City Council - Regular Meeting

Now we're on June 22nd, 2026 at, it is now 545. It's 541. 541. Yes. So I stand corrected. We'll go ahead and call the roll for council.

Councilor McLaughlin.

I'm here.

Councilor Runyon.

Present.

Councillor Randall.

Present.

Councillor Richardson.

Present.

Councillor Ring.

Present.

Mayor Mayes is absent.

Councillor Randall will now lead the Pledge of Allegiance.

Please stand if you're able and join me in the pledge.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

We need to approve our agenda for tonight. Do I hear a motion?

Looks like we have an amended agenda.

Yes, we do have amended. A really amended agenda.

And just as a summary, if I may, we do have an amended agenda that's removing our audit presentation. Adding audit presentation under 5A. 5A. It'll be removed or adding an action item. 12C, a proposed non-represented wage table adjustment. 12C. Well, we have OIC. That's there. That's already on there. And then I believe we're removing the annexation due to technical difficulties. That's right.

That's public hearing number 10. That one's out. 10A. All right. So with those amendments, are you willing to make an

Very happy to make a motion to approve the agenda as most recently amended.

Okay. Do we have a second? I'll second. Do we have any discussion? I hear none. So we'll take a vote. All in favor say yay or aye. Aye. Opposed? Hearing none, the motion passes. All right. We're going to remove number five proclamation tonight and we're going to go right to number six, which is the audience participation. During this portion of the meeting, anyone may speak on any subject which does not later appear on the agenda. Interested citizens are required to sign up in advance to be recognized. Up to three minutes per person will be allowed. Citizens are encouraged to ask questions with the understanding that the city can either answer the question tonight or refer that question to the appropriate staff member who will get back to you within a reasonable amount of time. If a response by the city is requested and that response is not immediately provided, the speaker will be referred to the city manager for further action. Okay. Audience participation. Here we go. We have Jordan. P-E-S-C-E. Pesci. All right. You're up. Go to our clerk, yes. Amy, would you start the timer, please? Thank you.

thank you city council for the opportunity to speak tonight my name is jordan pc and i'm one of the mechanics in the public works department as you all know the city and seiu are currently bargaining our next contract i'm here tonight to speak on behalf of the dedicated workers in the back row here i am strong supporter of skilled labor takes years of training experience and dedication to master a craft The people here tonight have made that commitment. They are the employees who maintain the city's infrastructure. They make sure the streets are safe and ensure drinking water and wastewater systems operate safely and reliably. These are not jobs that can be easily replaced. They require specialized knowledge, certifications, technical expertise, and a high level of responsibility. The wages earned by these workers should reflect the value they bring to our community every single day. Salaries for many of our positions are considered within the average when compared to similar cities, but being within the average has not and will not solve the recruitment and retention challenges we continue to face. In fact, we have lost talented employees to organizations that offer higher wages and better benefits. During my time with the city, we have hired operators in training, to which I'm glad they have taken the steps to hone their skills and gain their certifications, but we have not hired more certified operators to train them. The reality is simple. If we want to recruit highly skilled workers and retain the ones we have, the city must offer compensation that is competitive. Average wage won't cut it. We are asking for above average wages because we perform above average work, carry out above average We perform above average work and carry out above average responsibilities. Investing in your public works employees is investing in the future of the city. With Mr. Cleaves receiving an 8.2% increase last council meeting, there exists quite the disparity between wage increases for upper management and wage increases union employees have received. Think about how expensive life is, property taxes increasing, water sewer rates increasing, and ever-rising cost of living. It should go without saying that your union employees deserve a wage increase that reflects not only their expertise and value to the city, but also allows them to meet many demands on their wallets. Every resident of the city depends on the work that we do. Behind me and in your hands is a petition signed by every union employee asking for a fair wage increase. We ask you to support us by approving these higher wages.

Thank you.

Thank you. Next on the list is Kristen Dyer. Would you state your name, please?

Pull it right over towards you, too. There you go.

How about that? Much better. Much better. I'm Kristen Dyer. I am a City of the Dalles employee at the library. I was asked this evening to read a statement on behalf of Abby Phelps, who is one of my colleagues at the library. Abby asked me to explain that she wanted to be here this evening, but she's currently hard at work teaching a popular, well-attended library program that's offered free of charge to members of our community. Members of the Dalles City Council, first I want to say that every City of the Dalles employee I've spoken with has expressed how much they love this town and how proud they are to serve the people who live here. For Abby personally, her family's ties to the Dalles go back to the 1930s. She was raised there, and today she works at the same library that served her family when she was a child. She'd like to share some real numbers that illustrate the financial realities that many families are experiencing right now. In June of last year, a head of iceberg lettuce cost $1.69. Today, $1.99. The price of milk has increased by about 7%. The price of boneless chicken is up nearly 15%. A grocery purchase made on July 25th of last year now costs $26.27 more for the exact same groceries. The recent gas price increase has affected transport costs for goods and services here in the Dalles. Those prices are not likely to go down, even if gas prices do return to 2025 levels. Wasco Electric increased rates by an average of 7%. Rents here in the Dalles increased roughly 7% between 2024 and 2025, while average home prices increased by approximately 11% during the same period. Those are not abstract statistics. These are the prices employees like my friends behind me pay every day at local grocery stores, gas stations, and housing providers. I reviewed the wages for step one library technical assistant here at the 2023-2024 fiscal year. I used the Bureau of Labor and Statistics inflation calendar and calculated inflation during the current contract. That employee would need an increase of nearly $300 a month to keep pace with inflation. That represents a 5.56 increase. We love this town. We love serving our community. We want to be able to afford to continue living here and continue serving the people who depend on us. A 2.7% COLA increase is, in practical terms, a reduction in purchasing power. It's a pay cut. When employees are asked to absorb that loss, it raises questions about whether employee retention efforts and morale-boosting initiatives reflect a genuine commitment to retaining staff. We've been told that... Retaining employees is a priority. This is an opportunity to show it.

Thank you. Thank you. Next is Butch Watson, the Dals.

Over here?

Right.

Sit down.

Okay, my name's Richard Watson. Go by Butch. I'm here to speak about the railroad lanterns that belong to my cousin Danny May, our family. And I understand tonight that it's agreeable that the documentation and whatnot that I have, and which you've found yourself, states what I in fact said, and that you're in agreeance to return them. And that's... where I'm at what I am personally need to hear is when it will be convenient for us to come down pick them up.

Mister chair I can speak to that if you like yes please Mister. I'm sorry Watson Watson thank you my apologies are Mister Watson I met about the collection of railroad lanterns that used to be displayed at the veterans building on the federal street Plaza. That's now on display at the finance office as work is being done on the transportation building. I have not had a chance to review the documentation that you mentioned, so that's still something that we'll need to work through.

