City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, and welcome to the Tuesday, 03/03/2026 regular business meeting of the Olympia City Council. For the record, we have a quorum with all council members present tonight. So before we begin with our agenda, I wanna mention that we do have quite a few people here who are signed up for public comment related to the closure of the pool at the Evergreen State College. And I just wanna preface those comments this evening, with just a a mention that, the city of Olympia does not provide any direct funding, to the Evergreen State College, for on any particular matter. However, we are willing to learn more about this issue as it's come to our attention, and, myself and our city manager, Jay Bernie, will be reaching out to president Carmichael to learn more.

So, thank you for being present tonight. So with that, I need a motion to approve this evening's agenda.

Move approval.

Second. Alright.

All those in favor of the agenda as published, signify by saying aye. Aye. We have an agenda. So our first item tonight is special recognition, a proclamation recognizing the Inlet six fiftieth anniversary, and we have a shared reading of the proclamation beginning with council member Barron.

Gotta find the right one here. I'm sorry. Whereas the city of Olympia is located along Budd Inlet within the Salish Sea and has a long standing connection to the marine waters and ecosystems of the South Puget Sound. And whereas on Sunday, 03/07/1976, six orcas were captured in Lower Bud Inlet near Olympia to be sold and kept in captivity for human entertainment, an event that became known as the Bud Inlet six, and occurred in public view in the waters off the Athens Beach area and

Whereas the whales involved were Biggs orcas, a distinct ecotype present in the waters of Puget Sound. And whereas during the same period, the Evergreen State College hosted the first International Orca Symposium March 1976, which brought together scientists and researchers focused on the study and welfare of orcas in the Puget Sound welfare and coincided with the events in Budd Inlet and

Whereas concerned community members' attention to the Budd Inlet 6, together with scientific input and civic engagement, contributed to legal and political actions that resulted in the release of the captured whales and the end of live orca capture in Washington state waters. And

Whereas Washington state leaders at the time, including governor Dan Evans, attorney general Slade Gordon, and aide to governor Evans, Ralph Monroe, played key roles in these matters, reflecting the involvement of state leadership in addressing the matter. And

Whereas the city of Olympia acknowledges its place in this chapter of regional environmental history that influenced national policy and recognizes the value of public awareness, education, and stewardship of shared natural resources And

Whereas this event grabbed the attention of US Congress member Warren who introduced and helped pass federal legislation to ban the capture of orcas in all US waters. And

Now, therefore, be it resolved, the Olympia City Council does hereby proclaim the year 2026 as Budd Inlet six fiftieth anniversary year and further designates 03/07/2026 as Bud Inlet sixth commemoration day and encourages residents, educational institutions, and community organizations to observe this anniversary through appropriate educational and reflective activities throughout the year. Signed in the city of Olympia, Washington this March 2026, Olympia City Council, Dante Payne, mayor. Alright. And so we're we have a few speakers here this evening. So we're gonna begin, with Karen Monroe Ellick, who is an eyewitness to the capture of this, incident here at Bud Inlet and is joining us online.

Hi, Karen. You're on mute. We can't hear you.

There.

Yes. Now we can hear you.

Alright. Good evening, and thank you for this proclamation. 03/07/1976 was an unusually warm spring day in Olympia, and Ralph and I were going sailing with some friends. Looking toward Budd Inlet, we saw a pod of orcas being chased by two large boats, a speedboat, and a seaplane. We knew it was the SeaWorld capture crew, which had already taken over 60 of our Orcas and sold them to marine parks in The US and overseas.

Our captain, Bill Oliver, tried to get his boat between the Orcas and the capture boats, but the men swore at us saying they had permits. The Orcas tried to escape, but the seaplane taxied back and forth, and the men threw small explosives into the water. They drove the terrified animals into the shallow bay and threw nets around them. We were all very upset, but Ralph said, we can't stop them, but we have to watch and remember everything they do. It may be important later.

We watched as the men separated the young orcas from their family, prodding them with long poles. The orcas cries were heartbreaking. The animals outside the nets did not leave, but kept circling around and calling to their captive relatives. That evening, Ralph and I decided to call friends in the press. The next morning, he exclaimed, we've won round one.

Mike Layton has just written a great story, and it's on page one of the PI. King TV came to Olympia and filmed the orcas in the net, and it became a big news story. Many people came to the harbor to protest the theft of our orcas. Ralph was on governor Dan Evans' staff then, and he knew attorney general Slade Gorton well. He contacted them, and they agreed to investigate.

Gordon had three of his assistant AGs study the permit to find any provisions that were violated. They found a key one. The orcas were to be allowed to swim naturally and not be chased. Washington State filed a lawsuit against SeaWorld on March 10. Both sides presented arguments at the Federal Courthouse in Seattle with many supporters watching.

The legal arguments went on for several days. SeaWorld had an army of lawyers and public relations people there. Our sailboat crew submitted affidavits about what we had seen. Once it seemed we had won, but SeaWorld won an appeal and the proceedings continued. However, SeaWorld personnel were worried about their public image.

Negative information was coming out about previous captures, including the drowning of four young orcas they had tried to cover up. Finally, on March 23, SeaWorld signed an agreement that they would never capture orcas in Washington waters again, and the Bud Inlet captives would be set free. The courtroom erupted with joy. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Karen. I don't know if you can hear it, but there's lots of applause for your comments. Thank you. Thank you. Alright. And next, we have Edward Mackey, who is the former chief deputy attorney general of the WSBA. He's making his way to the podium.

Thank you. I think this can be looked at as the old adage of small acorns make muddy oaks. From a small start, which was the issuance of a permit to SeaWorld, which was authorized under federal law to harvest orcas. However, how they sought to do so was a different question. Ralph and Karen, going out sailing, observed how they were functioning, including dropping explosives, frightening the animals in every way.

They were both totally dismayed at the herding and capturing methods. The following morning, he arrived on Sunday, Ralph was using the telephone, And one of the calls of the telephone was to Slade, Gordon, who was the attorney general. Slade reacted by immediately scheduling a meeting. Ralph could come and present whatever he had, and we had a meeting in the AG's office. At that time, Slade concluded we were going to sue them.

He set Mal Murphy and Darryl Peoples as the two attorneys who were assigned to put it together. They filed suit in federal court in Seattle, and the court, in response, entered its restraining order so that SeaWorld could no longer do anything until the restraining order expired. That was then served on them by the US marshal, which was very surprised because they thought they had a permit. They were alright. But the restraining order was critical, but it has short duration.

While the negotiations were going on between World and our office and lining up the material, the time was running out on the restraining order. Unknown to us, unknown to SeaWorld, senator Magnuson made a telephone call to the federal judge who'd issued the restraining order. And he told the judge that he was working on a federal solution that would solve this, but he needed a little more time. The judge responded to that by, without hearing, lengthening the period of restraining order. The his mere act of extending it made SeaWorld increasingly nervous because they first had had an order, and now it's extended.

With the negotiations that went on at that stage, SeaWorld agreed that they would release all the orcas which they had captured and that they ultimately agreed that they would never again seek a federal permit to harvest orcas in Puget Sound. That basically put us to the stage that we have now, which was made permanent by a few days later after it's been resolved. Senator Magnuson did like he does or did in those days with his magic. He passed a little amendment that cleared both houses of the legislature. And you see today's congress and to do something in a couple of days contrast.

His little amendment proclaimed that Puget Sound is a sanctuary for orcas, and no permits can be issued nor nor orcas can be taken. And that federal protection has been there ever since 1976, and that's what this memorial is seeking to memorialize and recognize. Thank

you. Thank you, mister Mackey. Alright. Any comments from council council member Madrone followed by council member Gilman.

Yeah. I just appreciate both of you for, sharing the history on this. It's really, really cool to learn about it. And, also, what a stellar example of collaboration between state and federal government and with bipartisan collaboration. I I really love hearing those stories, so thanks so much for sharing them.

Councilmember Gilman. Thank you. Thank you for bringing this to us. I think in the the fifty years that have gone by since that there's a there's a pretty strong consensus that these orcas are both smart and they have feelings. And that was something we didn't really acknowledge at that time.

And I just wanna call attention that over the last few years, we've had two different groups come to us to ask us to support measures around rights of nature. And rights of nature asserts that ecosystems and species have the same inherent legal rights to exist, to thrive, and to regenerate just as we offer, as human rights. So I just wanna plant that seed that that's one path to continue this work because it's I think it's it's important work, both in the interest of the other creatures and of our own lives. Thank you for bringing this.

Mayor Pro Tem Nguyen, followed by council member Green.

I just wanted to say thank you for our speakers tonight. You both really helped add color to something that I and many others in this room did not witness. And so hearing you, Karen, talk about the way in which they capture the orcas and dropping those bombs, I didn't realize that, And into the waters. And that that helps us really kind of get get into that time and and what how it really happened. And then, same with, mister Mackey of, talking about, you know, you're right.

Getting something through, our our federal congress is, that's no easy feat. So, just really appreciate both of you being here today. And I wanna thank community member Brad Ferber. He's in the back there, actually, right in front of me. And if it weren't for your persistence and your advocacy of bringing this across tonight and saying, hey, this is a part of our history that's truly unique and truly important.

And not only should we make that as a special recognition item tonight, but also how do we work together to further that education throughout the year. So thank you so much for that, and I look forward to staying connected and figuring out how we might share throughout the year. And, also, I'd be remiss, without thanking assistant to the city council, Melissa McKee, in order to have something like this tonight. It's a lot of I think sometimes, you know, people can take it for granted for special recognition items that come up every business meeting, but there's someone behind the scenes pulling all of those pieces together and making sure that every speaker that comes here tonight knows why they're here, what to expect, and feels comfortable doing so. And great work with writing.

So thanks so much, Melissa. This is a big deal that right in the sort of Olympia Puget Sound waters that we're able to, influence national policy. That's a big, big deal. Thanks.

Well said. Councilmember Green.

Thank you, Mayor Payne. Yeah. I just wanna echo my my council member's comments. Miss Alec and mister Mackey, what what an incredible story. And not growing up in Olympia when this, came to us, this this was a totally new story for me, and the the context that you gave to it was incredible.

And I just wanna share a I'll call this silly anecdote, but I feel like points to some of the the generational impact that I now know kind of started in Olympia is that over the weekend, my kiddo came across the movie Free Willy on a streaming service. Right? Millennials, elder Millennials, we remember this. It's problematic. I'm not going to advocate necessarily for people to go watch it, but the gist of it is the opening the scene is people capturing an orca out in what is assumed to be Washington or Oregon waters.

And my child who's 10 could not understand for the life of her why someone would do that to a whale. And so to go, you know, in one generation from where it had to be a fight and somebody witnessing this and this incredible federal and state partnership work to get this to end to, you know, we now have generations that cannot imagine a world where someone would do that to an orca or certainly not a world where an orca would live in a small tank. And so I was just I just thought that was a fun connection between my again, just family experience this weekend and this story. But but thank you both again for for bringing this with us and for for being part of such an incredible legacy.

Thank you. Councilmember Barron.

Thank you, mayor. And thank you, Karen, for, your leadership. I I just wanna, reflect on the the states people that were so integral to this that Karen told the story of former secretary of state Monroe, Warren Warren Magnuson, our our US senator, and the governor, Karen herself, and and the difference that a liberal media can make because both the PI and the King TV were different creatures than what than what we see today. And, anyway, people pulling together really can make a difference, and I think it's an inspiration to us today. So thank you.

Thank you. Well, I'll just say that, you know, the proclamation calls for educating our community members, and we'll start with the mayor. Because I just learned about this, thanks to this proclamation request coming through. I had not known about this history right here in our community. And so I thank you all for for bringing this to our attention because I learned something new. I knew we weren't gonna get through this conversation tonight without free Willie coming up somehow. But I yeah. I I I do I think it's a good movie. And he makes it back to where he belongs. So, yeah, it's it's okay.

But, you know, it it makes me think too about, friends and family of mine who are back on the East Coast who have never been here to Washington State, and they think we see them all the time. And, it's it's such a a wonderful thing that we have here that we don't get to see them all the time and that they're such beautiful creatures, that swim in our waters. And I'm very proud, that we're celebrating this moment right here, right now, recognizing the beauty of the nature that we have in Washington State. Karen and Edward, thank you so much for sharing your comments, and thank you for being a witness and for working and advocating for those who can't advocate for themselves. So, I have a copy, a few copies of the proclamation here that I'd like to present to you tonight, if you come up to receive them.

Thank you. Yes. Please come on up. And you could take a photo with us as well if you want. And, Karen, I don't know if you're still on, but we'll make sure that we get you a copy of the proclamation as well.

Thank you so much.

Of course. Thank you. Good night.

Good night.

Okay. So that takes us to item two b on our agenda, and that is also a special recognition proclamation recognizing Disability Awareness Month. And we have a reading of this proclamation by Councilmember Green.

Whereas the City of Olympia recognizes that persons with disabilities are a valued and vital part of our community as workers, civic leaders, business owners, veterans, family members, and friends. And whereas the City of Olympia acknowledges that individuals with disabilities make meaningful contributions to our community, yet continue to face barriers that limit access to opportunities and full participation in our community. And whereas the City of Olympia recognizes that barriers to accessibility affect people differently as disability intersects with race, gender, economic status, and other identities, creating challenges that require a collaborative and equitable approach. And whereas the City of Olympia recognizes the ongoing efforts of individuals with disabilities, disability advocates, organizations and community members who work to remove barriers and promote inclusion. And whereas the City of Olympia is committed to promoting accessibility, upholding the rights of persons with disabilities and working to ensure all individuals can fully participate in community life.

