Heritage Commission - Regular Meeting

Online. Hi, Michelle. Hi. We may have a a surprise drop in visitor right at the beginning of the meeting. Our new director, I don't think y'all would measure it. And I mentioned I lured her in with some rice and crispy things. So Nice. She may pop in to support. What's her name? Susan.

And back to the basics with that too because with the too, he may have to email you. One of the questions we got are, what have been on the heritage or on the historic register? Like, I'm not even sure, but we need to do something fun and and simple that's like, these are the benefits. That's how you do it. So bad about answering questions, and I just walked finally did that for me about what we do. So I'm like, ugh. Alright. We're right about that. At 05:30. I share, would you like to begin the meeting?

Call the meeting to order. Yes. 05:30. Are we all We're here? No. Actually, you know, this is kind of funny. I'll need to stop sharing so I can pull up I have a a digital copy of it. One thing I don't have in front of me, I'd like. Okay. So roll call. Aaron Miller is excused today. He will not be joining. Vice chair, Hicks? Here. Commissioner Knight? Here. Oh, commissioner Knight Malek? Malek. Malek. Yay. Congratulations. Thank you.

Hey. Hello.

Perfect time. Okay. Commissioner Steadman? No. Commissioner Patrick? Here. Commissioner Becker?

Here.

Commissioner Cotter? Here. Commissioner Bowman? Here. Perfect. And commissioner Shepherd? Here. Thank you, everyone, for being here. Next on the agenda is to approve the agenda. Does anybody have any additions or anything to the agenda? And I thought we can approve that. We do a vote on this. I did not pay attention. We normally do a vote on this, and, usually, it's by consensus. And so let's see.

Here's this is the agenda that we've got shared with her, the two business items. Approval of agenda. Yeah. Could we prove that by consensus?

Oh, yeah.

Alright. Did they already get a chance to review the April minutes in the packet that you sent? Are there any corrections or discussion on that? Give you guys a few minutes to review that if you want or a second to review that. It's fairly short.

Some head nodding and other things. We're gonna prove that by consensus as well. Alright. Any public comment? No public? I see no members of the public present besides the guest for our next business item. Hi, Michelle. Anybody have any announcements? Something's going on? Things coming up?

It's that time of year, isn't it? A lot's gonna happen during the community. Because a lot happened, and it's been fun. So we'll keep going on then. Is Michelle doing the certified local government training? Correct. Wonderful. Michelle, I'll pass it over to you then.

Alright. Good deal. Hi, everybody. Alright. Let me share my screen. Oh, here. Okay.

Okay. I'm here.

Can everybody see that?

Yep.

Yep. Good. Okay. Hi. Welcome to CLG one zero one.

I'm Michelle Thompson. I am your certified local government coordinator for the state of Washington, and I'm also the main street design specialist. So I work for the main street design programs. I live in Cheney, Washington outside of Spokane, but I have lived off and on in Olympia since 1980. So here's me from about twenty five years ago outside of the Capitol Theater with some friends.

I just wanted to show you a couple. Was kinda thinking today all the places I've lived in Olympia, the Angeles, the Martin, the Rex. One of my first jobs in history actually in the late nineties was at the Lord Mansion when it was still a when it was still a museum. I worked at Bad Dorf in Bronson while it was still there, downtown for the better part of ten years. So I've got a lot of connection to Olympia and historic buildings in Olympia, and this is just a smattering of the places that I've lived.

So I work for Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation. We go by DAP, the DAP, d a h p, whatever you wanna call us. And we're located in that building, which I'm sure you all recognize across the street from the Capitol. We are located in the basement, and so which is kind of fitting for us. So, basically, anything that's old and precious, important, it's kind of worth protecting in the in the state of Washington is what we do.

So there's the built environment unit, and that's me. And then there's the state architectural historian and people that do compliance for historic preservation law, that kind of stuff. So we're all kind of, you know, qualified architectural historians, preservationists. And then there's, we have archaeologists at DAP, and then we actually have the anthropology unit too. So the state anthropologist is in there and his team. We have the human remains lab in the in DAP. So all that goes on in the basement of that of that building across from the Capitol Building. So we are a state agency. We're also known as the state historic preservation office. So every state has a State Historic Preservation Office.

So what is a CLG, Certified Local Government? It's a weird kind of title for that. Was it's been the title for that since the eighties. I wish it was something a little bit different. It's certified local government simply means that your preservation commission is certified by the National Park Service. It just doesn't really give a lot of indication with that certified local government what that means. So lots of communities have historic preservation conditions, but only a few are part of that certified local government program. So it's basically like an accreditation, and there are 60 of them currently in the state of Washington. And so you've got several around you. I think you all know this.

Thurston County itself is a certified local government. Lacey is. Several up. You know, you've got a lot of stuff kind of in your area, Gig Harbor. But And Olympia has been part of the certified local government program since, I believe, about the mid nineteen eighties. But anyway, so when you see that national park logo on stuff, it's because or that has to do with preservation. That's why the National Park Service kind of oh, they oversee preservation from the federal level. So what do you do as a CLG? There's a lot more than this. This is just kind of your basic stuff.

You do education stuff for the community, educate on preservation surveys, surveys of what buildings you have, what resources you have, their importance. You add stuff to your local historic register, the national register of historic places, the state register. You do design reviews. So when somebody applies to make a change to a building that's listed on the Olympia Heritage Register, you do a review of changes to those to those buildings. There's something called special tax valuation.

We're gonna go all over this more, and I'll send you all some follow-up materials. So don't feel like you have to memorize all of this. So special tax valuation, it's an incentive for people that are who's have a building listed on the local register, on the Olympia Heritage Register. And then you review nominations to the National Register of Historic Places. So, like, let me think, like, the armory.

I think KGY was undergoing one recently, so you all should get those kind of kicked to you to review the nominations to your to the National Register. So talking about registers, there's three possible registers you could be on in the state of Washington. There's the national register of historic places. There's the Washington State Heritage Register, and then there's your local Olympia, heritage register. So the national register is the hardest one to get on, and it doesn't actually come with any with any review of changes.

So you all do not and Britney and I have been over this a million times, we will talk about this more in the future and something that we've actually, you know, checked in with the assistant attorney general, and Britney has been wonderful. We've been working on getting a really clear answer about this. You all do not review changes to buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places or the Washington State Heritage Register. They're both, what we call honorary. So but the Olympia Register, your stuff listed on the local Olympia Heritage Register, those are the things that you all can, review changes of when you do a design review.

Something could be listed on all three of these registers, but the power to review the changes comes from it being on the Olympia heritage register. So, again, each one is is unique. It's different processes, different restrictions, different benefits. Just think of them as just totally different totally different things. If I can give you one piece of advice that I really, really, really want you to follow tonight is check out your historic preservation ordinance. I will send the link to it when I send follow-up materials. This is your go to. This is kind of all you need. This is your guidebook. Any questions that you have, this is the place to look first, then ask Britney, then ask me.

Right? Then we can kick it up if we can't figure it out. But your local historic preservation ordinance is your book to consult. There's some stuff in here. I know we're working on kind of updating. Britney and I have plans to to do that, but, really, this is where you wanna look. Certain things in your ordinance, there's a lot to it. I'm not gonna go into every single thing in your ordinance. Just know that it comes from a template, so you're covered. You've got everything in it that you need to be part of the certified local government program.

But then Olympia was able to every every community that's part of the CLG program, they can kinda massage it and make it their own. So there's lots of stuff in there that's, you know, particular to Olympia. You're all, your own your own language. So just make sure I you don't you don't need to memorize it, but make sure you're you're paying attention to it. It's what gives you your powers, and that's also what gives you your, your, restrictions for what you could do as a commission member.

