City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, so it's it's essentially a supplemental document that gives you like all the the meat and potatoes That goes into the transportation element. Thank you Okay, so diving into the project development So I just wanted to give a high-level overview of how we develop the project list where the projects come from How we identify what the needs are? So we first start by looking at all the previous transportation planning work that has been done by the city and throughout the region. So we start with the city's six-year transportation improvement program. Those have already identified a lot of the immediate transportation needs throughout the city, so that is the foundation of our project list. But then we also look at other regional and local transportation plans. So that includes the previous comprehensive plan, as well as some of the other studies that have been conducted throughout the region, and looking at the recommendations that have come out of those planning efforts. And so here I will mention that We really look to regional agencies and other regional plans to make sure that we've identified and include any of those projects of regional importance within the plan. So that includes the Benton Franklin Council of Government's Regional Transportation Plan. Projects in that plan that have been identified in the City of Richland are incorporated into our project list. And we also look at project recommendations from the Benton Franklin Good Road Association, making sure that their recommendations get incorporated into our list as well. And so here I also mentioned that we look at projects and identify them based off those level of service standards that I mentioned. So level of service standards are essentially metrics that the city adopts against which the transportation network is evaluated. And so I mentioned that the state is requiring that these standards be set for all travel modes now So we'll get into this as we walk through this presentation The city has adopted or is adopting level service standards for vehicles pedestrians and bicycles and transit as well And the final thing that I will note here that goes into the project list are new roadway connections. So as the city grows and develops, additional construction and development of the transportation network is going to be required to accommodate those new uses and the new areas that are developed. So we've included a lot of those on our project list as well. I will note here that a lot of the projects on our project list are identified for federally classified roadways. So those are roadways that are incorporated into a larger network of federal classification. So essentially the benefit of doing that is that those roadways are the ones that are more eligible for a lot of funding programs. So really, in order to get grant funding for these projects, they need to be on a federally classified roadways. That would be a principal arterial, a minor arterial, or a collector. And so really, by focusing on those projects, not really identifying improvements for local streets, we want to make sure that the projects that we have identified have an opportunity to be funded through grant funding. So I will pause again here, see if there are any questions on sort of some of the sources that we use to identify the project list. But if not, we can sort of dive into some of the details about level of service, how we come to these different project recommendations that we have. Okay, great. So let's start with the vehicular projects. So I mentioned level of service standards. So the level of service standard that's set for vehicles is based off of intersection delay. So that's looking at the average delay that a vehicle experiences when traveling through an intersection. That's typically measured on this A through F scale, where A is really no congestion, very little delay when you're going through an intersection, and then F is all the way at the bottom, extensive delay, extensive queuing. So the city sets their level of service standard at level of service D, sort of right there in the middle. The importance of that is that you're sizing the system to make sure that it can accommodate your peak demands but also isn't operating with excess capacity throughout the day. If you're planning for level of service A, that essentially means that you're planning for really wide roadways, really big intersections, which are operating way under capacity a lot of the time. So you really want to plan for something in the D or E level, which is consistent with other agencies throughout the state.

Just a quick question real quick on that. Is safety considered at all during the level of service? Is it strictly the waiting time?

So the level of service really just focuses on the waiting time. That's not to say that safety isn't considered elsewhere. So as you know, the city has a comprehensive safety action plan. So through that plan, the city has looked at historical crash data to identify what those safety concerns are. And so a lot of those recommendations get pulled into the transportation element and the project list, but it's not specifically looked at here through this level of service standard. Okay, and so this slide here summarizes and shows a map of how the intersections throughout the city are forecast to operate in 2045 after that 20-year planning window with the expected growth in the city. So future traffic volume forecasts have been developed for the city based off the land use assumptions that Nicole and her team have developed. And so based off that, we have identified this list of intersections that are expected to operate below that line.

Welcome everyone to the regular City Council meeting July 7th, 2026. This is the most comfortable place to be this evening and we are pleased that you are here to join us. At this point, we need to take a roll call. Will you help us?

We'll start with Mayor Richardson. Here. Mayor Pro Tem Van Dyke.

Present.

Council Member Holton. Council Member Jones. Here. Council Member Meyer.

Present.

Councilmember Samuel?

Present.

Councilmember Whitten?

Present.

Thank you. Thank you. May I have a motion and a second to excuse Councilmember Holton?

So motion. Second.

Thank you. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, motion passes. At this point, will you stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

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

Thank you. Now could I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda?

Move to approve the agenda. Second.

Thank you. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, motion passes. Our first item on the agenda is a fun one. It's a proclamation recognizing Jonathan Allen for setting the Washington State high school boys pole vault record. And if you will join me out in front here. That's pretty cool to see, isn't it? Well, I had a question. Look at that face. I had a question just to try to understand how high that is. And I'm wondering, did you spot something unusual here in the chambers that would have indicated how high it is?

I'm looking around now.

No.

There's a piece of tape up there on the wall. Can you believe you went up that high?

17 feet 6 inches?

Okay, congratulations. That's pretty exciting. Did you want to bring up your family to join us here? I know that your sister is here, also a pole vault champion, your dad, who's a coach, and also Coach Crow, if you'd like to join us, and mom as well, and girlfriend too. All right. Also a pole waltzer. I guess it's part of the requirement for being in your family. No kidding. You guys all look normal. But that's amazing. So I would like to ask you a couple questions just to help us understand what it means to do what you did. Like, were you a gymnast when you were growing up?

No, I was not a great flag football player, actually.

Oh, and so this was a default for something to do?

I think so, yeah. Up until, like, seventh grade, I just did, you know, little soccer, football, that was about it. But in seventh grade, she went state, and then we got a pole vault pit in our backyard. I mean, you can't really not pole vault if you have a pole vault pit in your backyard.

And that's pretty technical, too. How did you learn all the technique?

Just pole vaulting thousands, thousands of times. Repetition is probably the only answer to that.

Right. Instead of being on the video games, you're out there pole vaulting. And so did your little or your big sister teach you everything you learned?

She taught me, yeah, a lot. Yeah.

I want to know, Mom and Dad, was he just an energetic kid growing up with just flopping all over the place and jumping off of tall buildings? Oh, OK. Yeah, and so great to have it in the family and appreciate that. So anything else that someone would like to say, coach, dad, mom?

This kid's really special. I have no doubt that. The next two years, he can go back to back to back. And once I have no doubt that he will probably hit 18 feet, maybe toying with 19. And just so you guys know, the world record is roughly the world record set by Mondo Duplantis is what, 20 feet? 20 feet seven. So they go up roughly in six inch increments. So I truly believe that he can hit 19. He will be only two increments away from being at that level. And I just really impressed with him. And I can't wait to see what happens in the next two years.

That's very exciting, and we're going to have to get a higher roof put in here if that happens.

Well, at this point, I'd like to read a proclamation in your honor.

