City Council - Regular Meeting

30 PM, I will call the City Council meeting of October 6th, 2026 to order. We acknowledge that this meeting is being held on the ancestral lands of the Coast Salish people and we pay our respects to those past and present. Tonight's invocation will be led by Pastor Matthew Erickson from the First Reformed Church. If we could all please stand for tonight's invocation and then remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

All right, just a reminder that tonight's meeting will both be a physical and a virtual meeting. You may view the meeting on YouTube and following the meeting on Facebook. I believe everyone is present and accounted for, correct? No, Mayor Pro Tem. She was going to join us remotely, so we'll give her a few more minutes, and if not, I'll ask for her to be excused. Are there any suggested changes to the regular agenda? If not, I request a motion to approve it as presented. Yes, Council Member Romero.

I move to approve the agenda as presented.

We have a motion to approve the agenda as presented by Council Member Romero, seconded by Council Member Peterson. Is there any further discussion before I call for a vote? Hearing, seeing none, all in favor, raise your right hand. All right, that passes. Public comments. Comments on consent agenda items are subjects of interest not listed on the agenda at this time. Opportunity to comment on the remaining agenda items during the meeting is appropriate. Please note comments regarding public hearing items will be heard during that portion of the agenda. We have one public hearing item for today

Great. Is there anyone that didn't have an opportunity to sign up that would like to step forward and make public comment at this time? All right. Hearing seeing no one, I'm going to close public comment and move on to consent agenda. Are there any objections or other changes to the consent agenda? If none, I would entertain a motion to approve.

All right, we have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented by Council Member Wittgenstein, seconded by Council Member Arms. Is there any further discussion before I call for a vote? Hearing, seeing none, all in favor, raise your right hand. All right, that passes unanimously. Thank you very much. Welcome, Mayor Pro Tem, I see you. All right, we're gonna move on to mayor and council comments. I'd like to start tonight by recognizing our city staff for their generosity and for helping bring a great idea to life. As Brian was just mentioning from the library, we recently held a book d

I didn't hear you saying you tried the bananas, just that you saw BioFest. There's a thing for everything. Good on them. No, I just wanted to also say the Hispanic Heritage Festival, they did a wonderful job to all the volunteers. I talked to a lovely couple who came from Port Townsend, and they said they've gone through Oak Harbor many times and never turned left on a pioneer. So those little things are small wins, but they can make a difference. So good job, and thank you to all the volunteers and everyone who helped put it on. Thank you. Thank you for that.

I did the walk on the marina, which was really nice, and it was a really large, pretty large group of people, and it was very informative, and I really enjoyed it. And I went to the festival that night on Friday. Friday I went, and then Saturday I did both. But I really liked the festival. It was really nice. I brought a friend with me, and she was really impressed. So we plan to go next year again.

Great. Thank you. Anybody else for the good of the order? All right. Hearing, seeing none, we will close council comments and move on to public hearings and meetings. Up first is ordinance number 2048, amending Oak Harbor Municipal Code chapter 3.98, local business and occupation tax. Here to introduce this topic is our revenue performance analyst, Brian Rockford.

Perfect. First, what we'll do is I will open the public hearing and confirm that we've received no public comment on this issue.

Great. Thank you. And is there anyone here with us this evening that would like to step forward and make public comment at this time? All right. Hearing, seeing none, I'm going to close the public hearing and call for counsel and their comments and questions of Brian at this time. Yes. Council member arms.

I just want to thank you for doing that, both you and David. You know, that was hard work to do the B&O, to figure it all out and put it all together. It was something we'd never done before. You guys did an excellent job in a very short amount of time. So thank you so much for doing that. We appreciate it.

I would like to thank you, too, because this has helped my insomnia.

All right, anybody else? All right, hearing, seeing none, I would entertain a motion then. Yes, Council Member Romero.

I move to approve ordinance number 2048, amending. Oopsie. Amending.

Amending Oak Harbor Municipal Code Chapter 3.98 as required by Senate Bill 6113, updating the City of Oak Harbor local business and occupation tax.

