City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, so We do want to keep decorum in here any more disruptions like that won't be tolerated We're gonna pre we're gonna continue forward Before we do, fire code makes us nobody can stand. So you guys got to put your butts in seats before we get going too far. But at this moment in time, I'm going to ask you to stand for the flag salute. Remove your covers if you have them. Thank you. all right so we're gonna do roll call I got Indra Joel Seth Rick Victoria Eric Kathleen Rob and myself we have a full house so we're gonna get started and next on our agenda is a special recognition Thank You ma

Yes, thank you very much, and it's just a testament that we have some of the best employees and staff in the City of Grants Pass here. Thank you for all your help, guys. All right, continuing on, this meeting is expected to proceed in an efficient and courteous manner, and all participants and attendees are encouraged to act accordingly. threatening conduct, violations of law, signs or placards, outbursts of applause, campaigning for Public office or other disruptive behavior will not be tolerated. Individuals engaged in disruptive conduct will be warned before they are asked to leave the coun

Thank you, Brad. I'll bring it back to council. Does council have any specific questions for Brad? Indra?

Yes, I have a question. It seems contradictory. On Article 17.418 , it says the approved development is still subject to the requirements and development standards that apply to the parent lot. So you have a parent lot, and say you have a structure, and I'm assuming a standard is there's a setback standard, but then on page Article 12.1543 on 14, it says that middle housing land divisions are exempt from providing minimum frontage or access along a public street for each individual child lot. So can you make that make sense?

So these new structures on the child lots can be right on the street or sidewalk? There's no setback? Is there a setback?

Any further questions from council? Joel.

So, Brad, I appreciate your expertise, and I'm a little bit out of my expertise, so bear with me to ask some stupid questions. When I looked at the water for both water and sewer, and I'm specifically referring to page 49, it's a simple question, but what it says is... each individual will have a separate sewer service line, and then they'll be connected either in the public right-of-way or on a public utility easement on private property, and future repair or replacement of the public sewer main will be the responsibility of the City of Grants Pass. Is that consistent with our existing policy

Thank you You bet Any further questions from council Victoria?

Hi Bradley, you mentioned that the language for comparable was in the packet. Could you remind us what which page?

And have we had developers from the community comment on these at all, or it was just asked that it would be defined and this is staff's defining?

Right, right. Okay, thank you. Thank you so much.

Any further questions from council? All right, seeing none, thank you, Brad. At this part of the public hearing, we'll open to public comment. Is there anybody in the public that wants to speak on this matter that we are in a public hearing for. Seeing none, this public portion is now closed and the matter will be before the council for consideration. I'll bring it back to council for further discussion and or action. Rick.

I'd like to make a motion to adopt the ordinance amending the Grants Pass Development Code Article 2, procedure types Article 3, development permit procedures Article 12, zoning districts Article 17, lots and creation of lots Article 27, access in Article 28. Utilities regarding middle housing land division also include the proposed revisions and have it read by title only first reading.

With a second from Eric. Any further discussion? There's a motion on the table for first reading to approve the development code as presented. With a second, any further discussion? Joel.

Well, I just had a question. So this is a require or clarification maybe. This was a requirement of state law, is that correct? And state code, be consistent with the state code? Okay. And so to not do that would have implications. And what would be those implications?

Any further discussion? All right. So we'll go into a vote. Rick, how do you vote?

Indra? Yes. Rob? Yes. Kathleen? Yes. Eric? Yes. Victoria? Yes. All right. Unanimously, motion passes for first reading.

Thank you. I'll bring it back to council for further discussion and or action. We'll be looking for action towards a second reading. Victoria.

I move to adopt the ordinance amending the Grants Pass Development Code Article 2 procedure types, Article 3 development permit procedures, Article 12 zoning districts, Article 17 lots and creation of lots, Article 27, access Article 28, utilities regarding middle housing land divisions and have it read by title only second reading.