So one of the things you're gonna find in there is the criteria for listing on the Olympia Heritage Register. This is just a few of them. There are several more things like, you know, was a building the site of an event? Does it have certain architectural characteristics? And this is one of the ones and we'll talk we can talk about this at a future trainings. We can talk more about this kind of stuff, but architectural characteristics. So it doesn't need to be the most perfect example of, say, you're nominating a a craftsman house or something, a craftsman style house. It doesn't need to be the best example of something that ever existed. It just needs to be a good example. Right?

It just needs to have kind of all the hallmark elements of a craftsman or whatever building you're nominating. Outstanding work of a designer, builder, building, or architect. You've got those you've got a lot of, what is I assume Joseph Wolob. I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing that correctly. You know? Those kinds of things. You've got a few architects that were practicing in Olympia. You could nominate something for that. Something that had, something to do with, like, special elements of the of the city's history, social, economic, political. This is broad for a reason.

Like, we really wanna be able to, like, include things on the local register. Because the more stuff that you include on the local register, the more stuff that you can review changes, right, and help protect because, right, the stuff that on the national register or the state register, we don't review. So that power to, like, actually review and protect stuff comes, from the Olympia register. So the Olympia register is, for all intents and purposes, much easier to get on than than the national register, the state register, but it comes with more protections. It could be a a place that has to do with the lives of somebody.

It could be all of these. It could be a few of these. You know, somebody significant lived there. But just look in your ordinance and check out all this stuff that's the criteria for being listed on the heritage register. When you're doing that design review, so when somebody is they get a they get a permit, right, and they're gonna do changes to their building that's listed on the Olympiad Heritage Register, They do a design review, and then what they're seeking is a certificate of appropriateness.

And, basically, what you all are doing is looking through guidelines to make sure that the work that they're doing is meeting these preservation guidelines. And so I was looking in Olympia's ordinance, and it's it's here's you've I've got the ordinance, the the passage from the ordinance right here, eighteen point one zero five point zero two zero. It it specifically calls out something called the secretary of the interior standards. There's some other stuff in there too that Olympia put in themselves, which is totally fine to do. The secretary of the interior standards are kind of like the universal guidelines for reviewing changes to historic buildings.

And, again, I'm gonna follow-up. I'm gonna send you all of this stuff. Don't feel like you need to seek it out. I will send it to you. And they're they're not they're they're pretty simple. They're they're meant to be from, like, you know, a shack to, like, a mansion and kind of everything in between. They're very straightforward. They're just 10 standards. And, really, what they're trying to get at is repair over replace. Right? We wanna try to keep as much as a historic material as possible. I'm not gonna go through all of the standards. You can look at those for yourself, but just know that those those are your, your guidelines for review of changes. And that you know, that just that keeps everybody happy. Right?

You've got when which just so, like, you're not saying yes to one person and no to another person when they're asking for basically the same thing. And I know and for some of you, you probably live in neighborhoods that maybe there's a a district or one of these people are your neighbors. Right? You wanna say, like, no. This is in this is in our ordinance. Right? These are the these are the standards that we use. It's fair for everybody. So a little bit about money and benefits of being part of the certified local government program. So one of the benefits, I guess, I will say as being part of the certified local government program is that I will come in and do as many trainings as you want me to.

This is, you know, ongoing relationship. You have that kind of one on one ask a preservationist. Me, other people in my in the built environment unit at DAP, you know, we'll do what we can to get you the information that you need. There's another, benefit to being part of the CLG program, and it's grants. So every year, there are grant money that we get from the federal government, which we're still waiting on right now.

They have not released it yet, so we're getting a little bit antsy about that. But you can do all kinds of cool stuff with it. So those surveys, right, you can survey, buildings, you can survey neighborhoods, you can do educational materials, like walking tours, brochures, you know, about certain neighborhoods. There's so many it's really like, if you think of cool stuff that you wanna do and that's what you should be doing as members of the commission, run it past Britney and run it past me. You know, is this something you guys could do with CLG grant money?

You can bring people in to do trainings. Like, if you wanna do a training on, like, how to do the repointing of the mortar of brick or something. You know, I'll I'll try to help you find somebody that can come in and do a training or, like, a window restoration training. You can actually hire consultants to come in and write nominations to the national register, to your local register. They you can write nominations for historic districts, preservation plans.

I think Olympia has a preservation plan, but you can have, you know, a preservation plan written. And like I said, those surveys too that you wanna do that that you could hire a you would wanna hire a preservation consultant, a qualified consultant to come in. And so what they'll do with a survey is they'll give you an individual kind of readout on every single building that's in the survey area, give you some information about it, and then spit out a report that gives you information about, like, what's eligible for what types of registers. Do you potentially have a district? You know, all this kind of cool information from a from a survey.

So that should all be covered by, the CLG grants. And so financial financial incentives. So the rule of thumb in general when you're getting financial incentives for historic buildings is it should be listed on a register. Like I said, every register has its own process, its own benefits, its own restrictions. That's not always the case.

Once in a while, something will come up that benefits a historic building that isn't on a register, but that's kind of rare. So that's why, you know, when you do those surveys, you hire a consultant to do those surveys, and then you get more stuff listed to the register. Then when, you know, grants come up or different incentives come up, your buildings are already listed on the register, and those can you know, those benefits can be passed along to the owners of the buildings. There's something called federal historic tax credits. This is a major one.

This is for income producing buildings listed on the national register of historic places. So I know, like, downtown is a national register district. So I'm thinking of, oh, there's a building downtown that was a bank years and years ago. It's kind of a mid century bank downtown, and it's been a bunch of stuff. You know?

That's one of the things that, you know, potentially, they could use federal historic tax credits for each lots of stuff in downtown. So income producing you're you know, a bed and breakfast, that kind of place, you know, in your historic districts, in your national register districts. I don't expect you to memorize how the tax credits work. I will forward you some information. We have a person, at my agency who's this is what they do.

So just get in touch with me, and I will put put you and the building owners in the right hands. Special tax valuation, I mentioned this earlier. This is a Washington state thing. This is only for buildings listed on the local register, aka for you all, the Olympia Heritage Register. So it's basically it's an adjustment to the amount of property tax you pay. It's more complicated than that. I will send you I will follow-up with this. I every time I try to explain this, I I think I just make it more complicated. It's not that complicated. But it basically what it does is not punish people for putting work into their historic buildings.

Right? Because their property taxes are going to go up, and they still will go up, but they will not go up as much if they take advantage of the special tax valuation. And these can be used for houses. So, you know, if you've got a local historic district or things individually listed on the local register, they and a person wants to do work on their historic building, this is a this is a good thing. It's not the be all end all, but it's it's a good, benefit, and why not use it? And it can end up saving people a lot of money. And in some situations, like I said, you could be on the national register and the local register. You could do federal historic tax credits. You could also do special tax valuation. You can stack a lot of this stuff and then grants too.

So these are just a couple things that we have, and sometimes grants come about usually stuff from that's on the National Register of Historic Places. But, again, you know, there's you could you can stack a bunch of the stuff. We can try to get creative. A lot of times, especially when somebody's doing a larger project for historic preservation, it's just drop by drop by drop. They get their, you know, tax credits, that kind of stuff, grants pulled together.

We have some of the stuff that might be of interest to you all. We've got the theater grants. I I I think Capital Theater's probably gotten it at some point. The, we have historic courthouse grants, historic cemetery grants. So, you know, if you're thinking there's, you know, maybe some work that might be done in one of our historic cemeteries, we have barns.

