we not do that here, we also haven't addressed previous concerns, plus we have vacancies that for alternate positions. I'm aware that several counselors, several department heads have made specific requests that have not been on. So that'll be my debate. So I move that we approve the mayor's council assignments. Do I have a second?

Just well, just let let the chair call for the second. So is that just for clarification, is that for the JPAC? It's for all of it. For all three? Okay. Thank you. Thank you, council member.

Okay. So I thought I heard you say that, on the planning commission, we were

The motion on the table, though, is for all three to be appointed. Oh. But I guess who who would be part of the slate? Because miss councilmember Hein withdrew his withdrew his name.

So we're just withdrawing two. Yeah. We're we're we're nominating two. Nominating two. And I will I will speak against it or vote against them.

So for clarification, the motion on the table is j JPAC appointment as presented, and the lodging tax advisory committee as presented. K. Now, the mayor, you can call for a second.

Can we call for a second on those, the JPAC and the, lodging tax committee?

Second.

Second. Okay. All in favor, say aye.

Debate. You gotta call for debate. For discussion. That's right. Call for discussion. Debate. So,

does anyone want to debate?

Well, I I two comments. Number one, council member Savarge, you've made a motion so that we could debate it, and then you put all your debates out there. So, so now we'll debate it. But to be clear, Mayor, I'm not seeking, I'm not seeking any of these positions. I'm just seeking the process, and I felt like Right. We didn't follow a process that we talked about in January. So that's why I

get concerned about it. Thank

you. K. Are there any more comments? I

would just say officially I'm sorry. What's that? Yes, please. That I concur with counselor Noor. I would prefer a more, I would prefer opportunity to to be heard on my request to be part of various committees. So supportive, I guess. Aggressive.

Yeah. I wonder if I could jump in. So, again, I think we went through this exercise over the last year or so for council procedures manual. I don't have I mean, the clerk could jump in if he remembers whether this was actually addressed in the manual, but that would be if there's interesting kind of a broader discussion about this topic, that's probably where I would want you know, I advise you land in as you go through the council procedures so it's clear to everyone. And but it could already be in there too. We're not I'm not saying it isn't. I'm just saying that we did go through this exercise. You adopted a council procedures manual.

Yes. Yes. Councilmember Berger.

Thank you. The mayor pro tem process is addressed in the policies and procedures. Is it a a an nomination comes from the floor or from the floor from the dais, and then that's Okay. Upon.

I couldn't recall.

I believe that council appointments are the mayor's discretion. My speaking against it was just wanting to have that be considered. You know, if you if you indicate interest in something, have no indication that that was considered. No offense, you know, meant. It's just I didn't I didn't, it felt murky.

Thank you. Councilwoman, Mr. Savarsh.

Thank you, mayor. Our code says that the mayor may make appointments subject to council approval. Our policies and procedures manual says that the mayor pro tem and mayor pro tem and mayor may make a suggestion for mayor pro tem. And if not if approved, so be it, which means that they can also ask for it to be brought up again. This is the procedure, and we have a motion before the floor that's been seconded and is being debated. Can we proceed?

That's what we're doing. Council member Senescu.

Thank you, mayor. It was my understanding that it is the mayor's discretion who gets put on these and that it is as a courtesy that we approve them?

It is, I I will answer you that it's up to the mayor to make the, suggestion of what of a person that would be, nominated for a position. And it's your Okay. Ability to say yay or nay.

Oh, thank

you for the clarification.

Yeah.

Council member Hine.

Thank you, mayor. If if this is an appropriate time, knowing the positions that are available at this time, is this an appropriate time to have a discussion about those that would have an interesting being considered for your nominations to the physician.

You know? Because we have a standing motion on the table for approval approval of thumbs down or

I'm not aware of which openings there are existing. Not really the ones mentioned here.

That's all I'm aware

of. Yeah. Those are the ones that I've looked at and cited that I'll nominate someone at this time. Any more discussion? All in favor, say aye.

All opposed, say nay. Nay. Any abstentions?

It would it didn't there's some votes that didn't get registered here. So call for a roll call.

Okay. And before we move to that roll call, I just wanna understand if we don't, we don't we say no.

Counselor, the debate's already over. Okay. We're now we're in this we're in the tabbing tallying the vote stage. So thank you.

May I counsel?

No. We're not we're we're tallying the votes at this point.

So I might I just wanna ask. I wanna know how to vote. I mean, not that you tell me how to vote.