Okay. And I had stated that I had the video, which I do. I reviewed it, and it does say permanent loan.

Certainly. No disagreement on the facts there as we discussed. We'll just need to verify who you are and the documentation that we have before you can release those items.

And you have, I understand, documentation as well that states that it says personal.

We have the minutes that state a permanent loan, but we have no documentation on Who you are. Okay.

That's Danny May. Nice to meet you. First time we've seen you. He's coming up. He brought all that with him. It would probably be better if he just spoke before me.

Well, we can certainly organize after the council meeting, and we can connect, and we can work through those particulars.

So you want us to come back after the council meeting?

Yes, you can set up an appointment with my office, and we can go through that just like we did prior.

Okay, well, that sounds good for me. So then you don't need to hear from him at this point in time? Yes. Do you want to talk?

Do you want to say anything?

Would you need to come up to the mic? Yeah, okay. We're broadcasting on Zoom and they can't hear you. Okay.

Is this on now? Yes, it is. Sorry, I was going to make it quick. I just bought documentation to prove that I am, in fact, Danny May, the son of Bill and Pat May. And even though they're long deceased, I'm still executor of the May family and was just here to request return of the lanterns, if we can arrange that, since the transportation center is no longer a transportation center. So...

And if that's documentation that you can leave with the city clerk, you could leave it with her this evening and we can review it. Or if you want to hold on to it, we can work to set up a meeting and we can go through them together.

Okay. Can I just present it to you after the meeting? You take a look and see if you want to make copies or something or.

Here a little late. But if you wanted to wait around to the end, I'd be happy to meet with you afterwards.

Okay. Yeah, I can do that too. All right. Okay. So I'll talk to her about that. Oh, okay. Thank you.

All right. Tim, can I add something as the chair of the McCombie Veterans Committee and potential tenant of the transportation building? We've already addressed that as far as our committee goes, that the lanterns are to be returned to their rightful owners. So we're not interested in having them in there. They're up on shelves around the edge of the internal building at present. And we're happy to see Mr. May get them back.

All right. Thank you very much. All right. Let's go on to city manager report.

Thank you very much, Chair. Several items for you this evening. One, a little very sad. I wanted to acknowledge the passing of a colleague of mine, Robert Walsh, was the city administrator in St. Helens. He went missing earlier this month after falling into the Columbia and was found deceased. So I just wanted to express my condolences and our condolences to his family and to that community that's going through that loss and transition. I wanted to provide an update on the West Side Interceptor project. As you may have noticed, a press release went out late last week, and the Weber Street crossing is temporarily open today through early Friday. It'll then close on Friday for permanent striping, and then will reopen by end of day this coming Friday, the 26th. While Weber is temporarily open, they'll be closing First Street to allow the final work on that section of the project. So we're kind of flip-flopping this week as we close everything up. We've pushed that information out on our Facebook page and shared it with our partners to get that change advertised as best as we can. I also wanted to remind the council that we have an August 10th work session scheduled for the wastewater master plan. And I want to make sure that you are aware and give thanks to our public work staff and Amy, our public information officer, for completing a new webpage that was just put online today called seasonal water supply monitoring. This will detail a lot of different city water information, kind of a snapshot of the conditions this month, last month, and then the year before. And so you can kind of monitor temperature and water levels and different wells that are in operation. Our intention here is to update this information on a monthly basis. I also wanted to note that the candidate filing period for city council positions is now open. Candidate materials and other information are available on the city's website, or you can contact our elections officer official, Amy L. You can also see who has filed on our city's website. Filings are posted within one business day of submittal per state requirements. And then finally, I wanted to acknowledge Corliss Marsh, who has served on the library board since its inception.

I saw her a second.

She's right over there. And Corliss, we just wanted to extend our appreciation and thank you for your service on the library board and for your support of that institution and its service to our community. And with that, that is my city manager report. Be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Questions? All right, let's go on to city council reports. Council Runyon.

No meetings to report. I would just update the city manager after I spoke with our city engineer and public works director, Dale McCabe, at dinner a little bit earlier. I did leave a note for Steve Kane of the bargeway. and also a text and a voicemail to him just to update him just in case he hadn't realized that the road is open. And it will be closed from 6 a.m. in the morning on Friday till mid-afternoon for striping. So he's been updated. I thought that was the right thing to do since he's the one we heard from the most. Okay.

Councillor Richardson.

I have nothing to report this evening, Councillor President.

Thanks. Next.

Thank you, Council President. On June 10th, I attended the Household Hazardous Waste and Recycling Steering Committee. We got an update on the new rollaway recycling bins, which each service address has received by now, and a review of all the materials that are going to be are acceptable and those that aren't acceptable. Also, learn that all materials in these bins are going to a recycling center in Clackamas. They're not going to the local landfill, which is a persistent rumor. For a list of the acceptable materials or more information on recycling options in the community, you can go to tricountyrecycle.com or wasteconnections.com. That's all I have.

Councilor Ring. Thank you, Mr. President. I don't have anything significant this evening.

Well, on the 16th, I appeared with Mayor Mays on KODL Coffee Break, and then I attended an airport commission meeting on the 18th, and that's my report for this week. Moving on to consent agenda. items of routine and non-controversial nature are placed on the consent agenda to allow the city council to spend its time and energy on the important items and issues. Any counselor may request an item be pulled from the consent agenda and be considered separately. Items pulled from the consent agenda will be placed on the agenda at the end of the action items. Section All right.

Do we have an update?

Okay. Number one, It would be consent agenda. Item A, approval of the regular city council meeting minutes for June 8th, 2026. Professional services agreement with Jacobs Engineering Group Incorporated for the Dow's SCADA system upgrade phase two water distribution and wastewater collection system project. C, professional services agreement with Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. for the Dalles wastewater treatment plant for SCADA and operational technology system upgrade project. D, resolution number 26-024, concurring with the mayor's appointments to the museum commission and library board. And I understand we have a library board All right, names? John Adams, welcome. And what was the other? Kim Morgan, welcome, and thank you for your service. Commission, oh, resolution number 26-025, assessing real property located at 1290 West 8th Street, the cost of nuisance abatement. And those are the items for tonight. Do we have any?

I don't believe we need to pull the item, but Mr. Council President, I would ask if the owners of 1290 West 8th Street are present tonight.

Excellent. Thank you for doing that. Are the owners of that property here tonight? We wanna give you every opportunity to contest if there were extenuating circumstances. Otherwise, we'll go ahead and take your nomination or your recommendation. Who accepts the consent agenda?

