City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I would like to call the City of Mount Vernon City Council meeting for Wednesday, August 12th, 2026 to order. The time is now 7.01. Would you please stand with me for the Pledge of Allegiance?

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

To ask the clerk to please follow me.

Councilmember Beaton? Here. Councilmember Damon? Here. Councilmember Hudson?

Here.

Councilmember Oliver?

Here.

Councilmember Tercero? Here. Councilmember Vanderstoop? Here. Councilmember West?

Here.

Thanks, Carrie.

Item 2, councilor, is there any agenda requests for future city council meetings? Any requests?

All right.

We'll move on to item 3. It's the approval of tonight's meeting agenda. Council, I entertain a motion to approve tonight's agenda.

I'll make a motion.

I'll second. Bye, Melissa. Bye. Demi got it. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed say no. Motion passes. Item four is community comments. If there's anyone present in council chamber tonight who would like to address city council, please come on up to the podium, state your name, city of residence, and please limit your comments.

Good evening. I'm Dale Reagan. I've lived in Mount Vernon for 35, 40 years. Tonight, to start with, the Democratic Socialists of America, also known as DSA, would destroy the American way of life. The DSA wants to do away with the Defense Department, abolish the Senate, ICE, and national borders. DSA wants to remove the police and prison system. They are seeking to overthrow capitalism and overthrow America's free market system. The DSA yearns and promises like medical care for all and to get the wealthy to pay more. Some DSA members have suggested illegal migration should not be prevented. A 32-hour work week, free education, universal health care, and rent control. They also want to rewrite the U.S. Constitution. The DSA platform proposes drafting a new Constitution with significant change to the structure of the U.S. government, abolishing the Senate, replacing the President and the Supreme Court, both leaders picked by Congress, and allowing all permanent U.S. residents to vote. The platform of the DSA is Worker Deserve More. The DSA platform calls food, education, medicine, and transportation common goods and utilities to be run by government through public ownership of the largest corporation. The DSA would cancel all student debt, which would add about $2 trillion to the national debt. The Constitution is also on the chopping block, which makes the District of Columbia a state, expanding the size of the House. Also abolishing the Senate and the Electoral College. Also calls to replace the President and Supreme Court with an executive and judiciary chosen by subordinates to Congress. If the project doesn't work, it threatens to destroy America. Capitalism. When a youngster wants to have a lemonade stand on a hot day and borrows money from their parents to buy the ingredients, the money they borrow is called capitalism. After a day of selling lemonade, they pay their parents the money they borrowed The hope is they produce a profit. This is capitalism. Capital and profit is the blood of America. The people of America have to be very careful in how they vote in order to remain a viable country. Thank you.

Anyone else here tonight to address City Council?

Good evening. My name is Dr. Elizabeth Replier, and I just wanted to speak in support of Little Mountain. I have been hiking the trails of Little Mountain at least three days per week for the past 10 plus years. It was a saving grace for me during the pandemic when I, a now retired physician for Skagit Regional Health, was working long shifts at the acute respiratory clinic. It was the only clinic dedicated and willing to see patients with respiratory symptoms in Mount Vernon at the beginning of the pandemic. We identified and treated patients with COVID and were essential workers on the front line fighting the pandemic. Walking the trails of Little Mountain helped keep me rejuvenated, healthy, and driven to continue the long work days to help my community. I respectfully ask the city to do everything in its power to prevent this from occurring in terms of logging. Ideally, it could be purchased by Skagit Land Trust and donated to the city as one company, English Logging Company, and several private citizens did between 1924 and 1929. The citizens of Mount Vernon had the wisdom to set land aside for a park, and it is our duty to maintain this vision entrusted to us. I understand the DNR has already approved the application, but I remain hopeful that the city of Mount Vernon can help facilitate an alternative to logging. The public benefits of this forest are many. I'll just highlight a handful. Preservation of the natural character of Little Mountain, scenic views enjoyed by residents and visitors, wildlife habitat and biodiversity, carbon storage and climate resilience, protection of the recreational experience that draws people to the area, contribution to community health and quality of life through access to nature. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you.

Anyone else?

Last two. Yes, come on up.

