City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay. Call the North City Council meeting on April 6th, 2026 to order at 7:01. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of Republic.

Thank you. Mayor Dumbrell, present. Councelor DeForge, present. Council President Hagenor, present. Councelor Ugarte, present. Councelor Reading, here. Councelor Warrington present in Las Vegas and councelor Weber present. Thank you. Okay. Uh at this time I will entertain motion on the consent agenda and approval of the minutes. Councelor Weber so moved. Council Weber moves to approve the agenda. Do I have a second? Councelor Garte second.

All right. Council Garte second. All in favor of approving consent agenda and council previous council amendments say I. I. I. All motion carries. All right. And then we move on to public comment. So in uh consultation with city attorney, we're going to allow everyone to speak. We'll have two minutes. We'll be cut off two minutes because we need to get business done. So you time or do you want me to? Sure. Thank you.

Okay. Two minutes. All right. So, I'm just going to start calling people up. When you come up, please state your name. Uh your whether you're a resident, rural resident, or outside the city. And uh let me begin. You have two minutes. Uh Mark Newman. I'm Mark Newman. I'm a resident here. Uh good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'm uh Mark and many of the volunteers. Uh I am a volunteer at food bank. Uh my tasks include unloading donations from our refrigerated truck in the trailer, weighing everything, then moving them uh via hand truck and carrying the items to the food bank on the corner and or to the storage shed nearby. All this is done safely and out of potential harm's way on 314th Avenue. Our unloading procedures involves parking the truck or trailers along 314th Avenue next to the sidewalk which is on the same level as the street on 314th. Very few if any of the vehicles pass by on 314th Avenue during these unloading operations. Uh this cannot be equated to the conditions on commercial street uh which is what you're proposing adding unnecessary safety risk to our what I consider our unloading procedures. Our unloading donations along commercial street has been tried. There's many cars and trucks that pass by as we conduct our unloading, forcing us to slow down, constantly on the alert for passing vehicles, which tends to take our focus off the job at hand. This can lead to injuries, not to mention the curb drop off that you may have seen in that picture, uh, which can lead to tripping or falling or back injury. And none of us are are spring chickens anymore. Most of us are 60s and 70s. So,

we we want to be as safe as possible. We love our job. We want to do it very well and we're serving our community in the best way we can. And in our opinion, 314th Avenue is the safest, most expeditious, efficient, effective place to unload our donations. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Thank you. pronouncing this. Oh, sorry. Would you be willing to give Hank's time to me when it's my turn? Uh, no. If he's not here, we'll move to the next step.

I'm Hank Clue. I'm not a resident. I live in banks. Uh, I'm the volunteer driver for the big truck and we bring in about two to three,000 pounds of of food on pallets every Monday and then on Thursdays we bring in food from the various grocery stores and it's a lot easier to unload on 314 is on commercial. I feel it's not safe to take the pallet jack and you have to maneuver it and with the traffic it's I prefer to do that. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. I have a handout for all of you. Uh Lori has those. Um, since I only have two minutes, I'll you guys can just weave through that and I'll just do some highlights. Um, you'll see in the pictures that the truck and trailer on 314, there is plenty of space if we take those three spots that had originally been designated to us for the loading zone. Um, also this just last week we served 596 people and that's 197 households and we're bringing through about 30,000 pounds of food every month. So having my volunteers like you just talked about trying to maneuver with hand trucks and pallet jacks and everything else that puts us into the line of traffic which is not safe for anyone. The other thing is I want to talk about is the senior center obviously keeps sending you guys pictures. I want to be very clear that when someone pulls up and we see that they're parked incorrectly, we have them move. So, it's only there for as quickly as we can get them moved, even though they keep doing that kind of stuff. Um on the back page on page five, you can see where if they change it to parallel parking, the step down and how dangerous that is. Not only the issues with trying to maneuver stuff, just people trying to get out of their cars, trying to get

down that big step. Then if you look at the back page, you the city of North Plains has done three different traffic studies and they're just a blip there and you can read what that says, but all of them say that it is not the traffic is very fast and it's not safe to put people there. Those are your own studies. I see.

Don't come to the podium after the second time. I'm going to move on. But Richard, this is your last chance. Okay.

Good evening. My name is Richard Brick and my wife here is Julie. Uh what I got to say is just a few words. Uh we've been living here for about 20 years now and we've worked and we tried in this community. We love this community and all I can say is now that we're on social security. We have to depend on the community of the food bank in order for us to be able to get food and stuff like this because grocery prices are high and stuff. So what little we get, we're very thankful. And I'm saying to you people, you work for us, not we don't work for you. And I'm asking you to always help the food bank because of the fact it's the only one we got in this area. And I appreciate that it could be continued without having parking permits or anything else like this. This woman Laura got a truck so she could haul food around and stuff like this. And she needs all the help she can get with your help. And I thank you. That's all I got to say. Last call.

Says D A V O N A Warren. D A W N A Warren. I apologize. I don't live in uh North Plains. I do live in Washington County though. Um I just wanted to say that I love volunteering at the food bank. Um, I hope our right for safety can make you overturn a decision that is easy to change. Um, and I hope you're open-minded enough to do so. All I'm going to say, be heard from the other people. Thank you.

Thank you. Good evening, mayor and counselors. My name is Linda Gallas Merin. Um on behalf of downtown North Plains, we have members in all of 97133. We're here to address serious concerns regarding the city's policies on food insecurity and the food bank, which serves people experiencing a lack of regular sustenance. Informal staff uh uh declarations have been made about changing the location of an already approved public loading zone outside of the public review process. Strong Count supports a resolution to resolve the informal changes proposed by staff to ensure that a safe, accessible loading zone is available to the food bank and the general public. First, a matter of authority. Council has the sole authority under the city charter chapter 7 subsection 70.04B12D 4B12D which is entitled powers of the council. There you will find that your authority includes the establishment, removal and alteration of loading zones. This authority is yours. Full stop. The staff is required to implement and administer the council's resolutions as iterated in 705. Finally, as mentioned earlier, we urge this council to pass a resolution that establishes a public loading zone on 314th Street where it will be safe and

the food bank will not be exposed to significant injury or liability. This is within council authority as established by charter. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, mayor, members of council. Um, essential to uh service of the food bank is a safe and accessible loading zone. So, I attended the 1222 code compliance meeting with the city planner and other staff and the only comments at this meeting about the loading zone is that it should be set back far enough uh in order to ensure clear vision clearance from Northwest Commercial Street. And then on 1228, the loading zone was proposed to be changed by staff at Northwest Commercial Street in front of the building. Reasons given for this post approval action was to accommodate future crosswalk and ADA improvements. To justify that, staff brought out previously unseen concept drawings. However, evaluation of these drawings show the loading zone could be accommodated regardless. Now, here staff cannot pick and choose from its archive materials as the basis to change an approved development application. For example, the TSP uh does acknowledge the importance of ADA access, but 314th Avenue is not among the intersection improvements identified by the transportation system blank. Again, in this case, ADA improvements can be accommodated within the generous 10 to 11 foot sidewalk rightway without interfering with the loading zone. Now, as a previous planner and city administrator, I did a lot of work with loading zone issues. We always followed safety principles based on the guidelines of the association of traffic engineers manual. The fundamentals within the public rideway were that loading zone should be located on side streets or in alleys for safety and efficiency purposes. Now this is consistent with staff's original direction to the food bank prior to its development approval and as above the loading zone should be approved. So, so as uh so as said by the twice approved development uh group

next is Mayor and council members. My name is Jennifer Bger and our office Tamasi Breger Dubet represents the North Plains Food Bank. A resolution can be considered to resolve the public parking and loading zone on 314. This is sanctioned by your code under MPMC 704A and B12. The council explicitly retains the power and authority to decide the location of public roading zones. Taken together, the city council shall exercise all municipal traffic authority for the city. And subsection B states that powers of the council include establishment of loading zones. The staff report issued to the public for this item after 5:00 pm on Good Friday of Easter weekend acknowledges that the land use process for the food bank was finally decided on November 13, 2025 and no appeal followed. Thus, the expressed findings of satisfaction of the loading zone requirement and the location of the loading zone were material facts for support of the design review approval and gave the food bank the assurance it needed to allow the decision to become final. The decision for the loading zone requirement states in its finding that staff has received approval from city public works to establish a temporary loading zone on the eastern side northwest 314th Avenue designating the northernmost three angles parking spaces as 30 minute loading spaces from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. During all other hours, the subject parking spaces will be available as public parking. the above criteria is satisfied. The food bank had no need to appeal the decision because the finding establishes a safe and acceptable public

loading zone. The quasi judicial process is over and the council can adopt a resolution. The resolution would be a legislative decisionmaking. And please do not forget that your election to office means the public relies on you for your policy positions. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, sorry. I'm trying to take care of My name is Emily Waldron. I am a third generation rural 97133 resident with some of the fourth generation of my family as residents of 97133. Um I think Simon also has the honor of being one of the youngest volunteers that Laura has. He helps me with deliveries as well as one of my other children, Mr. Zach. And I just want to encourage you all to put the loading zone back where it originally was on 314. Um, it's a huge concern for me with being able to get in and out of the loading zone with my voice. It's important to me for them to help me with philanthropy and with serving our community and I want to instill that value in my children. So, to be stuck with the dilemma of either I leave them in a locked car on a hot day to go get the bags to put them in the car or I have to try and juggle them and the things to load in the vehicle on a busy road is not the best place to be. Um, so I just encourage you to return that. I also similarly have a thing that I want to bring up of a concern because it says in the agenda that all public comment has to have someone's name attached to it. Yet there's submitted public comment in

your agenda that has a name and a residency redacted. And I'm curious what the rules are to be able to be redacted because I would love to anonymously give public comment sometimes yet I can't. Thank you very much. Thank you. Jennifer

