City Council - Regular Meeting

It is April 20th, 2026. This is the Newberg City Council meeting. Welcome. It's good to see a lot of people here. Uh bet I know what you're interested in talking about. We'll get there. I call this meeting to order. Could we have a roll call, please? Certainly. Councelor McBride, here. Councelor Wheatley, here. Councelor Jarnell Hollowman here. Councelor Kilberg here. Mayor Rossacker here, councelor Terguson here, and councelor Carman here. Thank you. Would everybody please rise and join me in 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. Thank you very much for being here tonight. The first item on our agenda is the city manager narrative report. Will welcome.

Thank you, honorable mayor and honorable counselors. This is the list of events that took place for March of 2026. And let's see if the clicker is working this evening. Yes. Uh first of all, I want to let you all know about the reorganization effort that's going on in public works right now. Instead of having one group of staff that move from task to task, often having to change or retool between tasks, we now have teams that are dedicated one team to each utility. And on the next slide, I'm going to cover the structure of this reorganization and its advantages. And so this is an overview from the top. What we have is because we've broken out into separate teams, we will now have folks that are focused on water, storm water, wastewater, and streets. And so that's the three main chunks of public works, guys. Instead of them having to move from one task to another, they'll be in dedicated teams. We're also adding some new staff project administrators who report directly to the public works director so as to provide some additional expertise in fleet and in bulk chemicals. There's a little bit less change over in the operations side of the house, but we have also added a new supervisor to spread load the number of FTEEs for each supervisor so as to have a good span of control. And moving on, other public works events. Portable water produced 45.5 million gallons and waste water treated 142.69

million gallons of waste. And as you know, we have later on the agenda perhaps the most important thing to come before us in the last few years, the oxidation ditch upgrade. That is a very huge dollar amount and something that we've been considering for a long time. Now, in our first week of having our new public works director, Ahmed immediately on Friday had to experience a water mane break. And the irony here was one of his interview questions was, "No joke, what would you do if it was a Friday and unexpectedly there was a water mane break and he said, "I would jump right in, go on site, help the guys, get it going." And that is exactly what he did. And you can see here the water blowing out through the hole. So good for him. He was a man of his word. Here's some more pictures of that event. And there's the erosion on the blast, the brass fitment that caused the blowout. So, they got that under control in about 4 hours, I believe it was. Public works here pictured with the sidewalk crew leaning in and finishing the last part of this year's ADA sections so that grind and inlay can continue. And those of you who have attended council frequently, you will know that we've been focusing on southern districts for the last two years for grind and inlay sidewalk and ADA repairs. And we're going to continue to focus on district one and three projects to try to bring that whole area up to snuff as we have been doing. This year we did about 60 ADA ramps. Last year about 40. We fixed sidewalk sections and we did about five linear

miles this year. Next year we actually have to do 90 ADA ramps and about a similar number of linear miles of grind and inlay. Very expensive, but we're going to keep it going. Ground water treatment plant filter covers. As you know, the state forced us to put covers over the groundwater basins, which was not a tremendously good use of taxpayers money, but it was a state mandate, which we had to obey, and so the project has moved along rapidly. The fabric covered steel buildings that will enclose the two contact basins were installed in late March. New gantries and entrances were welded on and the company that won the bid, Cedar Mill Construction, has done a very excellent job on that project. Over to library events. We finished up read uh raising strong readers, a three-part series in collaboration with the Newberg School District. Library childcare deliveries are going strong. We deliver books monthly to 16 different locations. Continuing monthly bilingual storytime visits to Edwards Elementary prek. And for our more senior citizens, Memory Cafe continues to an important meeting place for folks that are experiencing memory loss and their caregivers. The library is busy with the usual programs, plus a few extra things for spring break as it was then. And the library bathrooms, I believe they're now fully open. Is Is that right, Corey? Yes, the new library bathrooms are now completely open. And it was a great success and on time and under budget. And here is the bag that kept the smells from permeating out while the sewer line was open in the library so it wasn't too wiffy. March narrative for the city recorder.

We began updates to the website to meet new federal ADA regulations. Coordinated for the America 250 Newberg edition, the working title for our Fourth of July celebration and fireworks show. More information coming out very soon. Conducted tours during the first Friday art walk. Hosted one-day conference for city recorders from all over the area. and developed more comprehensive onboarding and training for boards, committees, and commissions and supported many public meetings and continued the ongoing records cleanup efforts. And we're actually down to only about I don't know 15 bankers boxes. uh 3 years ago we had about 300 bankers boxes to be scanned and therefore the city has almost completely got rid of all of its paper and digitized all of those records including adding metadata. So that's a huge lift and we're really really close to being done. IT events, service calls were 282 resolved and the reforms including shifting more services to the cloud have been resulting in less and less help tickets needing to be resolved and in fact more self-service work done connected to those tickets. We've migrated all employees to a new virtual desktop system. The previous system was budgeted to replace five servers. We no longer need these five servers because of the cloud-based service. Cost savings $155,000 from not buying those replacement servers. And for those who don't attend council often, you may be pleased to hear that Newberg is one of the few cities in the entire state with a stable budget in the 4-year horizon. a city that is not taking the 3%

property tax increase and a city that is removing a line item from your billing statement in June, said no other city in Oregon. Here are the servers that are being decommissioned as a result of moving to these cloud hosted services. HR attended an annual CIS conference in Salem where we learned about the extremely high rate increases that are coming for health care plans not just for our employees but across the board. These rate increases compelled HR to hold several meetings to discuss potential plan changes to offset the cost. I have to reveal to you that unfortunately our plans will be a little less positive than they were before. We're still doing the full family healthcare pickup, but it's not going to cover quite as much. We couldn't afford a 20% hike, which is what they were talking about initially. And who could? recruitment began to allow Allison, our beloved HR director, to move to retirement. This worries me very greatly as she is simply the best at what she does because she makes sure that everybody gets every dollar of their benefits that's eligible to them, but at the same time with great firmness and discipline holds everybody to the standards that are in the staff manual. There's not many people like her and I know she watches all of these at home. So Allison, we love you. Community engagement. We had very high engagement posts about free compost promotion and public works team shoutout. We designed and pushed community engagement surveys in English

and Spanish. We promoted public meetings including a River Street town hall and a rate review hearing. Attended chamber greeters meetings. hosted an open house for March uh first Friday art walk and there are some images on the next slides of those. And here is the social media item about the citywide survey. And here is the one about compost. Always popular and things happening in planning. Uh pre-application meetings were heard with CPRD for the new clubhouse at the golf course. The housing innovation village experience or hive project submitted for land use approval. This will showcase novel construction methods which if it works are designed to showcase ways of building houses more affordably. TVFNR's temporary station construction is now underway just a block from here. And the final plans for the NOMI housing at Springbrook are under review in March. This will bring more housing to our town and unfortunately it will also increase our sewage flow and that's obviously an ongoing issue. Finance did the following things. They met with members of the one digital to discuss alternative options for health care for employees. That was that solution that we had to figure out. attended the River Street design Q&A meetings. Attended finance networking lunchon with Robert Half to learn about market trends. Attended the OGFA conference in Sun River to learn more about trends in finance. Court worked with Tyler Tutor on court improvements for making the docket move more quickly and smoothly. Met with Piper Sandler for

information about the city's investment policy. And for those who don't attend council often, you may be interested to learn that the city also has a plan of trying to retire its debt early and one of our second pieces of debt to be retired early is being retired in June. And then we plan to move on to our next piece of debt and so on so forth. We began work on the supplementary budget which will come before council in June. And police accomplishments. We are very grateful and humbled to learn that the city of Newberg and Dundee have been ranked as Oregon's fifth safest city. And when you think about the fact that Oregon is made up of very small communities as well as larger ones to be the fifth safest based upon FBI independent statistics is truly a remarkable accomplishment that the gentlemen have once again achieved. Gentlemen, I should say and ladies, we now have two female police officers. I apologize. Congratulations to the fifth graders at Edwards Elementary and completing the DARE program. Blackbeard Diner catered the event and Sunres's winning essay was presented not only during graduation but also to the Newberg City Council. And congratulations to Officer Maxfield who finished the field training and is now a solo officer. And that is the run of events for March. And as you can see, as always, taxpayers dollars have been hard at work here in the city of Newberg. Any questions? Honorable counselors,

can you remind me where the Nomi that plan is? Where is that located on Spring Brook? I don't think I could be more specific than to say up and to the right by the Allison that piece in that in that general vicinity. Yes. Okay. That's what I was thinking. Okay. Thanks. Yes.