But Right now, we're in parliamentary procedure. We had an unclear version of who voted for what when. I didn't hear some some folks say anything. And so I've asked the clerk, and I would advise the mayor that that we have a roll call, get that closed out. We wanna reopen it for discussion, and that's certainly that'd be the next step. Okay?

Okay.

I just don't know what I'm voting on. So

Well, the motion is again for to approve the slate.

Which is the two or

the the three.

Okay.

We clarified that. Okay. And there was a second. So that was the motion that was up for debate and decision. So

Thank you. Yeah.

Council member's desk. May I ask you? Sorry. No. Fine. No. So large?

No.

Nor?

No.

Eskey? Yes. Burke? No. K.

It's Motion passed. Okay. Can we move on? Yeah. Motion passed. May

I may I, make a comment?

Sure. Go ahead.

I would I would really like to be certain of which positions are open. For example, I I feel I had indicated if you're sending me an alternate. Is that been filled? I don't know. So perhaps we can be provided with that information, and then we We'll

have it for May 4. Thank you. Okay. We also have a planning permission appointment, and it is, Hannah Burke, with the planning commission. So I put that before the council.

Mayor, move to approve mayor citizen appointment to the planning commission.

Second.

It was moved by NOR and seconded to have Hanoverth become a member of the Planning Commission. Yes. All in favor, aye.

Vote. Discussion. Discussion.

Need a discussion on it?

You need it?

You need to? I just

wanna know how many people you had applied for that position.

I don't know how many people in the community development department applied, but I do know that this was picked by Alan Peters.

That's fine. I just wanted more information. Okay. Would you allow it? Yeah. Right? You are. Yeah. Yeah. That's all my

discussion. Thanks.

Council members and ask you.

Thank you, Mayor. I agree. I I did I'm not familiar with you, Hannah. Yeah. Burak is. So I was just curious too. So thank you for clarification, and I'm glad Alan wants her on there. That says a lot to me.

Yeah. Exactly.

K. And we've, at this point, are we going to vote? Can you do a roll call vote, please?

Sure thing. Okay. Council Member Hein.

Yes.

Noor?

Yes.

Burke? Yes. Senescu? Yes. Large? Yes. Peschke? Yes.

Okay. And it motion passes. Thank you very much. Moving on to the next item on the agenda. We have a public hearing that's still, open. It's for ordinance number 26 dash o o o two, Spring Omnibus attending, amending the twenty twenty six readopted budget. The presenter is Kathy Huber Nickerson, finance director, and Deborah Brooks, financial analyst.

Thank you, counsel. I'm going to pass this off to Deborah Brooks who has done a credible amount of work on this omnibus, and we appreciate her efforts.

You, Deborah.

Sorry. Thank you. Good evening, councilor mayor. Before you is, 26 dash zero zero two, which amends the 2026 adopted budget. This amendment includes 21 decision packages for a total of 1,600,000 in net appropriations. Staff recommends council move to close the public hearing opened on April 6 at the city's council regular meeting following any final public comments, then approve ordinance number 26 dash zero zero two amending the 2026 adopted budget.

Thank you. I will now continue the public hearing. This is the time to state your support or opposition to this item. And if you are in agreement with the previous speaker's statement, you can simply state that as your entire comment. We will take the in person comments first and then comments from those attending remotely.

If you're here in person to comment, come to the table, state your name and city of residence. You'll have five minutes to speak. If you are remote and want to comment, please raise your hand in the Zoom app. Alicia will enable your video, unmute yourself, and state your name and city of residence. Is there anyone here wishes to comment, step forward to the, Jared?

Name and city of residence.

Good evening, council. Tyler Sanders, Camas. Tonight, we we discuss our our city's budget, of course, with this with this item. And while these are some dense documents to parse for sure, I'd like to share a couple takeaways I had from my time reading them. Every year, there are more projects our city would like to do than what our budget can accommodate.

There are more road safety improvements than what we can afford. There's maintenance that that inevitably gets deferred and other projects that naturally end up getting cut. For example, this budget includes a $600,000 reduction for this year's work on the Lake Road safety improvement project, bulk of the project being pushed back, under one to two years. Many times when projects do make it through, like the recent pedestrian crossing improvements on 3rd Avenue or or the same roads bike improvements that are included in this budget, Those improvements are made possible due due to grant money from other outside sources. I've been told in the past that we'd have more complete streets in our city if it weren't for the budget budget constraints that we operate under.

