City Council - Regular Meeting

Yeah, me too. I was Good afternoon. As it is 5:30 p.m., I will call this city council meeting of April 7th, 2026 to order. We acknowledge that this meeting is being held on the ancestral lands of the Coast Salish people. We pay our respect to those past and present. Tonight's invocation will be led by Pastor Matthew Erickson from the First Reformed Church. If we could all please stand for the invocation and then remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. [clears throat]

Thank you, Mayor Wright and esteemed members of our city council. Uh all in the room, let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of this community. For Oak Harbor, for its people, and for the shared responsibility of caring for this place that we call home. As these lead- leaders gather tonight, we ask for wisdom, not just knowledge, but Lord, discernment. In moments of decision, give them clarity to see beyond immediate concerns and toward the long-term good of this city. We give thanks for the many ways this community is being strengthened through the care of our environment, the planting of trees, the stewardship of the land. Remind us that what we build today shapes the lives of generations to come. We lift up the families who serve our nation, especially the children who carry unique burdens with quiet strength. Surround them with support, stability, and a deep sense that they are seen and they are valued. As discussions unfold tonight, whether it's in public comments, in policy decisions, in moments of disagreements, grant patience, respect, and a commitment to listen well. Help these leaders to serve not just personal preference, but the common good. And in all things, remind us that leadership is ultimately an act of service. We entrust this time to you. Amen. All right, please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge 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.

[clears throat] [snorts]

All right, this is a reminder that this is both a physical and a virtual meeting. The meeting may be viewed on YouTube and following the meeting on Facebook. Um normally I would have Julie or Mikaela, who is standing in for Julie, take roll call, but everyone is present and accounted for. Councilmember Peterson is uh participating remotely. She is online. I see her there. So, we are going to move to approval of the agenda. Are there any suggested changes to the regular agenda? And if not, I request a motion to approve it as presented. So moved. Second. All right, we have a motion to approve the agenda as presented by Councilmember Wiggenstain, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem. And before I call for a vote, is there any further discussion? Hearing seeing none, all in favor, raise your right hand. All right, that passes unanimously. Thank you very much.

[sighs]

We are going to move forward. We have a couple of presentations this afternoon. The first up is our Arbor Day Proclamation and here to introduce that is our Parks and Recreation Supervisor Brandon Cable and he will read the proclamation. Hello, Mayor, City Council. Thank you. Um so, for Arbor Day 2025, the proclamation. Whereas in 1872, J. Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the planting of planting of trees. And whereas, to quote Mr. Morton, "Other holidays repose upon the past. Arbor Day proposes for the future." And whereas, the first Arbor Day occurred on April 10th, 1872 in Nebraska City, Nebraska, and was observed with the plantings of more than a million trees by a thousand of residents and school children. And whereas, Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and the world. And whereas, trees combat climate change, reduce the erosion of topsoil by wind and water, cut heating and cooling costs, moderate the temperature, clean the air, produce life-giving oxygen, and provide habitat for wildlife. And whereas, trees are a renewable resource, given giving us pri- paper, wood for our homes, fuel for our fires. And whereas, trees in the city increase property values, enhance the economic vitality of business areas, and beautify our community. And whereas, trees, wherever they are planted, are a source of joy and spiritual renewal. Now, therefore, we, Mayor Ronnie Wright and City Council, uh or city council members of the City of Oak Harbor, do hereby proclaim April 24th, 2026 as Arbor Day. Great. Thank you so much, Brandon. Thank you.