Yes. Thank you, Will. The next item on our agenda would normally be public comments. and you all think that that's what you're here for and you are, but we uh your comments apply to the last item on the agit on our agenda which is the River Street ad hoc committee. So you will have a chance to make comments after you've heard the presentation on the River Street ad hoc committee so that you are informed and uh can ask appropriate questions. So the next item on our agenda is a uh the city hall roof replacement. Danny, welcome.

Greetings everybody. I'm uh Danny of Danette Hilton City Newberg Engineering Department. Uh this is actually our second presentation on the roof replacement. And so today I'm hoping that we can make a uh RCA on um from the council for a fresh recap since we do have a lot of new faces tonight since the last agenda. Our city hall has a longstanding history dating back to 1914. However, our latest issue has been with the city hall flood that happened as recently as 2024. This flood was caused from freezing pipes. The cause of the freezing pipes was of course the weather. However, a conservative 4,000 gallons of pressurized water went from the roof all the way to the basement of city hall. We have since made repairs. We have since got FEMA funding. However, the findings were no lack of insulation at the roof as well as the open biometric shafts on the roof, which we have three that I've circled in the picture here. And then the the third item is of course our windows, which we will address in the coming months. So, right now, we really want to concentrate on the roof with replacing and get those open baramedic shafts closed off. We did receive our three bids and I'm not going to go through a lot of that from here because a lot of that the folks that um of the council have already seen this. So at this point I would rather open for questions, comments, concerns.

I had the u pleasure of joining Danny on the roof to view what the existing conditions are. she went through the whole process what she's doing and um very confident that uh we're going to get a good product done. The best news about this is that uh we're expecting a FEMA grant to pay for it. So if anybody would like to make a motion or if there's no more comments. I move that we adopt resolution 2026415. Second.

All right. It has been moved and seconded that we adopt or uh resolution 2026415. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all fa All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. All oppose. Nay. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, Danny.

Thank you, honorable members of the council. And next is our weight water wastewater treatment plant expansion uh presentation. Good evening, honorable mayor and counselors. The item that lies before you this evening is a motion to proceed with a request for proposals to find a qualified firm capable of doing the design work and also capable of finding a construction company able to integrate with that design work. in order to enlarge our current oxidation ditch. A needed extension of the wastewater plant has been in the city's capital improvement list for many years. It was however thought that the improvement would need to occur in about seven or eight years into the future and we had assumed that we might have enough capacity to get there. However, due to the continuing growth of the city and due to a letter that we received from DEEQ querying our capacity on May the 2nd, 2024, we decided that we had to do a bit of investigation work. Having done this work, which included a capacity study, included an analysis of our solids handling processes, numerous visits to the site, we have

determined that the city does indeed need to expand its capacity and expand it in such a way as to take us through to the 2040s with solids. As with all complex engineering tasks, final costs cannot be fixed or fully known before procurement, design, and specification work is complete. Since we currently have sufficient cash on hand, and let me say how remarkable that is that we've been able to put aside over five years the cash in hand to be ready for this. We recommend that we initiate this request for proposal. But before we get to that, I'd like to just allow the experts in the room to go over in a bit more detail what the lay of the land may be. And let's see if this is working. Here we go. It's the bottom one. And let's all introduce ourselves for the sake of the record. My name is Eric Rowdy. I'm a senior process engineer for Keller Associates.

Um, Peter Olsen and I'm a project manager and and uh area manager for Keller Associates.

And the man that gets the work done, John Hodkins, operations manager. There we go. Okay. Um, so as Will mentioned, uh, we, uh, the city received a letter in 2024 that, um, from DEQ saying that, um, in in their approval of a pump station that future rejections of plans, uh, may be possible because the city is uh, exceeding what the, treatment plant is currently designed for. So, um just a little bit of history, uh the last u master plan that the city uh completed was in 2018. Um among those improvements, uh were several um storm water infiltration and inflow improvements uh which the city has has undertaken and and completed. Uh there was also other improvements at the treatment plant um to get the oxidation ditches uh repaired and um in working order. Um so with that kind of background um we're just going to step through uh I'll step through uh the capacity study but um before that just uh turn the next slide over to

yeah this next slide we just wanted to point out that there are communities that are being pushed or uh forced and and made to have moratoriums and those moratoriums are not uh long-standing um they are a short time period It's a DLCD, so the Department of Land Conservation Department uh with the state, uh it's a process you have to go through with them. Uh it's a little bit lengthy and like I said, it's a short-term uh uh stop on issuing permits and allows the city to then uh or requires the city to then put a um correction program together uh that will then provide that capacity. So, it's it's not a it's not going to happen. and it's a it's a stomp and let's collect and and uh make it happen. So um as we started on the capacity study uh the first thing we did was we looked at you know 2018 that was uh quite a number of years ago. So we've we looked at what were the assumptions made in that capacity or in the master plan and how would they um you know is the city continuing to receive a lot of flow a lot of contaminant loading and then uh did um a further evaluation based on current conditions. Um also along with that uh um the existing secondary clarifiers are um limited in their design capacity and another way that we could uh rate them for a higher capacity would be to stress test them. Um and we were uh kind of limited when we started this. You know, we're going right into the summer months when flows decrease. Um so the stress test actually took place last fall. Um and then in the

meantime we had a a little bit of uh availability to do some further work. Um and what we did was uh we looked at different solids handling uh improvements um and uh kind of get a jump start for uh any um future improvements. So I'll go through each of these. So first um at the treatment plant um just a general overview the the majority of the plant uh was struck constructed in 1987. Um as you see it today most of the processes are the same. Um so it's it's kind of hard to see here but uh waste water comes into the plant. It um gets pumped to the headworks. Um there's uh the headworks was upgraded in 2015 and it's uh in good condition. Uh from there it goes to the oxidation ditches uh where it receives uh biological treatment. It's a activated sludge process meaning uh the solids or the microorganisms that are being used there for treatment go to the clarifiers and are then returned to the oxidation ditches and and kept in the system to provide that treatment. So following the oxidation ditches is four secondary clarifiers. Um again where the the u mixed liquor or the solids are removed and then from there to disinfection um where uh chlorine is added and then before uh the water goes to the river it's decllorinated. So all that uh residual chlorine is removed and then it's discharged into the Wamtt River. Uh in 2008 a reuse treatment system was added with membrane filtration and that water u meets class A requirements and

is uh used at the golf course during the summer on the solid side. So that activated sludge process um you need to keep it fresh and and growing. So you have to waste some of those solids and so those are um what becomes your compost uh system. So they first go to the sludge storage um tank and from there they get dewatered and then they get mixed with sawdust um and that becomes uh your compost. So that meets class A requirements uh for your bioolids. So that's a a general overview um of you know most of the plant uh as as I mentioned uh has been refurbished except for the headworks where it was upgraded um but there's uh definitely a lot of age that's occurred at the plant. So with a capacity study, what we did was we took um the current flows, current loads and current planned operations and plugged them into a model and we saw what is um the the treatment uh look like into the future based on your your projected flows, projected uh contaminants and and we used uh a couple different models uh to figure out the capacity. So what you see here is um your your oxidation ditch. It's it's a really complex uh system. So there's different uh pieces and parts uh where where the microorganisms are going doing different reactions. So um we we use the plant data um to calibrate this. And uh so coming out of of uh the capacity study uh we observe that the

oxidation ditches are uh right at capacity based on your current flows. In fact um 2023 and 2024 you're right at uh what that peak week uh capacity would be. Um so for projecting into the future um it looks like a third oxidation ditch would be required to meet those uh future flows. So the next piece is uh the clarifiers based on uh the current capacity of the clarifiers which is based on the record drawings uh that DEQ has um you would need um two additional clarifiers uh for your future future flows. And so that's really where we wanted to do a stress test and see if that's um was the case. So this was us pushing back against the state agency by if we could pass a stress test, we might not have to do two secondary clarifiers. We might be able to dial it back to one even for our future needs.

Correct.