Thank you. With a second from Seth. All right, there's a motion on the table to approve for a second reading. With a second, any further discussion? All right, seeing none, Victoria, how do you vote? Yes. Rick? Yes. Seth. Joel. Yes. Indra. Yes. Rob. Yes. Kathleen. Yes. Eric. All right. Passes unanimously for second reading.

all right thank you next on tonight's agenda is another public hearing uh... the purpose of this public hearing is to reopen a portion of the public record for eating plan plan unit development and subdivision application in order to adopt findings of facts that contain the most current inaccurate conditions of approval on september sixteenth the council had held a public meeting on these two applications as well as a street variance. The variance was approved and there are no outstanding matters with that application. So the public record for the variance is not being reopened tonight. Howeve

Perfect. I think for clarity for the council, if you could bring back up the five points, and then I'll bring it back to council. Does any council have any questions in regards to what we're going to be hearing tonight? Indra?

This seems unusual. Is this because it's skipped going through the UAPC and usually they would go back and forth with the developer and get things right and then bring it for a vote? Because we're certainly, I speak for myself, not an expert in all of this. So is this coming to us because it skipped the process with the committee?

So is one of the options to go to take these five to the Planning Commission for them to review?

So if this is not approved, where does it go from here?

Further questions, I have Joel, Rob, and Victoria. Joel?

So this has nothing to do with those five points. It's outside that and has to do with the first hearing. But there were several things that were brought up in the two letters from citizens. And if the citizens didn't feel those were answered fully to their satisfaction, they can just come see you individually. Is that correct?

Okay. Okay, thank you. And I'd encourage them to do so if they don't understand. Further questions? I have Rob and Victoria.

So, Brad, correct me if I'm mistaken here, but there were, I understand that basically the project was approved. prior, in the prior meeting, there were aspects of the project that were never reviewed by the UAPC because that process got short-circuited. UAPC, once the UAPC denied the variance, that hearing ended and they didn't review the project in its entirety, is that correct?

Okay, so the stuff that the UAPC never saw, was never reviewed by, we'll call it our more expert panel, the council decided that we had enough expertise to go ahead and approve it anyway. So everything's been approved, and theoretically, even though some of it was never looked at by anyone who knew what they were talking about, it got approved, so that's where we are tonight. Correct. Okay, thank you.

So I understand from our last meeting when, to my satisfaction, we were shown all of the changes. And we were also given information from the fire chief during that public meeting that addressed the issues that people were concerned about and had a lot of public testimony and expert testimony. That is why we voted to approve it. That's my memory. It's also my memory that had we not approved it, it would have gone back with the information that we reviewed and probably would have been approved. Maybe there were one or two items that would not have been approved, but they were items that we over

Any further questions from council? So to clarify, counsel, that your hearing today is not about the variances or the PUD of the subdivision that was already approved. And the last time, it is basically to verify the findings of facts and the additional information that's in there. Any other questions? Indra.

I just want to briefly state that I was not in favor of going forward before because I don't feel that it was clear and I feel that going around the planning division who are experts in the field was a really bad idea and sets a bad precedent. This in no way affects the expertise and knowledge of the developer or the engineer in any way. I'm just saying it's a bad precedent that for the council it was a majority vote to pass it to to approve this, and now we're dealing with these things, which we don't even really know about, quite honestly. I mean, Rick might. So I am gonna vote for it becaus

All right. Seeing none, thank you very much. At this time, we'll open it up for any public comment. Is there anybody in the audience that wants to come in and speak in regards to this hearing to validate the findings of fact? Please state your name and you have three minutes.

So I didn't want to cut you off, but realistically, if you have questions in regards to the overall subdivision, the overall PUD, the overall design, you need to contact the city planning office and discuss it with them directly. This hearing is realistically narrowed down to the five topics of us validifying the findings of facts. So in your public testimony, I would appreciate if you could keep your testimony to the facts. If you have questions in regards to the overall subdivision, the overall PUD, I would encourage you to contact the city planning office for further conversation about that

Thank you. Anybody else from the audience want to speak?

Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else from the audience?

Thank you. Anybody else? All right, this portion of the... Oh, sorry, go ahead. Sorry. No, you're fine.

Perfect. Thank you. We'll get through this portion, and then I'll offer that opportunity to the council when we get to discussion. Thank you. Anybody else from the public? All right. So this public portion of the hearing is now closed, and this matter will be brought before the council for consideration. I'll bring it back to the council for further discussion. and or action.

I will be in favor of the findings and the conditions of approval tonight. I appreciate seeing the additional conditions that have been added because I think it adds clarity. One of the things that was presented before with the applicant came forward with this idea in 2023 and here is 2026. And if we're looking for holding down the cost of housing, one thing that really impacts a developer is time. Time is money. And I think you all have seen the interest rates go up and that's affecting the housing market as well. So if for some reason this were to go back to the Planning Commission, they cou

Yes, I'm not opposed to the project at all. I encourage housing. However, now I'm changing my mind on the vote because we have residents that live there that cannot get questions, their concerns answered. And that concerns me. And so I would like more time to research this so I could be more of an expert, so I could make the decision and maybe everything's good, but maybe it's not. So I would ask for this to be deferred until we have more time to really look into this and out of respect for the homeowners who are gonna be directly affected by what's going on there. Thank you.

discussion I would just welcome the developer to come and discuss the concerns that were brought up by some of the residents and explain explain exactly what we're going through here and maybe

Relieve their concerns of course so and then I do have to clarify and correct you guys We do we are in the middle of a hearing to verify the findings of facts. We are not here to relitigate the subdivision approval or the PUD approval with that caveat that we that we

Is there anything else that you can cover up there on the different conditions?

I think we might have one more question. Yeah. Rob, do you have a question?

So can you clarify, you said that there's two projects going on concurrently. That's correct. So the grading around the canal and the curtain drain, Which project is that?

So I guess... It's obviously clear to you, but I didn't understand. How are these projects divided out?

So the PUD, the review of the PUD aspect, well, I guess the review of the ARPA grant, that's pretty much straightforward. That's just infrastructure in the ground, right? Okay, so that's one thing. Then this is part of the PUD review that has not been reviewed by the UAPC?

Okay. But then some of this was added subsequent to when they looked at it. They didn't look at some of this at all. We know that, right?

Any further discussion or questions? Okay, thank you very much. Further discussion? Rick?

I have a question for Stephanie. If a motion is made to approve the findings of fact, does it need to include the language revised conditions of approval in the motion?

Did you have a recommended? Yeah, if you could advance back to that last page.

Well, I'm gonna go ahead and move to approve the findings of fact and conditions of approval for the Eden Glen PUD subdivision street variances with a revision to condition A on page 281. The applicant has 24 months from the city council decision.

And I got a second from Seth. So there's a motion on the table to approve the findings of facts as stated in the motion with the clarification with a second. Any further discussion from council? All right, seeing none, we'll go into a vote. Kathleen?

All right, we have a 6-2 motion passes, so the finding effects are adopted. Thank you very much. Next on tonight's agenda is a resolution establishing a 401A retirement plan benefit for employees. And it looks like JC will lead us in a TED Talk.

Do your best, my friend. Do your best. If not, speak really loudly. Oh, there you go.

Thank you. Even though you're a hand talker, you made it work. It was really good. Thank you. Bringing back questions for council, I got Rob and Joel. Rob.

If I read it right, it says in the packet that this has no cost implications to the city. And is that true in perpetuity? It'll never cost the city taxpayers anything, this program?

So without a future action by the city council, this as it stands would never cost taxpayers anything? That is correct. Thank you.

Further questions? I have Joel. Just to emphasize what you said, JC. Good presentation. Thank you. That there's no match by the employer in this particular case, and that includes administrative fees of the investment. Is that correct?

Yeah. It's my understanding that in most, if not all of these plans that the employee pays the administration of it. Okay. Thank you.

