City Council - Regular Meeting

Yeah, that's right. Shelly was saying that, like, I want to get out and about, but I don't want to climb any hills.

Little hills. See that, gee, I think it's Groupon. is to call the order, to order the Newport City Council. It's Monday, August 17th, approximately 6.01. If you join, yes, roll call, please.

Councillor Emond.

Here.

Councillor Hickman. Here. Mayor Kaplan. Here. Councillor Hall. Here. Councillor Aparicio-Reyes. Here.

Here. WANDERING IN. I NOTICED THE CLOCK IN THE BACK ROOM IS ABOUT 10 MINUTES SLOW.

Here. Councilor Jacoby. Cynthia.

Are you here?

Here. Good. If you would all join us 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,

Okay, it is now time for public comment, and we have a number of folks who have signed up. I notice most, I think, most if not all, are from the same organization, so generally our procedure is that we give about three minutes per speaker, but if you have, please don't repeat the same thing, and don't feel obligated to use the entire three minutes, but we do want to hear from you. Is Melanie Bukovic?

Hello, everyone. For the record, my name is Melanie Bukovic, and I live in Newport. As I said, I live in Newport near the Nye Beach area, where this issue that we're talking about today is located. I also work in this community, and I'm a volunteer as the Blue Water Task Force coordinator with the Newport chapter of Surfrider. I've been in this role for about four years now. Blue Water Task Force is a water quality monitoring program to protect public health at the beach. We fill in gaps and extend coverage of agency-run beach monitoring programs. And sources of pollution could be stormwater and urban runoff, sewage such as spills, leaks, outfalls, overflows, pets and wildlife, or factory discharges. We specifically test for Enterococcus, which is a fecal indicator bacteria. And we compare our results to the water quality standards set by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Our Blue Water Task Force program test 14 sites from Otter Rock to Seal Rock. We have a team of about 30 volunteers testing every other Saturday year-round. Last year, our volunteers took 276 samples, contributing about 550 volunteer hours. I'm here today to talk specifically about one site, the Nye Beach pipe outfall. This site is a stormwater outfall located at Nye Beach near the turnaround, and it flows out of the water flows out of the pipe, creating a stream that then flows into the ocean. Nearly any time I'm walking in that area, I see children or pets playing in this stream. However, this site nearly always gets flagged for high bacterial levels. In fact, eight of the nine most recent samples were over what DEQ considers high bacterial level, of 130 MPN per 100 milliliters. Most notably, on July 11th, results were over 10,000 MPN. That's 80 times higher than what DEQ considers high bacteria. We have worked with the city of Newport in the past on issues like this, including those at Nye Beach. We're asking for improved high bacteria result communication and response from the city. Previously, we had a line of communication open with the city where we would notify them of high bacteria results and they would respond with the steps that they were taking. We would like that to resume. Our expectation is to hear back from the city when we are getting high bacteria results and to hear about their follow-up actions in any way that we can help. This is critical for us to inform the public who receives the results and for our own understanding that the city is acting. Thank you.

Thank you. Sky Whitney. And for the record, please say your name and city you live in.

Yes, hello. I am Skye Whitney, and I live in South Beach. And so I manage the water quality lab where these samples are being analyzed. But today I'm here as a volunteer of the Surfrider Foundation for the Newport chapter to express my concerns with the city's response to the elevated bacteria levels that we've been seeing at Nye Beach. In the last several months, like Melanie was saying, we've had consistently high readings in Nye Beach pipe outfall that are well over the public health standards. Since March of this year, All of the samples that we have tested have been over the public health standards. These high levels of bacteria increase the health risks from recreating in those water sources, which is really concerning at a place like Nye Beach that is so highly visited by tourists and the public. The public deserves to know what is in the waters that they are recreating in and that they are potentially contaminated and could increase their chances of becoming ill as well. We have dozens of dedicated volunteers that support this program and make the work possible. They spend countless hours out at the beaches collecting the water samples and also in the lab analyzing them. One of the major challenges that I face working with this group of volunteers is having to consistently report high readings without any follow-up about what's being done to remedy the situation. When there are high levels of bacteria that are indicated, the city really needs to do some secondary testing and communicate their findings to the public. And chapter volunteers are more than happy to support that work and any secondary testing that needs to be conducted. There also needs to be a source identification plan that's developed and implemented. We are also happy to work with you all to figure out what that looks like. This site is consistently over that. high threshold. So we want to focus on this one specifically first and come up with a source identification plan for that specifically. We are all here today because we care about this problem and know that this is something important to the city as well. So we all deserve to have clean beaches to surf, swim, and play in, which is why we want to work together with you guys to figure out a way to find a solution for this ongoing issue. We have such a strong community here in Newport full of wonderful people who really want to make a difference. And thank you guys for your time.

Thank you. DAVID POWELL.