Um the other uh another pinch point at the plant was chlorine disinfection. uh the needed volume uh for um retention time in the basins is you know 20 minutes for your peak day that's what PDA PDF stands for and then uh PIF stands for peak instantaneous flow so those are all um different flow uh design flows for the treatment plant so 15 minutes is is required for your peak instantaneous ous. So while you weren't at um those flows yet, uh it's expected that uh it would be um at those limits in the next 5 years. And then the the solids handling system is again related to your oxidation ditches. And so based on the model results, um the existing composting system is really in your maximum months really getting at capacity and an additional um approximately 4700 lb is needed for future uh capacity. And in addition to that, uh there's also quite a bit of u uh leakage and cracking that's occurring uh with the the composting which occurs right now in tunnels. These are vessel uh tunnels where the compost is loaded in there and pushed hydraulically uh through the tunnel um in in a certain number of um days. So uh in addition on to capacity there there's also some condition uh issues.

Okay. As as was mentioned uh uh the the city was able to do the uh stress test uh in November. So, what the the stress test, this is a hard graph to see, but we were basically able to send over 8 million gallons um constantly through a clarifier uh which equates to 33 MGD if if all four clarifiers were receiving the same amount of flow. um to to do this test, we also the city um replaced one of the RAZ pumps which returns again the solids from the clarifier back to the oxidation ditch and that uh allows that clarifier to have a higher solids handling capacity. So, um, the other three clarifiers, they still have the smaller RAZ pumps, and so they're not able to pump quite as fast. Um, and that equates to that gray line there at the top, which shows the the depth of solids in your clarifiers, how it wasn't it didn't fluctuate much, which meant the RAZ pump was able to keep up with the solids coming in. So, that was that was a good result. And probably the most important result coming out of that is is the um bright orange line or yellow um which is your effluent solids concentration. And it shows that it was at most uh 10 milligs per liter and and for the most case around 5 milligs per liter whereas your limit at this time is 30 milligs per liter. So um quite a bit lower than the the permit limit.

So based on uh clarifier stress test um we sent the results into uh DEEQ and they agreed with um with the uh rerating of the clarifiers for u a much higher flow. Um the the caveats being uh the existing RAZ pumps would need to be replaced on the the other clarifiers. And then the the other um portion of of the stress test was um the solids was uh were settling very quickly. Um the chart on the left shows how the solids typically settle during the high flow events u which is an SVI as low as 100 but during the the stress test the the solids coming out of the oxidation ditch were even better. So a really good settling was occurring in the clarifiers and because of that uh we looked at what what is kind of the risk perspective uh for the treatment plant and agreed that one additional clarifier would um satisfy that risk um for the treatment plant. Okay, as I mentioned uh also in the interim last year, we looked at different solids handling uh alternatives versus uh repairing the existing tunnel composting system. So uh when that tunnel composting system was installed many years ago, uh an option at that time was to go to a a drum dryer with a pelletizer and get um a more uniform bioolid product. It was a again

a class A type product but without the composting uh part of it. So in this evaluation, we looked at that to see if perhaps it might be a value engineering option um versus uh the tunnel composting. Two other options that were looked at is a paddle dryer um similar to what other cities in the area have uh where it's it's again it's not a compost product, it's a dried product. So um much smaller. And then we also looked at airrated static piles which is the upper right and and the city staff actually uh when the tunnels are not working uh they also do airrated static pile composting and achieve similar results. And um so we evaluated capital cost, life cycle. Uh we talked to different uh operators at different facilities, looked at maintenance, reliability and track record. And um based on the evaluation uh the recommendation is to move away from uh vessel composting towards airrated static pile composting. And uh based on uh those changes uh the total capital uh was able to decrease taking one clarifier uh out of the improvements as well as uh reducing the composting cost through going to the airrated static pile.

Go ahead. You go ahead. Uh this this slide is just showing the summary of the the needed improvements the what that uh total cost looks like. Uh and the the thing to note here is that SEC the system development charge uh percent eligibility of each project. Uh it tells us you know how much that project is um uh slated for or addressing growth. Uh, and that makes it eligible to use that percent of the total project cost to um pay for that with SEC funds. Um, and the the city is very fortunate to have those funds uh ready to go. Um, and I would note that Deb Mclardi, who's a a financial consultant uh for the city as well, is the one that uh relooked at those and and uh established those uh SEC percent eligibility numbers. Um and uh you can see the city's estimated portion uh in the last column is is uh fairly low compared to the overall cost and then here's the anticipated schedule uh for the overall project and that is assuming that is a uh CMGC delivery an alter alternative delivery process um where you select the engineer and then you select the CMGC contractor as well. uh you can see it it's anticipating to start uh with that selection process uh in the third quarter of this year and then finishing uh uh by the end of 2030 with the uh warranty period. So construction would be completed by the end of 2029 that's it. Although you never know, we might do better on the construction timeline than that. But um that gives you an idea of an overview. So we're we are in summary proposing the construction of several

massive things. An oxidation ditch which is over 400 ft long and 150 wide. A second secondary clarifier in addition to the four that we have. extra contact basin capacity and extra bays for more static pile handling and also with some roofing there and some fans and other things to make that work effectively. So at this juncture, given that this is a very large project, perhap per perhaps the largest I'll ever bring to council in my time as city manager, I would love to invite any questions that you might have on any of these aspects. And we'll we each of us will answer from our own perspective, either from the hands-on perspective of somebody who works at the plant every day or from the fiscal perspective or from the technical perspective. Uh just for my own clarification, could we look at slide 50 again? It's not too far back.

Yeah, this was just my lack of understanding. I'm sure the first the first bar is the one you're recommending, correct? But it looks like the capital cost is considerably more than the second bar, but the other pieces are fairly similar. So why is that better? So those that's an overall ranking. So Oh, ranking not cost. Not cost. So the higher So the longer that section of the bar, the higher the rating. Yes. Okay. The better it is.

Okay. Thank you. That makes sense to me. Um, second question in the more detailed materials and even you alluded to it today I think I mean yeah this evening that there the composting system is getting tired and there are some leaks and things but it's still working. Is there any advantage to waiting until it's not working you know on its final breath opposed to spending the money now? I think the you gonna pass that mic over to John. Okay. Yeah. So, I spoke about failure.

We're starting to struggle right now with where the composters at. Um, starting in the fall, we'll accumulate solids and not be able to move them out fast enough. Um, by the spring we start to catch up and summer we're good again. Then we just repeat every year. Um, it's getting farther and farther into the summer before we can catch up. So, it's trending worse. And then another aspect to that of course is that with the cracks in the chamber um a rebuild of that might be a very expensive proposition which would be in effect throwing new money after old. So that's probably not wise either. So it' make more sense to go to the airrated static pile. Okay. Cheaper method.

Okay. And one more question has to do with the chlorination the disinfecting with chlorine. That sounds like it's 5 years out before you anticipate it being inadequate to handle it. Would there be an advantage to waiting 5 years before that money is spent? The advantage to doing the whole thing now is there are economies of scale with mobilizing one construction team to do it at once and also the fact that we have the good fund balances both in wastewater because we've been very frugal and also in SDC's. So if we were to wait to do bits and pieces, the inflation price index might have moved the price of that element higher than we can anticipate. It's just a good economy to do it all at once.

Thank you very much. So, can you talk us through the balances on the SDC accounts, the appropriate accounts for this, and also on our rate uh uh account balances, how does that compare to what we're going to be spending on this item? So, the amount of money that's actually in wastewater right now, last time I checked, and this is I think uh two months ago's trial balance, was actually at about $21.9 million in the wastewater fund as a residual balance in system development charge funds. Right at this moment, we were at about 15. My goodness, that's good for memory. We were we're at about $15 million in SDC's. So we are also seeing an accumulation of more SDC's in this category right now because of construction that's happening right now. I don't anticipate that we're going to have SDC's in the realm of 27 when it comes time for construction. I think that you're actually going to see probably from SDC's something like 16 or 17 million and the remaining balance would come from the wastewater fund. In my projection, which Katie has vetted, at no point does the wastewater fund drop below $10 million. So in other words, we have more SDC capacity than we have SDC's, but we also have plenty of money in reserve in wastewater. So whichever way you look at it, we have the financial resources to do this without debt and also with a residual fund balance of probably about $10 million.

But it gets better than that because as part of this process, we actually plan to do an internal loan from the water fund to the wastewater fund to the tune of probably about $6 million, which we do not actually need to complete the project. So why, may I ask, why would you do this if you do not need this money right now? The purpose of this is to be able to transfer that money back to the water fund with interest as legally vetted by my colleague. And that will enable us to leave more money in the water fund when this is all said and done, ready for the next big project, which as you know will be a water plant. So that's just for some bells and whistles on top. telling me.

