City Council - Regular Meeting

All right. Good evening everybody. It's 6:30 on Tuesday, February 17th. I'm going to call the city council meeting to order. And please join me in the flag salute. 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. For the record, uh, councelor Patty's been excused tonight. Um, are there additions to the agenda? Is there any declaration of ex party contact, conflict of interest, bias, etc. I don't hear any. Opportunity for public comment. No public comment signed up. Okay, that leads us to consent agenda for February 2nd. both the work session minutes and the regular session minutes of February 2nd. Does council want to do anything with that?

Mr. Mayor, councelor Ort, I move that we accept the consent agenda for the work session and the council meeting as presented. Okay, I'll second that motion. Okay, there's a motion and a second to accept the consent agenda items as presented. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. I.

I. Motion carries 40 to zero. That leads us to a presentation. Um, Chief. Yeah. Not sure why I bring those guys. Uh, mayor, counselors, and staff. Um, chief of police with City of Sten. Uh my pleasure and privilege tonight to introduce our newest police officer, Matt Hagen. Um he'll have opportunity to tell you a little bit about his background, but we're pretty excited um to bring him on with his experience and background. Um he does not need to attend the academy because he's um considered a lateral. So that's a benefit to us in our training and getting him on the road. So, right now he is um in field training with a coach and we'll just work through that at whatever pace is necessary to get him up to speed. So, I'll let Officer Hagen introduce himself. Hello. Um, as the chief said, my name is Matt Hagen. Um, I am really excited to be here. I started my career in 1998 as a reserve deputy with Marian County. Um, I went on to work there full-time. I worked also at the um, city of Aurora for a short time when they had a police department. I went to Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and I then I came back and worked at Marian County for uh, 15 years. and I decided needed a break and for the last two and a half years I've been a high school teacher um teaching in a law enforcement program for the uh

Salem Kaiser School District but um wanted to get back to law enforcement and I'm excited to be able to work at an agency where unlike Marian County it's not call to call to call and you're not able to actually solve things although we solve some things there but um here being able to take a case from start to finish and actually have an impact with the community. I'm excited about um I live just outside of town, so this is where I come for my shopping for for uh dinner with my kids and things like that. So, this is kind of my my second home at this point. So, um I have two kids. They're probably the best thing about me. Um they're nine and 12 and they're great and they're excited that I'm going back into this career. Um my youngest just thinks it's cool, you know. Um, but you know, everyone here at the PD has been fantastic and very welcoming and everyone else I've met here at the city has been very welcoming. So, um, I'm excited to be here. Have any questions?

Welcome aboard. Thank you. Thank you. Great. Thanks, Sue. All right, that moves us to a public hearing. I'm going to pause for a minute because I think I see a green slip. Public comment. Want to give it to Melanie, please.

Oh, okay. And you might want to just ask if it's um public comment for just general public comment because I see it there on the ticket. All right, Lauren, do you want to speak about now or do you want to wait till the topic comes up on the agenda? Sure. Yeah, come on up.

Just state your name for the record, please. And go ahead. Oh, I need to read my little script before I do this. Hold on. Yes. The council will now receive public comment. We value the time and initiative that members of the public take to share their thoughts with the council. The council's role during public comment is not to immediately respond, but to listen. If there's a follow-up necessary, we will direct city staff to do so. Remember that we all model the way for our community, and we ask that everyone share their thoughts respectfully. Um, yeah, there you go. Thank you.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment. My name is Lauren Mulligan. I live at 1530 Eagle Street here in Sten. I'm here to speak with you about the parks and pool levy. I know that on the last ballot, it did not pass. And I think it's because at the rate that it was set wasn't appealing to the town. And I think that there needs to be a review of the fiscal analysis of what it takes to maintain our current infrastructure with um the way it currently exists, including the types of parks and how many parks we have. And I think that um if we try and look at maintaining infrastructure, building in um inflation costs for staffing and for um urgent needed maintenance that we'd be more likely to pass the levy because the fact of the matter is is that there's not very many communities in Marian County period that have municipality pools. There's not many high schools anymore that have pools. This is a really valuable community resource, especially for a community our size. I also think that it's a really great opportunity for the students in our community, state and surrounding communities, to have access to a pool. The fact that it's available in the wintertime provides opportunity for exercise and enjoyment for families and kids. It helps people in our community, a state where there's large bodies of water to continue um swim lessons in the winter when there's not a lot of other sport opportunities for young children. And so I just really like to encourage this council to look at where that rate was set and get it down, shave it down right to where is manageable because otherwise it's just submarining it. And once we lose the pool and if we don't

maintain the parks that we have for the size of our community, we will probably never be able to raise the money to put one in again. So just consider that. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Mark, do you want to wait or do you want to talk now? I'll go now. Go ahead. Concept. Sure.

Hi there. Mark Kronis, 308 East Water Street, State, Oregon. Um, it's the parks and pools levy. If it's going to be on the May ballot, there's a bit of concern um because the ODOT tax thing is almost undoubtedly going to be on the May ballot, like it or not. And you know, we've got uh it it's not a good time to be asking for money um because of things like that. And if we're going to do it, and again years ago I lived in Lake Oiggo. Lake Asiggo had a public pool. My grandmother was instrumental in spearheading the effort for it. It is shared by the school district. It's considered Lake Oiggo Schools public pool. But um the parks in the pool have different interest groups and different users. And yes, of course, there's some overlap, but if we split the levy into two smaller levies, it's more likely to pass. And then if we engage or insist on the engagement of those who are the users of the pool who live in Stton and those who are the users of the parks who live in Stton and get them out and make them aware of it, we just that's the only way to get these things passed. We've got to create that engagement, that urgency, and that desire for action. Thank you.

Thanks, Mark. All right, I'm gonna leave it open for one more second. Or actually, I lied. Couple more seconds. Any other public comment? Okay, with that we'll move on to general or there is no public hearing so we'll move on to general business and that's resolution number 26-004 authorizing the use of alternative project delivery and procurement methods. Mr. be cannon. For the record, Barry Buchanan, interim public works director. I bring to bring to unite the request to pass resolution uh it is now I've lost the number. Uh Julia, help me.

