City Council - Regular Meeting

Recording in progress.

Alright. Good morning. Welcome to the Thurston County Board of County Commissioners agenda setting work session for Tuesday, 05/12/2026. It's 09:02AM. My name is Ty Mentzer, chair of the board. And we have commissioners Rachel Grant, commissioner Caroline Mejia, commissioner Wayne Fornier, and commissioner Emily Claus virtually. The meeting is being livestreamed to the Thurston County YouTube channel. Staff here with me is county manager Leonard Hernandez, assistant county manager Jennifer Walker, assistant county manager Josh Cummings, and clerk of the board Amy Davis. Written public comment may be received up to two hours in advance of the meeting and distributed to the board. Action may be taken at this meeting.

First up is an agenda review for next week's proposed, first review of next week's business agenda meeting, 05/19/2026. So pulling that forward, we have 2PM start as usual, and pledge of allegiance is to be led by commissioner Mihia, land acknowledgement, approval of agenda, preliminary items, and then a presentation related to Asian American, native Hawaiian, and Pacific Island Heritage Month.

Thank you, chair. This proclamation will be a neat presentation with representatives from a few local organizations. We will take every sis for a photo and to enjoy some mochi, donuts, and boba tea.

Wow. Nice. Don't miss it. Be there.

Any questions on the proclamation? We'll go then we'll have, agenda related public comment, county manager update.

Just a few, department accomplishments that I'll be highlighting. Thank you, Chair. Next

up is the consent agenda. And the first item proposed is resolution for asset number 95082012 Crambo 6000D Shredder.

This is like, welcome to my world.

This is, something we probably need some background on.

Alright. Good morning. Kim Burnett, director of central services. We're requesting approval of a resolution, declaring Public Works Road asset number 9508, which is a twenty twelve Cranbo shredder as surplus and allowing the sale of the surplus asset and returning the reserve contributions for replacing the asset to the originating fund in the amount of $898,917 The previous Board approved ER and our Resolution 16562 allowed for the return of contributions. If it was determined, it was a substantial reduction, which was defined as 10% or more in the total replacement cost of the equipment.

The reserves for this asset are actually around 3% of the total replacement cost. Thus, it didn't meet the threshold of the previous resolution. Public Works has requested this asset be permanently removed and eliminated from the program, and Central Services has determined this asset is no longer required by the county. The asset will be disposed of in accordance with Thurston County Code 2.104 and the county surplus policy. The return of funds is incorporated in the first budget amendment of 2026 for the board's consideration, and this action has been reviewed by both the county internal auditor and the prosecuting attorney's office. And we'd be happy to answer any questions.

Questions for Kim?

Looks like you guys covered it. Thank you. Thank you.

Item two is contract for internal service rate and cost allocation study.

I'll handle this one, Chair. The board received a briefing on this item on May 5. Central Services, IT, HR risk management, and District Court are proposing to contract with FCS to evaluate their current indirect cost allocation rates, and develop a comprehensive plan for internal service rates. The project will ensure that we are accurately allocating indirect costs across departments, and outside entities ensuring compliance with funding requirements and aligning cost recovery policy targets. The evaluation will focus on ensuring allocated costs are allowable, allocable, reasonable, and consistently applied across benefiting departments and jurisdictions and included concise benchmarking summary memorandum, a comparative matrix of peer practices by functional area, development of a cost allocation plan including cost allocation methodology, and a comprehensive customized cost allocation plan model for future use.

The cost is not to exceed $251,600 and will come from the countywide services fund and be recouped in future internal rates. The internal auditor did approve a sole source waiver for this item. And the company, FCS, has worked with other county departments previously and provided exceptional service to both Public Works and CPED on their rate and fee studies.

Yeah, we are thankful that the team has come together to take this step. It's going to be great to have a consultant come in and help us put these rates together and also to work with our budget team and district court as it's going to be essential for our full cost recovery with, well, with everybody, but, most specifically and upfront with the City Of Olympia and our other jurisdictions the District Court provides service to.

Questions from board? Members? Thank you.