So, if there's no more questions, there's a recommended motion at the uh on the RF request for uh action RFA. Sorry, we can't take audience questions during the meetings. Thank you.

If see if I can get this right. I move to authorize initiating the RFP process for work to increase the capacity of the wastewater treatment plant as described tonight. It has been moved and seconded to authorize staff to initiate a request for proposal process that will lead to a capacity increase for the weightwater treatment plant. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. All oppose. Nay.

The motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you. Katie, we're up. We're talking about investment policy today. Good evening. I should be short and sweet unless you guys have lots of questions. Um, I bring before you the uh updated investment policy. So, our last one was very old. It was from 2005. So, we were way overdue for an updated policy on this. Um, there was just some legislative changes that we made on this just for best practices and just to get us into compliance with um basically what we were doing and what we should be doing with our um investments that we have with the city. So, I consulted with Piper Sandler, who helps us with our Treasury bonds, just to get some best practices from them and opinions on what we should be adding to the policy to get it up to speed. Um, some areas that we added um just in particular were around um interest rate risk and credit risk and diversification. Um basically, this is just we want to be structuring our investments, which is our treasury stock. um just so that it doesn't impact cash flow, which we've obviously been very cognizant about. We're not going to invest all of the general fund and not have any operating funds to use that because that would be silly, right? But it's worth putting in a policy. Um the other area that we made some significant changes to was maturities which again has to do with you know we weren't doing any of it but we wanted to

put in the policy just some restrictions around um how much we can invest and what what's a good operating amount that we need to have on hand just so that for future reference and stuff that we're not overextending what we put in an investment portfolio just to make sure that we have significant money on hand that's available for cash flow if we needed it, which we've obviously been doing anyway, but it's good to outline in a policy. And um one other area that we did add was we can invest in excess of 3 years if it's for a specific capital project. So like the water treatment plant, we could set aside funds for that and have it um leave it in an investment for more than three years if we thought that was advantageous with an interest rate that we were able to lock in. Um but yeah, and those were most of the um changes that we made to the policy. There weren't a whole lot of significant things, but it was just good to put down some best practices in a new policy.

Thank you. Is there does anybody have questions? Please. I totally trust you, but I was just curious. Um, one of the last pieces that you took out was the external review by the Oregon Short-Term Fund board um, in favor of just what looks like an internal review process. And so I was just curious, is that no longer is there no longer an external group that does that or is that not a best practice anymore?

Um, from talking to Piper Sandler, they said that we could leave that in there. They said it's not really a best practice because it takes many, many months to get on their list of people. and they said it doesn't generally provide anything extra and they said it's if you have somebody like an investment firm outside who's looking at it and then you have it looked at by your city council. They said that that's generally best practice and that we didn't need to go to this other external board. But we can certainly add that back in if you would like us to. Yeah,

just for the sake of folks at home who may not attend these meetings regularly, I'd just like to let you know that in the city of Newberg, every payment or every fund transfer has multiple signers in the authority chain. So, for example, I am not permitted inside of the software whatsoever except to approve transactions. I cannot set up a company or I cannot do an investment. Only the finance director can do that. But the finance director conversely cannot approve any of the individual transaction items. So there's a there's a approval chain which is rigidly locked down. It would take three or four people working together to do something immoral and that's not going to happen in our city.

Good clarification. Any other questions?

This is the point where somebody should make a motion. I move that we adopt I move that we adopt resolution 2026419. Second. It has been moved and seconded to adopt uh resolution 2026419. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. I. All oppose. Nay. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you.

Now we have recreational immunity.

Thank Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, the council. I'll um be brief tonight on the recreational immunity piece and in your packets is resolution number 2026-424 and the intent of that resolution is to um if council so chooses to approve it is to unlock a um statutory protection related to um uh certain immunity immunities that can be available to local governments um with respect to uh trails and public easements. ments and in um unimproved rights of way. Uh the protection would shield the city against certain negligence claims that could arise from um personal injury or or property damage that occurs within those uh public easement areas or within those um rights of way. Um the statute is currently set up where all cities over with populations over 500,000 are automatically provided this protection. Um, but the way that the legislature set up the statute, if a city does not have a population of 500,000, then the governing body has to opt in uh to receiving that protection via a resolution or ordinance or order or rule. Um, so that's why it's before you today. Um, I'm happy to answer any questions. I appreciate that with this particular immunity as it relates um primarily to to trails, not necessarily paved trails that falls outside of the immunity, but certain unimproved trails um that it's um very relevant to CPRD for example, but the city doesn't maintain or or operate as as many trails. But um uh there could be instances uh in the future where unlocking this protection could be could be useful. Um it also can come into play even if the city doesn't maintain it but um owns property the underlying real property or um owns the right of way even though it doesn't

maintain it the city could be pulled into a claim. So uh the recommendation from from from my office and uh staff is to uh approve resolution 2026-424. But I'm happy to answer any questions the council may have. So, James, if if we were to pass this, does it does it keep us protected that if some claim does come up, we don't have to even put forth money to help defend ourselves, go through the process to finally get to a judge that goes, "Nah, that we you guys don't have anything here. We're still going to spend money." Or does this keep us from not even having to go through those steps?

Thank you, Councelor McBride. So, it it doesn't shield the city from being a defendant in a lawsuit. The city can still be sued, but it does give us um very strong protection to to defeat that lawsuit in a more efficient manner, if you will, uh should one arise. I remember reading about somebody falling on a trail out at the coast near Lincoln City and I think that may have been what initiated this and they were suing because of that. Um my question is I don't think well I'm almost certain that CPRD is not a nonprofit corporation. So would they also then be uh would they have the option to opt into this immunity as well?

Yeah, thank thank you councelor Kilberg. I um a couple of thoughts. one, you are correct that the that there was a case um out of the Oregon Court of Appeals on the Coast um that um was a um trigger for a lot of the recent legislative updates, I would say, over the last couple years when we're talking about recreational immunity and trail immunity. Um when it comes to who can who can kind of exercise or to have the the the protection that's provided with respect to this trail immunity, um the legislature clarified the statute over the last couple years to point out that it applies to all um local local governments and in that definition of local governments and includes um districts like the parks district. So this is more of an adjacent question, but I got asked by several people. So I said that I would ask the timing of this. There's a lot of interest right now in rideaways given a pending upcoming project that has been discussed. Is there any relationship to this with like the River Street project and rideaways and things like that or just coincidence? James Um thank thank you councelor Tergson. So no there isn't a tie to the timing the um the immunity that we're seeing we would recommend it you know whether River Street regardless of the shape or form that the River Street development takes. Um this is this is something that really um uh would be a good protection for the city to have um beyond River Street. Yes.

Thank you. I just had a lot of asks, so I thought I would put it out publicly.

There's no further question. Would somebody like to make a motion? I move that we adopt resolution 2026 4024. Second. Been moved and seconded that we adopt resolution number 2026 4024. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. I.

All oppose. Nay. Motion passes unanimously. All right. Um, now on to council business. We have a presentation about the uh boards, committees and commissions appointments. So we have Oh, are you going to present? Okay,

just switching places here. Thank you for bearing with me. So, you know, I'm Rachel Thomas, your city recorder, um, manager, board committees and commissions. We had one opening appear on our planning commission from someone who decided to resign their post. And then we had two student vacancies that had yet to be filled this year. So, um, you met with our students a few weeks ago. They came to a council meeting and spoke with us. And, um, we also had an applicant for the planning commission. So, Mayor Rosacker asked me to move forward with this appointment this evening. Um the planning commission member will fill a position that ends in December 31st to 2028. And both of the student commission positions would end at the end of this year because they're one-year appointments. Um any questions?

I would like to uh point out that the we made a change to the planning commission appointments. uh planning commission is a time commitment that not everybody understands and it's also a commitment to do homework, be familiar with what you're going to be talking about uh prior to the meetings and it can be very technical. So we've had some people take on that role and then discover that they weren't ready for the commitment of that role. So what we have started doing is when somebody is uh has applied for that role, we then send them to Scott who sits down with them and discovers together whether or not they are truly interested in the commitment that it takes to be part of that very important board. So this person has already been through that process and we're fairly uh sure that we'll we'll be long lasting. So, thank you, uh, Rachel. Uh, anybody else have questions?

They will let you know that we had one other applicant went through that process and he said, "No, thank you." So, it it it worked.