My name is David Powell. I live in Newport. And the first time I was in this room was being handed a certificate for having completed cert from, at that time, her honor, the mayor. And I was here multiple times with classes that graduated that I helped taught. I'm a volunteer, and I guess you all are, too, since you are unpaid. The reason I live in Newport is because several years before retiring, my wife and I were looking at places. She had a brother down at South Beach and a brother here in town. We came out to visit. The very first day, the first words out of my mouth were, I can breathe. Allergy-induced asthma caused by mold. 5,000 miles of clean air is worthwhile. We didn't have to look anyplace else. We were sold. But there's not only air quality, there's also water quality. I have literally parked my car, walked out and back, and I've done the Oregon Coast Trail then a total of six times, walking along the beaches, walking along the rivers, and all the rest of that. When it comes to the beaches, I really love them. I have worked with the NOAA marine debris all the way from Beach Access 1B, which is halfway between Peter Iredale and the jetty for the Columbia River, the north side of Lincoln City up at Rhodes Inn. Done it also there at Otter Rock, Devil's Punchbowl. Matter of fact, tomorrow at 10 o'clock, I will be down at Cape Perpetua again doing marine debris. With the Oregon shores, I did mile 120. That's from the Aquinnahead North to Schooner. That was from 2017 to 2022, at which point I had to kind of quit. Inner ear problems and going along the cobbles, I would occasionally fall. Not good stuff. I've only been with Surfrider for a short period of time. My interest really got peaked when a certain senator from this state went ahead and held up a plastic charge card and said, we're ingesting that much plastic in. And he gave a period of time that was way shorter than I would have wanted or thought.

So I tested Schooner.

It's only about a mile from my house. I'd also been looking at perhaps doing Nye Beach, because it would be on my way dropping the sample off to the aquarium. People see us out there, believe it or not. I usually go out at 8 o'clock in the morning so people don't catch me and start asking questions. But yes, I do get caught, and I have been caught, and asked, where is the water safe? And that is the question I think we all need to think about.

Thank you. Vince Papalardo.

Hello, my name is Vince Pappalardo. I'm a resident of Newport, Oregon for the last 25 years. I've been a Surfrider member for 15. I used to be the Blue Water Task Force coordinator that Melanie is currently about 10 years ago. And I know during that time there was a pretty good effort by the city to look at point sources and rectify things. And in those years following, there seemed to be a pretty good decrease in the amount of high readings that we saw. But the data that I'm looking at now is a definite, over the last couple of years, is a definite increase. And that worries me as a resident of Newport. One of the areas, in addition to Nye Beach, is Big Creek, which I actually happen to live in front of and traverse weekly, sometimes daily, to get to the ocean because it now flows past all the houses at Agate Beach. So I look forward to, in addition to being a member, I'm also the newsletter editor for Surfrider. We have over 1,000 subscribers in our newsletter. And I look forward to communicating to them through the newsletter that there is a healthy, positive reaction from the council and city of Newport to help resolve what's going on now, rather than reporting to them that there's really no interest. So thank you. That is all I wanted to say. Thank you.

William Little?

Hello. My name is William Little. I have seen the homeless people in the city out on the streets every day since I moved here. I live in Silver Rock. I work in Newport. But I have not seen any effort at all to address this problem. I have looked online, documents. I have seen that this issue has been addressed since 2011. Why has this issue not been solved yet? It is 15 years in the making and there's people on our streets. These people are in need. This issue needs to be solved. I don't... We, the people, do not want to see this issue not solved in this city. This issue can be solved and it must be solved. The people of this city deserve better. They do not deserve to be sitting on our streets because people... are humans. We deserve to know that our city council is actually looking out for them. I cannot see this city looking out for its people if I see people out on the streets. I do not know if this city cares about its people if people are out on the streets. What do I have to look for when the cities do not care for their people? These people are important. Do not forget that you serve the people, you do not serve someone else. You serve us. If you do not serve us, we will have to do what we must. That is all I have to say.

Thank you. Charlie Pleibon.

THANK YOU, MAYOR, MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL. FOR THE RECORD, MY NAME IS CHARLIE PLEIBEN. I'M THE OREGON POLICY MANAGER FOR SURF RIDER FOUNDATION AND I LIVE IN SOUTH BEACH, OREGON. I MOVED TO THE NEWPORT AREA ABOUT 30 YEARS AGO AND I QUICKLY GOT INVOLVED IN SURFING HERE. I CAME FROM THE EAST COAST AND FLORIDA AND NORTH CAROLINA AREA WHERE SEEMINGLY IT'S VERY WELL DEVELOPED IN THOSE COAST LINES AND I LOVED THE WILD NATURE AND THE SCENIC NATURE OF OUR COAST HERE AND I REALLY THOUGHT THE WATER WAS Super safe to swim in. I found myself in the hospital about a week after I moved here from surfing. I got a MRSA infection, and it's a pretty deadly, nasty infection if it's not treated right away. I was in the hospital for 48 hours, and the second day that I was sitting there, a nurse came up and he said, were you a surfer? Were you out in the water? And I said, yeah. He said, you know, they don't test the water. The state of Oregon doesn't test the water. There's no water quality testing program in the state of Oregon for recreational health. I was working at the Oregon Coast Aquarium at the time, and I heard about that, and I heard about Surfrider Foundation, and I started the Blue Water Task Force program that you've heard all about. That was almost 30 years ago. So whatever numbers of volunteers you heard from Melanie this year or last year, You can multiply that times about 25 to 30 years. So this isn't a new issue. It can be a life-threatening issue for people. We've heard about people's health concerns here. This is an issue that we've been able to work with the city on. We've gone through a lot of different leadership at the city. We've gone through hard financial times at the city. A lot of these things are not easy fixes. They're capital improvements. You need bonds. You need big money to fix a lot of these problems. And we're not afraid of big problems. What we're afraid of is not having people working on it or a clear understanding. I believe the city cares. I believe the city and our staff cares about this issue. I know a lot of our staff members here But we're not getting the same kind of communication that we used to get. And so I think you heard that from our chapter members here today. Just a quick recap on their interests. One, real-time communication when we're getting high levels of bacteria readings. We did go to Congress and establish the BEACH Act, which now funds state agencies to do water quality monitoring. But the reason the Blue Water Task Force exists is because that program didn't exist. SO WE WANT SOME RESPONSIVENESS FROM THE CITY. WE'D LIKE TO HAVE A GOOD WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CITY AND BE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE TO THE THOUSANDS OF MEMBERS THAT SEE HIGH BACTERIA READINGS THAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. TWO, WE WANT A PLAN. WE'D LIKE TO SEE THAT PLAN, WHETHER THAT'S LAID OUT IN A BOND RENEWAL, WHETHER THAT'S LAID OUT IN A CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN. I THINK THAT THAT'S WHAT OUR SURF RIDER LOCAL CHAPTER REALLY EXPECTS IS TO SEE WHERE WE'RE GOING. WE DON'T ALWAYS HAVE THE SOLUTION, BUT WE CAN ALWAYS BE WORKING TOWARDS IT. AND THEN LASTLY, I THINK PUBLIC COMMUNICATION. We would like this on the agenda of a future council meeting where we can actually spend a little bit of time getting you guys familiar with the issue, our volunteers, and see how we can find a collaborative path forward. And so public information and public communication is important to us. We've done a lot of cool stuff over the years with the city of Newport. There used to be some storm drain art, some interpretation. There was permanent signage down there about bacteria challenges. A lot of that's faded away. Things on the Oregon coast don't live forever. So we've had rusted out signs in our projects that have washed away. So there's a lot of great opportunity, and I hope we can work together to solve this issue.