26-004,

resolution 26004, sorry. Um, it is concerning a shift in council's ability to help us out when we want to use an alternative procurement method for soliciting projects. As it stands right now, the council in actual fact um is dictating to an extent that through um this state and municipal code that we in actual fact use design, bid, build. Uh we'd like that to be modified so that we can act natural fact use different and alternative procurement methods to take advantage of uh design build methodology progressive design build methodologies that enable us to in actual fact engage uh design teams and procurement teams construction teams earlier in the design process so that we can actual fact get a better uh solution in the project at the end of the day itself. uh fiscally it really does not alter the project at the end of the day as far as the fiscal amount is concerned. Even though generally it is accepted that design build is a quicker method and therefore theoretically should be um a better and more cost-effective way of in actual fact implementing and procuring a project. Uh those sometimes are beneficial but not always. So I want uh council to understand that we're not requesting this on specifically in a fiscal advantage but we are looking at as a time advantage. Um the design bid build method as it is today in actual fact does take time. It takes long more time to in actual fact uh put a bid together, get it out, get it secured, get it signed, get uh the contractors on board and then finally ch

close the project out. Uh, so from this point, was there anything else that you wanted to add into here? I think you had a couple of points that you wanted to add, Julia.

Um, I I think just adding that why we're doing this now is that there's some projects that Barry wants to proceed on that he's um looking at doing alternate um delivery methods. And if we have to come to council for authorization every time we have a project that we want to do that for, it just potentially ex extends our ability to deliver the project because we have another step that we have to do. So having this resolution and giving um Barry and his team um the authority to make those decisions based on their best professional knowledge of what's going to be delivered. Um it will help save some time. There was one other point that I wanted to add. I thought Julia was going to say it, but um we will not be making the decision on going forward in a project with an alternative procurement method without the city council uh city managers specific um approval and understanding. We will also be putting forward to council the benefits of any particular project that we want to use under an alternative methodology. So I'd like to put to council that uh they look at this in a favorable ma manner and pass a real solution accordingly.

Council council work. Thank you Mr. Mayor. So, is your I guess I don't quite understand what you're asking. What you said you're asking for and what I was reading don't quite sound the same. It sounds like you want you don't want to have to come to council to to do requests. But that's great. But it doesn't it says that you're proposing different delivery methods. Can you give us an example? Can you use like an example of like how this would work? Yeah, no problem.

Like like if if we change the process.

Yeah. Okay. As it stands right now, we have we are looking at uh the wastewater treatment plant. I'll use that one as a as an example. We have a problem with the electrical system at the wastewater treatment plant today, but from my perspective and our staff's perspective, we don't know exactly what the problem is or how to resolve that problem. So under norm under the normal process that we have today, we would go out and hire a consulting engineer to come in and do an evaluation and a design. So we' firstly do a an evaluation of the proc of the of the process as it stands at the wastewater plant treatment plant. Today I'm talking about specifically about using a progressive design build process as an alternative. So what we would do is separate those pieces under today's process. So we would actually have a study period. We'd close out the study, take that study, go out and do put out another contract for a design phase of the project. Then we'd go out and put another bid pro process once the design was completed. And then we'd put time on the back of that to initial fact construct and build the pro project. Under a progressive design build, it is one contracting process. So you put all of that together and the same contractor that you bring in to do the uh study process runs into the design process, runs into the bidding process and runs and manages with a constructor that is bought on board really early in the process so that they understand the project as well. So you condense the project time quite considerably. Now, as I stressed a minute ago, you don't necessarily compress the cost of the pro project, but you definitely compress the time. And time is of the essence as far as our wastewater treatment plant is concerned today. And most of our

projects that stand out there today are under major time constraints. And I'll add um while Barry wants to stress that there's no guarantees on cost savings in in my experience of this was on a school project and it was a cost savings because they were able to include the contractor early on in the process so the contractor could give advice on different materials and things like that that they might be able to order earlier. And so um it was a they were able to save a lot of costs in the overall um project because of the timing of things. Mr. Mayor, councelor Sams, go ahead.

So, when we deviate from the standard design build methodology, the only thing I I ask is that we get a, you know, brief when you do a staff update at city council on, you know, any changes to uh to the contract. That'd be that just just to keep us in the loop. That would be the only thing I would ask. Okay. Just just for clarification, councelor Sims, are you asking about um the methodology that we're report that we report on it on a upfront basis or are you talking about as the project proceeds? We would normally report on changes during the project change order stuff anyway. Are you specifically asking about the process or about the project reporting? Probably a little of both.

Okay. And that's good as gold. That's not I mean I would just think in the you know in a normal staff report kind of give us a little back brief. This doesn't alter your um approval authority. So projects that are over a certain amount we'll just tell you what the procurement process was when we bring a contract to you for authorization. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I understand. I just you know I just want to be kept in the loop or city council be kept in the loop on these projects because I know we probably have some pretty big ones coming up. So yeah, we'll definitely do that. So Barry, if I hear you correctly, it just accelerates and condenses the project.

It accelerates and condenses the project. Uh that's the that's the key thing for us as a collective group, but it also builds a team for the project up front as opposed to having separate pieces to the project and those being disjointed as the project moves forward. As Julia pointed out a second ago, the the advantage of having the construction team involved in the design, you'd usually go through a design process that it would be a planning process first. That gives you about a 15% design. Then you move on to the 30% design. Once you've got the 30% design done, that's when you would bring the contractor on board in this particular process. So they're on board at 30%, they help go through the what I call the LT studies which is basically the constructability, flexibility, operability of whatever project you're doing. And then they help with the 30 sorry the 60% design and the final design process. So once the final design is already done, they can have started procurement at the 60% design phase.

Yeah. Okay. It's the same rationale that we why we increased your spending authority at some point to get to to move it up to get moving. Okay. Council, anything else? Council Mr. Mayor. Um, so we talked about the advantages of switching it. What are the advantages of keeping it the way that it is? Like why did I I know that you you weren't here when this was I know that's an easy question but what but what would what why would we choose this method in the first place and you you want to give me shot by the consulting industry don't you

I think I feel like it's a fair question

that traditionally the separation of the projects has been driven by the way that we do the engineering ing um and the engineering historically has been done that it was done in this compartmental way that we didn't have the tools in reality to facilitate faster processes or facilitate faster implementation or move things forward. Now everybody in the room is now going to shoot me because in reality America has been the slowest to implement alternative procurement methods um of anywhere in the world. The rest of the world has been doing progressive design build design build implementation and advanced techn um implementation of purchases proc processes for probably nearly 50 years now and it's standard practice in most local authorities outside the US. I'm not answering your question directly. What is the advantage of one over the other? I believe that the advantage historically it was appropriate to step through the process and and I'm not questioning that at all. Today if we want to get things done a little bit quicker and we have the ability to do those things quicker then we can take that advantage as well through the design and construction process.