Hearing none, I would move that we accept the consent agenda as presented. I'll second it.

And we have a second. Any discussion? Hearing no discussion, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the motion passes. Public hearing has been canceled, so we'll move on to contract review board, correct? All right. This authorizes the city manager to execute change order number two to contract number 2025-14 with Ajax Northwest LLC. And we have a staff report.

Good evening, counselors. Joshua Chandler, Community Development Department. I'm joined this evening by Paul Schmitke, who is basically our project manager, project engineer with KPFF Engineering. So the item for discussion, excuse me, this is pretty loud here. as council may recall may recall the city entered into a construction contract with ajax northwest in december of this last year for approximately 4.07 million dollars to complete the first street streetscaping project now this project includes streetscape improvements utility upgrades pedestrian improvements and reconstruction of an aging infrastructure This change order in front of you this evening stems from utility conflict identified near the intersection of First and Court Streets, which is one of the most complex areas of this entire project due to the elevated sidewalk structure, the aging infrastructure, underground vault areas, and the proximity to the Baldwin Saloon. So during construction planning associated with the micropile system, the project team identified an approximately 100-year-old clay sewer main line that runs directly beneath the proposed work area. So to install a micropile you effectively need to have a very heavy piece of machinery located rather close to a building and that machinery would be located on top of this sewer line and do the amount of excavation that needs to occur to allow for basically a landing point for that machine. It was only a few feet between that and one of this old sewer line. A question might ask, what is a micropile? A micropile is effectively Best way to describe it is a reinforced tube. You drive into the ground about 30 feet into the ground, and it's going to be set about two feet off, multiple about two feet off of the Baldwin saloon. The reason we went with the micropile system is we found in the initial engineering and planning phasing that this vault area that I've talked about with council before, the thought initially was we would fill that with just typical fill. But after doing some geotech work, we realized that we could not add fill into this area because it would potentially impact the foundation of the building. So we went with this micropile system, which resulted in the price tag as well as the complexity of this area building. So to give you perspective, there are multiple, obviously, sewer lines that run in our downtown area. This is one of the primary two. This is a line that runs through Court Street, under Court Street, goes underneath the railroad, connects to the wastewater treatment facility. It's about 100 years old. It's clay. And like I said, the concern is that having this heavy machinery on top of that pipe could result in a break. And a break with a water line is something that, you know, typical water lines can be shut off with valves. A break in a sewer line, that cannot occur. So any break, you can imagine the catastrophe that could occur with a main 27-inch sewer line that breaks in our downtown. So beginning in March, Staff worked with our entire team to come up with, you know, start looking through and evaluating different approaches to address this conflict in the line. Some of the alternatives considered involved substantial, more extensive sewer line replacement, some going into the alleyway of Court and First. And to put it in perspective, we're receiving quotes for shoring alone of a million dollars in excess. And shoring, for those listening here at home, shoring is effectively when you're digging deep into the ground, into a trench, you need to provide shoring for the safety for the dig. So in most cases you're able to build out like a one-to-one slope. So you can have that gradual area safeguarding the work. But when you're going deep down, in some cases, in this case, 17 feet into the ground, we had to have, we'd take a look at the shoring that went into it. And effectively the plan was to engineer a structure that basically is built into the ground to allow for the safety of this work to be done. So due to the additional price tags, some reluctance with some of the shoring contractors, actually, due to the lack of some geotech work in the areas that we were looking at, we looked at multiple different options. We kept getting the price to come down a little bit more, a little bit more. And ultimately, what we are presenting in front of you today is what we believe staff is the best approach forward to protect this line and get the project moving. In addition to... In addition to installing the micropiles, this line work, the sewer lining work, will effectively be installing two manholes that gives us access to the sewer lines. So typical construction nowadays, when you have a sewer line installed, One point to one point is connected by a manhole that allows you access into the line for repairs, for video monitoring, anything that goes with it. These pipes, one of the sections is actually, it's a blind joint. So there is, as you can imagine, there is no manhole at the T. So it's very, very difficult for maintenance. It's been a maintenance issue for many, many years. So by installing a manhole on each side of this line, we don't have to actually replace the line. We're able to install the manholes. We're able to get in there and install a liner to the inside of it. So it's going to add life to that sewer line. So the requested change order in front of you is $364,223, and this is a contract extension for Ajax Engineering. The second aspect of that, if this is approved this evening, staff will work to obtain quotes for the CIPP lining that I just discussed. We received some initial quotes for that of about $100,000, so these would be two separate contracts. But since the Ajax contract was the one that was involved in the initial contract for this project, that's what we were discussing this evening. But approval this evening would give us the authorization to move forward with getting those quotes pulled together. So in addition to the delay, I know this was something that was asked at the last council meeting, what's going on with First Street. Believe me, I'd like to see people moving out there too. It's been a delay. It's been a frustrating delay, waiting for a lot of these numbers to come in, a lot of the details to come in. We are also requesting with this change order an extension of 73 days, moving the contract from May 1st, 2027 to July 13th. 2027. This is due to the overall impacts. And to put it in perspective, we have been on hold because of this detail for the fact that the micropiles have to come first. Without the micropiles, we cannot install the walls. We can't install the elevated sidewalks again. Everything is hinging on the installation of these micropiles. So that is why there has been almost no work happening out there. A lot of work behind the scenes, but that doesn't really look like anything. We understand this is a significant request, and after several months of evaluation, we believe it is the most cost-effective approach to moving this project forward. Funding is available with the existing project budget, and following approval of this change order and the lining, staff estimates approximately $782,000 will remain within the overall project budget. With that, staff recommends approval of change order number two as presented, and I'm more than happy to answer any questions.

Council, any questions? Yes, Mr. Randall.

Josh, the cured-in-place pipelining, is that something that also needs to be done before the work can proceed, or would that be done afterwards?

It is, yeah. It is. So effectively, what we're going to do is we're going to give in. We're going to continue to excavate. We're going to get an area where we can actually place this machine. I think the machine was described as 44,000 pounds, so you can imagine as it's going over and over, drilling into the ground. That's why we're considering the vulnerability of this pipeline. So, yeah, we'll install the two manholes on each side. And once we have those manholes in place, then we'll be able to get inside and get access to line them. Because currently right now, the thought would be, why don't we just go in there and line it? We can't because there's no exit point for the line to come out. So that's why we have a manhole on the first street side. But then that line goes and tees right in. It's a blind it's a blind connection.

So do you expect to come back to council soon for that approval for that, for the additional money or is this.