Yes. Is the 401 replacing the 457 ? Or they're going to both be available?

Can the 457 be, is that matching as well, or can it be?

So you said something interesting that the 401 , we're not gonna start out doing any matching, but then you mentioned the unions could use that as a bargaining So that would be something that would be behind the scenes in union bargaining, right?

Yes. We don't typically get into the weeds with that kind of thing.

Okay. As long as that would be highlighted and brought forth, I would appreciate that. Thank you.

JC, I'd like to elaborate a little bit further on that. So when that program is set up, is it set up through a contract?

So Stephanie, is it illegal for that contract to include language setting up certain parameters that the city council now endorses?

Well, what I'm heading to, I don't want to say take away the rights of the employee, but if the city does not want to offer the opportunity for matching in the future, is there a way to head that off in the past or really not?

All right. I recognize that may head into a whole different territory. All right. Thank you.

Question Joel. So, um, This is a financial advisor question, but you're up to speed on those things. So an employee right now can establish a independent 401, simple IRA or Roth or whatever. They can do it on their own as well, correct?

So the only advantage really is that they can be payroll deduction rather than you writing a check out to your financial advisor.

Any further questions? All right. Thank you very much, JC. At this moment is an opportunity for the public to weigh in on this resolution item that we have. Is there anybody from the public that wants to speak on behalf of a resolution for an addition of a 401A for staff employees? All right, seeing none, I'll bring it back to council for further deliberation and or action. Jump, let's go.

Well, it seems like a pretty innocent no-cost method, so I'll go ahead and move to approve the resolution establishing the 401 , encourage people to save more for their retirement as part of the benefit package, and offer the benefit to all employees.

All right, there's a motion to approve with a second from Victoria. Any further discussion? Seeing none, we'll go into a vote. Joel, how do you vote? Indra? Yes. Rob? Yes. Kathleen? Yes. Eric?

All right, unanimously passes. Thank you very much. Next on tonight's agenda is... Resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into an amended agreement with Ellenwood Homes, LLC to construct a mixed income residential development at 175 and 225 Ellenwood Drive and to convey real property. It looks like Stephanie will lead us in a presentation.

Question. Stephanie, I should have emailed you this question because it might be a difficult one for you to answer. Why would the city not require a performance bond to cover any potential liability in case the contractor fails to perform?

But we're responsible for the mortgage. Is that correct?

Okay, so are we certain the lenders would take it over then?

Okay, so is it a requirement of the contract that they take it over?

Sure, and hopefully it would be to their benefit as well. Geez, in the future, I would, you know, performance bonds are relatively inexpensive, and they protect the liability of the city, that we need to consider those, I think, in the future.

It kind of along those lines, so in 10.3.1, the city's subordinate to all the mortgages. In my experience, subordinate is getting paid last. So if things go south, the banks are gonna get their money first, including the property. I mean, the city could be left with nothing, correct?

Okay, and then in, let's see, the beginning, sorry, D, recitals, D, it redlined including scope of development. Why was that taken out?

Stephanie, can you remind me, OHCS, the developer, is that correct? No, OHCS is... Oregon Housing and Community Services. The operator.

Okay. I just wanted to be clear on that. Thanks.

Any further questions? All right. Seeing none, thank you, Stephanie. At this time, I'll open it up to the public. Is there anybody from the public that wants to comment on this particular resolution?

ALL RIGHT. SEEING NONE, I'LL BRING IT BACK TO COUNCIL FOR FURTHER DELIBERATION AND OR ACTION. KATHLEEN?

Could we have staff respond to this request that the citizen had?

Thank you, Jason. Any further deliberation and or action? Andrew.