Hi, my name is Jennifer Brew and I'm a rural resident in the Mountain Bell area of North Plains. I volunteer at the food bank also. Um, I wanted to give just a little personal anecdote. I help with the deliveries to shutins and today I had a call that I did to a shut in to take her order. She had $6 left in her bank account to last her for the month of April. So, we wanted to help her out, give her a lot of food, give her a lot of packages. That was six bags of food we were able to give to her. And this will greatly help her, but we had to cross Main Street. And so, my point is that Main Street is incredibly busy. I've heard some concerns be that Main Street not a very busy street that the people go slow but we had to cross that six times six and it each time we had to wait for two or three cars to go by. They were going quickly and I just wanted to personally and anecdotally tell you that it is a very busy street and having the loadings be on 314 would be a great help. Thank you.

Thank you. Hello. I'm a resident of Washington County and after um hearing all the public comment tonight at your city council meeting, I can only assume that none of the people in leadership have ever provided direct services to the community. As someone who provides mutual aid, it's very um uh troublesome to me that the city council would make an organization who is bridging a gap for to provide needs for the community that you're supposed to serve and make them spend money on legal fees when you're the ones that move the goalpost. um at a time when the federal government is gutting safety net programs and they're using SNAP benefits as leverage um to get what they want. So are these the values of North Plains to cause further burden on organizations who have been feeding the most vulnerable? I urge you to rethink your stance. The money that is being spent on legal fees could go very very far to feed your community. So if you cannot recognize that you are disconnected from the community, this is a lot more dangerous than I imagine.

Have clean presentation. That's you. Joe, sorry. Sorry. Did you hear your name called? There is more. Really? Yes. Oh, sorry. Sorry. Just a second. Lori, do we have online? Sorry, I missed that. We didn't have anybody submit online. No, not that I'm aware of. Oh, not before 3 o'clock today. Sorry. Thanks.

All right. Sorry. Clean water services. It's uh we'll get the presentation.

We'll do introductions. Uh good evening, mayor and council. My name is Joe Gaul. I'm the chief utility relations officer for clean water services. And I'm going to introduce my two uh partners here. Most of this presentation will be presented tonight by Kathy Leer, our chief financial officer. But I also wanted to make sure you realized uh Rick Shanley, our interim CEO general manager, is also here to answer any questions you might have about uh our presentation tonight. So with that, you may council meter. Um so I just told somebody board Yeah. Next slide, please.

Um, I am sharing it now so that folks can go along. There we go.

That's it. Yeah.

Okay. So um today first we're going to talk a little bit about the historical rate increases that the district has had with our customer base. Then we're going to defi define regional and local services and we're talk a little bit about our cost of service study allocation process that just got completed which is and um which is the basis of our financial forecast and 10 year rate plan. So think it's very modest to predictable rate increases over the last 10 years. We've averaged under 4% in our rate increasing annually. What you'll see there's that's our both our sanitary sewer and our storm water um over that 10 year period. This last year and we have completed a cost service allocation methodology date. The last time we had one done was back 2008. And it was asked of a board and the cities that we re-evaluate the service levels between our two different utilities, the sewer and storm water and also what the different services we provide, regional, local, making sure that we're um the cost allocations are are equitable to the different services provided. Next slide. So this is the monthly rate that residential customer in North pays. It's the on the sanitary and storm water services. So you see there the first block the 2026 that's a current rate that an average customer in in Northlands would pay at $66.95 per month. And we move over to 2027. That is the proposed rate that we um have that we'll be putting into our budget documents for the year. Um and and it's at $7123 per month for a customer. It's about a $428 increase in monthly rate for a average residential customer. And those outer

years 2028 2031, those are the projected rate increases based on our current plan for operating and capital programs at the district. Next slide. wanted to make sure and um have a clear understanding of the service area, the clean water services um service and the different types of service that are provided. So that whole dark light green area with the black outline that is Washington County and inside of there we have the larger cities that provide um full utility service. So they do they build our regional rate but they have a local program. So they do their own they set their own local rate to cover their local services and that's those blue areas forest Grove Cornelius Hillsboro Beaverton Tiger Dualing and Sherwood then you see the the light brown area that's um unor urban unincorporated Washington County um and then the cities of Gaston Banks nor Plains Durham and King City and those customers clean water service bills them directly and provides all service so They did the regional rate along with global services for those customers. Next slide. And just for clarity of the different types of services. So for regional services, those are provided to all our customers in our service area and they relate to constructing, operating, and maintaining the treatment plants, sewage pump stations, and pressure lines along with the uh sewer lines 24 in and larger. It also um it's part of the compliance reporting that the district does with the oversight for the national pollutant discharge coordination system impedance permit including the municipal separate storm service system implant. On the storm side it's maintain minimum stream flows and also service area restoration enhance stream corridors. So those are the regional services. Next slide. Local services. These are the services

we provide to your customers here in North Plains. um and they relate to u the design bill of maintenance and repair of sewer lines 21 inches of dust um that including cleaning inspecting of the lines and on the storm water side it's the design bill to maint maintain repairing local storm water facilities in the area it's also our street sweeping program maintain the water quality facilities and clean catch basins and water quality mass for local next slide so as I mentioned Um it was it was the ask of the the board and cities to update our cost service study um and update our um since our last update in 2008. And there were three main objectives from this study for the district. One was the review and update how costs are allocated between the the two utilities the sewer storm water and also the regional and local program. So there's equal um the cost coverage for the different utilities and and services. We also based on that those allocation method prepared a 10-year financial plan that um was fund operations, maintenance and debt and capital needs for the program of that 10-year period. Um collect local service fees funding funding the deficit that was there in the local program that we received and ensure that CWS maintain sufficient reserves to fund future capital programs. The final part of that study then was the development of the rates and review of impact on customer bills. Next slide. So, first we're going to talk about the local sewer program. So, the barbed graph, the bars are the op the costs, total costs annually for um operating maintenance, debt, service, and capital. And the dotted line, that's the revenues um collected based on the projected rate increases. So, as you can see, in the first five years or so of our our um our

local rates won't cover the cost of operations. So, we'll be using some reserves in order to operate. Um and it's really small. Hopefully, you can see the face down below. Um we show there the percentages that are there in a forecast right now at um 21% for the first from 2027 through 2032 and then reducing then down as local program sustains its services at more of a 5% or lower based on inflation on the so but keeping in mind that the local rate is a small portion of the rate so the impact is smaller than the percentage you're looking at. So for instance the proposed rate for 2027 the dollar amount just increases $189 a month for for a customer and in the you know similarly in 2028 $2.31. So we've seen that uh over time. So, and when you're looking at the graph, so it's showing you that in the first few years, we're using reserves to operate, but by the 20 31 rates collected are starting then to help build back up reserves in that local program so that it could operate effectively and not, you know, not run in a deficit and um and be able to lower that trajectory rate increases. Next slide. Okay. So, similarly to this sanitary sewer program, this is the storm water program. So, once again, we're mapping out in the bar graphs the cost of operations annually, the on&m um cap capital and debt service over that period and the dotted line is the revenue collections of over that period based on projected rate increases. And similarly, the local rates are not covering the total cost of the program. So we plan in that 10 period to utilize the seven reserves um so that we could minimize the impact rate payers on on the rate increases and if you go a

couple of years out on this 10ear map the lines will intersect where the rates will be covering um operating and then they would be building their reserves. And here we just wanted to show that um even with other proposed rates that were for 2027 that we still stay competitive in with um other utilities similar utilities in the region. Um and what you see here is our proposed rate of clean water services at $7123 combined for both Sandy and Swim could compare it to um Blackamus Vancouver in and Salem, McMinnville, Wilsonville and and Portland along with Lake Oasio. So we we still stay competitive there. One thing I will say about all the other cities, they haven't gone through the rate development period yet. So there's they don't have proposed rates out for 27 yet. So for comparability, we're showing the current rates for those utilities against our proposed rate for7. And so we're still competitive and knowing that there will be some rate increases for some those other utilities. And we're able to do this with a a higher level of treatment for our customers. Right. Next slide. Um and so this is also showing it similar but for the other large cities that we talked about who build our regional rate yet they they provide their own global program. So what we're showing here is similarly our proposed rate for 2027 it's um $7123 compared against um it's our regional rate for 27 going forward but the local program amount that is their current 26 local charge because there's they're also in the budget rate development process. So showing that even through there we still remain competitive with um the the other cities.