So, would somebody like to make a motion? So, um, I'd like to make a motion to consent to the mayor's appointments as detailed. Second. So, it's been moved and seconded to appoint these three members to their appropriate commissions. Uh, is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all all in favor signify by saying I. I. I.

All oppose, nay. This motion passes unanimously. Um, thank you, Rachel. So, this is the item that we're after. By the way, somebody wanted to speak from the audience a little earlier. Um, we typically do not allow the audience members to chime in. That's the reason that the um that these things are posted online and given the opportunity to decide that you want to make public comment before the meeting. All of the counselors are available uh the website if you have any comments any uh you know anything that you want to talk to us about we're all available through email uh and by phone. So please reach out to counselor during the uh uh during addition a different time. Well, thank you very much and and sorry that was why we didn't recog I mean we saw you we just didn't recognize your your uh comment. So we are going to have a presentation about the ad hoc committee.

Yes. So um I will start off if you're okay with that. All right. As as we've been going through the process with River Street and hearing about the proposed ideas of what might happen on the street, um council has directed staff to um help arrange an ad hoc committee that will listen to residents uh thoughts on this and then eventually they'll also look at the designs for the project and help through if we continue forward with the project. Um so over the last few weeks we've been working with councelor Ferguson who was asked by the mayor to um kind of head this effort on behalf of council to um find members who are interested in this committee and design what it will look like. So what you'll see in your packet you have a resolution prepared by city manager worthy describing what this commission will look like and then we also have some recommendations from councelor Terguson for updating them. We included both for clarity. So um we are presenting both of those items for the ad hoc committee tonight um for a discussion. So what else will

Yeah. Um it it was felt starting from a comment from the mayor that we should consider this at more length and then also councelor Terguson whose district this is spent a very great deal of time visiting with River Street residents speaking to them hearing their concerns and therefore from that process that interactive process with more frankly more listening than talking we developed this suggestion which she has developed. If this uh structure for an ad hoc committee is followed, we would find ourselves with a committee composition which of course would be headed by councelor Terguson and it would include five individuals and there would be uh three from the greater Newberg community and oh sorry, seven. Sorry,

there's a typo. No, no worries. Oh, sorry. That's all right. So there

actually it was originally uh I specified five members in the uh last Monday we had meeting with the mayor and that was the first time that councelor Terg and I had had a chance to discuss this. She made a very persuasive argument uh why she would like to have two more members on the committee. So that's one of the things that we need to decide here. And if you guys want to hear her persuasive argument, I highly recommend it. We could ask her to do that again. So yes, there was a small typo in the front. It was not uh not deliberate. On the back there is a list and the the new suggested composition would be seven community members, four from the River Street community, three from community at large. Proposed committee representatives would if they're willing to serve would be Steven Brretell, Ted Abora, Jacob Heistister, Mark Seager, Bob Woodruff, David Hedi, and Jim Ta. And I think at that point perhaps I should step to one side and let the counselor describe a bit more about her experiences.

Yeah. So, first thank you to all of the River Street people for coming tonight. Um, I have had um, as both Will and Bill mentioned, the opportunity to spend a lot of time with members of the community. I took an entire Saturday and I door knocked my way down the entire street. So, I I knocked 55 doors. I had 29 conversations. I was out there for over seven hours. I've had onetoone meetings with at least 11 people. I participated in the meet with the mayor. So, I've had the opportunity to hear a lot of feedback which has included a lot of excitement and also a lot of concerns about the proposed project. So part of what led to this, my hope and my ask for an expansion was really based on the feedback that I received in walking the street and spending time with individuals on the community. It became very apparent that um there are really intentional relationships that have been cultivated along the street. There's communities, people know each other, and so I think different sections of the street are likely to have different needs. And so having that represented is going to be really important. The goal as well for this ad hoc is that it is a space for voice of concern that can be uplifted to really represent community concerns. And so ease of access also felt really important to me that it is easy to connect with a person who's going to be the representative from your section of the street. So it's not perfect, but right now with the current composition, I think I have like the 300 block, the 500 block, the 700 block, and then the far side of the 800 block was as far south as I could get. um so that if you have a concern for your segment of River

Street, it is as easy as possible to hopefully connect with someone who can bring your voice back to the ad hoc. Additionally, one of the things that I noticed that felt really important as part of that door knocking process um which everybody was so gracious and I think it is also a normal response of there is more side on the east side of the street so please make all changes on the east side versus other doors that said there's more space on the west side so please make all um changes to the west side of the street. The other piece that this seven community member group represents is there's there's north south representation. There's also east west representation. Um the other pieces that felt important to me in thinking about members of the community. Um not to put Ted on the spot, but Ted um is a member of River Street, lives on River Street. Ted also actively participates in our budget committee. And so someone who can have that lens of community voice, livability, and also technical numbers, budgeting, I thought would be a really important com consideration. And then Bob Woodruff was a recommendation from someone on the council and he has the historic preservation knowledge. He participates in that community. And so thinking about how do we develop a project that really fits the community that felt like another important voice to have. So it gives us that space that we are really centering the individuals who live on the street, uplifting those voices as part of information that can be offered to the council, but then also seeking out some unique perspectives and skill sets that I think will hopefully be helpful for that process as well.

So there's one correction to the document. It uh it says a place that the meetings are going to be at the library. The meetings are going to be held right here in the public safety Denise Bacon Room of the Public Safety Building. Uh these meetings for those of you in the public will all be uh open meetings. They will uh be recorded and we will not have to worry about a quorum of the council. The decisions will be able to uh to be talked about in uh in the open session. There will be no public comment at those meetings. But for you and the public, the whole idea of this ad hoc committee is that you need to get to know one of the seven people on that committee and use that person as your go-between between the city and yourself. Uh that's the whole point of having those seven people is to represent you to the city. Um I know that I will be attending those meetings along with other uh counselors. We will be sitting in the audience with the rest of you. Uh councelor uh McBride is part of the committee. He will be at the table along with councelor Terguson. And the rest of us will be there to observe and see what happens. And then between meetings, we will have our opportunity to make our uh persuasive arguments to counselors uh to go. The whole point of the the ad hoc committee is they're advisory in nature. you. We are looking for a general consensus and the better that you do, the easier it will be for this council to follow your recommendations when it's time for us to make the votes at a council meeting. So, that being said, does anybody have a question?

Sure.

Go ahead. I guess my question is more so I think I would venture to guess each counselor has done a lot of reading and conversation around this topic. Um I guess my question is the need for an ad hoc committee. Um based on I mean I know where I stand. I'll say that. So I'm going through the Elliot Road project. Um, I would love to avoid that scenario again. Um, and so I guess I'm all for an ad hoc committee to elevate voices. Um, but is this really like in more of a design element of getting input on design? Because I probably am not going to be changed in my stance of what I want to see from the project. I guess just to put my cards on the table. I want as minimal property taken as possible and I don't think anything's going to change that.

Do you do you have a have a response?

Yeah, I think that my hope is that while I am not a street engineer, I've been very clear about that. um is that we can be really intentional in looking at the designs and talking with the engineers from Keller about the concerns and seeing what can be done to really center livability and the community of River Street as a component of making updates that also work for the larger community, but making sure that there's a really intentional balance around does a design fit that community and their needs.

So, at this point, I would like to go ahead and uh maybe you guys take a seat. Let's open up the public comments and let's listen to the uh the audience. We have quite a list today. So, we're going to keep them to three minutes, excuse me, three minutes a person, and we're going to start with Carla Vargas. Hi, Carla. Welcome.

So, I'm Carla Vargas. I am a Newberg resident and I guess I'm just hoping um kind of like what you said that it has the the least amount of impact on the neighborhood. And I would encourage all of you, like Jerry did, if you have time, to come walk River Street. Um, it is a wonderful community and I know that some people think it's the south side of town and so it's maybe not as good as the north side, but um, it is a wonderful community. I wouldn't live anywhere else in this city even if I could. So, I do encourage you to come walk, talk to the community, see what kind of an impact it could have to the residents. Thank you.

Thank you. Um, just forformational purposes, uh, would you would the counselors like to raise their hand if they have walked the street more than just a couple of times in the last few weeks? I uh I have made it my habit to uh drive down that street about every chance I get at this point. Next, we have Renee. You're going to have to tell me what your last name is.