And now, therefore, be it resolved, the Olympia City Council does hereby proclaim the month of March 2026 as Disability Awareness Month in the city of Olympia and urges the community, both individually and collectively, to take part in education, advocacy, and actions that support accessibility and inclusion. This includes recognizing the contributions of individuals with disabilities and working together to support the best quality of life for every member of our community. Signed

in the

city of Olympia, Washington this March 2026. Olympia City Council, Dante Payne, mayor.

Thank you, Councilmember Green. And we have Jocelyn Nelson, is the Disability Justice Task Force program manager here, to share a few words and accept the proclamation. Hi, Jocelyn.

I'm gonna try to get through this. Sorry. My voice is a little bit gone. My daughter likes to share and care sometimes. So thank you, City of Olympia, for continuing to recognize Disability Awareness Month for caring for language that affirms people with disability as members of community.

I'm speaking from lived experience as a person with a disability, navigating disability related barriers, and from work focused on disability access, equity, and inclusion within public systems and community spaces. That perspective has shown me that disability is not experienced in isolation. It is shaped by the systems we move through the identities we carry and the histories we inherit. For many people with disabilities, particularly those who are black, indigenous, people of color, low income, LGBTQ immigrants, and otherwise systematically excluded people, barriers compound across multiple systems, across the housing, health care, education, and employment, and meaningful access to justice is often limited not because of the individual need, but because systems that determine rights, decisions, outcomes were not designed to be accessible or equitable for disabled people, especially those with intersecting identities. Disability justice also requires us to think about intergenerational justice.

The barriers we tolerate today shape the opportunities available to future generations of disabled people and families. When systems exclude, that exclusion is passed down. When access is built and dignity, participation, and opportunity becomes part of the legacy we leave. This proclamation reflects that reality by naming barriers rather than blaming individuals, that framing matters because it places responsibility where it belongs, on systems, structures, and collective choices. It reflects thethe language reflects an understanding that accessibility and inclusion are not temporary initiatives or awareness campaigns that long term responsibilities that require consistency, accountable accountability, and care over time.

Particularly for disabled people, we also and for systematic excluded people for future generations shaped by the systems we choose to maintain or change. As a call to action this month, I invite all of us as individuals, institutions, as a society to consider not only who our systems work for today, but who they are shaping access and justice for tomorrow. To listen to people with lived experiences, particularly disabled people and those who are systematically excluded, and how to recognize overlapping intergenerational forms of exclusion and how it shapes over time, to take concrete steps, large, small, and remove barriers for to support full participation. Thank you.

Thank you, Jocelyn. Any comments from council? Councilmember Vanderpool. Oh, do we? Oh, I'm sorry. I don't have you here on my list. Well, come on up to the podium. And city manager Bernie is on his way over to assist you with the mic. Oh,

wow. Mhmm. I was wondering how that was gonna work. If you could write here.

Alright.

Well, this is exciting. I just want to commend you all for this beautifully written and thoughtful Disability Awareness Month proclamation. It goes a long way toward helping people with disabilities in Olympia feel seen, heard, and respected. Elevating the experiences of people with disabilities also elevates the work that needs to be done to promote effective access in everyday in every aspect of daily life. My hope is that this proclamation also highlights the importance of taking people with disabilities into account when leaders make decisions. Again, I deeply appreciate the recognition of people with disabilities in the community tonight.

Thank you so much. And for the record, that was, Jess Tortolette Palumbo, who is an Olympia school board director. Alright. So, any comments from the dais? Council member Madrone or excuse me, council member Vanderpool followed by council member Madrone.

Thank you, Jess. You're you're my favorite school board director. Don't tell the others. I just wanna talk about one one aspect of which the city can is getting more involved in the particularly the accessibility side of this. So in May, the land use and environment committee will be looking at a study that we're doing right now on well, we've already done the study, but where there's feedback opportunities for the public to be involved in sidewalk repair. I bring this up because accessibility is key. Right? Getting around the community is key, ensuring that folks have access around our neighborhoods. And so I'm just plugging that and just saying that there's opportunities for us to to give feedback, and we'll be working on that in May. Thank you.

Councilmember Madron.

Lovely to see you here, Jess. Look forward to the joint meeting between the city and the school board when that comes up. And, Jocelyn, I wanna thank you for being here. It's good to see you here again too. So Jocelyn's one of the founding members for our social justice and equity committee. And

one of

the things that I remember you saying when that work was concluding after you all had given your recommendations on what the commission should look like, the I remember your parting words were like, please don't forget about people with disabilities. They're often the first to become invisible, especially with the DEI type work. And I haven't forgotten that at all. And I know this council is very committed to making sure everybody's included in what we do as a city. We went through a really, really tough budget process last year where one of the potential cuts was our ADA coordinator. And we found a way to retain that position because, again, I was reflecting on your words. And I was like, no. We can't let this work go. And, you know, the council was you know, we're we're we're all in agreement. That is really important work to move forward.

So thank you both for bringing your voice with to the chambers tonight.

Thank you. Councilmember Gillman.

I appreciate you both speaking tonight, and I I really see this as as part of our belonging work that we're we're trying to do broadly. And I had a little plumbing up after our last conversation about Briggs Village and how much do we hold on to the hope of that urban village that our our conversation didn't include how valuable a walkable urban village sort of neighborhood is for people who don't drive a car and for people who have other kinds of mobility besides the soles of their shoes that that we didn't we didn't consider that in the deliberations. And I just I appreciated the folks who reached out afterwards saying, you know, this is my mobility and I live in the apartments right there and keep it a walkable neighborhood. So I I just I just wanted to highlight that that that it's, as as much work as we've done about having boards and commissions and studies and having conversations about emphasizing belonging, it's it's still a a challenge for me to incorporate it in all of the decisions that we need to make. So thank you for being here and for, elevating this tonight.

Thank you. Any additional comments? Alright. Well, I'll just say, Jocelyn, it's good to see you again. You come each year, to accept this proclamation, so good to see you.

And director Tilette Palumbo, it's good to see you also. I every year when we do this proclamation, I think about the significance and the importance of both visible and invisible disability. And the more we have this conversation, the more people start to report that they actually have a disability once they realize that it's not just about being physically and visibly disabled. And we do see each year, it seems, at least in my opinion, I start seeing more representation on television and in movies. I see different organizations putting more efforts into accessibility.

And so I see this conversation growing and this dialogue growing and getting bigger and bigger. And, unfortunately, for a time, it's been it it's often led by the people whom it affects. And now we're starting to see a little bit more we're hearing more voices of people who maybe don't have a disability who are advocating as well, which is really great to see. And every year, I I say this,

but it's

true. You know, if there's ever a reason to care about this issue, you could become disabled tomorrow. So this is about all of us, even if you don't currently have a disability at the moment. And so it's so important that we continue to advocate for accessibility and equity for our folks who are disabled, whether that disability is visible or not. Thank you so much for being here tonight.

We would also like to take a photo with you if you would like and I have copies of the proclamation for you. So thank you. Alright. So we're gonna keep this celebration train going, and we have one more proclamation, item two c on our agenda, which is a proclamation recognizing the one hundred and fortieth anniversary of Olympia's stand against anti Chinese violence. And we have a shared reading of this proclamation beginning with Councilmember Madrone.

Whereas by the latter half of the nineteenth century, the Puget Sound region received an influx of settlers from around the world. Among them were Chinese were Southeast Chinese immigrants who provided a much needed labor force in constructing new towns in the region, including Olympia. And whereas before the arrival of Chinese immigrants, most of Olympia's streets existed only on paper. But after being hired by the town as contract laborers, the men built bridges, cleared stumps, and graded streets in and around what is now downtown while also working in homes of wealthy white community members, local manufacturing businesses, and lumber cans, were widely employed in the local oystering industry, serve served as crew members on early steamships, and played a significant role in strengthening and sustaining Olympia's economy. And?

Whereas the Olympia Chinese population significantly grew between the 1850s and 1880s, their cultural celebration received regular mention in the local press. Their small businesses, including laundries and restaurants, formed a Chinatown near the waterfront, and many early Chinese residents shared the Locke surname, leading some to refer to Olympia as Locke Town. And whereas in the 1886, anti Chinese violence swept the Pacific Northwest amid racial prejudice and economic scapegoating as white laborers feeling threatened by low wage competition joined unions like the Knights of Labor and the International Workmen's Association, the IWA, which organized the harassment, expulsion, and even murder of Chinese people throughout the West, leading to widespread destruction in many communities and

Whereas federal law at the time affirmed that Chinese residents lawfully had the right to remain in The United States, yet mobs sought to override those protections, making such expulsions acts of lawlessness and racial exclusion. And whereas in February 1886, an organized attempt was made to expel Olympia's Chinese residents and burn their homes and businesses, echoing violence elsewhere in the region. And?

Whereas Olympia mayor, Answorth Chambers, sheriff William Billings, and city marshal, Fred Goyatt, acted swiftly working together to uphold the rule of law by maneuvering the mob and quickly deputizing residents to form a protective barrier that prevented bloodshed and destruction, arresting mob leaders and IWA members John Hetzel, Lewis Bales, and Ernest Gooding, demonstrating that community responsibility can prevail even in times of deep division. And whereas federal courts secured convictions against some organizers, a rare act of accountability during an era when racial violence often went unpunished. And

whereas we acknowledge that anti Chinese sentiment existed locally, that interventions came only when violence was imminent, and that systemic racism persisted long after such as giving Chinese community member excuse me, Chinese members Chinese community members lower earning statuses, exclusion from local cemetery records, and restrictive immigration laws that limited new arrivals of Chinese immigrants and.

Whereas we honor the resilience of Olympia's Chinese community whose contributions are an important part of our shared history, including the development of transportation infrastructure through railroads, later generations went on to accomplish great things in the community and beyond, even beyond becoming Washington governor and forming the Olympia Area Chinese Association that exists today to preserve and share Chinese culture and

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Olympia City Council does hereby recognize February 2026 as one hundredth as the one hundredth and fortieth anniversary of the Olympia's stand against Chinese violence in the city of Olympia and encourages all residents to remember both the courage shown and injustice that made such courage necessary, to learn about the honor, the contributions of Chinese community members, past and present, and to reaffirm our commitment to equity and inclusion for all and the importance of knowing our rights and protecting our neighbors then and now. Signed in the city of Olympia, Washington this March 2026. Olympia City Council, Dante Payne, mayor. Okay. So we do have a few speakers here on our list.

I have Brian Locke, who is here, is a member of the Locke Family Foundation, Edward Edward Echtel or Eckley, excuse me, as well as Ruth Kottish S. Kind. All here. Do you wish to say a few words? Yes. Please approach the podium.

Good evening. Thank you. Olympia was founded in 1850 when the region was still unseated native land claimed by The US as part of the Oregon Territory. In 1853, Olympia founder Edmund Sylvester advertised meals in his hotel were prepared by a, quote, accomplished Chinese cook twenty years before railroad construction begun in the area. Chinese immigrants began arriving during the California Gold Rush and worked in industries across the West.

By the eighteen sixties, Olympia's Chinese community hosted Lunar New Year celebrations welcoming visitors to their homes and businesses. In that era, Olympia's population swelled with many new immigrants. If you took a stroll around Olympia back then, you would have heard many conversations in different languages. Also beginning in the eighteen fifties, professional agitators in the region targeted Chinese as inassimilable aliens who refused to conform to, quote, unquote, American values. In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, but some continued to exploit prejudice for their own designs.

Among them were the Knights of Labor, a union which used the issue to recruit white Americans and immigrant workers from Europe to a common cause, exclusion and prejudice against the Chinese. Among them oh, excuse me. Across the West, vigilantes targeted Chinese communities. By the late by late eighteen eighty five, violence exploded in Washington. City leaders in Tacoma led an armed expulsion of its entire Chinese population and burned their homes.

In Seattle, the territorial militia stopped a similar attempt, but only temporarily. When the militia withdrew in February 1886, Seattle carried out its ethnic cleansing. In Olympia, agitators planned to do the same. Unlike Tacoma and elsewhere, however, city leaders intervened. Deputized by sheriff Billings, volunteers prepared to deter actions against the Chinese.

On February 9, the rioters attacked Olympia's Chinese residents. The deputies allowed harassment but blocked the planned expulsion. The leaders of the riot were later arrested, and unlike Tacoma, were convicted and jailed. It's important to note here that Olympia's leaders were not united by sympathy for the Chinese. Some, perhaps most, agreed Chinese should not be allowed to stay.

Instead, they were aware that the law lawlessness that marked earlier riots were bad for those towns' reputations and as a safe place to settle and to invest. Nevertheless, it is also important to recognize that the rule of law and the protection of the rights of an unpopular minority won out over mob violence in Olympia. Today, descendants of the small pioneer Chinese community still reside in Olympia. And, ironically, the records from the from the trials give us one of the very few documents that list Chinese individuals by name, a rare window into a history we are still recovering. Thank you for listening and for acknowledging the importance of this pivotal moment in our shared history.

Thank you. On behalf of the Locke Family Association, I want to thank the council for this proclamation, recognizing this important piece of history on the hundred and fortieth anniversary of the stand taken by local officials, mayor Chambers, city marshal Fred Guyatt, and sheriff Billings against anti Chinese violence. Of the hundred and thirty five Chinese victims of attempted anti Chinese expulsion in the case of US versus Montgomery District Court of Second Judicial District, the Washington Territory, of those one thirty five, 28 had the surname of Locke. They were Locke family members. We don't do not know all of the descendants, but we are working on that research right now.