Hi, my name is Robin Scott. I've lived in Mount Vernon now about five years and we just bought a house here last year and we've loved it. My husband and I, we met, we were middle school. We've been together since high school. And since we got married at 21, we were kind of dumb kids, but our big dream was to just be able to buy a house. And so when we closed last year, like one of the things that made me look at this house and I'm like, this is the one is when I look out my kitchen window, I see Little Mountain. And I love it so much. And we dream about being able to take our kid there and go hiking, just run around the park. And when I was in high school, the Oso landslide happened. And I didn't lose anyone, but I had friends that lived in the area that did. And I know people are going to argue that the little patch of trees that they're ripping out of the mountain is not a big deal, but that just ignores how soil erosion works. and how steep that mountain is. It doesn't have to be a lot of trees, but if it's a big enough section that it absolutely could lead to catastrophic issues. We live right next to an elementary school, tons of suburbs right below the mountain, right on the side where the logging would happen. And I just like, I look out that window now and I feel scared. And I love my city and I love our house. I don't want to feel scared. Thanks Robin.

Hi, I'm Rocio. I live in Mount Vernon my entire life, 49 years. Um, last week there was some comments made about, uh, the committee meetings being recorded and being uncomfortable with those cameras. Take that feeling. Know that I feel that every day. I don't get to get away. So when people make comments, like it's uncomfortable, I'm not going to be speaking. I don't speak very well. I haven't spoken at a meeting since I can't remember. But I mean, those are things. Those words, those comments are very powerful. And how they reflect on you and in our community says a lot. I'm shaking. I just saw ice drive by my house up in Conway. So when you guys feel that, amplify it to every day you go out that door. Because that's what I feel every day of my life. I don't get rid of that feeling. I don't get that pleasure of it. So I respectfully just ask you guys to just be careful with those comments because I don't get away with that feeling. I mean, I'm shaking now. I'm just talking. There's over 250 cameras throughout this county, this city. I don't get to walk anywhere without feeling like I have a big brother over me. And Navarra just lets you know, and it's not a reflection on anybody here or anything. I don't know how much of the history you have with the police department here. It's not anything to do with the police department now. But there was a time when Mount Vernon Police Department was caught racial profiling the Latinos and Mexicanos. The only reason why I didn't get racially profiled, I didn't have a tattoo. I was standing on the wrong corner. If I had stayed on the corner that all the other Mexicans were there, I would have been racial profiled. But because I had crossed the street to the other corner, that's why. So when you talk about cameras being recorded, it is very unfair and very uncomfortable for people like me to hear that from you, from people who will never have to face that fear. So that's all I have to say. Thank you for taking the time. take that feeling, live it every minute of the day. So that's all. Thank you. Thank you.

Anyone else? All right. We will move on in our agenda. Item five is the consent agenda. Tonight's consent agenda has meeting minutes, payroll, claims, routine agreements, and street closure requests. Would council like to move for adoption of our consent agenda? So moved.

Second.

Motion by Navor and a second by Melissa. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed say no. Consent agenda is approved. We will go to council member comments next. Any council member comments?

I think Navarro was first this time. I'll give it to you.

Do we have those? We do. So there's a couple of different events that I'd like to highlight and talk about. Here we have the Youth Arts Festival that three of us, Councilmember Hannah Oliver and Andrew Vanderstuip with myself. I had a great morning out with a lot of different kids that came by and did different projects. And as you can see, our project don't know where the police department is going to find an appropriate place for our mural but they assure us that there is some dark alley that that might be an appropriate art piece we had originally asked the kids we we drew a uh a river and asked them to draw the or paint the future of Mount Vernon and that is the results there. It does look like a strange trip. But it was a fun morning and I had fun with my fellow council members and I'll just point out my son was the one that gave us the alien because he wants to make a landing strip here in Mount Vernon in order for the aliens to feel welcome here in Mount Vernon. So that was his contribution there. There were a couple of other things that I wanted to quickly bring up. One, I want to brag about our police department and their work with National Night Out and what a great event that was bringing together the community. I know that there was a young man who won a bike uh there and so just seeing that picture of him that was um really really special um so thank you chief for everyone who was out there helping with the drones helping with the robot that we have with the police department and seeing the sheriff's department, seeing all of the different groups and nonprofits that were represented there. It was really a great showing of the community there. I would also like to just let you know what a special day it was for our ribbon cutting for Hillcrest Park. And that was just so neat. Those of us who were able to, from the council, to be there. And cut that ribbon. Thank you mayor for allowing us to be part of that. And seeing the kids so excited, all of that pent up excitement. They just wanted us to be done with. doing our part of it and they just rushed the playground equipment when after we had cut the ribbon and that was just so special it was special to see um a young man who was in a wheelchair and taking advantage of the playground equipment so that's really special thank you director burner for all of your hard work on that and um just just seeing how special that was so That's my baby.