Okay, thank you. I want to say that I really appreciate your all coming tonight. I know I'm listening, and I trust my colleagues here. And I understand, Charlie, that you've met with our city manager earlier, I think today, and we'll be looking at how we can improve things here. You know, I think, so bringing this to our attention, hopefully we'll have results. I know that we're dealing with some issues that are out of our control in terms of environment, but we need to look at what we can. I would allow anyone on the council who would want to make a comment, too.

While you're all still here, if you aren't aware of the replacement bond that is going before Newport voters this November, you should know about it. I am speaking as an individual right now, but so many of the issues you're talking about around wastewater infrastructure, remedying the piping that we have throughout our city so that we don't have sewage landing on the shore, that's a big part of this. For folks who haven't heard about it, right? I don't know why you're all not talking about the bond. I mean, it's the hottest topic. But if you are thinking about, oh, do I need to vote for this? You pay a tax now, right, for city services. And this particular, we have a bond that is actually expiring or sunsetting. And this would just continue at the same bond rate. So if you know people who pay taxes, and I bet you do, tell them this is just the same rate. But it's really helpful because people don't necessarily know that this is going to be addressing critical wastewater infrastructure and stormwater infrastructure that Newport desperately needs. And I think would address so much of what you're talking about in terms of being able to confidently say, like, we have the systems in place that are working to keep the shoreline safe. and coastal habitats protected. Thank you, Councillor. We don't take questions.

Cynthia?

Thank you all for coming, and I assure you, we do care and we hear you. I wanted to do a follow-up on something from many years past. When former counselor Ryan Parker was on the council, he had requested a study to differentiate the fecal material from humans and from dogs. and I don't believe we ever received a report on that. I think we asked about it once, but it has disappeared somewhere. Could we try to retrieve that, or do you know anything, Nina? I'll look into that and follow up with you. I mean, it may or may not be significant, but we don't know if we don't have this study. Thank you.

I think what we're hearing is that we need to, we're not going to discuss this all tonight. That's not our agenda item. But I think the request to have this on a future agenda, we will try to honor that. And we need to do some research on what's going on. So I really appreciate your folks being here. It helps. It helps. And we know that people care. Thank you. At this point, I have the honor of proclaiming August as Coast Guard Appreciation Month. And I'll come down here to read this.

Thank you.

I will read this to you and be very glad to give it to you. This is a proclamation declaring August as Coast Guard Appreciation Month in the city of Newport. Whereas the history of Station Yaquina Bay goes back more than a century, in 1896, the first U.S. Lifesaving Service Station was opened at South Beach. Later in 1906, the U.S. Lifesaving Service Station moved to the present site of the Yaquina Point Lighthouse. The present facilities were erected in 1944. Whereas the men and women of the Coast Guard embody a rich tradition of honor, respect, devotion to duty, and dedication to service, the members of Station Yaquina Bay remain poised to support the local fishing fleet, local and state law enforcement, local fire departments, county search and rescue, and county marine patrol, and various other local partners maintaining a constant ready status. There's more. Whereas the station's area of responsibility extends from Cape Perpetua to Spencer Creek, totaling 27 miles of coast. The primary mission of search and rescue, the station responds to as many as 590 cases per year. Whereas the Coast Guard has had a major impact on Newport and the surrounding communities, safeguarding life and property as part of its day-to-day mission and the community supports its Coast Guard. Whereas the members of the Coast Guard are our friends and neighbors and engaged members of our community. And whereas since March of 2005, Newport has had the honor to be recognized as a Coast Guard city, a designation it still proudly holds nearly two decades later. Now, therefore, I, Jan Kaplan, Mayor of the City of Newport, do hereby proclaim the month of August as Coast Guard Appreciation Month in the City of Newport. And I urge all community members to join me in thanking those serving in the United States Coast Guard and in recognizing the significance of their presence within our community.