Next slide.

So one of the key drivers for um our our costs our is our capital program. We have a significant capital program and in the current and next five years we plan to spend over 754 million on um center sewer related projects. 90% of those being those regional ones that are um pump station treatment plants and 10% on the local program. Next slide. Similarly for the service water management program um we plan to spend in um in the current year and next five years 11.7 million in capital spend. 76% of that is on regional programs and 24% is local flight. So, as we mentioned before, one of the one of the elements of our cost serve study was the development of a 10-year financial forecast that really helps us try to plan out and equalize out the um the the coverage of costs for the different programs and um and cover cost to overall. And what you see here is the 2026. This that's projected how we're going to end 2026. We planned that we would spend about um 20 million in reserves on capital programs. And you can see in there that also until 2031, we plan to still be spending um reserves in order to hopefully fund our programs with then in 2032. Finally, the rates going that we forecast going above the planned expenditure. And then we start to build some of those reserves back that we um had spent. Next slide. And this is showing in a different way on the reserve side. So we have target reserves that we've set in at the district that um and this is showing you

that the the blue line by reserves as of 2026. And then the the black dotted line that's our use of our that's that's our minimum reserve targets over that same time period. And it grows over time because the costs so inflation and capital costs they they grow too. So your minimum reserve does grow over time. But you can see from what this chart is showing you is that in um 27 26 through um 31 we'll be spending reserves in order to eat operations with our plan rate increases and then we start to build some reserves starting in 2032 on. Sorry.

And yeah, next next slide. So, this next slide is really just talking about next steps for the for the board. Um, April 14th, we're going to be taking this cost allocation methodology to the board for adoption and at the same time, we'll be taking our reserve policy and targets to the board for adoption. April 17th, our proposed budget goes out to the budget committee and it will include those proposed rates for 2027 in the development of that budget. Um May 8th is our budget committee meeting at public hearings where the budget is approved after deliberation and public comment. And then on June 9th, the board is going to hold the public hearing once again to consider any revisions of the adopted bud before the budget is adopted for fiscal year 27. and the budget and those rates go into effect July 1st of 2026. Um, one thing I will add to is that during this next year, we'll be we're going to be doing a utility billing feasibility study and as part of that study, we're going to be looking at options that we might have for providing emergency assistance and customer assistance programs recognizing and the impact that rates do have on customer rates. Then open for any questions. Start with council war if you don't mind if you have any questions.

Sorry I do not have any actually I do have a question. So clean water services going to raise their rates uh starting July after all of the things that you discussed. I'm assuming that that rate increase will be targeted on the water bill for the North Plains. Is that correct? So our city will see that increase on our water bill. No, actually uh so this is um sewer and storm storm water. So you get a bill from clean water services and you get a bill for city plans water. Okay, check. Thank you. No worries. Anybody else? It's councelor.

Thank you, mayor, and thank you for that presentation. Uh question. So data centers have been controversial. Um, currently North Plains doesn't have any plans to build data centers. Are are these rate increases that North Plains payers uh are they subsidizing these types of utility activity communities? I think a lot of what we have seen certainly locally and nationally is about drink the use of the amount of drinking water at these facilities. um which we don't provide that. Um there are obviously wastewater issues of what's coming from those facilities because we don't see u levels of high use uh from those and those would be charged to those companies in terms of how much waste they would be sending and what that what was. So, um, it's certainly something, uh, the governor has a task force right now looking at the wastewater issues because I think that's an area that we need to look as an industry even more in terms of data centers, but most of what I've seen and read is about the amount of water provided that is drinking water, not our water. We have plenty of reuse water that we can get to those facilities. You know, the water from our facilities that is clean. We would love to get the reuse water which is better than using drinking water but there's no subsidies or anything that go that are going on that factor in that. So does that answer your question council?

Thank you. Um mine is similar my question councelor here. Um my question is similar to councelor um defores um I heard a lot of emphasis on capital projects. Um, so when my neighbor comes and stops me in the driveway and asks me why the water rates are going up, what can I tell them substantially that, you know, to explain for the increase?

Yes, Kathy showed our capital improvement program, it is it is quite large. I've been at cling order about 12 years and it's more than double of what it used to be in that time. So it really relates to um some changes in regulatory requirements. We're very much driven by what we have to do to meet our permit which is very stringent in some ways. We have a water treatment plant on the end of our wastewater treatment plant that so that also adds to the operating cost for the system. So we're seeing everything get just more and more expensive as we're all aware of. Um I think those are the main the main drivers. Um it's just the long-term stability to meet our permit and our stuff's getting old. You know, the the most of our infrastructure is 50 plus years old. So, um it's a little bit not as much crazy growth right now, but what we're starting to see is more and more need to rehab and rehabilitate our systems because of the age that uh that they're coming in. So we're though the numbers are big, we're doing our best to try to make the the rate changes pretty in incremental and predictable.

All right. All right. So um first of all I thank you. Um and for the counselors that haven't attended definitely go to the theme water services is it called CWS essentials.

Thank you. I knew something. Um they'll walk you through a lot of that stuff. So I guess why um the question I have is uh what areas are you looking to um make you know substantive cuts or uh find uh efficiencies and sort of bad AI joke here um where we can start to you know help without completely increasing all of the turn that up where you're not increasing all of the um rates as as quickly. equators will be able to increase reserves. Are there area I guess one thing is there areas you're able to find more efficiencies as you go forward.

I can hit the highlight. Well, I I'm GM, but prior to my interim role, I was the engineer, so I like to talk about innovation and efficiencies. Um, definitely. But but outside of that, in the current GM role, we have we are not adding any new FTEEs this year. We're really looking at um we've set up some ways to look at the vacant FTEES that we have and making sure that they're really very much in line with compliance needs of clean water services. So those are some I mean that's a big example honestly for us to hold to hold FTE flats. Um

we do have I think if you look at the comparison of our rates to others um by all rights we really should be more expensive because of the level of treatment we have. So, we invest a lot in in technology. Yes. Um and looking at ways to do things for less and

and we have two pilots going on right now that prevent us from needing potentially of building a brand new basin. We find ways to try to maximize the capacity that we have and we have a group of folks that look at look at those types of things. So, if you come to Essentials, we love to show those examples. Um, that's that's what I'm most proud of as being part of clean water services are those ways to try to really save the big bucks in the capital as you see. But we have a responsibility to have very efficient operating expenses as well.

Yeah, I will piggyback on your plug mayor for CWS essentials. I know a lot of the counselors are fairly new in their uh local service to to North Plains and the roles. Um, we'll probably do a CWS essentials. We usually do one at the beginning of 27 because we have fall elections and we'll have a lot of newly electeds. Um, but you don't have to wait. If you want to go on a tour of one of our facilities, um, those are really, really valuable. Uh, to walk the facility, ask questions. Um, I was the former city manager in Sherwood. Um, before joining CWS and until I joined the utility, I really had no idea the complexity of what goes on at the facilities and how expensive our capital investments are. And I think when you're out there actually getting a tour and having a conversation with our staff and able to kind of ask those questions, there's a tremendous opportunity there. Uh things we build at our facilities are very expensive. Lots of concrete. Everything's more expensive. Lots of concrete. Um and just a $20 million investment at Brock Creek, which is our main facility in Hillsboro. One new what was it? The clarifier that was coming through.

Yeah, that was clarifier and that was I believe in the $20 million it was ranged more than that. Yeah, more than that, which again, not from the utility world, but from the city world, I was kind of a little shocked at how expensive our capital investments are. And that goes back to your question, counselor, with talking to someone. Why are why are these rates going up? A lot of it is because of the capital investment here today. Did you have anything to say? Go ahead.

