City Council - Regular Meeting

3rd, 2026 to order. We acknowledge that this uh meeting is being held on the ancestral lands of the Co Salish people. We pay our respect to those past and present. Tonight's invocation will be led by Pastor Matthew Ericson from First Reformed Church. Please stand for the invocation and remain standing for the pledge of allegiance.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm glad I got the notice to wear green today like the rest of the rest of us. Let us uh let us pray. Gracious God, we give you thanks. We give you thanks for this community of Oak Harbor, for the people who call this place home, and for those who have gathered here to serve the common good. In these days that can feel uncertain and divided, we ask for a spirit of unity to guide us. Help us to listen well to one another, to seek wisdom over pride, and to work together for the flourishing of our city and for our neighbors. We also lift before you the men and women of our armed forces who serve around the world, including many connected to this very community. Watch over them, protect them, and bring comfort to their families who wait and pray at home. In light of the conflict that has once again risen in the Middle East, we pray for peace where there is violence. For wisdom among our nation's leaders, and for mercy for all who find themselves caught in the midst of suffering. May peace guide our steps. wisdom shape our decisions and hope remain before us. Amen.

Amen.

Please join me in the pledge. I aliance 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. All right. This is a reminder that tonight's meeting will both be a physical and virtual meeting. You may view the meeting on YouTube and following the meeting on Facebook. Uh roll call. Julie, we don't need roll call. I do know that uh council member Wigenstein is uh attending remotely and I have a request from council member Peterson to be excused. So I would entertain a motion to excuse council member Peterson.

I moved or excuse council man member Peterson.

Okay we have a motion to excuse council member Peterson seconded by mayor prom. All in favor raise your hand and that passes. Thank you very much for that and our thoughts are with you Sandy. All right, we will move on to approval of agenda. I have one change in our agenda today. Michael Johnson, who had applied to be on the planning commission, let us know last evening that he has been appointed to a board position on the Northwest Senior Services Board representing Island County and as such he will not be available to serve on the planning commission. We thank him for his interest and will remove the appointment from our consent agenda. Are there any other suggestions or suggested changes to the regular agenda? If not, I would entertain a motion to approve the agenda as amended.

So, may prom. I move to approve the agenda as amended. Second. All right. We have a motion to approve as uh amended, seconded by council member Arm. All in favor, raise your hand. Passes unanimously. Thank you very much. All right. Tonight we have some presentations. We have a couple proclamations. The first being our Irish American Heritage Month here to introduce the Irish Wildlife Society. One of their members um is here to present. I think there's several of their members here to present though. So step on up and the floor is yours.

Thank you, Mar. I'm Margaret Livermore from Okabover Main Street Association and um I am reading uh this proclamation on behalf of Mayor Ronnie Wright proclamation. Whereas Irish American Heritage Month was first proclaimed by George uh President George Herbert Walker Bush on March 12th, 1991. And whereas this congressionally designated non-federally observant honors the significant contributions, culture and history of over 31 million American Americans of Irish descent. And whereas early Irish immigrants face difficulties in preserving their culture and had to fight against stereotype harmful stereotypes to be accepted in the United States. And whereas Irish immigrants have helped to shape American culture through their contributions to the arts, literature, public service, and transportation by such remarkable per remarkable persons as inventor and businessman Henry Ford, journalist Nelly Bllye, author F. Scott Fitzgerald, dancer Jean Kelly, and 22 presidents of the United States. And whereas today Irish Americans continue to enrich the life and culture of our great nation. Now therefore, I, Ronnie Wright, mayor of the city of Oak Harbor, on behalf of Oak Harbor City Council, do hereby proclaim March 2026 as Irish American Heritage Month. In the city of Oak Harbor and encourage all residents and organizations to recognize and celebrate the legacy of Irish Americans today and throughout American history. And then I have a few things to say afterwards. Um, great. Um, we would like everybody to come downtown and wear green and support um, the Irish and shop, walk, shop, and dine March 14th through the 17th. There's a leprechaun crawl, a pub crawl on March 14th. Um, and there the blessing of the Barney