Thank you for having us out here. We do appreciate it. We have 55 people down there working every day, and we do appreciate the community here. So I've only been here myself for a couple months. I'm looking forward to the next three years here, but we do appreciate it. Thank you again, Mayor.

Next item, please.

Next is the consent calendar, which includes 5A, surplus vehicles. 5B, ODOT U.S. one-on-one cooperative improvement agreement. 5C, recommend approval of the OLCC application submitted by Sweet Baby Boy LLC for a full on-premises commercial license. 5D, receipt of links to agendas and audio video for minutes to be approved. 5E, ratify the mayor's appointment of Quinn Poland to the Planning Commission for a term expiring December 31st, 2029. Or excuse me, 5F, ratify the mayor's appointment of Simon Holding to the Planning Commission Citizens Advisory Position for a term expiring December 31st, 2029. 5G, approval of city council meeting minutes.

I move to accept the consent calendar as read.

Second.

Okay, motion.

No, Councilor Jacoby got it.

Okay, motion by Councilor Eamon, second by Councilor Jacoby, by a nose. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next item, please.

Next item is City Manager's Report 8A, Monthly Department Reports. I'm going to highlight three different departments tonight. Is this better? The first is the library. So we are almost through the summer reading program. It goes from June 1st through August 31st. We have had more than 600 community members participate, which is really fabulous. Great to see that. In addition, due to some grant funds, we were able to install sensory panels in the children's department so that kids can have hands-on and inclusive learning opportunities. while enhancing early literacy. So thank you to our library for getting creative. On the police department report, I wanted to highlight the increase in large number of calls for service. In July, the police department reported to 1,667 calls for service, which is a 16% increase from June. We do see a lot of increase in activity in the summer, of course. But in addition to that, our community safety officers responded to 124 ordinance violations, 31 abandoned vehicle complaints, and three abandoned vehicles were actually towed. So it's not just the workload on our sworn police officers. There's been a substantial increase in calls for service related to those experiencing homelessness, code violations, et cetera. And that continues to be a challenge for us. And last but not least, in our engineering department, we have several projects underway and some that were recently completed. So we recently completed the Bay Boulevard sidewalk improvement project down on the Bayfront that was funded by parking funds. So if anyone asks, where did that darn parking money go? It went to improve the sidewalks down on the Bayfront. 15 sections of sidewalk were replaced to improve accessibility. And those are the highlights I wanted to make from the monthly department reports tonight.

Thank you. Just a comment, because some folks have got a couple of folks comment to me about the improvements going on in the city, including the Bayfront and the paving of the gravel roads and And I think Councilor Hickman has long been an advocate of can we get some signs up that say your parking meter dollars at work or your tax dollars at work? Because I don't think, I think people kind of see it, but don't really necessarily understand that that's what we promised. that when we put in the meters, that was going to make improvements on the areas that were being parked. And when we raised the gas tax a couple of years ago, that raised money to do the gravel streets. So I want to highlight that because we know we're asking the public for money again, and I think we've made good on what we've promised. Thank you.

Just to the Bayfront, love the social media posts about that, you know, that we are putting out there, like, this is what your parking fees are going to. I think that's really good for people to connect to. And on the Newport Police Department comment, I shared with the counselors and such, but on Sunday, August 3rd, my dog was attacked by a collarless off-leash dog. And it was a Sunday night. And so when I called animal control, it kicks over through the dispatch to Newport Police Department. And so I had a really great encounter with a Newport police officer. I can't remember her name. I'm sorry. And then on the following Saturday night, swear to God, two colorless off-leash dogs also attacked my dog who was recovering from surgery and stitches. And again, on the weekend, I don't think we necessarily think about like, oh, yeah, if you call animal control, it's going to kick over because they're managing more things than just like, you know, traffic or those ordinances and violations and such like that. So they're also managing any animal control issues that come in when the sheriff's animal control staff are not on duty. So just appreciation to both of those officers who assisted me in really awful encounters I had to endure.

Next item.

Okay, our next item is 8B, final order and findings affirming the Planning Commission's decision and denying the appeal in file number 1-80J-26. And with the staff report is Derek.

Derek Tokos, Community Development. I have a very brief staff report here. What you have before you is a final order and findings that we hope accurately reflect the decision that you rendered on this appeal. If it does, a recommendation would be for you to go ahead and adopt it so that we could get that out to the parties. And the next step, if there is one, would be an appeal to the Land Use Board of Appeals. So that's what I've got. Thank you.

So I read the order and it seemed all okay to me, so I would be happy to move to adopt it. So I will move to adopt order number 2026-1, affirming the Planning Commission's final order and findings of fact in file number 1-ADJ-26, and denying the appeal filed by Casa del Puerto LLC for the reasons set forth in the exhibits attached to the order.

Second.

Motion kept by Councilor Emond, second by Councilor Rumagu. Any discussion? Okay, hearing none, I think we spent a great deal of time on this. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Motion carries. And Derek, I want to thank you and also the Planning Commission for the tremendous amount of work that went into reviewing and holding this appeal, and I think done well. So please pass on our thanks to the Planning Commission. Next item, please.