My turn.

Yep. We are, Mary and I are hosting a Ward 3 meeting on August 24th. And Demi will also be there. She is always invited to our Ward meetings. Begins at 530. We will have a Spanish interpreter. And our Parks Director, Jennifer Berner, will be there right at 530 to talk about e-bikes and... Community involvement with that. So, hope you can come out.

One more time with the date?

August 24th. All right.

530. 530.

Fire Station 3. I forgot that part.

All right. Council Member Oliver.

Yeah, I just wanted to mention our Ward 2 community meeting coming up as well. It's Monday, August 17th. The first half of ours will also be about e-bike stuff, and then the second half will just be regular ward meeting. We will have pizza at ours, so come hungry. Again, August 17th at 6 p.m.

Yes, I guess I'll just round out the group. Our Ward 1 meeting will be September 14th, Monday, September 14th at CATS 2.0. And so we're going to be talking about the effect of closing one lane of the bridge, getting the temperature of what's happening over there on that side, on the west side. But we too will be talking about the e-bike regulations that we're going to be considering. You got pizza over there? I can neither confirm nor deny any. Hannah?

I did not mention where it is. It is at Hillcrest Park. 6 p.m., Hillcrest Park, August 17th.

Perfect. My goodness. Councilmember Damon, then Councilmember Bean.

Okay, thanks. I just wanted to give a quick couple shout-outs. I was busy this weekend, so on Friday, I was with the Downtown Association. They had their Summer Sips event, and it was a lot of fun. I got to be in the checkout booth, and it was just great to see downtown thriving. It was a really good event. All the store owners were pretty excited, so... Just wanted to say thank you to the Downtown Association. Also, thank you to Jennifer Berner, to the voters, because Saturday was amazing to be at that groundbreaking, or I should say ribbon-cutting event with the playground. It was just super fun to see all the kids, and everybody just got to be out there and play together from all different age groups and all different walks of life, so... It was great to be a part of that. And it did go to the fair, but that's county, so I'm not going to mention that. But it was fun. Thanks. Thank you.

Oh, I was just going to mention that anybody that knows me, they know that I'm slightly competitive. And I see that Ward 2 has raised the ante a little, so we're going to have to come up with something.

We have a budget, and I don't know where that falls in.

Well, I might even try to bake, and I don't bake. Okay, people come out to try her baked goods.

Any other Councilmember comments? Okay, we will move on to Mayor's Report. for mayor's report tonight i wanted to share a fun kind of national story with a local connection um the patriot games are a national youth athletic competition that i actually hadn't heard of before a week or two ago i'm sorry i'm kind of out of it um but it's competition with 120 high school student athletes competing in a series of challenges designed to test strength endurance agility teamwork and perseverance they also played kickball Aria Youngren is a senior at Mount Vernon High School, and she was chosen as the only girl to represent Washington State at the 2026 Patriot Games in Ohio this week. The games took place August 9th through 11th. Aria did very well. We got to watch her performances on the live ESPN app. And I'm told that a one-hour highlight of the games will air on ABC and ESPN tomorrow night, Thursday, August 13th. So congratulations to Aria Youngren. It was an absolute pleasure to meet her last week when she and her mom, Carrie, stopped by City Hall. We're proud to have a Mount Vernon High School student representing our state at the national level. That's fun. Also wanted to invite everyone to our August Mayor's Coffee event. We're going back over to the West Side's third time since the bridge work began. Next Thursday, we will be at Edgewater Park at 10 a.m. Bring a lawn chair if you'd like. We'll have a few chairs there set up as well for you. I hope to wrap up Mayor's Coffee in enough time to give everyone a chance to visit the West Side businesses afterwards. and enjoy lunch over there. 10 a.m. start next Thursday, August 20th at Edgewater Park. And then in case you missed the grand opening or all of the council member comments tonight, the opening of the city's first accessible and inclusive playground at Hillcrest Park. Here's a video clip of the ribbon cutting. Dozens of families and kids came to celebrate this epic playground facility that was made possible through the efforts of our parks department, our community advisory group, our 2025 city council members, 26 city council members, and maybe most importantly, our voters who passed the public safety parks and public safety levy last November. to start reinvesting in our parks and in our playgrounds and trails in the city. So thank you to everyone. I would say that this playground is an absolute hit with our target audiences, which includes now for the first time, every child in the city of Mount Vernon. That is your mayor's report for August 11th or 12th. I think it's the 12th today, 2026. We're going to new business. Item A is a resolution for development regulations. Workgroup and Development Services Director Steve Sexton will present this item. Hi, Steve.

Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, Council. Yeah, before you have Resolution No. 1107, and this is what established the developers' workgroup for our comprehensive plan amendment update. If you look at the roster, a lot of the names will seem familiar as a lot of these folks were on the CAC last year, and that was the intent is to get some continuity with that group. there's also some new names added to it so one of the I do have one correction this roster was put together before I finalized with Kevin Moss that he will be joining also so he too will be taking part in this in this discussion and we will have our first meeting next Tuesday the 18th so all right any questions on any of this questions for Steve

All right, Council, this is Resolution 1107, and we'll note with your motion, if you're all right with it, to add Mr. Moss to the roster.

I'll move for approval of Resolution 1107 with the addition.

Second. A motion by Mary and a second by Navarro. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed say no. Passes. Item B is an amended agreement with Facet Consulting. Steve Sexton will introduce it.

Yes, Mayor. This is contract amendment number one to our current contract, our comprehensive plan update contract with Facet Northwest. This is not an addition to the cost. It is an addition to the cost, but it's more than just a budgetary item. We're buying a greater scope of work to allow us to pass the development regulations, most of which are mandated by the state. So, um, you'll see this next week and we'll preview for the development services committee. We'll be bringing these to you and you'll be able to see how many are mandated by the state that we adopt this year. So, um, there is budget room for this. I discussed this with finance director. Uh, went over our budget, uh, for our professional services agreements, and we have plenty of budget capacity. So I just request that if there isn't any questions I can answer, I'd be glad to do that. Sorry. Questions for Steve.

Take it away.

Okay.

Any motions?

So moved.

Second. Motion by Andrew, second by Navor. Any discussion? All right. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, say no. Motion passes. Item C is an amended agreement with FACET for on-call planning support. Steve.

Thank you. And this is an increase of $70,000 to the original contract that we set with FACET for on-call planning support, as the mayor said. This was done, we originally... Set up this contract earlier this year to take up some of the capacity or give us some capacity to take up some of the workload that we've been accumulating at being down to senior planners for most of the year. This is with our vacancy savings. We have there is more than this in our budget for the rest of the year. I'm hoping really that as we're interviewing and making offers to planners right now, that this will kind of balance out. We won't use as much of the contract. We'll start using more of our salary that we've already got budgeted. It won't exceed the center $70,000 either way, so it's very important that we have this to continue their work on some of these projects been a real helpful. Piece of the of the equation for planning to have those folks on hand as needed and to take up a lot of capacity for us so. Questions.

With no questions on the commotion Council approve amendment number 12 agreement for 869.

Question by Melissa and a second by Nivolo. Discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, say no.

Thank you, Steve. Thank you, Council.