And I forgot my glasses, so here we go. Whereas the city of Richland takes great pride in recognizing and celebrating local students who exemplify excellence, determination, and dedication in academics, athletics, and community life, And whereas Jonathan Allen, a sophomore student athlete at Hanford High School, has distinguished himself through exceptional athletic ability, perseverance, and unwavering commitment to the sport of track and field. And whereas in the 2026 Washington Interscholastic Activities Association State Track and Field Championships in Tacoma, Washington, Jonathan Allen set a new all-time Washington State High School pole vault record with a vault of 17 feet, six inches, capturing the state record the Class IV-A state title in surpassing the previous state record of 17 feet 5 inches. And whereas this achievement is a product of countless hours of practice, a remodeled backyard it sounds like too, and the steadfast support of Jonathan's family, coaches, teammates, and school community, and stands as an inspiration to fellow students and aspiring athletes throughout Richland. And whereas Jonathan's accomplishment brings great distinction to Hanford High School, the Richland School District, and the City of Richland, embodying the values of hard work, dedication, and the pursuit of excellence that define our community. Now, therefore, I, Theresa Richardson, by the power vested as Mayor of the City of Richland, do hereby proudly recognize and congratulate Jonathan Allen for his outstanding achievement. and recognize this day as your day. Thank you. Thank you, Shane. Your glasses were a lifesaver. I might just keep them. Next on the agenda, we have a 4th of July update presented by Fire Chief Randy Ost. We've been looking forward to this report, so welcome.

Good evening, Madam Mayor and Council. Thank you for the opportunity tonight to share with you a little bit about the holiday weekend from a public safety standpoint. Before I jump into Richland Fire and Emergency Services numbers, I wanted to give a shout out and take a moment to acknowledge our partners up at BCES, our dispatch center. The amount of calls that they processed in a four-hour period was unbelievable. They had 1,400 calls to the 911 center in a four-hour period. And the way they handled that with professionalism and strategery was something to be extremely proud of. I had the opportunity to sit up there during the 4th of July and quite honestly was just blown away by what they did, keeping our community safe, keeping our firefighters and our police officers safe. And they just did an outstanding job. A special shout out to the fire dispatchers, Megan, Gwen, and Amy. They were on the fire dispatch terminal the entire night and they rocked it. It was pretty impressive. So special thank you to them. Our crews did an outstanding job as well. Just like years past, on the fourth we double staffed. We had two additional crews staffing our wildland apparatus as well as our second battalion chief rig. from the hours of 7 p.m. to about 1 a.m. Our crews did an amazing job quickly responding to multiple incidents throughout the community and really getting there in time to keep things from escalating into something much larger. I'm happy to report that there were no structure fires in the city of Richland. All of the fires that we responded to were kept to either natural cover fires. We had multiple dumpster fires and multiple vehicle fires, but none of that extended into any structures of any kind. Additionally, I'm happy to report that there were no firework injuries reported, no EMS calls related to fireworks. So that's a win as well. So some statistics. Our total call volume over the 48-hour period, so July 4th and 5th, was 103 incidents compared to 106 last year during that same timeframe, specifically from 12 o'clock noon on July 4th to 12 o'clock noon on July 5th. we responded to 71 incidents. Of the 103, 25 were fire-related and 17 specifically identified as fireworks, started by fireworks. Not all of the fires could be determined, the starts could be determined. It was highly speculative that they were started by fireworks, but not all of them were reported as such. Overall, we experienced an 11.1% reduction in calls, firework-related calls, during that time period over last year. And 75% of our calls this year were within the city of Richland proper. 25% of that call volume was automatic or mutual aid to our regional partners. Comparatively, last year, the numbers were a little bit different, and 55% of the call volume was internally, while 45% of the call volume was assisting our other local agencies. I think much of this is due to the additional staffing that some of our regional partners brought on. They were able to handle a majority of their incidents, although multiple at one time, with the resources that they had staffed. So we're extremely thankful for that. Although a very busy couple of days, our members did just an outstanding job keeping this community safe. Extremely proud of their efforts, as well as our law enforcement partners. I did want to take this opportunity to give one more plug. On Friday, July 3rd, Three Richland firefighters were awarded the First Responder of the Year Award by Toyota of Tri-Cities, and they were issued a $10,000 check to a nonprofit of their choice. It was firefighter Mark Lee, firefighter Rince, and Captain Tim Estelle. So extremely proud of their hard work and dedication. It was specifically related to an EMS incident that they responded to in regards to a young child last year. So just wanted to give them props and a shout out while I was here as well. I'd be happy to answer any questions if you have any. If not, I'll pass it over to Chief Pilcher and he can let you know from the law side.

Thank you. Those numbers and the reduction is quite remarkable. Council Member Mayor Pertan Van Dyke.

Just an observation, it's not often you hear of real dumpster fires. That's usually a term used in other times. So just interesting and good to hear.

All right, thank you.

Thank you. Chief Pilcher. Thank you for joining us.

Good evening, Madam Mayor and City Council. Over the three-day weekend, the police department received 83 calls that were related to fireworks. Last year, we received 98 in the same time period. We were able to assist fire directly on seven separate calls throughout the city. Our real-time information center was also operating on the third and the fourth between 7 p.m. and 2 a.m. During that time, the drone as first responder responded to a number of calls and was able to arrive before ground-based officers 20% of the time. The calls for service that were... most interesting when it comes to the aircraft assisted on a subject who had had their phone stolen. Another case was a search for a DV suspect, domestic violence suspect who had fled on foot. That individual was located and arrested. We assisted fire. There was a report of a fire on Nelson Island and the drone was able to respond to that and determined that there was no fire at that location. Responded to reports of street racing and then also kids letting off fireworks at Howard Amon Park. Officers conducted 124 traffic stops over the three-day weekend. And then also the one arrest in connection with fireworks, a suspect was cited for reckless burning, which is a gross misdemeanor, after setting off fireworks at Leslie Groves Park. And that person was arrested and then cited and released. Happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you for your report. Counsel, do we have any questions or comments? I guess not at this time. Help me if Joanna chimes in or signals up there and I don't notice it. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. Appreciate your work. Next we have New Hires and Retirements presented with Lacey Paulson, Human Resources Director.

We would like to recognize our new employees that were hired and those that retired during June. On June 1st, we had two new hires. Cameron Dayton was hired as a journey line worker with the Power Operations Division, and Cassie Martinez was hired as a police officer with the Richland Police Department. On June 8th, Emily Lyons was hired as a customer service representative with the Customer Service Division. On June 15th, we had two new hires. Philip Smith was hired as an Engineering Technician III in the Public Works Administration and Engineering Division, and Jonas Thompson was hired as the BCES IT Systems Administrator with CECOM. On June 29th, Michael Pena was hired as an Engineering Technician IV with the Electrical Engineering Division. Welcome new hires to the City of Richland. We have one service retirement to recognize this evening. On June 16th, Fire Lieutenant Robert Grubenhoff retired after 21 years of service with the city. Congratulations on your retirement and thank you for your many years of public service.

We wish all the new hires a great career ahead and it looks like this retirement fellow already got his lounge chair all ready. I couldn't pass that one up on the machine. Okay, next up we have public hearing. Clerk Rogers, would you read the script?

The purpose of a public hearing is to give the audience an opportunity to address council members concerning the subject for which the hearing is convened. This process is an official on the record communication geared toward giving city council information and opinions to consider in its decision making process. While Council welcomes hearing from you, please note that the public hearing process is not designed for interactive dialogue with Council members or for posing questions expecting an immediate response. Many questions require an opportunity for research and deliberation. For this reason, Council will not provide immediate responses to comments, questions, or concerns raised during the hearing. To provide an orderly process, audience members who wish to speak Should raise your hand and wait to be acknowledged by the mayor, approach a lectern when invited to do so. Begin by clearly stating your full name and address for the official record, and after speaking, write your name and address on the record sheet. To ensure every participant has an opportunity to be heard, public hearing comments will be limited to three minutes per speaker. The public comment period, where the audience is allowed to comment on agenda items or other topics, follows the same guidelines with the slight difference that speakers are to announce their full name and their city of residence before speaking. For this section, each speaker will be limited to two minutes to present their comments. The time prompter placed on the lectern will alert each speaker with an amber light when 15 seconds remain. To signal the end of a speaker's time to speak, a red light will flash and a buzzer will sound. In the interest of time, Council asks that you do not duplicate comments already made by another speaker. Instead, please confirm your agreement with statements previously made. Council also asks that speakers conduct themselves respectfully so that all participants feel welcome and have an opportunity to be heard. Please avoid interruptions, personal attacks, or disruptive behavior. When appropriate, the mayor may refer certain topics raised during the public comment period to the city manager for additional review and action. Please note that if a speaker intends to provide counsel with any documents as part of a presentation, the documents must be handed directly to the city clerk for distribution. And the purpose of tonight's public hearing is to consider the proposed surplus and relinquishment of portions of two easements lying within parcel one and two of record survey number 6256. Resolution number 202693. Thank you.