Our next item is 8C, Big Creek Dam Update. tossing it to myself so we are due for an update on where we are with the big creek dam project in addition we do have some positive momentum on the funding front that I also wanted to cover tonight but this is a really complex project as you know that's been in the work for decades now so it's always good to step back and look at it from the big picture and talk about how we got to where we are today So weak soils were encountered under and within Big Creek Dam number one and number two back in 2011. As we know, the controlling earthquake is the Cascadia subduction zone. The dams are predicted to fail and result in loss of reservoir contents during an earthquake, which could pose a hazard to downstream populations. As a result, the OWRD, Oregon Water Resources Department, in 2021 classified both dams as unsafe slash potentially unsafe. So the city was required to sign what's called a consent order stating that the city would either replace or rehabilitate the dams by the end of 2036. So moving from the problem into solutions. In 2013, the city hired HDR Engineering to provide engineering services and some initial geotechnical work for both Big Creek Dam No. 1 and Big Creek Dam No. 2. Following that, they completed an alternatives analysis in 2015. And that identified the preferred option being the construction of a new dam rather than rehabilitation. And it was specifically a new roller compacted concrete dam that would remove Big Creek Dam number one and number two. Back when this alternatives analysis was completed in 2015, the cost estimate was roughly $80 million. At the time this analysis was done, the cost of rehabilitation and the cost of replacement seemed to be similar, which we now know is no longer the case today, but back then, that's what the initial estimates showed. So at the time, this option was advanced to the 30% design level, and that was completed in 2025 and presented to city council. And the project costs were conservatively estimated to be $185 million. Really, that's the bare minimum per the study that was completed. With the results being that high, we decided to hire Stantec, which is a financial firm, to provide a financial analysis on if we could afford this cost for the dam, and if so, how. The findings of that financial analysis completed by Stantec was presented to city council in December of 2025, and it showed that the project is not financially feasible without additional funding sources. And at the time, which is in many ways still true today, the access to grant funds, both federal and state, are relatively limited. As such, we decided to pursue another alternatives analysis, this time prepared by Jacobs Engineering Group out of Corvallis. They completed a thorough analysis, which was presented several times to city council. And they ultimately recommended that we proceed with two alternatives. In their report, they're titled Alternative 3A and Alternative 3B. One is remediating both dams, and one option is removing Big Creek Dam No. 1 and remediating the other dam. Both of these options have the stamp of approval from the Oregon Water Resources Department, which is really critical because as we move through this project, we want to make sure that we're keeping them involved and that they support the solutions that we're moving towards. Both of these projects had a cost estimate of between $30 million and $77 million. The reason for the range is because a fish ladder costs significant dollars. If we were to... be able to get a fish passage mitigation, we would be looking at more of a $30 million cost. If we have to build the fish ladder, then we're looking at the $77 million cost. So earlier this year, you all approved us moving forward with design of both alternatives because they do require more research until we really know which one is truly best for us of the two. Oh, this is also just to highlight. This is the table from the Jacobs report that showed some of the top options that were available. You may remember we looked at roughly 20 different alternatives, everything from, sure, rehabilitation replacement to desalinization. Could we get reclaimed water from the wastewater treatment plant? We tried to cast a really big net here. to see what options existed. But ultimately, the remediation proved to be the one that's still effective and also affordable.

Okay. Oh, yeah. Quick question. So on 3B, they're still looking at not removing BC1 if we can get approval to lower the risk of it?

Regardless of the hazard level, it is still technically could be an option. They need to do more geotechnical work for us to truly understand if that's really an option. So we're not sure which one is going to come out stronger yet.

But they will be looking to make sure that if we don't have to remove it, that saves money too, if I remember correctly.