Item D is a resolution for final plan approval for the Mountain Gate development. And Principal Planner Rebecca Lowell will present this one to Council. Hello, Rebecca.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, Council. All right. So as the mayor stated, the item that I have before you this evening, I'm seeking approval of a resolution for a final plat for the plat of Mountain Gate. I always like to start our presentations with just getting you oriented to where the property is that we're looking at tonight. So the map on the left hand side of the screen is giving you The city limits and showing you where in the city this site is located which is at the southeast portion of the city and then the map to the right of it is showing you the approximate 13 acre site that's located on the north side of Blackburn Road and immediately south of the Maddox Creek PUD and even further north and east of the site you'll see the Eaglemont subdivision you can see some of the the green there is the what was historically one of the Gulf fairways in there but this is the site that we're looking at Here I've got a very simplified copy of the plat map for you to see. So there are a total of 66 lots that will be created and 17 tracks. And tracks are areas that Single-family homes or homes in general won't be located on, but they occupy things like landscaping areas, where the play structures are, where your stormwater facilities are located. In general, these are located to ensure that on the plat map, we can account for responsibilities. In other words, most of these tracks will be taken care of by the Homeowners Association. And so we take quite a bit of time in making sure that we're carefully delineating those areas and what the expectations are for maintenance of those areas. As I said earlier, that's an approximate 13-acre site. It's actually about 12.7 acres. Of the 66 lots, we will have 46 new detached single-family residential homes. We will have 10 duplexes. The duplexes are located on the southeast portion of the site. You can see the narrower lots that are located there. And there will be 20 units of 10 duplexes two units in each and Those duplex units will be able to be sold because their fee sample lots are being created there And this is where we will also have seven of those duplex units will be kept affordable at eighty percent of the area and median income or below and perpetuity. So this is one of the sites that I had briefly touched on a few weeks ago when I was here. And lastly I wanted to show you, I just thought this was a great aerial photo that the applicant took with the drone. I thought it really showed in great detail and it was, so this picture is taken looking across the site from the southeast And then I've just identified the North Arrow so you can kind of get oriented here And then I've also identified where the NGPA is located. You can see where the play structures are in the site where the stormwater facility is and if any of you have driven by this site, you'll notice the Quite two different retaining walls and fencing and landscaping that's all been installed on that site and really what the applicant is waiting for now is approval of this resolution and they will start building in earnest the single-family homes on this site so with that staff is recommending approval of the resolution before you and I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have thank you questions for Rebecca

First off, I want to say this is a fabulous plat. If anyone has not been up there yet, number one, it's absolutely gorgeous. Some of those houses will have some really nice views. It's a great mixed-use area, and I think that that's fantastic. I do have a concern that the curbs and gutter and the sidewalk end as you're traveling east on, excuse me, as you're traveling west on Blackburn, going over Little Mountain Road. And so that concerns me a little bit, but not that, I mean, we don't want to not have this go through or anything like that, but... Yeah, I just wanted to mention that.

Sure, and I can explain in just brief detail. So that is one of those things that's a concurrency requirement, traffic concurrency requirement, where frontage improvements start and end on this site. And the applicant wasn't required to go any further east because they did construct a portion of 30th Street. So what our code states is that an applicant has to connect to an arterial. So the arterial, so they did their frontage improvements, and then they constructed a portion of 30th Street. So they met those requirements.

Okay. I was going to ask, so when are we going to open up 30th Street?

The remainder of it, well, the portion that's there will be open very soon if it's not already.

I haven't been out there in a few weeks.

There's still a couple barriers up. Okay, yeah, and there are some barriers there because the road, and as you've noticed, doesn't extend all the way to Blackburn, but it does connect to the Maddox Creek Road area. But you can see, I don't think, but you can see where South 30th is up here in the northwest corner and where it does connect to Maddox Creek Road. And eventually someday 30th Street will go all the way down to Blackburn Road.

Yeah, actually, I also kind of touched on it. I was curious about it. But I did want to say that I was lucky enough to drive through where I could get through the whole thing onto 30th Street. So I must have hit the right day. There was nothing there so I could go through.

Did you get out and move the barrier? I did not.

I actually did not. Me? Hello? Again, here? No. So that was pretty cool. I enjoyed it. It's just nice to go drive around. I love doing that just in the city to see what's going on. It seems to me that there's a couple of residences there that elected not to have sidewalks put through. Am I visualizing this correctly?

You are actually in great questions. I didn't point this out with this plat map. You can see that there are two out parcels that I've just identified as not part of the plat. And so they were not the parcel to the far west area. did not want to have the curb better and sidewalk extend along their frontage mostly because as you can see the existing right-of-way along Blackburn Road there is quite wide and it would mean that those improvements would be It's been several years since I've looked at it, but it's less than 10 feet from the back of sidewalk to the front of their house, if memory serves me correctly. So it'd be pretty close. Actually, staff at first, we had recommended that those frontage improvements be taken all the way across, and that owner asked the hearing examiner not to require that. That's what the recommendation was.