I have no questions.

Let's go to item three then, which is contract with All Kids Win for weekend food bags, CDPG Public Service.

Yes. Thank you.

Jen Freya, director of public health and social services. So this is an annual entitlement from CDBG Community Development Block Grant through Housing and Urban Development, or HUD. And every year, it alternates between the South County or Tumwater. So this is from the 2025 South County year. And the recommendation was approved by the BOCEC on 06/17/2025.

And the Office of Housing and Homeless Prevention received approval of their 2025 annual action plan, which included the funding awards by HUD in September. The grant agreement for CDBG funding was fully executed in December 2025. And we're now working with those subrecipients to award under contract the various funding. And this particular one will support 200 k through 12 students attending schools in South Thurston County. Happy to answer any questions.

Questions on this item? Hearing none, we'll go to your next item, which is item four, setting a public hearing for program year twenty twenty six HUD Act in action plan.

Correct. And, this is where Thurston County receives the Home Investment Partnership Program or home funds, from CDBG and HUD, to provide a variety of activities that serve low income households and individuals. This funding is contingent upon the five year consolidated plan, which sets policy direction for the county's HUD funded activities during the five year period. In each of the five years of the consolidated plan, an actual annual action plan is drafted to identify specific projects that will be funded with home and CDBG funds for that program year. And the annual action plan is then made available to the public for thirty days and, before being adopted by resolution.

So these particular funds are for $782,891.60. And the amount of CDBG program funds available is $911,107. And the city of Tumwater has selected projects to receive these CDBG program funds. The Regional Housing Council has selected projects as well. And the projects were solicited for both programs through a request for proposal process.

The public comment period will begin on May 22 and end on June 23, at which time we'll bring it back to the board for a public hearing, take oral comment, and be asked that it be closed. After which time, the board will be asked to approve the program year 2026 HUD annual action plan by resolution and authorize submission of the AAP to HUD. Happy to answer

any questions.

Questions for Director Frahi on the HUD. Okay. Good to go. Great. Thank you. Next item is public health again. Request for proposals for development of the Paterson Lake cyanobacteria management plan.

Good job. Cyanobacteria. Yeah. So we request the board move to authorize PHSS to issue an RFP. And in summary, this is, this was approved, by the VOCC, the Washington State Department of Ecology Freshwater Algae Control Grant for Peninsula Lake on May 5.

And this plan, which addresses the toxic algae blooms, has been developed since 2025. This funding will continue to support the development, inflow outflow study reporting, and subsequent treatment recommendations that will be determined based upon results of the study. And the Lake Steering Committee will be the ones responsible for execution of this plan. And so with BOCC approval, an RFP will be released on May 19 with a due date of June 30. And work is expected to begin in August and continue through March year. Any questions?

Okay. Paterson Lake, any questions?

All right. Thank you. All Thank you.

Next up is item six, interim contract with city of Tenaino for law enforcement services.

Chair, I would suggest that we skip this one and come back to it once the sheriff's team who is planning to attend are online. Perfect.

K. Voucher list item seven and eight is April 13, April 20. Any board member questions to address? If not, we'll go to item six, which is the first department item, central services contract award for professional consulting services for the Thurston Regional Justice Center and campus.

Good morning. Kim Burnett, director of central services. We're requesting approval to award a professional consulting on call contract to KMB Architects, to design the adaptive reuse and tenant improvement build out of the downtown buildings located, at the Plum Street and Union Avenue campus, and to authorize the central services director to execute the contract not to exceed 3,500,000, including any amendments that do not exceed 10%. We solicited requests for qualifications for architectural and engineering professional consulting services for planning, design and construction administration. And on April 27, we received three responses to the RFQ advertised in the Nisqually Valley News, the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce, and it was posted on the Thurston County contracting webpage.