Thank you. At this point in the agenda, we're just discussing resolution number 2026-93, and the public hearing opens at 620 p.m. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to provide testimony on this item? Please raise your hand. Seeing none, This public hearing is closed at 6.21 and we are now open for public comments. Please raise your hand. I'll call you to come forward to the podium here. Please give us your name and if you are a Richland resident. Raise your hand and I'll call on you. Yes, right here in the second row.

Hi, Francesca Meyer. I am a resident of Richland. If you had told Kurt and me 23 years ago that this was how we were going to be spending our anniversary, I'm not sure who would have been more surprised, but probably Kurt. I am here for two reasons. One, I want to give you a report of a class I taught at the Richland Library that used a bajillion city facilities. And then I also wanted to talk about the automated traffic enforcement, which Councilwoman Jones brought up on December 2nd and so I commend you guys for working fast. I'm really excited to see it. I hope that you will discuss why you're proposing to limit the use of them beyond what is required by state law because engineers have a pretty rigid framework under which we provide analysis to justify things like this. Federal Highways provides a clearinghouse for traffic safety countermeasures. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration considers automated traffic enforcement to be a five-star traffic safety feature and so I would strongly recommend that you let staff determine where is the best place to put them, because the only people who can put them in the city are staff, and so you have complete control. So I don't want to talk more about that. I'd love for you guys to discuss the reasons for these limitations. But I did want to tell you about a class I taught. It's the fourth year in a row that I've taught a traffic safety, bike safety class for middle schoolers. It was bike to school boot camp. I taught it in the fall. We clashed with the fair. We clashed with... smoke and all sorts of things. So I moved it up to the start of the summer. It was Smart Cycling for Tweens, hosted by the Richland Library, which lets us put it on for free. We walked the kids around downtown, taught them how to ride the bus. taught them some bike handling skills, the main one being to make sure they could look all the way over their shoulder before they moved positions in the lane. We rode around all the new safety infrastructure for cycling through downtown. We used rapid flash beacons for the enhanced crosswalks. We used bike lanes. We used different kinds of bike lanes. Taught them how to put their bikes on the bus. We rode the urban green belt trail. And then we spent two hours at the skate park. Let them go until I thought someone was tired enough they were going to crash, took them back in. Let me tell you, nothing bounces back faster than an 11-year-old boy. We gave them one popsicle, which the library provided, and they wanted to go back to the skate park. We had half an hour still to cover, and that was a stretch. So we'll reorganize it. But thank you very much. Recognize Mary Brown-Elmore for her support in coordinating it. And thank you for the wonderful facilities that let us put that class on for free.

Thank you, and happy anniversary. Anyone else would you like to comment? Please raise your hand. I see next to the back row there, yes.

I'm Melissa Abel, and I'm at 2543 Harris Avenue here in Richland. Mayor and council members, my name's Melissa. I'm a mom. I'm a school nurse, about 2,500, not here in Richland. But I know high schoolers very well. I know young people very well. So I want to talk to you because I would like a ban on kratom. Kratom is causing havoc in our city to our youth. And to our kids, community members, it's not a harmless plant. It contains compounds that activate the same receptors, opioid receptors, as like heroin, fentanyl. It's a dangerous drug. I don't know if you're familiar with it, but you can buy it at any gas station here. We have walls of it being advertised in vape shops. It's mostly to kids. You walk in there and it's tutti-frutti, flavored gummies, elixirs. Everything. It's just very geared towards them. You can tell it's advertised to them. I never heard of Kratom until I went to a school nurse conference. And I heard Officer Mike Thomas from Spokane, where they have it banned. It's banned in states, quite a few other states. And it's also banned in Spokane. But he talked about the dangers of this. And that's what I want to share with the city tonight and hope that you will help me ban it because it is a very dangerous drug. Three Tuesdays ago, I received a call, 10 o'clock at night, and my son who had been hiking had came home and said, Mom, I'm going to go work out. I'm going to go to Planet Fitness with my friends. Friend calls me at 10 o'clock and he said, my son's not breathing, turning purple, and they're performing CPR on him. I hightailed it to Planet Fitness where I met EMS. It was later discovered in the ER he had taken Kratom. You test negative for Kratom, for opiates, I'm sorry, you test negative for opiates, but Narcan will help reverse it. So they used Narcan, he tested negative. Anyway, it was very concerning to me. And Kratom is addictive, it has withdrawal symptoms. Does that mean I need to stop? Okay, I'm sorry. If you can wind it up. I'll wind it up. I just want to, I want it banned. I mean, babies are born addicted to this. They have to treat babies with morphine just like they would a baby addicted to fentanyl. They have Kratom treatment centers. It's an addictive drug. It's dangerous. And I care about our youth. And I hope that you will consider banning it here in Richland. Thank you.

Thank you. Seems like I saw other hands go up. Here in the front row.

My name is Connie, and I'm a resident of Richland. Council members, at the last council meeting, you approved moving forward with the Triton substation and ordering equipment for it. I support the fertilizer plan. It does help our farmers. But here's the problem. The same power hookup is also for the data center. And you've heard at the other council meetings why we don't want it. We have said over and over, and you know all the reasons why. I don't want to repeat them tonight. The council approved an option agreement agreement. That's not a land sale. It's just the right for Atlas to maybe buy 275 acres if they decide to move forward. They paid for that option, but they don't own the land yet. Nothing is final. The land isn't even zoned for this. So if nothing is final, why are we talking about substations like it's a done deal? Over 530 people have signed a petition saying stop, and that number keeps growing. I was there the night Atlas presented. Honestly, I was shocked. For such an intense proposal, you asked questions, a few here and there, but not nearly enough for something that impacts our whole community like it's going to to this level. Atlas Agro is a Swiss company. They're brand new. Are we really that desperate for tax dollars from a foreign startup? Utility rates are going up and we're rolling out the red carpet for a company that hasn't even committed. Nobody from this council has told us why Atlas specifically or why you personally want this data center. What's your stake in all this? Even the federal government is pushing back. Bernie Sanders and AOC introduced a bill to ban data centers over 20 megawatts like this one. Why is Richmond rushing into something the feds are trying to slow down? The city is taking all the risk. They keep delaying and haven't even identified a power source. The city is betting big on a company that hasn't bet anything on us. So I'm asking you, please pause. This is our home. If this falls apart, the costs land on us, not them. Please do the right thing. Listen to your people.

Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to speak? I see you in the second row here.

Hello, my name is Heather Sheldon. I will be taking my full three minutes.

I live in Richland, Washington. Heather, excuse me. Yes. During this period, it's two minutes.