Stone happens at 3 p.m. before our parade on March 17th. And the parade is on and March 17th at 4:30 p.m. starts at Elely Street and goes down to Midway. So we encourage you all to come out and enjoy the Irish and um follow them on would be Irish Wildlife Society uh page for more information. Great. Thank you so much. All right. Our next proclamation this evening is our women's history month and we have to read that proclamation this evening our mayor prom terra heisen

soundtrack as well

proclamation whereas American women of every race class and ethnic background have made historic contributions to the growth and strength of our nation in countless recorded and unrecorded ways. And American women have played and continue to play a critical economic, cultural, and social roles in every sphere of the life of our communities by constituting a significant portion of the labor force and working inside and outside of the home. And American women have played a unique role throughout the history of the nation by providing the majority of the volunteer labor force in the United States. And American women were particularly important in the establishment of early charitable, philanthropic, and cultural institutions in our nation. And American women of every race, class, and ethnic background served as early leaders in the forefront of every major progressive social change. And American women have served our country courageously in the military. And American women have been leaders not only in securing their own rights of suffrage and equal opportunity, but also in the abolitionist movement, the emancipation movement, the industrial labor movement, the civil rights movement, and especially the peace movement, which create a more fair and just society for all. And whereas despite these contributions, the role of American women in history has been consistently overlooked and undervalued in the literature, teaching, and study of American history. Now therefore, I, Ronnie Wright, mayor of the city of OAR, on behalf of the Ocarbor City Council, do hereby proclaim March 2026 as Women's History Month in the his in the city of Okar and encourage all residents and organizations to recognize and celebrate the contributions of women today and throughout American history. Signed this third day of March, 2026. Mayor Ronnie Wright.

Thank you, Mayor Prom, for reading that. Very excited about that. All right, we're going to move on to public comments. Comment on consent agenda items or subjects of interest not listed on the agenda at this time will be taken. Opportunity to comment on the remaining agenda items during the meeting as appropriate, which don't think we have anything on the agenda, so that's not really applicable. Comments on public hearing items are heard during that portion of the agenda. Visit our website for methods to submit public comments. Public comments sent anonymously or from a non-verifiable address will be shared with the mayor and council, but will not be displayed. At this time, we will accept public comments on items not listed on the agenda or on the consent agenda. The clerk will call your name in the order in which you signed in to speak. Please step forward to the microphone and state your name and address. Please limit your comments to 3 minutes.

Thank you, mayor. We had one individual sign up to speak. Please note your city clerk is 66 almost years old and when you write I need you to write it bigger than a size eight font. Thank you. I believe that the last name is von Kinder or von childer if you would go to the microphone please and state your name and address.

Good evening. Um I am William Quinton Van Gilder. Um my residence is 1685 Southwest Robertson Drive. um been a member of this uh community for about uh a decade now. Um two things I wanted to talk to today about. Um one being the pickupball courts, the that whole thing. Um the uh Pacific Northwest isn't exactly known for its bright sunny days. Um, I don't think it's a good idea to spend $45,000 on pickle ball court that you can only use six months out of the year. So, um, that's my own personal pro, uh, thing on that. Um second, the roads uh the roads have started to what I've noticed have started to deteriorate um quite rapidly uh especially front of Wells Fargo and more notably um in front of my own home, right? Um, I can't keep a cup of coffee in my coffee holder, right, and drive down the road without it spilling? It's uh just just the little things that that make my life easier, a little better. So, um, is there something that we could do about the road situation? That is that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you for coming and sharing and speaking up. We appreciate that. Mayor, that concludes those that signed up in advance to speak.

Great. Is there anybody that is here with us this evening that did not have a chance to sign up that would like to step forward and make public comment at this time? All right. Hearing seeing none, we will close public comment and move on to our consent agenda. Are there any objections? We did have comments. Oh, that were sent in. She's shaking her head now. That's why I'm a little Okay. So, like some are old ones and some new ones. Oh, it should only be the new ones in the public in the presentation folder. It's both of them.