An evaluation panel scored the responses based on company qualifications, key personnel, relevant experience, past performance, references and sustainability. In addition, the top two firms were actually interviewed and KMB, the top ranked firm was selected. The first task order to be issued from the contract will be the design to adaptively convert Buildings 1 And 2 into a courthouse for district and superior courts operations. Future task orders may be issued to provide design services for the remainder of the downtown campus buildings as the county continues to consolidate its government services to this campus. Funding for services performed under this on call contract will come from the 2022 bond and state funding.

This project is in the twenty twenty five, two thousand thirty one capital improvement plan, and we'd be happy to answer any questions.

Chair, this is a huge accomplishment. Our small but mighty team is working this process through, while at the same time renovating a 55,000 square foot sheriff's building. And so before if the board has any questions, I just wanted to give a huge thanks to our central services team and our still relatively new central services director. I'm not sure she knew what she was getting into when she took this role. But her leadership and coordination as well as our project management team, They're doing phenomenal work in seizing opportunities.

I was very pleased to see how quickly and smoothly this process went from start to now from when the board gave direction. They are running and gunning, getting things done, and we really appreciate their commitment to the county's future.

Thank you. Any questions for hearing none. Thank you. Alright.

Thank you.

Awesome. Community planning and economic development. Next item is ordinance for permit review process, annual code update, land use appeals.

Good morning. This item is for adopting amendments to a number of titles in the Thurston County development code, including titles two, fourteen, seventeen, twenty, twenty one, 22, three, and twenty four to address the board's role in the quasi judicial land use appeal process. We got direction at an April 29 board work session to go ahead and move this forward to adoption. There was one request, which was setting the effective date to be a little bit later to give time for things that had already gone to the hearings examiner an opportunity to appeal through the process that we have now. So the effective date would be for any appeals submitted after 05/19/2026.

Okay. Thank you for that because I some folks that were listening were kinda confused by our conversation about that, and I just wanna make sure that I understand what we're doing because the I think the concept and just make I wanna see if we've covered the concept. The concept was that for folks that made a decision to go to the hearings, like, the process doesn't change midstream for somebody that might it might have affected knowing that they could go to the board, you know, might have affected their decision to go to start this process and not having that process change midstream. So if we have that it sounds like we do have that latitude. Seem like I think what commissioner was asking about, what I was asking about, I've talked to commissioner Grant.

I think she has a similar concern. So is this date going to cover that?

Yes. Yeah. It essentially includes the appeal processes for the most recent decisions

And anyone that deciding to do this sorry to interrupt you. But anyone deciding to do this after May 19, they'll know that this is the process, and they can make their decisions accordingly.

Yes. So things going to hearing after this the appeal process would be to Superior Court.

So they'll know their pathway

before they ever make an

appeal. Yes.

Yeah. I guess the question is appeals that happen or filings. But you said filings.

It's filings. Okay.

Questions from the board members. I know I've gotten commissioner asking me about this. Is everybody understanding what the what's embedded here then in this decision next week?

Yes. Thank you.

Okay. Perfect. I see a thumbs up. Alright. Thank you.

Thank you.

I've got Sheriff Sanders here, so let's double back to item that we skipped, which is item six on the consent, which is interim contract with city of Tenaino for law enforcement services and straight to the sheriff? Sure. Okay. Sheriff Sanders, floor is yours.

Well, good morning, chair and commissioners. So this is a short term contract just to get us into the the game with the city of Tenaino. This So is a contract that is six months long with a option for a three month extension that I suspect will be executed. And this this contract backdates to April 6 because that is when we started officially taking over priority response for the city of Tenaino. And so this contract, it's gone through HR.

It's gone through legal. It's gone through all the all the all the different stakeholders. We work with commissioners and the board and the and the county team to get the language correct in prosecuting attorney's office. And so this is just the contract that I believe now has been approved by the city of Tenaino and is now coming before the board for consideration. And then I requested this short term contract. It it really just replicates the same level of service the city of Rainier next door has while we continue to have long term discussions about about costs and and what the city of Taino wants to do.

And and board and chair, one quick clarification. I believe that the city of Tonaino is meeting tonight?

Yes, correct.