YES, JUST ANOTHER QUESTION BECAUSE THAT BRINGS UP SOMETHING I WAS GOING TO ASK BUT DIDN'T, BECAUSE IN 634 IT SAYS THE CITY SHALL COORDINATE WITH DEVELOPER TO ENSURE THE CITY'S ACTIVITIES DO NOT OBSTRUCT, HINDER, IMPEED OR DELAY DEVELOPER'S DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROJECT. SO WHAT, IS THERE SOMETHING IN HERE? WHAT HAPPENS IF THE CITY IS SLOW OR DOESN'T, OR IMPEEDS, DO THEY HAVE RECOURSE AGAINST THE CITY?

All right. Further deliberation or action. Rob.

I was going to make a motion to approve, but are we waiting for Jason to respond to Byron's question? Is that answer imminent, or is it going to be a long time?

Any further deliberation? Any action or you guys want to just sit here?

So the language about 90 days and 120 days, how does that apply to what you just said?

I'm going to make a motion, unless anyone has anything else to, any other questions.

Okay. Well, if I understand what you said, Bradley, that both parties are in communication with each other and there's flexibility, but the timelines have been there to help ensure gathering of funding. That's what I heard you say, but there's some flexibility also, not that we want to test it.

I'm going to make a motion then to, TO APPROVE THE RESOLUTION, AUTHORIZE THE CITY MANAGER TO ENTER INTO AN AMENDED AGREEMENT FOR DISPOSITION AND DEVELOPMENT OF PROPERTY WITH ELEMENTED HOMES LLC AND CONVEY 5.7 ACRES OF LAND FOR CONSTRUCTION OF 110 UNITS OF RENTAL HOUSING AND A COMMUNITY CENTER UPON SATISFACTION OF CONDITIONS PRECEDENT.

THANK YOU, ROB. ROB MAKES A MOTION TO APPROVE RESOLUTION WITH A SECOND FROM RICK. ANY FURTHER DISCUSSION?

Yes, I just wanted to state that I'll be voting for this. But I wanted to express that I was originally against the project. But I'm voting yes to go along with what I believe is the wishes of council. But my concern was the contract that lasts, I believe, up to 50 years. And I thought that was a very long time. to commit to a project that is under management for that many units. I just wanted to put that on the record and express that, but I will be voting in favor to go along with the wishes of council.

Any further discussion? Excuse me. All right, we'll go into a vote. Rob?

Kathleen? Yes. All right, unanimously passes. Thank you very much. All right, next on our agenda tonight is a resolution reinstating the October 5th, 2026 appointment of parks advisory committee member and approval of the resolution and motions on the consent agenda.

Bring it back to council for any questions.

Joe. So on the parks committee, those people that were appointed but not appointed have been coming and they've been voting. They didn't. removing their vote wouldn't change any action in terms of the majority. Just a curiosity note. But with that, I'm gonna move to approve the resolution reinstating the October 5th, 2026 appointment of the Parks Advisory Committee members in approval of the resolutions and motions on the consent agenda.

Thank you, Joel, but that was a little premature. I do have to go through a couple of things before we can allow you to do that, but thank you. We all know how you stand now. Any further questions? Okay, at this time I will open up to public. This is your opportunity to weigh in on this resolution. Is there anybody from the public that wants to speak in regards to the council entertaining this resolution? All right, seeing none, I will bring it back to the dais and I will look Joel directly in the eye and see if he wants to, and if there's no further discussion, I will look Joel in the eye and

This is a tough assignment. I move to approve the resolution reinstating the October 5th, 2026 appointment of parks advisory committee members that are already participating and approval of the resolutions and motions on the consent agenda.

All right, thank you. Joel moves to approve the resolution as stated with a second from Seth. Any further discussion? All right, we're going to vote. Joel?

All right, unanimously passes. Thank you very much. All right, next on the agenda is a resolution adopting a policy and procedure regarding opening invocation during city council meeting for the city of Grants Pass, Oregon. And Stephanie will lead us with the presentation.

Thank you, Stephanie. I'll bring it back to council for any questions. You may have questions. I know we've deliberated this one quite a bit, so obviously you have questions. Rick, and then Kathleen. Rick.