That's just probably more of a Thurston County and less Olympia City limits. But and then we work really closely with the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation. They're an advocacy program up in Seattle, and they do little grants here and there like the Savinski grant. And it's just a little bit of money, few thousand dollars, but a little bit goes a long way. So and if you ever come across something, whether it's owned by a it's it's a residence or it's it's a commercial building, you're like, oh, this is historic. It's on a register. This person needs money. Just contact me, and we'll get them. If there if there is a way to get some help, we'll find it. Couple things, resources, I think is great for you all to have.

This, a field guide to American Houses by Virginia and Lee McAllister. This is kind of, like, the go to. It's very, graphic centric. It's got all kinds of different styles of buildings.

It

goes chronologically. It's this is just a a great thing. Understanding, like, the context and why stuff looks the way that it does or, you know, if somebody's trying to replace a a feature that's no longer there and you don't have photographs, but you think maybe it was, this book can give you all kinds of help with that. So even if the commission just had, you know, a copy. And then there are the preservation briefs.

And again, this is all gonna come to you as links. I'll send to Britney. These come from the National Park Service. These are done by experts, like the top experts in the field, and these are a companion to those secretary of the interior standards that you used to do a design review. So, like, if you get stuck on historic wood windows or leaded glass or it's just, you know, really specific topics and you need more guidance, these are the, the top quality guidance that you're gonna that you're gonna wanna use. So and there's a

bunch of them. There's a

bunch of them for different stuff. So there was a new one that came out recently too on, like, alternative materials. You know? So sometimes you have stuff that isn't available anymore, and somebody wants to use something different. And, you know, this is a thing a lot of commissions have issue with, but there's guidance on that from the preservation briefs. This is my contact. That is my email and my phone number. And you are 100% welcome to and encouraged to call me or email me whenever you'd like. Any question. No question too big or too small.

Yeah. And if, you know, in the future, I was thinking, you know, if you want to, we can do another training, like, specifically on doing, like, a design review. How do you do review of changes using those secretary of the interior standards? Anything you want, really. You know, I can do a a training on architectural styles. I can make it, you know, very specific to Olympia or a neighborhood, that kind of thing. So I'm always here for for a phone call or an email. And, oh, and I I have a listserv that I send out all kinds of cool stuff, grants and tips and all kinds of stuff. And so if you would like to be added to that, go ahead and email me here or just let Britney know. And, give me your email, and I'll add you to that.

Just there's a lot of kinda little bits of information on there that are helpful. So that is what I have for you. And does anybody have any questions?

Question? Right. And I find coincidence today earlier, I talked to capital savings and loan because they're interested in, pursuing federal historic tax credits, and special tax violation. Really? Okay. Yeah. Is should I connect you with them directly, or is there any details that I can pass along in advance to them?

You are total yeah. You can pass along any details you have, Britney, if you want to, and then you can put them in touch with me. And then I'll get on it with our tax credit person and talk about it's listed on the local register. Is that right?

It's listed on the national register.

Okay. They'd wanna be listed on the local register to to do special tax valuation, but national register at least. I know there's been inquiry in the past about federal historic tax credits. So and that building is I know it's in your historic National Register Register Historic District. So, yeah, whatever you wanna pass along, but feel free to just put them in contact with me. That's great.

Great. Sounds good. Thank you.

Yeah. That'd be great. I love that. It's been a lot of things over the years. I remember when it was a bank.

State of the field kind of question, which is, I'm, at least your examples of the criteria for, preservation are largely individual, like individual significance of a building because of an individual that either lived there or was the architect, etcetera. Are there sort of socially significant criteria, if that makes does that question make sense?

Yep. That's a great question. So at the national level, this is always kind of a push and pull conversation that we're that we're having definitely. The push is, know, it's coming from kind of us and there's, you know, kind of back and forth with the National Park Service. Then in terms of Olympia's own ordinance, your local ordinance, this is what I was kinda trying to get at.

You have a lot of power and you have a lot of room to add what you wanna add. And so even as the criteria right now for listing on the Olympia Heritage Register, it has more things added to it than the National Register criteria. So you all did you all did that. And Spokane did a I'll send I'll send this in in my follow-up. It recently added a criteria to their register. It was like intangible heritage or something. That's a a larger conversation that we're having right now for sure. So, no, that's a that's a great question, and I'll send you exactly what Spokane did on that. So just, again, trying to be more inclusive. Obviously, we don't wanna put every, you know, every it's it's significant in its own way.

We don't wanna put everything on the register. But, yes, there is a large conversation about how do we be more inclusive and add more things. So and Spokane's been been leading that.

Thank you.

Good great question. Yeah. And and also to it, while I'm while I'm at it with Spokane, the person that runs the Spokane Historic Preservation Office, they're a CLG just like you, but they have a preservation office. She was in my position for, like, twenty years. So if you ever have, like, hey.

We wanna document or an example or whatever, look at Spokane's historic preservation web page. They are also they're always, like, a gold standard. You can you can steal directly from them too. I mean, if you wanted to pull their intangible heritage criteria, you are totally welcome to do that, and I know they even encourage it. So I know that Olympia has things like even like where like the like, Chinatown was and, like, you know, there are just there are lots of things like that that that could definitely be something that you pursued with that.

I have a question to follow-up on. Yeah. I've been getting requests about historically relevant things into themes. Is What? Like, different themes. Like, so music is Mhmm. Very big here.

Sure. Yep. I

know. Yeah. Yeah. Do you think that amending our criteria and encouraging more diverse types of listings would be appropriate, or would it Yeah.

Britney, for sure. So, like, that's one of the things, like Olympia has certain things that are are really unique. Right? Just like any places, but, like, Olympia maybe in particular. You've got, you know, things like maritime history, that kind of thing. But, like, the music, the significance of the music history that came out of there, I mean, that's no joke. Right? Like so, like, actually having, like, a criteria for listing, that kind of stuff on the local register is something you could totally do

Thank you.

And would be cool. Yeah. And there are a few people. Like, there's somebody that I know works for think she works for the state library system. Know that have been heavily involved in that for decades. And so you can always ask me. I can put you in touch with people a few. You all probably know some of that stuff too. But Something like the the library was doing, like, oral histories and that kind of stuff. The Olympia Library is probably a pretty good resource for that kind of stuff too.

I would love to learn about that contact person that you have. So I'll I'll send you a note to get connected. Sure.

Yeah. There's a couple people I can think of, actually.

Yeah.

Any I mean, anything, like, again, you know, like, maritime. I mean, if you wanted to do something like that in particular, you know, the the ordinance, again, like, the the template covers the basics. So you are, you know, meeting the standards for the program, but you can massage it in a lot of ways and make it your own, and we would encourage that for sure.

Do heritage or historic registers ever have, like, categories? Because I feel like a lot of things I've seen have been architectural or significant sites. But do you know of any other CLGs that might have, like, a niche other type of listing?

Not necessarily. I mean, other than kind of things like maritime heritage, that kind of thing. I'd love to see more of it. There's no reason why you know, a lot of these ordinances were written, you know, in the in the eighties. So they don't necessarily include a lot of stuff like that that, you know, even places like, you know, Seattle or, you know, Aberdeen to be obvious.

It would make a lot of sense to have to have that, but, like, Olympia in particular. I I think I think that's a wonderful idea. Because you guys are doing like, I've been season stuff, like, where people are doing, like, tours and stuff of those of those places, and it just it's amazing.