So for this one, the quote that we received is a hundred thousand dollars. That's in the city manager spending authority. Yeah. So we will get three quotes together, but ultimately what it is, we're not going out to get any quotes until we get the approval for this. We won't need the lining unless this major portion is approved. Thank you.

How long what's the approximate linear distance of lining that needs done.

That is a great question. It is a city block. It is half of a city block, so it's effectively from the alleyway to First Street.

Half a city block.

Yeah. Thank you. So effectively the whole entire frontage on Court Street of the Baldwin property, Baldwin Saloon property.

So essentially it was an unplanned replacement of a sewer main. Correct. In challenging conditions. Correct. All right. Thank you.

Yes. Josh, has anyone been able to make any sort of inspection on that pipe? Do we know what the integrity of the pipe looks like before we line it? Or are we like, what's the sequence of events here? Do we need to install the manhole access so that we can do the inspection and look at it? Correct. Because at this point, there's no way to access.

We can't get in and access it.

Okay, so are we sure that 100 year old sewer pipe is going to be okay getting lined and then we like drive pilings you know near it with the weight of the equipment and whatnot that are going to do the work i'm worried about. like the integrity of the pipe now, it's a question mark, it sounds like, and then what's the overall, like, you start driving those pilings in, I guess, is there a decision criteria that needs to be made down the line once we do get a good inspection of that sewer pipe? Is there a potential for, um you know coming back to city council once we find you hey you know there's some major structural issues with the sewer line and we actually need to not do the the you know sleeve essentially for it we need to come back and replace the line um is that a what's kind of is there a feel for the percentage of risk here

Yeah. So our team evaluated the the integrity of that line going in that it can withstand the weight. And I mean, we're talking, you know, it's we're still going to have a few feet of ground above the line. But as I mentioned, very heavy piece of equipment. But in the event that there's further investigation and it's found that this line is not something that is usable, then that's a topic for another day. We had looked at originally replacing that entire line. We were talking at price tags 1.3, 1.5 million for this small section of sewer line. So, yeah, there still is. This is... This is months of looking into it and staff's what we believe is the approach that is going to get us through to what we need. But additional inspections come up. It's found that the integrity is not there. Definitely be coming back for another conversation. Yeah.

And it sounds like even if we were going to replace that line, we would still need to put in these manhole installations so that we can actually have that access from both ends of the line, right? Exactly. The good news here is regardless of what you may find, after you do that and you do further inspection or maybe while you're doing the work, somebody discovers, oh, hey, you know, there's something that we couldn't account for previously during a previous inspection because once you get into something you actually see it and oh yeah especially on this project so this is kind of a silver lining pun not intended maybe it is yeah but yeah effectively and and it's fixing and it's it's fixing a long time maintenance issue for our our sanitary sewer team okay Um, and for the, not related to the lining of the sewer pipe, but related to the installation of the pilings and whatnot, Baldwin saloon, really old building. It's going to be right next to it. So I'm curious if there's, um, is there on site real time, like vibration monitoring and things like that, while you're driving the pilings into the ground? Not just, and not just for the Baldwin, right? Like that whole, that whole block is, um, has several buildings around it. So, um, what's the potential for additional. Cracks or certainly there's going to be noise. I can't, I couldn't imagine driving a piling into the ground quietly, but, um, is there is while this work is going on, is there other monitoring that happens in real time? to make sure that there's not additional vibration and things like that that could disrupt, especially the Baldwin because of the proximity. Does that make sense?

Yeah. So there's been substantial geotech work around the building, letting us know what types of soils are in the ground, what the layers look like. There will be a team on site to continue to monitor as the work's going the whole way through.

Yeah, because the other thing in the back of my mind when I think about this project, because I've been at this for the last three or four years, is making sure that we get first rate across the golden, right? But I can't help... There's little things in the back of my mind. Earlier this year, we had the waterline break. which was unfortunate it was taken care of and there's ongoing aspects of that but that's what I'm trying to think of like what else is in the street right if there's a hundred year old sewer line I guess what else is under there that we need to be cognizant of and monitoring and you know doing the right thing and putting due diligence out there and making sure that we're you know trying to cover all the bases as we can right

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's, you know, extensive engineering that has went into this over the, you know, all the years. Um, You know, even after the removal of some of the walls, we had our structural engineer come out and take a look at one of the other buildings in the area for its structural integrity. So definitely all eyes on the project when this is happening. And bringing in, this isn't something, this is an Ajax sub, so it's not their day-to-day. They bring in a sub to actually do this work of individuals that specialize. Somebody that does it on a regular basis. Yep, exactly.

Thanks.

Mr. Mayor?

Yes.

So just to repeat, I know you said it earlier, but for the audience and whatnot, the project currently is well under budget. And this piece right here that we're talking about leave still leaves a substantial amount to the budget, but not enough. If it goes to the worst case scenario with it to council or ring was talking about, did you repeat where we are in the budget on that? Roughly? Thank you.

So, um, to get that breakdown, So the original, I'll just kind of go through a little bit of it. Original contract with Ajax was about $4.1 million. Change order one increased it to $4.2. This would increase it to about $4.5 million. just under 4.6, let's say. So in total, this change order with the CIPP lining is $464,000. Looking at what was budgeted for this project, and that includes the proceeds from the 2009 FFCO bond plus $3.2 million from Urban Renewal Agency gets us to a budget of $6,684,000. Staff then factored in all the project commitments and expenditures. And there are a few maybe that aren't mentioned at times. There's continuous right-of-way coordination with the railroad, everything that goes into that. There's easements. There's street lighting that we had to purchase straight through Northern Wasco PUD. So to date, as of January 1st of 2025, the project is at $5.4 million. And that leaves us right now at about 1.2. And then with this change order is approximately 781,932 remaining. Thank you. Yeah. Sorry. I rattled off more numbers than maybe you were asking for, but it's good.

All right. Any other discussion? Any other questions? Are you ready for a question? If there's no further discussion. Anyone would like to make a motion?

Council President, I'd like to make a motion to authorize the City Manager to execute Change Order No. 2 to Contract No. 2025-014 with Ajax Northwest LLC in an amount not to exceed $364,223.64 as presented and to extend the contract completion date to July 13, 2027.

Okay, do we have a second? I'll second. All right, we have a second. A motion and a second on the floor. We're going to take a vote. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, say no. I hear ayes, so the motion is passed. All right. Thank you, Councilors. Are you up again, once again, Josh? Yep.