Yeah, we were told three at the beginning of the meeting. It's been three.

At the beginning of the meeting, it was for a public hearing on a specific matter. Oh, so this is different. Yes. Okay, do I get a restart? Yes, you do. Okay, thank you. And it's public comment period during this time.

Okay, that's interesting. All the other cities, by the way, have three minutes, so... I'll take extras too. I am once again here to request a moratorium on data centers, a minimum of one year. Despite the pro tem mayor stating you were listening, clearly you were not. This is made obvious by your approval to begin building transmission lines for the data center no citizen of Richland wants alongside the so-called clean fertilizer plant. of which Agro Atlas has no recorded or existing proof that such a feat can actually be achieved. I loved watching several council members struggle to understand what they were approving and voting unanimously in favor of when the discussion should have been tabled so council members could further be educated. I also loved the misogynistic microtransgression from the Tridec member after 16 passionate, not just emotional, members of the community spoke. What a coincidence 13 women were brave enough to face a brick wall council for the sake of the livelihood of their home.

and future generations.

I would have thought that he was in the pocket of Agro Atlas if I didn't know any better. One council member stated, we don't care where the power comes from. I beg to differ. Ask the citizens along Thayer Drive who have had their yards thrashed and filled with massive eyesore power lines. We care where the power comes from. Since it appears data centers have been really good at stealthily usurping our resources. Look at Fayetteville, Georgia. where one of the country's largest data centers had two industrial scale water hookups that weren't being monitored, costing the taxpayers. You think you are above these mistakes, but you are not. And why should we, the people, trust you? You're clearly not listening. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there others that would like to speak? Please raise your hand. I see you right there in the center.

Hello. My name is Jan. I'm a resident of Richland. I'm here to reiterate my opposition to the data centers. There are a lot of people who are super upset about it. You know, we're worried about the energy. We're worried about the water usage. We're worried about the environmental impacts. We're worried about the effects on human health. We hear lots of stories from other places that have let them move in, and they've been really concerning and scary. We know that Seattle and Spokane have passed moratoriums on them, so those folks don't like them. Last time I spoke about this, Kurt said something interesting, which was, okay, we hear you. People are worried about the immediate impacts. They're probably not worried so much about the computations, about what's actually happening inside the data center. So I wanted to address that. Hundreds of billions of dollars is being invested in this technology. These are billionaires. They're throwing money at it. They're not doing it out of the goodness of their heart. The thing that you do with power, for the most part, is you try and accumulate more power. These computations are going to increase inequality. The oligarchs are trying to win, and we're just trying to fight back a little bit. Thank you for your attention.

Thank you, Juan.

I see your hand right there. Please come forward.

Good evening. My name is Christine Williams. I was here, I think, in April. I shared that I moved from California in December. I am very concerned about the data centers, the proposal to have them in Richland. I just want to let you know that it's my personal mission. Every single person I meet, no matter where I go, I say who I am. I'm from California. I tell them that I had I tell them, do you know about the data centers? Do you know that there's a proposal for Richland to build data centers and also in West Richland? And they go, oh my gosh, no, I had no idea. Tell me more. I don't want that in my town. I don't want that in my backyard. I don't want that here. Then I proceed to tell them about our electricity bill that I had in California. Not a huge house. Three people living in it. The house is four years old this month, $30,000 solar system, and I paid $650 a month so that I could avoid a $7,000 true-up at the end of the year. That will happen here. And it's not like in California you get one electric bill. It's not water, it's not garbage, it's not gas. It's pure electricity. And so I just want to let you know that the feedback from every single person I meet, whether I go with a chiropractor, the doctor, friend, neighbor, anybody I meet, I ask them. And every single person responds, I don't want that in my backyard. What are people doing about it? Why is the city council even considering this? Do we need to do a recall petition for the council? So it's just what they say. It's what they say. So I... I'm urging you. It's not funny. I mean, if it were me, I would be asking a lot of questions. Why are people saying that? What are they really thinking about it? Like, how are you soliciting feedback from the community, your constituents that voted you into office? That's all I got to say. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

In the back row.

Hello, my name is Reagan Fahler. I'm a resident of North Richland and I'm also a city council current candidate for position number four. I support everything everyone here is saying. We need to put a moratorium on the data centers today, if we could. The other thing is we need to have a town hall meeting where you can have the citizens come and talk to you folks face to face and get their questions answered. They really feel misinformed or not informed at all. Maybe there's an explanation they're not understanding. And the email system isn't a great way to try to communicate. I really think that we all care about the city. I don't have any doubts that you guys care about the city also. I just think the process of this has gone way off the tracks. Everything everybody has said here tonight, I agree with 100%. So I would just want you guys to remember who you work for. You work for us, the citizens, and we deserve some answers and we deserve some more access. So thank you.

Thank you. Right here. Yes, sir.

Good evening, guys. My name is Xavier Acuna. I live in Richland, 3560 Hanstead Street, Richland, Washington. Good evening, mayor, council members and fellow citizens. I stand before you today and ask one simple question. Are we building our future or are we simply building a demand? Every year, our community hears about larger developments, increased electrical demand, and new industries looking to establish themselves here in Tri-Cities. Not just because we're a green state. We have nuclear power. We have wind power. We have it all here. We have the resources here to build AI and understand the position you guys are in. What I am proposing is why not focus on our grid first instead of the demand? Focus on giving jobs to us young people to have something to give on to our children, you know? Like I went to school and worked really hard to have what? Nothing. And so, you know, I started a solar company to fight against these data centers because I know what they bring. I know what happens to Arizona, California. Bonneville Power sells all of our power to California and they reap all of what we sell. And so at least work with us, give us more opportunities to build an infrastructure in Richland, connect with solar, new solar innovations, just innovations to build off of our grid to support the demand. But with that, we could find better allocations with data centers. We could work around it. It's not hard. We can work with farmers. Thank you, guys.

Thank you. Yes, in the back row there.

Hi, my name is Will Tran, and I live at 416 Winslow Avenue. And I just want to keep it short. I'm against the data centers. You guys are dealing with a startup company, basically with Atlas Agro. And we all know that startup companies have one thing in common. They promise the moon. A lot of the times, they'll underdeliver if they're not running by that move fast, break things ethos that we see a lot with most of these big tech companies. Moving fast can be great, but we really don't want to see our ecology and our grid broken. We should slow down, look into the environmental and grid impacts, and really pass a moratorium. I think that most people that live in Richland agree. Every single person that I've talked to has the same opinion. There's a couple online, of course, but of course you're going to find those people. But in person, every person I've talked to who goes outside doesn't want this. That's really all I have to say about this.

Thank you. Yes, here in the front row.

FRANCINE PIERRE- Hello. My name is Francine Pierre-Saget. They, them pronouns. I live at 104 Edgewood Drive, Richland. The internet is one of the great accomplishments of mankind. AI is a short-term fad that does nothing but degrade and pollute our digital commons with slop. And we should not be facilitating that in our city. I think if we go ahead with allowing a data center to be constructed, we are going to look back on it in a few years and wonder what the hell we were thinking. Thank you. I yield my time.

Thank you. I think I saw someone right there in the third row at the end. You?

