City Council - Regular Meeting

Pardon me. That was a little bit, well, it was effective anyway. I meant business and that's what we're up to. Welcome to the City Council meeting for August 4th, 2026. Will the clerk please call roll?

Very good. Thank you so much for that. Would you be kind enough to lead us in the flag salute?

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

Okay, well, good evening, everybody, and welcome. For those of you here in chambers, we love to see you here and online. I'm not sure how many we have online tonight, but I'm sure we're going to find out. So let's take it away and begin. Mayor Pro Tem, can you make a motion to approve tonight's agenda?

Thank you so much. Thank you very much. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. And I'm going to listen to Rob's voice there, so I didn't mean to. Glad to see you online. Thank you for joining. Okay, moving on to consent agenda. But before we do, Council, does anyone wish to pull an item from consent for debate tonight? Seeing none, can we make a motion to approve consent?

Okay, very good motion by Ms. Cullen and seconded by Mr. Tremolata. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Boy, we're moving along. And this is exciting stuff. Well, partly. audience participation. We're always grateful to have to hear from the audience and the community in general. So at this time, if there's anyone who would like to step up to the podium, please state your name, please spell your last name for the clerk. Way to go, Jacqueline. And you have three minutes to speak. We are so excited that you're here and have at it.

Thank you, Jacqueline. Okay, we're off and running. I love it. Anyone else from our beautiful community wish to speak tonight for public comment? Come on up, Sandy. Glad to see you. Please. I think it's okay.

Anybody else from our beautiful community wish to speak? Anybody online tonight, Phil?

Okay, thank you very much. We're going to move on to announcements, presentations, and appointments. Item number nine is the youth appointment to Parks Commission. And I'm going to read our summary statement to begin with. And I see out in our crowd. Yeah, well, anyway, Aileen and her parents. So I'm so glad that you're here with us tonight. So I'll begin. In 2007, the council passed Ordinance 1277, which amended Parks Commission membership and established a youth position to set forth below. Section 1, and we talk about that, and one member shall be a resident of the Snoqualmie Valley School

Yeah, I was debating on a point of order. I believe a council member needs to make the motion.

Wouldn't that be nice? Yeah, let's start that one again. Who would like to step up with that? I would, but I don't have the paper.

Good. Motion to approve AB26-068, confirming the reappointment of Eileen Yusubio to youth member position number five on the Parks Commission, term expiring August 31st, 2027. Second.

Thank you. Brendan, would you like to speak to your motion?

First of all, thank you for coming back for more. It's wonderful to see young people get involved with the public process. It's something that we need and you're leading by example. So I appreciate that. And please continue on with your service. I mean, it just gets better and better and better. The more you get involved, the more fun it is. So especially on the Parks Commission, you guys do so much cool stuff over there. So thank you very much.

Well, thank you for being involved. I mean, everything that Brendan said, but I also want to say the same thing is that really appreciate you being involved. It's a great experience and I'm excited for you. So thank you for stepping up. Wonderful. Anybody else from council wish to say anything?

Ms. Cohen. Yes. Thank you for being on this park commission board and thank you for being a voice for people in your age group and community. Because a lot of times we don't know what your age group would like or consider to be important. And so your voice is very important. Thank you. Wonderful. Thank you. I see Rob.

I would echo that, particularly Brendan's comments, but also to encourage that you continue throughout your lifetime to give back to your community in this way. It's important. been fundamental to a lot of us that you're in front of tonight and very rewarding for the community as well as yourself.

Thank you, Rob. Anybody else from council wish to make a comment?

Well, I would love to make a comment. I'm very honored that you're stepping up again. Thank you for all your hard efforts. And like everybody said at this table, service is really a special experience and you make of it what you want of it, I guess. But please continue on I'd love that for you. And we're so grateful for having you're having a voice for your age bracket. And that's a very valuable thing. So thank you so much. And at this time, if you'd like to come to the podium and say anything, you don't have to, but we'd love to hear. Oh, I am so excited to just know you are. But vote. Hey,

Thank you. Oh, Lord. Okay, thank you. Motion to approve AB 26-068, confirming the reappointment of Eileen Yusubio to a youth member position number five on the Parks Commission term expiring August 31st, 2027. Now I can say all in favor.

Any opposed? Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Can you stick for just a moment and see if there are any questions from our council?

Yes. Apologies up front for putting you on the spot. But I'm interested and you may not think about this yet, but coming at our community from your position, are there things that you're seeing like innovation wise that we as a council body should be considering in the future? Because ultimately when revenue, tax revenue comes in, we have to figure out how to spend it, right? And voices like yours that are critical in shaping those decisions that we have to make. And so if you don't have anything now, that's fine. I understand. But if there are any things that you've seen in your time served t

And then a follow-up, because we do have a lot of darker months here because of the weather, any sort of creative ideas or something that you can just spitball for us that we should be thinking about in those dark times of year?