Thank you. Not going too far here. so the next item on the agenda um i think is pretty straightforward feels a little bit like a house cleaning item here so i'll try to be short and sweet on this one um the city recently approved a 76 unit affordable housing development at 816 channel with loop road This building, the land use application was approved late last year. Building permit approved earlier this year. As part of that process, staff identified that the existing sidewalk area, so there's existing sidewalk improvements in front of the building. Some of those are going to have to be replaced with a new drive approach and things like that, repairs, bringing them up to city standards. That whole entire section is actually included in an existing easement. It's a right-of-way easement recorded from last year. in Wasco County right-of-way easement back in 1995. So as part of this process, this is ultimately like a cleanup, taking that entire area that is currently on the property owner's property and transitioning that over to the city so that sidewalk is entirely within the city's right-of-way as sidewalks should be. So as part of this, the applicant is dedicated approximately 2,040 square feet along that entire frontage. And this accomplishes multiple things. It places the area into public ownership, facilitates public frontage improvements already required through the development process. It clarifies the long-term ownership as well as future maintenance of the area. Nothing will really change with it. It's ultimately something that's going to be on a map recorded. Prior to recording, staff will verify the completion of a required environmental review, title review, and close the project out. Like I said, this is largely a housekeeping item. It converts an area that's currently operating as right-of-way, and it's just moving it over into city right-of-way. And with that, staff recommends adoption of Special Ordinance 26-613. I'm happy to answer any questions.

Any questions of Mr. Chandler? All right, seeing and hearing none. Yes? Oh, yeah, we'll got to do a title only. City Clerk, would you please read this ordinance? Ordinance? By title only.

special ordinance number 26-613 special ordinance accepting real property on chenoweth loop road for public street purposes we have a motion on the floor do we have a second i don't think we have a motion or is that um no motion okay we just need approval i need a motion oh we need a motion yeah anyone

I'm looking for the right language. Mr. Council President, I move to adopt special ordinance number 26-613, accepting the dedication of approximately 2,040 square feet of right-of-way along Chenoweth Loop Road from Chenoweth GP LLC for public street purposes as presented by title only.

All right. We have a motion on the floor. Do we have a second? I'll second it. Good. We have a motion and a second. Any more discussion? All right, hearing none, we'll go ahead and take a vote. All in favor say aye or raise your hand. Aye. Opposed? Hearing none, motion carries.

Thank you.

All right, we're moving on. Mr. McCabe, I believe you're up.

Okay.

This is. Rob. Go.

Tonight I'm joined by Oscar Farris, who is the plant manager at the city's wastewater treatment plant. So tonight's presentation is for the authorization of the annual amendment to the wastewater treatment plant operations. We're looking at approval of the contract amendment number three, but prior to that, Oscar typically comes every year and gives like an annual update of the operations of the treatment plant. So before we dive into the staff report for the contract amendment approval, we thought we'd take this opportunity for Oscar to go ahead and give his presentation for the annual update of the operations of the treatment plant ahead of that.

Thank you, Council, for having me here tonight, giving me the opportunity to present this in front of you. So like Dale mentioned, this is the annual report and it's going to be for our past contract year. So the timeframe here is going to be July 1st, 2024 to June 30th, 2025. So I'd like to start off by focusing on our team. A lot of the members on our team are from this community and other members have come to our community to provide the service that we do. There's a little highlight about me up there. This is my home. I've been here for a long time. My family has roots here. uh not going anywhere and proud to serve partnering with the city so below there you'll see some tenure as well as some certifications we're approaching nearly 10 years at a minimum with most folks we did have a retirement here in december of this last year and that gentleman was with us for 23 years so there must be something going right Jeff Houchin, he's my area manager. He's been with the company almost 28 years now. And he moved up here from Albany to support the projects and is invested in our community as well. Some of the added value partnering with Jacobs that we provide the city during the year that I spoke of is dewatering evaluation. And that consisted of looking at what it would take to go from liquid biosolids to dewater biosolids, identifying different technologies and the costs and being able to provide those to the city. as well as a biogas evaluation to determine how much biogas we actually had that could be beneficially reused. Right now it's currently being flared off and that evaluation was also provided to the city and used during the 20-year facility master plan update for considerations on how we could be more sustainable. Um, if that were to go out to bid and not be done internally by Jacobs at no cost, I think the city would see, um, an estimated 100,000 or better, um, if that needed to go out to bid. Um, we also have regional support. So Jacobs is a large region. So by regional, it's not just us. We, we have vast subject matter experts and. They were able to support the permit renewal what it took to go through that identified during the in conjunction with city. How to respond and get things corrected before the permit was issued and it's also allowed us to collaborate during the master plan for successful identification of future upgrades. So a couple highlights here. There are, well, there it has a note that there was over 300 samples collected and 1,370 of them were NPDES required compliance samples. They were done in-house. So almost half of the samples that we collect for permit compliance are performed in-house. There are additional samples that are done for process reasons. Those are all also done in-house. We were near perfect in compliance. We always strive for perfect compliance and that is our goal. We did have a couple of hiccups, but we were over 99% compliant. One of the other operational aspects is assisting the city with the industrial pretreatment program. We review industry reports. We make recommendations and help review permits. We go on industry inspections to make sure that everything is as it should be. And grease trap inspections are done all year round. We have a requirement to do so many on a quarterly basis and this helps us protect the sanitary sewer before grease makes it to the wastewater treatment plant as well as protecting the collection system from sanitary sewer overflows and other complications that come from fats, oils, and grease that we protect from getting in the sewer system. One of the other things we pride ourselves on is taking care of aging equipment and an aging facility. Like with old things, it takes a little bit of extra care. As you can see from that diagram there, 96% of the maintenance done is preventative maintenance, and only 4% is corrective maintenance. The industry standard is an 80-20, so we're above that, and we pride ourselves on trying to extend the life of the equipment that we have at our availability. So sustainability, we strive to be as sustainable as possible, and Jacobs has a large initiative to do this. We participate in many local programs. We recycle a variety of different products. We participate in the hazardous waste program to make sure that we are disposing of those things properly. And one of the items that I mentioned previously, in the maintenance section, it was noted that the UV system was replaced. So prior to the installation of the new UV system, we were running two channels, which is all we have available in 100% capacity, which took up quite a bit of energy. With the new UV system, we only run one channel and it runs 60 to 80% of its full capacity at any given time. And we're able to provide better treatment than we were, excuse me, better disinfection than we did with the old system. So an energy savings and it was a big help. Below that, the safety culture. It is truly a culture. It's just not something that we do. We don't just follow procedures. We care about each other. And there is an OIT that is currently about a year and a half in. And he took to the safety culture and wanted to be a safety champion and kind of lead that charge. So we've assisted him in that. When the report was written, we were at 864 days without a recordable incident. We're well beyond that now. And prior to the recordable that we had in 2022, we were over 22 years without a recordable incident. So on day one, anybody has stop work authority. If something doesn't look right, let's stop. Let's talk about it. You'll either be explained why it's safe and we'll proceed. Or maybe there's new eyes that saw something. But everybody has that respect for one another and the care to make sure that everybody goes home safely. Yep, there's some more. So we not only want to just provide a service and partner with the city, but we also want to give back to our community and get out there. And what is Jacobs and what do they do and why does the city partner with us? So we like to partner with the city in their annual community cleanup event, get out there and clean up the community that we live in. We also like to sponsor some events like the Easter Scramble here. And we sponsor a little league team. Those are opportunities to support future generations, spark conversations, let them know that water and wastewater is a valuable resource. And we're going to need people who are going to come behind us. So just getting out there and showing the community that we're involved in the community that we serve. Like I mentioned before, this is home and it's very personal to me. So we do the best we can to give back. And then committing to the future. So, um, I think you will hear here shortly that, um, there have been some SCADA improvements to, to modernize things and to keep the plant running. So that is to support future growth. Um, we're working with the city on the facility master plan update and how to identify issues and correct them so that we can be permit compliant for the future and just continue to be good stewards of the, the newly issued permit that was issued in September of 2025.