And there's a group that has been focusing on walking tours. And if you stay for the report out for the committees, you'll hear some neat updates from Melissa. But, yeah, there's a lot of really very cool people and different groups that are all kinda getting right now. So, yeah, a opportunities. Lot

That's cool. And, you know, in documenting that stuff where the people are still around that remember where that stuff was. I mean, it's just like any other kind of oral history. You know? I mean, it might seem a little funny, but, like, it is. I mean, it's just any other oral history and getting it. Like I said, you know, when people are still around that actually remember those places is great because there are definitely lots of people still there and fun. I think that's I just I think that's cool, especially for somewhere like Olympia.

I'll have questions in response to those contacts with the library. I'll I'll keep this conversation going.

Yeah. For sure. I'll put you in touch. Yeah. I'd like to I'd love to do that.

Anything else? Questions specific?

You you should be having fun on the commission. You you know, when you do, like, subcommittees and groups and stuff, do stuff that you're like, hey. This is, like, why I joined the commission because I was interest you're all all here because you, you know, we all have this thing, you know, where we find that stuff cool. You know, go after go after what that is.

Yeah. I it is really neat to see. There's a lot of new interest with the new group in chemistry of the commissioners that we've got right now. And so I think you will be seeing new things from us in the future, a lot of community outreach and more engagement opportunities. Yeah. If really, you should stay for the report outs. We did a lot

of cool stuff

recently. Actually, my husband's coming home, and we're gonna go hiking or a little bit. So I'm sorry. I can't see what I will read the minutes and see what you're up to, and you can let me know too if there's you wanna email me and let me know if there's anything. And I'll be there at some point too, Britney. I'll let you know too. I know I keep saying this, but we're on a travel freeze right now for the state, but, like, my mom lives in Olympia. So I'll be there at some point. I mean, you will too. I mean, if you ever wanted to do, like, you know, a walking tour and just ask about, like, certain buildings or neighborhoods or whatever, like, you know, I could come.

I could bring other state architectural historian. Michael is fabulous at that kind of stuff and loves doing it. So, I mean, you know, anything like that, really, like, make it make it fun. And, yeah, I'll let I'll let you know, Britney, when when I'm in town or, like like I said, if you wanna do, like, a style architectural styles, we wanna dig more into those some of those financial incentives, you know, whatever you want. And there's no limit on how often we can do this kind of stuff. So

Very cool. Yeah. Thank you so much for being our guest today. It was a lovely presentation, and I hope everyone learned something or rediscovered something that details on the

I'll send the presentation too along with those links and other stuff I said I'd send. But thanks, everybody, for protecting my favorite place.

Thank you for your thank you for your focus on fun too. We we need to move into some of that fun again and play

around. Have

some fun.

If this isn't fun, you should be doing it. Yes.

This is this is this is meant

to be fun. Yep. Thanks, everybody. Thanks so much. Bye.

Right. Open public meetings, actually. Okay. So this I know we just said we're gonna have tons of fun. But

This is the exception for that.

This is the one time it's gonna be kind of informational and less fun. So I have the video pulled up so we can all watch it and sort of start fresh with our OPMA trainings. It is an eighteen minute video. If anyone we just finished presentation. If anyone online or in the room needs to take, like, a five minute break, I think we could. Otherwise, we can just dive right in, but it's

I just need to get a nice crispy treat. Okay.

I'll pull it up. It's very informational.

Can't watch TV without a treatment. Yeah. But you know I was thinking of these all week.

Okay. Yeah.

K. We've got 18 of rice crispy treats.

Has to sing it. Slowly. Matt. Yes. Thank you. I'm like, where's? Okay. For those who are technologically savvy, sharing my audio, Where is that? Can

I think you just run it, don't you? Nope.

No sound. Let's see. Sorry. Okay. Maybe we are taking a break

by accident.

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Hello. I'm assist Hello.

Okay. Sorry. We're fumbling through this. I realize that the sound and sharing in the same room is gonna be weird. Give me a second to pull it up on this other computer.

Apologies, everyone. No worries. Oh, my notes are gonna check. Give me a second. Okay. I hope everyone's ready for fun. Hello.

I'm assistant attorney general Morgan Damerow. This training provides an overview of the Open Public Meetings Act. It's intended for both the public and public agencies. Our purpose in this training is to provide a greater understanding of the legal requirements of the Open Public Meetings Act.

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around the corner. Right? Down there.

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Is it the video is in. It's not.

The act was passed in 1971, a time of a nationwide effort to make government affairs more accessible and more responsive. The purpose of the act is to provide the public concerning the contact of state and local government.

The law is based on

the principle that open government is essential to our free society. The Open Public Meetings Act gives the people of Washington state the opportunity to witness the deliberations and decisions of government. More recently, that's included an opportunity to provide public comment as part of that process. Multimember governing bodies of state and local agencies such as school boards, city and county councils, and state commissions must comply with the Open Public Meetings Act. The law states that it is intended that the actions of these governing bodies be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted in an open manner.

Meetings subject to the act must be open to the public, gavel to gavel, unless the law permits a meeting or part of that meeting to be closed. Thank you for watching, and I hope you find this training informative. This training's purpose is to increase your knowledge of the Open Public Meetings Act. The OPMA is in chapter forty two thirty of the RCWs, and this training incorporates updates from the twenty twenty two legislative session. This training video contains 15 short segments.

We just discussed section one, the history, and section two, the purpose of the act. The remaining segments, will review the scope of the OPMA, what is a governing body, what is a meeting, what is action and final action, travel and gathering, regular meetings, special meetings, remote meetings. We'll also talk about executive sessions, public attendance and comment, minutes, liability, as well as other laws and provide some additional resources to assist you. The act has several clear requirements and compliance with them is improved with training. Training can mean the difference between meeting your agency's OPMA obligations and expensive litigation.

The act applies to governing bodies of multi member public agencies, both state and local. At the state level, public agency includes state boards, commissions, committees, departments, educational institutions, or other state agencies which is created by or pursuant to statute. Public agency does not include the courts or the legislature. For local governments, public agency includes any county, city, school district, special purpose district, or other municipal corporation or political subdivision of the state of Washington. Examples of these include city councils, county councils, school boards, and fire district boards.

Public agency may also include a sub agency of public agency which is created by or pursuant to statute, ordinance, or other legislative act. A good example of these includes planning commissions, library of park boards, or commissions. A final group is any policy group whose membership includes representatives of publicly owned utilities formed or pursuant to Washington laws when meeting together or as or on behalf of participants who have contracted for the output of generating plants being planned or built by an agency operating them. In some cases, an entity which is not an agency may still be subject to the OPMA when it is the functional equivalent of a public agency. This determination depends on whether it performs a governmental function, receives governmental funding, the extent of governmental involvement or regulation, and whether the entity was created by government.

Some activities of public agencies are not subject to the OPMA. They include certain licensing and permitting activities, quasi judicial matters, matters governed by the Washington State Administrative Procedures Act, and certain collective bargaining activities. All meetings of the governing body of a public agency shall be open, and the public and all persons shall be permitted to attend any meeting of the governing body of the public agency except as otherwise provided in the OPMA, such as during a declared emergency. A governing body is defined as a multi member board, commission, committee, council, or other policy or rule making body of a public agency, or any committee thereof when the committee acts on behalf of the governing body, conducts hearings, takes testimony, or public comment. Agencies governed by an individual, such as a single director, are not subject to the OPMA.