Hi, I'm Terry Stewart, Richland resident. Good evening to everybody. I provided a handout for the council members tonight. This was something I submitted to the comprehensive plan last week. And it's aimed at looking at the issues that we're talking about here tonight. There's 15 issues, policies, expectations, whatever word you want to put onto that, that are included in it. And it's based on two guiding principles. The first is that people in existing businesses and industries here in the Tri-Cities have priority over power and water. And that decisions about the operations of the Atlas Data Center are transparent. Eight of the policies are aimed at power issues, including full-cost recovery and marginal service, which the city is proceeding on. However, as we look, we all have the same grid. We share it, and there are other ways that the residents find that they're getting hit with rate increases. So I included a link to a Harvard paper that outlines those and resolution to that. There's two policies aimed at water issues that include a facility design that would allow curtailment of water during high stress periods and continuous environmental monitoring with data is available through a portal for public to view. Because both Atlas agro facilities are higher than normal risk, We also need to look at a policy around financial security and stranded asset protection. I hope that this white paper is a beginning point for the discussion around the issues that are being brought up and that we have substantive discussions over the one-year moratorium. Thank you for your patience and listening and hope we have a good path forward.

Thank you. Right here in the front row.

Good evening. My name is Ed Munoz. I live here in Richland. I just have one question because it seems that the council is dead set on getting this data center approved and built. My question is, what do we, the taxpayers, the voters here, what do we benefit from this thing being built? How is it going to make our lives better? That's my question. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Jamie. I'm a Richland resident. I have submitted the documents to the clerk as a formal public comment for the record regarding the land use application at 21 Horn Rapids Road aka Atlas Argo. How does turning our public land into a high risk industrial zone align with our community identity and has city conducted a rigorous assessment of cumulative impact The total combined effect of these distinct resource-intensive projects as they relate to our established legislative controls and environmental guidelines. Who actually benefits from this change, and what are the specific long-term guarantees for the community? Is the experimental hydrogen or fertilizer technology Technology fails. Why are we rushing into this without an independent third-party safety check to ensure the residents of Richland aren't the ones carrying the ultimate risk for the complex chemical and power systems? There are still many unanswered questions about Atlas Argo. We deserve thorough, unbiased, easily accessible information. For example, I will ask yet again, what is the plan for the water? I understand it may be the third or fourth step in your internal review, but this is not a project where we can continue to move forward without confirming our resources will be safe. It wasn't just a transmission line that was approved June 16th. It was data center development gaining momentum in the Tri-Cities. Money is being spent and it creates urgency to move forward with a rubber stamp mentality instead of ensuring the proper guardrails are in place to keep the community safe. Recent data center headlines regarding water include on June 10th, Amazon released their 2025 total water usage. It came to 2.5 billion with a B, gallons. And July 2nd, the Board of Utilities in Cheyenne, Wyoming announced rare metal-resistant bacteria was found in their wastewater and traced it back to the Metta construction site. Tell us how Richland plans to fulfill Atlas Argos large water consumption needs and safely treat its wastewater. A fertilizer plant could introduce serious chemical hazards while the data center is draining on resources. This is not green tech. And until assessment of the cumulative risk is concluded, I request a moratorium.

Thank you. I believe there is someone behind her. There you go. With the sunglasses.

My name is Carrie McKillop, and I live in 422 Epic Street in Richland. And I would take off my sunglasses, but I had eye surgery, so I don't look pretty scary. I have nothing intelligent to say up here. I've just recently found out about the data center, so I'm still collecting information. But the people that I have spoken to are in the same boat. They had no idea either. So somehow the message is not getting out that this is happening in our backyards. I'm very concerned for the environment and the safety. We live in a drought and it's getting worse. You know, that, I think that alone, we're taking some time to put a moratorium on this to get more information. I feel like living in eastern Washington, I'm a Seattle native, and they were able to get a moratorium in Spokane, but they feel like they can just bowl one over on us because we're a small town. And I just think we need to stand up and do our due diligence and make sure it's done safely, if at all. So I agree with what everybody else had to say. Thank you. Thank you.

Last call for hands up. Right over here. Yes, you. Standing up. Go ahead.

Hi, my name is Donna Davis, 200 South Waldron. I live here. I'm an investor also. I have a number of properties here. I've been here many times talking about this, and I agree with everything that's been said. I'm just curious, can I know how many people have talked opposing this tonight? Are you able to give me that count? So there's been 16 people in the audience that have spoken against this. And as I'm looking at all of you, you're very stoic. You have no expression on your face. It can only mean one of two things. Either you really don't have any control of this and somebody's telling you what to do. And if that's the case, I want to know who it is so we can go to them. The other thing it could be is somebody's paying you off. And I'm not accusing you of that, I'm just saying, with everything that's happening, those are the only two things I can come up with. I don't know if anybody else has any ideas why this is happening. You know, I mean, Ryan is sitting there through the whole thing and he's got this, he just has no expression. Kurt has a smile on his face. Like, we're stupid. Thank you.

Is there another call for someone who would like to raise their hand? Another request? Yes, there in the blue shirt.

Hi, I'm Marlene. I live in Richland. And I just wanted to say I agree with everybody here. Wish you guys would be more talkative about this situation.

West Richland's going through the same shit, so.

You guys just have no expression on your face, like she said. Thank you.

Last call for hands. Please raise your hand if you would like to speak. If not, we'll move forward with the agenda. Seeing nothing, Clerk Rogers, would you please read the consent calendar?

Items on the consent calendar have been distributed to City Council in advance for reading and study, are considered to be routine, and will be enacted by one motion of the Council with no discussion. Council members may transfer individual items to items of business for deliberation before voting. Starting with the minutes, we have the approval of the June 16, 2026 City Council regular meeting minutes. There are no ordinances for first or second reading under the consent calendar. Resolutions for adoption. We have resolution number 202687 authorizing change order number three to the construction contract with Apollo Inc. for phase 2B landfill development of the Horn Rapids landfill expansion phase two project. Resolution number 202688, authorizing a purchase and sale agreement with Sierra and Kyle Palmer in support of the Downtown Connectivity Improvements Project. Resolution number 202689, authorizing a consultant agreement with JUB Engineers Inc. for the wastewater management plan update. Resolution number 202690, authorizing a grant application to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for funding through the assistance to firefighters grant. Resolution number 202691, authorizing a consultant agreement with Beckwith Consulting Group for the Central Business District Wayfinding Master Plan. Resolution number 202692, authorizing a Horn Rapids Solar Site Power and Purchase Agreement with Horn Rapids Solar LLC. Resolution number 202694, ratifying an interagency agreement with the Washington State Department of Ecology and on behalf of Hanford communities. And under items for approval, we have the appointment of Eric Bostrom to the Parks and Recreation Commission and the appointments of Carol Moser and Steven Wiley to the Richland Public Facilities District Board. Thank you.

Thank you. Council members, is there any item that you would like to pull for further discussion? If not, may I have a motion and a second to approve the consent calendar?

So motion. Second.

Thank you. And a roll call vote is required here. Clerk Rogers, can you assist?

Mayor Richardson? Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Van Dyke?

Aye.

Council Member Jones? Yes. Council Member Meyer?

Aye.

Council Member Samuel?

Aye.

Council Member Whitten?

Aye.

Thank you.