In in Canvas, we have and and continue to take on more long term infrastructure obligations than what our tax base can sustainably maintain over the long term over their full life cycle. Due to our sprawling development pattern, we have more feet of road and pipe and other infrastructure per person than what our tax base can maintain. As we grew grow, we need to do so in a way that allows our tax base to grow faster than our infrastructure obligations do. For example, this recent work that's been done on on infill development through ADUs and missing middle housing is is a key contributor to our tax base because infill development adds adds taxable properties with very little additional infrastructure burden associated with them, which is just more money and and more more money for the city with not so much going out to to maintain that development. A host of other policies such as oversized parking require parking minimum requirements, restrictive zoning laws, and and setback requirements encourage sprawl and limit density, hindering our city's ability to provide and develop sure financial footing.

And it's this unsure financial footing that leads to the cancellations, delays, and deferred maintenance that we're used to seeing in budget packages like today's. In short, density and good land use are not a simply a matter of preference. It is a matter of necessity and fiscal responsibility. As you move forward with with this and future budgets and and, importantly, the comprehensive plan updates funded in tonight's budget, I urge you to prioritize density, infill, and parking reform as core strategies for building our city's long term fiscal solvency. Thank you very much.

Is there anyone else in the chamber that would like to step up and, give? None, are there any hands raised in the Zoom app?

There are no hands raised in Zoom.

Okay. With that, we will close the public hearing. Okay. Any comments or

motions by the council? May I move to adopt ordinance 26 dash zero zero two and published according to law?

Second. It was moved by NOR and seconded to adopt ordinance number 26 dash zero zero two and publish according to law. Any discussion? Hearing none, the ordinance will be read by title only.

Ordinance number 26 dash zero zero two, an ordinance amending the city of Camas' 2026 budget, ordinance number 25 dash zero two four.

Okay.

Clerk, can you do a roll call vote, please?

November 9.

Yes.

Reschke? Yes. Noor?

Yes.

Burke?

Yes.

Senescu? Yes. Svlarg?

Yes.

Is that it? Okay. Thank you. So the, that passes. We'll move on to the next item. Next item on the agenda is the resolution number 26Dash005, revising the city of Canvas fee schedule for 2026. The presenters are Kathy Huber Nickerson, finance director, and Deborah Brooks, financial analyst.

Before you is resolution 26Dash005, a resolution revising the city's fee schedule. This revision is connected to the spring omnibus budget amendment package adjusting the facility r and r model, which resulted in adjustments to the internal rental fees. Staff recommends council move to approve resolution 26 Dash005 revising the 2026 fee schedule. Okay.

Is there any any motions or discussions? Councilmember Berg.

Most rather Councilor Heinz goes first because he he'll probably answer my question.

But

since I was recognized, I don't I don't quite understand this. And so, Kathy or, I mean

Deborah.

Deborah. You mentioned R and R. What does that mean?

It's a our rental and repair model for the city's facilities.

Okay. So I see on the attachment all of our facilities and a dollar amount has been assigned to them. Is that indicating that the departments pay a rental not pay a rental fee, but it's part of the budget that the the place the the area that they use is charged against the, department. Is that what that means? So we're not

really pay a rental ops. You know? The department pays a rental fee to the fund that owns the building, which is the facility r and r fund. So we'd have to have us an internal rent structure, and we had to amend it as part of the omnibus. So we just need to have have that revised on the fee schedule.

I have another question. And

also member Hyde. Oh, thank you, mayor.

Deborah, we I've got a lot of questions mainly just to understand. We've never done this before because this is part of the Tyler system. Right? Or is that any

We've never done this, we've never done this before because the facility model was new last year.

Okay.

So it's never really been through an omnibus like this.

Do so on the 2026 rates, are these newly established, or did their credit kit model upgrades based on 2025?

I'm sorry. I I missed a a tiny bit of that.

So I see the 2026 rates that are proposed. Were these were these also established in 2025? This model is also established in 2025.

We began the model in 2025. And then when we adopted rates for 2026, we had rent on it, and so we just need to revise those figures.

Okay. What is is is there maybe I missed it. Is there a reference to what these rates are as compared to 2025 and what the differences are?

I don't have the 2025. No. I would have to go back to the original Omnibus where we introduced the model.