And I'll also add that this just gives another tool in the toolbox of procurement. It doesn't mean that there won't be times where we go through that that normal procurement process. It just is another option for the right project.

It's just not Exactly, Julia. It's an option for projects. It's not we're definitively going to go and do design build or progressive design build or CMG construction managed construction. Um we will be doing whatever is appropriate for the project itself. process process type projects like the wa wastewater treatment plant the water treatment plant have great advantages in doing um collective design build uh work whereas a straight pipeline it's quite easy to do a design bid build thank you for that explanation

anybody else I think with all the things we have on in front of us and the biggest one being the Detroit draw And I see this as helping us. And if you listen to all the feedback from the community on projects and how long they take, if we can reduce that by even a couple days, I'm good with it. Anybody else? All right. Opportunity for public comment. Anybody want to talk about this? Come on up, Casey.

I need you to speak. There we go. State your name for the record, please.

Casey Falconer, 810 Sunrise Drive. Um, as an electrical contractor, I've I've been involved with this for many years. My one worry, as happens in the construction field, is if you get a contractor that comes in and is involved in the design build, a lot of times they undermine other contractors. the information doesn't get out. So, do you have a a plan in place to make sure that a fair bid goes out to all contractors and not just the designer?

Okay. I'm I'm going to try and understand your question first before I answer it. Okay. Um in a design bid build approach the initial design is put together up to about the 30% and at that stage the constructor or the builder are not generally involved until that point in time. If they've been if they so it's then an open bid and the and you're selecting the contract group on a um quality basis rather than a financial basis for a start off. So that quality based understanding is the selection so that you're putting the whole team together initially um as opposed to having separate teams bid later on. I I agree with you. If you separate it out and just have the designer and some form of quas design build activity, whether you're actually bringing a contractor in for advice, um they can skew the overall process at the end of the day. There's no question about that. I would strongly suggest that we would not be doing um partial employment or partial contracting in that sense. We would go out for a total qualitybased appraisal for a start off select the contractor with the engineer wi with um the bid team all together in one. They would be collectively put together. that they would work through the whole process together and there wouldn't be a secondary contracting process that they could be undermined.

Yes, that's exactly what I was worried about because unfortunately I've seen it a lot and it gets it gets messy on private jobs with the city involved. It could get even messier. So hopeful to stay away from that to not cause headaches for everybody. Yeah, I understand the problem. Okay. I I know partially guarantee I'm going to do just sorry a point of order just because the the public comment isn't a the conversation. So generally the commenter should make comments to the council and then we should be answering if council wants us to. I think this it was a it was a good conversation. I just want to make sure we don't do too much of that.

I would be happy for that to be my question and you can answer it for me. Thank you. Thanks Casey. All right. Anybody else have public comment? Okay. Council discussion. Are you done, Barry? Council discussion. Council I'll make a motion to approve resolution number 26-004 is presented. I'll second that.

All right. There's a motion and a second to approve resolution number 26- 004 authorizing the use of alternative project delivery and procurement methods. Is there any further discussion? Mr. Mayor Council or I would um just say maybe when I was asking about like the pros of something like that, I appreciate the public comment about the um precautions that need to be taken and acknowledging that um that some of that can happen. So um I would hope that we can mitigate that as much as possible knowing that that can be a a possible issue.

Yep. I appreciate that viewpoint as well. Anybody else? Melanie, you want to pull the council on this one. Councelor Hayes. Yay. Councelor Orc, yes. Councelor Kerry, yes. Councelor Sims, yes. Motion carries four to zero. Thank you. All right. Very might as well sit there for a minute. Uh the next topic is selection of street project. Thank you.

Um my appreciation to council for responding to this. Uh at last council session we requested we handed out the list that's um in the front of this note as I've handed out now listing off the streets that we thought were the top pri priority um and ask council to in actual fact look at them rank them or add others. Uh so um the mayor did add two streets to the list. uh and the councils that responded are shown on the rest of the document as it as it is right now. Uh it is clear from the feedback that we got that uh East Hollister Street from 3rd to 6 is the street that you would like us to move forward with. And I'm just looking for your confirmation that that is true.

All right. And before that there's another opportunity for public comment. Doesn't appear to be any council lady have anything before. Okay. What would council like to do? Give direction to the streets that were given to us. Mr. Mayor, councelor Sims. So Barry, it looks like uh D the East Hollister Street was the top choice then. Yes, that's correct. I can explain the scoring method if that would help.

Um sure. The way that we looked at the score is that there were eight um contenders. We gave the number one contender that that the council member offered eight points and reversed it back from that. Uh so if they had selected all eight and put them ranked and all eight it would have been 8 to one. Uh we put those in the list against each of the counselors and the streets nominated added the scores up and the top top number was the East Hollister given 19 points. Most of the other streets got one vote from each of the counselors.

Yeah, I definitely uh I drove all those street. I'm not a civil engineer. I'm a chemical engineer, but but uh my I can't give you a PCI, but definitely East Hollister Street D was by far the worst road I drove out of all those. So that's that's why I picked that. Right. Okay. Okay. So, you're sticking with East Hollister. Looks like Ken's sticking with East Hollister. Anybody else? All right. So, you have one of them. You're looking for two. No, just one. There you go. Do we need a vote on that? Um, don't need I think that we do you want them to not necessarily I think that

what he has said is the feedback that's been received has said East Hollister is the the top one. Are there any objections? And we're not hearing any objections. And so, I think we will proceed with that then. Yeah, I'm going to take it the council recommended that held at East. Thank you, Barry. Okay, we're moving on to the next item on the agenda, which is resolution number 26-005, a resolution calling for a measure election to submit to the electors of the city of state in the question of amending the city charter to be placed on the May 19th, 2026 election ballot. Julia,

uh, this is the first of, um, two ballot measures that you're considering this evening. This is the charter election. As you recall, the council has been meeting discussing this over really the past year. um first identifying chapters of the charter that you wanted to discuss and then having a series of meetings where you dove a little bit deeper with um our city attorney Ross Williamson and then um most recently uh he presented some track changes versions or version of the um the charter amendments that were discussed and council um indicated that that seemed consistent with what you had discussed through those um multiple public um meetings. Uh so what's in front of you is um a resolution that would place that on the ballot. It has um the caption question summary. These are all these were all prepared by Ross. Um exhibit A is the clean version of the charter and then there is an attachment that is the track changes version as well.