[applause]

All right, our next proclamation to be read out loud is Month of the Military Child Proclamation and here to introduce that is our Oak Harbor School Board President Lynn Goebel. Well, first of all, thank you very much for this invite. I'm just going to say I was a military child, so this meant a lot to me. And as a teacher in the Oak Harbor School District during Desert Storm, serving children during a time and in the time that we're in now. So, it is such an honor and our partnership with the City of Oak Harbor is very important to the Oak Harbor Public Schools. So, thank you very much and here we go. Whereas, military members and military-connected connected families make many sacrifices for the security and safety of our nation, including our military-connected children during their K-12 experiences. And whereas, the life of a military-connected child is one of constant change. In addition to the typical stressors of being a kid, a military child faces a unique unique set of challenges, including separations during deployment and being relocated across the country or even in the world. And whereas, being a military child means always having to adjust, adapt to an array of challenges. And whereas, understanding how to support children during these challenges begins with paying close attention to their behavior and emotions and using available resources when needed. And whereas, wearing purple is a visible way for everyone to show support and to thank military youth for their strength and

sacrifices. Now, therefore, we, Mayor Ronnie Wright and the council members of the City of Oak Harbor, do hereby proclaim April 2026 as the Month of the Military Child in the City of Oak Harbor. And we urge all residents to purple up in support and recognition of military children in our community, across our nation, and around the globe. Thank you very much. Thank you, Lynn. [applause]

And just a friendly reminder for everyone that each of the schools are holding celebrations next week. Um and we as staff will be participating for Purple Up Day greetings students as well as reading to students at different days of the week. So, that's available to all of you as well if you would like to participate as council members. All right, we have one more presentation today. That would be the Island County Public Health Update and here to introduce that is Taylor Lawson, Deputy Director of Island County Public Health, and Bill Larson, our Human Services Deputy Director. All right. Good evening, Mayor and council. My name is Taylor Lawson. I'm the Deputy Director of Island County Public Health. And as mentioned, Bill is with me as Human Services Deputy Director. And we are here to announce that we as a collective team have recently moved. So, we were up the way here off of What is it? Bay Shore? Well, Regatta. Yes. And now we are located in Bay Shore, right across from the Transit Center. And we have opened our doors for folks and are welcoming our clients. And we always welcome any members of the community who are interested in our resources and services to get to know us, to get to know our clients. Um but we've also provided some information if you're interested about the services we provide. And um I guess I might actually just turn it over to you, Bill, if you'd like. Yeah, and we can share a little bit more if you guys are interested. Good afternoon. Thanks for having us. This um as most moves are, this was exciting and challenging. Uh we are still in the midst of it. So, although we do welcome people to come by, I'm going to say not yet.

[laughter]

Uh uh we've been talking with the chamber. We'd love to do an open house and a a ribbon cutting. That's probably going to be closer to June. We are still awaiting for some furniture and some other logistics, but I will tell you, it's been a great location. We've been in the building for a couple of weeks now. The signage and the location are so much better. We've had a lot of walk-ins who um didn't know we were there until they saw the big signs. And so, I think we're going to be much more accessible. We're right across the street from the bus lines. Our veteran services on the human services side uh are all in that building. Our case management, and we do case management for folks with a substance use disorder, mental behavioral health issues. We have case managers who um are working primarily with youth, and then we have some who specialize with the elderly. So, if there are any questions, we have some phone numbers on there, but the best and easiest way to get services from our folks that are now on Barrington is to go to Island um countywa.gov, and um if you go to human services or to public health, there's a button on there that you can fill out. It takes us a couple of minutes, uh a quick survey, and you hit that button, and a real life person will look at that and assign someone uh to that uh person so that they can get some real life help. We're not AI-ing it yet, so uh people helping people. Um and so, exac- again, we're excited, and thank you for having us. And if you have any questions, we'd be happy to entertain those. Great. Thank you. Any questions from council for them? Yes, Council Member Stuckey. You mentioned Barrington. I'm curious with with this facility being relatively right up the street compared to where you are now. I I mean, I do see Island County vehicles over at SPIN off pretty often. Um will this be able to enhance the services or make it easier for them just because of the closer location? Or is this something where you don't really need those folks to come into the building? I mean, I'm just trying to