Thank you. Next item is ordinance number 2026-16, establishing chapter 11.60 of the Richland Municipal Code related to automated traffic safety cameras. Assistant City Manager Drew Florence will present.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm just going to get my slide deck up here. All right. Thank you for your time. This is the first reading for ordinance number 2026-16, and it's related to municipal code update for chapter 11, specifically related to traffic. I wanted to just give a little bit of background first to maybe create some context, if I can get my slides to advance here. Maybe, there we go. So in 2024, the Washington State Legislature updated and expanded the use for municipalities to use automated traffic cameras as part of their enforcement efforts. And the city of Richland has never used any form of automated traffic enforcement. And in February of 2026, council had a workshop in which we presented a fairly detailed synopsis of both state law, what the program is, what the program could be, talking about some of the requirements that the state requires related to transparency, location, analysis, and all those things, revenue use, really intended to protect the program to be what it is, and that is to affect driver behavior. We also talked extensively about the benefits of it and highlighted some of the other municipalities that are using it and the success that they've had. I am going to talk a little bit about that just as kind of a contextual reminder tonight. I will not spend 45 minutes like we did the last time, but I'm happy to answer any questions. So I just wanted to talk real quick about what the purpose of tonight's meeting is. And so the new legislation that was passed by the state requires kind of a first step to be what we're classifying as an enabling ordinance, something that allows us to initiate an automated traffic safety program. Without the ordinance adding to our municipal code, there's not really any point to going down any further down the path because we can't implement a program at any time. So the ordinance is kind of a first step. And so that's what we're going to be asking for tonight. It does not authorize the purchase, placement, or installation of automatic traffic cameras. This would just be us starting down that path of looking at all the data, vendor selection, and all those things, which I'll talk about here in a minute. So just as a reminder of why automated traffic enforcement when we're talking about traffic There's really what we call the three E's or the ways in which we can impact driver behavior, which is the ultimate goal And that is enforcement education and engineering Enforcement something that's near and dear to my heart having spent a lot of time in a police car for the right reasons I'll say that The men and women of the Richland Police Department, as you heard from the chief, they respond to a lot of calls regularly all the time, but they can't be everywhere. And anytime you're committing a specific police officer to a traffic problem, it's often in competition with other things like 911 calls and other priorities. Education is something that is constantly happening between both law enforcement Which is actually probably the majority of traffic stops result in some form of education And or Public Works whether it's through the the planning and other things that they're doing and even some of our citizens who host events at the public library and So that education piece is really kind of significant in that you're reaching multiple audiences through different means. And then lastly, engineering, which is the thing that I'm least familiar with. I am not an engineer. But I can tell you that engineering does affect driver behavior, and there are ways in which you can put traffic calming devices and other things. But any one of these three categories will not do the job. It has to be a combination of all three of them. And so, as was mentioned earlier today, there's been a lot of work done at the state and federal level to examine the effectiveness of traffic cameras. And the National Transportation Safety Board, they recommended the use of speed cameras as an effective countermeasure in reducing both the severity and frequency of speed-related crashes. They identified it as the most efficient use of resources for some of the reasons we talked about. and awarded the use of speed cameras the highest rating for effectiveness of the eight measures that they evaluated for countering speed. So a couple of cities we're going to look at real quick, and I'll just touch on these again quickly, but the city of Kirtland, Washington. Kirtland, Washington has had cameras for a while. They put cameras in three different schools, and over two years saw 47% reduction in speeding vehicles, and 90% of those only received one citation. And that's pretty telling when you look at recidivism and things. It is truly having an impact on driver behavior. And that graphic there, what you see, the percentages are percentage of drivers exceeding 20 miles per hour in the school zones. And it dropped pretty significantly over those three years. Kind of a larger program in Seattle. Initially, they had eight speed cameras. Their valuations dropped from 45,000 to 20,000 in two years. Again, right around 90% of drivers did not receive a second ticket. And there was a 67% reduction in tickets issued by the cameras since it went live in 2012. pretty significant impact More relevant a recent example was the city of Kenmore and that was just from last year in November of 2025 They had a 60-day warning period which is partially required by the RCW to provide Signage and other things notifying if you start a program in a certain area And so they there's enforcement a little bit different. It's If the speed, excuse me, the school zone is in effect and the speed limit is 20 miles per hour, then that's the threshold that they're measuring against. And then when it's not flashing, it's 30 miles per hour. And so they kind of have, it's always in use, but for different thresholds. And drivers that were exceeding the speed limit by six plus miles per hour, which may not seem like a lot, but when you're talking about a school zone and 20 miles per hour, that's pretty significant. Prior to the installation of the cameras was 60%, which is a lot in a school zone. And afterwards it dropped to 3%. And the idea of the state's program is really intended to protect vulnerable users. And those are kids, the elderly, people who are using other types of transportation that are not vehicles. And the list goes on and on. I won't go into that. But the intent is to protect vulnerable users and to remind us and those who are driving large vehicles that speed really does impact fatalities. And so these are just a couple of statistics from the state related to both speed involved fatal crashes, which as you can see from 2019 to 2023 increased pretty significantly. There was a 21% pedestrian and cyclist fatalities. And then the most telling one for me specifically as it relates to that 25 mile per hour mark is that when there's a pedestrian crash, below 25 miles per hour, the survivability rate is 90%. And so reducing those speeds just to around 25 miles per hour in the right locations gives you pretty good odds for surviving if and when a collision does occur. And so the next steps, assuming that the ordinance is ultimately passed, is we would begin to do a more, I guess, intense data analysis to try to identify locations. One of the things that's required is looking at crash data, speed data, and then there's a requirement for an equity analysis to make sure that there's a number of different factors. We talked a lot about that in February. And so we will start that process and ultimately identify the locations that staff will recommend for the proposed traffic cameras, or speed cameras, excuse me. And we do intend to initially start with speed-related cameras, just to reiterate, and there's a possibility that at some point we'll look at red light, the focus for now is gonna be speed based on some of the data that we have. And so after we conduct that analysis, and we're partly during that time as well, we'll start to engage vendors and identify a vendor. The vendors will provide some assistance in that data analysis as well. And then ultimately we'll move to procurement and contracting, which will allow us to get under contract with the vendor and then to start identifying staff resources. One of the things we still have to do is coordinate with the Benton County District Court. There's not another municipality in Benton County that's currently using these. And so there will be an impact on the court long term. And so we need to make sure we're coordinating with them. And then ultimately make sure that our program is in compliance with both our RMC, which is then in compliant with state law. And so that's all I have for tonight, given that we spent so much time in February. Staff's recommendation is that we approve ordinance 2026-16 for first reading, updating the municipal code and establishing chapter 11 related to automated traffic safety cameras. And I'm happy to answer any questions if there are any.

Thank you, Mr. Florence. First up, we have Council Member Meyer.

Hi, thanks for the presentation. I'm looking at the proposed ordinance and there's a section about authorized use which has a lot to do about where we put them. That section I found very similar verbiage in the state law, so it looks pretty directly inspired. The concern I have is that it leaves out a lot of the places where we hear the most complaints about speeding. Keene, G-Way, all kinds of offshoots off Dupertail. So the state law specifies, it calls out specific AASHTO manuals for trying to figure out where to place these things. And I know we have some leeway with the mobile units that are based on population size. My question is, how much leeway is staff going to have as to placing those in a responsive manner? Or are we going to get hidebound by having to do everything according to AASHTO checklists? Sure.

Yeah, it's a great question. Thank you. So I... We're fortunate in that the majority of our city, and I don't know if you remember from February, I showed a map. And that map, we specifically plotted it the way we did to identify where the schools are in Richland. And one of the criteria the state placed that allows us to essentially put a camera within a one-mile radius of a school because it's being used by children to walk to and from school. And if you look at the map, it encompasses... the overwhelming majority of our city. And so from that standard alone, when you're talking about a school zone, we will be authorized a lot of flexibility in where. Now, all that being said, it's still important that we look at the data to support those decisions because there are requirements that part of those analysis that we have to do is to tie any place that we put a camera to collisions or excessive speed or something. It's not just a feeling of safety, so to speak. And so it'll be a combination of both, but I don't think we're going to have a ton of restrictions on where we could put them because so much of our streets are within a mile of a school. The only location on a map when you're looking at it that currently doesn't meet those standards other than a few small chunks is actually done in Badger South because there's no schools there yet. So I think we'll have some flexibility. Thanks.