Okay. I can I can quickly go through and delete them and come back to them. No, I I'll get it for you. Okay. And then we can come if we can come back to the mayor, I can get those up for sure. Okay. Well, let's move on to consent agenda then. Um, are there any objections or changes to the consent agenda as presented? Hearing seeing none, is there a motion to approve or yes, Mayor Prom? Would we be Julie? Would we be approving it as amended since we pulled item D or the mayor pulled item D at the beginning of the meeting? Yes. Thank you.

Okay. Um I move to approve the consent agenda as amended. Thank you, Mayor Pent. We have a second.

All right. We have a motion to approve the consent agenda as amended. Seconded by Council Member Marshall. Is there any further discussion before we approve or before I call for a vote? Hearing seeing none, all in favor raise your right hand. All right. Approves unanimously. Thanks. All right. Mayor and council comments. I will go first and then call upon you quickly. Director's retreat. The executive team and our department directors had a productive retreat on February 20th. Our theme was reset 2026 and included discussions and activities centered on the importance of planning, leadership, accountability, communication, efficiency, and delegation. Our department directors and our executive team are working hard to improve our city from the inside out. Hillrest Elementary Visit. I was delighted last week to visit Ms. Ching's second grade class at Hillrest Elementary School. the class designed the artwork for the city's wa water conservation project. Thank you Hillrest um elementary as and Miss Ching the students and city water specialist Becky von Hayden the right blend at Regency. Thank you to Regency for hosting our February right blend this past Friday. We got some great questions about public parking, law enforcement, the new fire station, streets, bike lanes and pedestrian safety, marina repairs, and the recently passed chronic nuisance ordinance. Other questions included how the the city works with legislators on grants and how these benefit the city. A lot of great information comes out of these right blends. I enjoy these discussions and the opportunity to respond to your questions. Stay tuned to our website and social media for the next one later this month. All right. Well city recognition. I'm proud to announce that the city has once again earned the well city designation for 2026. And this marks the 20th consecutive year we've received this prestigious recognition. The Well City award is granted by the Association of Washington City's Employee Benefit Trust to employers who meet standards in promoting employee health and wellness.

By achieving this recognition, we save the city money in the form of reduced insurance rates. Please join me in thanking the wellness committee for two decades of commitment to health, wellness, and community here at the city. I am proud to lead an organization that cares about the health and wellness of its employees. In my time as mayor, I will continue to encourage this participation which benefits our staff as their health and welfare are important to me. All right. Oak Harbor Urban Forestry Public Survey. The city of Oak Harbor is creating our first plan to take care of all trees in the city. This plan will help us manage and protect protect trees now and in the future to benefit our community. The urban forest includes all of the trees and plants in Oak Harbor, such as those in parks, along streets, in natural areas, and even in private yards. The survey is open to everyone, and we'd love to hear or to have your input. Visit our homepage at www.ocharbor.gov to take the survey or scan the QR code that's on the screen now. Please get involved. We have openings on a number of our city advisory boards, commissions, and committees. See our website to apply. Stay connected. Come to a meeting, a right blend. Send us a question via email or call us. Follow us on social media to find out what is coming up. Please remember that social media is not the best place to leave comments or ask questions. We encourage you to call us and leave us a message. We will call you back or send us an email. We're happy to send an email back. With that, I'm going to turn it over to council for their comments at this time. I gave you this updated one. We have new pilot program.

Yeah, I don't have that. Okay.

So, yeah, but there's like 40 versions in my office. Um, okay. Falconry pilot program. There's another item here. After ongoing community concerns about nuisance birds, our city council approved a pilot falconry based bird deterrence program to address ongoing nuisance and bird issues affecting public spaces, nearby businesses, and environmental quality. Today we met Cole Surroad of Sky Patrol Bird Services and his Harris Hawk Mantis. Sky Patrol will be working with local businesses in downtown Oak Harbor near and near the waterfront from Southwest Eerie Street to Southeast Midway Boulevard. You can hear more about the story tonight on King Five TV at 7 p.m. All right. So, that's the last announcement then. Yeah. Okay. All right. With that, now council comments, questions that you have or that you want to information you want to share. Council Member Arms.