Not really a question, but just I'll add on to that. um if as I've come into this role in the last whatever um if you so I've spent a lot of time in third world countries for various reasons not my choice and um if you look around a lot of this is public health related a lot of things that clean water services does some of our other utility providers do our public health while I don't want to pay more I certainly understand but I will always push back and say you know can we find more efficiencies same thing I sorry the same thing I do manager is what can we find that's more efficient because that's our job but we do understand we do appreciate um the presentation uh last chance any any questions council councelor I'm sorry go

hey there council uh I just want to say thank you again for your presentation I know there's a lot of behind thescenes work that many of us physically don't get to see um but we take for granted I did just have one question just as I was kind of reviewing doing um a preliminary budget. I was curious, it looks like there's um a research innovation lab um scheduled to be completed fall of this year. Looks like maybe a total project cost of $66 million. Um but I'm just curious, you know, in this economy, of course, um you know, especially a city level, we're all making those sacrifices and having to postpone projects. I'm just curious if you can explain a little bit about what is this innovation center and what is the outcome and kind of the thought process going into that for such a a large cost.

Sure.

Yeah. That that project started some years back. We bought a a um that was previously owned by TTM. Um in large part we have a a very large lab. We have to do hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of samples. Um, and our lab that we have is really at the end of its useful life. Like there's literally pictures of duct tape and we've had leaks and the a the ventilation system in a lab has to be very robust. It's dangerous. So we we pieced that lab together for a long time. The entire first floor of that facility is just the lab. It's taking place of a lab that we currently have um at what we call our ABC, our administration building complex. So the project is is the lab. It's driven by that need. Um we do have some of our work that's done out there on the on the innovation side or we don't really like the term research. Our research is all geared towards compliance. So the research that's going on is is relating to regulatory compliance needs. And so we do have spaces in that that would put us in the research category because we're developing methods to test for I don't know if you all heard of PAS but that's been in the news a lot. It's that stuff on your pants and your like there's a lot of big potential regulatory things. So we're we are working in that arena so that we can be prepared to be in compliance. Um but yeah it's a it's a very expensive project. Um but we feel it it serves a very important need for clean water services.

Thank you. Any any final questions? Council Warington. Any final questions? No. Thank you. Okay. Thank you all, Mayor and Council. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right. And we got through that without looking at your program jokes. That's impressive. All right. Uh UTV packing updates and council representation council for any updates. No updates for me. Uh fiscal 2022 audit update. I believe that the bill.

Thank you, mayor. Um thank you, mayor. Um so yeah, we just confirmed just uh confirmed with email communication today um with city staff and Marina that we have all information in for our SEA our schedule of federal um expenditures. Uh basically the for22 the large new water reservoir behind the Kindle public services building um was funded ultimately with what were federal funds and so the FY22 audit has to reflect reporting on that the expenditures on that project and so that's all in uh then we also have a questionnaire standard questionnaire about um controls uh and um and procedures regarding how those monies were spent. expense and how those monies um were monitored and controlled and accounted for. So um that's kind of in the process of going in with marina reviewing and going into the auditor and after that we'll hear and see where we are um on that basis. So the staff and marina mostly have everything in that's been requested and we're just looking for next steps from from the auditor. Okay, next is monthly finance department reports. Bill, is this you?

Um, no, it's actually council report on basically um what all you as council wanted to see different or addition um to how we're already reporting monthly. Yes. Thank you, sir. Um, so we had a conversation last time and I just wanted to make sure that we had consensus about requesting a reported by Marina. Is that something that you guys would be support of? What what were we going before?

Uh we had a discussion last time about various data elements.

Councelor Ready. Uh Council Ready, do we know the cost of adding this report?

That's a great question. Um no. So um that would be something that depending on how it is specifically scoped then we would go to Marina and say what would be involved in producing this report monthly. Um but without kind of a very specific scope of work of what you want from Marina they I haven't gotten the cost. Um we do have a an expanded proposal from them um for review that we will likely bring back to you all the next meeting to go over. we can include this but um but I I'll need to be able to communicate more details about what you want in the report. Oh, sorry. Councelor has something. Oh, sorry. Councelor Weber. So, councelor DeForge, what the thing you gave us that had the different lines and things on you were proposing that Marina would do that for us, right?

Correct. I was sharing that with you guys to get your feedback. But the suggestion was Marina would be the one to do that. Correct. Reduce that. I would uh I would support having them do that. I thought that was a nice addition, but perhaps we had talked about originally we were going to see a budget I thought in January or something. We haven't seen what we're going to pay Marina to do everything they're doing. Right. So, if this could be added to that, I would like to see it happen, but that could also be in the actual numbers. Right.

Right. I I just to be clear to affirm what council Weber said. I have a proposal not long ago. I think just last week we received a proposal from them um outlining all the expanded services. Um doing a monthly report is not in there yet. It can be added. We would just like like I said, we would just need to let them specifically know this is what you all want to see in the report. Um and then they would just add up the time to do it. that council war.

Um, thank you. I agree that with um Mark that we need this added. Um, the cost is a question that everybody is asking. Uh, I would propose that we find out what the cost is um so that we can uh plan accordingly. Is that right? Yes.

Uh, councelor Ugarte. Uh just a a clarifying question for councelor DeForge. Um based on the handout you presented to council last meeting. Um the line items specifically you were looking for on this report include the legal and professional services, professional services, um any accounts with budget variances um greater than $25,000. You are a city transfers and contract signed for this fiscal year. Are all four of the line items aligned with what you're you're looking for in this report from Marina?

Thank you, council lady. Uh yes, that is my suggestion and based on our conversation last time, it felt like we were alone. So I think if you guys are okay with this, what I would ask the city manager to do is to have a conversation with Marina and come back to us with proposing. I'm aligned with that decision pending um that final cost basis for I'm aligned

I will say that I am aligned on the I'm aligned with getting the costs I'm not aligned with doing it till I see the cost because I don't want to spend money until I know what it is but I would like to see the numbers and a proposal from Marina and then if council thinks that it is a good value for money then I would see a Uh, that makes sense. Council. Yes. All right. Oh, go ahead.

Uh, question here. Uh, councelor Hagenor. Question for city manager. We discussed this at the last meeting and I believe we wrote down requirements of said report. Do you do we still do you have sufficient direction to proceed? I I mean I think I thank you councelor. I think I do. I mean you basic I basically have the sample report materials that council the forge gave to you all and it sounds like that's exactly what you want. I'm also um the reason why I'm asking personal interest because I requested as a part of that report um another line item which was a list of spend based off of legal spend based off topic.

Okay. Thank you. Okay. So I think we're we have consent is that we would like to see a cost and a proposal when Marina comes back to us with the big proposal. That works for you, Bill. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you all.

All right. And we're going to move to new business. But before we do that, we're going to take a call about a threem minute recess at the top of the hour. Um and we'll be back at 8:00. We are back in session at 8:02. Sorry, this a little longer. Um, okay. So, next item is landing staff for North Plains Bay. Uh, so I'm going to bring staff up and build staff my version. Okay, audio on. Thank you very much, council. Um so there's been a lot of communication between um staff and city attorneys to you all via emails. Um and then over the course of last week, city council um gathered or sent to staff and the mayor um a number of questions um regarding the process um and stages of of staff decisions or coordination on issues regarding the um North Plains Food Bank. Um and it's great from a land use perspective as well as the the public right of way loading zone issue um adjacent to to the north plains food bay in the packet is a very summary they fully treats um kind of the timeline and issues that have come up and how they've been handled but there is the staff report in um the agenda packet that you all got and hopefully had a good chance to go over. Um earlier today we sent

along to you an itemized list of all of the different questions and answers very specifically in the details and those were printed out um printout copies were given to you a little while ago. So um I guess at this point what we just wanted to do was after reviewing all the material you've been given um we have staff available this has been um an inter departmental effort uh between planning and Rowan is here representing planning um our public works public works uh Dustin is here representing that um Chief Jones who is actually um in absentia chief until September, but he is here because he was part of those processes earlier on. So, he's here as well representing public safety. Also out there, um I'll mention is Brian Peny who is a city engineer with and consulting engineer with 3J. Um and so he can be here as well for any questions. Um, so the bottom line here is, um, we just kind of wanted to, you know, follow up with anything about the timeline and the series of decisions that were made. Staff can kind of answer any more detailed follow-up questions. Our plan wasn't to walk through the staff report because it's just kind of rewriting information we've given you before. Um, but we wanted to drill down on anything and follow up if you care to. The city attorney is also here and has been involved all along the way regarding how we've had to look at this, how we've had to handle different aspects of this at different stages. So questions are certainly welcome um by the city attorney as well. So with that, Rowan, any other comment you have at this point?

Uh no additional comments. Thank you both for the the summary. We're open for questions. Okay. So, uh, we're going to limit the amount of questions because you all asked presubmit questions. So, if you have one or two follow-up questions, that's fine. But we're not going to turn this into an inquisition. Um, so we'll I'll just call on each counselor, ask a couple questions, couple follow-ups, and if you like make a very brief statement. We'll start with councelor Warrington online.