Meeting means meetings at which action is taken. Physical presence of the members is not required. A meeting can occur by phone or in some cases by email. I will talk more about email exchanges later in this training. A meeting does not need to be titled meeting. The OPMA also applies to retreats, workshops, and study sessions. In order for there to be a meeting, there must be a quorum of the governing body. A meeting does not occur if there is no quorum. We have talked about the fact that the OPMA applies to a governing body at a meeting. In order to qualify as a meeting, the governing body must take action.

Action means the transaction of the official business of a public agency by a governing body, including but not limited to receipt of public testimony, deliberations, discussions, considerations, reviews, evaluations, and final action. A subset of action is final action. Final action means a collective positive or negative decision or any actual vote by a majority of the members of a governing body when sitting as a body or an entity upon a motion, proposal, resolution, order, or ordinance. Final actions must occur in public. Secret ballots are not allowed.

A majority of the members of a governing body may travel together or gather for purposes other than regular meetings or special meetings so long as no action is taken. And remember, action includes discussion of agency business. This means a quorum of members can travel to a meeting together or they can gather at a public or private event such as a festival or social function so long as they do not collectively discuss agency business or matters. In the next segments, we are going to talk about the types of meetings where a governing body may meet. The first is regular meetings.

Regular meetings are recurring meetings held in accordance with a periodic schedule by ordinance, resolution, bylaws, other rule. State agencies file these notices of regular meetings each year with the office of the code reviser. Regular meeting agendas are to be posted online on an agency's website twenty four hours in advance. A special purpose district or city or town is not required to post an agenda online if the agency has an aggregate valuation of property in the taxation district of less than 400,000,000, a population of less than 3,000, and provides confirmation to the state auditor when filing its annual report that the cost of posting notices to a website would exceed one tenth of 1% of the agency's budgets. These provisions exempting very small agencies changed in 2022.

Certain notice requirements are required for special meetings. These include written notice twenty four hours in advance of the meeting, provided to members of the governing body unless waived. The notice must be provided to local newspapers, radio, and TV stations that have a request on file with the agency. The notice must also be posted on the agency's website if it has a website. There is an exception for very small agencies.

Agencies with no FTEs or with no one whose job responsibilities either by job description or by contract with the responsibility to maintain or update the agency's website. The notice must be prominently displayed at the main entrance site and the meeting site unless the meeting is being held as a remote meeting or one where some or all members of the public are limited due to declared emergency. The remote meeting provisions are new, and we'll be addressing those in just a moment. The notice must specify the time, place, and business to be transacted. Unlike regular meetings where the agenda may be changed and final action taken on a matter which was added to the agenda, Under special meetings provisions, the governing body is prohibited from taking final action on any issue not on the original notice.

There is an exception to the notice requirement for emergency special meetings. Those are meetings involving injury or damage to persons or property or the likelihood of injury or damage, where time requirements make notice impractical and increase the likelihood of injury or damage. New in the OPMA through the 2022 amendments are provisions addressing a governing body holding remote meetings. After the declaration of emergency by a local or state government or agency or by the federal government and the agency determines that it cannot hold a meeting of the governing body with members of the public in attendance with reasonable safety, the agency may either hold an all remote meeting without a physical location or hold a meeting with the governing body present but some or all of the public excluded. In either of these instances, the agency must provide an option for the public to listen telephonically or by using a readily available alternate means in real time, such as an available television cable broadcast or the Internet.

Any option selected may not require any additional cost to access the program. If the agency does not provide an option, the agency is prohibited from taking action, except for an executive session as authorized under the OPMA. If your agency is holding an all remote meeting, with some or all of the public excluded, the notice of the meeting must include instructions on how the public may listen live to the meeting. An agency that held some of its regular meetings remotely prior to 03/01/2020 may continue to do so with no declared emergency so long as the agency provides an option for the public to listen as required for emergency remote meetings. Up to now, we've been talking about all the requirements to ensure openness and transparency.

Under the OPMA, there are enumerated instances where the governing body may convene outside of the public's view in executive session or if the governing body is discussing matters not subject to the OPMA. An executive session may occur as part of a regular or special meeting. The grounds for holding an executive session are limited to the purposes listed in the OPMA and are narrowly construed. The purpose of the executive session and the time it will end must be publicly announced before excluding the public, and the time can be extended by further announcement. Examples of purposes include certain real estate transaction discussions, reviewing negotiations on publicly bid contracts, evaluating the qualifications of an applicant for public employment, and meeting with legal counsel regarding enforcement actions, litigation, or potential litigation.

The OPMA provides a list of authorized executive session purposes at RCW forty two thirty one ten. An agency must carefully follow the law when meeting in an executive session. For example, when meeting in an executive session under the OPMA to discuss agency enforcement actions, litigation, or potential litigation, there are three requirements. First, legal counsel representing the agency must be present. Second, the purpose is to discuss an agency enforcement action, litigation, or potential litigation to which the agency, governing body, or a member acting in official capacity is a party or is likely to become a party.

And finally, public knowledge regarding the discussion is likely to result in an adverse legal or financial consequence to the agency. Remember, an agency can discuss only those matters in an executive session under the OPMA that it has told the public it would discuss. The members cannot talk about other topics in that executive session. In addition to an executive session, a public agency can have a closed meeting to discuss matters not subject to the OPMA, such as deliberating on a quasi judicial matter or collective bargaining. Other laws may provide additional procedures or authority for particular meetings or hearings to be closed to There may be additional laws for particular agencies as well.

As we discussed, all meetings of the governing body of a public agency shall be open in public, and all persons shall be permitted to attend any meeting of the governing body of a public agency except as otherwise provided in the OPMA. An agency also cannot place conditions on attendance such as requiring persons to register their names or fill out a questionnaire before attending. This provision does not prohibit any generally applicable condition determined by the governing body to be reasonably necessary to protect public health or safety or to protect against interruption of the meeting, including a meeting at which the physical attendance by some or all members of the public is limited due to a declared emergency. As noted, email or phone call discussions amongst members of a governing body can be a meeting under the OPMA. But the purpose of the OPMA is to permit the public to attend and observe agency meetings.

So when the public is unable to attend email or phone call discussions that are meetings under the OPMA, the act has been violated. Recent amendments to the OPMA make it clear members of a governing body can participate in meetings remotely with no declared emergency. However, public attendance must be maintained. In doing so, it is generally agreed that public notice procedures must be satisfied and the agency has to set up a process for the public to attend, such as a speakerphone available at the agency's official meeting location so the public can hear the discussion. In contrast, since an email exchange amongst the quorum of the members of a governing body is not open to the public, Such an exchange in which an action is taken is a meeting that would violate the OPMA.

And remember, action is broadly defined. It is very difficult to envision a way in which those email exchanges comply with public notice or attendance requirements for a regular or special meeting. One of the 2022 changes to the OPMA is a requirement that public agencies receive public comment at or before every regular meeting at which final action is taken. The 2022 amendments allow agencies to accept public comment either by written format or orally. If the governing body chooses written public comment, it can be submitted before or at the meeting.

Any written comment received must be distributed to the governing body. The governing body may set reasonable deadline for submission prior to the meeting. The oral comment option is very similar to what many agencies were doing voluntarily before the 2022 amendments. Agencies can put reasonable procedures in place to allow for public comment. This may include limits to the time available for public comment or limit comment to those topics on the agenda.

However, a governing body may also choose to accept public comment on any topic. If oral public comment is taken by the governing body, it shall, when feasible, provide an option for remote public comment for individuals that have difficulty attending. Difficulty attending may be due to a disability, limited mobility, or for any other reason that makes physical attendance difficult. A governing body is not required to accept public comment that renders orderly conduct of the meeting unfeasible. The OPMA has procedures for dealing with disruptions where orderly conduct of the meeting is unfeasible.