If they decide in the future that they want to have that up, is there any requirement that we have to do it, or would that be at their expense?

So if they decided they want to come in and, let's say, subdivide that lot, because it's a good-sized lot and they could get quite a few new homes on there, they would be required... to come in and do that curb gutter and sidewalk in there. Okay, thank you. Unless, of course, council waived that requirement.

Right, yeah. No, I just wanted to make sure I was watching our numbers on that one. So I appreciate that. It's a great looking development. It's kind of fun to go up there and tootle around, see what's going on.

Rebecca so the house that I was talking about is actually the house that Mary's talking about okay and what I'm what I'm wondering is is looking into the future what does that mean if the city potentially ever extends Blackburn up to Eaglemont what happens with that small little area there so it'd really be up to the city and of course that would you know

Come to council. I'm assuming from recommendation from Public Works Department If the city wanted to move forward with the Blackburn Road improvements before the property owner wanted to do anything on that property It would be the the city's choice if you want to install that curb gutter and sidewalk there.

Mm-hmm

And, of course, that would be the city's expense as well.

I'm just concerned that it might someday hold. I'm still hoping Blackburn goes through someday. We're going to get a windfall. But I just was wondering if that would hold up that extension project. I suppose it could. Yeah, I think we've got public works staff there. Okay. That's the answer I wanted.

Well, that was my guess, but I thought not my lane, so. Thank you. Go ahead.

Council, it's Resolution 1108.

I'll move to approve Resolution 1108. Second.

Motion by Mary and a second by Melissa. Any more discussion on this one or questions? All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

All opposed, say no. Motion passes. Thank you, Rebecca. Thanks for your work on this. It is a public hearing for an amendment to the 2027-2032 Transportation Improvement Plan, and I believe Public Works Capital Projects Engineer Frank Reinhardt's

to introduce this item frank welcome good evening mayor city council so what i have for you this evening um is presentation followed by a public hearing associated with Amendment No. 1 to the recently adopted 2027-2032 Transportation Improvement Program, or TIP. TIP amendments, so your TIP is updated on an annual basis. That update happens in the spring, mostly to conform with subsequent requirements that we have to complete including our own budgetary process, as well as the regional and state transportation improvement plan updates later in the year. So that's usually what locks us to a full update every spring. However, state statute does allow us to amend our adopted TIP between updates when circumstances suggest that that is a good idea to pursue. Typically, those circumstances are emergent. I use the word emergence instead of emergency. My apologies. Emergent opportunities like funding opportunities that we didn't anticipate or similar things, as well as if we encounter a situation of significant correction to the adopted TIP where there is merit to correct the TIP before we wait for the next update the next year. The final 2027-2032 tip is on our webpage under the Transportation Improvement Program website. And this draft amendment was posted to the city webpage in conjunction with the city advertisement of this public hearing tonight in order for the public to review in advance of this evening. In accordance with our own local code and requirements, the public hearing was advertised in the Skagit Herald on two consecutive weeks, July 29th and August 5th of 2027. The two changes that we are making with Amendment No. 1 are to two projects. The first project is the Riverside Drive Improvements 1 project. This change proposes to incorporate an additional $216,000 in additional federal funds that were approved to the city for the design phase through the federal redistributed obligation authority process. This redistributed obligation authority process is something that we can access if our region meets its federal targets for obligating the federally funds that it's been allocated to. The redistribution references made there is the funds are generally taken from regional transportation areas nationwide who don't meet their targets and move that funding to regional transportation authorities that do. In the case, our regional transportation authority is the Skagit Council of Governments or SCOG. And we actually kind of blew our target out of the water fairly early on this year. So we were actually recognized by the state of Washington as a prime opportunity if we had the ability to use a redistributed obligation authority. And second one is, and the timing of this needs to be done soon because I have to do this tip update to support The obligation process, which I will be bringing to you at the next council meeting, which is the supplement to our local agency agreement with the Washington State Department of Transportation to contract for this federal funding. I have to get this entirely through the process and approved by the state by September 8th. So I only have one more city council meeting to work with. The second edition, and this was a project that was accidentally omitted from the regular 2027-2032 tip, and it was a project that city staff had committed to adding to that. So knowing that I was going to be updating the tip anyway, I took advantage of an opportunity to add a new project in. This is called the North 15th Street Complete Streets Project. This addresses a couple different deficiencies with a very key minor arterial in our city, focusing not just on some of the sidewalk corrections, but the addition of curb and gutter, the correction of the sidewalks to raised grade-separated sidewalks, the actual repaving of the full width of the street to replace the gravel margins that exist between the asphalt and the sidewalk today, the addition of pedestrian ramps for ADA accessibility in areas where they are missing. And the extent of this project on North 15th Street is proposed to go from First Street down to the intersection with Highland Avenue. We went that far because we also need to construct stormwater improvements associated with that because as soon as you seal up the street, you have to have another way to drain the street. And as you can see from the TIP update, This project got pretty expensive pretty quick. So that's where I stopped it. I do have a future project that you'll see on the tip next year associated with North 15th Street between Highland Avenue and Division Street, which kind of finishes that same corridor correction that I've just described to you. So without further ado, any council member questions before the public hearing? Questions for Frank?