Thank you. City Manager Amundsen.

I just wanted to add, additionally, you referenced the portable units that were probably brought up in the February workshop. We don't have any definitive conclusion, but we're definitely looking at both those that are fixed as well as some that are portable. And really what it will come down to is cost of the units and ability to make sure that we're able to direct the funds to traffic safety improvements without being punitive. Thanks.

Yeah, and I'll just add that a lot of jurisdictions are doing a combination of fixed and mobile because what they're identifying is that if they do the equity and other analysis and identify four locations and they procure a mobile device, they can have their fixed units, but then they can rotate that mobile one around to different locations throughout the city throughout the year. And they're able to cover more ground that way.

Okay.

Mayor Pro Tem Van Dyke.

Sure. Thank you. First, Drew, I appreciate your presentation for a specific few reasons. One, it was professional. It was logical. I think it was easy to digest. And I think it really complemented what you're saying. And I like to listen to what people are saying and get that reinforcement. So first, fantastic job on that presentation. Thank you. Traffic safety as a personal and impactful tone in my life, and so this is important to me. I appreciated Francesca's call to listen to what staff recommend. I like that. I like talking about, let's look at the data. I'm personally leaning to, and I want to listen, but I'm leaning towards what a phased approach would look like, but let's see what staff recommendations are. My only big concern is I'd love to hear more. We talked a little bit about it in February, is the data privacy aspect to it. That's important to me. In general, I'm supportive of the ordinance. Thanks, Drew. Thank you.

And I'll just affirm that that is important to us, and it'll be part of the discussions we have with vendors and procurement and contracting.

Thank you. I don't see any further lights on from council. Do I have a motion and a second to take a vote?

So motion. Second.

Thank you. And a roll call vote is required.

Mayor Richardson. Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Van Dyke.

Aye.

Council Member Jones. Yes. Council Member Meyer. Aye. Council Member Samuel. Aye. Council Member Whitten. Aye.

Thank you.

Thank you. The vote was unanimous. Now we'll move on to resolution number 2026-93, declaring surplus and authorizing relinquishment of portions of two easements lying within parcel one and two of record of survey number 6256, presented by Public Works Director D'Alessandro.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. This is a pretty simple one in terms of relinquishments. It's not a utility. Easement relinquishment didn't require any utilities to be moved out of the way in order to do this. This is what is called a no-access easement, which was an easement that was added to a previous plat that was done on the property or the plat that was done adjacent to this new property. plat that's coming in, in these properties you see. And what a no access easement does is it makes sure that no properties can access from the street right of way. In this case, there is a requirement for a secondary emergency vehicle access, which our one foot no access easement would be in the way of, and that secondary emergency vehicle access is required for emergency access to these properties to meet fire code. As part before the plat can go through and get approved, the developer requested relinquishment of the no access easement in order for the secondary emergency vehicle access easement to be put in place. And there was already one there. They're just moving it another 10 feet. So this emergency vehicle access easement is essentially going to be in the same spot, just moved by 10 feet, and the no access easement would be removed in order to enable that emergency vehicle access. That is the gist of it. So staff recommends adoption of Resolution 2026-93. And if there's any questions, let's go now.

Thank you for your presentation. Councilmember Meyer.

Thanks, it wasn't directly mentioned in the staff report, but I think I see it in the, Resolution. The staff report says that we're going to recommend this other easement and the resolution says that it's a condition of relinquishing the existing easement. So I want to make sure it's the latter. This isn't a deal where we relinquish one easement and then we can't get the one we need. They're going to happen simultaneously.

They're happening simultaneously. The new easement would be applied on the plat, on the base of the plat.

Yes. All right. That's my question. Thanks.

Further questions? Not seeing any, may I have a motion and a second?

Move to approve 2026-93. Second.

Consent vote is acceptable on this issue, so all those in favor say aye. Aye. Yes. Any opposed? Hearing none, motion passes unanimously. We now move on to reports and comments. We'll start off with City Manager Amundsen.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. I just wanted to remind the Council as well as the audience that there are road closures planned for the C3 slam basketball tournament. A section of George Washington Way will be closed Friday, July 10th at 6 p.m. through Sunday, July 12th at 7 p.m. to accommodate tournament activities. There will be signage posted. It will between Newton and Knight Streets, and local business access will remain available from Swift Boulevard to Newton Street. Drivers are encouraged to use alternative routes, follow posted detours, and use caution when traveling near the event area. That is all, Mayor and Council.

Thank you. For city council reports, I'm going to popcorn around to keep you on your toes. So I'm going to start off with Councilmember Jones out there in the universe. Do you have a comment?

Nothing for me. Thanks for asking.

OK, thank you. Councilmember Whitten.

Yes, I would like to thank the public for their comments earlier this evening and also for sticking around for public for the council comments so we have a little bit of a chance to reply. I also really love the large data center proposed policies that were given to us. I will say that Bullet number one, requiring the data center to get their own power, which is separate pot from the residential rate payer, is something that will happen because Bonneville Power is restricted statutorily from allowing this to go from their power bank. So that's not going to happen. They're going to have to come with their own power. Clint, if you need to correct me on any of this, please step in. Also requiring large city center to pay for new infrastructure, such as transmission lines and interconnects. The last council meeting that we had that we approved that ordinance for the mines did exactly that. So the city of Richland is not on the hook for any of the transmission lines that are approved. What we are is basically a signatory middleman. So we interface with Bonneville, but we're not taking any of the money. The company is going to be paying Bonneville for that. As far as moratorium is concerned, I would support something along those lines, but I would caution you that a one-year moratorium is basically signatory. It's a symbolic gesture. And if you want something like that, I'd be supportive of it. But the lead time for just the transmission lines is like two years. So data centers aren't going to go up tomorrow by any means. No matter how many billions of dollars you want to put towards something like this, that's not going to happen not even by the end of this year. So I appreciate you guys' passion on this subject and I appreciate your voices. I want you to know that you are heard and that your concerns are heard by staff and we're doing our best to make sure that we're not bringing a monstrosity into our backyard. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Samuel.