Okay. All right. Thank you. This is an opportunity for public comment on the proposal to um have a resolution for changes the state and city charger charter on the May 19th ballot. Anybody have any opinion on public comment? Okay. Doesn't look like it. Council, Mr. Mayor, please go ahead

for anybody who needed to know. Uh the biggest reason with uh for this amendment was to uh give our mayor a chance to vote. Uh currently he does not have that. He also doesn't have veto power. So we wanted him to be able to vote. So it was decided we'd change this part of the charter where he could vote and we'd add one more counselor. Okay. Thank you for that. Mr. Mayor,

council. Um, okay. So, section 25 with the counselors. I know when we first talked about this, I was in favor of adding on um another counselor to this section, but I have been really thinking about this a lot. And my concern is that we already have a hard enough time filling the seats that we have and we have had a significant turnover um and had vacancies and had to spend our time um filling those. Um even even right after we had an election, we had to do that. So um I just want to have a conversation and maybe revisit that. I I like everything else that we talked about and the changes that we have, but I just wanted to know everyone's thoughts about maybe reconsidering that just because of how hard it is to fill the seats we already have.

Yeah, valid valid uh concern, council. I guess I could weigh in real quick from my standpoint. I mean, we're talking about that and um the result of not having that seventh or is it sixth, right? or it will be seven because the mayor gets the Yeah, it would just be a tie, right? And a tie would can be resolved later. I mean, if that's the only reason why we're putting that person in their seat is to break a tie. I don't see a need for it, but I'll let council weigh in on it. Go ahead, Council Sims.

Yeah, I know. I was kind of up on the air on on this also how many counselors we had, but I just I mean the re I mean the reasoning was so we didn't have a tie, but I mean I guess it wouldn't I don't know. I don't know which road to go down. We'd have six counselors or five counselors. I mean it's just a and council order is very correct in the fact that we struggled a bit with maintaining the council and had some turnover. So I mean sure that's a very valid very valid point. I agree. Council Curry, any thoughts?

Mr. Mayor, I don't I don't know if we want to because councelor Patty isn't here. I would be um I would be okay if we wanted to if that was a question or if you guys are okay moving forward, I guess that's fine. But if we want to maybe t.

So this is the last council regularly scheduled council meeting um that um before the ballot. Um we could have a special council meeting before February 27th if you wanted to make changes. Um that said, I'm prepared if you know there it would be a fairly simple amendment to the resolution as well as to the um the track changes um version. So I feel like if that was the only change you were making I feel like staff could handle that um this evening, but or you could do a special election or you could or special meeting, sorry. Um, or you could not discuss it.

I'm in favor of allowing the staff to make that. No, you decide on it tonight. I'm sorry, Council Car. Can you repeat that? I'm okay with having the staff engage in that conversation. Is that what you're saying? I think I'm lost. Yeah. So, what we would need if if you wanted to remove the six counselor, I would recommend a motion to amend the resolution to um remove the section 25

the uh well, in in the resolution itself, I'm looking at the um the summary statement. So on page um 15 of your packet um and onto page 16 um section five there's a bullet point and then two more bullet points. you'd be basically removing the fourth bullet point from the resolution and then removing or removing the proposed changes from section 25 of the um attachment or exhibit. Mr. Mayor Cons,

I think, you know, it's kind of it's kind of close, but I think my my thoughts are to have a six counselor. I think I think we had some pretty good folks apply for city council last time we went through this. We had a good number of people and I think I mean I think we could make it work with six counselors, but that'd be my preference just so we don't have a tie on something. But those are my thoughts. All right. Well, the irony here is that the mayor doesn't get to make a vote. So, I'll let you all keep telling me what you wish to do. You're welcome.

Yeah, I I I I I think I share my opinion. I think if we're going to have a another council position solely for the fact of breaking a tie doesn't make any sense to me. I think if you have a tie, as we have in the past, it's going to work itself out in subsequent council meetings. We're just going to keep visiting it until we come up with a solution. And that's just me. Yeah, I think I could work with that. I guess I mean, it's valid. I'm kind of on the fence, so I'm going back and forth here, but but uh I don't I think we only had a tie one other time in last few years. So, right.

If it changes the the side of the fence anybody's on, I'll just note that with an additional counselor, there will be some additional costs. We'll have to make another spot at the table for them and there'll be additional um you know, trainings and things like that. So, it doesn't come without some additional expenses. Fair enough. What would council like to council? You got Are you ready to to make a motion?

I'm going to make a motion and then we can we can figure it out. Okay. I would like to make a motion a motion um to amend resolution number 26 005 um to take out um the bullet point creating a six council position counselor position and direct staff to amend exhibit A amend exhibit A to remove the proposed changes to remove the proposed changes to section 25 to section 25.

I'll second that motion. All right. And I hope someone wrote that down. There's a motion and a second to amend the charter as someone restate it, please. Do you got it? Council I think nobody's got it to amend the resolution to remove the bullet point creating a sixth uh council position and direct staff to amend exhibit A uh in section 25. Okay, Mr. Mayor, if I may,

council work. So I know that when we okay when during election time we don't have very many people come forward and when we have vacant seats we have several people come forward which is great to try to fill the position but that doesn't that's you know the council that's us making the decision on who's going to be up here um instead of the community. And so that's where my mind goes to is that we struggle to have people step up and um and be counted by the people of the community. And I think that's an important part of being represented or having representation um because we I mean we easily and we have done it several times, but even before I was on council, we had a couple appointed positions. So, I think in the spirit of us being represented representatives of the community, it's better to have a stronger uh vote from the people of the people that are up here as opposed to us continually filling those appointed positions.

So, noted. Any further discussion? There's a motion on the table. Melanie, can you pull the council on this one? Was Steve, you were the second on that, correct? The motion. Yes. Yes, I was. And this is a motion on amending the resolution, not the actual resolution. I just went through the process.

Hey, okay. Can I just I'm I'm not like I'm not I'm not dogging the people that have been appointed. I'm just saying that like we like Len, I think you are a great addition to the council. Obviously, we we voted you in. Um we we wanted you on the council. So I I definitely like I you know if I had my way like I want you know people up here that I want to be up here too but um I also feel like the community should get a say in that when appropriate. Mr. Mayor. Okay. Go ahead.

I guess it was a little more joke laugh that I was looking at her because it really just happened and it's true. there was a whole lot of people that were there uh that I was with and then we all had our say and such and showed our and whatever. I still see the benefit of a sixth one, but it's understandable that that's that can be a hard balance of, you know, getting somebody in and making sure someone stays because I obviously got this position because since last January, it's been really tough to keep somebody in this chair. So, with that, I'll end.