Thank you, clerk. So we'll be tracking if there's for any reason the city of Tonaino Council does not approve it, then we will we would recommend to the board that this item be delayed until the city of Tenano has approved it. The clerk has been in communication with the mayor and walking this through and appreciate the sheriff, HR, and everyone that's kind of worked to move this forward.

Questions from other commissioners for the sheriff? Item six? Okay. Alright. Very good. Thank you, sheriff.

Thank you.

I I I no. I have a question, but I have a comment. I just while they they haven't approved it yet, it'll be tonight. They initially provided the old contract. So I I I I believe they have they have fixed that and updated and they are posting the new contracts. So there there was there was a there was an initial, like, kind of paperwork mix up.

You're correct, vice chair. The the old contract, one that was a version prior, the city of Tenaino posted that. The clerk has reached out to the mayor on a couple of occasions, sent him the new contract initially. He believe that's the one that was uploaded. She has since confirmed that it's not. And she's waiting and working with the mayor to make sure that one is the one that goes forward. If by accident they approve the wrong contract, we won't be able to accept that. It'll have to go back to counsel. So, the clerk has done a great job of doing multiple touch points. I don't if there's anything else you'd like to say, clerk.

No, I think that is accurate.

Okay, very good. Thank you. We're on to information technology, which is item eight under department items, which is number one, renewal of Microsoft Enterprise Agreement.

Good morning. I'm Sherry Ilg, IT director, and I am seeking approval to renew our Microsoft Enterprise Agreement. This agreement is a three year contract. The annual cost is just under $675,000, which is surprisingly less than 5% increase over our last enterprise agreement. It's only about $40,000 more.

And, considering the increase in costs and everything else, it was a surprise that it was only 5% less than 5%. The cost over three years with tax is, just about $2,211,782 We've been using Microsoft products for a long time as the foundation for our computing environment.

What is can you test any more about an enterprise agreement? What exactly it encompasses?

So we qualify to use to get an enterprise agreement using the state negotiated contract, state master contract AR2488. This agreement allows us to get a better rate because it's based on the entire state. So the more users you have, the less the cost is. And so an enterprise agreement is a three year agreement where our costs won't increase per product. It might increase because we have more employees or more users, but the cost of the products will not increase for three years.

Any questions for Sherry? Alright. General public comment, commissioner community reports, and that is the agenda. We have two public hearings, which are set for 03:30.

That's right.

Okay. And that's in the back page of the agenda. And the first one is resolution for the 2027 Lake Management District assessment rules for Lake Lawrence LMD number 26.

Hello. Sorry. I wasn't sure if

you wanted me to come talk about it.

Yes. This is a request for the Board of County Commissioners to move to close the public hearing and approve the 2027 Lake Management District assessment rules for Lake Lawrence Number 26. And just a recap of the timeline, on 11/04/2025, the BOCC approved the resolution of intent to form the Lake Lawrence LMD number 26 and set the public hearing to determine the public interest and financial feasibility for 01/20/2026, after which time directed staff to draft the resolution of findings and determinations adopted on February 3. This took the vote to the property owners, and ballots were mailed to them on February 17 with a return date of March 11. And those were counted on March 12 with a weighted majority vote of the people supporting the formation of the LMD number 26.

And just of note, the LMD is seeking a rate increase of 10% for Upland and public properties and 130% increase for lake and canal front properties. And these charges will take effect on the 2027 property tax bills. Happy answer any questions.

Okay. Can you I don't know if you remember this, but this is a long standing Lake Management District. We formed a couple of new ones here, and there's I think in this particular point in the process, there was for the new ones, there was a little bit of push and pull about, you know, who's included and what what you know? And because it's was new. I'm guessing that with Lake Lawrence, that those kind of issues are in terms of, like, who's included in the the rate.

But you said there's a difference in increases. I guess I'm has have have we heard any other

I have not heard, but I will double check.

Yeah. And we'll have obviously, we'll hear from the public next week. But I was just curious if our staff's been and who's our primary is it Stewart that is our primary point of kind of our season?

Season long. Yeah. And

I will say there's been a great partnership between the Lake Lawrence LMD residents and season in Environmental Health and the clerk of

the board.