The minutes of all regular and special meetings, except executive sessions of such boards, commissions, agencies, or authorities, shall be promptly recorded, and such records shall be opened for public inspection. The OPMA does not require an audio or video recording of a meeting. Many agencies choose to do so. Public agencies are encouraged through the 2022 amendments to make audio or video recordings of meetings or to provide an online streaming option of all regular meetings of the governing body and to make any recordings that the agency does make available online for a minimum of six months. Violations of the OPMA can result in a lawsuit against an agency and its members.

A court can impose a $500 civil penalty as personal liability against each member who knowingly violates the OPMA and a thousand dollar penalty for a subsequent knowing violation. A court can also declare any action taken at a meeting not held in compliance with the OPMA null and void. And a court will award costs and attorney's fees to a successful party seeking a remedy under the OPMA. To recap, this presentation covers the highlights of the OPMA. Public agencies may be subject to other laws governing other particular meetings, hearings, procedures.

Some agencies have particular laws that govern their meetings as well. Like the OPMA, the laws concerning agency meetings and hearings can also be amended from time to time. Therefore, agencies are cautioned to be mindful of all current laws concerning their meeting and hearing procedures. Thank you for watching the Attorney General's OPMA training. For more information, there are available resources for agencies to receive training and technical assistance for compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act. An official should first consult with this agency's counsel for routine assistance and training. Additional resources are listed on this website. The assistant attorney general for open government is also available to provide information about the Open Public Meetings Act.

Come on back, Liz.

Yay. Congrats, everyone. You are now trained. You're Feels so well. Trained. Yeah. I am I I don't wanna sound school teacher y, but I am genuinely curious. With the two trainings that you just saw, are there any points that stood out that were like, oh, I didn't know that, or, oh, that's kinda neat. So I think watching the CLG presentation for the second time for me, it was nice to be able to follow along a little bit differently and kinda know more about the processes. So I know that that that was the first time for both of you to see the CLG training, but everyone else had a previous presentation last year.

Yeah. Anyone have any discussion points, things like that?

I didn't realize the discussion was explicitly prohibited. That seems a little extreme, but it's probably for a reason.

That's definitely why I will b c c when I send things out to everyone because hitting reply all, I know. Sense. Yeah. But

Yeah. The email one is always a nice reminder.

Fair enough.

I could have had some background music or some movement in the background. Okay. Maybe turn the volume up every once in while to get to. Thought he had very sad eyes. Oh. You look so sad.

I'm a little curious online. Can you hear there's, like, a peeping noise, like a chirping?

Oh, okay. Chirping. Do you hear a chirping? I thought it someone's chair.

Oh, is it someone's chair? I thought it was a bird. It was a bird. Either way. It was always nice to see Michelle. He's got huge energy.

It was the squeaking of rice crispy treats. Mhmm.

And then let's move on to the workforce. We can start with policy ordinance. Guidelines. Guidelines. Guidelines. Guidelines. Yeah. I'm doing good today. Did Bob meet at all or have any updates?

No. We haven't since the last time.

It does sound like after Michelle's presentation and discussion points, like, I will I'll try to have a meeting for June or just to see when the next availability is to get the group together because, yeah, fun opportunities to brainstorm and get some discussion going.

Yeah. Definitely.

And just out of curiosity, who's who's on the pod?

Bill is the subcommittee chair, And then Eleanor is in, Garner. Are you there?

I don't think I'm on that one. I don't remember. Might be. I don't think so.

I can I have a formal list I can look at? But so that group I guess for for the two new folks, Bill, do you wanna give a very brief this is what POG does so that we can advertise the subcommittees?

Yeah. I think at, like, the highest level, the pod committee is concerned with reviewing and, you know, making potential updates to things like policy. We worked on the the Heritage Commission's bylaws recently. Britney made a bunch of updates to that, and and we worked through some of them as well as proposed updates to the city code. So I think going through a lot of those types of things and trying to think about, do they reflect what we want them to reflect?

And and if not, what changes may we want to make? And I think Britney's right. We can have probably have a really good discussion about, like, heritage criteria and are there particular aspects of Olympia that are really unique that we may wanna capture in those criteria in in a different way than perhaps they have in the past. But, yeah, that's that's kind of what we're thinking about.

Heritage Review? Sorry. Was that oh, good. Yeah. So Heritage Review? Also did not meet. Did not meet? Okay. And Gordon's on that one. Right? Sorry. Stephanie? Yes. Gary is on Heritage Review. So is Steven, Eleanor, Garner.

I think there's four. Think that's it. Yeah. And I guess, I'm not sure if Garner had chatted with you, but I remember the last meeting, he kind of brought it up. So and, oh, and you're a fill in too, a substitute. Yeah.

Well, we can't get too many or we're meeting.

Yeah. Those get publicly noticed, though. So I actually do have to process a full

Oh, okay.

Thing to meet on-site for those meetings. More committee? Okay. Not long on that one.

The marketing and outreach committee is for marketing and outreach. I'm hoping that some of you will be interested. You know, folks, it's just Stacy and I at the moment. Let's see. We have met. We have we have we met as a group since the Arts Walk?

No. No.

We had an amazing turnout at Arts Walk. We had a table there, and we did a craft project with some of the kids that came through.

It was almost, what, 200? I don't remember the details, but there were

But we had a good showing of commissioners that came out and helped with manning the table, and it was fun. It was I really felt like a part of the community in a minute. Yeah. And what else has happened?

Sorry. I'm sharing my full screen. Oh, this is a terrible I always do this. I'm sorry, everyone. I need to there we go. So those are the cute little ones participating. Do you wanna explain the craft activity for those who weren't able to be present?

Oh, sure. Yeah. We just we had paper bags, and we made little houses. We the windows were already cut out. Some of them were already colored for kids that didn't have the skills to do all the coloring. And then the other ones that were already cut out were they were able to color, and we have markers for them to color them. I don't know the background.

Yeah. But just kid lying.

I'm look at the background. It's okay. I'm a little curious. Right? Oh, yeah. He's just resting. It's okay.

Oh, okay. That makes no sense now.

Oh, good eye. Good eye.

Yeah. It was pretty fun. And some of the kids left their little houses behind, so we have we have some of them that we get to keep forever and ever, and some of them took them home with them.

I would say kids, but it was really, also all ages. Had adults doing it. Garner made a fabulous one that was very exact, you know, as an architect. That was our one count from one day. Mhmm. It's great. 40. Yeah. It was really awesome to see people approaching the booth to even just ask about historic preservation without the, like, allure of the craft activity. They were just interested community members.

It was really cool. Had to sign up then, said who we are, and we had a few brochures out the back of the paper bags too. Brittany made stickers with our QR code that goes to our website on there. We put those on the back of the houses as well for future information. I think it highlights too, how we present material to the public because they would ask questions, and I'm like, I don't even know. Let me make something up. You know, the basic one, what are the benefits of the historic register? So having more materials that are a little more simplistic, but just answer some of those questions, what the journey is through that. But, yeah, it was it was really fun. I was there for both days.