Okay. Thank you. All right. Any other further comments before Melanie calls? Pulls the council. All right. Go ahead, Melanie. Please. Councelor Hayes. Council. Councelor Ort. Yes. Councelor Kerry. Yes. Councelor Sims. Yes. Motion carries. Four to zero. Okay. So, that's the amended version. Now, what would council like to do on the actual resolution? Mr. Mayor, council,

I would like to make a motion to adopt resolution number 26005 with the following modifications or with as amended. Okay, second that motion. All right, there's a motion and a second to approve resolution number 2605 as amended and have the um revision to the state and city charter question on the May 19th ballot. Any further discussion? Okay, Melanie, can you pull the council again?

Councelor Hayes, yay. Councelor Ort, yes. Councelor Kerry, yes. Councelor Sims, yes. Motion carries four to zero.

Thank you everybody. All right. And now the one that most people have been waiting for I think. Uh the next item on the agenda is resolution number 26-006. A resolution calling for a measured election to submit to the electors of city of Stton. The question of a five-year local option tax living at tax rate of 98 five per thousand of assessed value beginning fiscal year 2627 to place on the May 19th 2026 election ballot for partial operational support of the city's parks and pool. Julia,

thank you. And probably more for the audience than for council because you um we've had work sessions and discussed this. Uh the existing levy ends at the end of June um of this year which means that without a levy in May, we would not have funding for the parks and the pools. So, um, while we do appreciate the concern about, um, other items on the May ballot, we don't feel that there's much of an option at this point because there would be no levy funding if that were um if it did not pass in May. Um, we after the levy did not pass in November, we coordinated um a stakeholder group essentially. We um convened people who were affiliated with the parks in the pool in a in a variety of ways, parks board members, um swim team um coaches and and members, uh clubs, organizations, things like that to share with them a little bit more detail about the the existing conditions and the um the the future under different scenarios to get input and give some advice. to council. Uh they have done that um through I think two meetings and we also uh had a survey that we put out really focusing on state and residents. Um not to say that some um non-residents didn't take the survey but it was really primarily focused on state and residents. So we did not put that on on social media. We put it out through um our email group um as well as in the city newsletter. I think we had 140ome um respondents and that's summarized in your in your packet materials. Um the big change um is that we did we are

proposing to go from originally we were proposing a$110 per thousand um with a variety of some proposed increases in revenue um assumed at the pool and some proposed decreases uh including um removing the opening of Wilderness Park as well as um some how we're funding um a position in the parks department. We believe that we can get it down to 985. So um 90 98 and a half cents per thousand of assessed value that would allow us to proceed with um basically the same service level. when it um there there would be a few um things just because if we don't have um a position that's full-time full, you know, like at halftime in the parks, there might be a few um adjustments and um and obviously it wouldn't be um opening wilderness park. So, that would be a change from what we had originally proposed. Um so what is before you is essentially the um the resolution that would place that on the ballot um with uh a caption question and summary. That's what you have to adopt to place something on the ballot. We also included for um council because you tend to be interested in this. Um, in the past when we've put levies on, we included the explanatory statement. That doesn't have to be adopted by council, but we wanted you to see what was what was being proposed. Um, also in your packet again is um a summary of the park and pool survey results just so you can see what um people had to say. That information is very helpful for staff as we um answer questions going forward as we're um providing factual information to inform people about the the levy. that that helps us know where there's questions and confusion. Um, as for example, one of the things that was

really highlighted for us was the fact that less about about 30% of residents understand that their assessed value um is half of their approximately half of their real market value. That's a huge informationational piece that we will need to overcome. Um, many people thought it was the same as their real market value. Some even thought it was more than their real market value. And when people are making decisions on tax levies, it's really important that they understand um what they're what they're actually going to be paying. So that will be a real focus for us as we um proceed. So I'm happy to answer any questions as I've got staff here that um you know, I'm sure we'll be able to answer questions too if there's any specific finance or operational questions that you might have. Um but with that, happy to answer any questions.

Okay. Thanks, Julia. All right. This is an opportunity for public comment. So, uh, who wants to come first?

Oh, yep. Yep. We need you to come up to the microphone. Sorry.

My name is Noren Chamberlain. I've lived in Satan for about 40 years. I swim at the state pool for about three times a week. I would like to continue to do so. Um I know we're all on the same team, but there's does seem to be some problems with this uh swimming levy. The commu communication on this levy has almost been non-existent for most of us older folks. Printed material has been scarce. Social media is not as effective for older folks who have no computer or choose not to use it. There have been few meetings and some not even open to the public. people weren't even aware of the meetings. Um I was quite surprised. Um the other thing that really surprised me was that in the correspondence that has been put out uh by the city, it doesn't show support to finance this swimming pool. Um, I I printed what was in the our town and I tried to take it to the pool to put it out one of the days I was swimming and I asked if they could put it on the counter and I was told that it was not legal. The city could not support the community pool. They had to be nonbiased. It was against the law. And um I was stunned. Uh this is a community resource. Why are we not having support like that? And um it it still amazes me that, you know, we can't say that we want the pool to happen. And we've had some difficulties at the pool with management. Um some unforeseen um circumstances with our manager, bless her heart, her husband was in a bad accident, I understand. And so we have assistance and some of the communication I'm sure has not been so good because

you know we haven't had management through no fault of hers but anyway the little communication and the very low support has certainly put this levy in jeopardy and uh in talking to um some different people at the pool most of them did not know about it. Again, one other thing I was so surprised to find was that so many of the senior residents in the morning are from out of the city. I was stunned because I thought everybody that came live there. They do not. They come from other I mean we've got them from Silverton, Sio, Jefferson, Turner. Um and I put out the Arttown pamphlet uh just beside my bag. I wasn't allowed to put it on the counter and they were like totally clueless on this levy and every part of it. And I understand they don't live in the city. But that was another whole area to look at because um they're not paying very much to swim in this pool. But back to the communication by the city. Um I asked Julia for some uh information and uh she provided it. I got it today at 4:00 and it said that there's 18,600 visits to the pool in a year and she talked a little bit about what the city gave and what you know what we actually charge and um it's hard a little bit to do the math on that. It appears it's about $30 a person to swim if you take just $18,600. And I know that doesn't include the swim team and some of that, but it comes out to about $30 a visit. And uh what amazed me again was in the communication. We didn't there's nothing in there that says that there's 18,600 people who use

that pool every year. That might sway a voter to vote yes for this levy because people say, "Well, you know, I don't know anybody that goes to the pool." But there are people using the pool and they need to be informed. And one of the ideas that you've had of using social media, you know, we have seniors in the pool that think Facebook was invented by the devil. Um, and you're not going to change that, you know, and they vote.