Thank you. I just want to start off by saying that, you know, we all have busy schedules, and for you to take time out of your schedule to come down and talk to us about your position on a subject, really, really appreciate it. So thank you so much for taking that time. And Dr. Stewart, thank you so much for this white paper. I really do appreciate it. So, Mayor and City Council, I was honored and delighted to have the opportunity to stand in for Mayor Richardson as her delegate at the ribbon cutting and official proclamation ceremony in recognition of the Hampton Inn Richland's 30 year anniversary. I cannot believe 30 years has gone by since the Hampton was built down there. So they have just finished a renovation down there, and so we had a proclamation for a Hampton Inn Richland Day. It was very well attended, and that was a bucket list item for me to stand in for you and give a proclamation. So thank you so much for that. I really did enjoy that. As you know, I'm the representative from City Council to the Tri-City Chamber of Commerce. And at their latest, at the last business meeting that they attended, they announced that they're having a regional advocacy roundtable meeting. It's coming up on Monday, July the 20th. It starts at 10.30 and it goes to noon. And the topic of the roundtable meeting in their conference room is... The title of it is called, From Energy to Economy, Data Centers and Regional Growth. And the roundtable presentation will provide information on how data centers operate and what resources they require. Participants will also learn about the potential economic benefits of data centers can bring, including capital investments, tax revenue, infrastructure improvements, and opportunities to strengthen our region's growing energy and technology sectors. So space is limited in that conference room, so if you are interested in attending that roundtable, you need to go out to the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce's website and RSVP for it. I also attended the Planning Commission meeting this last month, and they continue in a very detailed manner to go through every section of the update to the Comprehensive Plan. And my hat is really off to the Planning Commission because this is This is difficult work. It's very tedious work, but it's very, very important. And they're doing a great job. They ask a number of great questions. Of course, Planning Commission is, of course, another great opportunity to provide input. Citizens can provide input into what they want to see in the comprehensive plan. And so my hat's off to the Planning Commission for doing that. I also had the great opportunity to participate with the Arts Commission. They did a four-hour tour. Ryan, you were there also. They did a four-hour tour of art in Richland. And at the beginning of that tour, I was like, what are we going to visit for four hours in Richland regarding art? But we spent every minute of that time visiting art in Richland, from the Richland Players Theater, through the Parkade, to John Down Plaza, out to Oak Place Park, to the Richland Library. There is art everywhere in the city of Richland. And I was especially amazed by the data point that said that the city of Richland maintains 63 parks. That seems like a pretty big burden to have to take care of 63 parks. So that was a really excellent tour and I appreciate the city sponsoring that. Finally, I attended the City of Richland's Funding Opportunities Open House at the Richland Public Library. Man, that was a well-attended opportunity there for business leaders, nonprofits, community groups, all interested in learning about the city's administered grant and funding programs that are going to be available in 2027. So I really appreciated the city doing that. Very well attended, very well, the city did an excellent job being super organized with their tables and presentations, so represented the city very well.

Thank you for that comprehensive report. Councilmember Meyer.

Thank you. First, I'd like to talk about Ben Franklin Transit. I wanted to make sure everybody hears that we are fare free for the month of July. There is no charge to ride the bus this month. It's a bit of a pilot. We're going to see how the operators and the staff feel about it. See if we can maybe bring even more bang for our tax buck to the people of the Tri-Cities. Another topic for BFT is we're in the middle of a transit development planning phase. There's a public hearing about that this Thursday. You can either watch it on Zoom or you can come down to... the BFT administration building here in Richland and provide comment if you have opinions about BFT's transit development planning. So those are the two big things from BFT is the fare free and the public hearing this Thursday. You can find out more about either of those at BFT.org. And then I'll get to the other topic. Boy, I hear you about data centers. One day, somebody is going to do a public records request about everything that went on amongst us about these data centers. And what you're going to find out is that I was suspicious of this from the beginning. This is my industry. I understand how data centers work. They are not great job sources. What they are great for is tax revenue on the utility and the land stuff. Having said that, I would love to see a mid-range data center somewhere within 100 miles of here, because my servers I have to co-locate in Bend, Oregon, and it's a long drive when I've got to swap out a hard drive. So personally, I'm not 100% against data centers. What I am 100% against is hyperscaler data centers. Those are the ones that don't do anybody local any good. They're resource extraction facilities. The problem that I'm faced with is that they're not actually against the law. And I don't have a leg to stand on to say that this one should be stopped. I would love to see a hell of a lot more protections from the city around the things that go into and come out of and are involved with data centers. I've been vocally advocating for them for quite some time. We've made some progress. We've fixed some tax rates. I would love to see a full-on fossil fuel ban for electrical generation for these things. I would love to see a 100% requirement that no water, not just the limited amount used in closed-loop cooling, but no water get discharged from a possible data center. Like I said, my focus is on the actual externalities that these data centers bring when they're built carelessly or cheaply. And I think we have a lot of tools that we're leaving on the table in order to protect our citizens from the possible effects of a bad tenant, shall we say, on this land. Speaking of this land, this land was given to us by DOE with the express intent of us using it to develop industry for the city of Richland. That kind of consideration is why it's really hard to stand in the way of something like this. And one of the public commenters today said they were from California. I am also a recovering Californian, and that's how I know, for instance, that California has the cheapest wholesale electricity in the country. It's cheaper than it is here, but they still pay more than we do at retail. A big part of that is the way that these grids interconnect and the way that this power gets purchased and moved around. There's a hell of a lot of inside baseball you gotta know, and I don't claim to know it all, but data centers are part of my industry that I do for a living, and so I know enough about them to know that it's more complicated just that one guy sucks up all the power and everybody else pays more. You can still have a cheap wholesale rate and a really expensive retail rate if you're not careful and stuff like that still needs to be prevented even if they have to go purchase their own power on the open market. We still have to protect rate payers in Richland and I would love to see a whole lot more effort into mitigating some of these disasters that people read about on the internet. And I have a million more opinions, but I'm not going to take up everybody's time. I will hang out in the parking lot until my gigantic coffee is empty after this meeting, and I'll answer any questions you might have. Again, I can't speak for the city. I can only tell you what I know and what I think we should be prioritizing. But I've... I've not been, the original reason that I was even willing to consider a land sale for a data center is because I wanted low environmental impact nitrogen fixation for fertilizer. That's always been the most important part of this project to me. The data center, I don't care about. If we don't get the fertilizer plant with it, we wind up with a data center and no fertilizer plant, I will regard that as a failure. If a data center is subsidizing a fertilizer plant, I will regard that as a success because we are broader we in the Tri-Cities are an agriculture economy in addition to everything else. So again, if I thought if I could wave a magic wand and prevent hyperscalers from building data centers within 100 miles of my house, I'd do it. If anybody has a plan where they think that will be effective, feel free to bring it to me. I have received zero phone calls about this. My number is 443-208-8385. I'll say it again, 443-208-8385. Give me a shout. 443-208-8385. Operators are standing by. That's all. Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem Van Dyke.

Sure. First, I wanted to say thank you for the presentation or the comment, excuse me, on Kratom. Something I've been starting to follow in the news. Looking at the rest of council, I'd be interested in learning more about it. Impacts it's having on communities. I also looked up, found a map of existing states that have legislation against it and that There also is pending legislation. I'd be interested to know also if there are any community, regional, or state legislation that's being talked about here in the region, potentially a workshop discussion that we could have.

I'd be in favor of that. Are you asking?

Yeah, I guess I'm getting odds around here. I think that would be OK. Yeah, I agree.

I've seen the ban. We still sell kratom.

So I guess on more of a personal note, an opinion expressed about stoicism. And I wanted to address that. It's a conscious choice for me. And it's a conscious choice because I want to respect everyone's opinion. And that's important to me. I do find it interesting, too, that Kurt that smiled was mocked for it. And I don't think that's appropriate to call people out like that. And I think we can do better as citizens. I want to hear opinions. We want to hear opinions. But I think there's an opportunity to have respectful discourse about that. Yeah, that's what I have, Mayor.

Thank you. Thank you. And I have a couple things here. I'd like to thank Mayor Pro Tem Van Dyke for filling in for me when I was out. And I want to mention also the production that was presented to us on Friday evening with Yes And Productions. It was very patriotic, huge turnout from the community. And as I was leaving, people were so, so positive for that. Very thankful for the city staff and how well they worked together with the production of this. And I hope that it's something we see again. I'm curious, other council members, were you able to be there as well? And I just didn't get to see you. Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. So that's all I have at this time. I don't have anything further to add. The time is 7.30, and this meeting is adjourned.