Of course, Ed describes some of the events that happened a year before in 1885 of the Tacoma Method, the anti Chinese violence that happened in Tacoma, and months later that happened in Seattle. So I asked some of my relatives, including my uncles and my dad, why Olympia? Why didn't the anti Chinese riots happen here? And they had some pretty interesting thoughts on that and history, knowing some of their people like my grandfather and and some of my uncles who were here approximately about that time. This is what my dad said.

Many of our ancestors were labor brokers. They owned small businesses. They were part ingrained in the small business community. They established relationships. So there's lot likely that there was some of course, there were some benevolent reasons why there was, not a riot here, but quite honestly, some of it was strictly business.

Discrimination did not totally go away after this anti Chinese riot was quelled. Many businesses had left the old Chinatown by the nineteen forties. Many of those old families looked for work elsewhere in Washington state, including places like Mason County, South Bend Raymond, Eastern Washington, and, of course, Seattle. But others did stick around. We still have some local Locke family members that had businesses that were descendants of those old pioneers.

Many of them still had restaurants that you might recognize if you were an old timer in town. Some of those include the new Shanghai, China Clipper, the new Chinatown, Kay's Cafe. Those were all lock lock family owned businesses. Olympia was still known as a locked town up until pro I would probably say until the nineteen nineties. So I just would like to thank the council again for this proclamation.

It recognizes a very important piece of history, and it it is something that, you know, as current Chinese community members know that, you know, sometimes history can repeat itself, you know, but we understand that this is a very progressively minded community, and they do take a stand. So thank you.

Hi. I'm Ruth Kodasheshkin. I'm the exhibits and programs manager at the Olympia Museum and Visitor Center. Yeah. Thanks for having me here.

Working in the museum field, I've been lucky enough to conduct research about historic Chinatowns in the Pacific Northwest. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to research the historic Chinese community in Port Townsend, locating sites of Chinese businesses and homes to create a map for visitors to explore. And suddenly, Port Townsend's historic Chinatown was visible. Clusters of points indicating a vibrant community. Restaurants, laundries, and family homes were visible in proximity to one another, and cultural celebrations could be imagined on the streets between them.

Just making a map was impactful, but having a museum where we could show it meant that port towns and visitors and residents could suddenly see something that they may not have known existed before. So we need these museums' heritage markers, special proclamations, murals, these public spaces and events that make knowledge accessible and common. History museums can make the past visible to bring past people, places, and stories to life in the present. In order to recognize the history of Chinese community and present life in Olympia, the Olympia Museum and Visitor Center has installed an exhibit called Remembering Exclusion, Honoring Community, Chinese Life in Olympia. This is a six panel exhibit educating visitors about early Chinese Olympians, the immigration experience, the exclusion era, and Olympia's historic exclusion event, which we're recognizing today.

We hope to engage visitors on some questions of the exclusion era, like what is lost when communities are excluded from our city, and how can we help everyone truly belong here today. It would be easy to remember the exclusion era as a past event, something our city no longer has to deal with. But we live in a time when anti immigrant sentiment and policy are front and center, and the lessons from the exclusion era are as relevant as ever. This special proclamation should remind us of the power we have to disrupt racist violence and to protect our neighbors. When I moved to Olympia, I didn't learn about our historic Chinatowns, and I didn't know if there was a Chinese community here.

I hope that visitors to Olympia today can come to the museum and visitor center and see faces of past residents and connect with present day Chinese and Chinese Americans through groups who are uplifting, like the Asian Pacific Islanders Coalition and the Olympia Area Chinese Association. I hope we can continue to support stories about Olympia's Chinese community in our museum and in our city where and other communities whose contributions to our city have gone unrecognized. So thank you.

Thank you all so much. So, same, process here. So we're gonna begin with some council comments, and then we'll call you back up to accept the proclamation and take a photo. And we'll begin with council member Barron.

Thank you, mayor. Thank you to the members of the Chinese community who are here and and others, speaking on their behalf. You know, in our history, if if you really study this, I don't think there's any group that bared greater discrimination than the Chinese community in the Pacific Northwest. A lot of the history that has been talked about here tonight is not not well known, and there was a time when there was a giant population of Chinese people percentage wise in the state of Washington and and Idaho and Oregon, and that these exclusionary laws essentially kind of eliminated those populations, and they were kind of, oh, many people were sent sent back to China, and people were not allowed to bring, women into The United States to marry so that those legacies couldn't continue. And it's a it's a valuable history.

And I just wanna thank you for for being here and and acknowledging that. Thank you.

Thank you. Council member Gilman followed by mayor pro tem Nguyen.

Thank you, Brian, Ed, and Ruth. I I really appreciate your bringing to us social history, the sort of the rest of the story. As as council member Behrendt was saying, this doesn't or at least it didn't make it into the school book textbook history, and it's it's something that that we wrestle with. And I and I I appreciate that there were some good people who stood for the rule of law. And I I also I and I and I honest I'm I'm conflicted about this, but I think there's value in looking for good things that people did to help history to inform what we do today.

I the the one thing that I I wanted to point out is that while we might characterize the Knights of Labor folks as mob leaders and agitators, they were following the majority opinion in The United States. This was four years after Congress had passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited any new Chinese folks from coming or anybody from going home to visit and coming back. And that that law was extended by many different congresses and not repealed until 1943. That for decades, the sentiment in The United States was that Chinese immigrants here were a problem and and that we should be afraid of them and and limit travel between China and here and limit immigration. This was the first you the Chinese Expulsion Act was the first US immigration law that targeted a specific group, that wasn't just about sort of the total number of people coming in.

So I I just I wanted to highlight that that it there is a Pacific Northwest story that that we need to tell and wrestle with, but there was also a nationwide, almost a century of a of a terrible singling out one group of people and excluding them from the the ability to immigrate back and emigrate back and forth.

So

Thank you. Mayor pro tem Nguyen.

Yeah. I just really appreciate all of the speakers for coming out tonight. What a incredible mix of people. From, Ed, your this was your was it your evergreen capstone project? That's right. And not not recently. This is thirty years ago. Yes. And I I just yeah. What a great mix of of speakers we had.

This proclamation, really touches close to my heart. It is we do a lot of, really wonderful special recognitions, and this one has my heart beating a little faster tonight. And it was it's probably the most time that I put I've put into a proclamation. And in the writing of it, working alongside assistant to the city council, Melissa McKee, and then also making sure that we're getting the facts correct, right, and checking in with you all. And, it was it was interesting.

You know? Some things came up, which was, there's nuance here, and so we wanted to make sure that we weren't, we were lifting up the parts that were important to lift up and then also, you know, the positives, but then also not looking back with too much of a rosy picture. There is a real, as Melissa would call it, a commitment to truth telling. Here, there was concern about speaking specifically about labor groups. Know, Olympia is a pretty pro labor town, so we wouldn't want to suggest otherwise.

And there's there was just all of these different feelings that that came up for this one and as well as just me personally. I remember the first time that I ran across I was just telling you out in the lobby, but I remember the first time that I ran across your research about this because for someone that is you know, I was born right here at Saint Peter's Hospital in Olympia, and it is a weird thing to be from a place and feel like a minority most of the time. And your research that you decided to do for your capstone, I think, impacted so many people that have I mean, this is we're building upon it tonight. Right? And so because of the research that you chose to do, I haven't gotten a chance to ask you why you chose to do it, but I'm so glad that you did, and I'm so glad that it's captured.

And there's this Melissa had helped Melissa put this together. The she's just showing a couple of places in in downtown that you can that have that points to the Chinese community of the past. And I yeah. I wonder if it wasn't for that discrimination, like, what what would it be today walking through downtown? Would it be would it be different? And I think it would. Anyways, sort of a stream of consciousness, but I'm feeling a lot of great things. I'm so happy this is happening tonight. I sort of can't believe it at the same time. Yeah.

And I think it's really important. I hope people will go and and see the exhibit.

Thank you, mayor pro tem. And and thank all of you for for coming to us and and working with us on this proclamation, and and thank you for the research. This is a part of our history that I did know about the city, although the details of that history are a little bit elusive to me. And so I thank you for the past research and the future research that you'll do so that we can all learn more as a community about the extensive history here in Olympia. I am you know, I I just kind of wanna say a few words about, you know, where the current moment that we're in and, you know, how it's so important that we make sure that we are telling this history over and over.

And, you know, a few years ago, we had the stop Asian hate movement, and that sense has gone quiet. And I kinda just wanna take this moment to say that that doesn't mean that those things aren't happening. Right? It it just simply means that it's not in our current media cycle. And so that's why it's important that history like this, especially when it's hyper local, that we continue to lift it up and tell it over and over.

And it's it's really important for us, to think about the future as well. So where we look at how we're, demonizing and otherizing others who may not look like us or speak like us. And, frankly, with our our relations with with China right now, I think it's important when we think about the future that we look to our neighbors and we make sure that we check our biases. Right? And remember this history in our community, that we do not slip into these, poor habits of demonizing and otherizing other people who don't share our experiences, our culture, or who look like us.

And so that's why I'm so thankful to you because I think that this history will be very relevant to tell in in the coming years. And I I also wanna say that, you know, how how fitting it is that, you know, the city's first mayor of color was Doug Ma, who is Chinese. The significance of that, I think, is important. I wasn't here at the time when he was elected, but we're talking about it now. And I think that that says a lot about this community.

We think of ourselves as this really progressive city, and this tells a different story of what things were like, even though there were people that were on the right side of history And so I I thank you for this. This is important. And, Mayor Pro Tem, thank you for your work and for your representation as well, which I believe makes you the second following Doug Ma. And it's important that you are sitting up here with us, and thank you for representing your community so well. And and I, you know, just look forward to, learning more about the extensive history here in Olympia.

So, we have a few copies of the proclamation here that we'll present you with and take a photo. Thank you.

Alright.

Great way to start the night. Okay. So, why don't we go ahead and take a quick, are you done? Okay. We'll take a five minute recess so that mayor Pro Tem could say her goodbyes.

Alright. So we're gonna come on back. And at this time, we're gonna turn to our public comment section of the agenda, and I'll turn it over to the mayor pro tem.

Alright. So we have all in person public comment today. No virtual sign ups. So that's sort of a treat. Council member Gilman agrees. So each public commenter, for those of you that may not know, each public commenter gets two minutes. I'll call a few names at a time so you know when to get ready and so you'd stand up and walk to this podium here. Go ahead and start speaking into the mic. You'll see three colors before you in sort of stoplight colors. When it's green, you're good on your two minutes.

Yellow means, to kind of wrap it up, and red is you're done. So, with that, you also have a two minute timer here. So if it does go red or you do cut off at two minutes, go ahead and wrap up your comments. And if I do start thanking you, that's me politely telling you to please move on so the next public commenter, can come and speak. If you don't get a chance to provide all of your public comments, you can also contact us via email as well, and you can send in written comments that way.

So with that, I'll go ahead and, go down the list here. So we have, Ashton, Muirik followed by Joseph Kim followed by Brent Barnes. And please do say your name into the mic for the record.

Hello. My name is Ash Meyerick. I am or I attend the Olympia High School as a junior. I'm here to inform y'all about the closure about the Evergreen State College aquatic facility. Our team is among one of the biggest in the area consisting of 49 boys and 42 girls ranging from state swimmers to people learning how to swim.

Evergreen house houses more than the Ollie swim team. It houses Capital High School and their swim team, same with the sheriff's department, the mountaineers, Black Hills, and the Tomater girls swim team, and the Lacey Fire Department. Also, Evergreen. Ever Evergreen is special to us. It has plenty of space for a big team, and it also has, like, a diving board, which is not common in our area.

And something like, the staff are friendly and the drive was manageable. And I bring this up because the the place where we can move later on to is North Thurston High School. And if we go to that high school, our school will have to cut our team in half down to 25 boys. The dive program will be cut or eliminated, and it we will have rough hours for our swim team coming back home around 09:30, 10PM on a school day. And it's just it's just not good for our team.

I just wanna state our concerns. It's 11 away meets as well. I mean, that's eleven days away from school, and it's just misses out on education as well. But I just want y'all to hear our concerns. I know it's just me up here, but I'm speaking for a lot of people. And, yeah, thank thank you for your time.

Thank you. Please hold your applause so that we can call the next, person forward. Thank you.

Thank you. Joseph Kim? You can begin when you're ready.

Good evening. My name is Joseph Kim, a freshman attending Olympiad High School, and I'm, proudly a part of the Olympiad High School swim program. So this is only my first year as a part of this community. I'm here to share my experiences. Being a part of this program is definitely the most memorable part of my life.

Throughout the season, I have built many connections and memorable friendships from all from the bonding experiences in the Evergreen Aquatic Facility. For example, we've done many special team bonding events that would be only possible because of the facility. From the team dinners to the winter break practices, the facility made it all possible. And if I'm being honest, the swim program has been one of the best experiences because it made me realize the potential I have and it made me and how close the team is with each other. The team really feels like a family and acts like it too.

And if the facility closes, the team, like Ashton said, will be cut in half and placed in a pool that is nearly not not as big enough to fit our needs. And if I'm being honest, this team will forever not be the same without the facility. And I'm here to represent our team and the other concerned members of this community in saying please help us in preventing the closures of this facility, and it is a lot more than just a building to us. Thank you.