You know, some of these people are voters. And uh in talking to friends and relatives, neighbors around us, you were at a$110 a foot. A$110 compared to 60 cents, which was the last levy, that's an 80% increase. Incomes haven't gone up 80%. And so, um, we're very high and I know we need money. I mean, you don't have to go very far in today's world to realize how expensive it is to live. Go to the grocery store and it's unbelievable. Yeah. But anyway, um I did not know about any of these meetings that were happening until after the fact. And then I heard that they were inv one of them was invitation only. You couldn't even go.

And um that made some of the people at the pool mad. Gotcha. I have to say that that they they said we weren't invited. And I thought, wait a minute, this is a public meeting. It's a public living. What are we doing? And uh so the social media part is not working well. the communication has not been strong. And you know, whenever I saw the explanations in the water bill, the the sheet that goes out, um I had one relative come to me and said, you know, this this does not tell us about the pool and it doesn't tell us about how many people go and the swims and everything else. It doesn't even talk totally about the cost. Um it's almost like the focus was

Mr. Okay. On the tax stuff, you know, I'm sorry. We have a threeminut limit on our on our public comment. Well, I I guess I'll end it real quick. And the survey that was put out again, we have people who don't have computers that, you know, we have to do something different. We do have a lot of elderly people. Yeah. And it it's really difficult to to get them to vote yes if they don't have an if they don't understand what's going on. And um I want to keep swimming. I love to pull. I I want to help it. I've been going there for 20 years and um it's the only way that you know you can stay physically fit. There's so many other good reasons. But thank you, Miss Chamberlain. I'm gonna ask Julie just to real quick comment on the advocacy, please.

Yes. Okay.

Do you want me to respond to that? Um yeah, and I and I did um speak with Miss Chamberlain and explain that to her and even um forwarded the the flyer and specific questions to Ross to make sure I wasn't missing anything and confirmed that we were in fact um correct and staff at the pool did exactly as they were supposed to. Um it is not that the city can't advocate or the city can't advocate. The city staff cannot advocate. we cannot advocate for or against anything that's on the ballot um or we will get ourselves into trouble. So, I very much appreciate the the concern. Um but we also have to make sure that we're not um that we're being ex very very fair and neutral. And I also since you gave me the um the opportunity, I will say that this for for this ballot title, the the communication has just started. the ballot measure in November. Um did not have a lot of discussion. Um and absolutely understood and and I think we want to um at the staff level certainly be out there a little bit more providing more information based on information we learned from the um the survey. Again, staff level very fair, neutral, not advocacy um but hoping that others in the community will also be sharing information.

Okay. Thank you. Go ahead. Three minutes please. My name is Larry Chamberlain. I live with the lady who's been here 40 years. Uh I have a question for staff. Um I heard a little bit ago there were some meetings uh for stakeholders. Uh who represented the taxpayers at those meetings because our city staff of course can't be an advocate. Julia, want to respond?

Sure, I'll be happy to respond. Um, basically everybody that was there that is a resident was representing the taxpayers of Stton. Um, and I want to also clarify it was not a closed meeting and anybody could come. People came that were not specifically invited. The idea was really just to get um, hear from people that had those affiliations and interest in the pool. Um, and and like I said, we did have people come that heard about it through word of mouth and they were more than welcome to be here. So, Go ahead. So there were no council members. No, no, no one on the council advocates for different areas. Council was there. Y about all council was there.

Okay. Yep. I was at both those meetings and the So I guess my my frustration there is the only thing we came up with was let's raise the the burden of the taxpayers to almost double what it was. I mean what about about developing plans for outside users to pay? It was included for other stakeholders to pay more. Oh, that was discussed in that meetings and in both those meetings and I think the end result and I probably just overstepping here but the end result is there was a reduction for the initial uh dollar amount. That's what they're trying to do here. Okay. Thank you.

So yeah, in November we were proposing a$110. Now we're proposing 985 and that was that reduction was through the increase in um costs to um other users of the pool um as well as some reduction in services. Thank you.

I'm Jack Reette. I do not live in Stton. I live outside of Stton, but I've been involved with the pool since 2011 when my daughter started swimming. I have been on three of these leveies. This will be my third levy. Now, I want to let everyone know that we are working on a committee. We have got donations. Uh let the people that are here know that we are going to have more than just social media. We're looking at signs. We're looking at door hangers. We are going to rally our troops, the swim teams, the people. We need volunteers for that. So, if you're here to support the levy, please talk to me before we're done here today. I'd be happy to work with you, have you be part of it. I've done this before. A big thing, everything that you're addressing here today, you can actually put into the voters's pamphlet with some limitations, but you can insert letters with the levy that shows the value of the pool, and that's something we want to do here today. Um, I'm working with Nick from parks. We're going to put together a program to make this happen. Thank you.

Thanks, Jack. Anybody else? All right, council. Let's have a discussion.

Councelor Sims, looks like you got something on your mind.

Thanks. As city council, I can definitely advocate for the parks in the pool. And I I am a big big advocate. I really want to see everybody get out and vote and, you know, vote how you feel. But if you're for the parks in the pool, talk to your neighbors, talk to your friends, talk to your family, you know, tell them, you know, give them the information, get the information to them. And because I mean, it's going to be, you know, If we don't pass it this time around, it's going to cause some serious issues as far as the parks. They won't be able to maintain proper be maintained properly. The pool, I mean, that would be in danger of shutting down. And I'm I'm not trying to threaten. I'm just stating the truth. And uh once that pool shuts down, it's going to be very very hard to get it back open. It may may not come to fruition if we have to try to pass this again in November. So, we you know, we are in danger of losing the pool. So, and it's it's a little scary. I mean, I I moved to this community because of all the amenities here, the beautiful parks. We have a pool. You know, I my kids are older now, but when I was young, I swam at the state pool when I was growing up here. So, I just I think it's really important part of our community, this, you know, the wonderful pools and parks we have. And I just advocate for them. And and if you look at the cost there, there's cost. I mean, it's we're getting charged 98.5 cents per thousand. The average assessed value is 250 thou 252,000 here in state for the homeowner. So average homeowner is paying $248 a year and that's that amount's being replaced by the current levy of 60 cents per thousand. So that is what is it's like a little over $20 a month for the average homeowner to keep

our parks and pool. It it's it it is an ask. I mean it's it it is an ask for that extra extra money to be paid to support that. But I think it's really important. I mean we we want to live in this small wonderful community. I moved back here personally. I came back here from Italy. I moved here from Italy when I retired from the military cuz I wanted to come back to Stton where I grew up and my grandparents lived and my mom was born here. I was born in Statton, too. So, I came back here at the end of my career. So, I think this is just so important. That's that's what I got. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Councelor Kerry,

I 100% echo councelor Sims. And I also want to just say thank you to the Chamberlins for coming up and sharing your testimonies tonight. I think there's so many more that could have been here who aren't here that share that same sense of urgency and that compassion for the pool. I would hate to live in a city where our parks are closed, where our pool is closed. Um I just it would be a huge detriment to this city. So thank you for being here and I too in favor of this levy. Council Hayes.