Thank you, Stephanie. So if you come back with a list of 100 different organizations and you figure we might go through 24 in a year, it could take four years to go through that list, would that be?

Okay. It won't be annual if we have that many. Or pick it out of a hat?

Thank you Any further questions from council Joel? Stephanie, I used to also ask it in a question form. What we've been doing is not an option moving forward. We need to change it to be appropriate and legal and respectful.

So it's just a matter of risk then. Okay, thank you.

Any further questions for Stephanie? All right, seeing none, thank you, Stephanie. At this time, we'll open it to public comment in regards to this resolution. And I have three people that actually signed up on blue cards for general public comment at the end, but they stated that they wanted to speak on this. I was able to catch a couple of you guys in the audience, but I didn't catch everybody. So I will give you the opportunity in a second, but first we have someone online, right? Okay, is he available? Okay. Go ahead. Have him state his name, and he's got three minutes.

Thank you very much the next person that Dave Blakely And you had two items on your blue card so you can talk about the second one in general public comment, that's cool There you go. Here's your opportunity, please.

Thank you for your time. Thank you. All right. Fitch, you put in a blue card for general public comment, but you commented that you wanted to talk on this.

I'm not stopping your... No, stop my time.

Decorum. You are to address the council. I will address her. I was going to do it if you allow me the opportunity instead of yelling over me. Stop my time. Give me my time back. You will have your time. Relax, please. One second. Are you good? Get on it. Dude, you're going to sit here and fight with me or you're going to allow me the opportunity to enforce decorum. Thank you. Could you please keep the audience quiet and give the respect to the person that is on the microphone as they will give you the respect when you're on the microphone. Mr. Fitch, please continue. Give my time back. You wil

All right. So at this moment in time, I was just giving people opportunity that misfiled the blue cards and there was other people that I caught in the audience. So we are still open for public comment in regards to this resolution. So if you want to speak, please come to the podium and state your name and you have three minutes. If you guys want to line up, that's absolutely fine.

Thank you. Anybody else? Come on up to the microphone and state your name, and you've got three minutes. If you guys want to line up, that's absolutely fine too.

Thank you. Is there anybody else from the audience that would like to weigh in on this resolution?

Thank you. Anybody else from the audience want to speak on this resolution? All right, thank you for your participation tonight. I'll bring it back to council for further discussion and or action. Victoria.

I just want to move to approve the resolution adopting a policy and procedure regarding opening invocation before city council meetings for the city of Grants Pass, Oregon.

All right. Victoria has made a motion to pass the resolution for the policies and procedures for invocations with a second from Eric. Any further discussion from council?

Rob? I'll get to it, but the way the motion is worded, I think, is really problematic, or the way the resolution is worded, I should say. For people that are concerned about taking God out of the chambers, so to speak, it was just a little over two hours ago, we all said the words of the Pledge of Allegiance. And as Chad Hanson just reminded us, it specifically says, one nation under God. And to me, And some people have heard me say this on Monday, but I'm going to repeat it for people who weren't here Monday. For me, when I say that word, I actually think of something. I don't just mouth the

Yes. Um, I just wanted to, uh, maybe remind and state that it is the activity of prayer and invocation is what has been adjudicated at the Supreme court many times. And, uh, we adopted a policy for that to make sure that that, um, that that can continue. Um, and I would disagree that people are excluded because our, uh, invocation resolution was written in such a way that all, um, established faith communities in the, um, And Grants Pass may participate. And if there is not, for instance, a synagogue, they would be able to bring their, and they are a member elsewhere, they could bring that per

Any further discussion? I got Eric and then Joel. Eric?

Yeah, I just found it kind of awkward when I heard people will be held captive when they're listening to prayer. It didn't make sense to me. I mean, we've got, I'm just wondering, are people held captive when they're sitting here or standing talking about the, or doing the Pledge of Allegiance? Is that being held captive as well? I mean this country was founded, all of our documents, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, all of that is, has some form of God in Christian, and has God on those documents, a creator. So to me, This is a very important thing and I appreciate what some

Further discussion, I got Joel and then Indra, Joel.