Great. Thank you. Uh, I did read thoroughly the deck that is presented on the agenda. Um, it's very detailed. uh it has a lot of information on it. Um I um I don't really have any questions on it as of this minute. Um it is very detailed and I appreciate the um transparency and putting it on the agenda so we could all look at it prior to Thank you. Thank you for

Thank you, sir. So I would support moving the loading zone to 34th Street. Um the reason I came about that was uh concerned about tripping hazards on commercial. I did a site visit and I was able to verify that the trucks can park on 314th in a way that doesn't obstruct pedestrian traffic. And I kind of want to make a comment about our complaint environment. I I feel like there's a policy here that we should think about because if we don't have a code enforcement officer here in North Queens, then our code is going to be driven by people who pick up the phone and complain. And I would like to create a businessfriendly environment where businesses are treated the same. And if we only respond to complaints, then we could have two different businesses treated differently. So, I would like to recommend to the council that we hold off on citations until this is resolved. And I think we should move forward with a motion or a resolution establishing the loading zone on 340.

Thank you, councelor. Uh, councelor closer.

Thank you, councelor. Um, you know, I I just want to bring it back um for discussion. I clearly hear both sides of this scenario and would love to figure out middle ground. Um I think in a previous council meeting I had asked if there were possibilities for traffic calming um you know followers or something in place on Commercial Street. I just wanted to revisit that and see is that something that is still a potential that could be a a buffer for pedestrian safety if if the loaded zone remains on commercial streets.

Thank you, councelor. This is public works director Luganati. Um I don't want to get into the weeds of the future CIP projects that we have or the different pavement management projects. uh sometimes they're not on the CIP list itself. But as far as commercial street, we are working on a plan and we have been working on a plan since 2024, well before the food bank had uh located in this position, and it was going to address certain EDA uh ramp issues, especially in that corridor. And there's a new bus stop that was fixed over there. Um, and there are also a lot of traffic calming measures, especially listed in our transportation system plan, um, that we're going to try to address with this particular project. And so, a lot of these issues that are being brought up are actually going to be fixed with a future, uh, project. We're actually trying to get this uh, submitted, excuse me, for the small city a lotment grant that's due at the end of the month. And so, we already have a plan that's kind of in the works. It's not 100% but it's very close to finish. And there are a number of traffic calming measures and pedestrian and bike lane safety um uh things that are implemented with that. And I think that would address a lot of the safety concerns um that have been brought up previously.

Okay. And then my other question, two more questions, I apologize. Um my other question was if the living zone is on 314, how will that impact the ADA improvements? Is there any risk or liability for the city if we did not proceed forward with those those planned improvements from 2024? This may be a question that I may have to tag team with our chief police because right now as it stands the uh from witnessing of multiple staff members that the track the truck and the trailer um has been parking across multiple lanes of uh parking devices and jutting out into the uh the intersection and um has been uh inhibiting traffic from passing. Um I was not able myself to pass the truck uh on one uh one location uh back in December um which kind of brought up this incident is hey we we thought this was going to be a more of a loading zone people parking in with unloading everything. But when we saw the actual events of the trucks and how everything was loading, that kind of changed the direction of how this was going, which also fits in with the safety improvements that were already in the works um for this particular intersection and along Commercial Street. I hope that did that answer your question, counselor.

Uh yes and no. I think just really um you know in a short short term what what risk or liability does it provide the city if we do not move forward with those ADA improvements on 314 if we if we keep a loading zone on 314 which I know would impact the ADA improvements that were planned since 2024. Is there any sort of risk or liability for the city? I I think I might be fit to address some of the concerns that you're having. Um first I want to provide clarity that there is no loading zone currently established. And so um staff will go forward um either as planned or with direction of the council. Um, if a loading zone is set to be established, we will go forward with the measures of signage and striping to establish a loading zone. As the parking is currently arranged, we can accommodate the ADA improvements as planned. If we were to install a loading zone on Northwest 314th Avenue, it would need to be installed such that it wouldn't impact those upcoming ADA improvements. Dustin has more of an idea of exactly how far in the dimensions to avoid conflicts. Um I believe that dimensionally it is not impossible. functionally creating a loading zone where a large truck or a truck and trailer can properly pull in entirely outside of the area of travel without blocking the intersection or encroaching on the ADA improvement area um and without significantly impacting existing on street parking. That is the challenge

presented to us. Particularly of note is keeping that area of travel clear and making sure that people can safely navigate on foot, on bike, or in a vehicle around that parked box, truck or truck and trailer.

Okay. Thank you. And I think the the bigger picture I I um am just trying to wrap my head around is is what is the financial or or risk to the city if um you know we choose option A and it turns into a scenario where a pedestrian is is injured and there's a financial or um legal risk to the city that we have made a decision and it was not something within typical best practices code and then now the city is held liable because we have recreated um a procedure I guess is what I'm trying to say. I'll defer to the city attorney.

Thank you. This thing's gone. Uh Joe Galivan, city attorney. Uh I'm not going to go too into detail about liability of if council decides to um install a permanent uh loading zone against staff recommendations. But generally speaking, it it is uh there are reasons there were very specific reasons that have been communicated to you at Nomi as to why they decided that Commercial Avenue was the better fit. And if you decide to disregard them, that's absolutely your power. just know that it's in the record and that will be hard to detect.

Council ready given that the loading zone is intended to function as a shared public improvement for multiple properties within the commercial core. Were other nearby businesses or organizations consulted as part of the evaluation process? If so, what feedback was received and how was it incorporated into the final recommendation? staff did not conduct additional business outreach. Um, we made the decision based on or locating the loading zone based on professional analysis of the existing parking conditions in downtown North Plains.

Uh, is there any objective data to support the relocation decision like traffic studies or incident reports? We made the decision based off of staff observations of safety concerns, uh, evaluation of the transportation system plan for conformance with the cross-sections, and review of the downtown improvement plan goals and objectives. It just kind of comes back to what you said. You know, if we choose staff recommendation or if we choose what the community is asking for us, someone gets hit in either spot, what is the city's risk? the the city's risk if they choose to um essentially overturn the stat recommendation which is to install this on commercial. The risk is that someone will get hurt and the city will be responsible because they did not follow the guidance of their city engineer, their chief of police, their assistant planner, one of the most knowledgeable planners I've ever worked with, and their public looks director. So you're getting expertise from your staff and you decide to go against that expertise, it's absolutely your power, but know the risk.

And then what if someone gets hit on commercial? If we, you know, approve of their plan if someone gets hit on commercial, you mean a food bank volunteer

or anyone? building just if if let's say Fil's Nuts is using that as their loading zone that day and someone gets hurt on their on their loading zone time and that falls to the city and some generally if someone gets hit in a pedestrian crosswalk or if they're uh I don't know if they're standing in the middle of the rideway there they're there are liabilities that exist outside of the city's responsibility in the rightway but the city's responsibility is to manage the rightway in the most safe way it knows how So, and can I ask one more question? Should be very brief.

Um, there is that ledge that we I'm assuming that's where the parallel parking is going to go is right next to that ledge. Are there any plans to mitigate that whatever drop that is right there? Reading the short answer is yes, there are plans for that. And I can bring up our city engineer if you would like further questions on that. as long as there's plans to mitigate it. That's absolutely my question. Thank you, councelor. Council,

I'm a practical visual person. So, did the staff prior to approving commercial meet with the uh food bank and the truck in place to kind of evaluate their concerns.

Staff did not consult the North Vines food bank uh in the finalized location. And we made that decision based off of uh our internal documents, the observed conditions um and the knowledge that we had of um existing loading zone and the proposed loading zone uh which we found to be adequate for the vehicles that are typically using loading zones which are going to be small to midsize uh box trucks, pickup trucks, minivans, uh and truck and trailer operations. Why would it not have been appropriate to simply have them show up with the truck and show you their concerns uh that they had already tried doing it and had concerns? Why would that not have been a really important step to meet with them and let them show you those?

Uh at the time, this is an administrative decision about rightway management uh not a community outreach project. Um, so we made the decision to locate the loading zone based off of staff expertise and review of our adopted documents. I mean, I would just say for my statement as uh, councelor Weber uh, after I've spent a lot of time visually looking at both sites, I think 314 is the preferred site. I am concerned about the liability issues. I think I would say as the attorney said, I think there's liability both ways. I think if we put it on commercial, somebody falls onto the sidewalk off the curb, I think that'll be the city's liability. So, I'm concerned. And in my estimation, there potentially is more liability, parking on commercial. I realize uh 314 things are never totally perfect, but most of the problems I'm aware of on 314s related to the truck not being able to be close enough in because the cars were there. So once the cars are gone, the loading is established, most of the problems then would be gone because they're closer in. Thank you.