Mr. here. Well, I've been pretty quiet and really listening and I again with counselor s it's just shocking everything. I I moved here when I was 5 years old 1973 and I've lived in this town for that long. Literally watching the pool built before it had walls before it had a roof. It was only seasonal. Used it swimming lessons. Both my kids use it. It would just be absolutely terrible that we'd lose it. And uh we are very unique here with the parks we have as well. And uh the different places they're at and how much use they do get. Uh the outpouring for the pool, I can't say it to enough people and I've said it to everyone. It we've done everything that I believe is possible. um talking and working very hard with the city and when I went to the stakeholders meetings, it's like the want is there and we've been able to get it below a dollar and that's all I really have to say about that and so I advocate highly for it.

Council,

Mr. Come here. Uh, for the people listening, I want to talk about the economic impact that our recreation has on not has on our community from the broader area. So, Sten is considered a regional hub and you can see that and like think about the amount of our our um our population. We have about 8,500 people that live here. How many grocery stores that that do we have? The amount of people that live here do not like that's not sustainable. You would not be able to have the amount of grocery stores that we have here for just the amount of people living here. It's very apparent that people come to Stton to um work, you know, hospital places like that um and recreate. And so having our pool, having the parks, um Miss Chamberlain uh said it, you know, she was surprised that most of the people that were in her exercise class come from out of the out of Stton, out of the area. So they come here, they do their shopping. Uh before I moved here, I lived in Salem. I came out here and brought my kids for swimming lessons um and did shopping. Stayed here. So people who have restaurants, people who have the entertainment, even the star cinema. I mean, that's not a city, you know, owned or is it actually a city- owned property, but it's not a city-owned business, but it's still people come to Statton for these reasons and they stay here. And we are able to have the things that we have here because of the people that come into our community, not just not just the people that live here. So if if you're considering and you say things like, "Well, I don't use the parks. I don't use the pool. Well, you do use other um amenities that we have here. And one of the only reasons that we have them is because we have a

broader community using those resources. So, that's something else to take into consideration that isn't always quantifiable um when you're looking at um you know, if you actually use that service specifically.

Anybody else? Okay. I will tell you that I looked at Salem's rate today and the levy that they just passed is the exact same amount. So that passed in November, I think of 25. So there's value in that. I will also tell you that those meetings, the stakeholder meetings were robust. They had discussions. Our folks here in the front row are there and they're not even residents of town. They use the pool and their their advocacy for the pool was, "Hey, we'll pay more." And so um there was a big discussion with everybody. they were trying to come to a a number that was digestible in the same time gave us the leeway to operate the facilities. Um, so I will tell you that there was a lot of input from the folks in those meetings and the council did their homework and we had a discussion to try to figure out how to chip away at this and I think what they have today is really the bare bones um dollar amount. So u that's it. That's all I got to say. Um,

mort go ahead.

Um, I think with the feedback that we're having as well is that and we've talked about this at budget committee meetings that we need to find more creative ways for our assets, pools, park, the community center for these to um bring more dollars back into um our general fund. and we're already, you know, that's what our citizens are telling us. And so I really want to impress upon the council and staff that we really need to be looking at those avenues. We had um sponsorships at the pool. Um you know, uh Ferris, I believe, put on the um the roof at one of our at Pioneer Park at one of the picnic covers. So there's opportunities for um engagement from the community to bring money into our assets so that we don't always have to come with our hand out to the um taxpayers. And I really think that we have opportunities to do that. Obviously, we need to pass this levy so that we can keep those resources open because we can't do that without that. But um moving forward, I really would like us to look into those avenues of raising more funds.

Yeah. Thank you. I think one of the discussions and has been for a while is we talked about a special taxing district much like uh Twills Park and Recreation District up in the metro area. It's going to be a heavy lift because there's layers to get that implemented. But I think uh obviously that's one of the things we'll consider on the table as as well as anything else that the community recommends. So, um, yeah, all hands on deck. All right. Council, what would you like to do? Mr. Mayor,

council, I'm sorry, I got to find it. want to make a motion to adopt resolution number 26-006 as presented. I second that.

All right. There's a motion and a second to adopt resolution number 26-006. A resolution calling for a measure election to submit to the electors of the city of Stton the question of a 5-year local option tax levying a tax rate of 98.5 cents per thousand assessed value beginning fiscal year 2627 be placed on the May 19th 2026 election ballot for partial operations support of the city of parks and pool. Is there any further discussion? Melie, will you please pull the council? Councelor Hayes, yay. Councelor Ort, yes. Councelor Kerry, yes. Councelor Sims, yes. Motion carries, 4 to zero.

Thank you and thanks you for everybody showing up tonight. Um, it does speak volumes that you're here. So, with that, Julia, city staff communication.