Yes. My name is Renee Rodriguez. I'm a River Street resident. Um, my family moved to River Street about 5 years ago. We were so excited to finally have a fenced yard for our dog, beautiful landscaping planted by the prior owners, and a big tree that had been standing for decades providing habitat to the birds and wildlife. Um, we felt like we finally had a space to breathe. When we heard of this project and the design option proposed, we learned that it could potentially bring a multi-use path or a bike path right up to our front steps, which would eliminate what we moved here for. Um, I just want to share some numbers with you tonight, and this is from um a couple of us walked the neighborhood. 63 properties affected. 79 trees in the planter strip removed. 76 trees beyond the sidewalk that fall within the proposed 80ft right of way. 43 of those trees provide direct shade to homes. And that would all be gone. 38 properties losing mature landscaping that had been there for years. 22 fences removed. 34 gardens eliminated. 51 front yards substantially reduced or eliminated. At least seven of those are known children's play spaces. That's where the only place they have to play um in their yard. 11 driveways rendered completely unusable. Three front doors, eight porches that fall within the proposed 80oot right ofway. Um the most important number here is zero. Zero property owners who know exactly how this design will impact their individual property. Um, the city has told us that we won't know until after a design is selected and a costly survey is completed. If doing right by this neighborhood means slowing down or reconsidering this project, then that is a conversation worth having. We simply are asking that the people whose homes, trees, and yards are permanently

affected have a voice in whatever is decided. Um, that's all for me. Thank you for listening. Thanks. I'm sure you say that because you know that most of them must live in counc district. Not kidding.

Uh, next we have Elizabeth Todd. Hi there. Thanks for coming. Sorry you've had to wait so long. Elizabeth Todd, River Street resident. Um I appreciate the time that you have um allocated for this process and I know the last month has not been shall we say smooth but um I know it's much smoother than if we had just gone forward and down perhaps a deadend road or is you know more confusion than um we've had in the past months. So thank you for the time. I appreciate the um idea of the ad hoc committee. Um um I guess I do have a couple questions and um and a suggestion. Um I noticed in the proposal it says that the Keller group will be sitting alongside um the ad hoc committee and I know that's important. I sat with um Donette Hilton and talked about the engineering and the infrastructure needs that the city has and I think that's important for all of us to understand. Um I do wonder you know when you're a hammer every problem looks like a nail and um I just wonder if the ad hoc committee in addition to hearing from engineers could also hear from arborists. Um, and I want to give an example following up on what Renee has said. Um, one of the trees, um, it's even further, it's maybe 11 ft inside the current sidewalk, but it's a massive tree in my yard that my basically my whole yard is built around this tree.

And so if that tree is going to need to come down, I want to be sure that there's been due diligence and that people have really looked and tried to save this tree. And um I know I'm just one property owner and it's just one tree, but this tree really matters to me. And I don't I know it's cheaper and faster to clearcut and just bulldoze, but what I'm asking is that the ad hoc committee could really hear from arborists or tree people and they could think how could we save some of the trees even in the green strip. Um, and I would love for that to be something that the city council passes on to the ad hoc committee. I would love for the city council to pass on to the ad hoc committee that um we are working within a 60-foot rightaway and we're not we're taking off the table the 80 foot rightway. I would love it if that could be a guidance um or a suggested guidance for the ad hoc committee. Um, I think I'm with Carla that I I want to see this project going forward and not harming my neighborhood. I think there's going to be real costs to and that there will be real harm to the neighborhood as much as those might be minimized. Um there will be great losses that we will feel along with that. It makes um it's very important to me that we have ADA sidewalks. Very important to me um as a person who um loves other people.

And so I know those are um perhaps anyway point is that's the point. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much Elizabeth.

Um we have several more people to talk here. Would you guys like to take a short break and then resume or should we power through? Okay. Uh, next is Ted Deborah. Welcome, Ted. Thanks. Looks like everybody else Oh, somebody left their glasses.

Good evening, council members. Um, mayor, uh, city staff, my name is Teddy Bora for the record. Uh, I live in River Street and I've lived there for over 20 years since 1998. Uh, I've got a house that's built in 1898. And I've got two huge trees in front of my yard that's probably been there about the same amount of time. And what attracted me to that place when I first renovated it is those trees. And those trees also serve a big purpose. It it shades my house where I don't need to um buy or put air conditioning in cuz I mean it gives my house cool. Taking out those trees would probably make me purchase an a cooling system for my house. Um so those trees are very important. um the River Street project. I mean, I looked at all three uh plans and plans two and three takes out a huge part of my front yard. um plan one doesn't but I mean it's still you know on the table where plan two or three might be um what goes forward. So those are kind of my concerns that um the city should consider or the city council should consider. Um I mean I've I've lived in Newberg for a long time. I've been in the budget committee and um my daughter's gone to school in Newberg High School and we've had a business here. So, I've I'm attached to this

community and that's kind of what attracted me to that particular area. changing it would probably make a big difference um to the look of River Street and that that concerns me. So that's all I have. Thanks. Next is Eddie Durant.

Middle name. Okay. What's that?

Thank you. Welcome, honorable mayor. Uh, city council members. It's a pleasure to be with you this evening. I am a longtime resident of River Street. Um about 30 years, I want to say. Um and over those 30 years, we've enjoyed immensely the trees that we have in our front yard. I have two gorgeous blue spruce trees that are about I don't know 50 years old. One of which we we use every Easter uh to hang a piata. And all the grandchildren come around and they have a great time. They hit the the piñata. spills out over the the front lawn and they have a good time and and I have a beautiful fence. I want to say that my fence is probably the nicest one on the street. It's made of plastic and I don't have to paint it and uh it's very expensive. And um you know I have I've lived there a long time and I have I knew by going down there um I probably wasn't going to be moving into the best street, but I said that I would make it the best street. If I make my yard the best yard in the neighborhood, people would follow suit. And they have. they have landscaped. We've uh gotten less people who act who who rent and people have been buying down there. Um and it it makes a difference. Um, so, um, the city indemnification really really concerns me and you can't tell me that that's not going to have any tentacles that are relative because I read between the lines and I can tell you it is relative. Um, and that's a major concern. Thank you, uh, Councilman Ferguson. Um,

another thing that concerns me is cost containment. Um, as you know, and as the engineers probably have already reported, there's a great deal of concrete underneath that road and there's a lot of pipes under that road that have reached the the end of their service life. The cost of this construction as proposed is exorbitant. And you don't even know the the depth of it, but I can tell you it's a lot. Um the uh residential livability is the worst problem of all when you're going to have I mean most of us moved down there because we had a little bit of a front yard. We didn't want to live in the city. We don't want to live next door to you know these wall-to-wall houses. That's why we bought down there. If you put in this proposed construction, it's going to have no front yard. You're going to have people, you can hear them burp as they walk down the sidewalk. It's going to be the livability will completely plummet. It'll go down. And you know better than anybody that Elliot Street project, I mean, they're like right up on your lap. Um, so in the end, I would strongly urge the council to seek minimal construction, minimal expense, and to promote maximum livability. Thank you all very much.

Next we have Steven Bertell. Hi Stephen. Welcome. Thank you. Those of you that are on the committee, you see what you're up against here.

All right. My name is Steven Bertell and I am a home homeowner on 8th and River Street um where I live with my wife and my five children. I've lived in Newberg since about 2020 and I love the community. I love the city and it's very clear that all of you do as well. I I think it's in the city's in good hands with you all. I commend you all for the management you provide. Um I'm going to keep it nice and short because there are a lot of people that want to share, but I do want to say a few things. I could say a whole lot, but I think I might have more time if this passes. So, the whole community wants River Street to be fixed. It's very clear from talking to a lot of these people here behind me. We understand that concessions are going to have to be made and we we ask that concessions go both ways. That's all we're asking.

Um the city the city's preferred design as it stands in the engineer drawings that I've kind of mold over a long time. I'm no engineer. I don't know. You know, there's lots of minutiae to it that I can't get into because I don't know. But as it stands, it would take seven feet of my front yard. That means two trees, a fence, 50 ft of mature jasmine that my wife has labored over for the past eight years. That's the thing she's most upset about. established landscaping, a pergola that I built a few years ago, and the tree swing that all five of my children have played on on daily, almost daily anyway, for their entire lives. One of my sons cries every time we talk about that tree possibly being taken down. That doesn't account for the two mature plum trees on the planter strip that I think obviously will probably need to go because of the root system. And you know, I understand that there are factors that you know, it wouldn't survive the construction, so I'm prepared for that. My situation isn't the worst on this street. I've talked to other neighbors that would lose sign significantly more than I am going to lose. The current preferred design asks that the people who live here to absorb losses that are not proportionate to the benefit the broader community receives. That is not a fair trade and it is not a foundation for a happy outcome for anyone. So all we're asking is that the council go back to the drawing board and find a design that fixes the road without consuming the entire neighborhood. We ask that you slow down and get it right. And that's it. Thank you. Uh Jake Heisler.