You know, we've been debating this a long time. What everybody says tonight, there's an element of truth, reality, and all of it. I didn't hear anybody lying tonight or whatever. The other thing that is important to me is God's in charge. Regardless of which one has chosen, God's in charge. And if I think differently, then I get pretty arrogant. The one thing that troubles me a little bit is when I was district ranger out of Illinois Valley, a devil worship group put a notice on the bulletin board. And I think before then there was a Christian group that did that. And I looked at that and to m

And there was two of them sitting on each side of me, and one guy was a Spanish-Mexican cartel, and the other guy was a real young guy from a gang in LA. And during the class, there was a murderer outside in the yard, and they locked down the yard. So I walked around the room, because we couldn't leave, because of the lockdown. You know, I thought, Jesus. Who wants to get involved here? And then there was a weekly devil worship class in Pelican Bay. They had a right to do that. So anyway, it weighs on my mind. What everybody says here is true, and you have people on different sides of this. We

Further discussion, I got Indra and then Eric. Indra? Indra?

Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior and I love him and I love prayer. And I pray all the time. To me, this is not a matter of what's constitutional or not. It's a matter of what Jesus would want and what's right for our community and what's right for me and my conscience to vote. Somewhat, we are regulating prayer. We're regulating it. Prayer is not objective. Prayer is subjective. It's your communication with your heavenly father. And so to me, Not having prayer is not taking away my right to pray in any way. I pray on my way here, I pray during the meetings. Jesus isn't here and our Heavenly

a Satan worshiper praying to Satan. The Oregon Constitution specifically mentions praying to the Almighty God. So that's covered in this resolution. The Oregon Constitution is referenced in it. So I think there was a couple of things that were brought up, statements. So that is covered. Thank you, God bless.

Yeah, so if we're going to, I guess, seriously, you know, think about this issue, and we obviously are, I need to make a correction. because of what somebody said was inaccurate and not truthful. So the way this resolution reads right now, we were told by one counselor that it doesn't exclude anyone. That's what we were told. That's what you were told. A lot of you don't have it in front of you, so I'm gonna read it. The invocations shall be voluntarily delivered by a representative of an established congregation located within the city of Grants Pass urban growth boundary or an established co

or god is about any further discussion indra just really quick i forgot i i wanted to say i i agree with everything that you all said tonight um of the christian faith and i want to thank you for coming and expressing your thoughts here tonight thank you any further discussion

All right, you have a motion on the table to approve the, to adopt the resolution for a policy and procedures regarding invocations during the city council meeting. With a second. If there's no further discussion, I will go into a roll call vote. Victoria, how do you vote?

Joel, how do you vote? Yes. Indra, how do you vote?

Okay, so I got six to two. So resolution passes. All right. That concludes majority of business. Next on the... CITY COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA IS THE COSENT AGENDA. CAN WE GET THE COSENT AGENDA ON THE COOL. NOBODY HAS APPROACHED ME TO HAVE ANY START ITEMS. SO I WOULD LOOK TO COUNCIL FOR ACTION. A MOTION TO APPROVE. AND SO WHO MOTIONS TO APPROVE WILL BE ABLE TO READ ALL OF THE COSENT AGENDA. KATHLEEN.

Motion to approve the consent agenda by reading it a Motion acknowledging the receipt of the monthly investment for September 2026 motion acknowledging the receipt of the monthly water revenue bonds investment report for September 2026 motion approving the minutes of the City Council special meeting of October 5th 2026 and MOTION ACKNOWLEDGING THE MINUTES OF THE PARKS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETINGS OF SEPTEMBER 10, 2026. AND THE MOTION ACKNOWLEDGING THE MINUTES OF THE SMALL BUSINESS TASK FORCE MEETING OF AUGUST 16, 2026.