Uh heorn here. Question for Dustin. Um I'm curious about the timeline for the the curb um lowering initiative that you spoke about. What does it take to reduce the height of that curb?

Thank you, Council Garn. Um, I could get the city engineer to answer the specifics of this, but part of this the phasing of this was initially going to be restriping and that was going to allow a little a little bit of buffer. Um, and as part of the the bigger project that would have uh taken place as early as this summer, uh there would have been more permanent measures, but in the meantime, we could have uh done some type of temporary measure um to lessen the uh the impacts of there. But a lot of it was going to be spacing and striping and allowing a buffer zone for the parking as opposed to the diagonal in and out. Um it's going to be parallel and we're going to also have room for a bike lane as well which is going to be part of a future project.

Okay. So summertime for the final project. Yes. But there are some temporary measures we can take in the mean in the meantime. Great. Temporary measures that you can take that we can that's good to know. Have has that been discussed? uh it has not at this time like the actual specifics other than uh the restriping was the first line of defense.

Okay. And then a second question that I have and then I'll call good. Um, I also, um, visited the site and I noticed there was a giant green yard in the back of the building and understanding that, um, the food bank is a tenant. Um, but can staff speak to whether on-site loading or parking solutions have been explored or if that would be a feasible solution and what constraints would they have if they wanted to pursue that path? Uh, I will state that the North Plains Food Bank in their application for design review did not include any uh provisions for on-site parking or loading uh as part of their design review approval request. And they did not mention on-site parking or loading as part of any of our pre-application or um pre-application meetings or meetings throughout their approval process. All right. Question for city attorney. So any decision is it quality judicial or is it legislative? It's changing an argument decision.

The only decision that you'd be making if you decided to move forward with uh recommending that the loading zone be moved would just be a direct to staff. Be a motion in a second. about if you want to just leave it as is which do nothing. So not quite. Okay. Just making sure. Okay. So this is nothing to do with the city or the food bank. This is where does the city put a loading zone? Commercial street is a commercial district. C1, correct? Yes.

C1. Thank you. Just have to make sure. Um so the city does need to put its loading zone where it will have the most benefit. Understanding this may not be the ideal location for everyone. Our job as city council is not to pick and choose. Our job is to put the loading zone where it makes the most sense. We've heard testimony from staff who are the experts um on where the loading zone makes the most sense on some remediation things to address the concerns that were brought up. That being said, council may make that decision to make a change. power. I would recommend strongly against it because you're going to put your the city at a great deal of liability. Actually, the liability is very high if somebody gets injured uh because they miss that stop sign. And also, we need to keep in mind, and actually, I didn't check this, but I'm pretty sure you can squeeze a fire truck through there, but it's going to be tight. We already have several things we need to look at in the city that I need to actually send to Rowan ask questions later on places we cannot get fire trucks or we can get them in, but it's pretty pretty difficult and so we need to look at be looking at this with planning commission as we think about our new code. So further restricting a very narrow street doesn't make a ton of sense. Working, you know, with the city staff to say, "Hey, you know, we have a remediation plan. Great. We can get it done by summer. Great. That doesn't seem like a huge issue." So my suggestion is that we trust city staff. If you disagree with city staff, that's fine. But last time I checked, none of us went to law school. None of us are engineers or at least not licensed engineers. So, it's my suggestion that we let the staff do what they're going to do and if it becomes an issue, we will consult with staff and city attorney and follow guidance from people who actually have gone to school for this, not based on opinion. Um, I will also say, you know, I fully support having a food bank. I think it's a great thing, but we also have to look at the needs of the entire

city, not just specific businesses or nonprofit within the city. So, we can still protect the food. We can do both things without moving the uh loading zone or changing loading by putting it where where staff has suggested. So that's my suggestion and with that I will turn with council any uh resolutions or to do nothing. the councelor Warrington here. Uh you had asked if we had any questions about this. Um and I didn't have any questions, but what we're all discussing is what we want at this point. So is this the time of the meeting that we discuss what we want for future or are we just asking questions? Sorry, just trying to clarify what's what we're doing here.

Go ahead. Go ahead. Uh did you want to state your your case or your opinion?

Okay. Uh myself, I would like to um I would like to do a motion for an agenda item for the next uh city council for a resolution on this. Uh the food food bank loading zone issue has been discussed, written about, commented on at great length tonight and for several weeks. We have all heard the city manager position as well as some of our North Plains residents, uh, the food bank proprietors, attorney, businesses, etc. Um, with all the information provided, I believe the next step is a motion to add to the agenda item to the 420 council meeting to include a resolution that distinguishes the northeast three angle parking spaces as a 30 minute loading zone uh Monday through Friday 7 to 12 as outlined in the city code 70.04. Um, I have a resolution uh written in in my hand uh that can be reviewed by the attorney if needed. So, um, mayor, I'm wondering if I can get a a second on that request.

It's not it's not a resolution and councelor. It's a um it's an instruction to staff. So, we would need consensus from council to make an instruction to staff. So, but what I'm hearing is you are proposing that we um your your motion is to to move the um or yeah to move the loading zone to 314. 314th. Yes. Okay. That would be my motion. Do I have a second? Council second. Okay. Councelor Warrington moves to uh move closings to 314. Councelor seconds. All in favor? Actually, I'm gonna do a roll call because it's gonna cost us money. So, councelor Warrington

I councelor Forge hi. Councelor Gard nay. Councelor Re nay. Council Weber. Councelor Higor nay.

And mayor votes nay. Believe motion fails. Motion fails. uh staff will uh is directed to move forward with the loading zone. Uh thank you for the comment and thank you all for your passionate input and we will move on to uh city manager report city council building. So, let's um I actually owe Lori, I owe you I'll owe you an email I'll give to you tomorrow on that board. Oh, yeah. I'm so sorry. That's okay. I'll get that to you tomorrow.

That's all right. No problem. Um so, PBC had Yeah, that was last. All right. Planning Commission Councelor Garcia. Yeah.

Yeah. We're having a council meeting, so if you're going to talk, please go outside. Sorry, what you're saying? Excuse me. We're having a council meeting. Please exit the building if you're going to talk. Last time I'm going to say it. Please sit here. Please remove him.

All right. Sorry. in uh councelor, councelor David, I will be presenting as my alternate for uh policy advisory board on Thursday and I will be emailing um the chair as well to let them know. Okay, thank you. That's what I was going to ask. Let them know. Perfect. I have WCCCC uh so I think that's next Monday. Um, and oh, actually I do need somebody to cover parks and wreck on the 13th because I will be out of town and you have to work late that then that's next Monday too. So that's your WCC.

Um, wait. Parks is a week from tonight. I thought that was Tuesday. No, it's always second Monday. All right. Yeah. So I don't need coverage for both. Sorry. I can pick up. I'll pick up WCCC. Excuse me. One. We're having a council meeting, sir. I don't care. Excuse me, sir. We're having a council meeting. You are. Thank you. That's all I can say. You are wrong. You're not working for the people. Okay. So, is someone available to take parts on this Monday? I'm

the 13th 13 and put my name on it. Yes, absolutely. Okay. Thank you. Sorry, I cover you another one. Okay. Uh, council has long 15 and then city council, please. Um, okay. And then I think that's it. So, and if anybody makes swaps, please let Lori know so she can help. And please just send it straight to Lori so we don't have any public meeting violations like this. Thank you. All right. And with that, Bill, anything? Oh, Lori, sorry. They need to give their updates. They're coming up. Yeah. Yeah. No, I Okay.

I just want to check the bill. Anything else on city manager reports? Yes. Sorry.

No, I that's why I mayor. Um, okay. So, first off, um, we have either April 22nd or 23rd, Wednesday or Thursday, um, set aside as good days for a mid bienium budget committee meeting. And so, um, I need to hear from you the preferred date of those two. So, that would be Wednesday the 22nd of April or Thursday the 23rd. And that meeting we we do we do budget on a bannual basis. So that meeting is a getting is getting the the budget committee to return together. Talk about where we are um in terms of spending money and things project uh progress on different initiatives and where we are uh spending versus budget and then kind of looking at what needs to happen over the second half of the bianium um given where we are and then any other kind of financial policies issues to talk about too. So, councelor Hagedorn, you have a question. Of course,

uh, what time would these start? 6 o'clock is when we tend to start them. Okay. Well, there if traffic in Vancouver is not friendly to me, but I'd be able to phone it. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. We can't limit to in person, you guys. So, would you need to would you need to like phone in the whole time or would you be headed this way? Headed this way. So, possibly no, but that's good to know. I'm just saying um so that's good. Okay. I What's fair to say is that the first part of it is just talking about

kind of a detailed update on city convinces. So, and all this information will be sent out ahead of time. So if you're going to miss any part of it, you would want to miss the earlier part of it. So you're or if you weren't participating directly, it would be the first part. Okay. Thank you. So So those two dates um seem to be the best to do that. Um so do we want to pick a date? Is that what we're saying? Please do. Yeah. Does anybody have an objection to either date? I'm good for both. So I'm So the 22nd is a Wednesday, correct? And that is is that library? Uh, no. No. The fourth.