All right. We have a motion as presented by Council Member Romero. Seconded by Council Member Arms. Is there any further discussion before I call for a vote? Hearing seeing none, all in favor, raise your right hand. I can't. There she is. Okay. Yeah. Passage unanimously. Thank you very much. Thank you, Brian. Next up is ordinances and resolutions. We have ordinance number 2049, amending O'Carver municipal code section 8.12.030 and 8.12.060 false alarms. And here to introduce that is our fire chief, Travis Anderson.

Great. Thanks, Chief. I will confirm we received no public comment on this issue.

All right. And is there anyone here with us this evening that would like to step forward and make public comment on this issue? All right. Hearing seeing none, I'm going to close public comment and move on to counsel for their questions and comments of Chief Anderson at this time. Yes. Council Member Stuckey.

So correct me if I'm wrong, but part of the reason you wanted to do this and type the master fee schedule was to take some of the ambiguity out of it. Like you had mentioned $50 to $250.

And I agree. Looking at the current code that's not being enforced as far as... I do think, unless you're using a lot of discretion, I understand you have some, some, it still seems a little restrictive to me. I mean, I'm thinking, I got no problem necessarily with the dollar amounts, even though I know that's a master fee schedule and that's not, it's the idea of one false alarm in 180 day period. I mean, I try to think of the scenarios My alarm goes off. Oh, I'm sorry. I think everything's OK. I said it again. It goes off a second time. How much discretion are you using with this?

And I think you mentioned that the intent is definitely those repeat offenders who just aren't fixing their alarms. I mean, I'm just worried about things like, you know, I have a restaurant and maybe I have new hires coming and going and occasionally you don't turn the alarm off quick enough and things like that. That's the part that I'm concerned about, not the people that are legitimately just not fixing their alarm. That's why I say the discretion piece I think comes in and this is trying to take a step towards removing the discretion for the dollar amount, I'm just worried a little bit abo

That's way too many. Wait. Councilmember Peterson.

Thank you, Mayor. Chief, having worked in the alarm industry for a number of years for a company named Sonitrol, I remember people not taking care of their alarm issues. And they just became lackadaisical. They know the police are going to show up. They know the fire department is going to show up. And it was easier for them than to spend the 15 or 20 minutes fixing it. And so I appreciate this, because then it takes the lackadaisical member of a business and gives them a little deterrent to get their maintenance done, and I am all in favor of this, and I appreciate you putting the work into i

Thank you, Mayor. I strongly support this with great enthusiasm because people need to take care of their business. I get very exasperated when we're trying to generate, well, we do need to generate revenue, but we're trying to do things and people are not maintaining their own stuff and the taxpayers bear the cost. And I know this is not a large dollar amount over time, but I am saying incrementally it starts to make a difference, not just with alarms, but other costs. So I'm delighted just to approve this. Thank you.

I'd like to make a motion. I moved to adopt ordinance two zero four nine amending Oak Harbor municipal code section 8.12 dash Oh three Oh, duty to maintain system and section 8.1 2.0 6.0 false alarm civil penalty.

Second. We have a motion as presented by council member Peterson seconded by council member Wiggins. Stein. Is there any further discussion before I call for a vote? Hearing seeing none all in favor, raise your right hand. Mayor Pro Tem, are you there? There we go. All right.

No worries. We passed unanimously. Thank you very much. Thanks, Chief. Next order of business is other items for consideration accounts payable voucher approval Chamber of Commerce. This voucher list contains a payment or payments to the Greater Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce, of which Councilmember Marshall is the executive director. In order to avoid a conflict of interest, Councilmember Marshall has stated he will recuse himself from a vote on such payments, which are now a separate agenda item. Have we received any public comment on this issue?

Perfect. Is there anybody that would like to make public comment on this issue? All right. Hearing, seeing none. Council, do you have any comments on this issue? Yes. Council Member Wittgenstein.

All right, we have a motion to approve the payable vouchers for Chamber of Commerce by Council Member Wigginson, seconded by Council Member Merrow. Is there any further discussion before I call for a vote? All right, all in favor, please raise your right hand. One, two, three, four, five, and Mayor Pro Tem is six and one abstention. So six, four, one abstention. All right, next order of business is executive session per revised code of Washington, RCW 4230-110, parent one, parent F, and parent I. At this time, the council will move into executive session per revised code of Washington. RCW 423

All right, we have come out of executive session. No action will be taken at this time regarding the matter discussed. There being no further business, is there a motion to adjourn? So moved. All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor, raise your right hand.