I'm just I'm trying to understand the process over what was the different. What was the baseline in at '20 we know there was a baseline at '25. 2026 has a new rate. Trying to understand what's the difference in those two. And then did all these various departments are gonna get chargebacks for these different rates. Right? And have they all have they all

So let me jump in just really quick just to kinda educate the whole council about how some of these, internal cost models work. So what we we have right now, you've had the vehicle r and r model for a very long time. And that's where you have the car that's used by maybe all 100% by police, but then sometimes you have a vehicle that's used by part of the time with the community development inspectors and then sometimes with somebody in parks or IT or somebody like that. So that then we allocate the cost of using that vehicle across all the the cost centers, if you will. Because each of those areas, like proprietary funds, which are water, sewer, storm water, and garbage, cannot benefit from the governmental funds, which are what are all our tax funds, if you will, and the likewise, the other way around.

So if you had a vehicle that was owned by the the tack one of the tax funds, like community development or parks or, and they were borrowed by somebody in water sewer, they have to you have to allocate the cost so that they are all whole in the by usage. In this case, what we're doing is we're doing the same thing with facilities. So right now, city hall is occupied by people that work in multiplied multiple different funds, but historically have been the the city the city hall has been funded by everybody in the general fund. So has the general fund really been been what we're trying to do is, like, make sure that it is being funded by the appropriate funds. And in in in that case, what it does is that the general fund may have had spent more money than it should have for maybe, like, Scott's group who's doing a lot of sewer projects or a lot of water projects.

So what we're trying to do is come out with a rental rate, to help with those costs. And so it's kind of a complicated model, but it what it does in the long term is it gives a more equitable cost allocation across the city. So Deborah has done a phenomenal job doing this cost allocation model. It's very, very, very complicated. It's work it's more complicated than, obviously, the the vehicles and made sure that we looked at the 2025 actuals to kinda come up with the allocation for '26.

And at the end of the '26, we'll do a true up just like we did with fire with and make it truing it up so that the costs are truly allocated where they should be once we get the 20 all the '26 rates in. But we have to start somewhere, so we use the 25. Does that help?

It does. It's what's cost accounting per department.

Yes. K.

Because we've backed down some of the budget in one of those omnibus packages that has amended the way we have that rent allocated across the departments, which is why as part of the omnibus, we also have to make this revision on those rents.

Mhmm.

Got it. So it doesn't mean that these are monthly rates within every department. And When they rent these various services, they know it's gonna cost them. They'll they'll make decisions based on what they use and what don't they use Or how much they or how much they don't use because they're getting charged for it.

So this is their occupancy of the building?

I mean, just in general, if it it helps to, it helps to I'm trying to understand it. It helps the department head manage their budget and the re the amount of resources they're going to use from within the city and be charged for.

Yes.

It is truly a business decision.

I'm just trying to understand it, not doubting it. I'm just trying to understand.

Yeah.

Yeah. And we moved their facility costs out of their budgets originally last year, if you'll recall, to move into this fund. So it really is somewhat neutral for them in the end either way. But, yeah, it comes back to them as rent instead of the direct expense in their budget. So

And overall, the goal is that we're doing economies of scale by centralizing all the facilities so that, what we pay in custodial cost, for example. Or if you had somebody that washes all the windows, you're doing it the same rate across the whole city instead of having individual contracts across the city by, facility.

K. Thank you. May I have a question or comment?

Council member Nora.

The, the ordinance references CPI U. So was there is this a a CPI increase over 2025, or is it saying there'll be a CPI next year? If I look at section two Next year. Yeah. If I look at section two, it says in January 1 of each year, the fee set for

That's for the, the other part of the fee schedule that is not changing at this time.

Okay. That's

We're just changing this part of the fees. The rest of the fees that have already been set are not changing.

Okay.

So I I guess what I'm saying is that these numbers here reflect the CPI increase over last year. Is that correct? Or the CPI doesn't have anything to do with this table that that we're seeing for internal rates?

It does not.

And it's included in the resolution.

So we're raising the rest of the rates citywide by CPI by doing this ordinance. Is that what I'm hearing?

No. We're only making an a change for this attachment that you have in front of you. The rest of the rates are are remaining the same.

So I I guess I have a question as to why

So if take it this way. It's more of a distribution than a rate increase.

Well, I think the question is, do you need the CPI section at all? Is that the question?

Yeah. I just I I think council member had a question. What was the 25 rate? And I was attempting to possibly explain it by the fact that it's there's a reference to CPI U in here. But if CPI U has nothing to do with anything on that table, I don't know why it's in reference to it as in the resolution.

It's that's the, that's our our fee resolution.

And and, Sean, maybe you can help us. This is where we we're looking at the full fee schedule, and we're only modifying a portion of it.