Thank you. Brent Barnes, followed by Bill Payne, followed by Constance, Lantigny.

Council members and mayor, thank you for allowing us to speak tonight. My name is Brent Barnes. From 2020 to 2025, I served on the city's Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee. And what drew me to that was the beginnings of the aquatic feasibility study. At that time, the Evergreen State College was not open to public swimming.

They had closed it down for close to a year. And the thought at the time was that Evergreen would make a really good pool for a bridge between the time it would take to, fund, build, and open an aquatic center, and that the YMCA might be able to facilitate management of that. At the time, they had about $1,900,000 in deferred maintenance. My understanding is that deferred maintenance has been resolved, has been addressed. But the feasibility study was completed, renderings and a general plan were provided, and the city council instructed the parks department to continue work on funding viability.

Around 2022, the project was shelved due to, non related budget concerns elsewhere in the in the city. Last week, the Evergreen State College decided to shut down the pool permanently. Because Tom Water Olympia and the Associated School Districts have never prioritized building pools, this closure decision will impact the viability of six high school swim programs across four schools, training for at least one fire fire department, one law enforcement department, lap swim and open, swim availability for community members, and swim lessons for children. When the feasibility study was done, it was estimated that it would cost about 30,000,000, which would be a lot more in today's dollars to build the aquatic center. So it really makes sense to look at, keeping this pool open and funding the operational costs.

The school districts currently are paying around $70,000 to Evergreen for their high school swimmers to use the pool. I encourage the city to engage with Evergreen State College and their and other partners to find ways to make up the operational cost difference to keep this pool open. Thank you.

Thank you. Bill Penn?

Thank you, mayor. Thank you, council. My name is doctor William Penn, and I've been in this community for about forty two years. And I'm presently now, coaching, volunteering with Olympia School School high school team, both boys and girls. It's been a fabulous experience working with these exceptional student athletes, exceptional student athletes.

And swimming to me is a very important thing as far as safety, community access, the health benefits that go along with a pool. To make to make it short, I went into action on Friday. I I spoke to the the governor's office, the lieutenant governor's office, to Danny Kuhn, who's our senator, who did get back to us. And, I have, today, went to the, president of the Evergreen College. I spoke to his secretary.

He was not available and left a detailed message. What we're looking for as a point man here after our cons we had a committee meeting yesterday, is to try to facilitate some time to get this pool back to Olympia Parks and Recreation as a possible alternative to keep it open. They do not have the funds. That it's obvious they don't have the funds, and they got a big cut from the state, $2,700,000. So I understand their viewpoint, but we still need to keep this facility open right now.

It closes June 6. It only gives us two months, and that's not enough time. What I'm proposing to do is to get money available so we can keep it open another three months through September, and that's what I proposed to them today just and have them get back with me. And then from there, we can maybe get a coalition of city parks and recreation to possibly be able to facilitate and take over the facility. Thanks very much for your time.

Thank you. After Constance, we have Henry Vats and Peter Goodchen.

Hello, I'm Constance Lantang. I am an Evergreen graduate from the class of 2002. And I support keeping the Evergreen State College pool open. One key aspect of Evergreen's mission is to engage on community based work. We've seen this with high school swim teams practicing in the pool.

They all have the potential to be Olympiads. You all do. Two weeks ago one of the swim team coaches brought his team to the practice to practice at the state for the state meet while I was working out in the pool at 07:00 in the morning. These young athletes were amazing, and I found out later they did a great job at the state meet. I work out five days a week at the pool since my hip replacement surgery.

My Providence primary care doctor was so impressed with my physical gains, muscle strength, improved balance improved stamina and balance. He consulted with his peers recommending that the Evergreen Pool be available for low impact exercises for their patients. My husband also works out at the pool five days a week since his shoulder surgery. Olympia Ortho's surgeon, his surgeon, was impressed by his physical gains and range of motion. Water rehab's low impact has greatly improved his shoulder functionality.

A few months ago I started working with two Evergreen lifeguards who were approved for funding for certification for water aerobics. And I was working with them on a consulting perspective. Oh, man. I mean, two minutes.

Thank you.

You can

email me your comments. That's alright.

Okay.

You're not the first to go over. With that, we have Henry Vetz.

Henry Vance, Olympia High School swim coach. Pools are a vital resource to the community as much as roads, parks, or government buildings. Pools save lives just like our fire and police departments. They are not businesses, they are services. And they are especially important for those of lower income and be and becoming more important as Thurston County becomes more diverse.

In households with an income less than 57 $50,000, 79% of children have few or no swimming skills. By having no public pools, Thurston County has created a paywall and added to generational inequalities to access to aquatics facilities. Drowning is the leading cause of death in children and especially those with autism spectrum. They are a 160 times more likely to experience fatal drowning than the general pediatric population. But professional swim instruction like those offered at Evergreen and the Olympia Schools reduced drowning in young children ages one to four by eighty eight percent and sixty four percent for children above five.

The Olympia swim and dive programs and coaches hosted a 100% free swim and dive camp. Last year, we hosted 200 children and planned to host it at Evergreen State College pool this summer to provide even more free lessons until we were informed that it would be closed. You may not know this, but you are likely, and you and your family have been directly impacted by Olympia School District students. If you swim at the YMCA, Tango Wild, Legacy Parks, Tumwater Valley, more than likely your guards were Olympia swimmers. If your child learned how to swim, they probably learned from an Olympia swimmer.

There is no comparable facility. There is simply not. It is not just used for competitive swimmers. We learned about the elderly, the disabled, the ones with limited mobility. It is the most important low impact, activity that they can do. All we're asking is we're pleading this county, the districts, the sheriff's office, anyone to work with Evergreen to help keep this invaluable resource open, and we hope to continue to prevent drownings

for the

future generations of Olympia. Thank you.

Thank you. After Peter Gutchen, we have Chad Cate and Olivia Smith.

Good evening, council members. My name is Peter Gutchen. I'm with the Northeast Neighborhood Association, and I'm also the newly elected chair of the Council of Neighborhood Associations. Before I dive into my comments, I'd like to introduce the rest of our esteemed executive committee for the CNA, our vice chair, Karen Sweeney, with the East Side Neighborhood Association our secretary, Melissa Allen, with the Bigelow Highlands Neighborhood Association our communications coordinator, Daniel Garcia, with the Downtown Neighborhood Association and our programs and events coordinator, Grace Fletcher, from the other from across the bridge with the Southwest Olympia Neighborhood Association. I'd also like to recognize our former chair, Larry Driza, for his many years of exemplary service to the community.

I am here tonight to celebrate and recognize Olympia's gloriously unique and diverse neighborhoods and to turn the page on a new chapter in the CNA's relationship with the city. That starts with listening to learn what's important to the people who live, work, and play in our community. It starts with events like the CNA's Community Priorities Forum that you'll learn more about tonight from Daniel later this evening. That packed these chambers on January 24 with people thirsty to be heard and to connect with their neighbors. The energy in that in this room that night was electric, and lots of ideas were shared on how to address our community's most pressing problems.

I am here tonight to invite the city to partner with us to tap into that energy and into our community's deep reservoirs of skills, talent, knowledge, passion, creativity, and collective wisdom to help Olympia and its neighborhoods flourish and thrive. Thank you for the time tonight.

Thank you. Chad Kate? Chad, are you still with us? Okay. Olivia Smith?

Hello. My name is Olivia Smith, and I attend Olympia High School. A freshman who has already experienced a high school swim season, I can tell you that you learn three important skills as a swimmer on a team. Number one being the importance of a community and community bonding. Number two being the importance of resilience.

And number three, being how to be a better and more supportive person to for those around you. Without swimming, I might not be where I am today. Last fall, I decided to join Olympia High School's swim and dive team in the hopes of making new friends and finding a community after a recent move from Seattle. This is exactly what it gave me. The swim team community welcomed me and others with open arms and made me feel made me and others feel like we were part of something greater than ourselves.

This was where I met some of my best friends and found the lifelong treasure of a loving community. Without this pool, many others will not be able to experience the joy of a place to belong and bond with others. The closing of the pool will essentially cut people off from potential lifelong treasures and memories, taking the meaning of community, and essentially raking it through the mud. Please do not close Evergreen State College's pool as it means so much to me and the others in the community. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Next, we have, Crystal Smith followed by Grace Fletcher.

Hi. I'm Crystal Smith. I am Olivia's mom. I'm here as, excuse me, the mother of an Olympia high school swimmer. My daughter's a freshman this year and had a wonderful experience on the team.

Like many high school teams in the area, Olympia practiced at the Evergreen State College pool. We were informed recently that the pool would be permanently closing in June, and this leaves all of these high school teams without a pool to practice in next fall, as well as other community members who also have to find other venues in a county where pools are in short supply. I'm here to make two requests. First, please don't let this pool close on in June. According to Evergreen's interim CFO, the pool requires 60,000 in immediate repairs in order to meet current health and safety standards.

Even if you don't directly provide funds, I'm asking the council to please work with Evergreen to keep this pool running. According to swimmers and people who know more about pools than I do, the pool would degrade quickly without water constantly pumping through it. So if the pool closes in June, there would be an even larger bill for anyone who ever wanted to restore or reopen that pool. Secondly, a change needs to be made. According to Olympia's 2021 Parks, Arts, and Recs needs assessment report, an indoor swimming pool is a high priority unmet need for the community.

I believe that now is the time to act on the plans to meet that community's need. There are multiple possibilities for a path forward. Olympia's Parks And Rec could run Evergreen's pool, or the city could build your own aquatic center. Every child deserves the chance to learn how to swim. And right now, there are limited options in our region. As I've witnessed tonight, Olympia is a wonderful, forward thinking city, and I encourage the council to swiftly find a solution to benefit our kids and community. Thanks. Thank you. Grace Fletcher, followed by Dan Decker, followed by Nicole Budigan.

Good evening. My name is Grace Fletcher. I'm with the Southwest Olympia Neighborhood Association, and I'm the program and events coordinator for the Council of Neighborhood Associations. I wanted to provide a brief update on what Swan has submitted through neighborhood matching grant process and how it connects to broader community collaboration efforts. Through neighborhood match grant programs, Swan is applying for three coordinated initiatives.

First, we are expanding neighborhood level emergency preparedness and decentralized communication capacity. Second, we are continuing our investment in neighborhood food access and resilience infrastructure. And third, we are strengthening inclusive civic participation by removing barriers to access through reliable hybrid meeting options and expanded outreach strategies. Beyond the Neighborhood Match grant program, we are collaborating with local organizations to explore additional food access initiatives, including community fridge models. Through the CNA, we are establishing resident led committees made up community members, neighborhood leaders, and local organizations that advance the priorities identified through the community priorities forum.

The goal is to translate community input into coordinated action, organizing volunteers, aligning resources, and taking concrete steps that strengthen our collective capacity to support one another and respond together as community to whatever challenges come our way. We cannot rely solely on the city to solve every challenge, and the city cannot rely solely on residents to show up without structure. We need stronger partnerships. We need networks that cross neighborhoods. We need coordination between community members, nonprofits, and city leadership.

The old way of

operating, siloed, reactive, and disconnected, cannot carry us where we need to go. What we are building instead is community that does not wait to be rescued, a community where neighbors know and support one another, where communication endures even when systems fail, where food is grown close to home, and where participation is open to everyone willing to step forward. We look forward to continuing to work with the city as partners in that effort. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, we have Dan Decker.

Hello. I'm Dan Decker. What an amazing night. Great example of why to come to these meetings. What a huge number of lessons. I think the most I'll start with the most important lesson I took away is that anything is possible. From the orca story, in 1976, I would have been 15 years old. What an amazing thing that people got active, said, hey, this is wrong and figured out what to do, coordinated between local different government officials, unbelievable in today and age. Anything is possible. I came here tonight to talk about my neighborhood association and advocating for that.

My biggest concern is I wanna see when there's big problems, like right now, I'm sort of paralyzed having retired six years ago and getting things done with all the horrible problems going on in the planet and in that city and in that country. And one thing is I've noticed when I talk to my elected officials in the city, they say, oh, we can't do that. We're not structured that way. We have a manager and we can't really do that. Whatever it takes to change that, we need to make that happen.

It means hiring a real mayor that's not just leader a of the city council and not a executive, that's what we need to do. I think the swimming pool, I've learned about that tonight. That's an example of how we're not addressing things because we we're chasing our tail. There's so many other dramatic issues. That's a very important one. I came from Denver. There are multiple city pools in Denver when I grew up in the sixties. Seattle has 14 public city pools. 12 of them of them, of course, were built by forward thrust money from the federal government. But they've they've got a half a dozen beaches and other pools.

So it can be done. Anything's possible. Keeping Evergreen going is a cheap way until we do build a real pool for the city. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, have Nicole.

Hi there. My name is Nicole Buttigian. I own a couple of businesses in town, and I live up on the West Side. And I attended the Council of Neighborhood Associations Forum. I I really loved that event.

The meeting was welcoming, inclusive, and it felt like a very safe space for everyone. You did not need to belong to a neighborhood association to participate, which was great because I just live outside of an area. Events like these help build community and allow people a space to voice concerns and brainstorm for creative solutions. We especially need this right now. The well organized event encouraged individuals to engage with one another and then allowed time for ideas to be voiced to the group.