Yes, that's correct. Removing a dam is very costly. Yes, absolutely. Okay, so moving forward, you may remember the city was awarded $14 million from the state through the Oregon Lottery Bond through OWRD to fund design. We have spent approximately $7 million of it for design, and we do believe that the remaining funds available are sufficient to cover the cost of preparing the final plans for the preferred alternative. I'd like to highlight here that there were a few months when we were unsure of whether we were going to be able to use these funds for this new solution. But big thanks to Representative Gomberg, who worked with his friends at the state and made sure that we were okay to move forward. So we're very thankful for his advocacy so that we can continue to keep our... Foot on the pedal, on the gas pedal, keep moving forward. Our current calendar shows that the design and final plans should be complete by May 2028, which is in line with the timetable that we have given OWRD. So we're still working on the same timeline that we established last year at this point. So there's been a lot of work behind the scenes over the last few months that I just want to highlight. We're pursuing funding for construction. Again, we have funding for design. So the real challenge is finding that money for construction. At this point, with the timetable we have, we're assuming construction begins by 2033. So I'm just going to highlight some of the current activities that we have going on. First, we did put out an RFP for design of our new preferred alternatives. Jacobs was the only one who bid on it. So we will be awarding the contract to them. However, we're still working on finalizing that scope of work. So that's still in progress. We are also working on what's considered the Big Creek Dam number one breach modeling, essentially looking at whether we can reclassify that dam as a lower hazard. You may remember Jacobs mentioned that in their presentation as something that we should look into. They're using the rest of their funding from the alternatives analysis to keep working on this project. So this is continuing onward. It's important that we continue this work because if the result shows and OWRD agrees that we can change the classification, that could change what we're required to do to get the dams to be seismically resilient. So it's really important that that work continues and that we have that result as soon as possible. In addition to that, we are re-engaging Stantec to run financial scenarios. We did not use all of their contract when we hired them last year because we were really quickly able to determine that we couldn't afford the project. It took a little less work than they thought to find that answer for us. So we had actually talked about in the work session keeping them on and circling back with them when we had other solutions so that they could run analyses for us. So we recently re-engaged them They are going to be running some scenarios. Essentially, how do we build our funding stack if we're looking at a project from $30 to $77 million? How much can we afford in loans? How much can we afford on our rate payers? And then how much do we need of essentially free money or grant money to get us across the finish line? So we look forward to working with them to help us build essentially what our funding could look like for this project. In addition to that, we're working with our federal and state lobbying partners. So we have water resources at the federal level, and we have public affairs at the state level. And we're working with our actual legislative partners, like Representative Gomberg, who is a big advocate for this project and understands the complexities of it, to try to determine when should we ask them for construction funding. Some of this is about timing. You have to spend state and federal dollars within a certain time frame. So we don't want to ask too soon that we can't spend the dollars. So we're thinking about what are our financial asks look like in the next few years to try to get us across the finish line for funding. In addition to that, we're meeting with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. They're the holders of the process for the fish passage mitigation. So they're a really critical partner. They're the ones that are going to decide whether it's a $30 million project or a $77 million project. So we're going to start meeting with them to make sure that we're doing the right things to continue to move forward with, hopefully, the fish passage mitigation rather than building the fish ladder. And then last but not least, we're looking at current loan and grant programs. Again, there's not many true grant programs available right now from the state and federal government, but we have been made aware of a few loan programs. Again, thanks to Representative Gomberg. He connected us with some folks at the USDA who have loan programs, and we're also connecting with Business Oregon as well to see really what loans, A, we qualify for and have the best terms that we would want to move forward with. That may be my last slide. Okay, and I think Chris is here. There he is in the back. If you have any technical questions, because I am not an engineer. But that is my update. Again, just really wanted to bring you up to speed on kind of where we are in the work that we're doing behind the scenes to continue moving this project forward. Happy to answer any questions.

Okay. Questions, comments? Yes.

Councilor Emond? Do you have any time frame on when the Oregon will clarify or reclassify Big Creek One? Is that dependent on our geological stuff, or do they do their own independent analysis?

Chris Beatty, City Engineer.

Yeah, we're still waiting on the information, more information to come to present the case. So we basically, we need the information, then we present the case, and then they decide. Yep. Okay, thanks.

It somehow feels like we're making some progress and that we're not chasing a pipe dream at this point too.

I guess I do have one question. Can we source funding before the design is complete?

Yes, and we can certainly start working on it. We already are. It's a matter of... figuring out when we have to spend those funds by. So we're not necessarily waiting until design is complete to go look for construction money. It's more of just figuring out what the timeline is of the funds when we go ask for them. Is it within reason? There's some funds that have to be sent within two years. Right now, that's obviously not the right time. There's some that have a longer runway. And that's what we're really working with our two lobbying partners on. is when do we make what asks to make sure that they align to our construction schedule. But yeah, we're not waiting until design is complete. We know that's going to be too late if we wait until then.

Anyone else? Okay, let's move on. Next item.

We have local contract review board.

This is to call to order the local contract review board.

First item, only item, 9A, purchase of an excavator. Robert has the staff report.

Thank you, Nina. Good evening, Councilors and Mayor. Robert Moser, your Public Works Director. We are requesting to purchase a new Komatsu PC88MR11 excavator that was approved under this year's current budget. We did go out to bid process on this. We received three quotes on different machines. The Komatsu was eventually, was our choice due to not only their price, availability, as well as their warranty and what they charge to actually come to the city with Komatsu. They don't charge us to come here and work on a warranty item, whereas all the rest of them charge mileage and time. So that's pretty big with Komatsu. Plus they give a three year, 3,000 hour warranty straight from the factory. The rest of them are two years. So it's a little better warranty. Plus their main warehouse is up in Seattle for parts. So availability for parts and repairs are much easier. So the ask is for the $179,980. We were actually budgeted for $180. So we're just under that amount.

Well, we kind of had an idea what it was going to cost before we asked for the budget.

So we were really good with where we were going to be. So that's what we're here to, what I'm here for. Comments, questions?

I have a question related to the consent calendar item in relation to this. So with this sale of surplus vehicles, do you think that will in some way recuperate some of the costs that this will cost?

Not on what we brought to you. So once we get this machine, we have a current excavator that's a little over 12 years old that we will bring back to be able to sell that. So that would help offset some costs. Can't sell it until we get the new one because we've got to have the machine.

Just briefly, what is... What do you do with an excavator? I know you excavate.

Yeah, so most recently we just did an extension and fixed the repair on a storm drain up at the park. So we do a lot of that work. depending on, you know, a sewer line repair or a water repair. We excavate with the excavator to get down to that, and mostly we don't use a backhoe. We always use the excavator for that kind of work. So it's a very... More precise?

Huh? Is it more precise?