Hi Jake. Welcome.

Uh I'm Jacob Easter. I live on Third and River here in Newberg and I have for the last eight years um with my wife and two girls. Our house is on the north edge of the proposed River Street improvement project. Um I love the city so I'm very happy to be here to talk to all you guys and thank you. Background for me. I'm a robotics engineer at Lamb Research and I only say that to highlight that I'm analytical and detail-minded by nature and I do my best to solve challenging problems when they come up. River Street needs improving. That is understood. Also, it is no surprise, but at the first town hall meeting, many were met with a little shock at some of the three proposed plans. And since then, the city council and mayor have responded well to hearing people's voices and giving people a chance to be heard formally, which I informally, which I really appreciate. A lot of important considerations have been raised by citizens at informal gatherings and uh many good ideas have flowed out of those conversations which I think is awesome to see people step up and take responsibility for their own community. And I really appreciate the flexibility the mayor has taken so far to consider an ad hoc committee. This should afford us time to slow down a little, include River Street representation and reconsider options in greater detail so we can do this project the right way. I just want to express my personal opinion after investigating in detail the impact of the current proposed plans along with many other smart, dedicated and invested citizens that an ad hoc committee is a prudent next step. The proposals are are currently kind of broadstrokes is what I would call them and taking time to consider some nuance in design will offer a much more palatable solution. Just a little anecdote. When you look at proposal three and the total space that's claimed on there, between fourth and third where I am, there's only a 60oot right of way today. Proposal three doesn't even really fit in that area. And I know there's no been no comment about trying to do imminent domain, but it

technically based on the amount of land that's in that proposal would require imminent domain. So, some of those details probably need to be flushed out further in order for these proposals to make um a lot of sense. So, thank you all. Next is Jacob Jenkins.

Welcome. Thank you. My name is Jacob Jenkins. I live uh on Sixth Street uh down from River a little bit. Um I just want to say thank you for this project in that it is uh galvanized what was already a pretty great neighborhood into um a group of really passionate people who are going to take a lot of part in in making our voices heard in this process. So I would say the ad hoc committee would be a really nice idea just so I can be Ted's problem instead of here yelling all the time. I live across the street from Ted. Um

I also have his phone number, so it's um we all want the road to be better, but the canopy down that street is something that is really beautiful and a big part of that neighborhood for us. And from what I see in the proposals, they're kind of aesthetically awful. Um, so my concern is even if there is some replanting or some other things that happen, it would take a really long time for the neighborhood to look anything like what it does today. So, thank you. Next, we have Shelley Cole. Welcome, Good evening. I live in Newberg County and I want to thank the council and the mayor for moving forward with this project. It's not a thankful project in many ways. I know you there's a lot of emotion and for good reason. So, thank you for going forward with it. It's something that I believe needs to be done and I know the streets res uh residents are concerned because this is their neighborhood and if I lived on that street boy I'd be I wouldn't want anything changed. It sounds it sounds fantastic. Um, while their feelings are understandable, the reality is that the upgrade really needs to go on and I think it needs to go on now. And I haven't heard of any way for the street to be paved without having some of those old trees out. And that's very sad, but I think it it may need to it needs to uh may need to go forward. Um, in addition, other major concerns, first of all,

about safety and I've gone down that street uh since this all came up and I think about what about someone in a wheelchair trying to get down those sidewalks and someone mentioned the ADA compliance. It's not there or someone in a stroller trying to trying to push their baby. Also, um, a lot of we have a lot of college kids here who who use bicycles to get around. And I I cons them trying to to go down River Road on their on their bicycle the way it is now. And so it'd be nice to have one with a bike lane, maybe not a super bike lane, but a safe bike lane that uh that they could travel on. Um and finally looking at the biggest picture, this project is the first real step towards the discussed River River Street re-imagined vision as it turns River Street into a real gateway that invites uh recreation, tourism, and eventually new jobs for Newberg. And again, if I lived in the neighborhood, I wouldn't be thinking, "Oh, wow. That's what I want." But looking as as a citizen, looking at the big picture, there's a lot of people here who need jobs. The city needs income and that that riverfront property is just sitting there. And so this could be very important for our city development. Um so thank you for moving forward and getting this done for Newberg. I truly believe the risk of waiting any longer is just too high and it's time to give our community the modern safe infrastructure we need. Thank you, Shelley. Uh, next is Lucinda Sprag.

All the years I've known you, I've never called you Lucinda. There are some secrets. Do I need to do anything with this?

Okay. Um, I've been a part of Newberg since. Uh, there were two parking lots at Naps and that was back in the 60s and um, there was no thought of Spring Brook at that time. I raised three girls on the river water skiing in the 80s and no river rode very well. So, I'm a Newberg resident. Uh, that is just a famous road for Newberg. I think it's a historical road and I hope that uh the ad hoc committee and the council can look at it from all sides and make sure that it's for everybody including the other Newberg residents, not just the people that live on the road because it's a famous road going down to the river.

Thank you, Cindy. Next is Matt. Is it It's Dunar. Dun.

Dunston. Okay. Is this guy already partying? Uh, I'm not working off of a set of notes. Um, so I'm just going to kind of speak to, you know, where we're at sort of as neighbors and as individuals and that kind of thing. Um, you know, this takes a lot from us as homeowners. Uh, it's it's a pretty uh invasive project. Uh, you know, we all we all want, you know, some improvement for River Street. Uh it but it's just this is extreme for for what needs to get done. It takes just way too much uh you know I'm trying to think of where you know where I was going with maybe I should have brought some notes up. Um, it just feels like, you know, as as citizens here, we expect the city to sort of protect us and keep us, you know, in good working order. Uh, but it sort of feels more like a betrayal when they want to take something so ex uh extreme from us. Uh, you've heard the numbers that have been passed around already tonight, so I don't really have anything new to add to that. Uh, but it just um it would be disappointing to see River Street stripped of its beauty, its history, uh, everything that's there that makes it a, you know, just a beautiful neighborhood reduced to what would essentially be some new development driving around in somewhere like, you know, Beaverton or something like that. There's just nothing there. The identity is is gone. uh which we all, you know, wake up every day and

drive that street and walk that street and walk our animals and and do everything like that. And it's uh a nice place for us to sort of hang out and be ourselves and we lose a lot of that with the like I said the the how far this project goes. So what I guess I would propose is go back to the drawing board and show us something that we can all agree on. We know that there's going to have to be some um you know uh like said some concessions. Uh my stance would basically be if I'm being you know blunt don't disturb our trees, stay out of my yard. And I think that that's what a lot of people here probably feel. Uh but you know again those concessions we're going to have to kind of give a little get a little uh show us something that we can all agree on. does the plans that we're seeing now are not agreeable for a lot of us. Uh so uh you know take your time, take five tiers, take 10 years, that's fine. You know, however long it takes, you know. Uh I guess that's it. It looks like my time's up. So thanks. Thank you very much, Matt. Um next we have Link Linky Buchanan. Welcome.

Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, city council. Um, I was not expecting to be here this evening, so I have no remarks planned, but I think with a lot of people in this room tonight, I was very shocked to see the plans that were submitted for proposal for the River Street project. I myself do not live directly on River Street. My property will not be affected. However, River Street is like somebody else said, a very important street, a historical street. I came from Portland, Oregon in 2019, and my boyfriend who currently lives with me came from Cameas, Washington. And as people from those towns, we can see what happens when this stuff happens. Um, in the city of Portland, they've done lots of cutting of trees that provide shade and as a result, the temperature of those properties have gone up and they're scrambling to replant, but they're not going to get that shade back. Mr. Worthy, I saw that you have saved $7 million by not doing an extra clarifier. another $7 million in the project. I think some of that money I saw an interview that you had said and that you are concerned about the future cost of what repaving the road repaving the road repaving road is going to do. But I think repaving the road and just fixing the potholes is going to be way more beneficial down the road than the money is going to be. Give me that 3% property tax. I'll pay it so we can keep those trees

right now.