And I think people feel especially frustrated. They don't feel like they do have a chance to express themselves and be heard at the same time. That's why that event was so successful. The meeting was productive. Great ideas were shared.

So I just wanna encourage the city. I I, you know, I I don't know what the future holds, but I think more events like that should be held here. It's a terrific space for that. I encourage you to engage, the neighborhood associations, in informing some kind of group meetings in the future. And, I just wanted to give my positive support as a business owner and, something that I think everyone can get involved in if they want to be involved in something. Thank you.

Thank you. Next we have Dawn Baker followed by Terry Ballard.

Good evening, mayor and council members. For the record, my name is Dawn Baker, and I am the serve as the president of the Thurston County Realtors Association, representing more than 750 real estate professionals who work with buyers and sellers across our community every day. Our association supports energy efficiency. We support informed consumers, and we support practical steps that help homeowners lower utility costs over time. Our request tonight is simple.

Please slow down and work with us to get home energy scoring right. Housing affordability is already a serious challenge in our region. The home buying and selling process is also one of the most complicated financial transactions most families ever make. Our members see firsthand how even modest added costs, new administrative steps, or timing requirements can recreate real barriers, especially for first time homebuyers, seniors on fixed incomes, and households already stretched thin. We are not here to say no to climate goals.

We are here to say policy design matters. A home energy score requirement, particularly one tied to the time of listing, is a significant change to how homes are brought to market and one which deserves careful planning and broad stakeholder input before it is implemented. There are still key questions that need clear answers, including how this may affect affordability and transaction timelines, how enforcement would work in practice, administrative capacity and cost, and the need for clear legal and fiscal review, including potential rate related implications under state law. Because of that, we are asking counsel to take a straightforward and reasonable step. Pause any move adoption towards adoption at this time, complete due diligence and legal review, and bring stakeholders to the table, including the real estate community to collaborate on an approach that makes sense for homebuyers, homeowners, and the climate.

A pause is not a rejection. It's a commitment to sound, workable policy. TCRA is ready to be a constructive partner in that work. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, city council. My name is Terry Ballard. I own property. I own five acres of property in Olympia, and I am a resident of unincorporated Thurston County. Today, I gave your your lawyer and your and your manager stormwater history, stormwater monitoring, stormwater plan for City Of Olympia, geo map of my property, geo map of the residents surrounding my property, and where your storm water is infiltrating onto my property without an easement. I gave you a property purchase of funding, which was probably denied,

I don't

know, eightthirteentwenty nineteen. I also gave you a Olympia Missile Code 13.16.180. That's civil and criminal penalties, public nuisance. And part of that is a delete of your you failed to pay your share of stormwater, which is not your stormwater is not your utility. In the history, you will see that stormwater was given by the EPA to Department of Ecology and then was given to you on a five year contract.

So therefore, you have to follow everything else. You'd be amazed at the payment that you were due of stormwater in 2017. And usually, people give land management land acknowledgment to the Native Americans. And currently, the Washington Department of Ecology. I have also contacted their Sediment and Erosion Control.

Is the the director of ecology is a guy by the name of KC Sixkiller, and he took over in 01/15/2022. And prior to that, he was EPA. He was the administrator for EPA region. And right now, all of my complaints are at their level, ready to go to EPA. Thank you.

Thank you. Before we conclude, just wanna circle back to Chad Kate just in case Chad rejoined us. No? Okay. Hopefully, next time. Back to you, mayor.

Alright. Thank you, mayor pro tem. So, that concludes the public comment section of our agenda. I know we were really eager to clap, for our Olympia school students, who spoke so eloquently earlier. So why don't we go ahead and do that now?

Yeah. It's important that you're you're here and you're giving public comments. I certainly wasn't doing that at your age, so pretty brave of you. Alright. Any comments from the council? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Nguyen.

Yeah. Just picking it up with our last public commenter. Terry, all I can say is I'll follow-up with staff. I hear that you've given them materials, so, thanks for being here. And thanks for being so enthusiastic about all of our special recognitions tonight.

And then, also, I guess, to work backwards here. I agree that, the for those that were able to be present here in this chambers for the Council of Neighborhood Associations, Community Forum, I guess. What an inspiring time that was. It's, so I know quite a few council members were present for that, and I also think that it's that shouldn't be something that's a one and done. Right?

So what do we do with all of that really, really good input from community members? How do we kinda keep that synergy, growing and building? And then also, just appreciate the leadership of the now I'm gonna continue calling them CNA. But, appreciate the leadership of the the CNA. Of course, we'll hear more about it, later on tonight with our business items.

So, yeah, just coming and sort of introducing yourself as Newsome, our our returning leadership. Hello, Melissa. And, and I and I love the working with, right, working with and working with, we can get a lot done together. So thank you so much for for coming out and for saying, hey. Let's let's work together.

And then for everyone that was here for the pool, I concur. The mayor is correct that we do not, nest like, allocate any funds to the Evergreen State College. And I don't wanna be in a position of promising anything. That can't happen. Though, I do wonder if something could happen.

So that's what I'm taking away from tonight. It is true that, the community, including the city of Olympia, organization has, has said, hey. You know, we see that there's a clear need for an aquatic center, and that we have done studies. We have, really tried to work with other jurisdictions to have an aquatic center for a number of reasons. We're not seeing one today.

You know, that's not our priority one right now, but but I can say that, you know, we agree that it is a priority for the community. And then also, yeah. I just feel really compelled by by your emails that have come in from folks and by your public comments tonight that what I can say is that I'll be following up with, with our partners on the Olympia School District Board. So we do, we do meet with them annual. We we do connect with them.

And, I think that is also a really powerful place. I don't want to tell you to just keep on moving on to other bodies, but I think that would be a really powerful place to give that same testimony if you haven't already done that or if you're not planning that. And I'll yeah. I'll talk to my colleagues and and see if there is something that can be done. Yeah. But it doesn't yeah. It it to me, it makes sense that community members would galvanize to try to save something that is existing. So yeah. Anyways, you got me thinking, basically. Thanks for being here.

Thank you. Councilmember Vanderpool followed by councilmember Gill.

I wanna I wrote down compassionate because I think that when it comes to the pool, when it comes to folks coming and pop commenting, I I felt inspired by the compassionate voices I heard from students, but also from the routes in which members of the public have gone through. They they've reached out to the state government. They've talked reached out to Evergreen State College. All of these steps are critical. And I do I did write down facilitation and coalition in in the face of the austerity of community assets and ensuring that those needs are being met.

You know, we're going through tight budget. School district is going through tight budget. All of us are going to the the state's going through tight budget. But I also, you know, as a council member and under that system, I still still think it's important for us to reach out and and facilitate and and in in any way we can. I wrote down that I'm gonna try to reach out to them to Evergreen and see see what I can get at out of it.

I mean, it is I'll be interested in a conversation if you wanna continue to have that conversation because it is a a community asset. And and without it, I mean, the only other option is way down at the YMCA on the other side of town. And so there's there has to be a and that wouldn't be able to meet the needs of all of these groups and usage. So I just just wanna comment on that, but I'm gonna continue to respond to some of the emails I've received. The neighborhood associations, I appreciate the speech that Peter gave, you know, a new chapter partnership.

I think these are valuable things. Right? And I think it's valuable to I I will encourage anyone who is leaving after public comment to wait all the way until item six c because there's a lot of very important things in that presentation. And not that that the city isn't funding all of, but also is something to point out that are that are the priorities to ensure that the city is, you know, checked at where it needs where the needs of the community are, and I I really appreciate that. And then lastly, the home energy score.

You know, that that whole process was a has been it has been, gosh, longer than I've been on council. It's been at least a five year process. You know? And I I I see the pushback on from the realtors to slow it down, but there is a real reality that the realtors were invited to be involved in the process several years ago. And several of them have commented on it and were involved in it over two years ago when it was finalized through the Climate Collaborative.

And that's and that is you know, the the purpose of it is environmental, it's also about consumer protections, allowing people to you know, when they go to purchase a home, they know how energy efficient their home is, and so they can, you know, even negotiate their pricing in a way that people don't understand when they finally go to purchase their home. And so I think that I think of that as a true value to our community having that there. But, anyway, that's it. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilmember Gellman.

Boy, I especially wanna appreciate everybody who is rallying around opportunities for people to swim in Olympia, especially space that works for competitive swimming. And I I just wanna we had a couple of people refer to the timeline of the last few years because this is while while this specific closure date, it has come as sort of a surprise, the Evergreen's hopes to shut the pool down have been going on for several years. Right? And when we did the aquatic study right before and during COVID, what there was a couple of outcomes out of that. One was a proposal for a regional aquatic center, except Olympia was the only one who showed up to the table of the regional governments to to seriously pursue it.

So at the conclusion of that effort, Olympia School District and Evergreen said they were gonna collaborate, and I I believe it was coach Falls who said that the y had offered at that time that they could be a manager of some sort. So we had that conversation going. And in our current parks plan, in for this year, for for 2526 in that plan, there was a call out for working on aquatic facility access and $700,000 that was named in the in the parks plan. So that's another place to pursue is where we're at. I know I know I know we have, like, two parks planners, and they have a dozen projects going right now.

So I don't expect them to pivot, and it's eighty hours a week that's, you know, going to this. But your continued loud voices, vigilance, and talking to each other and talking to everybody you can find in the community, I think, the best shot we have. There was a public swimming beach, for those of you who are younger than me, in Olympia that closed in 1985 at Capitol Lake. And it was such a good beach. It had bathrooms and it had a hot dog stand.

So that closed when my son was two. And then a few years after that, we had proposal to do an Olympic training facility that would include a pool as part of the port development, but we didn't get the vote on that. So it's we knew that the the pool I guess you guys don't call it a pool anymore. The aquatic facility with diving well is aging. That it was it was hosting high school swimmers when I came out of high school to go to Evergreen.

It's so it's it's seen a lot of high school swimmers bleach their hair over fifty years. So I I just I would encourage you to continue to speak to every level of government and folks who might have influence and to keep coming together like the group that came together last night. And I I think that it it's it's just about it it and here's the one last thing. The parks plan is in every five year document, and next year, we'll be having public process again to talk about what are community priorities. And each of the the descriptions about the economic inequality of access to swimming, the benefits to students of being engaged in in activities like organized sports, All of those arguments were made last time, and they should certainly be made loudly, this time through the the park's planning process.

So thanks for being here, and I I appreciate everybody who showed up to comment tonight.

Thank you. Council member Barron.

Thank you, mayor. I'll just be short, but with the swim team, the the aquatic center, I quickly looked on the board of trustees and at Evergreen, and I know five people, and I'm willing to make a phone call to each of those. I'm not I I don't think that's gonna move miracles. You know? But but I I really believe in what you're trying to do, and I think that that you just have to get on the phone and organize on on these things.

And so I I look forward to working coach with you and or whom whomever to see if we can't move the ball to keep the pool open for a while longer until there's a bigger plan.

Thank you. City manager Bernie.

Thank you, mister mayor. Just based on all this conversation, I will be reaching out to president Carmichael just to get information. So as was mentioned at the top of the meeting, we're just learning about this with the community about kind of where things are and the imminent closure of the pool. So I'll get some information in terms of dollars and cents. I've seen I think we've seen a lot of numbers thrown around in emails. And so I'll get some clarity on kind of what we're talking about here, what what the need is, and get all the information to the council just as soon as I can so I'll have more information to talk from.

Alright. Thank you. Any additional comments? Okay. So, yes, I also just wanna reiterate what the city manager said. You have our commitment tonight that we will engage president Carmichael, to do what we can and learn more. And then, also, I do wanna congratulate the new chair and vice chair of the CNA. Congratulations on your election. We've certainly have quite the history with the CNA and very much look forward to our partnership again. And we're looking forward to the presentation on the community priority survey that we have on our agenda later this evening.

I do just also wanna cover that there during the comments that there was a mention about the form of government that we have, which is a council manager form of government. You were talking about a mayor council form of government, which is a form of government that is not decided by anybody up here by ourselves. It is a huge community process that was started probably in the late eighties, early nineties to change our form of government to a council manager form of government. And so it's here for some time. So it's not something we could just decide, you know, at the drop of a hat to to change that form of government.

But I do hear your your comments. And, also oh, it looks like you got it, your phone. You dropped it there on the floor earlier. And and, yeah, I also just wanted to cover the home energy score discussion. Very much appreciate the questions that you inquired in comments, and certainly look forward to more extensive dialogue with my council mates about what our responses are to those questions, in the coming weeks as we make our consideration for adoption.

Alright. So with that, that concludes public comment for tonight. Thank you all very much. So that takes us to, the adoption of the consent calendar. I need a motion to adopt.

So moved.

Second. Alright. We have a motion and a second. Are there any requests for polls for comments or questions? Alright. Seeing none, all those in favor of adopting the consent calendar as published, signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Alright. Consent calendar is adopted. That takes us to our first business item tonight, which is item six a on our agenda, and it is a update of the youth council and the approval of the proposed 2026 youth council work plan. And we have Susan Grisham, our youth council liaison, to kick us off. Hi, Susan.

Good evening, council members. For the record, Susan Grisham. I am here as the liaison to the youth council, and I'm pleased, to bring forward the youth council update and proposed work plan for 2026 for consideration. At their November 2026 meetings, the youth council discussed, refined, and approved their work plan and presented it at the February 25 Community Livability and Public Safety Committee, and it was approved for council consideration. The draft work plan reflects the priorities of the of the youth council members and some really great discussion around that.