Yeah, and it's just your dig reach is a lot better, and they're more stable when you're digging. Plus we use it, we have a mower head for it, so we mow out at the water treatment plant. So we do that work for them out there as well. You know, just recently this last spring, we went out to the wastewater treatment plant, and they have kind of a holding pond area out there for stormwater that stays within their facility. We went and cleaned that all out for them and, you know, cleaned all the area out and re-graded it for them. So that's what you use it for. We use it for setting hydrants, because hydrants, as you can imagine, are really heavy. So we'll lift them up with that and go set them down.

All right. Thank you. I was just curious. Yeah. Any other questions? Do I have a motion?

I'll take it. Okay. Move to authorize the city manager to enter a contract with Modern Machinery Company Incorporated to purchase one of Komatsu. Is that correct?

Correct.

PC88MR-11 excavator for $179,980 subject to city attorney review and approval as to form.

Second.

You guys got to be quicker. A motion by Councilor Romaguez, second by Councilor Hickman. Any further discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you very much. Counselor Hall wants a ride.

Aren't you on the board of CIS? Liability, liability. Okay. I have a special announcement. Okay. We have with us today in the audience two very special people. They are interns for this summer. Aaron and Isaiah, who didn't know I was about to call on them, you're welcome, have both been interns with the city this summer. Isaiah is working primarily in engineering, not always. And Aaron took an internship to work with three different departments. So engineering, wastewater treatment plant, and the city manager's office. It's the first time we did kind of a joint internship where we didn't necessarily pick one department. We tried to have her work in a variety of places. You may recognize them because they also... were tremendously helpful with the sister city visit um they spent a lot of hours working on that project and they're working on or just we're working on the case outside there as well but have just done so much work for us this summer we're so grateful for them uh brought so much positive energy and fun to the office as well so big thank you to aaron and isaiah for all the work this summer and for being our interns it's really great to have them where are these students from Do you want to come up here and talk about yourself for a minute?

You have to come up to the mic.

You have to use the microphone. Maybe your school and your degree.

I'm going into my final year at Oregon State, majoring in environmental engineering and sustainability.

And then I'm going into my final year at Oregon State as well, and I am majoring in civil engineering.

We're glad to have you, and thank you for coming.

Yes, we're very glad to be here. Wait, can I ask, how did you find out about the internship?

How did we hear about the internship?

You were government jobs.

So I found out about this internship because I was just browsing on government jobs one day and decided to apply to it. Nice. Great.

Erin?

Yeah, I feel like I was just looking around at other internship opportunities, and, yeah, I found this one, and I felt it aligned very well with what I was interested in. So, yeah.

Awesome. Thanks. And how has the experience been?

Amazing. This is exactly what I wanted. I had something else lined up in my hometown in California, and it just didn't feel right to me. And then I saw that there is an opportunity in Newport, and I was like, oh, this seems a lot. more of what I'd actually want to do with my career. And being here, and I feel like the focus of this internship has been make it your own. And I feel like that's the type of freedom you don't typically get to see, especially within engineering internships. And so we've been very lucky and grateful to be able to have the opportunity to make it our own.

It's really nice to hear that. It doesn't surprise me, but it's really nice to hear that.

It is.

I'd say my experience is probably pretty similar. As far as engineering goes, it seemed to align with what I want to do in the future as far as engineering. And definitely a lot of work to be done and not always being kept busy, which I think is pretty cool as far as an internship is. Because I know with some, it's just doing a lot of menial tasks. In this one, it feels like a lot of the stuff that I'm doing is meaningful and has... meaningful impact for sure. That's great.

Thank you for your service here.

Thanks for coming up even though I didn't warn you. I appreciate it. Okay, now I give the floor back to you.

That was well done. Reports from councillors. I have nothing this year.

I went to the quilt show on Sunday, and it was absolutely beautiful. It was nice to see them back. Lots of people.

I didn't win anything, but I sure lusted for some of those quilts.

That's about it for me.

We have a sister city committee meeting this past week. successful parts two and three of four events this year, the youth going out and the youth coming in and all the great work that all of our team has done. And there was some discussion about, well, some discussion about still our outgoing adult group in October and then discussion about how we move forward and what the cadence of these kinds of exchanges will be, which will be much saner. over the course of the next several years so that it sounded like maybe it might be the kind of following the lead of the folks in Japan. I think it was every three years for the youth and five years for adults. And those would be alternating. So the pace would slow to something that we can all live with, I think. So we'll see how that unfolds. I continue to follow and participate in the saga of the space around the LNG tank and the area that has been used as a dog park and negotiations or conversations with Northwest Naturals about the whole setup. The access is still incredibly limited to the tastes of the folks who bring their dogs there. I think it's 8 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon, and they're subject to these intermittent closures for reasons that are somewhat unclear. And Laura Riddle, who's been kind of taking the lead on that, and I have been continually frustrated with the lack of any meaningful progress towards making it more accessible, accommodating weekends and extended hours. There seems to be a lot of excuses on their part in terms of why nothing's happening, personnel and construction and various things. We're kind of ready to take it to the next level and engage a little more public information on what's going on, because we're not really getting satisfactory answers from them. Want to chat with our friends in the media about some of the things that are going on, because it's just there's really no good explanation for why people can't come out and continue to use that space, given there's been no incidents ever of any particular problem. It's space outside of the boundaries of their actual operation. They typically have sort of relied on explaining that, well, they have higher security in all of their facilities, and when you go to one of their offices or whatever, you have to be escorted and signed in and out and these sorts of things. And so this is just an extension of that. I keep saying, you know, if you have a building somewhere, you let people walk on the sidewalk outside, right? So this is like that. This is a space that's out there that you know, really they're lucky to be able to even have use of that property. I mean, they own it, but if it was to, if they were wanting to build that thing now, we would never let them do that given its location and, and everything else. And it's worked well in the past, but for whatever reason, they're sort of shining us on. And I feel like there's a lot of stalling and a lot of, Something else going on and so we're trying to get to the bottom of it and part of it Maybe to put a little public pressure on them to to be a little kinder neighbors Given everything so so we're working on that and hopefully we'll get some progress so the people have access to that beautiful property that great access to the bay and birders and fishermen and Dog owners and dogs, so we'll keep you posted