with that that's all i have if you have any questions for me any questions okay yes um i noted in the packet that there's a there's also a reference to a four percent and eight percent cap um i assume that's of the total contract value so the motion language includes a dollar amount of 1.6 million But it wasn't clear to me, maybe I missed it, but it wasn't totally clear to me that that was or was not within the 4% or 8% caps of the cost of contract.

So I'll kind of dive into that now with the presentation on the staff report and stuff. This was just what Oscar was presenting right now is just kind of the annual report for... just that past year. So, um, with that, I'll, I'll dive into the staff report. Let's go ahead. Um, approval for the amendment number three. So, um, OMI, or subsidiary of Jacobs Engineering, has been doing the contract operations for the wastewater treatment plant for, I don't know exactly what the year was when it first took over, but I know it's been over 30 years. 1989.

Okay.

Even over 40 years. So they've been doing it for quite some time. In July of 2023, the city, so previously there would be a contract operations and it would be like approved for like every three years or so. in 2023 the city entered into a contract agreement with omi and jacobs for a 15-year period but as part of that the contract cost was to be updated annually and authorized each year by the city council through the approval of a contract amendment so this contract amendment is amendment number three of that 15-year period So the contract includes two categories. One is the direct costs or operating costs and one's a management fee. There was a contract formula that was based on the consumer price index plus 2%, which the contract and that contract amendment could be capped at 4%, unless we give other specific reasons why that it needs to be greater than that. Management fee is capped at 4%, and the operating costs or direct costs could also be capped at for the total contract amendment to be capped at that total 4%. Consumer price index over this past year from January to January was a 2.4% increase. So it would be like the 2.4% plus 2% would actually be like a 4.4% increase. Or if the council directed to choose it to cap it at the 4%. But what we've done, we've, Worked with Jacobs, gone through, talked about the operating costs and some of the things that they've been experiencing over the last actually several years. And based on this amendment, we're just focusing on this past year. But we're looking at a bigger increase than that 4%. We're actually looking at an increase that is about 8%. And I was going to let Oscar kind of like give some of the details specific of that. And he can do a better job of explaining it than I can of some of those operating costs that we've been experiencing. But price of fuel is one of the most significant ones with the hauling of our biosolids. We also like Oscar alluded to, we just had our new permit, which is the national pollution discharge and elimination system permit for allowing the wastewater to discharge into the Columbia river. We have permit requirements that we have to meet with that. We received our new permit modification and that was effective September 1st, 2025. and so there's some significant. Excuse me some significant cost increases that are associated with that. as well, and then some of the sampling requirements that we have and chemicals. And with that, I'll let Oscar kind of give some of those more specifics before we finish.

Yeah, so, Councilor Ring, just to touch on your question a little bit, as Dale mentioned, there is a 4% cap. I would like to note that there is a clause in the contract that if there is the total direct cost exclusive of repairs is less than the estimated total direct cost for any year, then it will be rebated 50%. or it will be charged 50%. So there's a cost sharing if we go above. So it's mutually beneficial to try and find a number that works for everybody to do business. Some of the items that have brought us to this increase, one is the repairs limit. So previously, the repairs limit has not been changed since 2012. Obviously, the costs of goods and services are gone up quite a bit. And in the contract previously, there was $35,000 budgeted for repairs, and there was $40,000 budgeted within the Jacobs contract provided by the city for capital improvement. We were never able to do both. And so the $75,000 of those two combined numbers is what we were using for repairs. And so when capital improvement projects were identified and discussed, the city was trying to find money to fund those, which they also hadn't budgeted for. Year over year for the past five years, the spend for the repairs budget has been almost $112,000. And the way the contract reads is anything over the budgeted repairs limit, the city pays for 100%. So not only is it difficult for the city to budget, but then they have to find money to fund the repairs that are required. So what we discussed in conversations was increasing the repairs limit significantly to 125 000 so that we can stay we overshot a little bit to account for expenses going up and aging infrastructure and just needing those funds and then letting the city carry the capital improvement funding in their budget so therefore there are two known amounts that the city can budget for and not have to encounter any surprises or figure out how we have to come up with extra funds As you heard earlier, labor, retention, hiring adequate talent, we also cannot find any certified operators. We are bringing in people who have absolutely no idea about wastewater. We are spending time training them. We are getting them certified, and they are putting their efforts in. We are currently fully staffed. I moved into a management role in 2023. Since 2023, this is the first time that we have been fully staffed. It has been difficult to find folks. There are better paying jobs with better paying benefits, and so we are feeling those same struggles. So that's a part of this increase is so that we can do some equity adjustments and then come in competitively trying to find some better talent. One of the largest ones that is completely out of our control is outside lab testing. So with this permit, we got several new requirements, and they are at... considerably higher frequency of testing. There were requirements we had before that were semi-annual or annual that have now moved to quarterly. The expense for contract labs has gone through the roof. And we vet the labs that we use to make sure that we are doing our due diligence to stay compliant. And the increase from Outside lab testing this year to last year is 38%. It is a substantial increase. And so that is a large portion of this 8.03% that we are looking for. Chemical increase, that's also gone up, and that's out of our control. And we have added additional chemicals to try and remain compliant through some of the struggles. And so the addition of chemicals on top of the additional price of chemicals has driven the chemical cost up almost 7%. As Dale mentioned, and as all of you know, we are dealing with uncertain fuel prices. And unfortunately, we haul liquid biosolids currently. It's only 3% solid, and we haul it three hours away. So one load of 3,300 gallons takes three hours to get rid of. And we put... For reference, right, it would take a little over two truckloads, so 6,600 gallons of liquid biosolids to break even for the day. Our employees are working long hours or sometimes multiple trucks on the road to try and keep up because we put anywhere between 7,000 and 10,000 gallons back into the digester. And so you get a holiday weekend or you get a weekend and you come in and you're right back where you started. So the hauling costs are extensive. You know, diesel prices were recently over $6 a gallon. So that has been a huge increase and it's unpredictable. So we are trying to make sure that we can cover that expense. So that's a large portion of why we are asking for this 8.03% increase. Thank you, Oscar.