So continuing that partnership is great.

I haven't gotten any. And did, and others, had some direct contact to the board about concerns about different pieces of the rate structure. I haven't had that. So think folks are kind of well.

Yeah. I'll double check. Haven't heard.

But heads up would be great if you've heard some because sometimes those can be a little complicated, honestly. Other questions on this one? Okay. The next, public hearing we'll have, thank you, is, an ordinance amending Thurston County code two zero two zero two five special meeting notices.

Thank you, chair. This is a housekeeping item. Upon the move to the atrium, staff had updated the location for, the meeting room, meeting notices, etcetera, but the location of special meetings, postings was missed. It was an oversight, so we are taking the steps to update the location of special meeting notices to here at the Atrium.

Any questions on this technical item? Okay. Very good. And that covers the review of the agenda for May 19. Next item up is a closed session pursuant to RCW 4,230 one-forty two, that portion of a meeting of a quasi judicial body which relates to a quasi judicial matter between named parties. Appeal of hearing examiner's decision regarding Convergent BESS or battery energy storage system. 30 is estimated. It's 09:29, so we'll say 10:00. And we have counsel here. I see Travis here to help the board prepare for an upcoming hearing that we have.

So we're going to be in executive session until 10AM or in closed session. Okay. It's 10:11. We have completed a closed session item three on this morning's work retention agenda, and we are there's no legislative action to be taken, preparing for a quasi judicial matter next week. And so item four is up next, future items.

And first substantive item is a proposed letter regarding salary commission that was, in our packets and attract something that was done last year. I I guess I'll turn it to county manager to frame what what this is.

Thanks so much, chair. As requested by, commissioners to have this item put on the agenda, again, to last year and based on the current budget situation where there is a deficit, we took the letter. Think I appreciate the clerk, working to put this together and for Commissioner Mejia for initiating to move this forward. Here it is for your consideration, and I'll just hand over to Commissioner Mejia to see if she has anything to add.

I think both the chair and the county manager have covered it very well. I guess the only thing I would add is just kind of in light of where we're at, just seems like a prudent approach.

Guess my only question about it is the salary commission itself. I know they got something from the sheriff, I think, that's on social media. And I see if we send this, do they just meet? I mean, do they still meet? Yes. They did that last year. And they talk about I mean, they have a right to discuss this letter and decide what to do. I mean, the reason I say that is just because the salary commission is important. It's a long term committee. We've had trouble filling certain seats when people don't feel like there's meaningful work.

I just want just curious how that this would affect them in terms of making sure that they don't feel like we're wasting their time somehow or we communicate them properly and manage their time effectively in light of these letter these requests.

Yeah. We'll work with, Maria Ponte, our HR director, who is the direct link with the Salary Commission. As last year, this information we presented, but the Salary Commission will still meet and convene and then provide something to the board after they have those meetings. Maria has done a great job of increasing their engagement and having our budget and finance manager come and present to them on the county's finances. I know last year they appreciated the learning process.

They heard from elected officials. They heard from some commissioners about everything that's going on. If this is consistent with last year, they may still provide their own perspectives to the board. And then the board has the opportunity to deliberate on those perspectives and what's submitted and then make a final recommendation decision. Clerk, anything like that?

Just to note that their first meeting is scheduled for next Monday. And regardless of the letter, they will

meet This

is good timing to get this in so that before they start doing a lot of deliberation, the board has made it clear where they're at and if it's something that is adopted by the board unanimously. And that just helps them understand the board's complete position.

So do we need a motion to adopt this?

Yes, please.

I'll move to approve the proposed letter to the salary commission regarding 2026 salary increases for elected officials.

I'll second. Second.

Okay. Motion and a second. Is there a discussion? Okay. I'll call for the vote. All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Motion carries unanimously.

So electronic signatures will be applied, and the letter will be, distributed to the Salary Commission. Thank you.

Okay. Other commissioner items? K. Hearing none, then we are adjourned. Thanks, everybody.