figure out if this will have any impact just being closer. The The impact this has, especially with as it relates to SPIN, is a lot of our case managers do work um with uh a lot of the folks over at SPIN, and that facility is getting much more crowded, so it's easier now to bring them over uh and have interviews and discussions. We have a couple of designated uh counseling rooms where we can have some privacy instead of doing all that uh on site. So, it does make that a bit easier uh for us. Uh again, and being on the transit uh lines, a lot of our We've had a lot of folks who uh are part of our WIC program who rely on public transportation, and it's a much easier on and off for for those folks as well. So, are your case managers physically, like you mentioned off-site, you know, off SPIN Cafe room, are you are they physically driving them there? Uh often times, yes. Uh so, yeah, our case managers provide transportation to uh meetings uh and to appointments if if they're needed. Um it's it's kind of weird um because you have so many case managers in the building in the morning, everybody's there, but by 9:00, I'm one of the only people in the building on our side. And that's the way it should be because they should be getting out into the community, meeting people where they are. Looking forward to it. Thank you. Yes, Council Member Weinstock. I I'm going to harp on it all a point of intrigue or coordinated entry point, right? Or is are we still hoping that you guys are going to be able to put a secondary location here in Oak Harbor? For that coordinated entry when the when somebody comes up, they've been kicked out of their house, and they need help, they don't know where to go.

Mhm. And or for used to always have to find your way to Coupeville. Yeah, that's a barrier for people to get help. Right. And so, they can still do that for coordinated entry for housing assistance. Um we are still physically located out of Coupeville, but we also have a couple of case managers in our housing department who work They go to SPIN, or they'll go to somebody's home if they're in danger of losing their their apartment or their home. So, all of our services have people, even our veterans, they can come into the building, but uh a lot of our veterans have difficulty getting around, mobility issues, disabilities. So, all of our programs have people that go out into the community. That's why um you see so many vehicles in front of our building is because uh we do tend to go where the need is. Great. Anybody else? All right. Well, thank you very much for being here this evening. Good to see you guys. Thank you. All right. We are going to move into the public comments phase of the meeting. Comment on consent agenda items or subjects of interest not listed on the agenda at this time. Opportunity to comment on the remaining agenda items during the meeting as appropriate will be um held during those [clears throat] applicable time. 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 up to speak, and that would be Mikael. Mikael, did anyone sign up this evening to speak? Yes, Mayor. We have um one person signed up to see speak, but it's for the public hearing. Okay. So, we will save that for that item then. And then, we will display the public comments that we received since the last meeting for display this evening.

[clears throat and cough]

All right. So, those are all of the comments that we had received. So, one last time, was there anybody that's joined us that didn't have an opportunity to sign in that would like to step forward and make comment now at this time on an item that is not on the agenda at this time. All right. Hearing seeing none, I'm going to close public comment, and we're going to move on to the consent agenda. Um are there any objections or changes to the consent agenda as presented? Hearing seeing none, I would entertain a motion. Yes, Mayor Pro Tem. I move to approve the consent agenda as presented. Second. All right. We have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented by Mayor Pro Tem, seconded by Council Member Merrow. Is there any further discussion before I call for a vote? Hearing seeing none, all in favor, raise your right hand. That passes unanimously. All right. We are going to move on to mayor's comments and council comments. The Right Blend. I want to first take a moment to say a huge thank you to staff, Chief Anderson as well as Chief Slowik, council that was present, and especially everyone from the community who attended. A few topics that we discussed um included mental health and homelessness services, parking, abandoned vehicles, a citywide cleanup day, code enforcement questions, service dog concerns. Um and then, we discussed how RV parking on Bayshore came up at the Right Blend in February, and we are currently working through a proposed ordinance that we um are looking to bring forward to City Council workshop next week. Uh Chief is, so we've been working with um Stacy downstairs in Development Community Services. Do I have that right? We keep changing the name, so. Um so, we have now worked that through legal, so we're bringing that forward

for discussion next week. We'll work that through in workshop, and then, we are going to bring that forward on the 21st to um have you guys legislate into law. [snorts]