And tonight, you will hear from the youth council members, directly who will share, more about their work and priorities. And with that, I will turn it over to our youth council members who, will introduce themselves as they speak.

Hello, council. I am Nolan O'Connell, cochair of the Olympiad Youth Council.

I'm Sri Leland Gammatamai. I'm policy co or policy vice chair for the Olympia Youth Council.

I am Donovan Hohola. I am the co chair of the Olympia Youth Council.

As Susan explained, we are here, sharing our update and our, 2026 work plan for the Olympia Youth Council. I would just like to thank you for the opportunity for us being here today and, excited for the work that we have done to share with you and, the work that we will be doing ahead and, in collaboration with, Council. I guess I have control of the slides. We would like to reshare our mission values and purpose statement. As we go along, we've been looking back and making sure that we tie back to, the work and that we're, actively representing our community well and, following our values that we hold.

Our statement of Olympia Youth Council amplifies and elevates youth voices in the city and governance and expands youth involvement in the community. Our purpose statement is to connect, represent, and to give voice to the diverse groups of youth in Olympia. And our vision is we envision Olympia that is accessible, equitable, inclusive, safe, and engaging for everyone in the community. Within this last year, which is our first inaugural year of the Youth Council, we developed our first work plan, shared feedback with five chapters of the comprehensive plan. We had our first joint meeting with the Lacey Youth Council where we built work into creating a an event that we're hoping to plan to have later this year.

We began our planning for that event. We created a PSA and worked with the city on Narcan and Overdose, which has been shared across the community, including local theaters. And I I've been told that it's on its way back into theaters as well soon. We've planned and created a recruitment event. We were featured on the Olympia podcast, and we have onboarded new members to holding 20 members this year. So this is a photo of at our last, our first meeting with Lacey Youth Council.

This is us. We created a PSA related Narcan and Overdose. This was really important to all of us. In the Youth Council, we decided that because of a couple deaths in our community or in our high school community that this topic was really important to us. So we went ahead and made an over overdose PSA, and it was really empowering for us, and we got really great feedback on it. We planned and held a recruitment event right here in the council chambers. It was great. It was very successful, and we had a lot of fun planning it. And finally, Nolan and I had our podcast debut on the Actually Olympia podcast where we had a great conversation about the youth council and future future things to come.

Yeah. So now to get to our leadership positions. At our January 2026 business meeting, we elected our leadership positions, which will last until January 2027 or until the each leadership member graduates and goes off to college to leave us. So we elected our co chairs, our secretary, our treasurers, and each of our chairs and vice chairs of our subcommittees. So now to the meat and potatoes of the presentation.

This is our proposed work plan for the year. Over the next couple of months we'll be working on developing a transit PSA which will be similar to our our overdose PSA but this time trying to reach the youth of Olympia on the benefits and why they should use and why they can use public transit. Over our at in our next March meeting, we'll also be going over a public safety briefing over Olympia's sanctuary city status. In April, we'll be going over communicating public policy to youth. And then we'll in May on May 20, we'll be going over mental health resources for youth.

And in June and July, we'll take a brief brief recess. And in August, we'll we'll go over the Olympia Climate Programs briefing. Then in September, we'll onboard new members, and we'll go over the 2027 work plan.

Tonight that we ask that you move to motion to approve our, work plan.

Yeah. Just to add that, as we kinda heard today with all of the students, it's really important that we have Youth Voice in Olympia, and it's really important that we keep that going for, years to come. And we're really glad that we have this opportunity to be able to share with you all and, create new projects for the Olympia Youth Council to share it to the community. Thank you.

Well, thank you so much. Job well done on last year. Can we give our youth council a round of applause for the Great work last year. So any comments from council? Any comments or questions? Yes. Mayor pro tem Nguyen.

Oh, well, I know this is, something that came to the community livability and public safety committee. And so, I actually this is actually nice that I get to talk to you because I was having technical difficulties that night. This is really, really exciting work, and, thank you all to, because the the youth council, I feel like, is established now. You know? And and some of you were there from the very beginning, and and some of you are helping to sustain it and and make it stronger.

And I'm, I agree that the, that the overdose, PSA was, really, really powerful. It's amaze what you can do with a video. That's literally a minute. And then, I'm just really excited about the teaching people how to how to use public transportation. I think it'll even reach more than just young people.

I think a lot of people know that, you know, we probably have a bus. We've seen some buses around, but feel intimidated of the process of how to ride. And so that's really exciting. And then also the discussion about third places for young people, that is something that I think probably every single one of us have heard over and over again is that there's you have, this sort of gaps. Right? And, you, have a park and you can, have playground equipment. And then, and then you can be over 21 and hang out in some other areas. Right? And so it's like, where is that gap in between? And, I just really look forward to what I'm sure will be a really fruitful discussion from you all.

And thank you for stepping up as leaders of the youth council. Really exciting stuff.

Yes. Councilmember Vanderpool.

I'm looking forward to the PSA on transit. I if you haven't already, I'm tomorrow is the inner city transit authority board is meeting. I'm I'm the Olympia representative. I'll be there, and I'm gonna mention this. And I will ask the staff there to reach out that way in case you already haven't so that they can be there to help you with it because we have a new transit system is changing in May, and having having the redesign and having you involved in that would be awesome. And I'll let them Susan, do you want me to have them email you or email them?

Well, I wanted to share at the last youth council meeting, representatives from inner city transit did do a presentation, and they also brought their communication staff. So our communication staff and their communication staff will be collaborating on this project. So, we, we have established that connection, and they're really, really excited.

I'm super excited. Thank you.

Alright. Additional comments. Yeah. So as I said, great work. Thank you for your work last year. I share some of the sentiments of the mayor pro tem. I'm very excited about the third places discussion for this year. I'm also thinking about how this past weekend, I actually saw a lot of young people at Capitol Mall. And that was something that, you know, had me thinking about you all knowing that you were gonna be here on Tuesday. And and then quite right along with your PSAs, I love that you're taking that idea further beyond that initial opioid awareness video, and you're thinking about how you might use that same strategy in other areas.

So great work on that. Look forward to seeing more. Would love to see how you might be able to even engage some of that youth those youth that are hanging around the Capitol Mall area. And and also, I'm very excited about your briefing that you're gonna have on mental health resources for youth. Very much looking forward to hearing more about that conversation and what you have to offer.

And I also just wanna say thank you for the extensive work that you all did of digging into five chapters of our comprehensive plan. If you know anything about our comprehensive plan, it's it's a cool document, but it can also be very dense. So thank you for for digging in on that and helping us, and you offer you also offered some really great insight to us that wouldn't have been there if you hadn't offered those things to us. So thank you so much for your contributions, and looking forward to your work this year. Thank you. So I'm happy to entertain a motion if we're if we're ready. Yes. Mayor pro tem Nguyen?

I'd move to approve the proposed 2026 youth council work plan. Second.

Alright. We have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? Alright. Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion passes. Congratulations. Thank you. Okay. So that takes us to item six b, which is the approval of the twenty twenty six Plinth Project sculptures for exhibition presentation, and we have Stephanie Johnson, our arts commission staff liaison, and Kathy Dorgan, who is the chair of the Olympia Arts Commission. Hi, Stephanie.

Hi, mayor Payne. Thanks for having us. Members of council, I'm Stephanie Johnson. For the record, I'm with Parks Arts and Recreation, and I do have Kathy Dorgan, chair

of the Arts Commission, with us.

Tonight, we're pleased to, present to you the recommendations for the '2 2026 Perceval Plymouth project. This is an exhibition of loan sculpture along Perceval Landing for up to a year with a public vote to determine which sculpture will be purchased to add to the city's public art permanent collection. If approved, the artist will receive $1,000 for the loan of each sculpture, and one work will be selected by public vote during the month of July for a purchase price of up to $10,000 Each year, the winning sculpture moves to the front of City Hall for an additional year and then into permanent exhibition somewhere in the community. The jury met in January to review 31 submitted sculptures. The jury was composed of Jonathan Hap, gallery director at Childhoods and Gallery Renee Westbrook, a multimedia artist in sculpture painting and photography and Katherine Ransom, who is the, vice chair of the Olympiad Arts Commission.

All submitted sculpture were reviewed by city staff for a visual sculpture assessment. Jurors reviewed the work based on several criteria, including quality of work and attention to craft, safety requirements, and balance, and diversity of materials and style among selected sculptures. Their recommendation is composed of 15 sculptures. On Thursday, February 12, the arts commission reviewed the jury's recommendation and moved unanimously to forward the recommendation to city council for consideration. Here to share the recommendation is arts commissioner commission chair Kathy Dorgan, who will read excerpts from the artist's statements to provide a sense of context around each sculpture.

Bronze in nature. In metal fabrication, the big challenge being how to give dimension to that plate. My style is flexible and works great with fabricated bronze. I limit myself to materials that are durable and maintenance free. Each sculpture is a means to push myself to see what I am capable of.

Breathe deep raven moon. The Breathe deep sculpture series utilizes re claimed nuclear industrial fan blades, originally fabricated for the never completed Satsup nuclear power plant in Elma, Washington. Breathe Deep speaks to the beauty and purpose of our forests, the lungs of our planet. The stark black of the nuclear fan blade combined with the light shining through the open spaces creates a sensory experience mimicking a walk in the forest. Innervate.

Hank Nelson often created work using creative ways to enter the civilization that he is portraying in granite, marble, earth, steel, and concrete with totemic and crossover forms that are complex in their esoteric interpretations. Stargate. Stargate sculpture was created with a modern art vision of our universe. People of all ages have dreamt of the experience of entering outer space through an unknown passageway or time machine transporting us to another world or time. Visionary.

It's not the mindset of working alone, but a joyful endeavor that results in human connection. Time spent in experience working together becomes the thread. Humanity at its best. Love, peace, justice. I see public art as a place where structure, story, and community meet.

A public sculpture should encourage viewers to slow down, look closely, and encounter meaning without instruction. It should feel rooted in its setting while remaining open to individual interpretation. Playful sea otter. My metal artwork is a unique fusion of my passion for fishing, sea kayaking, my engineering background in the outdoor industry, and my deep connection to the stunning Salish Sea. I specialize in transforming raw industrial parts into beautiful and inspiring metal sculptures giving new life to materials that would otherwise be discarded.

Mobilisk. All of my designs are intended to grab your attention from afar and draw the viewer in to take a closer look at the surface details that come through as part of the patina process. The piece is designed to be explored and interacted with once you get close enough to engage with it and blends in well with most environments. The piece includes topographical lines on the surface that emulate the terrain of the mountains within the Olympic Range. The chimera.

More than half of what I do is collecting metal materials. I look for objects with significance and meaning, objects that have connections to us as individual and as society as a whole. Sometimes it is the way in which an object is found. Other times, it's the people who give it to me where it finds its significance. Muse.

With my art, I aim to foster connections to place and inspire a sense of community, promoting inclusivity, accessibility, and encouraging creative expression that enriches the spaces we inhabit. Muse is a vibrant exploration of the many facets that make each of us uniquely colorful and compelling. Its flowing forms gather the fragments of identity, our stories, quirks, and dreams into a celebration of the creativity that lives within us all. Liberty Wept. In Liberty Wept, I reimagined the Statue Of Liberty, not as triumphant, but as deeply human.

Her bowed head reflects a nation in crisis. She is burdened yet unbroken, mourning yet vigilant. Even in steel, her posture conveyed sorrow, exhaustion, and the determination to witness truth in a time when honesty and dissent are increasingly threatened. Making Earth. Making Earth depicts the Cherokee story of a water beetle bringing mud up from the ocean floor to create all the solid land we now live on.

The mud he brings is faceted to symbolize its preciousness as the substrate for life. Speckled red side chromae celebrates the wonderful memories in six decades of fly fishing with family, friends, and beautiful fish. It rotates in wind currents on a 10 foot pole. Many colors are holographic, so it changes in varying light. Bubbles.

Pessimistic, nonspecific units of time. My sculpture is a static representation of time. This takes many forms, but usually involves implied motion. It could be a figure in motion, a progression, or a becoming. That is one thing becoming something else. The sculptures also change with the light of the day and viewer position. Silent words. This is one of my silent world series meant to reflect a sense of silence and serenity. Here's a poem that goes with sculpture. Silent words.

Spoken to the night sky, reflected by the stars, and heard in the hearts of those with silent minds. The question before you is to approve the Arts Commission's sculpture recommendation for the 2026 Perceval Plinth project.

Thank you very much, Kathy. Alright. Great selection once again. Any comments or questions from the council? Councilmember Gilman.

You know, each year, I talk about how amazed I am at the selection of of sculptures. And what I realized from feedback I've received this year that my opinion isn't really relevant. And what's probably way more important is the diversity of style and materials that you called out as one of the criteria. Because I have had somebody say, I only like realist presentations. And the next person said, I don't want it to be too literal.

I love the abstract art. And then I had somebody who was really concerned about sculptures made of discarded silverware, and the next person only wanted to see things that were made with recycled objects. Yes. Right? So, well, the people's choice will come out as folks visit all 15 of these, but I I just wanted to offer that it's been interesting to me that across this year, I've had each person who's spoken to me about the project has had a different favorite sculpture. So I I look forward to this year's, and I hope that there will be ice cream at the unveiling of the events. That's something I like.

I think that's

Alright. So I guess your opinion does matter when it comes to that. Mayor Pro Tem Nguyen?