Well, we ordinarily just modify. We don't go back and readopt the fee schedule. What we do is we take different line items, and we'll tweak them, and we'll and we'll make little changes. And then for those those fees that have been technically revised, then, yes, we we adopt. We first January 1, we do CPI. We just raise everything up by whatever the CPI is. So to the extent that you're not and this now I understand why you were asking if this could be included with the Omnibus. I kinda we we had this discussion. I kinda Right. But but it is a it is a stand alone stand alone resolution.

We've always done the fee schedule as a stand alone resolution. It's a separate vote. This one's a little more unique. And so I would suggest that we just take section two out for clarity. It's not gonna change the fact we have previously adopted resolutions, which adopted a fee schedule with line items.

Right.

Both haven't been we're not this doesn't supersede and replace those previously adopted resolutions. In other words, adopted fee schedule we had still is still in effect. January 1 of this coming year will apply CPI. But for clarity, I think councilman Norris' question is a a good one is that maybe we could just take take section two out. You know, we been doing this for you know, this is our standard fee resolution. So as we kinda learn this is kind of the first year we're kinda learning this. I would suggest for this one and this one only, we take section two out, for clarity, but that would be part of any motion.

Eric? Yes. I'll make a motion to, approve resolution two six dash zero zero five, with the removal of section two.

K.

It was moved by NOR and seconded to, approve resolution 26 dash zero zero six removing the VPIU.

Zero zero five. Two zero five. Zero zero five.

Zero five. Let's remove section two of zero zero five. Okay. Any discussion? Any discussion?

Yeah. They Deborah, are you guys comfortable with this the way we've set it up now?

Yeah. Because section two was kinda throwing me for a loop too.

Good. Hi. What's going on, Tim?

Thank you to staff. Thank you to councilor McPherson for, explaining it. And, I understand the concept of of breaking out the charges, as a way to more closely follow what we're doing there. I I I just was trying to reconcile what I was seeing in two different points here. Thank you.

Any more discussions? Resolution will be read by.

Volusia number 00. Resolution revised Canvas fee schedule 26.

All in favor, aye. Aye. All opposed say nay. No. It doesn't apply. Are there any abstentions? Motion passes. Moving on to the next item is resolution 26Dash006, setting up COVID hearing concerning the of a portion of Northwest Oregon Street. The presenter is James Caruthers, area manager. It away, Kerley.

Thank you, mayor. Good evening, council. Resolution 26 dash zero zero six sets a public hearing date of 05/18/2026 for the consideration of the vacation of a portion of Northwest Oregon Street. The subject area is located North of Northwest 6th Place and North of the Northwest 6th Avenue Roundabout. This vacation petition was presented to counsel at the April 6 workshop.

It was brought to staff's attention that there's an existing driveway located in part in the subject vacation area that serves two homes to the east of this right of way. The petitioner's land surveyor has written an easement to address this encroachment should council adopt an ordinance to vacate the subject right of way. Staff will address this item at the public hearing. The subject of cost for the right of way will also be addressed by staff at the public hearing. Staff recommends adoption of resolution twenty six dash zero zero six. I'd be happy to take any questions that you might have.

Do we have any questions for Kerley? Seeing none, do we have any motions?

I move to approve resolution number twenty six dash zero zero

Second. It was moved by Burke and seconded to approve resolution number 26Dash006. Any discussion? The resolution shall be read by title only.

Resolution number 20. Resolution setting a public hearing concerning the proposed vacation of a portion of 1 West Oregon Street.

All in favor, say

aye. Aye.

All opposed, say nay. The motion passes. We good at this point? Okay. Public comments. We have another opportunity to provide public comments to the council. While you may supplement your comments with printed handouts, electronic, or digital aids will not be permitted during the public comment. Please state your name and your city of residence. You'll have three minutes to speak. Please direct your comments to the council as a whole instead of individual members, staff, or audience members.

Please come forward if you're in the chamber or raise your hand in the Zoom app. Please remember that public comments are not a discussion. Public comments are to inform the council of your views. If there is someone in the chamber that would like to step up to the chairs at the end of the table, you can make your comments. And if we don't have anyone stepping up, do we have a hand raised in the Zoom app?

Mayor, there are no hands raised in Zoom.

I see no one stepping forward and no one with their hand raised. We will move on. Next item is, staff updates.

I have nothing more.

Okay. And, helpful updates. We'll start with.