Okay. All right.

With that, we will open up the public hearing for this amendment for the 2027 to 2032 Transportation Improvement Plan. Anyone present wishing to speak on this item tonight? Please come on up. Seeing none, I will close the public hearing. Frank, action on this item tonight? No action on this item this evening. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Thanks for the presentation.

Thanks, Frank.

Item F tonight is a resolution to adopt a hazard mitigation plan and our Mount Vernon Fire Chief Brian Harris is going to introduce this item. Chief Harris.

Good evening, Mayor, Council. Before you is Resolution 1109 authorizing the adoption of the Scheduled County Hazard Mitigation Plan. So what is the plan? The plan is in response to the exposures to hazards that we have in our county and in the city of Mount Vernon that poses a risk to life, property, environment, and the county's economy. The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 established requirements to pre- and post-disaster hazard mitigation programs requiring that local and tribal government applicants or subgrants must have an approved local mitigation plan in accordance with 44 CFR 201.6. Prior to receipt of hazard mitigation grant programs, subgrant funding... And the purpose of such local mitigation plan is to present the jurisdictions commitment to reduce risk from natural and manmade hazards. Um, hence we have the city Mount Vernon and annex in the overall county hazard mitigation plan. That plan was reviewed, um, and redrafted by staff, uh, myself, development services and public works, uh, personnel help put all of that together. And it was submitted to the county. Um, to go in the overall plan. Since that time, we made an amendment to that plan to include infrastructure of the generator to the library commons building. So that would be a project that is the top priority that is now identified in that plan. So this resolution will include that amendment. Once it's approved, we'll send the amended document to Skagit County Department of Emergency Management. We'll include that in the final product of the county's hazard mitigation plan. So staff recommends and is seeking your approval for adoption of the city's amended annex into the hazard mitigation plan.

Any questions for Chief Harris on the plan or Resolution 1109?

Well, we did talk about this last week. We asked lots of questions, so I'm comfortable with it. I'll go ahead and move for approval of Resolution 1109. Second.

Motion by Mary and a second by DeVore. Any discussion on this? All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed say no.

Thank you, Mayor, Council.

You bet. Thank you, Chief. Item G is a North Star-inspired agreement for the city's opioid settlement funds, and Special Projects Manager Adam Pearson will present. Adam.