That's great. And the third final one, we have another committee, it's called Public Health and Safety. And the point that you just made is a good one for us to be considering as we start moving forward. So it's an open invitation as you continue on your service here. If you come up with ideas that you think would help our community, especially folks of your age and younger residents, you're welcome to come to the Public Health and Safety Committee. And pitch those ideas to us because those are things where we have the chief there. We try to brainstorm on things that we could do for the better

Thank you so much. Thank you. Anybody else? Miss Rob? Anybody? Okay. Hold it. No? Okay. I'm going to come up. We're going to get a picture. Okay. Right now. Compared to last year's picture? Yeah, compared to that. Yeah, so our packet doesn't have that in there.

Well, it's on page 114. But I can't find it. Maybe it is here, and I just didn't see it.

Oh, there it is. I had to go to the packet online to find it. You know, I really was relying on those page numbers.

Well, people online can't see this, what we're seeing right now, but we've got a cow elk grazing in the, oh, there's another one running by. We've got quite a scene happening. I'm sorry we can't share that with you. Exposure, take two.

Oh my, that's a story right there. Okay. Thank you very much. Let's say zebra. We know we're at mayor council and administrator concerns and initiatives. Let's start with Rob. Mr. McFarland.

Oh yeah. So dear. So my, my comment for the evening, uh, thinking it forward to the coming Mount Si or festival at Mount Si this coming week. I'm hoping that, uh, everyone in the community has an opportunity to go. And as you're there, please take a look around you and be aware that you are surrounded by your neighbors. Some you know, some you don't. Some you agree with, some you may not. But with this in mind, I offer a few thoughts from the Youngbloods, 1967 song, Get Together.

Listen, you hold the key to love and fear, all in your trembling hand. Just one key unlocks them both. It's there at your command. It spoke to me both from the troubled world around us, right here now at home, and thinking of my fellow elected leaders as well. This year, like most, is one where we will be challenged to make decisions that are the best for the whole of the community. to be mindful that just because we aren't in every room, in every conversation, that we are at our best when we put our trust in our colleagues, both current and past, and that we are being mindful of using your ta

Thank you very much, Mr. McFarland. Mr. Elwood.

Thank you, Your Honor. I don't have an eloquent, prepared speech like Councilmember McFarland, but I do want to extend another appreciation point to thank you for stepping up again. And hopefully word gets out and we get more young participants involved in our process. Also, as you all know, the Error is foul, so do what you can to stay inside. And I know there's a bunch of things online, and I think we're even publishing something to give some pro tips on how to stay safe on that. And I just love the fact that Mayor points out that we have elk sitting out here. I'm going to text some of my fa

Wow, that's a bunch of them. Wow, there's a whole herd. Yeah.

So... I'm going to take a picture of this and send this to my family member and say, I love my council job. Not only do I get to serve the public, but I get rare moments like this. So thank you all.

OK. I'm noticing the amount of cars going by as well. So everybody be. Yeah.

Yeah. Wow. Pretty special. We don't see elk of this amount. That often right here. When we're conducting business, it's a unique. When we're conducting, yeah. Oh, there we go. Excellent, excellent IT maneuver. Kudos to you in the back. Wow, they're so beautiful. And the cars are slowing down. We got a little Yellowstone happening before our eyes. I'm sure they're happy at Napa right now. Northern Exposure. Okay. Oh, look at the baby.

Well, I can't get enough excitement tonight, but you know, here we go. Mayor, council, administrative concerns and initiatives will continue on with Susan. If you'd like to speak Susan or I have nothing at this time.

So I'm very distracted by the elk herd. But I do have something to say. It's not prepared, though. I am thinking of the people in Spokane. My mother lives there. I was very worried about her on Sunday. I didn't know about the fire until Sunday as I work weekends. My sister beat me to that. My mom is fine. But I would like to say for the people that evacuated and all the people that helped them evacuated, they did that very timely, a large amount of people. They evacuated a whole veteran hospital, which is amazing. And you can always do better and look back. So I think Sandy for bringing up thi

Nope. Thank you very much. Ms. Emery, do you have anything?

Well, thank you very much. Today is election day, so I hope you got out there and voted. If not, you can run it to the boxes in actually 30 minutes. But I certainly hope that you have. Let's see. I invite local residents and business owners to join myself and Chief Hall for free coffee and community-focused conversation this Thursday at 11 o'clock at Snow Valley Chamber offices. located at 128 West 2nd Street. It's right by the Columbia, it's connected to the Columbia Bank Building, if you don't know. Formerly the Umpqua Building, just so you know. Thank you to the Chamber for sponsoring the e

I think, are they out there? Go take a look.