I also heard that they were in their use end of their useful life. They are not. That is a lie. They cut one of those trees down so hard one time and if you go and walk it because I saw that some of you didn't raise your hands that you haven't been down that street. That tree is regrowing. It wants to be there. When I moved here I was stunned by River Street. The trees that were between third and fifth, the sentinels, their protectors, their guardians. Please don't take them. Next we have I hope it's Dwayne Duran.

Oh, you're on here twice. See your time. Well, I was just going to comment that I've walked um seven grandkids with a stroller and it's not the best sidewalk. Maybe, but it can. So, but I'm

What we would like you guys to know is we the city council, we don't get to discuss this stuff outside of our city council meetings. We have to have these discussions right here in the open so the public can see them. So, we've not had a chance to talk to each other about what we would like this street to look like. So, this is our opportunity in open session to voice our opinions. Um, one council has already already stated some things. I have right from the get-go felt that I would like to see this project happen in the 58 ft between the outside of the sidewalk to the outside of the sidewalk. Yes, you have 80 foot rightway is what was platted in 1888 or something, but that wouldn't be practical on that street. So, that's my opinion. That's uh I'm just one vote of seven. Uh but this is your opportunity, council, to voice your opinion on on what should happen.

Yeah. Well, driving or walking or biking down the street, I it's so apparent that it is in terrible, terrible condition. And the fact is, uh, if I recall correctly, we would have to the construction company would have to go in very deep and get rid of the concrete underneath and so on. But I am generally in agreement that leave the street the same width it is, if you will. uh ADA improvements will come with any new sidewalks. That's just required by law. So, the the sidewalks will be in better shape. I don't know if all trees can be saved like in the ones in the strips between the sidewalk and the street, but generally I I agree with what I'm hearing tonight in terms of the least amount of impact possible, but giving the city a decent street to drive on. Let let let the council speak at this point and then we can decide whether or not we're going to go any further with that. Uh Mike, I saw your hand up.

Yeah, I I I agree, council. I I would not be in favor of the 80 foot. I I think we keep it within the existing um street width. Um we don't know what's what it's going to look like once we get into the project. Um, a lot of times there's roots in there that you have to cut back, which will affect the trees. But I'm I'm of the opinion that we do something that's going to be the least uh amount of invasion to the people's property. Um, because I try and uh make my decisions based on if I was living there, how would I want to do it? Although there will have to be some concessions and somebody's going to be affected more than somebody else perhaps, but I I agree that I want to try and do the best I can to minimize people's the impact to people's property. So, the other thing that I would like you to to know from past discussions with the city manager is he has been working diligently for about 2 years now to make sure that all the pipes that are going to need to be replaced are going to be replaced before this project starts. We do not want to be guilty of paving a brand new road and then cutting cutting trenches through it in six months. So, uh, our city manager is on top of that and he's going to make sure that that happens. Uh, any other comments from the

I do, but uh, I just I want to move forward with the ad hoc committee and just get all the information that we can. This is all very preliminary. Clearly, there's a pause. I don't I mean, even further comment, I understand how people feel. It's going to be repetitive. I I mean, I've heard it. Uh I understand it. I empathize with it. I probably would feel the same if I lived on that street. So, I just like to move forward so we can get the information and figure out what we're going to do.

I would say um of course I support the ad hoc committee. Um and I'm here to listen and get ideas. It seems like there's a lot of people with ideas and I'm just here to listen and take in the ideas and hopefully we make the right decision. It's clear that we need to try to preserve the trees and the area in front of your home. So, it sounds like everybody on the council wants the same thing. So, we hear you and hopefully we can work with the engineers to come up with a plan that is suitable for everybody. So, thank you guys for coming.

I guess I just want to say too that I'm sorry that it's gotten to this place because to hear the emotion in people's voices. Um, and I really thank you for being vulnerable and coming and sharing as you have today. Um, but it's also, you know, on us to try to prevent these type of scenarios from arising. And, um, I'm a little frustrated, just to put my cards on the table, because we've been through a similar scenario to this just a few years back. Um, and so, while I support the ad hoc committee, it's not my preference, and I do want to make that clear. I think that I I do think that this could be a presentation to council that we weed through knowing that how much feedback that councelor Terguson has received, the mayor, myself. Um, and I do want to just state for the record too, it is very frustrating in government when we have inconsistent policy positions. And um, as a southsider and go southside, I would only choose to live on the southside as well. Um, it's all it it makes me cringe when we say, "Well, we need ADA. We need we need wider sidewalks. We need bike we need bike paths." Yeah, I've wanted that forever. And just because it's convenient to the city to upgrade, it's very frustrating to be on our timeline when it matters to us and our economic development plan for the for the waterfront master plan. Um, and I do think that our count our city manager has worked very hard to update sidewalks on the south side since he's been in I said in office but been a city manager and it has been this

council's um priority to really focus on the south side of town. But I I I have to take a deep breath when um those comments are made um and imposed in my opinion um oftent times from the state. And so I do just want to say that um I'm thankful that so many people are willing to be on the ad hoc committee. I love how councelor Terguson has recommended it by block. I think that's super smart. Um, but I also hope that we can move through it and get to consensus together as a group. And I do think that this council is very receptive to feedback and um, clearly we're all aligned on property rights. Win. Thank you. I just want to again say thank you to all of you for coming and representing and sharing your perspective and your generosity with your time. I've had people feed me and give me snacks. I have open invitations to yards. So, if you all want to come on a walk with me, I have open invitations to multiple yards that I can show you um impact. And I agree, it's it's frustrating that we've gotten to this point. And my hope is that this ad hoc can be a space of pause where we can have genuine commu community input and voices and come up with a community centered approach that will meet the needs of the River Street community in a way that maintains livability and quality of life and the um the really unique things that make River Street such a special street. Um, so thank you for considering the ad hoc.

So I I there were a couple of you that felt like you had something that you wanted to say really bad and really short. Does anybody object to allowing a couple more? All right. Very quickly if I'm going to share this vision. River Street is extremely historical. Can we get you on the mic so the people online can hear? Thank you. Yes.

I'm so excited. River Street is extremely historical. I don't know how many of you know, but River Street used to be Main Street and um there's a lot of history down that street. And so I would propose this vision that we retain the the aesthetics of that River Street. Yes, we'll pave it. Yes, we'll put in ADA and stuff like that, but we're also going to put in uh turn of the century uh lampstands and and uh and benches and because we're going to develop that whole riverfront property. This is the old town Newberg district and it should remain in its basic bounds if only to uh to to maintain its historical context. And it will draw people because it's going to be beautiful. It's going to be new new paved sidewalks. It's going to have cutins. It's going to have uh the street lamps that are turn of the century looking old-fashioned. I mean, we are the oldfashioned city. Why don't we make River Street the old-fashioned Newberg street?

Thank you, Ted. Introduce yourself to this gentleman so he can uh so he can give you all his great ideas. I'm sorry. Okay, but one more. Sure. Let's make this the last one. My name is Marilyn Van Grenman. I live on Fourth and River and I've been here since 1978. And my son came up with an idea about keeping River Street the same size as it is, but making it a oneway. And then you have another street and going another one way. That way you can still keep your trees and your ambiance and you just allow traffic to do a circle. Thank you,

ma'am. I like the way your son thinks. I I had that same uh suggestion about a year ago. So, we'll see where it goes. So, I want to thank you guys. you you put up with a lot to come here and uh you sat through an entire meeting just so that you could get to this portion of it. What I really am impressed by is your civility today. You acted like neighbors. You acted like a community. And I thank you for coming here. And even though you're passionate controlling your your uh actions and acting the way you did tonight, once again, I I I love this city and everybody that's in it. Thank you very much. So,

with that being said, this meeting is a journal. Bill, we haven't voted on it. We haven't vote. Oh, I'm sorry. You want to vote? Good thing I didn't touch that piece of wood. Okay, I'll do it. I um Mr. Mayor, I move that we um establish an ad hoc committee for River Street led by Councelor Turgus as presented in the agenda. I think we need to do as amended, right? As amended to seven members and and the location change to the public safety building. Second.

Uh it has been uh we have have a motion and a second to approve resolution number 2026420 establishing the Anahawk committee with amendments. Is there any further discussion?

Um, all in favor signify by saying I. I. All oppose. Nay. Motion passes and meeting.