Good evening, Council. So this item is a follow-up to your July 29th Committee of the Whole meeting where Skagit County representatives presented recommendations for the allocation of opioid settlement funds to Skagit Star Center to Rise Recovery and New Earth Recovery. As background, the City of Mount Vernon and Skagit County have entered into settlement agreements with entities responsible for the pharmaceutical supply chain of prescription opioids to hold these entities responsible for the damages that they have caused in our community. These settlement funds are intended to abate and alleviate the impacts of harm caused by the opioid epidemic. To address these harms, the City of Mount Vernon and Skagit County along with Anacortes, Burlington, and Cedar Woolley, entered into a separate interlocal agreement to create and be part of a multi-jurisdictional work group, the North Star Initiative. One goal of this collaboration has been to better understand opportunities and needs caused by the opioid epidemic. Through the North Star Initiative, the parties identified withdrawal management, substance use disorder, treatment, co-occurring treatment services, crisis stabilization and recovery housing as regional priorities. Through joint advocacy efforts from the city and county governments, Skagit County was able to secure capital funding for a new 48-bed behavioral health facility called Skagit Star Center that will provide substance use disorder treatment, including withdrawal management case, crisis stabilization, and inpatient co-occurring treatment services. Skagit County and the City of Mount Vernon also received and reviewed provider proposals to increase the availability of recovery housing in Skagit County. Based on these findings, the recommendation of the proposed proposal review panel and council discussion on July 29th. This agreement would allocate $30,000 of Mount Vernon's settlement funding to support startup and initial operation operation costs of the new Skagit Star Center and $320,000 to support the expansion of recovery housing in Skagit County. So at this time, staff recommends that the council authorize the mayor to enter into an agreement with Skagit County to administer the opioid settlement funds. Any questions?

Thanks, Adam. Council had a great presentation on this July 29th as well in committee. Great way to stretch those resources. Can do so much more when we work together versus trying to go it alone. Any questions for Adam on this? All right. We entertain a motion. So moved.

Second.

Motion by Navor and second by, I don't know, Demi and Mary. More discussion? All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed say no. Motion passes. Thank you, Adam. Item H, it's an ordinance to declare an emergency and adopt a moratorium on data centers and city limits. City Attorney Kevin Rogerson will present this item to counsel.

Thank You mayor members of City Council before you as an emergency orders ordinance that the city clerk is identified as number three nine four three if passed this would adopt a moratorium on the establishment of accepting applications for permits to construct site or develop data centers within the city City Council during a standing committee has requested that the city attorney draft this ordinance using your emergency powers identified in the Growth Management Act and title 35 a That allows you to adopt such development regulation. Moratoria will require a majority of the whole plus 1. And you will be required to have a public. Hearing within 60 days upon adoption, the ordinance would be effective 6 months. You can renew it with a further public hearing. You will see that at the beginning of the ordinance and the recitals that sets forth the factual predicates for the basis of declaring the emergency, including the issues that the current zoning and business licensing regulations don't address specifically data centers. And they could be impactful to both water demand usage and noise. Water treatment, sewer capacity that you have reserved for residential development. And, uh. There is also a particular concern because the city lies in under your floodplain and the issues of the catastrophic risk presented by flooding and data centers. All these things demanding study before you allow such uses to be cited. Again, majority of the whole the definition of data center is substantially similar to what this get Skagit County on the Connor have Adopted in their moratorium previously Great.

Thanks Kevin Council questions comments. It's ordinance 3943. Yes councilmember Vanders to

I think everybody here knows I'm going to be a no on this. If anybody in the public ever wants to know why, you're more than welcome to contact me about it. I worked in this space for a long time, so I have maybe a little bit of insight into why I'm going to be a no, but no hard feelings. Everybody's going to be voting yes. Thanks. Any other comments or questions?

I just want to say, Andrew, I have no hard feelings. this is just from my perspective it's like Kevin said we're just kind of pumping the brakes a little bit making sure we get this issue right and that we hear from the community and understand all of the pros and cons we have no current inquiries into permitting that's my knowledge nobody has submitted an application that's correct

Okay.

What's the resolution again?

Ordinance 3943.

I'll move to approve ordinance 3943.

Second. Motion by Mary and a second by Randy. Any more discussion on this? All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed say no. No. Motion passes. Thank you, Kevin. Item 8, I will ask our city attorney to please call the mayor and city council members into executive session.

Yes, I invite the mayor and members of city council to enter into an executive session to discuss with legal counsel matters relating to enforcement actions, litigation, or the potential litigation to which the city of the governing body or any member acting in an official capacity is likely to become a party. And when public knowledge regarding such discussions are likely to result in either adverse legal or financial consequence to the city pursuant to 42 31 10 subsection 1, I, we would enter in it for 40 minutes, reconvene at 835 with no final action and let's continue with formal public announcement.

That is the end of our agenda this evening and the end of our Mount Vernon City Council meeting for Wednesday, August 12, 2026. We stand adjourned at 7.54 p.m.