Uh so, that is a big win um for one of the things that came out of the Right Blend. Flag vandalism update. Individuals were arrested and charged. Um the individual was parking on Bayshore in an RV. Um thank you to the Public Works Department and Sandra for working quickly to replace the flags, and Tom for installing and repairing the flags that were damaged. Um we are working with Oak Harbor Police Department on an ordinance to prohibit the RV parking on streets as I just mentioned, so look for that to be coming next week in the workshop, and then, again, it will be coming um for legislation in the following week on on 21st. Um I want to extend a huge gratitude to everyone who attended the Art and Elegance Gala fundraiser to support the Whidbey Homeless Coalition. Specifically, I would like to thank Therese Kingsbury, Stephanie Smith, Jackie Huerta, Cynthia Mason, Bobby Lawrenson, Tanya Gran, Representative Dave Paul, County Commissioner Melanie Bacon Melanie Bacon. Um, that last Saturday evening we were able to raise over $26,000 to support the unhoused community on Whidbey Island and the Whidbey Homeless Coalition. This is an initiative you have been working I have been working closely with the Whidbey Homeless Coalition to support the unhoused with resources and shelter to help keep them off the street. So, thank you very much to everyone that put in hundreds of hours to make that happen. Congratulations to Craig Lamas Cole. Craig became the Washington Recreation and Park Association Northwest Regional Director. Each year new members are welcome to the Board of Directors as the governing body of Parks and Recreation and are responsible for the supervision, control, and direction of the Washington Recreation and Park Association. This means a lot because it's important for me that staff get involved in boards that reflect the entire state. These boards um, contribute to collaborating with others in similar positions which bring good ideas, progress, and growth. So, nice work to Craig and congratulations. We are very

proud of you on that. Communications Officer Maggie Aguilar builds community through stories. If you've met Maggie, you know one of her passions is building community in everything she does and every Wednesday she spends time reading in Spanish to preschoolers at the library. Her story time class received a special visit from a few Oak Harbor Fire Department firefighters. They stopped by to connect with the children and give tours of the fire engine. These moments are important to me because they highlight the importance of community partnerships beyond City Hall and they are just one of many ways that this administration is ingraining themselves in this community and making a difference on a daily basis. Last week's photo of the week, did you see it? There are smoother roads ahead thanks to the city's public works street crew who completed pavement pothole repairs on Southeast Pioneer Way. This is only phase one of the work to be completed this construction season. Um, Public Works Director Steve Schuller said that average tenure of our current street crew members is less than 24 months at the city and thanks to the leadership of Mayor Wright and the strong support of the City Council, we are turning that corner. Today, our street crew is five members strong and the grow and growing their expertise every week. You will see more improvements and benefits for the community in the months ahead. If you get a chance, please take a moment to thank them for their hard work. And I just wanted to I made a note here to say that this morning they were out there again working and I saw them all and I honked and waved as I went by. I hope they didn't think I was waving with one finger. I had all five fingers up, so um, Police Chief Slowik attended the school board meeting. Chief Slowik presented uh, Broadview Elementary Counselor Pat Tang and teacher Mia German with citizen certificates of accommodation for their quick thinking and profound compassion in response to a domestic violence crisis involving a district family. Ms. German and Ms. Tang collaborated and secured a safe environment for the

impacted family and children during an intense 7-hour plus investigation. They demonstrated unwavering emotional support and dedication by ensuring the school remained open and that the affected family had a safe place to stay. These actions allowed the police department to focus its limited resources entirely on the criminal investigation and make sure the community and neighborhood was safe. Thank you, Chief, for recognizing them and highlighting them. It's just one more way again that we're partnering with the school district and solidifying those relationships. Oak Harbor High School art student. Oak Harbor High School students crushed it at the 2026 Scholastic Art Competition. They won gold and silver awards and honorable mentions. An honorable mention went to our very own Arts Commission student representative Reese Wassinger for her painting sister displayed here. Ladder 81 push-in ceremony this Saturday. After years in the making, our new ladder truck has arrived and it's ready to serve our community. This truck was made possible by Oak Harbor voters who approved bond funding in 2022. Join us for a traditional push-in ceremony where you can help push in the new truck into the station. This is a proud fire service tradition. Saturday, April 11th at 1:30 p.m. at Oak Harbor Fire Station 81 on Whidbey Avenue. Meet your firefighters, get an up-close look at the new ladder truck. Wine, Bites, and Brews. Get your tickets if you haven't already. I will be volunteering with Ross Unidos in the support of Via de la Fiesta, so stop by the Popsy's table for delicious ice cream event this Saturday from 3:00 to 6:01. This is a very popular event put on by our Downtown Main Street Association. It's a lot of fun and a great way to interact with downtown merchants as well as community members. Here's your chance to get back on the Recreation Center Feasibility Study. We are hosting a few feedback sessions for the community to learn about the