Can I ask a question about that? Is it a situation, because I'm with you on the fact that would you let them walk on the sidewalk? That's such a great perspective. And it was set up to be a perimeter kind of space. Do they just need to build a higher fence for their internal structure that they're so worried about?

I think they're just, I don't think they, first of all, I don't think they fully appreciate it because nobody we're speaking with knew anything about the actual property. And so I don't think that they realized how extensively it was being used to begin with. And I think their solution was the easiest one from their perspective, which was just close it off and move on. And so now they're having to, because we've pushed, they've had to kind of accommodate that. But they won't be specific and say it's a security concern other than, we have rules and we need to follow those rules. So that would be if they could actually name what the issue is, then at least then we could say, well, how about is there some way in which you could increase the security if that's an issue? But even one of the things was that they wanted to have a guard there in their little guard shack. And they were only having someone there from 8 to 3-ish. And the reason they couldn't extend hours was they didn't couldn't hire people to cover other shifts. They now have people coming in at like 2 or 2.30 to relieve the person who's been on all day, and yet they've never offered to extend those hours. So they're just not being straight with us. So I think we've been nice for too long, or patient maybe, and now we're not patient anymore. So we'll see what happens.

the work you're putting into that. And I think that eventually you'll get through. So I've been really busy the last couple of weeks. tabled it National Night Out, and I thought that we did well. The spinning the wheel was very popular, but I think we need to have a little more information, maybe some neon lights about the dam project that would help them. I spent last Thursday to Saturday down in Ashland where it was 104 degrees. Really? But less smoke than Eugene. Quite interesting. You ran between the buildings. With the Oregon Mayors Association, which was useful and helpful. I would estimate probably about 80 mayors there, which is a scary thought, you know, a bunch of people like me.

There's no one.

And the coast, I have to say the coast was very well represented. We have a coastal caucus that has emerged over the last couple of years. And it mainly gets together at these times, but we network with each other. And it's been very useful. So I appreciate probably I would get something like 15 of the probably 23 mayors really well attended. A lot of focus in that conference on, I think, some of what we kind of do, which was on civility in government. And there was a couple of sessions on that, and people are really thinking about that. And it made me appreciate the kind of civility that I think we operate with here. And sometimes going to things of that sort helps you appreciate what you have. And then the main thing, one of the main things that I passed on earlier was the association's position on, emerging position on priorities for the legislative session, would point out that a couple of dates, Friday, November 6th, will be the first legislative webinar, which LOC puts on, which really begins to prep for the legislative session. And Tuesday, January 6th, is City Day at the Capitol. So that's something to put on. It's useful. You have a lot of city councilors approaching legislators, and that's helpful. Beyond that, I attended the Sisters City Committee, and I went to the meeting of the Midcoast Water Conservation Consortium, which is a conservation-focused organization. really primarily focused on providing education to the public. A number of different water districts involved, Seal Rock, Yachats, a couple of others that were there. But useful is networking, and they do a good job. They do things like providing faucets and aerators and things that you don't think of, but that actually

Conserve water and apparently feel that that we're making progress in the in the region That's it for me Okay a couple of things I got to be with councillor Hickman at the summer sounds con I at Don and Ann Davis Park on Friday night which was a really wonderful turnout in gray coastal weather which and it was just really lovely and then on August 27th on the bayfront next to claim 52 is the next one with noche Latina and that looks like it'll be a good turnout as well also wanted to mention Newport Pride is September 18th through the 20th with lots of events. So NewportOregonPride.com, their website. And then we have two meetings coming up this week. If people are interested in learning more about the dam project. The dam. Dam project. It is a damn, the bond measure, I don't know what I'm saying. Thursday night at the Hill Restaurant up on the Hill at 6 o'clock and then Friday morning at Pig and Pancake at 7.30 for folks who are curious about the bond to know more about it and how to support getting good, clear information out there about it. We've got a little window of time here.

So we did the National Night Out, and that was the first time I've ever tabled something like that, and it was really fun. I guess the only comment I really have is we should, for next time, think of some easier questions for the kids, because even we couldn't answer some of those. And then maybe expand our toy budget, or... Yeah, because we ran out pretty quick. The kids really, really liked it. And a lot of the parents really liked something to distract their kids while they listened to how we informed them about the bond. So I think that was pretty cool. Also, I saw on social media this week, or last week, sorry, that our city manager was painting some curbs. So I thought that was pretty cool.

Full service, yes.

Yeah, the national night out was fun, and it's a good chance to interface with the public. That's good.

Do you want to ask about the flag? complete. It's time for public comment. If there's anyone in the public who would like to address the council, now would be the time. Hearing none, this meeting is adjourned.