Uh yeah, this morning I went down again to the marina for the little fingerlings and I got to feed them this morning. It was quite exciting trying to figure out that I got it in the net instead of someplace else. But anyway, um they were really active. They've been busier, so that's good. And the barge is down there doing whatever the barge does. Hopefully we can get that done finished soon. And that's about it. Thank you, Council Member Arms. Anybody else? Council member Stucky.

So, when I got the packet on Thursday, we normally get our packets ahead of time so we have time to read. I was a little disappointed to not see any items on it for us to us to discuss. And I realized that that does happen occasionally where we just there isn't anything to discuss. But I looked at the last few meetings. I mean the last workshop was two mostly FYI updates. The meme before that the only discussion item was the Falcon. The one before that was a tourism mirror local and a brief update on the pickleball courts. The meme before that was pretty much just on nepotism. And the meeting before that there was the memory of upper understanding on the Oaks Harbor Arts Foundation and update on emergency management. And I guess the concerning thing for me is it doesn't look like our time is really being taken full advantage of here. I mean we added another meeting which is great and that could logically spread things across other meetings but if I was the public and many people have come to me looking at us what we're doing up here and the city is doing a lot and staff does a lot but if you're looking at the meetings it doesn't look like we've done much this year. So I guess my question is is there any reason why the last month has been a little lackluster as far as our meetings go and if we get a little input onto how an agenda is made? I don't know if the public knows how an agenda is made. It's not normally council we bring suggestions but just a little into what goes into how an agenda is made and maybe I'm overreacting but it just feels like we haven't done a whole lot up here. Sabrina,

I'll let you respond tactfully because I'm not sure I can. So, council member, there are some items at the beginning of the year. There are items that we carry over from um things that we were working on in December. Um there are regular contracts that we bring forward that come up as we do things. Um the Falconer is an example of that. Um as the program comes together, we try to bring things to workshops so that you guys can discuss it. As we talked about at the retreat, this was the new path forward was saying we have the retreat time to talk through the item, then we bring the action forward which was supposed to also help expedite these meetings in a sense because we would have less conversation happening at the meeting where we're actually taking the action. Uh we also sometimes because of timing may have action at a workshop. Um it is a balance where we try to identify the number of items that we have and look at you know this is going to take about 10 minutes this is going to take about 20 minutes. Um and then the other thing is is that we have the vouchers that need to be done um on a regular basis for the payments of items that we have from our vendors and that are submitted by our staff. So there there is a balance in that. Also tonight we also looked at some of the um reappointments and appointments that we had. We did not were not aware that somebody was going to drop out of that process, but we are trying to move those through quickly as well so that we can get those people onto those boards and commissions, but this was a conversation at the retreat that that the council had. And so staff has been trying to work towards that. As we get further into the year with some of these projects, we're working through them, but um as with any entity, there are times when we have a lot of things, there are times when we have fewer things, and we're also getting ready to go into budget. So, your schedule will be getting heavier as we start addressing all of the requirements related to the budget items and we're working on scheduling the updates from each department. You'll also have the updates specific from some of our boards and commissions that are recommendations

related to budget. So, I would say this lighter time period as it may seem is as we're getting ramped up for some of the future items that are coming your way. I appreciate that. That's kind of what I'm looking I'm not by any means saying let's go back to having meetings that I mean gosh what the first few years I was here we were getting to the 10:00 and pushing it past. So I'm all about efficiency. That's something I certainly could have sent an email but I just the amount of people have asked me I thought it was good to ask here. So I appreciate that and look forward to having fuller agendas in the future as needed.

Yeah, we we really make that effort and I will say there are times when I Julie and I will sit down and talk and I'll say what's on the agenda? do we have something? Should we add something else? And so we have those conversations, but a lot of times too with the advisory boards and the vouchers, we're trying to get those on. And then I think it was Mayor Proim who brought up the really good idea of adding more of the proclamations and talking about things in our community and and involving people in those efforts as we have those items going on. So having the Irish um the celebration of Irish American heritage tonight was a good way to do that as well. Thank you. Anybody else? Yes. Council member Romero.