feasibility of a recreation center, ask questions, and give feedback. First session will be at the Bookrack on April 14th at 10:00 a.m. Second session will be in the evening at the Center in Oak Harbor on April 16th at 5:00 p.m. I attended a workshop recently with my leadership team and I'm proud to kick proud to kick this study off in my term as mayor. I know it's a subject I have been hearing a lot about recently with one of my own with one of my one-on-one meetings with community members from local sport leagues. I'm starting the work now so we can hopefully get this done for the community in a few years. Lastly, get involved. There are several openings for our advisory boards. Please visit the city's website to apply and stay connected. Come to a meeting or write blend send us a question via email or give us a question or a call. Follow us on social media for the latest news. Speaking of Facebook news, Finance Director Dave Goldman, there were some updates this week regarding the penny cessation. Can you please give us a brief overview of that? Um, yes, Mayor. Um, so first off, I just want to say regarding the penny rounding um, issue that it's not being implemented yet. We just simply wanted to be very proactive and lay the groundwork for what will be coming um, sooner than just wait for it until it arrives and have to scramble and let everybody know. So, it should be stressed that when it does take effect, it would only impact in-person cash transactions. So, why we moved quickly on this, when the US Treasury announced that they had stopped production of pennies in May of last year, we and other finance directors and folks we talked to figured we'd have a few years to get ready for it because, you know, pennies are metal and like paper money, so they'll probably last longer. They're they're more durable. However, um, fast forward to a few months ago in February, um, our bank told us in person that they haven't been receiving pennies for a

while from their central source and are having um, a bit of a shortage and they're limiting how many pennies are being provided to their commercial customers. So, then we reached out to a few cities around our size to gather information. They were also in the early stages of considering the handling of the change, so they weren't a whole lot of help, although they formally, you know, told us they probably just end up rounding up. Um, we contacted the bank again last month and they said the shortage is getting more acute and they would soon be rounding and um, they verbally told me that they'd be rounding up, but they also didn't know about the um, the new state law that was signed by the governor in March 23rd. They also told me to inquire with the largest retailer of the city because their understanding is they're currently rounding. So, I drove over there on my lunch break. Um, I bought something. Um, came out to $5.97 and I got a nickel back. So, it looks like it's already happening out there. They're already doing the rounding. So, anyway, um, so that we got some new information. So, so after publication of the initial press release, um, we received some new information from the Municipal Research Service Center, the MRSC, and also the Association of Washington Cities regarding you know, the penny rounding. And we also brought it up with our city attorney and the State Auditor's Office. So, we were under the impression that um, the state law that was recently signed was really applicable to businesses, not to local governments because there are some constitutional provisions in the state constitution prohibiting something called a gift of public funds and the State Supreme Court found that forgiving debt is considered a gift of public funds and like rounding down would be technically, you know, forgiving debt. So, you know, based on everything that we were talked to in the past, we thought, you know, you wouldn't be able to round down. However, you know, after talking to them and getting some new information,

they provided us with a better understanding and we feel, you know, after talking to our city attorney, we feel more comfortable with rounding up and down. So, once we had this new information processed, we proceeded to provide another press release and provide a a video to better explain how this will work when we when when we come to the time when we don't have any pennies to provide to any cash customers. And And just to give you an idea of the magnitude of what this would impact, out of the um, so I looked at last year, 2025, and out of the total amount of of revenues tendered, um, 0.0028 or 0.28% of all revenues were in ca- in-person cash. Um, and if you let's say you took all 1,908 in cash transactions and assumed it was rounded by 4 cents. Like it came out to a penny rounded up or the other way. If you take that number multiply by 4 cents, you're going to get um $76.32 for the entire year of 2025. Um and if you divide that into the total amount of transactions, that's um a very that's 0.000000 09 of all in cash trend the value of all in cash transactions, but it it it's that's kind of a moot point anyway since, you know, we're we plan when the time comes to go round up and round down. So, um yeah, uh that's that's the update, Mayor. Great, David. Thank you very much. Those were the details I think we needed to provide the public. So. Um with that I am going to now um conclude my comments. I'm sure you guys are done and glad to hear me not talk anymore and I will open it up to council for your comments at this time. Yes, Councilmember Mayor. Uh yes, thank you, Mayor. With respect to the Island Transit District, we have

