City Council - Regular Meeting

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Look at that. It recognizes your face. You've had that before. You know, this is off. That's off up there. All right, being 6 o'clock, I'm going to call the Coos Bay City Council meeting to order. Would you all rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance, please?

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.

Thank you, everyone, and welcome. First item on the agenda is public comments. We have some public comments this evening, Christine. Let's see. And Carmen. Sarah, Councilor Stevens is going to be a little late. She'll be calling in. And then Carmen Matthews, Councilor Matthews, we haven't heard from yet. Anyway, so public comments period is intended for the public to share ideas and concerns. It's not intended for the interactive discussion with the council. There may be opportunities for the public comments during specific agenda items. that require a public hearing, members of the public are requested to confine their remarks to questions or issues under discussion during this time. During any designated comment period, individuals shall not engage in any personal attacks, shall not impugn the motives of any speaker, and shall at all times while in session conduct themselves in an inappropriate manner. No person shall make personal, impertinent, slanderous, unauthorized remarks or become boisterous while addressing the counsel. Scott Fraser, you're the first one on the list. Good evening. Um, I just wanted to say hi to the council and the staff and mayor. Um, I'm now, um, leading the, uh, East side neighborhood watch.

I want to call it a community meeting too. And I decided to make it, uh, every other month instead of every month. And we start at six instead of seven. Um, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, So next month on the 25th, I believe is our second meeting with me Anyway, I've been very thankful for some of the staff that have responded to some of my requests Greg Hamlet and The Public Works Department came around Eastside and trimmed a bunch of brush recently and then of course Nicole Rutherford for just being able to talk to her about some of the things that have come up at the meetings and and seeing how we can move things along. So I really appreciate it.

That's great. Thanks for doing that.

Thank you. Appreciate it.

Let's see. Cricket Souls. Hi, Cricket. How are you this evening? Good. Good seeing you.

Talk fast, because I have two things to share. So the first one is Thursday, Cricket Souls from Goose Bay. The first thing is on Thursday at 10 a.m., we will have our 14th Annual Veterans Assembly. We've picked someone from each of the major conflicts to recognize. It's part of the 250th celebration, and we'll have our headstones on the front lawn if you haven't seen those. And the principal is also arranged for a shuttle bus that'll come from Blossom Gulch and take people over and then take them back, too. So that's coming up Thursday, 10 o'clock. Any questions on that one? Okay. Now all weekend we'll be having the Marshall Pioneer Cemetery open. We're really lucky now to have a Coast Guard junior ROTC. They'll be doing the flag ceremony on Thursday. They're helping put out the flags in the cemetery and doing all kinds of wonderful things um so they'll also be helping with this so we're open from dawn to dusk um maybe not at dawn if we don't get there quite that early uh but we do have a special event coming up and it's on 1 p.m on monday the tradition you know memorial day we're going to try and restage a photograph that was first taken in 1926 with the seven oldest veterans in this area, mostly from Coos Bay. And then it was retaken in 2015 when the monument for the Sailor soldiers was rededicated. So we're gonna try and maybe we'll have to Photoshop a couple people in, but we're really encouraging all the veterans to come and join us and we can help residents find family members or do anything. We're there most of the time. So any questions on that? It really helps for people to come to the Memorial Day program on Thursday, the 21st, because the kids work pretty hard on putting it together. And so they love to see other faces and do that.

Well, thank you for your involvement on this. You've been doing this for quite a while, and we appreciate it. So thank you.

Okay. You're welcome.

Christina Bloom.

Hello. I, too, have two items, so I'll be quick. Sure. Good evening, Mayor and Councillors. My name is Christina Bloom with Perry Supply, and that's what I'm here representing, small businesses in the community. Chris from Forest could not be here. He had a staff meeting he coordinated tonight. And last we spoke, you had asked us to help you come up with solutions or ideas in addressing some economic development concerns in the area. So I did that. And I'm here tonight to ask the city to consider adopting reasonable land use protections regarding large format formula. Retail establishments exceeding 65,000 square feet. This is not an anti-business proposal. It is a pro-community planning proposal. Once these projects are approved, the impacts of the larger projects are difficult and sometimes impossible to reverse. Right now, Coos City Code appears to allow very large retail uses in commercial zones with few meaningful limits on scale. I believe the city should at least examine whether that approach still reflects the kind of development residents want for Coos Bay over the next 20 to 30 years. We should not assume that every large-scale retail project automatically benefits the community simply because it promises jobs or tax revenue. Very large formula retailers can permanently reshape a local community. Again, this is not about opposing business or economic growth. Coos Bay needs investment, jobs, and commercial activity, but growth should occur in a way that reflects the long-term interest of our community rather than the short-term development pressure. Many cities across the country, including here in Oregon, Portland, and Wilsonville, and including smaller communities, have adopted regulations addressing large format formula retail because these developments can significantly affect traffic, infrastructure, small businesses, downtown vitality, and community character. I believe Coos Bay should proactively study whether unrestricted big box retail is consistent with your, I should say, long-term planning goals and look at large retail formula. A formula retail ordinance would not prohibit commerce. Instead, it gives the city additional tools to evaluate projects based on measurable impacts, such as traffic congestion, infrastructure capacity, compatibility with surrounding uses, pedestrian orientation, Economic diversity and effects on local businesses and commercial districts. Environmental impacts, very important, and consistency with an existing comprehensive plan. Specifically considering adopting a restriction on large format formula retail establishments exceeding 65,000 square feet. Things to include permitted only through a conditional use permit subject to findings regarding those named above. I also believe any ordinance should be neutral and legally defensible, should apply fairly to all large-scale formula retailers rather than targeting any specific company. This issue is ultimately about local control and thoughtful planning. Once very large retail developments are approved, their impact can permanently shape the economic and physical character for decades. We've seen a lot of the negative impacts that Walmart brought, for example, on the North Bend side. A lot of shootings occurred there, a lot of traffic accidents. I respectfully ask the council to direct staff and planning commission to study possible standards for large format formula retail development including options such as conditional use review, size thresholds, design standards, traffic impact requirements and compatibility findings. Coos Bay has an opportunity to guide growth thoughtfully and intentionally instead of reactively. A project of such large scale should receive more scrutiny than an ordinary retail tenant because its impacts are larger and longer lasting. Decisions about the future shape of Coos Bay should not be made passively determined by whichever national chain happens to seek a site here next. And I believe we can support economic development while also preserving flexibility, local business opportunities, and the character that makes Coos Bay unique. Thank you for your time and consideration.

So can you email that to me? I think you do have my card. And then I'll make sure we'll get that to Chelsea and Nicole, and we can look into it a little bit further. Okay. My other question for you, have you approached North Bend on this?

We haven't had an opportunity. I'm actually on the planning commission with them. So it just hasn't been something we've addressed yet, but I intend to for sure. Yeah.

Right. Because this is something that we're going to look into. Cohesive. For us to do anything and North Bend not to do it. And, you know, they have Hobby Lobby coming there now. And, you know, that's a large retail store and a mom's store that would not, this criteria, if it was adopted, would not fit into that. So. Absolutely. Yeah, no.

And then lastly, real quick, last early at former meeting, fire safety was addressed. And this we often find on my parish's property at St. Monica's Catholic Church. The pastor is not opposed to allowing those less fortunate or in need of shelter overnight or under inclement weather. But we're finding more and more urination and evidence of fires, either to cook something or warmth or whatever. But typically, the neighbors across the street will make the call if there's any smoke or fire. And I've called the county sheriff several times or the police. There's a lot of camping that happens. It's kind of like, what's it, whack-a-mole? You know, it's as long as we catch it. When Father, the priest, the pastor of the city go on vacations or there's extended non-activity, they tend to camp in. So if there could just be a little more heightened awareness on that.

Yeah, I think if you call the police department, let them know, and then that would be a trespassing thing. As long as you don't want anyone camping overnight, they'll go ahead and enforce that.

Okay. All right? Thank you.

All right, thanks. Anyone else who would like to make a public comment that has not, that's not on the list, you're more than welcome to do so if you'd like. Okay, hearing none, we'll move on. Next item on the agenda is the consent calendar. Council, how would you like to proceed?

I make a motion we accept the consent calendar.