IT LOOKS LIKE I HAD A SECOND FROM SETH. ANY FURTHER DISCUSSION? SEEING DONE, KATHLEEN, HOW DO YOU VOTE? YES. How do you vote?

Consent agenda has been approved. All right, now we are in the portion of the meeting for general public comment. This is an opportunity for the public to address the city council on items not related to a public hearing or council action item on tonight's agenda. The intent is to receive information that is pertinent to matters within the city's jurisdiction. Each speaker will be given three minutes to address the council. Council members will have an opportunity to respond to the public after public comment. The rest of this meeting is expected to proceed in an effective and courteous manner

THANK YOU. I GOT A CARD FOR MR. PELFREY, BUT I DON'T SEE HIM IN THE AUDIENCE. IS HE GONE ALREADY? THANK YOU VERY MUCH. BYRON ROBINSON.

All right, I got Hal Hayes. Hal? All right. Fitch.

Have a great day. Thanks for the lawsuit.

Thank you. Next, we got Skylar Terry. Did I say that right? I apologize.

All right. Pull the mic down a little tiny bit. Yeah, I know.

All right. David. Sorry, Dave. Either or? Either or. You're up, sir. Uh-oh, now what?

THANK YOU. THAT CONCLUDES TONIGHT'S PORTION OF GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION. NEXT UP AND FINAL ITEM ON OUR AGENDA TONIGHT IS MATTERS FOR MAYOR AND COUNCIL. ANY COUNCIL MEMBER HAVE ANY COMMENTS FOR TONIGHT?

So it was brought to my attention. Well, I've known about this agency for a while now. It's called 715. And it is a incentivizer for youth that have no desire to really go to school, to provide them with apprenticeship or pre-apprenticeship training for different labor jobs. And because this goes along with, or here, let me pass some of these out. Because this goes along with what the SBDC used to provide or partially provide, I would like to suggest that we use that money from them, because it's not being used right now as I'm informed, and transfer that to this, THIS AGENCY? WOULD THAT BE A

Any other councilor have any comments tonight? Victoria?

are we just in general comment are we on agenda review uh... this is matters for mayor council so you can talk about anything okay thank you so uh... i just wanted to i i was so moved by so many of you who came to speak so uh... very uh... inspiring and i'll be watching it again on video uh... because i was so inspired so i thank you uh... I also wanted to state that I was very concerned with the comments from Skyler Terry, and it seems like something that should be, I don't know how the city can go about addressing because it is not necessarily our contract, but I just wanted to thank him for

Yeah, there's a lot in public comment that is very important and very moving. I wanted to comment on Byron Robertson's third time, I guess, at the podium. with basically the same exact story, the same complaint, the same inadequacies from our city staff. And I just want to say that, you know, If you watch the county commissioner candidate public forums or if you watch the city council candidate public forums, a similar question is almost always asked is what could you do to bring more family wage jobs to Grants Pass And to me, from what I've heard from the three times that Byron has come up he

Mayor? Yes, sir. I'd like to make a motion to go past 9 o'clock.

Okay, so we have a motion on the table to continue this meeting past 9 o'clock with a second from Indra. All in favor, put your thumbs up. Okay, we're continuing. Go ahead. Indra, I think, is next.

Yes, we hear about water a lot, but I just want council members to think about we are really hurting businesses with the water rates. I agree with that. I mean, residential is high. It used to be 75. Now it's 95 minimum. we can't afford to water our lawns a lot of us but businesses are hurting because of the water rate so i think that's something we should look at and then i just feel not to cause controversy but prompted to say that the one who is inspired by what occurred today with our Christ-centered talks and all that we appreciated is the same one that calls me gross, a horrible person,

Any other counselor have anything to add? All right, perfect. How about staff? God dang, crickets over there.

Thank you very much. Anything else across the dice? No, if not, we do not have an executive session scheduled tonight. So I would look to council for somebody to motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn from Kathleen, a second from Eric. All in favor, say yay. If you wanna stay, then you can stay, but we're turning the lights off.