approximately in the district $74 million in reserve funds and this has been a point of bone of contention, you might say, or jealousy, but in any case, so we're doing some uh we're doing some commitment to of the funds and we're going to start presenting that as a as an a way of getting public awareness that this money isn't just stashed away doing nothing and that we have plans for it and there are commitments for many millions with regards to, for instance, new hybrid buses that we're going to be getting in. Let's see. And uh one other item is that anecdotally, it's surprising that the citizens really don't widely understand the availability of the transit services and what they provide. Uh I mean, there are those who obviously have a knowledge of it, but there's a widespread lack of knowledge. The buses go all over the place and people are scratching their heads not realizing that it's a it's a no-cost service to the rider. And so, we are working hard to provide uh publicity, advertising, and marketing to get that message out so that uh citizens can make use of it if they're aware of it. That's all I have, Mayor. So, just as a follow-up question, the Island Transit will utilize a combination of not just the reserve funds, but they will also probably go after grants for those hybrid buses, correct? Uh the grants are also part of the package, but uh none of it's completely solidified yet. But yes, that is correct, Mayor. Okay. All right. Anybody else want to report out? Yes, Councilmember Arms. Of course, down at the marina again. Um today um Gideon um was down there and he had a a story. Uh it's back in history and and with the tribe

about how the salmon got its hook. So, I thought it was a really interesting little story and it was uh something that I hope that we find it from Gideon and publish it because it comes back to their heritage and it was just an interesting um uh presentation. So, and the fish are very busy. They're getting ready. They want to go home. [laughter]

Gideon has a lot of great information, so that's that's fun to hear. So, yes, Councilmember Stucky. Couple thoughts, couple questions. I like following the state and all the house bills that they pass and one of them, substitute house bill 2323, talks about uh traffic stops with neurodiverse individuals and having I think I was reading the bill blue envelopes at the DOL locations that has information on things that folks would need ID and stuff. They can all have it nice little packet there. Uh Chief, I know at some point there was something going on with maybe locally, not necessarily related to that, but with those that are neurodiverse in our community. Did that go anywhere? Is that something still being worked on? I mean, traffic stops if you have someone with autism or ADHD, it could be it could be disconcerting and you're trying to make it easier on those individuals. Yeah, we uh locally we've done uh some campaigns with um hearing impaired individuals and um and then they have cards that we will work with uh the individuals or a group of uh uh advocates uh making sure that that is something that we're trained on and and understand what we're looking at. Um I am aware of the the the bill that was passed and when Department of Licensing does put out that information, um they said they're supposed to be putting out training for us as well. So, we'll make sure that the officers have that training. Okay, thank you. And the other and might be calling our public works director here. Um two things. One, I feel I've got no hard data, but I feel like the falcon is doing the falcon's job. It seems like there are less seagulls down there. I see the falconer out there quite a bit. Oh, there's Okay, there's concrete data, even better. I'm just going by what I see and I see less. But the real the real test is in two or three months when we get to the heart of the nesting period, really. Have we discussed or talked about having a local ordinance about not feeding the seagulls? I mean, I don't know how effective that would be, but is that