Second. It's been moved and seconded to accept the consent calendar as submitted. And there's three grants in there. And let's see, there's one for $16,000, one for $2,000, and one for $595,000, which is all great. So that's my comments. Any other comments? Hearing none, I'll call for the question. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, it passes. Coos Bay School District Update. How are you this evening? Thank you for coming.

Thank you. Good, how are you?

Good.

So, oh, sorry.

Yeah, you can adjust that.

There you go. So the first thing I'd like to cover is we recently had prom on May 2nd. As well, we had our Alice play was just last weekend. We have an extended break this weekend due to Memorial Day. We've recently given away hundreds of thousands of dollars as per the Scholarship Assembly, which was, I believe, last Friday. A hundred thousand? Over. Hundreds of thousands. Very good. I'm drawing a blank.

Sorry about that.

Do you guys have any questions? Because I can't think of anything right now.

So does anyone have any questions? Yeah, what's the date of graduation this year?

The date of graduation is going to be the 6th or the 9th at 6 PM.

I have it on my Chromebook, but I don't have it with me.

Can I get back to you in the next day?

Can I make an extra comment? Sure. Because Warren has been an active participant in the Poetry Slam, and so there are awards given for Poetry Slam, and there's always one that we now sponsor for, what, three years, Warren, I think, for the cemetery, inspired by anything they want to. And our winner is, this year, is Warren.

Well, congratulations. Very good. Well, Warren, thank you very much for coming and making a presentation. We appreciate it and enjoy it. So thanks. Next item on the agenda is a public hearing land use application. So let's see here I have some content that I need to follow to meet the criteria Anyway, I now open a public hearing on the land use application one eight seven dash two six dash zero zero zero zero zero five four dash PLNG Today is May 19th 2026 and it is six 14 p.m. My name is Joe Benetti I'm the mayor of the city of Coos Bay council will make a final decision on the application based on a complete record Including the testimony received at tonight's public hearing Proceedings will be recorded the hearing will be conducted in accordance with the Coos Bay Development Code in state law for anyone wishing to speak We are asking you to sign up sheet that has been provided We still have one back there. I hope When called upon to speak, you must state your name and address for the public record. We ask that each speaker limit themselves to no more than three minutes. Please remember that all presentations will be timed. You will be informed when your allotted time has expired. All speakers exceeding the time limit will be asked to immediately conclude his or her remarks. To minimize repetitive testimony, organizations are encouraged to have only one person speak for the group with other members of the organization standing to show their support. Each person may testify only once unless called back to the podium at the request of a city council member to respond to a question. So thank you for your cooperation. So now I'm going to ask about any conflicts or ex parte contacts. The city council is required to disclose any conflicts of interest or ex parte contacts that may have with the proposal or applicant. That is, whether we have financial or other personal interest in the proposal and whether we have spoken with anybody about a proposal outside of this hearing. Do any of the council members wish to make any disclosure personal or financial? Anyone? Are there any challenges from the audience as conflicts of interest, ex parte contacts, or bias related to any member of the City Council? Anyone? Hearing none, I will move on. State law requires me to tell you a number of things at the beginning of the hearing. First, the applicable substantive criteria that apply to this application are contained in the notice of public hearing, the written staff report, and will be identified, discussed in the oral staff report. Second, your testimony, arguments, and evidence must be directed towards these criteria or other criteria in the comprehensive plan or development code that you believe apply to this application. Third, failure to raise an issue accompanied by statements or evidence sufficient to afford a decision Make her other people or opportunity to respond may preclude appeal of a decision on this application based on that issue. City Council make a final decision. A decision of the City Council may be appealed by the land use Board of Appeals, LUBA. Type 3 application 1872600054 to ask PLNG at 181 Anderson. What's cup? conditional use permit okay conditional use permit acronym again here we go proceedings okay now we will hear from our staff Kelly who will go over the staff report Thank You Kelly appreciate it

I almost said good morning. That would be tragic. So I'm Kelly Eichelberger, the Planning Administrator. So good evening, Mayor and Councillors. As stated, Item 5A is a public hearing regarding land use application 18726000054, PLNG. It was submitted by Beau Hampton and his representative, Joe Slack, with HG Architects. They are requesting a conditional use permit to allow for an indoor participant sport and recreation facility at 181 West Anderson Avenue. The applicant proposes that use for a facility for youth sports training. Specifically, they've identified wrestling, baseball and softball, potentially other items as well. This matter was originally scheduled for public hearing before the Planning Commission with a hearing date of May 12th. There was a lack of a quorum which resulted in the public hearing being rescheduled to be heard by you guys tonight. Public notice of the application and hearing was issued on May 7th and notice was provided at the May 12th Planning Commission meeting that it had been reset to be heard tonight here with you pursuant to Chapter 2 of the Coos Bay Municipal Code. So the subject site is fully developed with an existing structure measuring just over 29,000 square feet. It was originally developed in 1953 with a three-story, zero lot line building for the use as a retail clothing store JCPenney. The most recent use was approved in 2014 as an office call center. The building has remained vacant since the closure of first call resolution around November of 2022. The applicant's proposal includes the renovation and remodel of the interior of the structure to accommodate the proposed use. The property is within the mixed-use zoning district, downtown urban renewal district, and downtown exempt parking district. The subject property is surrounded by mixed-use zoning district on all sides and served by a major arterial street, Anderson Avenue. Staff has reviewed this application for consistency with the comprehensive plan and the development code. There are a few topics that kind of warrant discussion tonight that are identified in the staff report, all of which can be addressed by conditions approval, one of which is screening of trash enclosures. The applicant originally proposed to use some existing shared receptacles on second court. They would prefer not to have to screen those. Some of them are currently not screened. But as development moves in, that is one thing that we try to get up to code with. And alternatively, they have proposed to just use a standard trash receptacle stored inside the building, move it out for trash service dates, and bring it back in. Staff thinks that that would be a reasonable alternative to screening the other receptacles on second court. Our engineering division has looked at the sanitary sewer potential impacts. They have recommended that prior to issuance of the building permit that they obtain a technical memorandum by a professional to identify what effects the increased sanitary sewer flow might have on downstream neighbors. So that would be a condition of approval we would look at. It's also noted that ownership of the property, it's currently held by a corporation whose status is inactive with the Secretary of State. So that is something that we have looked at to have remedied as a condition of approval. Either they get reinstated or reactivated with the state or otherwise address proof of ownership of the property prior to development. And then kind of our standard, obtain all required permits, building permits, electrical, plumbing, They will have to get development in the floodplain, likely mechanical, and then, of course, any other permits required by outside agencies. So, in summary, staff finds the proposal is consistent with our goals and policies of the adopted comprehensive plan. Specifically, section 7-4 identifies the need for an indoor recreation facility. This would accommodate that. Also, it supports the economic development, specifically goal one, strengthen and diversify the local economy, and goal four, excuse me, foster strategic partnerships and regional collaboration. Looking at policy 1.6, continue to enhance the core areas of place to do business. 1.7, promote underutilized sites. And 4.3, support and cooperate with folks who want to promote development in the city. To date, no public comments have been received in response to the application or the public notices. So staff, based on the evidence of the public record and the staff report recommends that city council approve land use application 18726000054 PLNG based on the information presented by the applicant and the recommended findings of act subject to the listed conditions of approval. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. So now we'll hear from the applicant's representative on the proposal. Joe, are you going to be the applicant's representative?