I think Melissa was too. Michael came down in Garner. It was just fun. And Eleanor also. And Eleanor. Yeah. Yeah. There's a 140 kids, I think, on Saturday, and Friday night was, like, another 60, I think, 50 or 60. So and those were just people making houses. That wasn't people just talking to us. That was just people making houses. So and we went through, I think, all the bags and all the rooftops, and we were we were pretty empty by the end of it. So If anyone has photos that they took while they were there of the event and you wanna send them to me, I can include them in the I have some really cute pictures. Yeah. Of course. So

the next thing that we're working on is we're getting our workshop series underway. We're I don't know how much you guys know about this, but we're developing a a workshop series for historic property owners. And the first one is gonna be about windows. Pretty exciting. But it's it's really about cyclical maintenance of historic buildings because, you know, it's a lot to take care of an older building, and there's a specific skill set and particular information that's helpful.

And I think it'd be helpful even for people like me that are new to the area that think things like morning glory are a beautiful plant, and we don't realize that it's very invasive. You shouldn't let it grow and go to seed. So, yeah, just things like that, things about things specific to our locale, but also specific to historic buildings. And we're our venue right now that we're looking that we're trying to get is Lincoln Elementary School.

And we actually had someone reach out to us. I was interested in doing this workshop leading it. Right? Yes. Is that what I understand? So we're working with them, and Melissa is working with them at Lincoln about getting that Yes. Together.

So that could come up pretty quick because the the person that wants to do the presentation is thinking in June. And, I mean, obviously, it's gonna be right? Right. It's gonna be, sort of trial by fire. Like, we'll we'll figure out the format that works best as it's happening, I guess.

Are you able to do a mass mailing of any kind to people on the register?

So we don't have a budget.

Okay. Can't just bake

it up,

cinnamon, put them in the outbox?

I know the grants they talked about. That might be a way for us to get a budget. We don't have a budget. I think there are, like, 700 plus properties that are either individual listed or in a district.

Right.

I think applying for a grant, yeah, would be a great idea to do a mailer. I also would be very open to collecting email addresses if people wanted to subscribe to some sort of a mailing list, and then we could send things out that way. Yeah. Right now, I believe if I had a historic preservation thing to send out, it would go with the arts culture heritage newsletter. So anyone out there watching, please subscribe to that newsletter.

I think we can also reach out to some of the historic neighborhoods. Like, I know my neighborhood, the Big Low the historic Big Low neighborhood, we have our own

Mailing list.

Right. We have our own

Yes. Yeah. Mhmm. That's a good point.

So I think I think we can reach out to them. Like I said, this first one's gonna be a little maybe a little rushed just because of the timing of everything. It's it's kinda hard to find that first venue and get it all set

up. I also the more time in advance we know of the meetings, I can send it to our communications team to see what they can do to share the event out. So I think the nice

thing about the neighborhood associations too is there's been a lot of really cool, old historic buildings that I have been in. I did the holiday home tour. I was a docent for that. And the building that I was in wasn't even on the register. And I can walk through my neighborhood and tell you about when each building was built, and there none of those are on the register.

So I think it's gonna be another opportunity for us to do outreach for disseminating information about getting on the register and the value in that and what the process is. And so it's it's it's for historic buildings. They may or may not be on the register yet, but it's just information that I think will be good for somebody that has an older house.

Or or, especially homes, for buildings and buildings. We don't have to wait for them to come to us. Right? Can't we go to them? Mhmm. So that's an average thing.

Yeah.

Just get them with a little brochure or something. I don't know.

Mhmm. That could be a potential for another mailer too in the future too. Just hit the city with it.

And I just volunteered at Habitat for Humanity, helping them with some little things they're putting out for some neighborhoods that they're doing work in, and it's they put, like, a little hole punch with a rubber band and Yeah. Put it on all the doorknobs of the neighbors that these people are moving in with. Something like that could work.

Yeah. I I mean, if that's something that this group is interested in, I'm happy to help or, like, do logistics and coordination to, you know, assist. However, that is my role as your staff liaison. But I do also think reaching out to the neighborhood associations. There are existing groups that do have networks, and then maybe see where there's gaps and then more schedules to be out too, compared to their annual meetings and stuff too. So, potentially speaking.

And if we do have some sort of brochure, places like the library and coffee shops, people are always standing there staring at those well, I do.

I stare at the board.

So I'm like, what's going on? Over by San Francisco bakery, that cool board, I'm always checking that out. What's going on? So it'd be nice to be able to put some stuff like that. Right? Yeah.

Speaking of canvassing and walking around, as part of the same, I guess, efforts for outreach, Gonna share my screen again. We have some fun photos.

Oh my gosh. I'm not in these photos, am I? You sure are.

Okay. It was wonderful. Wanted to be in the back row, but I

ended up in front. So

Okay. Is this big enough to see

Just set it as your background.

Well, so the walking tours for preservation month that there was a day that the Olympia Historical Society Bagel House Museum and the Olympia Arts and Heritage Alliance and the Heritage Commission led three different walking tours of historic downtown. And so this is certain pictures from that day. That first shot was at the the Oleaha new potential gallery space that's in the works and where the old bittersweet chocolate was. Oh. Oh.

Yeah, I think very soon, that would be where the hub for future walking tours would be. Not all of them would be historic, but there's a lot of historic walking tours that exist that they'll probably be able to utilize. So here's just some photos from that day. Melissa was a really great tour guide, and I think that the group had a lot of fun. Sorry. I had to cancel last time. Totally okay. I think that, hopefully, this will just be the beginning to more outreach and more events.

Do we

have a Facebook group by chance?

We don't. And, I don't know if I could manage an active Facebook account. I know the city has one. Do you mean for the Heritage Commission? Yeah. Would this be

I just asked because it's basically free advertisement. Mhmm. Mhmm. But, I mean, you can post on, like, public events and stuff like that without having to incur a cost. Mhmm. Mhmm.

Yeah. There's the other one too that's for different events. What's it called? Not Eventbrite, something like that, where you can do local events and people can sign up and but it's not Facebook, so you don't have to deal with the whole social media part. It's just for event planning.

Don't know what the name of that is. If you remember, let me know. But

Well, there's always the next door stuff.

Mhmm. Yeah.

Mine is

there's too much

drama in there. I guess I would I would be a little wary because read the Yeah. The city has

It's mostly about lost dogs.

Oh. It is Eventbrite. About lost dogs.

Eventbrite is the name of it. And but the thing is, I don't know if you've ever noticed this. We have so many, like, interesting emails that go out, like, the arch and the and there's, like, so many different ones, but sometimes they don't really they're not all, like, synced up.

For, like, the scheduling of them?

Well, not just the scheduling. Just, like, they don't know about each other's events.

Oh, I wanna say that each of those newsletters has an email address, and so staff will send things to their respective ones. So it makes sense that Things were getting better. It's all outgoing, but not a lot of

viewing because, like, I I I typed in local events and experience Olympia came up, Eventbrite, the Olympian, City of Olympia, Thurston Talk. So there's a lot of different places like that that are just local, and those the emails go out every week every week at least. Sometimes I feel like I get them more often, but they tell you what's coming up.

I'll reach out to see if there's any guidance on

Media.

Media. I know that they are very there's like a I've seen a media release form because I think in the past, someone tried to have a historic Instagram. I don't know if that ever actually happened. I just saw the form in my computer.

Well, just make the group and tell them it's not you.

This is a recording. But I'll I'll ask. I'll find out what's possible and or if they recommend that you as commissioners individually could comment as yourselves with, you know, representing the commission. I don't know.

Last minute, like, it couldn't be part of, like, the subcommittee for outreach. I mean, that's the whole point. Right?

Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah.

I'll Oh, not in on that.

I don't do social media.

I'm sorry. It's not my thing.

But, yeah, you know, in the last six weeks, we've probably done more outreach than we have in years too. We've never table at Arts Walk.