That's right. We started on the first. So, okay. Could we just email them out? My vote would be the 22nd. Oh, no. No, not the 22nd. Not the Thursday. 23rd is preferred. But yeah, so everybody email Bill or Could you email us confirm the dates and then you'll get back? Yes. Make sure you told them to play. You only you'll be success. The following week is the library birthday. Otherwise, we would have picked those dates. So, keep that on the calendar, too. Exactly. Yes. The 29th library.

Um, let's see. Let's see. To move things forward, we got the budget committee covered. Noodles and doodles are on Thursday. Volunteer. It's noodles and doodles, but we do recognize volunteers, so it'll be great to see people there. Um, and then just kind of a quick report on the the Northwest Managers Conference in Sitka. Um, What came out of that one actually was um what I heard from cities were kind of the same issue I've had and I've communicated to you. It's been tough getting visioning strategic plan consultants. Um we are not alone in that. Um there's just a ton of different agency and planning and strategic planning needs and not very many people who do it. So, what I visited with the mayor about and what I want to kind of put for you all to think about is I think we kind of have to get on people's waiting list for anybody that does a good job. And anybody that does a good job, not only like the previous person we had that helped you all with budget priorities and pillars, it kind of turned into resol, you know, these walls of text resolutions and it did inform the budget process certainly. But what we didn't get out of it because we aren't working with um kind of consultants who do it a lot is kind of collateral that comes out of it that then goes on the website. It's the basis for all of our actions. We evaluate everything that we're doing based on all of that. And it's all graphically oriented stuff. That's what if if you as a council are agreeable to waiting and getting on a waiting list for a or on a consultant or two that do it that way, I'd be happy to do that. But I really think that that if you agree to that that would it would go along long it would go a long ways at better communicating to the public what

we're doing and why and it would just give us a leg up on that as well. So just putting that out of everybody. What does everybody think on waiting a little bit to make sure we get somebody to go off site? Make sure they're worth it. That's important. People waiting. Okay. Yeah, I think we're good. Thank you. Okay. Oh, sorry. Counc. Yeah, I'm I agree. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, the visuals will be helpful to me at least because well we we can just implement them on the city website. people can go and see what are we working on and that's so that's the idea not just it's buried in some resolution somewhere or a poweroint's behind exactly thank you

um with yeah you have a lot of poweroint um so with that I'll I'll I'm done thank you no questions any question for the city manager okay uh we'll go I'm going to give councelor warrington a uh your thoughts we'll start with councelor forward on council reports. Thank you sir. Um my metro region was cancelled last month. I like said I attended a decon team. They had a tourism focus from Washington and uh I had discussed being able to talk about the FY22 audit. I'm going to defer that for another so that it

councelor uh councelor Ugarte thank you councel uh I don't have any council reports yet however um I did just recently uh complete or graduate the Washington County Sheriff's Office Communitymies I got to see um so just some behind the scenes things I attended as a resident um but I highly highly encourage any resident to apply I um usually it's in a newsletter with Washington County. Um and you get a lot of behind the scenes once in a lifetime opportunities. Also get tased if you are so worried. Again, once in a lifetime hopefully, right? Me.

Um but that I would just encourage any of my peers and community residents to apply for the community academy. With that, I would ask you're not writing marketing material for us. All right. Council ready or do you need to pause for him? No. Are you good? You said my name mayor. I'm sorry. Oh, sorry. Okay.

Okay. Um, so on the 18th, I attended the library board meeting um and which really highlighted Robin's uh latest trip to DC. lots of pictures. Um, and she really did a good job of connecting how her advocacy efforts are really helping to um, she was mapping them to kind of the library funding and national library initiatives, which was great to see her work in action. Um, now what was especially interesting was the photos of Widen and Mercy's office which focused on the carpet. Um, carpet. Yeah. So I tell everybody what the carpet is.

It was Portland airport carpet. So Merkeley's all of his carpet was the Portland airport carpet and then um only white and only had this a little square. So I don't know what that meant. I was a little I I wanted to know how he sourced it, but um it was kind of interesting to see. So it was interesting to see how the other side of the world

made it all the way to Washington DC. Our little Portland carpet. Exactly. Um, also a friend reminder of the the Friends of the North Plains Library recently opened, so go buy some books and the the North's Library birthday party coming up. So, that's very important. Um, one more update. Um, Wacka, I feel like I've been talking about them a lot lately. I don't know why, but there was a meeting on um the 30th um which um I or I don't it may have not been the 30th. No, I think I may have this one for you. The last couple weeks have been a blur for me, but um but I wanted to flag an issue that came up at this meeting in particular related to how cities request information from 911 and dispatch centers. Um so uh the issue in particular came up about after a situation with another city um where an elected official directly contacted dispatch to request data and um dispatch fulfilled the request but it raised broader governance and liability concerns understandably and um after extended conversations um Wacka is now considering a policy that would limit um responding to these types of requests unless a city has a formal internal policy. and designated when contact. And the idea is to ensure requests are handled consistent consistently and appropriately, especially given the volume of um what they um the work they have of their requests and the sensitivity around some of the information involved. Right. Understandably.

Can I can I ask a question? So they don't have any kind of public records policy like we all do. who you fill up. They do. They do, but because it was an elected official, they just the nature and the nature the sensitive nature of the information being requested to. Okay.

They weren't sure if they should have a policy on that. I And so that was kind of interesting. It was a head scratcher. So if that policy moves forward, cities would need to clearly define who is authorized to make requests such as a city manager, mayor, police leadership, and establish a simple consistent process. So this is um so I'm not asking for us to decide anything tonight but I do think it's something we need to get ahead of um of course and rather than um rather than handle informally. So my ask is for the council if we're comfortable with staff um monitoring this as the situation develops looking at what others are doing and bringing back options for a simple lowcost policy that would help us with these requests. Yeah, that is it.

Thoughts? Council Warrington. I think I need to process that for a minute. That's sick. My brain's kind of fixable. Well, I think it's council wring. I I need to read it. I'm a reader. Yeah. I thought that's a weird one. I thought do some Well, I'm just going to ask. So just want to make just to make clear an elected official called Wacker for to get confidential data data sensitive data. Yes. Sensitive data.

Okay. And okay. So okay. So then I guess what I would just say is it would not

I am positive other cities have responded already or in the process. So if this council was interested in us looking to see example policy elsewhere, the bottom line is that staff, if council has concerns about something from a public safety perspective, council should be should be directing staff to get that information and then brief council on whatever the applicable policy is that that data would be needed for rather than an elected official doing it. Um, I'm happy to go out and see what other cities are adopting.

I think my input is there should be one line that you go file public records request with our city if you really want it and then Lori will figure it out with chief. But that's just my opinion, but I'm good with Bill going and looking into I'm just a little mind that this happened, but research. I I I would say staff should probably look into this a little bit, decide like come back with a recommendation would be my suggestion. I don't know what you guys think. We need more information. I I don't think we can say it but maybe more info. I think I my request is um the the situation the nature of the situation be discussed

with the director of blackout. He'd be more than happy to talk to you and give you some updates on the situation. Um but in particular um thinking about the um political climate and current events um and some of the um we also have elections. think about. So, so that's also another layer and lens here. Um, so we we need to be cognizant of that. Um, the request will proliferate and and also there's also legal implications that have real quick. Councelor Warington, uh, I think you were going to say something.

Uh, I'm in agreement. We just would like probably more information back review and come back. Yeah, Bill. I think now that I understand the problem, I think we probably need more information. But yeah, seems like something we want to prevent. I I think what I think Well, I'm stunned that prevented. Well, me too, but now I'm nervous. So, we should probably at least have information on this. I'd be more than happy to do that. Absolutely. And just go back on the 20th and kind of work on that. Thank you.

Well, all right. Well, let's just keep going. Uh, Councelor Weber. Councelor Weber was excited to attend for the first time the Metropolitan Area Communications Committee. My first meeting was done in executive session, so I have no communication. Wow, you got to go to the big boy meeting right off the top. That's anything else. Council reading Bill, I'm going to have you on the audiovisisual update. Oh

yeah. So, no, great question. So, um our tour of Stton's facility um to take a look at very specific example of the improvements that we would be doing that was delayed because their staff couldn't make it. But Stton um actually has a historic community hall that also serves as a lot like this, a little bit bigger, and also serves public meetings. So last year they just had a variety of extremely similar AV improvements kind of retrofitting the old building for all of their public meetings. Um so they first invited us the contractor and the city of state to come and take a look and just kind of see the functionality because they also went their their hall but so it's kind of almost identical to what we're thinking. Um, and then after we take a look at that and decide that works for us, these things don't, then we can kind of narrow down how much money is.