Hi. Good evening. My name is Joe Slack. I'm an architect with HGE Architects here in Coos Bay. Kelly gave you kind of the rundown we presented this even though there wasn't a quorum last week we presented the Planning Commission regardless and they had a couple questions but it's pretty straightforward what it's all about is to get through the the use we we discussed that a little bit with the Planning Department and And there's a little bit of interpretation there, but it really falls into this participation sports, I think is what it says in your list. And participation is a little bit, I don't know, there's a little bit margin there for interpretation just because It's more training. Participation, to me, seems like it's a basketball game or a volleyball game where people are observing what's going on. It's really all about training. But regardless, it's both... The applicant, Bo Hampton, back here, who I'm helping represent, big wrestling background. Matter of fact, I went to high school with his dad, who was a state champion in wrestling. So I know they go way back. And so it's training kids on wrestling. But also on the softball side, they won't be having softball games. It'll be like batting cages. And then there's also golf simulators is the plan, as well as some volleyball training in this part of the building that has tall ceilings. They'd be able to have some volleyball training with, you know, hitting the ball and those kind of things. There is going to be some gaming, like a pool or ping pong, those kind of things as well. I've got a slide up here that basically just shows you where the building is. I'm sure you're all familiar with it. But we're not really doing a lot of work to the building, if you will. We have some ADA improvements that we need to do. Like, for instance, on this slide, north is up. And so that little alcove, that's the main entry to the building. And if you notice, there's like a four or five inch curb to get into the building. So we've got to take that out and create a ramp up into the facility. And then with some improvements in the restrooms. Initially, when we first got started, we started looking at it from a structural standpoint to see if it would handle The different type of use compared to what it was designed for as a store as a Retail if you all remember when pennies was in there We have an excellent set of construction drawings from when it was built pretty fortunate a lot of times We don't have that so we have able to sort of confirm that the the existing structure can handle the loads that are intended as well, so The biggest challenge, I'm kind of rambling on here a little bit, but the biggest challenge is it's a three-story building, and the bottom floor is a pile-supported slab on grade with grade beams, and then the second floor is wood frame. That was retail space as well with two exits. The top floor, which, you know, when it was pennies, nobody ever... Public can go in there, but now it's open. It's a huge space up there and And it can be it was I think it was for merchandise storage at the time for pennies But Bo would like to be able to use that eventually and the issue with that. It's only has one stair out of there So what we'll be doing is creating a stair tower to get to provide a second exit out of that top floor to get down to degrade so that's in a nutshell that's kind of the extent of the work there is an existing sprinkler system in there that's it's been monkeyed with lack of a better term over the years and so we'll refurbish the sprinkler system as well as get the fire alarm system up to date as well The exterior of the building won't have a lot of work other than paint. And then the stair tower, once that starts construction, we'd like to introduce a little daylight into the space. If you notice, there's no windows in that area at all, except for the display windows that they have. There are some windows on the front side or the north side, but there's kind of an office space that those provided windows to. That daylight doesn't come into the space. So quick rundown. That's kind of what it's all about. handle any questions you all might have about the project?

So I know you're not going to do a minimal amount of upgrades. And the floodplain, is that going to come into play yet? Because it'd have to be 50% of the value.

Yes, they're aware that there's a 50% of the value threshold and if they exceed that they'll have to comply with current standards which really revolves around flood proofing right the building and So yes, but it's not anything And then you got the value at seven hundred seven thousand, but I know it was Listed for more than that at one time and so but that's the value you go off.

No, I

We, our practice is to go off of the assessors, the assessed market value, and we do give applicants the option to go get an appraisal done and bring that to us, yeah.

It's a big building, it's like. It's a big building.

All right, any other questions?

A lot of score footage.

I have a couple questions. So the floodplain development permit, is that something new?

No that is a permit we we look at a lot of things under the floodplain development permit it usually comes along with the building permit not always but a building permit our public works permit so when they get their building permit will also look at the work they're doing in.

So if someone's just moving into a space down there, they don't have to do that. But if they're doing any changes to the building.

Any activities require a floodplain development permit. So like a change of use is not something that really rises to the level. But like when you're doing structural work or you're putting something in the floodplain that wasn't there before, we look at that.

Kind of triggers it when you get a business license. Yeah. Apply for a business license and it's, well, what are you doing in there? And then... And then the change in use comes up, and then it kind of starts the whole process. What we do is we haven't had it. We've kind of just taken this one step at a time. But once we get through this, then we'll get the floor line determined in relationship to the floodplain. And then whether it's this much into the floodplain or this much, that kind of then tells us what we have to do for floodproofing. Ideally the buildings all concrete exterior walls, so it's kind of a natural in terms of its flood proof Capabilities we have to deal with the doorways hopefully the The floodplain is below the sill of those display windows That would be really handy if that Happens we don't know yet the other one.

I have a question on is the Sanitary and sewage flows again. Is that because there's a change of use or we're doing some work to the building Not just a new tenant because did we have like the call center have to do all that?

It's pretty much a standard Requirement that we have coming out of engineering. So well, I don't know readily the answer to your question. I can't find out that information I guess I'm just are these standard things that That one's sort of new We finished up a job

it's been a year a year and a half ago that we couldn't get a We couldn't get a certificate of occupancy until we did an analysis of the existing lateral I guess I was just thinking I'm pretty sure the call center had probably a lot more people I have no idea what they went through anyway technical questions.

Thank you Anyone else? Thank you, Joe.

You're welcome. Does seismic play anything into this at all?

I'm not sure Joe probably is more educated on this than I am, and Marcy would know, but I imagine if you're doing certain work or new work, things have to comply. I don't know what you're doing would trigger any kind of entropy.

Yeah, it kind of depends on the extent of work and the code. You know in big picture anything you do new needs to comply to code But there's a pretty good section in the code book on existing buildings It depends on the extent of the renovation work. And so we're are my gut feeling is we're way under under the threshold for any major structural upgrade so That's when we get into the weeds of the code. We'll work through that the stair tower is isn't impacting anything laterally, any lateral structural elements of the building. So we assume that we just deal with gravity loads and we'll be fine.

But we haven't gotten that far yet. Thank you.

Thanks.

You're welcome. Good seeing you all.

You too. So now we will hear from any other person in support of the proposal. Anyone? OK. We'll hear from any person in opposition of the proposal. Anyone neutral to the proposal No, all right. We've covered it all written comments received a date are included in the record have we received any at all No, well, thank you killing Okay, can we have a rebuttal from the staff there there's not gonna be a rebuttal is there All right Do any of the counselors have a question for staff?

uh does it any council i do that come on up joe we have an exception to that trash thing we had labeled that's off now we had labeled there's a big lineup of dumpsters and trash receptacles along that second court street right and we had identified that we said trash receptacles or something like that. It kind of led staff to think that we were going to put our trash cans out there. But it's really problematic to drag all that stuff all the way around. So those would be contained inside the building. There's a roll-up door on Second Street already. And so trash day, they just move it out there. So I don't know. I wasn't really tracking how Kelly was suggesting to deal with it. We'd like that thing to go away when we submit because we won't be showing any trash cans outside the building and I don't know how you work through that but Six months down the road or whenever that thing will be there and we'll it'll go. Oh, what are we gonna do here?

So we'll be great if we could deal with it now somehow someway It's item number It's on page four of the land use and

The staff report page 4 says prior additions of certificate. I can see is one of the conditions of the approval and so However, you guys want to do it, I don't know but I just pointing it out So staff would just recommend listing it as a condition of approval that that if that's what they're going to use for their trash service and

that it be identified in the decision in final order that they're going to store it inside and move it out only on trash days and move it back in. Other commercial businesses down there do have a requirement to screen exterior trash enclosures. So this is just a way, I mean, to identify this is how they're going to mitigate that and address it.

Okay, so that needs to be mentioned in our final... It's in there.

It's in there. It is? Yes.

It's clearly written that if they're going to do it the way they're proposing, it's fine. But if they choose to do it the other way, then that will have to be screened in. Okay.

Correct.

Thank you. Yes. All right. Look at me. I got it. Yes.

Good job, Troy. Let's see. Any further questions from the council? Before we close a public hearing. All right. Let me see here. We're going to close the hearing record. I now close the public hearing and the record at 6.36 p.m. City Council deliberation and discussion. Now it's time for us to deliberate on this. Anyone have any comments?

Prepared to make a motion.

Okay. Wait City can't hold on Troy the City Council has I have to be very specific on this Has conducted public hearing on this matter the City Council may take action on the matter approve approve with changes or deny or continue the hearing for a future date All right, Troy You're up.

I make a motion we approve the land use application 187-26-000054-PLNG based on the information presented by the applicant and recommended findings of fact subject to the conditions of approval listed therein.

Second.

So that's presenting the application in the staff report including recommended conditions and approval.

All right. All in favor, say aye.

Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, it passes. And Sarah's online. Welcome, Sarah.

All right. Thank you, everybody. Appreciate it.

Look forward to this getting done, and good luck with it. And, yeah, that's wonderful. So when's it going to be open?

This was just hurdle number one.

All right.

Well, anyway, thank you so much and good luck. I do it. You bet.