So with that information as proposed this amendment establishes a fiscal year 2627 annual fee of 1,618,781, which consists of. The. 210,597 management fee plus the 1,408,184 in estimated operating plant expenses, which is those two items together, which again gives us a total increase of around 8%. The amendment keeps the contract's year-end cost-sharing structure. After the contract year closes, the City and OMI compare our budget, budgeted plant operating expenses with actual plant operating expenses, excluding the repair costs, and split any of the savings or overage equally. The repairs are handled separately through a $125,000 annual repair allowance that Oscar kind of alluded to, and then any unused repair allowance is rebated back to the city, and the repair costs above that allowance, other than the O and my labor, are paid by the city. So with that, the terms of the contract provide an option for the city to limit the annual increase in the annual fee to the 4% instead of that 8% that's being proposed. The staff does not recommend imposing the limitation because of some of the highest operating cost increases are beyond OMI's control, and they are consistent with cost adjustments that the city has made in its own treatment plant at our Wix Water Treatment Plant and also the Public Works budgets. So budget implications, the adopted fiscal year 2026-2027 budget includes $1,618,781 in line 55. the wastewater fund and then um the fund 50 or wastewater fund and for the fiscal year 2627 annual fee for the contracted operation of the wastewater treatment plant the adopted 2627 budget also maintains capital expenditure funding within the city's budget rather than the omis budget So in the budget that was adopted just recently at the previous city council meeting on June 8th, we've accounted for those items in that budget, what we're just talking about. For council alternatives, we have a revised motion language that I think was handed out to each of the councilor members. So the staff's recommendation is to move to authorize the city manager to sign amendment number three to OMI. to the omi agreement establishing the fiscal year 20 26 2027 annual fee in the amount of 1 million 618 781 substantially in the form presented with final revisions approved but by the city attorney as to form with that we can answer any questions questions counselors

What does as to form mean?

Mr. President? Yes. As the attorney, I'm not a subject matter expert, and so staff negotiates the business decisions for the city, and my role is to ensure that what the city is agreeing to is what the other party is agreeing to, and everybody's on the same page, and that it's in a form that meets all of the city's legal requirements.

Thank you.

Councillor Runyon.

With regard to biosolids, are they sold to farms and ranches, or is it just a way of actually saving money by transporting them out?

Yeah, so... To answer your question directly, no, it is not sold. It is a process that we require. We don't have the room to store it, and it's beneficial for the farmers. They save money on fertilizer, and we have a way of disposing nitrogen-rich fertilizer for them. So it's a win-win for both of us.

Okay. I was just wondering if there was any money opportunity there, but no.

Actually not.

Thank you.

We're actually constantly looking for other farmers and ranchers to sign up for it as well and trying to find landowners that are closer to the Dalles and that keeps getting farther and farther away.

Councilor Rayne. I'm completing a thought. I need a minute.

Okay. I have a question. Yes.

So just to be clear, as there were a lot of numbers thrown around, the difference between the 4% has previously negotiated and the 8% that you're recommending is $60,000. About.

Yeah.

Yeah.

From last year. Yes.

Any other things to discuss?

I just have one question, and you mentioned biogas, and that's a process for those of you that don't know. Methane gas is a byproduct of waste disposal, and right now it's being ignited and burned into the atmosphere. The proposal is to capture that gas, and then that gas would drive, I don't know if it's steam, but it would drive a generator, which would generate electricity, which in turn could go back to lower the cost of sterilizing the water before it goes out into the river. And I highly, we looked at that years ago, and that was one of the reasons that I supported this is that we want to continue that effort so that we do capture that wasted byproduct. It's a fuel and that fuel can drive and lower our costs. So I encourage you to continue looking in that direction. Now, I just wanted to say that. Is there anything else before we move on to take a vote?

Yes. I want to make sure I'm not confusing things. So I think what we're basically saying here is that it sounds like there's some justification to go above that 4%. If we don't do it, I'm trying to evaluate the downside, right? Like if we don't do something like this, then... It's going to cost us more than 8% down the line. Plus, you mentioned the 50% cost share. That's where I'm trying to make sense of the numbers and the sequence of events and time between that.

So as the contract reads, the preferred method for contract for annual increased negotiations is good faith negotiations. Right. So sitting down, looking at costs, figuring out what it really is going to cost to provide the service to the city. If we cannot agree, then there is a 4% cap and we can get to that limit. If we cap it at 4%, business would still have to carry on. And so if there were expenses above that total direct cost, then it's a cost sharing between OMI and Jacobs at 50%. And depending on what that is, considering all of the increases, it could end up at the end of the year being more than this 8%, and it also isn't in the city's budget to do that. So you have to find funding to do so.

Yeah, thanks. I think that helps clarify it. I was wrestling with the long-term effect and avoiding a more substantial increase down the line, right? Yeah.

And I think just one other point is that the cost sharing truly is either the city would pay or we would rebate, right? So we do try to find a budget that is very near what we think it is going to cost to do business so that there isn't any sharing or detriment on either side. Right.

And that's what we tried to do with this amendment here was try to get us more in line. Cause like Oscar was saying, the numbers that we had were based on since 2012 and that's what it's been budgeted every year and every year it's coming up short. And so we are scrambling to try to find funds within our wastewater fund and our budget to make up those for those differences in those losses.

And I think one other comment looking at long term implications is without knowing what kind of expenses are going or how what increases are going to look like and if you what inflation looks like. Right. We are trying to get to a point, like Dale said, where we could potentially stay within contractual budget. And those negotiations are within contract anyway. But it takes this leap to get us there.

Got it. And it hasn't been previously. It's been that long since we had a substantial update to the contract. So we're catching up to it. Correct. Thanks.

Other questions? Good. Anyone else down there? All right. Good. All right. Then we're to the point of asking the question to approve OMI agreement. Do I have a motion?