You can go on their website and look at one of their council meetings and see their setups very clearly. They have more than one camera. They have um gooseeneck um microphones. They do they have TV recording? Um, I think that it's capable of that, but I I think they have a different system, so I'm not sure. Yeah, but they have more than one camera recording their meetings. Um, I'm not exactly sure how who runs them and who does that stuff, but um I can't wait to get down there.

They they also have mobile dases that are function that that are equipped with the the microphones, so everything will look more official as well. So that's statements. Yeah. Five. Yeah. Um, I would like to request a future agenda item to review and clarify the city's public comment procedures, specifically regarding whether anonymous submissions are accepted and how they are incorporated in the public record. My goal is to ensure our process is clear, consistently applied, and supports fair and transparent decision making.

Thank you for a second. So you want an agenda item to discuss anonymous public comments allowed, right? Basically review and clarify the city's public comment proceeds. Oh, we do. There's no requirement if you submit online. So

yeah, if you I I have it from um Emily Mazar, the other city attorney. Um basically um while the city requests that com commenters provide their full names and residents status that information is not required in order to provide a public comment either orally or in writing. Um the the one specific one that was being asked about today um it didn't even have anybody's name. It just had an email address and that is what I redacted. Um because in my world it's just like a physical address for anybody that gets separate. We don't ask for physical addresses to be verbally spoken out loud anymore because it's personal business. Same with this email address. I emailed the person back and asked for their name for the record and never got a response. They didn't sign anything. It's strictly an email address. Um,

so before we respond, it's Jody. Is there any first amendment issues with this um item if we go to discuss it that we need to be worried about? Uh, I I think you can certainly add it to the agenda. I see nothing wrong with talking about it. Um, I don't know. I'm guessing Ellen was reading your rules. Is that what she was interpreting? Okay. So, your rules are your rules. You can write them as you wish. I want to make sure we're not violating something superseded their rules. Are you thinking the right to privacy law? Yeah, but I don't even know if that applies. That's why I was kind of kidding. No. Okay, that's I just want to make sure before we So, what does council would What would council like to do?

Would you like to have this the agenda? Sure. Yes. Yes. with a with a caveat that we have a list of future agenda items. Maybe we can like all sit down and rank which ones we think are the most important.

The the list is growing long and we have a lot of priorities this year. So, um I just want to make sure that you have a long list agenda items. Um, mayor, I would say the the list, we have a rolling list of work sessions. Yeah. But specific agenda items. Yeah. Um, because this one should be quick. I mean, it's just a do we want to do this or not? And a few points. Yeah. Exact. And I I mean, I think at the end of the day, what would I think it's good to talk about if you want to add it because I think somewhere just in one page, it would it would be great to say if you want to testify in public or in person, here's what you need to do. If it's online, here's what you need to do. If you're if it's purely written,

here's what we need to do. Yes. And and and then that would be one kind of clear treatment of of all of it in one place. And that could be a byproduct of your discussion. Yeah. Let's make that Well, if everybody had like that Yes. And what Bill said if it's okay with everyone? Yes. And and prioritized. We only have one. No, we have a rolling list. That's a session. Work session. Oh, well, can you bring the work sessions next time and we'll prioritize again? We have the first three out, but yes. Yes. Thank you, councelor. Um, I'm not Oh, hold on. Thank you, Council Warren. Council Warren, you good with adding that agenda item?

I am good with the agenda item you guys are talking about. Um, I do not have any other agenda items that I need to discuss. No, that would I I was just making sure you're on board. Um, we're back with the agenda item. Yes, agreed. I'm on board with that. Thank you, Council Reading.

Council Reading, I have one last agenda. Future I'd like to request a future agenda item for council to review the city's social media policy as it relates to promotion of nonprofit and community events. Based on recent discussions, it appears the policy does not clearly define how the how those decisions are made and current practice relies on general guidance rather than a defined standard. I think it would be helpful for council to establish clear direction so that promotional decisions are applied consistently and transparent. transparently across organization. Okay. Again, I don't think this one will take long. I just I have a bud, but I'll let council talk for a minute.

Does it have to be next meeting or can we have it in the future? Have to be next meeting up to council. Really? That's how we set the agenda. Are you thinking maybe push it out one more meeting? Council

uh sorry this is council warrington I'm thinking we have it on a meeting time that there isn't a UGB meeting or a uh work session so we don't have a 4hour meeting there will be lots of work sessions but we'll try okay you had something hashtag priorities I don't get two two now

yeah all right so it sounds like everybody's on Um my suggestion and counc um this would be something that would be great to visit when we get our new communications parks person because that's who I would prefer to have helping us with this but if it feels urgent we could do something but I just I would hate to do it twice. That's my only thought. But I I agree it's something we should look at. I would just it would be nice if we had a staff person that that was some percentage of their job. Oh, sorry. Excuse councelor Hagen here again. Do we have a backlog of topics by any chance two? But but that's in addition to you existing. Oh,

we have a work session. This is just agenda items. These are agenda. We have work. These are not you should take under 10 minutes figure out. Yes. Do it. Yeah. I was just say the backlog is is work sessions kind of big but I guess more than two

do we have is there a limit of these topics during like a time duration like how do you quantify something that is a work session versus an agenda item voted on it's an agenda item that needs further discussion it's a work session work session we vote we do Do we feel like we know what we're going to talk about and vote on with both topics? I'll come up with it.

Council read agreed to come up with it and keep it under to be clear. Just so you know, we do have a formal social media policy. It was written a few years written and adopted a few years ago. Um I don't think it was by resolution. I think I think council at the time by consensus said it as part of the communications plan. in the map. Um, and it's been a few years, so taking a look at it and thinking about a refresh on things is what's your job? It's logical. Can you send that social media uh policy to us all? Yes, absolutely. All right. Any more gentle horn? Apparently, I'm just trying to figure out what else I can then add on.

No, I just wanted to plug the North Plank Death Association Noodles and Doodles um coming this Thursday. Cool. Council Warington, any uh council reports?

I do not have any council reports. My first council report meeting is on 7:13, so I have a little bit of time. Uh just a shout out that if anybody does need a backup or support for one of the meetings you can't attend to, please reach out to me. Um I'm listening and earlier you were discussing that, but uh calling in on Zoom, it's super hard to understand what's going on. there's a lot of uh chatter or whatever and Bill's microphone doesn't work very well because it comes out very muffled. So, um just to call out that I uh can help uh as needed. Uh reach out to me if you need me.

Thank you, counselor. We are Yes, we're aware of Zoom issue. We are working on that. That was one of council resin's uh bim monthly. Is that right? Bim monthly comments. Yeah, bon. Anyway, yes, she's consistent though. I agree though. Yes, we we're working on this. Um, all right. So, my council report, I'll keep it brief. Um, I want to plug the noodles and doodles. Uh, and also Peak Chiropractic is next Wednesday.

And it'd be great if somebody could attend that from council because I will be out of town again for some reason. Um, it is a lot of fun. get to hang out with people and uh you get to talk about public health and stuff like that. It's kind of a cool event and it's a lot of fun just to meet your neighbors. Um so I will definitely plug that. Noodles and noodles is awesome. Again, we'll make that one. But it is a lot of fun also. And I believe Bill is going to MC. Yes, that's correct. It's going to be awesome. I hope somebody records that. No. Come on, do it. Record it.

All right. And finally, I just want to plug TDNR. I had the opportunity to attend the uh community academy. Um, and I went in there thinking I knew what firefighters do. And obviously I'm an idiot because I don't. I know a lot about cops. I know nothing about firefighters. Those guys are amazing. Cops are still better. I told them that and they still let me sleep. So it was great. Um, had a few calls, but really they just let me ask questions for almost 24 hours, which is impressive. Um, so I learned a lot and uh, you know, if you see those guys, just just be appreciative that we have them. Just don't think because I mean that job is not as easy as it looks. You know, it's a lot of sleeping, but there's also a lot of crazy crawls like and you just get to sleep and then you get woke up and it's not quiet and the lights all come on and it it is a little terrifying and you're trying to run to the truck and get your pants on and you're half asleep and tripping. No, it's terrible. But they are super nice guys. Really good. Um, had a lot of fun. So, I can't plug it enough. And also, Council Pick Point, um, if you can possibly attend the Washington County Sheriff's Office Academy, um, it's it's a great event. I haven't done that one, but I've, uh, so it's it's a good event and you'll enjoy it. And with that, I believe that's my staff report. And I think we're good. Okay, we're done. So, we're done at 91.