Uh, next item is a public hearing to consider enactment of an ordinance amending chapter one, 2.4, five of the Coos Bay municipal code Chelsea.

Yes, good evening, council and mayor. So council is familiar with the process of vacating property. We've seen that in the recent past, undeveloped property being vacated. We have code that lays out what that process should be for us. That code comes from state statutes. And so there are pieces that are special and unique to us that haven't yet been adopted. For example, when you're in a port district, you need to give special notice when you're within 1,000 feet of the waterway, I guess what I would say. And so we know that, but we don't know it by looking at our code. We know it by another document. So we want to incorporate that into the code. Additionally, we've dealt with this. Statewide planning goals regulate how and when you can vacate land in what we call the coastal shore land, so that area of land that meets the water that provides access. There are special rules and provisions. If you're going to vacate something, you need to come up with an equal or better access point. So we also know that, but it's not in our code. So we just want to add it to the code so it's all laid out there so anybody in the future, you know, when staff is processing these, they have those kind of, it's kind of like a checklist. So it's really just a cleanup. Nothing new.

So these are not new standards, but they're, this is Planning Goal 17 by the Oregon Statewide Statute, correct? Right. And we just need to put into our standards the Coos Bay Municipal Code.

Correct.

Okay.

Does that mean that currently, You have to go to both codes and look at them and cross-check before making right decisions, right?

You'd have to look at the revised statute that speaks to some of those special notice procedures and then you'd also have to be aware that the statewide planning goals has this goal 17 that has a special provision and so staff, you know It's just a lot to remember. So if it's here in the code, it makes it easier. I

How do we make sure this doesn't happen again in the future? Is there a way to just blanketly adopt whatever is?

Well, I like, for example, if you just adopted the statute verbatim, it in and of itself won't account for goal 17. So I'm talking with the state, we're talking about how to kind of fix that issue and incorporate it and make sure, because it's not just this, there's plenty of examples where things have been adopted at the state level and they don't make it down to the local municipality. So it's like if you know you know and if you don't, well, you know. So we're just trying, we're trying to stay on top of this one. I think, you know, there'll probably be times where it happens again, but it's as you become aware, then you adjust it and fix it, yep.

Okay, thank you. I went away. I will come back. Okay. So are we required to follow the state's guidelines?

Yes.

So it needs to be in there?

Correct.

Have we had an occasion where we've had to actually implement Goal 17?

Yes. For example, the sauce property and that vacation down by the history museum, this was part of that.

So in that case we have to. We have to know or you read our existing code and then we have to know this applies as well. Yes, if we put it in here and then it's all laid out, it's much cleaner, simpler.

Yeah, thank you.

OK, I'm going to open the public hearing on this, so this would be the time if they would like to come up and make a comment or ask a question on this, this would be the time any public comments. Hearing none, I will close the public hearing and Council. How would you like to proceed? Don't everyone speak at once here.

Are we in a public hearing still or? He closed it. You closed it.

Yeah. OK.

I'll go ahead and make a motion. Go ahead. Let's see here. I move that we, oh, shoot. The proposed ordinance amending the public right-of-way vacation procedure. And we enact the ordinance amending the Coos Bay Municipal Code Chapter 12.45. Second.

The Coos Bay Municipal Code, right? Needs to be in there? Yes. Okay. I believe I said that. Oh, I'm sorry. It's been moved and seconded. And Christine, you want to do roll call, please?

And ordinance of the city of Coos Bay, Oregon, amending a portion of ordinance number 517, codified as Coos Bay Municipal Code, chapter 12.45, public right-of-way vacation. Councillor Stephens? Aye. Councillor Kribbins?

Aye.

Councillor Nebergall?

Aye.

Councillor Matthews?

Aye.

Councillor De Novo? Aye. Mayor Benetti? Aye. Councillor Kilner? Aye.

ordinance number 600 has been duly enacted thank you uh next item on the agenda is a proclamation for national emergency medical services week proclamation i just said that uh chief atkins you want to give us an update on this or a comment yeah good evening uh this year the national emergency medical services week will be observed may 17th through may 23rd 2026.

The 2026 theme, Improving Outcomes Together, recognizes the dedication of EMTs, paramedics, dispatchers, firefighters, nurses, physicians, and other emergency response professionals who work collaboratively to provide lifesaving care and protect the health and safety of the community. So I'll read the proclamation.

Oh, great. Thank you.

So whereas emergency medical services are a vital public service providing life safety, life-saving care to the community 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and whereas access to quality emergency medical care greatly improves the survival and recovery of those experiencing sudden illness or injury, and whereas the emergency medical services system includes emergency physicians, nurses, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, firefighters, dispatchers, educators, administrators, and other dedicated professionals, And whereas the 2026 National Emergency Medical Services Week theme, Improving Outcomes Together, recognizes the importance of collaboration among EMS providers, 911 dispatchers, hospitals, public health agencies, fire services, and law enforcement in delivering high quality patient care. And whereas advances in emergency medical care and continued specialized training help EMS professionals provide innovative and effective treatment that saves lives, and whereas National EMS Week marks 52 years of recognizing the indispensable contributions EMS professionals make to the health, safety, and well-being of our communities.

Now, therefore, I, Joe Benetti, the mayor of the city of Coos Bay, do hereby proclaim May 17th through May 23rd, 20,000, 2026 as Emergency Medical Services Week in the city of Coos Bay, Oregon, and encourage all citizens to recognize and honor the dedicated EMS professionals who serve our community. I need a motion and a second to approve this proclamation.

I make a motion to approve the 2026 National Emergency Medical Services Week proclamation.

I'll second that. It's been moved and seconded to approve the National Emergency Medical Services Week Proclamation. Any other comments or discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for the question. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, it passes. Next item in the agenda is approval of the 2026 National Public Works Week Proclamation. Jennifer.

Thank you. So National Public Works Week 2026 will be observed May 17th through May 23rd with the theme Rooted in Service Powered by Community. The theme recognizes the foundational role public works professionals play in supporting safe, resilient, and connected communities through their ongoing committed to public service. And if you'd like, I can read the proclamation. Thank you. So whereas public works professionals provide and maintain the infrastructure, facilities, and services that are essential to the health, safety, and quality of life of the residents of the City of Cuse Bay, and whereas these dedicated professionals support vital systems including streets, water, wastewater, storm drainage, sanitation, public buildings and transportation networks that serve the community every day and whereas the 2026 national public works theme rooted in service powered by community recognizes the foundational role public works employees play in sustaining strong resilient and connected communities And whereas Public Works Week has been sponsored annually by the American Public Works Association since 1960 to raise public awareness of the importance of public works and the dedicated individuals who provide these essential services. And whereas it is appropriate to recognize the contributions and commitment of public works professionals who work diligently to enhance and protect the community for present and future generations. And.

Now, therefore, I, Joe Benetti, the Mayor of the City of Coos Bay, do hereby proclaim the week of May 17th through 23rd, 2026 to be National Public Works Week. During this week, I urge all citizens to join with representatives of the American Public Works Association and government agencies to pay tribute to our public work professionals, engineers, managers, and employees, and to recognize the substantial contributions they make to protecting our national health, safety, and quality of life. That being the case, I need a motion and a second to approve this proclamation, please.

I'll move to approve the 2026 Public Works Week Proclamation.

I'll second. It's been moved and seconded to approve the amendment for the Front Street. Excuse me, Front Street. I'm down one. Okay, I apologize. I've been moved and seconded to approve the National Public Works Week Proclamation. Any other comments or discussion?

I just wanted to say I think we have a staff that exemplifies carrying out these duties every day, mostly in a thankless environment. And I see it, and I know we all see it, and I just want to say thank you.

I think we all agree. All right. Anyone else? That being the case, I'll call for the question. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, it passes. Thank you. Okay, Jennifer, you're going to be up again. Consideration to approve an amendment for the Front Street Improvements Final Design Project.