Mr. Council President, I'll move to authorize the city manager to sign amendment number three to the OMI agreement, establishing FY fiscal year 2026-2027 annual fee in the amount of $1,618,781, substantially in the form presented with final revisions approved by the city attorney as to form.

All right, we have a motion on the floor. Do we have a second? I'll say it. Any further discussion? Then we'll take a vote. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Hearing no opposition, that motion is carried. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. All right. We're moving on to the next item, which City Manager Klebs.

Thank you, council president and counselors. This is a supplemental item that went out late last week. I'll provide a summary here. You have my staff report and attached wage table and that supplemental packet. Be happy to answer questions at the end. This item that you have before you this evening is a targeted wage table adjustment for the assistant city manager human resources position. We have been in the process of reviewing the city's nonrepresented wage table more broadly to make sure classifications still reflect their current responsibilities. the reporting relationships and various market market conditions additional recommendations for this wage table will come forward later this summer but this item is being brought forward now because we have an immediate recruitment need i want to say congratulations to brenda fahey who will become the city administrator down in madras and so we'll bring this item for you this evening to start that recruitment process As a little bit of background, in February 2025, Council approved the creation of an assistant city manager human resources position, and we eliminated the former strictly human resources director classification. There were two main purposes here. The first was to strengthen the city's human resources function, which is still relatively new to the city, that position being created roughly 10 years or so ago. And the second was to create additional capacity to support city operations, council priorities, and improve internal services for departments and staff and the city's broader organizational modernization efforts that we've been pursuing. As we've continued to evolve, the role has evolved as well. Assistant city manager, human resources director has indicated their intent for that resignation. And so before advertising that position and moving forward with that recruitment process, we'd like to make this wage table adjustment. As I indicated in the budget committee presentations, and as it was discussed, we have an organizational change where the ACMHR will supervise the finance director. That was reflected in the fiscal year 26-27 organizational structure. And this creates a classification alignment problem or issue because the assistant city manager's position is classified below the finance director. So from that standpoint, that's not an ideal situation to be in. The position that's expected to supervise another should generally be placed at least equal to or preferably above the position it supervises. This supports internal alignment, recruitment competitiveness, provides and supports that organizational clarity, and additionally long-term flexibility. And so, in my research around assistant city manager positions and speaking with other city managers, throughout Oregon. The portfolio does continue or can continue to evolve and change depending on the experience and the strengths of an individual candidate or a person who's filling that position. And so based on these organizational changes and looking to that long-term flexibility, I'm recommending moving the ACM HR position from DH3 to DH1, which you'll see on the wage table there. The current range for the DH3 position is $116,924 to $143,802. The DH1 range is $123,723 to $152,164. So this is a proposed increase at the bottom of the range of just under $6,800 a year, and at the top end of the range, just over $8,300. Again, the DH-1 recommendation best reflects the nature of the position and gives us the greatest flexibility there, given the different department heads that we have and the portfolio itself. Another option presented to council is to place this position at the DH-2 line, which is the same line as the finance director and is really the bare minimum I would need to move forward with this organizational structure change. The actual budget impact will depend on filling that position and the timing of the recruitment. Regardless though, there are sufficient resources in the 26-27 budget to support this change. So as such, you have an amended wage table included in your packet, and my recommendation is to adopt the wage table reflecting a change to the DH-1 pay range. And with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Questions? Yes. commission or counselor.

Richardson. Mr. City Manager, quick question, just sort of a meta question, if you will, just take a step back. Explain to me why you think it makes good sense for the ACM to oversee the finance department directly and then report to you as opposed to you overseeing the finance department.

Yeah, so one of the approaches that we've or I've been using with the assistant city manager position or the philosophy is kind of a break in internal versus external services. And so currently the portfolio for the ACM HR position oversees HR or is HR, IT, safety, and finance also fits that philosophy of approach, if you will, because the finance department provides a lot of internal services to other departments. And so when you talk about payroll, when you talk about invoice processing, when you talk about our credit card policies or travel reimbursement policies, those are a lot of the structures or processes that our staff use. And coordinating that support can be a way to break out the portfolios for a city manager or an assistant city manager. One of the aspects that I would still remain closely involved in is being, of course, the budget officer for the city, and working with the finance team, the finance director, and the proposed budget that we bring to council every year and some of the philosophies behind that. Now, in conversations with other city managers, again, it depends on the experience or the skill set that an individual candidate is bringing to the table. So there is another assistant city manager who oversees the police department, for example, but that assistant city manager brings with them 20 plus years of experience related to the police department and can best support that individual or that department, or maybe better able to, as opposed to someone like myself who has less experience in that area. And so putting it at the DH-1 wage range provides that greater flexibility should something like that become available or be an opportunity. But currently the philosophy of internal and external services is what we've been really focusing on.

further questions question yes is the does the decision tonight simply make a wage table adjustment or does it implement the philosophy that you just shared with us for the finance department the. To be overseen by the ACM HR position.

So the decision tonight is just adopting the wage table, the amended wage table. The duties and tasks and structure is under the city manager's purview, but the compensation piece is authorized by council.

Anyone else? It looks like you have a question. Councillor Richardson, do you have a question?

I just want to be clear, you feel, Mr. City Manager, you feel certain pressure to get underway because you'd like to start recruiting immediately?

Absolutely, absolutely. All right. This is, and to be frank, this was a dynamic or part of that change process that would be coming forward later this year, regardless, as we've continued the non-wage table study and compensation analysis that we've been working on. But that coupled with this recruitment need is really what drove it forward for tonight.

That makes good sense to me.

Everyone okay? All right. What is your pleasure? We need a motion. We're looking it up. Anyone with a motion? Here you go. Well, we have failed. Would you like to make a motion?

Council President, I'll make a motion. All right. I move to adopt the June 22, 2026 wage table adjusting the Assistant City Manager HR pay range to DH1.

Now we have a motion on the floor. Do we have a second?

Yeah, I'll second that.

Okay, we have a second. Any other discussion? All right, it's time for a vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the motion carries. It passes. All right. Well, we move on to executive session. All right, the City Council of the Dalles will now meet in executive session in accordance with ORS 192.6602 to conduct deliberations with persons designated by the governing body to carry on labor negotiations. Representatives of the news media shall not be allowed to attend the executive session All members of the audience are asked to leave the room. No final decision may be made in executive session. At the end of the executive session, we will return to open season and welcome the audience back into the room. We expect to return open session in about 15 minutes. Okay, 20 minutes.

Okay, 30 minutes.

No, but you'll say that.

Well, do we have any other items to come before the council? Hearing none, this meeting is adjourned.