Thanks, Amaris. Following DFW service awards, which is really good to see that patient with that phone. So last Wednesday, was

at 17th District Town Hall.

Representative Stevie, representative Waters, and

senator

Harris. Harris. Thank you. Thank you. It was really I thought they did a really good job. Council members, Noor and Svaloris were there as well. At Discovery High School, I thought they did a really good job. Good information. I mean, questions, civil civil discussion. It it was well done.

So that and then the next day was the twenty twenty six building of association luncheon. Lieutenant governor was the keynote speaker where he announced a new department of housing to try to address the chronic housing shortage. We're already seeing that information come out. That was a good update in terms of building in the issues with land availability, and clearly the state involvement on that, especially with comprehensive plan due. But those were good meetings.

Constituent meetings, in, last few weeks involved, no cleanup ideas. Well, 13, or or use. Well, 13 availability for summer use. So, Scott's updates, you know, were really helpful. And that is all. Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you. Council member Eschke.

Thank you. So I start with Port Of Kammas for Chugol. We heard from Commissioner Brent Robertson some updates. I wanna just, add to that that, the the port is looking at the master plan. He mentioned they have about half 1,000,000 grant funding, which is great.

It gets the master plan going. But what matters for us is once they have their master plan ready, then we'll know what if they need to extend their sewer, water, what infrastructure they need to get, and that would be the time they wanna come back and annex to the city. So it's if some action item comes or some information comes that matters to us from that master plan. There were some updates last meeting the port met about their 2,025 budget year closing. I I found it very interesting the way they had their budget information.

They were compared about ex expenditure versus the, each, each of their service area based on their strategic plan. So they it sounds complicated, but the way they presented was really easy to follow compare. And, also, they'd like, for example, compare how much the budget they put aside for park and recreational. The units, if there's store finish for what they wanted to do or they had some extra. I found it very easy for follow-up and helpful.

One update come from the cost was the Grovefield Airport, that there was increase in the revenue, due to a high demand for the new bus airport. And it was interesting that upon more than 40 pilots already are in the waiting list, to to use the facility. So all this is promising, I guess, for us, and for the port, the whole area that once they put the master plan in place and do all the development, it's gonna be, the demand to use the airport. I mentioned about the master plan. It's gonna be a lot of public engagement.

I think Brent mentioned about tabling at the, at the camp, first Friday. It's important for all our community to really know this public engagement. I'm saying it because I was part of it for my job. It matters to engage, and this is the time that every voice gets the same value. Sometimes in public spaces, some people have louder voice.

Some, they don't feel comfortable. But then when when there is comes with public engagement, it's really great opportunity that however public is comfortable, they can speak up or, you know, survey, however they feel more comfortable. There is equal, equality in their voice to be heard. So I encourage our public to engage in port master planning. Alright.

That was about port. Just quickly on RTC, I, attended the last meeting, and there was a conversation about the project setting the list based on the priority, and then the conversations focused, Dave on that. And, also, the Slough Bridge over Highway 14 is top of the list. We did not receive grant funding this year from the state, but the state representative were there. And, hopefully, our voice is heard.

But there there are some good conversation even if we think about it. The budget adjustment as the result of some agency could not meet the obligation of their grant funding so that that money came back to the board to split it. Unfortunately, Chemist didn't receive any additional grant funding from that, but, hopefully in the future. I think closing, the RTC is, it would be great for me to learn about a lot of things, but also which of our projects, have potential for grant funding in the future. So I also have it back as a backup information.

When it comes to discussion, I can support. I'm just going through. That's all for me.

I think that, one of the issues that, could use some more grant funding is Highway 500. So if that's on the list, then what you're you So thank you. Okay. Next will be, Council Member Burke.

Thank you.

I'm glad that director Riccard is here, so she could correct me if I misspeak. But my favorite opportunity is to sit on the library trustee board. Not as a trustee, but as a liaison. And at the meeting, last Thursday, I was interested as a former school administrator to hear the conversation about, you know, rules of conduct, a policy update that is becoming necessary. And it it dovetails with what I'm hearing from my principal friends around the area is that student behavior has escalated this year more than it ever has.

And so, you know, why is that? Is it because our kids that were, you know, in in preschool, first grade, secondary during COVID lost that social, cultural, you know, connection. You know, there's a lot of probably you could write many doctoral about that. But but it's a chronic problem, and we have had some, challenges at our library. And so there's some pictures that I sent to some principals.