That's funny. I talked to council member Gilman of my thoughts of this annual one. I'll let you guess what what I said. Anyways, I just wanted to say thank you so much. I really appreciate this presentation comes across every year, and it is just a joy. It really is. It's treat a of a business item. I already have a few of my favorites that I'm trying to narrow down, and I'm percolating. But it also takes work. It takes works to, to get artists, that are from this area and interested in working them through the process and, and, also, like, narrowing it down.

You know? You might have actually said had to say no a couple of times to people. I I would think that is you know? It's not easy. So, thanks for, curating just a a really great collection this year. Thanks.

Additional comments? Alright. Yeah. I appreciate this great selection as well. I usually give a sneak peek of what I like, so I'm gonna do that again. I absolutely love Raven Moon, Muse, Liberty Wept. I love that we have what looks like some more options of color this year. They just kinda make you smile. Even on our dreary days, you know, I think, they will stand out. So great selections, and very much looking forward, to seeing them here.

So, with that, I'll entertain a motion. Councilmember Gellman.

I move to approve the recommended sculptures for the twenty twenty six Perceval Plinth project exhibition.

Second. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor of the motion signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Motion passes. Thank you very much. Alright. So that takes us to our final business item for tonight, which is a briefing on the Council of Neighborhood Association's community priority survey. And we have Daniel Garcia from the Council of Neighborhood Associations who will be presenting tonight.

I wait?

Oh, that's very polite of you, Daniel. But the show must go on, and I am here with the gavel. So keep going.

Oh my god. It's a coup.

Here. Thank you.

Hello, counsel. Hello. My name is Daniel Garcia. I'm the communications coordinator for the Council of Neighborhood Associations. I know that I've met all of you in different capacities before, but introducing myself in my new role and also a little bit of reintroducing the CNA.

We do have a brand new board pretty much as Peter spoke to, and so we wanna tell you about both what we heard at the forum and also how we want to engage the community going forward. So I know that most of you know this, but to tell you a little bit about the CNA, the CNA does represent recognized neighborhood associations in the city, and our mission is to promote and enhance the quality of life not only in our neighborhood associations recognized, but throughout the entire city. And we tried to do that by having a forum back in January in this room. This is a great image from that event. We literally packed the house, and we had to open the doors.

A good problem to have. And I want to just maybe set the tone for this presentation and for the future work that the CNA wants to engage in by showing this image and just showing both what is possible and what our kind of, new priorities are. And this is, I think, in line with that. So this forum and the survey did not just happen. We did a lot of outreach, and I think that there are a lot of good lessons to take from the outreach that we did to make this event happen.

We did physical flyers and paper, and we me and Grace even walked around downtown and gave these out to downtown businesses. We also emailed a lot of our groups, and those got forwarded and reforted to different distribution lists. We also use social media. Both myself and Grace used our social media, reach to try to get more people involved, especially more young people. And we also relied on word-of-mouth.

We kind of tried to get people talking about what kind of ideas they wanted to share at the forum and what kind of ideas they wanted, the neighborhoods to apply for in projects. So that's what I'm here to talk to you about tonight are the survey results. So these are the top three things that we heard about, in our online survey. Both people responded in person and online about these. Food access ranked highly amongst all age groups.

In addition, emergency preparedness was ranked highly by respondents eighteen to twenty nine and thirty to forty four, so a little bit of a age difference there, as well as affordability was ranked highly by respondents of all ages, but especially those thirty to forty four. This is also the next couple things that we heard about, again, in the top 10. One of the top was safety and livability. This was ranked highly by older residents and long term residents, particularly in neighborhoods with what they noted as deteriorating quality in, like, things like sidewalks. Mutual aid was ranked more highly by younger respondents and people with maybe slightly less established neighborhood connections and kind of what they saw as a way to maybe establish those connections.

Community connections was also ranked highly and was prioritized by respondents 18 to twenty nine and thirty to 44, especially by newer residents, again, speaking to a need to build community that is out there and often framed as important, but secondary to other more immediate needs like food and housing. And finally, there was an other category, which most of the time was just a restatement of existing categories, just maybe restated in a different way. These are the demographics of the people that responded to the survey, and so they do reflect a little bit about our community. Our community does have a lot of older residents. And so we definitely see that as a growth opportunity to get more younger residents involved, and we're definitely trying to do that and talking about that.

In addition, you'll see the big dark green here is mostly homeowners. And this, I think, is just reality of people that participate in things like this. But, again, we see this as a big growth opportunity for both the CNA and for the city. As we know, half of our city are renters, myself included. And so we definitely think that this is something that we need to do better in.

The the neighborhood patterns were used to inform the kinds of projects that we want to apply for in the neighborhood matching grant program. And so these are sort of the things that we kinda really focused in on, and we shared this back with the CNA group to talk about what kind of projects fit into these broader priorities. So neighborhood RNAs, resident recognized neighborhood associations are using this data to apply for neighborhood matching grants this cycle. And these are just a small sample of the recognized neighborhood associations that we know are applying. And on the right are some of the projects that we know that they're applying for.

And these are the types of projects that we think fit into those broader priorities. You'll see on here, of course, things like picnics, block parties, again, to bring the community together. There's also more interesting ideas, like trying to do a music on the porch fest that we already had, but another neighborhood wants to do more with that idea. There's also an idea for an emergency preparedness zine. So you could just hand that to somebody, and they would have all the information they would need.

And there's also a lot of just kind of more basic things that people want, like mailers to let people know that their neighborhood association exists. Because that's one of the big things we did here at the forum is a lot of people said, I didn't even know that neighborhood associations existed. And so I think that there's a big need to bring more awareness to them in the community. So the thing that comes next is well, first of all, the neighborhood matching grant applications will be due, I believe, March 9. And so you'll see some of those applications come to you, but we also want to have more forums.

We think that this was a great idea and a great turnout from from the community, and we know that there are upcoming things happening in the community that would benefit from this model. For example, sidewalks, as councilmember Vanderpool talked about. There's also, I think, a broad recognition that people have concerns about their food system access, and we think that that would be another really great idea to talk about in a forum. And, also, we want to just seek input from other neighborhoods to hear more ideas for forums and hear what else we could talk about. The twenty twenty six neighborhood matching grant applications will be due soon, and so you'll see some of these ideas get applied for, and you'll see those soon.

But we don't think that just because an idea wasn't applied for doesn't mean it's still not something that we could still pursue outside of the neighborhood matching grant process. And finally, one thing that we also want to work more in is involving the entire community, not just people that live inside the boundaries of a recognized neighborhood association, but making sure that everyone participates. This map shows what RNAs maybe used to look like in the nineties and early two thousands. In the red, you'll see our neighborhood associations that no longer exist compared to the right, which are the current neighborhood associations. And we know that there's a lot of people that are not in a recognized neighborhood association but would still love to participate.

We have an open door approach. We think that everyone should get involved if they wanna get involved, but we also want to pursue a model that maybe has a more direct recognition of these areas. So it's not just if you live right outside of a boundary, you don't just work with Swona just because that's your closest. Your neighborhood should just be included in some way. So returning back to the image from the beginning of the presentation, we just think that this is a good model, we would hope that we could work with the city on more forms like this. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Any questions or comments? Councilmember Madron.

Well, first off, I really appreciate you guys, taking the time to host this forum. I really wanted to attend, but I had a conflict. So, hopefully, I'll be able to attend the next one. And just amazing that you're able to pack the room. Usually, when we pack the room like this because a bunch of people are mad at us. So you know? Did you say how many people took the survey?

143.

140. Okay. Thank you. Really excited to see food access at the top and that you guys have the food system plan identified for a community forum. Mayor Pro Tempuen and council member Gilman and I just sat down with city staff last week to talk about, you know, what are the steps needed to move forward on the food system plan.

And we talked about doing a phased effort where in the first phase, we are doing a public outreach but also focused stakeholder work on this. And we talked about the need for there to be a come one, come all type of event to bring people together to talk about, you know, what should we even be thinking about with a food system plan and then honing in with stakeholder groups to kinda figure out what what are the components of it before we move on to a phase two of actually, you know, digging in. We don't wanna make assumptions on what it should look like before talking to the people who are already out there doing the work, all the eaters out there in our community. So let's make sure that you all stay well connected to our staff as that moves forward. And, you know, one question that I have, you know, we I don't even remember how long ago.

We don't have a current MOU with the CNA right now. And, you know, as as this came up on our agenda tonight, was like, what what's the status of that? What do what what what do we what's next for that? I'm excited to see all this engagement here and I really wanna formalize that relationship. I think we're just kind of assuming the intent from the previous MOU, but what's next for that?

Yeah. We've had some stops and starts with the MOU. And I think the last time we got together, we agreed to kind of pause and then focus on some forums. And let's have some forums, see what we learn, and see if that might inform where we go with the MOU. So I think with new leadership, it might be time to reconnect and see what that looks like, and how do we use this information to figure out how we move forward. I'll I'll do some outreach. Councilmember Gilman and I were part of the group that were helping to negotiate that in the beginning and and be happy to kinda pick that conversation back up.

Okay. Great. Yeah. I I would love that. You know? And, I mean, in the meantime, it seems like all are functioning, we're functioning, we're talking to each other too. So so really, really glad to see it. And just really glad to see all the representation from all the different neighborhoods in council chambers today. Thank you.

Additional comments. Council member Gilman.

Daniel, I was also excited by the detailed summary that was prepared from the the combination of the online surveys and the conversations that happened during that that forum. So I I wanted to call out that for my colleagues, it's attached to the staff report for this this evening's meeting. Where else can could community members who are interested in this where where could they access that document?

Yeah. You could find it on the CNA's website, and you could also find it on our Linktree. So if you just look up, like, c n Council of Neighborhood Associations Linktree, it's on both of those.

Great. Thank you. And I I really appreciate the presentation tonight and all of you showing up for public comment and presentation. Thanks.

Additional questions or comments? Yes. Councilmember Vanderpool.

I like to second the idea of continuing to look at the MOU and continuing to look at community assemblies or community forums. As a council member, when I came to that, I had written down probably 40 different ideas that I heard from folks, and then there was more and more and more. And I I love the spirit of it. I love the idea of getting into the details of it. I like the idea of having them on specific issues. Right? I think of it as an addition to the other data and research we do. Right? You know, not just your quantitative analysis, but your your your qualitative, right, to be able to hear from folks the specific issues. Right?

Because you know? And someone will say like, let's say if we have a form on on sidewalks, right, outside of what we're doing with the the the survey, but we're outside of what we're doing on land use environment. You know, if we had a a community assembly on a weekend and we try to get folks in the community, and I'm right. You know, I'm glad you're mentioning ensuring we have the entire community at acknowledging having the more renters, young people, people that are not really involved because they live very busy lives. Right?

And, you know, at that, when you go talk to someone, they may say, you know, I love the sidewalk idea. And they'll tell you a specific sidewalk that drives them crazy on the regular day, on a daily basis. And having that specific information helps us as council members understand the specific needs, because we have busy lives too. And we don't always walk every single neighborhood in the community. And we may not know about this awful, terrible sidewalk that's been destroyed by a tree. And so having that helps us as policymakers. And I I wanna also say I I appreciate CNA and folks coming out and commenting because this doesn't help us be informed on the specifics. So thank you.

Thank you. You.

Councilmember Barron. Thank you. First of all, I just wanna say I was so impressed by the professionalism of both the the forum itself, which I was happy to attend. That's that's my head right at the very first. There. Yeah. And the professionalism of this presentation, Daniel. I don't know if you did this all by yourself, but this is really impressive to everyone involved. Thank you. I think the real challenge is how we take these tangible, great, solid ideas, real meat, and transfer that into policy.

How how do we make it a reality? And so, you know, I know there are many members of the council that wanna work with you to to make that happen. And so that that would be it. To all the members, thank you of all the leaders who've been here.

Thank you. Yes. Councilmember Vanderpool.

I don't wanna put my councilmates on spot, but I think this is an interesting point that I've I've had a conversation with Daniel Daniel and with Grace about this. But one of the things I I think about with the about the tangible is that as a as a city, we just did our comprehensive plan, which has a which is a variety of policies the council could pursue, but also actions the staff are working on over the next few years and implementing those those changes. But we also, as a council, work on our work plans each year, and that's done by the end of the year, and and then we make modifications throughout the year as we add items. Right? And our work plans are baked for the year.

But I wanna point out that community assemblies could be a stopping point of information to help us think about those things because food systems was brought up, and that is an item that even if we didn't have my councilmates working on that right now or had working on that, that would be a point of preference at the top of the list, right, as something that folks are talking about and things that that are in need for the community. And so I would be very interested if we if we continue to have this conversation about community assemblies and forms about allowing that to help us inform our work plans and help us think about the specific top of mind community needs as we go as we transition from our, you know, our comprehensive plan to our work plans.

Could I add something to that? Sure.

Go ahead.

Yeah. I think that was a great point. And I think that was one of the things that we promoted at the forum was this idea of if you suggest an idea, your neighborhood association might apply for a project, a neighborhood matching grant. They might apply for it. So there's a very tangible direct kind of action between suggesting something and seeing it maybe get applied for. And I think that that's something that I hear in the community often is I think made the same comment during public comment was feeling like they make a public comment, and then it goes into the ether. And I they you guys hear it. You listen to it, but it's like, it's not as tangible to today. I suggested this idea, and you don't really know where it goes. I think the forum is really a powerful idea because it really let people have a direct say.