Okay, thank you. So last October, the city council awarded the Front Street Improvements final design project to David Evans and Associates. The project included development of bicycle and pedestrian facilities along Front Street between Cedar and Fur Avenue. Since beginning final design, the project team has identified several design refinements as well as additional tasks that were not included in the original scope. These additional items include obtaining an Oregon Department of Transportation crossing order, securing regulatory agency permits, and completing boardwalk and overlook design. These items were intentionally excluded from the original scope because the extent of the required work was unknown at the start of design. As design has progressed, the proposed traffic configuration at Fir Avenue has evolved from a one-way-in, one-way-out intersection to only a one-way-out intersection. This modification is expected to improve safety. However, ODOT has determined that a crossing order will be required as part of the approval process. In addition, the project team has met with several regulatory agencies regarding permitting requirements. The original intent was to rely on environmental and elevation data developed for adjacent projects, which included Coos Bay Village and the Coos History Museum projects. However, that information places high water levels along Front Street, which is not accurate. As a result, new wetland delineations and related environmental analysis are required to establish updated and realistic high water elevations. The design has also evolved to include a boardwalk and overlook along the bay side of the corridor. These facilities are consistent with the Front Street blueprint and existing boardwalk improvements located north and south of the project area. If incorporated into the final project, these elements will require additional geotechnical investigation and structural engineering. Lastly, supplemental survey work is necessary to support the revised design and environmental permitting efforts. So attached to this staff report is the proposed contracted addendum. It's identified as Addendum 3. Addendums 1 and 2 were previously executed to address the on-street and off-street parking analysis completed earlier this year. Those addendums did not increase the contract amount, but rather just reallocated existing tasks. Approval of addendum three would increase the total design contract from $332,948 to 657,989. If approved, final design is anticipated to be completed later this year, with the constructive bidding expected to occur in spring 2027, pending regulatory approvals.

And if I could just add maybe just a couple more things.

When we originally started this, we were working with the port as well as ODOT Rail. And at the time, the port really didn't have any comments because the rails weren't active. But ODOT looked at it and said, we have to operate as if a rail car was going to be on that tomorrow. And then I know... There was counselors that went to a Port Commission meeting the Port Commission decided to take a look at maybe review review removing those rails That effort I think is going to take longer than this project timeframe So if we want to move forward ODOT has required that we do a crossing order So that's where we are on that. We did try push back also With respect to that boardwalk on the bay side, increasing that width of the boardwalk is going to preserve the on-street parking and really give you that true multi-use path for bicycles and pedestrians. But now we're getting over the water, and so that's where the geotechnical and structural and environmental regulations kick in. And it's unfortunate we can't use that elevation data to the north. It just doesn't make sense for us. It hurts us, actually.

Definitely, I mean I saw that the ODOT rail which we didn't think we would have to go through It's like 50,000. Am I understanding that correctly?

It is correct.

It's yeah Yeah, just under 50 and then the majority of those other costs are also for that boardwalk, which is almost 300,000 It's correct. Yeah pretty close So the only thing I don't understand the design has also evolved into including the boardwalk Didn't we always talk about that being a boardwalk put in or we just that was really never solidified

It was always it was just as narrow. It's almost like a five foot.

So we had always talked about maybe just a correct sidewalk to stay out of Yeah, so it I mean, I think the design truthfully is the best way to go I'm not sure everyone else feels but anyway council questions for Jennifer So we are gonna move out over towards the water that is correct and So it's a property that, if I'm correct, that we traded for Saas Brothers. And so that piece is where we're going to be building the boardwalk. And it'll be over the waterway, which will allow for on-street parking and also bike paths. And the overlook. And the overlook, right.

It's just a bummer we can't get the same space coming away from the water. I mean, I know we can't, because then it just I mean, there's a couple things. If ODOT was going to agree to say that they knew the rail was going to be defunct, that would save us some money. And then if we had space to move in towards the rail, that would save us money. It seems like it's frustrating because we want it and we want it done right, but it's going to cost us more money.

Yeah, the only thing, at some point, I don't think we've gotten a definitive answer when the port is moving forward to – Abandoned this rail and when we talked to them at the port, they said it would take two years So my question is we talked to them I don't know how many months ago, but is that two years started then or is we still waiting for it to start?

Sorry, I'm not certain we know that starting point but they are having Conversations right now. I mean there's a group I think some of us are participating in that rails to trails piece and I think that is really their focus is to start with that and

Okay, because the thing is is that to finalize this at some point front street? We're gonna need to do an overlay or pave or the rail needs to be fixed because in my opinion My humble opinion that it's really a dangerous situation for bikes walking. I mean It's a hazard this at the way it is. So it needs to be taken care of one way or the other Anyway, that's my two cents anyone else. I

So could we delay this decision until we have a little bit more input from two years?

Well, I don't know. I'm just throwing it out there Well my opinion it would be and I'm one of seven I'll make that clear But I think that we have this started five years ago Jacob and for us and now we've instead of trying to do the whole Front Street, which would be a huge expense I mean, we could do it and go out and bond, but then we'd have to do a lot more design. So what has been discussed in the past is to do phase one, which would be from that point, close to the Koo Siption Museum, down to where the parking lot is, that street. And so I think that's an approachable way to go. And then we would take the next phase and attack that as we go.

As Nicole also mentioned, there are some members on this Rails to Trails Committee, and that committee recognizes that Coos Bay is continuing to do this work, which I believe will help advance that timeline. So I think it's important that we do take this first step and move forward with this so that we can get everyone else moving in the right direction. What I didn't understand is one must have a sponsor of the entire rail is what's being researched now before they can bank it and make this a rails-to-trails. So that's where that two-year time frame that we're talking about.

And I don't think you were suggesting to delay it two weeks just to get confirmation.

Yeah, like could there be ongoing conversations where we could get a little bit more details if we brought it up in a couple months?

No, well, I brought this up a few times, and now I'm... I'm fortunate to be on the committee and we will have Linnell the executive director for the port there and we'll have the other rails for trails people there and then Lucinda's there on this committee and so is Nicole so I think we have good representation to help try to spur this forward I think those conversations have been are being had I would also say it's much more indirect but there is a level of time money value and

whatever extra it costs us, some of that will get eaten up if we just said we're going to wait two years for this to all be done because the engineering will be more expensive, the labor will be more expensive, the parts will be more expensive. So while it does cost us much more, if we waited two years, we won't absorb all of that because it will just cost us more to do it later.

Okay. That makes sense.

And materials to do the work, because if you delay the design, then you delay the work, and that is where it gets crazy.

I've seen that with the school district, that we've delayed a roof improvement, and it's gone up astronomically year after year. So that makes sense to me.

And I guess I would just, like, reinforce this idea, right? We have three folks sitting on this Rails to Trails committee, and we are constantly reminding them, hey, we're doing this work. Hey, we're doing this work. So if we don't go do the work, you know, it's kind of contrary.

So, yeah. Any other comments by anyone? Oh, Carmen, I'm sorry. Yes.

Yeah. Well, since this project is... broken up into two pieces. Would it behoove us at any point to start working on the other section as the first scope section while we await some of these decisions? So we're still moving forward. We're still, I mean, I realize we haven't focused our engineering on this yet, but we've done on the, on that other section, but you know, if you can save $350,000 by not having to do some of these things, I don't know how much money you would say. I said, that's just a number that, I mean, I heard some numbers of various things, but maybe, maybe something will shake out. And I kind of appreciate, uh, councilor Nieberg calls, uh, you know, Hey, I don't want to be the one to pump the brakes, but if we could get a little bit more clarification for is this the right direction to move forward before we make this call, I'd be willing to wait a little bit longer, especially since we have a whole other section that we need to focus on as well. So just a question. I'm not saying I'm ready to go that direction or not.

Well, Jennifer, you can jump in. But my understanding is, Carmen, that we will move forward with the sidewalks and the bike path and the pedestrian access there. The only thing in the way that will be held up until it gets resolved is the rail and the overlay on the street. But everything else can be done. So parallel parking, all that can be done. The rail is just going to be there existing until we get it to be abandoned. Then we can go ahead and move forward and pull it up and then do an overlay.

How much do we save?

And I don't think we'd save any more. I mean it's not good Well, no, we well the only thing yeah, we would say I guess we would say 50,000 if we waited but Oh dot rail You know, that's I don't know. Oh, we didn't think we'd have to get it to begin with but there here we are and

And we're still going to have to do some of the other work. So we're going to have some sort of an impact financially anyway.

And I think in our committee meetings, I think the port is very much in support of abandoning what really were, I mean, the two years is best case scenario that a sponsor steps forward. So that's an undetermined amount of time before we get a sponsor to tag in here and take this on.

And a sponsor is just like a corporation that would be running around?