Thank you, mayor. I wanted to take a moment because a girl came up to me and said she was just elated that that's not the word she used, but she was obviously just delighted because the softball field apparently had some work done on it. And uh so I wanted to praise whoever was responsible for that, probably public works and parks and wreck. But anyway, um it it was because it had been so many months and years, it was just such a shock and she was uh so I just wanted to pass that praise on to you. And then also with regard to the right blend, I thought the last one at re regency on wouldbe was outstanding in every way. And um so I would look forward to more comparable ones that are possible where you have a large turnout and public interest in the events of the city. And with regard to efficiency, being an administrative type organizational person that I am, I love it when business is being taken care of and there's not a lot of contrary uh things going on. So when we have an efficient ad administration like we do, I don't necessarily expect us to have a bunch of fireworks in debate uh on a regular basis hopefully because it we we try to get the stuff done that we need to do for our city. That's all I have. Mayor,

great. Yes, thank you. And I agree with you. The meeting at Regency was uh wonderful because it did highlight all of the work that we are doing on an ongoing basis. So I can't remember when can't remember a time in the last two years when I've had a lot of time off. So um it was refreshing to be reminded of that by the citizens of how hard we are working on a daily basis. Mayor Prom,

thank you. Speaking of pool houses, I wanted to thank everybody that came out for the town hall at the center. not this most recent Saturday, but the one before where um we had our Senator Ron Mazal and Representative Dave Paul. it came to do a town hall and answer questions and um I mean it was the center has you know quite a capacity and it was absolutely packed and the questions were fantastic and the audience was I mean it was just the way that the the way that our representatives modeled civil discourse and um you know mutual respect and productivity was it just it really I think they set a great example and the um the whole audience really reflected that back and it was just the whole tone was very respectful. It was very productive and it was just an absolute pleasure to to find out what was going on, hear from them and in an environment that was just very receptive and you know uplifting and people have a lot of big feelings which justifiably so. that we were, you know, they were there to listen and learn and and be respectful and it was just it's just like gosh, you know, I wish all the discourse could go like this does and I just wanted to thank um Ron Mazal and Dave Paul for um demonstrating that that can be done. Thanks.

Thanks for sharing that. It is refreshing to see that too when people aren't doing things underhandedly and behind your back or try to put you on as a a spectacle on public display. So, it's it's refreshing to see people working together and partnering. So, I I enjoy that. So, yeah. Exactly. Anybody else? Yes, Council Member Arms.

Yeah. And I don't know if I mentioned it last time. It's hard to know what day of the week anymore. Uh anyway, I went down to the town hall meeting also with Clyde Shavers. Um there was quite a a turnout and it was about an hour long and it was informative and I appreciated him coming and uh speaking to everybody and answering their questions. So it was really nice. You know we've got now we have all of them presenting. So that was really nice to be at the same time.

Thank you. All right. Well, uh making sure Council Wensstein didn't want to weigh in. All right. At this time, we're going to move into executive session per RCW423110 parent one parent I. At this time, the council will enter into executive session to discuss with legal counsel litigation or potential litigation. The anticipated duration of the executive session is 15 minutes. Action may or may not be taken upon return to the open session of the regular meeting. Executive sessions are not open to the public. Mayor, if you would please add and for RCW 4230 110 parent one parent C to discuss a potential real estate transaction. Um I think we're still in for 15 minutes. So

The council has announced that they will extend the executive session for an additional 10 minutes from 6:15 to 6:25.

The council has announced that they will extend the executive session again for an additional 10 minutes to 6:35.

come out of executive session and will now resume the regular meeting. There will be no action taken at this time regarding the matter discussed. Before we adjourn the meeting, since there is no further business, we do have to go over public comment. They have gotten that issue fixed. So, we are going to display public comment at this time that we had received. Oh, okay.

I don't know. You know, do we have to be here? Tim was trying to be efficient and did it while you were in executive session. All right. Well, we're going to do it again. Here are the public comments received since our last meeting that we're displaying here now. They're not.

That's it. All right. Thank you, Tim. All right. There being no further business, is there a motion to adjurnn? So moved. We have moved. All right, we have a motion to adjurnn. Was that a second, Council Member Wigenstein? Yeah. All right, so we have a second by Council Member Wigenstein. Good to hear from you tonight. All in favor, raise your right hand. We are adjourned at 636.