And so if there is maybe ability for people to comment on work plans and maybe suggest ideas for food access or for sidewalks and having the forum be kind of like that last stop before something gets published, I think that people will really enjoy that to have that direct action from I spoke about it, and I saw it get into a document.

Alright. Thank you. Yes. Mayor pro time win.

Great presentation, Daniel. I'm not at all surprised. Just wanted to get back to council member Vanderpool. I know you said you were putting us on the spot, but, I mean, you're essentially saying that you're interested in having more robust community engagement, and you see community assemblies as as a way to do that. And so, you know, really plainly, like, I'm fine with that. Like, I'm even interested in that. That yeah. That is something that, I I think that through some more, working together, we can figure out what that as a council, we can figure out what that looks like. There's also really, great, synergy. And, you know, it's not just us having this conversation now.

It's, I know that, staff are working with, the Community Livability and Public Safety Committee to think about, how do we how do we do public engagement? Are the things that we're doing working? Are there things that we should embrace, more modern approaches that could reach an even broader audience? Yeah. And then also, for the CNA members, what you're hearing now and even before, after public comment, our responses to that public comment is that I think you have a a council that's really excited to work together and and what that could look like.

So and everyone was jazzed about this. I mean, really, really good stuff. So here's a great sort of, success to point to. Yeah. So, anyways, just wanted to get back to you, sir. It's not not such a pie in the sky thing.

It's actually it's we want and we want

it now. You know? Well, not right now. We're gonna figure it out. We're gonna figure it out. But, yeah. Thanks.

Thank you. Additional comments. Alright. Yeah. Well, oh, back to you. Okay. Councilmember Vanderpool.

I just want I have one last thought on this, and I think that and I and I and I will continue to have this conversation. And I do think we should continue to work on that either through the MOU or not through the MOU. But I think that the other the the last thought I have is ownership of ideas. And so the conversation that we were just having, and I think it's most important, is folks in the community knowing whether or not the specifics of their idea gets implemented, knowing that their ideas and thoughts were considered before things are baked, is very important to ensure that members of the public feel that there's an, you know, an ownership of ideas in the community to solve the problems. And I just wanna mention that.

Mayor Pro Tem?

Keep it brief, mayor. Melissa Allen, do you hear what council member Vanderpool is saying? Have you not in years been a broken record saying the same thing? People are resilient. They understand that you can't do ever I'm saying what I hear you say. They understand that you can't implement every single idea. That's not feasible. But they wanna know where did their comments go? Where did their feedback go? It did it go in a black hole? How was it considered? So, yes. So just wanted to lift you up. I you actually, you said that to me, like, years ago, and I always think about that. But, yes.

So point well taken. And it's, you know, it's a it's a tough thing to thread, absolutely, because we do have a very engaged community. And, but, not to say that we we can't, continue to try to improve with that.

Alright. Are we done with our dial? Gotcha. Alright. Well, thank you so much, Daniel and Grace, and the rest of the CNA, for your work.

I, am very intrigued by this. You know, the neighborhoods are the city, for starters, and I really appreciate this. Every couple years, we do a community wide survey. And so I'm really interested in seeing what you know, if there are reoccurring themes, what those are with this survey as well as our community wide survey that I think will be definitely a part of that conversation around future work plans and and things like that. So, certainly, we want to be driven by these kinds of things because it's not just what we want to do.

It's what our community says we should be doing. That's what we were elected to do. So I appreciate you doing this work to help us do our jobs, frankly. And I'm very interested in the comments that were made about in particular around safety. More so around in particular, there were some things about natural disaster readiness, which is something that's quite interesting.

And I also noticed that folks who are seniors, in particular seem to be really focused on safety, which was something that is very intriguing to me and and would love to dig in a little bit more around that. Also, a priority for me as well, in particular around sidewalks and ADA accessibility as well. I will just give the a the CNA a shout out on the dialogue around sidewalks. I think that you certainly helped move a lot of that conversation forward. I don't know if you get credit for that, but I think that during my time, at least, councilmember Gilman and I were assigned to the CNA, that was cert it was certainly your pushing that helped us, you know, move things a little bit along in in that area, and that resulted in us doing the citywide assessment of our sidewalks to understand what conditions they're they're in and and what the current landscape looks like.

And we're certainly looking forward to how you might be even more effective on other matters as well into the future and on future work plans. And so thank you for this, and look forward also to the the memorandum of understanding or the MOU conversation as well on how we might get that going again. Because I think, like I said, the the neighborhoods are the city, and so we should be listening to the voices of the people who are the residents of our community and who are paying the taxes for the community. So thank you.

Thank you. Shout out. We have an upcoming public meeting on March 9, and we are now doing all of our meetings open to the public. So would love to see you all there. Thank you. Alright.

Thank you. Alright. So that was just a briefing. It doesn't require any action. So that concludes our business for tonight. We are gonna move on to council reports. Thank you all again for coming out tonight. Feel free to stick around, but we're just gonna move on to reports. In the interest of time, I'm gonna hold a report for tonight and start to my right with councilmember Madron.

Yeah. The Community Livability and Public Safety Committee met on the February 25 for the youth council work plan. You all already know about that. But, actually, aligned with what we were just talking about, we did have a discussion on council appointed advisory bodies and how that might how that could change to involve that to to consider how community engagement has evolved over the years. You know, we've had some challenges with attendance and, you know, folks not necessarily understanding their purpose, their role, serving on advisory bodies and also looking for efficiencies.

It's a lot of resources to support these groups. And so staff have been working with a consultant to kind of explore different models, do some research in terms of how other cities approach it. And we were presented with two scenarios. One would be improvements to the current system where we shift recruitment and filling those positions around and work planning to align with what we do as a council, standardizing onboarding, making sure the relationship with the council is clear, and also creating a criteria test for new advisory bodies or when they would be sunset, and also do do a regular audit of our existing bodies so that we know how they're doing. And in scenario two, it was a multifaceted toolkit for community engagement where it leans more into recruiting community connectors, sharing and tracking community collaborators for who have expertise and can help support working groups, hosting community academies.

I know Tom Water used to do Tom Water University, but doing things like that so people understand how we work here at the city. And overall, reorganize and reduce where possible the existing bodies and align them with the comp plan focus areas, public safety, community livability, environmental stewardship, organizational excellence, economy, well planned city. So we had some really good discussion on these two scenarios and, you know, maybe there's even a hybrid option with this. But before we wanted to go anything further, we did ask that that some of the research that be done be compiled into a report because the folks on CLIPS have changed, you know, very recently. And so I'm just being able to have all that information in front of us.

And then going to we have a meeting coming up soon with the chairs of all the advisory bodies and having this conversation with them and and and then at some point coming to the council for a study session to engage the full body. And then community development block grant, got an update on that from staff. So the the program has had some struggles with some shenanigans at the federal government. There's been delays. The award was delayed several months.

And then when it was received, there was in there was information in the grant or requirements in the grant agreement around tracking the immigration status of beneficiaries. And so like other cities, we refused to sign to that that grant agreement, and the city joined a lawsuit called King County versus Turner. And with that lawsuit, there was an injunction that allowed us to scratch out that language in the grant agreement and go ahead and proceed. But it all it brought us five months behind schedule. And so that has I won't go into the weeds on this, but it's caused some challenges in terms of how the program is structured, how funding can be allocated.

So we are it it looks like we will be unable to fund public services in this next round. Staff are recommending that we go with five organizations oh, sorry. Four or well, actually, it's just three organizations, but four projects. Folks who are very well versed in CDBG and we know they can get the funding out on the ground because there are challenges with the program. If we don't spend it in time, it reduces our future funding.

So we're looking at rebuilding together with their critical home repair program, Habitat for Humanity with their critical home repair program, Habitat for Humanity again with Energize Thurston and then Enterprise for Equity micro business development and then our administrative costs. So that will eventually get to council, but it wasn't a full flushed out recommendation for CLIPS yet. But staff wanted us to be aware with some of the challenges they're working through and some of the really challenging problem solving they'll have they're wrestling with on this because we have a lot of organizations that provide public services and it's unfortunate that that we're not able to accommodate those requests in this round of funding because they're also seeing cuts in other places, but it's kind of an unavoidable situation and has everything to do with, like I said, shenanigans of the federal government. So yeah. That's yeah.

So that's my report.

Thank you. Any questions or comments for councilmember Madron? Alright. Councilmember Vanderpool.

People ask them ask, what does local government have to do with the federal government? I say, turns out a lot. You're like, why do why are you talking about what's going on with federal government? Oh, funding gets cut all the time, and there's lawsuits all the time because of shenanigans. So the regional housing council met. This is second month in. We've had all new members. I've I've I don't know if I've mentioned that before. For the most part, we've had all new members, and so it's taking a little bit of onboarding. And so to kinda help with that, I've we've had more of the county staff reach out and some some of our staff to reach out to help folks be onboarded in that process.

And I've also I've reached recently emailed all the new members to see if if there's any ways I can help move that along because it has been a pretty slow process right now, and we are on a a pretty tight timeline with some projects. I just want that's a note on that. And then land use environment community met last week. We had a presentation on rent to own and tenant opportunity to purchase or and also tenant or tenant opportunity purchase community model also. The difference being a single family unit versus which is the rent to own model or the tenant opportunity purchase being the 10 units or more model.

This has come back again in in April meeting and then again in July. We had Rebecca from the Thurston Housing Land Trust comment on it and give us some more information on some of the models that they're working on and ways they can partner with us on a lot of this work. So expect more as we make our way through that information. Then we approve the hearings examiner to to continue on where we are and but that will be coming to the council soon, so you'll be hearing more about that. Is there I wanna pause here and see if there are any other comments from my colleagues on land use, if there's any thoughts they had on those.

No? Okay. Cool. And then this afternoon, I met with Desiree from the Olympia Downtown Alliance, and we just talked about some areas. I know a couple of my Calither councilmates are gonna be meeting with her in the next few weeks because she's reached out.

Just some areas that needed need a little more love, need a need a little more attention from the city. So, like, the corner of state in Washington, I know all of us have received an email from some business owners around that area about the parking lot we own. Some just need a little more attention on that. But I do I do wanna point out something that actually the city is working on with some of the downtown businesses on is the alleyway over by Olli Computers right there across from the transit center. There is a they're looking they're working on and looking into putting some gates in on both sides and using the space maybe for, like, pop up restaurant or something just to kinda activate the space and turn it into more of a community place as it as as to propose to what it is now where, it's kind of a low lighting, kinda not really near anything situation.

And so, there's a couple of things that you'll and I'm sure folks will hear more, as they reach out. So that's my report.

Thank you. Any questions or comments for council member Vanderpool? K. Thank you. Council member Gilman.

So this is the finance report that I teased but didn't give last week or in in in the interest of time. But I I think it's important to share that we had a conversation with chief Morris and deputy chief Flowers and Adam Cummings, who's our chief mechanic, about the the capital facilities needs of the fire department. And that for many years, we've treated buying a new fire truck as an emergency, that all of a sudden we have to purchase it when everybody in the room knows that a vehicle can go a certain number of miles, and then it's both wearing out and it's becoming obsolete. And so the conversation we had was about how do we begin to become more intentional about sequencing both getting the funds together and having a purchasing schedule to maintain the physical facilities, the fire stations, to purchase fire trucks, and to keep the equipment up up to date. So that's that that was our conversation, and and I'm I I joked that we had to wait until council member Cooper, who's a third generation firefighter family, left the council to have the conversation.

But it's one that I know he appreciates very much. And and then I wanted to tee up that our next study session will be about the Olympia Fire Department's standards of cover study, which will talk about sort of the needs of of people for first responders across the city. And the the two things are are really interwoven. Right? The what kind of response time we we wanna have, what sort of services we wanna provide really relates back to what kind of equipment do we need to have and what kind of vehicles do we need to get to those places.

So I look forward to having some capital facilities needs described as part of the presentation on the standards of cover. And I I wanted to tee that up for you because I think it's a super important conversation that I I don't believe will solve all in this budget year, but we'll give it more attention in this year. And and I hope we can become more and more intentional until we have a a plan where we know years ahead time when we're going to get the next pumper. So

Thank you very much. Any questions or comments for council member Gilman? Yeah. Thank you for that. I'm very much looking forward to that briefing next week, chief Morris.

And I imagine there will probably be some information in there about the department's strategic plan, but very much looking forward to how what you just shared lines up with that strategic vision. Forgive me. I don't read your strategic plan on my spare time from cover to cover, but but very much looking forward to seeing how those things align so that we can make sure that we're in line with the vision for the department and that we're doing what we need to adequately support them. So thank you. Alright. If there's no further questions, we'll move on to mayor Pro Tem.

Yeah. Thank you, mayor. No reports.

Alright. Councilmember Green.

Thank you, mayor. Nothing to report.

Alright. Councilmember Barrett.

I too have no report this evening.

Thank you. Alright. And last but not least, city manager Bernie.

Gonna follow the trend and nothing to report.

Alright. Great. Okay. So, I am gonna need a motion to amend the agenda. We have an executive session that is on our agenda for tonight, and we're going to go ahead and remove, that session from the agenda and just go into a closed session. So if we are in favor of that, I need someone to make a move. Second, please.

So moved. Second.

Alright. All those in favor of that motion signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed? Alright. Motion passes. So we will go ahead and reschedule that executive session for a future date. At this time, we are going to move into a closed session pursuant to labor negotiations. No decisions will be made. And after that closed session, we will be adjourned for the evening, and we will meet in Room 423.