It could be a really interested party. It could be a corporation. It could be like an outdoors, you know, I mean, it just doesn't, somebody who will forever be, until they hand the baton, responsible for.

And the committee is going to be making that decision who's going to be the sponsor, and that hasn't been decided at this point. We've had one meeting, and we have another meeting come up here shortly.

Mm-hmm. Well, with that information, I'm ready to move forward because it sounds like we can still do quite a bit without, you know, really saving a ton of money. So, yeah, I'm good with moving forward. Okay.

I'll make a motion to approve the addendum number three for David Evans and Associates for an amount not to exceed $325,401. Second.

It's been moved and seconded to approve an amendment for the Front Street improvements, final design program with David Evans and Associates on Front Street. Any other comments? Good discussion. Appreciate it. Hearing none, I'll call for the question. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, it passes. Something, let's see, approval to apply for the Oregon Rural Health Care Transformation Grant to acquire EMS vehicle and equipment. Nicole?

Yeah, I'm going to start us out, and then I think Chief Atkins probably has the details that will be of greater interest for everyone. So for several months, we've been having some internal conversations about opportunities that we might engage in that could improve EMS response and service to our community members. I'm sure we have awareness already that several of our, if not the majority, of our fire personnel hold paramedic certifications. I'm not sure what the right language is there. So they, often our teams go out on medical calls and are first on scene. So in those discussions and talking with folks in the area, folks in other communities, how they address this, we've come up with a couple of opportunities to kind of look at, but one of the pieces we first wanted to address is meeting one of those needs would be maybe we have a vehicle that we can use in those maybe support opportunities. There are other communities who, have arrangements with their local EMS providers that they can come out only when needed. And that would be an asset to our community. We could consider doing this as a regional kind of response and maybe there are other entities who have similar staffing like Coos Bay has that could also benefit from vehicle or equipment. So Chief Atkins came upon a grant that's available and we have a proposal he can speak to a little bit more, but we'd like to put forth for the area that would bring beyond just this, it's kind of grown since we did the staff report, vehicle equipment and then a way to kind of lift our apprentice program. You might remember we had an apprentice program through BOLI for a couple of years. We were not selected in the follow-up session of that, but we had great success with the program. So putting this back in, maybe through this grant, it fits, and especially fits if we add a paramedic component to it so we get some more folks learning in that field. So that's what we're kind of asking is some support to walk this grant forward. It's a pretty heavy lift, and we have a really short turnaround, and I'm sure you probably have greater things to share.

Yeah, thank you. I think Nicole covered most of it, but there's the Oregon Rural Healthcare Transformation Program grant that awards up to $5 million for projects to rural areas to improve healthcare systems in many different categories. So we would qualify as far as being a rural agency. You can do up to three projects within your proposal. The minimum is $200,000, but up to $5 million combined for it. Oregon received $193 million in its first year, and over five years, Oregon will receive a billion dollars from federal funding to award this grant program to increase healthcare access. So the first project we were wanting to do is to, I'm calling it Increasing Cardiac Arrest Survival Rates in Coos County for $840,000. This provides cardiac monitoring equipment, AEDs, for all the fire departments in the northern area, as well as Bandon. cardiac monitors for the ALS-type agencies for advanced life support, and then for basic life support, just the AEDs, as well as compression devices. CPR compression devices provide continuous compression, so it provides better outcomes for patients. We just know in a lot of our areas, we have rural departments that have a greater lead time before the ambulance can arrive. So that allows the first responders to get on scene, put this device on, get good quality continuous compressions the entire time. And then a few other things that we can put strategically, place AEDs in larger gathering areas. The second project is to purchase two ambulances that would belong to the City of Coos Bay through this grant program, where we can help to supplement the current ambulance, Bay City's ambulance, if they have delays or peak times. Like Nicole said, we're already responding on majority of these calls anyway, and this is happening in other cities that are partners with Bay Cities, or sister companies of Bay Cities Ambulance. So there's a platform there. I spoke with their general manager today, and he was supportive of this idea as to kinda help out, relieve some of that delay and problems that they have. And also for wildland deployments, if something is needed, so we'd be able to use the ambulances for potentially wildland deployment as well. So that would be $730,000 for that project for two fully equipped ambulances. And then the third project, like Nicole said, was for the apprentice program to expand it into a third year and add the paramedic program into that. So instead of just doing the two-year firefighter, it would be a three-year. This is being supported by Oregon State Firefighters Council as a letter of support. And then I'm hopeful to hear from Boley tomorrow. But if not, we do have a pathway. around them, but still to meet the guidance that they have set forth for the apprentice program. And that's $3.1 million to provide for six apprentices for a three-year living wage jobs while they're going to school, getting on the job experience, and becoming a licensed pair of ex.

Questions for Nicole or the Chief?

Chief, so if we get... We assume get all the grant, get all the equipment. Is there a way to long-term to figure out how this is self-funded or operationally or at the end of the six-year period are you going to be challenged to figure out how to maintain these salaries and operational costs?

Yeah, it'd be, it's for the six positions for three years and so it'd be a limited duration unless this type of program, like I said, it's for five years through the fence. So if they keep renewing it, then potentially we could reapply and just stagger those positions. So we're always bringing them in. But other than that, it would be just limited duration. Okay.

Thank you.

But it would help to provide more trained paramedics in this area, which is one of the things that we have a shortage of.

And that generally is what the bully program was built around. It was just a way to get folks who were not accessing training programs traditionally. So it opened up, you know, hopefully we're going to get more females who enter the fire service. It was like you could walk in the door without any real prerequisites. And that's what we've done in our program with success. But there was no promise for future kind of employment.

Would these positions be city positions that we pay city benefits and wages based on our scale?

They are, and that is the factoring that we have in there for the grant amount to make sure that we are covering those costs. And we've been really... On the high side of that making sure we're accounting for let's say everyone in that group having family insurance Which is not our experience. They're generally single maybe spouse arrangements So we are expecting the highest rates to bring them in and that would be paid for through the grant.

Yes Sure. Did you have a question? I know you had your hand up

Yes, thank you. My understanding would be that some of these services are billable through Medicaid. Is that correct, which could potentially provide some sustainability in funding?

That's correct. If we do get the ambulances and we do enter into a partnership with Bay City as we do transport, then the idea would be we would be able to bill for those services directly to Medicaid, Medicare, private, whatever the case may be. So there could be long-term sustainability potentially for those?

And this is an arrangement we're aware of that Seaside has. They have a contractual arrangement with their local provider, so there are very specific instances where they come in to support

Isn't your local provider also an associate of Bay Ambulance? Am I correct?

It's Medics, and they are the sister company. Okay. North Lincoln, I believe, also, North Lincoln Fire Rescue also uses PacWest Ambulance, and I believe they also have a similar agreement with the fire department there.

We're not getting into a situation where we're competing while they're trying to do business either. I mean, we're not going to be in a situation where we're trying to run to a call so that we can pack and transport a patient

No, this would be for the ambulance with the agreement if we do enter into an agreement with them. This would be if they are delayed and we would have criteria ahead of time of when we would transport or if they needed assistance for whatever other reason and then we could transport. But that's also covered under the ambulance service agreement that's established by the county commissioners. Okay, thank you.

I think just to add a little bit to that too, I think we understand Seaside, and please correct me if I'm wrong, their agreement talks about a 10 minute or greater delay that could potentially engage support. So make sure that if there's a delay in the initial responders that the support team can step in. And that was a contractual negotiation.

And the first piece that you talked about was cardiac. And you had mentioned Bandon. So this would not be responding to Bandon, the ambulance portion to Bandon. It would be within city limits.

Yeah, for us it could be, depending on what the agreement would be, it could be anywhere that Bay Cities would have their ambulance service area. Bandon was included in the first one because it is part of Bandon's, or Bay Cities' coverage area. And they currently do not have any AD or defibrillator capabilities. And so that's a...

Issue that they have and they are also to that's a community that is not protected by the fire department based in notes But no and my question was with regards to the ambulance portion of this grant that you want that you're seeking We wouldn't be sending our department to bandit.

No primarily excuse Bay, maybe North Bend Charleston area. I

Yeah, so the cardiac arrest piece was just to get devices that could be placed in communities who don't have that direct response. So the teams could be kind of more immediately responsive with something that's effective.