They didn't recognize those kids, but I'm involved in the SROs and identifying who those kids are and then, you know, educating them, really, what's in doing. It also led to a broader discussion about a citywide policy related to undenecting trespassing. And at what point would someone be trespassed from a facility and, you know, like, no trespassing as a. That was that was very, very interesting. And then the other thing was advocacy. How can we be advocates for the library? And so being going on events and talking about the library and finding our joy there and those types of things. It's a very uplifting group, to to meet with. And then afterwards, you get to talk about books. What are you reading?

So that was exciting as well. Got two new ideas. The ECHO law enforcement. Now I know I have your, request to provide background on echo, which I just forgot to to provide to you, so I will do that, and so that you all so that you all have that. What where did it start? Why did it start? What's the mission? What's the vision? Etcetera. So I will get to that, and I apologize for that. We had a law enforcement panel, which I have talked about, previously. There were I don't know. It was Battleground and Vancouver Police Department had two people there. The Clark County Sheriff's Office had two people. Battleground, one per one the chief was there.

Our chief was there. The chief was there. And then they had, people from the Karis team, who are, invoked in cases of a mental behavioral health issue where they need, you know, police not necessarily, but some type of advocacy and assistance. And so we had nine questions that all at least have two parts, and so just wanted to share a couple of things. One of the questions that I was most interested in what misconceptions the public has about what the police can do about unhoused individuals.

And so, they said that it often comes from a place of fear that people don't really people are some people are fearful of unhoused individuals, and they don't know what to do, how to approach, you know, those individuals or if they should approach them. But then they talked about, you know, it's not criminal. It's not criminal to be unhoused. And so that was an interesting perception. Hearing from the jail director, he said that, adding jail into this, you know, taken to jail as a burden of the criminal justice system to people who are already impacted, and that really resonated with me.

If you get people in the jail, sometimes if they're there for very long, then they lose their unhoused status because they are technically housed. And so then if they go out of the jail, then they're they're back at the bottom of the list for house. Really interesting. I hadn't thought about that. People were saying, you know, what could we do now? What do we need now? And the police officers and chiefs were saying drop in sobriety in mental health centers would be fantastic. Domestic violence support. Drop in would be fantastic. And then, this this idea of a lot of our unhoused people have pets.

They have dogs, and there's very few places where you can go with the dog. And so then the dog becomes separated from the owner, and then that causes trauma to both the pet and the in house person. So, having a central area for connecting support, which is what I'm hoping will begin to be accomplished by the systems analyst position that we've discussed, starting with there. And then, they were really kinda thirsty for collaboration, continued collaboration as a body come together in that particular place. Like, they see each other.

They don't see each other together very often, and so they're hoping for opportunities to collaborate. So that was very, very fascinating, and I was really proud proud of our chief who spoke very eloquently about the things that, you know, she knows about. The Wednesday chamber luncheon is the state of the library, so, doctor Urquhart will be shining on that that day. And then the the Builders Institute of America, is that what it is, BIA? I missed it. I got to the email too, and I couldn't go. So I'm glad to hear that it was great. And it sounds like you were talking about things that I would wanna know about as this. So

I don't know

if there are minutes or anything, or maybe we could meet

you. Yeah.

I'll just tell you.

Okay. Awesome. And then, do not forget that this Sunday, DCA is sponsoring a Downtown Cleveland. So if we do

have some time and you like

to pull weeds or spread bark tusks, we definitely appreciate your help. Bye.

Okay. Thank you. Council member Salarj.

Thank you, mayor. Councilor Hine, thank you for stealing all of my thunder. You you covered it pretty much. The Legislative District 17 Town Hall. Yes. I completely agree. I thought it was very well done. We had some citizens that I would bet were not politically aligned with representatives, but they stood up and said, you know, to hear three elected men in this school talk about children being their priority, students being their priority, those people liked it. Do you remember that part? Yep.

And I was impressed. They you know, it was and speaking to something Paul Harris told the story of he recently had to be go to the emergency room. And while he was waiting to be introduced or in inducted, he was sitting next to an unhoused person who kept telling him, worried about my stuff. I'm worried about my stuff. And all the way, I'll take care of your stuff.