Thanks, Tracy. What? Thank you. Yes.

For making that happen. What? For Just For saying that. Yeah. No. We we have. I'm like, I know Melissa was worried sometimes, and it's

just like I just Well, I don't wanna open a whole social media can of worms.

Which is fine. Yeah. But I will

also

I'll double down on that. A lot of people have been mentioning to me as a staff person, like, oh, that was really neat. We haven't seen them at Earthwalk or, oh, that's really neat to just hear activity from the group. I think We're we're doing good work. Yeah.

Yeah. I think

what the bottom line is for planning.

Me too is, like, I've been becoming more involved, like, through Habitat with human for humanity and, family support services, places like that. And I'm like, this is what our group is doing. You know? Like, I tell other people that may or may not have a direct connection to us. But for me, outreach is also, like, being out in the community and trying to make connections that way, just like with the thing. Like, I got to I got to meet the previous mayor and hang out with her, and she's super cool.

It's cool. And she is lovely. One more marketing and outreach thing. The MORE committee generally does preservation awards for reservation month. Although we didn't do awards this year, we still had the proclamation that went to city council earlier this month. And so the picture up there, it was very neat. We had a lot of different groups show up. Folks from the commission, thank you for your attendance. And we also have folks from the Bigelow House Museum, Olympia Historical Society, from Window Seat Media who does oral histories. They're actively collecting stories.

The Olympia Music History Project who also is doing a lot of oral history and digitization work. And then Mary Grace, the previous historic preservation officer, is in the photo, which is really lovely. Council had really nice things to say about the work that y'all are doing. So if you haven't already seen it, watch the recording. It's it's doable. Here's the proclamation. Yay. It looks so fancy. It does look fancy. Yeah.

Suitable for framing.

But I think that's that's all the the fun stuff to Speaking of outreach too. I don't know if you saw, but it was in the jolt last night too. Oh. Yeah. There was a headline with us and comments from the event and stuff too, so I could send you a link to that as well. Yeah. Please do. I'll include that in the the mail or the recap email. Yeah. That's sweet. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's been a busy month with walking tours and ArtsWalk. I'm hoping we can keep Arts Walk going and be there in October as well. Oh, yes. For

sure. It's it's it's an easy kind of

an easy lift because it's right there with the city, and we're right in the heart of it too. So thinking of projects and coming out and with us too, which was a lot of fun. I don't mind when you were there too, and it's great to meet you and your family. And you're in Nashville with kids. It was great. Yeah. You do well. Quit Garner. But, yeah, we're like Melissa said, we're working on the series and probably a couple other things I'm looking more at from the social media, maybe some of that outreach and how we get out in the communities more. But going from where we've been to now, it's it's it's nice.

Mhmm. People are hearing us. So Yep. Fine. Else on the more community? I don't think so. Okay. I do have another topic. Okay. Very quickly.

So last year, we looked at the Armory National Register nomination application, And then we went to the hearing. It was a virtual meeting for the governor's board of historic preservation folks. I'm blanking on the proper name, but we saw the public hearing for that. And I recently got an email this week that finally, formally, it's been fully processed, and the armory is officially on the National Register of Historic Places. Nice. Yes. So It went all the way through. Yay. It's heavy. Yeah. I'm gonna Another another good check of good luck. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of stuff happening. Yeah.

I'm gonna meet with the armory manager tomorrow to see how we can celebrate it. So I'll let you know what comes out of that if there's any type of Something. Something. Well, I don't know what we'll talk about. And make it the plaque and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, very fun stuff. That was that was the The other topic? Yeah. That's it. I have one as well too, and I think if I remember correctly, comes from Garner as well. Our July meeting. We wanted to get feedback on if people wanna do a formal meeting in July or if they wanna get out in the world and have a picnic or happy hour out in the park somewhere with no booze because we can't do booze at Olympia. Oh, thank you.

But then we'll see it up. So we were just wanting to check that. And that's something that we had talked about potentially if Oh, during a a retreat, like a picnic Yeah. Type of social A little social gathering instead of a formal meeting. And then that way too, we could invite some of our partners out in the community, maybe past recipients of the heritage boards. Could do some

rose garden by then, or is that

too soon? Up, and there's vacancies. I just didn't book anything because I didn't know what you guys wanted to do.

What date do you think that would be? Because I'm going out of town for a week.

I remember Grant had mentioned that Wednesdays are a little difficult for the next while. And so the idea was floated to see what a different day, maybe a weekend, like an afternoon Weekend. Thing to

easier for people, I think.

Yeah. Go to the park, and that would be the meaning for the month if there's no other business. Eleanor, do you have any Some of that advice on reserving the sunken garden?

Do I have any what? Any info? Yeah. It over a certain amount of

people you need to contact visitor services.

I think we would probably meet that threshold, but I

don't know that you can necessarily rent it.

I've never tried.

I mean, I'll find the website, actually. I think I I've looked it up before.

So it sounds like we're good for maybe a weekend, maybe a Saturday afternoon in July. Mhmm. I think there's a couple of vacations happening in July. I don't know how everyone's calendar is looking, but, you know, July 5 is right after fourth of July holiday. That probably wouldn't be good. I know I'm out of town July 12, and then you got the nineteenth and the twenty sixth. If you want to, madam vice chair, do maybe, like, a vote to confirm everyone does want to do the outdoor weekend change for the event, I can send out a doodle poll after this, and then we can just click availabilities. And vote on it because it's a meeting. So we need to Yeah. And it's We're changing the date.

Yep. Is is there a vote to change the date in July to not a meeting, but a fun functional fun promotional event. That's great way to put it. Fun fun event. Hey. An outdoor meeting An outdoor meeting. To discuss nonaction business items, or it could still be discussing business items just outside, and then we do that really quickly.

I second the motion.

Amy? Okay. Wonderful. And then Britney also got a Google poll, and we can set up a date for that. So I think that'll be fun. Also, at the proclamation too, it was nice to talk to Olympia, the historic folks over at Big Willow and stuff too, and we're working on some outreach and some working working with them. And we've got some other fun partners coming in too. Because as you've heard tonight, you've probably heard a lot of acronyms and a lot of organizations thrown out there, and there's a lot of people doing this work. So we don't need to necessarily recreate everything, but we kinda partner up with these other organizations too. So, yeah, anybody have any other topics, thoughts, concerns?

Just fun stuff to look out for next meeting. It's likely you'll be meeting with Thurston County Historic Commissioners to sort of see what they're up to. I think there's a lot of cross pollination. So at some point, I believe Garner and Stacy have talked to Greg Griffith about attending Columbia Historical Society's board meeting. But so for next next month, Thurston County Historic Commissioners and potentially a share out on how the Thurston County heritage grant has been going.

We've had someone digitizing all of the paper records, so they'll be able to share out what their experience was and what the result was to update y'all on that progress. And hopefully, I'm not wrong in saying this, Steve, but if you have questions or thoughts or ideas for future agenda items or interests, let Britney know, and it will come to Garner and I. We can get that on the agenda for you so you don't have to add it last minute, we'd love to hear from you too as well with organizations we might wanna hear from. Or if you hear something cool, let's put it on the agenda and talk about it. So it's a whole commission thing too to come up with those ideas. So what we think would benefit our work. Yeah. Everybody's good. We're gonna adjourn the meeting. Let's do 7PM.

Perfect. Alright. Thank you very much, everyone. Nice to see you all. Warm in here today. It is kinda warm in here. Have a good night. So red right now. I can feel

it. You are.

I'm gonna go outside and cool down.