I thought that was the case. I just wanted to make sure it was clear to the public.

Yeah.

Do you have a question, Troy?

I have a motion.

Okay. Okay, yeah, go ahead. Is there a total amount on this? You mentioned three different amounts. We have one total amount or they need to be separately adopted or does it even need to be in there? I do not remember what the whole list.

I don't think it needs to be in there. There is no, we looked at the grant itself and there isn't any like a resolution required or anything. So we just wanted to like, this is different. We want to get this in front of you. So just a motion to apply for this grant and if awarded, we would, you know, move forward.

I love it. And since it is different, can you outline and send us an email of all of that information or include it in this packet so that if we ever need to reference it again, we know exactly what the three projects were?

Yep. We can add it to this packet.

Great. Then I would make a motion to apply for the Oregon Rural Healthcare Transformation Grant allowing the purchase of EMS vehicle and equipment.

I'll second.

It's been moved and seconded to apply for an Oregon Rural Health Care Transformation Grant to acquire EMS vehicle and equipment. Is there any other comments?

I just want to say that my organization is also applying for this grant, and it's a huge lift, and I appreciate Jeff's tenacity and willingness to do this lift because it is not an easy grant to apply for, and so I just want to commend you.

And I want to say thanks the chief for having all the answers Maybe not all the answers, but all the answers we asked All right anyone else hearing then I'll call for the question all in favor say aye aye Any opposed hearing that it passes? city managers report

Yes, thank you. So the first thing I wanted to just say thank you for is you all made a recent decision, I don't remember a recent timeline, but to modify our processes, our code in relation to how Planning Commission processes maybe get to move to you and it's a perfect example of what we saw tonight when there's not quorum a Group can't make a decision and an applicant then either has to wait for a delay or find a solution. So that is a shift and And you just got to see it work. So just thank you for being so Forward-thinking in that to make sure we are moving processes along. I I think everyone is aware, but Monday is Memorial Day holiday, so city offices will be closed on Monday. I also wanted to just pose an idea that was brought before staff, and if there's interest, we will pursue it. So there's a private property owner who has interest in either use or acquisition of our second street, so second street and commercial parking lot. I think we talked about this. Roughly in the last year or so about some improvements that needed to happen to that parking lot because it's Because the costs were pretty significant. It's pretty small. We decided to not make improvements to that and so There is opportunity for us to maybe further that conversation if we want to consider doing so and that could involve Ownership transition. I don't know what that means just yet, but I wanted to make sure that We gave you the opportunity to speak to that. Of course, if there's one party who's interested and it impacts that area, we want to have a conversation with everybody who's going to impact. But we didn't want to walk that path if we weren't at that point. Which lot is it? It's the parking lot that's on Commercial and Second, kind of the corner. It's the one that's behind South Coast Office. Oh, okay. Yeah.

You would talk to the landowner and then potentially bring it before us once you figure out what it is they want, is that correct?

That's the kind of, just make sure we're okay with even walking that path.

Yeah, and just for, I think, for people to remember, Jennifer came forth and asked us if we wanted to move forward, because it was a list, this parking lot needed attention, and it was going to be around $200,000. I thought it was excessive for that parking lot and so and I think others did so we didn't move forward with it So it sits there Needing attention and we have a owner that potentially wants to put electric stations in yeah, or maybe take it over or Whatever, but I think truthfully if we could have one of those individuals take it over and on top of it South Coast offices apply if they were to take this over I think we would ask them to take their vehicles that are on the public lot and move them over there instead of using our public lot. That would be my hope, which would free up some parking over there.

I thought they were using that lot as well.

They're using that too, but they got their vans over on the other one.

Because it's almost not usable for the public because of all the vehicles that are parked in there for the business owners. True.

Yeah, which I think is kind of true across the board. A lot of folks use that and they're employees of businesses there. So that's kind of public parking, but okay. So we will continue those conversations, learn a little more and be back. I just wanted to share that Senator Wyden will be holding a town hall in North Bend at their community center on May 27th at 10 AM. It's obviously open to the public. Also share that there is a public opportunity for further learning from the Oregon Sea Grant work that was done in collaboration with Oregon State University on offshore wind. That's being held on May 26th at 530 at the Cookwell Casino Resort. And finally, I wanted to just kind of have a little bit of conversation around a project that we have going on down at the boardwalk. This is just an opportunity maybe to further discuss, because maybe we didn't have a fullness of a discussion earlier, specifically on the rail. So in August of 25, the agency received a presentation on projects for the boardwalk that included replacement of the roof on the pavilion, the removal of the glass, retaining wall and this rail system that we are putting in. So while we're talking about this here, if any decision needs to be made and needs to go back to the Urban Renewal Agency for final amendment, we're going to amend that. But we want to maybe get consensus after maybe a little bit of discussion on whether or not we want to put this on hold for it to go back to the Urban Renewal Agency. There is some concern that the type of rail that has been selected, while selected to align with intentional work on Front Street and to the boardwalk in a design that is similar to what's already at Coos Bay Village, On the boardwalk, it doesn't maybe give the same maritime feel that we historically have had there. So we've stopped our efforts in order to come back and maybe make sure we have fullness of time and conversation around this, and we're making the right decisions on the boardwalk. We've heard, I think, in the budget meetings for the last few years how important that facility is for us. So we want to do it right.

Nicole, full disclosure, I'm sure the council is surprised to know that I'm the one who asked about this. So thank you, Nicole, for bringing it to council.

Not surprised.

I know. I knew you weren't. And this was a presentation given last August. I think August 5th. I was not at this council meeting. And also, it was not included in the council packet. So I was thinking, gosh, did I not do my due diligence? And did I not review this? And it wasn't in the packet. Again, just opportunities going forward. In looking at the boardwalk, you can see in the pictures there is railing. And as Nicole pointed out, it is similar to the exterior boardwalk in Coos Bay Village. So you can see there are these metal framed railings. These metal framed kind of rails. Since that decision was made, something has changed. We know that the port is going to be banking the rail. And so... Currently, you know, we've got kind of the more of the bumper kind of maritime look with the black bumpers along the boardwalk. And my concern when I looked at this was from a design standpoint, since this is a much like our parks and we've talked about when we're dealing with the park, we want this to come before council. Perhaps it would have been better at the time to have a conceptual design because it's hard when we're looking at a presentation like this to really see the full concept of what it's going to look like. And these are dollars that are being spent that, quite honestly, we're going to have to live with for quite some time. So I had talked to Nicole and Mayor Benetti at our Monday meeting and asked the question, how did we come to this decision? Did it fit aesthetically with the boardwalk? And would we not be better served going forward? And in this instance, is there another use for those? Because quite honestly, I don't believe we need them now. The rail is being banked. We don't need that barrier. And while the look of these on Coos Bay Village is one look, I think it's going to visually just be one more barricade between the water and the path and the road. We have seen in the past, we have seen architectural renderings when we're looking at the welcome signs from the north end and the south end. I challenged our previous city manager, those architectural renderings had trees that were 30 years old in them. We saw them, they're like three feet, not, you know... six or seven feet, but I'm asking, much like I did with, much like I've done with other projects, I'm asking that this council see a rendering because these spaces are so important to the city, and there's so many opinions about them, and so I want to make sure that not only does the council get to see them, but in this public meeting, the citizens get to see what we see as well, so that we can move forward in the right direction.

And then just to add a little bit more, like we did a little bit of research today kind of on how we ended up with the poles and railings that we had. And because it's history, I always do the phone a friend, and I called Roger to kind of, what do you know about this and what are our requirements? We first wanted to look at, you know, is this a safety issue? Let's go to our authority sources, like does OSHA tell us what to do? No, they regulate work sites. Gosh, I'm forgetting the other body. Building code, does building code write? No, not a thing. What I learned from Roger is there's actually an old outstanding lease, and we need to do a little bit more investigating, between the city and Southern Pacific that said, yes, you can do this walkway here, but we expect you to put a barricade up at your cost. and it stay there. So whether or not that lease is still in existence, we still pay a lease for that land to the port now as owner of the rail. Maybe their lease agreement doesn't have those same parameters. We also know they're gonna pull the rail out. So there's still some unknowns here. Again, this decision will need to come back to the Urban Renewal Agency because they were the deciding body. So this is a future meeting. It's just really a discussion point and consensus if you would like consensus. If we want to put this on, the project on hold, we have a contractor on site right now that we're ready to install these, and they're on hold until further notice. That does, of course, potentially increase that contract cost if we're going to do any railing installation there. So just try to hopefully give you as many details as I currently know.