Yes, I have a few. Um, I guess the first one is a question that came up actually at the RDS meeting. Um, this is America's 250th year and there was a question about whether or not the city is doing anything for the 250 celebration. Um, I had been sort of asked the question before and I was thinking the question was really more regarding the Fourth of July and you know there's the the parade that's put on and we're generally in the parade. Um but they clarified whether or not there as a as a city just you know some um some entities are doing things throughout the year and so I just wanted to put that out there and see if there was any um interest. We certainly we don't have anything budgeted um and we could talk about this more later but I wanted to put that out there that that was a question that came up and I wanted to get us thinking about that. Um I'll I'll go through my stuff and then maybe we can come back to that one. Um, I also wanted to let council know that we're working with our um, lobbyists for our federal agenda for the congressionally directed spending um, requests. We've been um, pretty successful in the past couple of years and getting some earmarks um, from the the delegation and we're going to continue to try. Um after talking about um a wide variety of projects with um public works staff and then talking with our lobbyist, uh we landed on um proposing about a $5 million package worth of projects at the wastewater treatment plant and then also um asking for some funds for uh water inner tie. We're going to be a little vague with the water inner tie proposal because we're also um seeking state um funds for an inner tie with the city of Subliminity, but even if we get that, there's still some upgrades to the inner tie that we have with Salem. And so um we're going to try to package that to be

a little um flexible. So I just want to let you know that those are the things that we're proposing to move forward on. I think that's due at the end of the month. Uh we haven't forgotten about streets. Uh we had the safe streets for all safety action plan that we just finished up and we're going to be putting forward a package of projects uh that are within and related to that plan that we'll be putting forward. I feel like my I'm going in and out with my microphone. Um so we'll we're going to be working on that. We got a little bit more time on that, but we're going to be um pulling together a project of about $15 million or a package um of about $15 million worth of projects to apply for the safe streets for all construction grant for that. So, um more to come on that. Um, I wanted to let you know that councelor Patty testified on Friday at Friday Thursday Friday um at the joint ways and means subcommittee on capital construction for um uh House Bill Senate Bill 5701, I'm not sure which one it was. um advocating for our um 1.9 million for an inner tie with the city of Sublimity, which would be mitigation um in the event that the draw down happens that would allow us to use water during the winter from Sublimity. Um there were a lot of really good projects. There were amazing projects. I feel like we're pretty we're pretty competitive. We have a pretty compelling argument. So, um we'll see what happens, but um you can give uh Councelor Patty kudos. He did a great job. Um, and then the last thing I wanted to um just mention and acknowledge is we've had some um we had an executive session last week and we've had sometimes we have council or work sessions that start at 5:30, sometimes at 6. Um, and we are are

hearing that there might be some um forgetting or some missing of things. Um, and so I wanted to just have a conversation with council about that and what our plan is. Um, so I do, so anytime a meeting is on a special night, I'll um, put that in the weekly update. But what we're planning on doing is anything that's not a normal council meeting, um, Melanie is going to send you a meeting invite for. So if it's a work session, if it's a meeting on a different night, um, you'll get a calendar invite. If you accept that, she's going to assume you got it, and we're not going to need to remind you it's on your calendar. If you don't accept it, then we're going to harass you. um and until you till we know whether or not you're coming. Um so I just wanted to see if that would work. I know that there's um you know different people have different calendaring. So I just wanted to kind of see um if that plan seems like it will work for council. That's all I've got.

Okay. Thanks Julia. Um that leads us to communication from mayor and council. I'll yield to council as all. Go ahead.

I did not go. Sorry, communication from the police department. Um, so I just wanted to acknowledge and thank my staff. Um, we've had some new hires and that puts more work on our staff to to put them through field training. Um, we've had a couple vacancies. So, um, also the shift coverage is a little bit tighter and then we've had some inservice training to get through as well. And in addition to shift coverage, that can make things a little tighter. And then we've had some sickness where we've had people out unexpectedly. Um and then in addition some very long-term uh investigations that take a lot of time um and interfacing with other agencies. So we've had people working long shifts, days off, odd shifts, um maybe coming in and working a partial shift and coming back. So, I just want to acknowledge um they're working really hard and and doing a great job. I also want to put out I I alluded that we have a couple vacancies and we've got a a nice crowd here today from the public. Um you heard from our newest officer Hagen and last meeting you heard from our new sergeant Tilman. Um both people that worked at bigger agencies but are excited to be here where they can work very closely with their community. And while we are a police department, we handle calls for service. Um, we also like to engage with our community closely. Um, and we have those opportunities when we do things like safety town, um, our community dinner and those sort of things. So, we take a lot of pride in what we give back to our community. So, I'd put in a little plug. if you know someone that would be a great fit um that wants to to work and serve their community um encourage them to put in for our open vacancies. And then lastly, I just want to acknowledge that we had a lot of fun

this last weekend. We had a city team that showed up for the Polar Plunge to benefit Special Olympics. So we had um representatives from the police department, the chamber, um citizens including the lifeguard that was out there, city employees, uh representatives from the school board, the high school, and then a unified state and team. So lots of fun and for a good cause. It was um good bonding with fellow state and citizens and employees and um we just had a great time. So thank you Thanks, Chief. Okay, councel, floor is yours.

Mr. Mayor, councelor Sims.

Um, I want to thank Julia for getting that spreadsheet in the weekly report on all the grants we've applied for and received recently. So, that was really helpful. I really like that. Appreciate that. Um I will so the Sanm integration Sanm service integration team um I did see for the first the first time that they're using that state and front fund from the community improvement grant. Somebody needed some help with utility bills. So I think they were leveraging some of that money for the first time. So that's good. That's that's going on. And I did make a plug for the levy on the at the same service integration team meeting last last week I think it was. But okay, that was all I had. Anybody else? All right, council. Um, so this is to all the students, educators, and parents out there. You know, every year the Oregon Mayor's Association has a contest, and the contest is named if I were Mayor Contest. And it's an opportunity for kids in the 4th through 12th grades to participate and they can uh have various creative things to submit and one of them is a poster, one of them is writing an essay or producing a digital media presentation. And if they enter the contest, they could win up to $150 from the city of Stton and another $150 from their classroom. So, we've had this in the previous years and the turnout was tempid for the best. So, I'm hoping that this will get to folks out there and really encourage the kids to come up here and tell us in media form what they would do if they were the mayor. So, that closes on March 6th. So, if anyone in this room has students or kids or anything, make sure you give them the

plug and tell them what they're up against. Right. Council Lord, Council Lord, kids have participated in the past. which was really cool. I think some of the ideas in the past, just to give you guys some thought, was uh something to do with chicken nuggets was one of them. Uh one I think council or daughter wanted a pet parade, I think. Yeah, I was just thinking maybe we could incorporate a pet parade into our parade for celebration because I looked at Julia at RDS cuz RDS was talking and they said, "Oh, we should have a pet parade." And I looked at Julia and I said, "Yep." because that was one of the submissions from one of the kids. So, she would be totally down to help with that, too.

Yeah. So, so there's that. And we'll make sure that um if you contact the city, they'll give you more information on how to do that. So, um I will tell you, it's been a hectic month so far with meetings and everything for the mayor and for council as well. I do appreciate councelor Patty stepping up and going to the the to the capital to testify. I was kind of tapped out that week, so I appreciate it. Um, yeah, that's it for me. Anything else before we wrap this up? All right, everybody. Thanks for participation and we'll adjourn the meeting.