And but that's that's just that little thing. You know, animals this bag is the only thing I own, and where's it gonna be in the lobby here when I go in there? So, anyway, it was a good meeting. The BIA luncheon, lieutenant governor Danny Hick Hick gave a great talk about not affordable housing, but starter housing, if you will, about how we used to build 900 square foot homes that you could build equity on and grow start to grow your family and then move on to the next one. And how do we do that? It was a it

was a it was a

very good presentation, very balanced. Probably the bigger thing for me was I got to interact with legislators and officials from Vancouver, Clark County, Battle Ground, Ridgefield. And it's always good to make those connections, with our local constituents that, you know, we don't always have the bandwidth for. So, yeah, it was it was time well spent. And food soup food service was slow, but that's okay. Anyway, that's that's all I have, ma'am.

Okay. Thank you. Council member Senescu.

Thank you, ma'am. I'm excited. We have Mori back in town, our seasonal, employee that keeps downtown looking beautiful. And he was already out there removing branches, and that gave him a big welcome. And he's he's always, so happy and so happy to do his job and be, be a part of our community. Recently, I called and said I I worked at the chamber and saw the flag a gentleman came in and said your flag's unflipped, and it was beat up. So I contacted Shamir because that's who I contact for anything. Shamir, who gets this? The power behind the spot. So within by the end of the day, we had a new flag and operations went out and fixed it.

And they also which I really appreciated, if some of you weren't aware, there were vandals downtown putting up flyers with decoupage, like wallpaper glue to buildings for a no kings protest at the schools.

One school.

Or the one in schools? Okay. But whoever put these on here, they're still up. And, you know, there was one on the flag post, which was just very disturbing. So the city of Camo's, operations department took time to get that off of there. So they didn't say anything. I just walked out, and I'm like, wow. You know, the just the care that, the city takes, the city staff takes in our community and the pride they feel, really warms my heart. And I would also you know, I need to follow-up with our superintendent because I don't think that anybody's been down to clean up these signs, and it was my understanding that these individuals would be held accountable for the vandalism that they caused. So that's something I, anticipate following up on.

And, again, thank you, director Hercart. You will be speaking at our chamber luncheon on the twenty second this Wednesday. So if anyone needs to sign up, let me know or contact the chamber if, anyone who's listening wants to sign up and listen to a wonderful presentation.

Thank you. Thank you.

Council member Nora. Thank you mayor for recognizing, library week. Our library does an incredible amount of program you know, and is a real resource for our community. Did a downtown commit, account downtown association meeting. I forgot my notes to it. But one thing I do remember is there are flower baskets for sale. So if you'd like to I think there's just under a dozen left for that you could still buy in on. So buy a downtown flower basket. I try to do that every year. This week, we had the left board meeting.

That's to cover the employees for the law enforcement firefighters. That retired in the left one system. Those were people hired before 1977. And all the costs were within within lines. But the the city is responsible for the medical benefits and a lot of, medical related things for those employees.

There's only, seven left members left here in Canvas. But I'm gonna real briefly mention something I mentioned at that meeting. And that is the fact that the the state legislature $4,000,000,000 out of the left one fund, to help put a plug a hole in the state's budget. And I understand, the need to fund the state budget, but the funds in the left one fund were paid for by cities, counties, and special districts that employed the firefighters and the police officers and the sheriff's deputies. And those employees gave between 59% per year of their of their income was deducted to fund that.

And the state did not fund the left one retirement fund, but it took $4,000,000,000 out of it. And and one of the things that, council member Hine and myself had reached out to some of our legislators on. I talked to representative Stevie specifically about it. Is that why couldn't the cities, the counties, and the special districts get some of that money back? Because there's a significant amount of money we paid here, out of our own budget here with that.

And, that wasn't the case, but I you know, you work through the legislative process, and sometimes you have wins, and sometimes you don't. One, thing I wanted to say on the, 17th Legislative District is all three representatives, Kevin Waters from, Stevenson and, Dave Stevie from here in Washoe, and then, senator Harris. If the 17th District we're part of runs all the way to Goldendale, and everybody along Highway 14 is impacted by, construction issues or or or delays or things that occur because of the Slough Bridge. All three of them said it is their priority. There's another legislative session coming up next year, so

let's get that bridge built.

It will benefit all of our communities here. And I hear that, at our meeting our previous workshop, the building here is being knocked down. Portions of mill are being knocked down. There's a lot of trucks all the stuff the other way out. I will encourage people. The trucks that have to go into there, if you're coming down 6th Avenue, they have to take a very wide turn to get in there. Do not pass the trucks on the right. Please watch for their turn signals. I witnessed so close a wreck, just the other day. So that's all I have. Thank you. Okay.

Thank you. I have nothing to add. So with that, we will close the meeting.

Thank you.

Good evening, Ward. Yep.