And again, my, my point is, do we even need it? One and second, what we currently have, I believe is plastic chain. Uh, so it's not really had that originally. There was that original requirement. If we have all walked that boardwalk, it's not really a barricade between the path and the railway. So. Again, I just think let's save the money. Let's repurpose those rail for, and I know it would have to come back before the agency, and let's get a conceptual drawing. We know we've allocated funds for this next year to see what it looks like. And unless we could give that rail, or excuse me, give the railing back, I don't think we can do that because we've already purchased it. But I imagine there's opportunities to repurpose it for another use.

I'm curious on the concept, or the point of conceptual renderings, could we just use Gemini like we did recently to show off removing... We did discuss that a little bit, like is there opportunity to do like how we did, sidewalks with poles, sidewalks without poles.

We could certainly give that a try, but it's not a formalized architectural opinion on how this might actually structurally work. It's just a visual interpretation. We kind of have that a little bit in our engineering and efforts in the design for this project. Again, it's kind of just all in the last couple days trying to work through what this might look like, and that is potentially an option.

I was going to say that I, I'm not a fan of just looking at this picture of the railings are rusted down on that. And they, you know, we, you and I were talking about the garbage cans and how those aren't supposed to rest and they're rusty, but I also know, and I do walk the. the path there. There are areas where it is a little steep. There are areas where there are drop-offs, and that does create a vertical barrier in some of those areas. I don't necessarily think it has to be that type of railing, but having some sort of barrier between where people can fall and hurt themselves or ride a bike off the edge because they're not stable like me. Or it wouldn't hurt to have something there, but maybe not something that is so structurally between the visual. Something that's softer. So that's just my take.

So, first of all, this was presented to us. I was at the meeting. I apologize that maybe I wasn't more in tune and paying attention. We were going through a lot that time of what was going to be done. I can promise you from this point on I will be a little bit more attentive. And so I appreciate the staff going through this and maybe some of the frustration they see about us reconsidering this. But with that being said, again, for me, for the future of staff. And so we can maybe not run into this problem again. For me, it's hard for me to visualize this without seeing a conceptual design. I mean, it's hard for me to say, take this fencing and put it together with the boardwalk and the retaining wall and put it all together. If we had something, then I could probably visualize it better. If that's me, I'm not sure how everyone else is. Second of all, I agree that I don't know if we need anything right now. And maybe hold off, and I totally understand what Stephanie's saying, but... This would only go part of the way. We have a long boardwalk or pathway that won't have any rail. So this would only be one section. And so the point, if we're going to do that for that safety, then we should think about doing all of it, which would be a very big expense. And plus, I don't really like this. And so if we can leave it open, I think what I'd like to see is that we We have our pavilions. We have the boardwalk. We have a space that can be seen and attractive. And the thing is I don't think that we need to have a conceptual drawing on everything. I think that we have some spots like our parks. And this is a very visual spot that we care about. It's been discussed in the budget meetings for the last two to three years that we need to get this up, fix it. We've appropriated money to clean it up every week now. And so it's an important piece that we put some thought into. So anyway, I feel bad that we've gotten to this point at this latent stage. I guess it's better than having them installed and then saying, wait a minute, right? So maybe there's an upside to that. Anyway, those are my comments. Anyone else? Should we just hold off on this? Pardon, Carmen?

Go ahead. Yeah, I think banking that railing is totally fine. It can be used in so many different ways. So if we decide to put it in at a later date, it'll be just fine. I do like that it's stainless steel and it's way better than that plastic chain that was there. That was pointless. I will say that I don't think it hinders much of the view. You know, we have stainless steel in front of our homes. retail location, the same railing that's in question at the moment. And it's not a big view hindrance, which is good. I really like it for that. That being said, I think we can hold off and maybe see some drawings and that'd be really nice. And I agree that having the ability for us to see these renderings, but especially the public, is something that we should definitely encourage and require as much in our ability as we can provide. So I appreciate the extra effort as well and support just taking a pause on this installation.

Okay, so we have a consensus. Is that what we need?

Yeah, that's essentially it. And so what I'm hearing generally is that we want to take a moment, and there's a potential that we're going to maybe make a different decision than what was approved by the Urban Renewal Agency Board. We can bring back this to the board to have a railing final decision made. And by that time, we'll know where we stand with the lease. And if there are any safety regulations we are not considering, that should be in play here that we just haven't thought about in this very short time. We'll be ready with that, too.

With that said, we are not going to pull up the current just to be safe.

They're already pulled up.

Oh, do they pull them all up?

Pretty much.

I mean, today they were, I think, intending to put the new stuff. I mean, today was installation start day, so it would make sense that.

So we didn't communicate to them to pause for the black ones? Today, we did.

Today, okay.

They're already out.

I know, but today we just, this morning at 7, I texted and said, hey, because after a conversation was after hours and all that, I couldn't catch anybody any differently. Yeah. Okay, that's what I have on my city managers.

All right. Council comments. Jacob.

Yeah, I'd like to give a big thank you to our police and fire departments because at Sunset and Madison School last Tuesday, we had a thing called Party on the Playground, and they brought folks out to entertain the kids, and it was a really, really good time. So I just wanted to say a big heartfelt thank you from out in Empire.

Thanks. Check it.

Stephanie. Nothing tonight.

I just appreciate having the conversation tonight. I think these conceptual drawings going forward will allow us not to get in this place where perhaps we're stalling work or making different decisions. So I appreciate the staff providing those so that we can all see them. And I just want to hope that Councilor Cribbins is our next state representative and wins the primary. So good luck this evening, Councilor Cribbins.

Thank you. I wanted to say I appreciate the staff and there's, I just think there's some inherent frustration of just trying to do your job and having to deal with fickle electeds. And we mean well and I think part of this is we all want our city to look beautiful for people to see it and we just want to make sure it's right because it's going to be there a while. So thank you for your patience with us and we appreciate all the work that you do. Thank you.

Thanks, Troy. Carmen?

You know, I don't think I have much comments. I went long last time, so I'm good. Thank you all.

Okay. I appreciate Troy's comments, and I hope the staff understands it. I know there's probably some frustration, but we just want the best for all, and sometimes we go a long way around. And Troy, I wish you nothing but the best this evening. Anyway, I just want to talk about, I've been getting out and about talking to some different citizens in the area, and I want to reiterate, and I want to... Mention what I've got I got a call from someone on a business license that led to a change of use Like we had a night and so this person had a business license, but they didn't realize they needed to go through a change of use and They were told how wonderful this person told me how wonderful staff was and getting to get there and there was many hurdles that they had to accomplish to do this and And Sydney was the one that helped him, and she wanted to call me personally and say thank you for how wonderful things are and things are better. And she's been in this city for a long time and had other instances that she's done, and she said they haven't always been as successful and easy to deal with as this time. So kudos to the staff for that. Also, I saw the other thing going on. There's a lot of things that are happening and a lot of things staff is taking care of. Tug-I-Rain area is being pulled up. I see that happening. I saw that this morning. Those old plants that needed to be revitalized is being done, and I think that's great. Also, I had a chance to talk to our resource officer who is back, and I'm so glad. I visited with him, and he discussed a homeless situation. We talked about it. He thinks it's better than it has been. It's not too bad. Also, he trespassed two individuals that were drinking on the boardwalk. And I've seen these two individuals many times, and I'm sure they've been doing the same thing. And so he made sure that they're not going to be able to be back and that they have a criteria to follow. And I asked him about a camp out in Empire. He said that they've cleaned it up, went out there, A couple times, it's been pretty good. Some of the private owners have some things that they need to do. I've been asking about the Vega property. He said that's better. So having him back on, I think, is just wonderful. And the other thing is Rex Miller, who sits on the Planning Commission, right? I got some work delivered, and we could start talking. And he complimented this council and staff for what has been done since we've come on in 2016 and continued on. He said a lot's been done and a lot's been accomplished. So anyway, Congratulations to the staff and this council for doing good work. So that being it I'll adjourn the meeting. Thank you