something that could be discussed or thought of? I I think that's a very timely question. Thank you. Yeah, in in in email exchange back and forth with the mayor and Sabrina, uh we brought up the fact that we we're going to come back to council after this pilot and we already are thinking that we're going to come back to you with a recommendation. We've already been reviewing other ordinances that provide civil penalties. Um right now for this pilot, we're focused on education. And so, it's it's and that's been eye-opening just to understand business owners, park users, um even people on their lunch hours who are feeding the birds. And so, we're we're getting a lot of support from education and we'll be able to report back to you how successful that was just getting people aware. And then I know uh Maggie is working on some with Sabrina on some great language uh which tells people the damage they're doing to the birds by feeding them and we're going to get that out as part of this pilot also. I look forward to seeing how the data is organized. I'm curious how one quantifies that besides counting seagulls, but obviously that's what the experts are for. The other thing um that was asked by me and I don't I don't really have a good question. When it comes to potholes, I often send people to that lovely form on the website, which I understand is possibly being updated cuz it's a little tucked away. How does the city go about besides public input? How do you decide what potholes to fill or not? I mean, do you just drive around and these are the worst ones? I mean, you have this crew, they're working, but how you decide what priority potholes get filled out in the city?

answer is yes to every question. Yes, I do it when the other crews are when other staff are driving around, when crews are driving around, when citizens call us, when citizens email us, when they turn in a it's all part of it and then we try to get out there to to to fix them as soon as we can. There was a couple instances where some of them were on the highway and not to pick on the state, but you know, they're they're struggling with maintaining their maintenance crews. So, in one case, and WSDOT is wonderful to work with, but in one case we went ahead and filled in their pothole. Um we don't want to do that all the time. Um but yeah, so and then we're going to have a further discussion we come back to you when we start talking about our comprehensive plans that we and we've mentioned this before, so not for tonight, but we have a us and the entire nation has a systemic issue with funding our transportation maintenance that's been going on for 30 years focused on the gas tax and again, Olympia talks about it every time about an alternative and we'll continue to have that those discussions with you. And in the meantime, council will have to figure out how we address those shortages. Has there been a discussion you know, a lot of potholes, things that get sent to us or at least to me, you know, it's potholes that are on private property, but close to city roads. Like I'll I'll pick on Haggen's. I think I know which one of them you're you're talking about.

know that one. We all know the one that's behind, you know, MOD Pizza and the 7-Eleven. Shout out to MOD Pizza. Um but is there is there would the city ever contact those building owners? Not to force them, is there, but to say, "Hey, Yes. cuz a lot of people just think the city fixes all potholes and that's not the case.

recently just in the last, I want to say month that yeah, staff did reach out on a major pothole that was we want we wanted to confirm it was on private property. When we did that, we reached out to the property management firm and said, "What are you going to do about this?" So, yes, we when it comes up and if it's significant enough, we'll reach out and we'll make those contacts cuz we want it fixed and especially if it's an area that gets a lot of traffic, um it we try to be proactive the best we can. Yes. All right. Thank you so much. Appreciate that. Good questions. Thank you. Yes, Mayor Pro Tem. Thank you. I wasn't paying attention and I hit the one at Haggen the other day and my teeth still hurt. Yeah, it's bad. It's bad. Um I wanted to let people know that there tomorrow night, there is a 10th Legislative District Town Hall with all three of our um state representatives, Representative Dave Paul, Representative Clyde Shavers, and Senator Ron Muzzall. It's a virtual town hall. It's from tomorrow night from 5:30 to 6:30 and if you just Google, you know, Washington 10th LD, virtual town hall, the a number of sites will pop up and you can register online um and submit questions and um stuff. So, if you go looking for it, it's it's pretty easy to find. I'm I'm not wearing this one, though.

[laughter]

Um and uh also that just quickly Thursday we have a clean air agency meeting and we're deep into our strategic planning process. I know I I gave you an update late last year. We had had several like, you know, retreats and meetings and stuff and starting our strategic planning process and we'd hired a a firm to help us with that and so now all of that information has been collected and aggregated and at Thursday's meeting we're going to start taking our look at the first draft of the new strategic plan and so that's probably going to be happening over the next couple of months and um also financially planning, you know, working on fiscal year 27. It's a lot of funding sources are up in the air. The um you know, some state grants didn't come through. The EPA's budget has been effectively zeroed out. It's just total chaos at the federal level and so it's it's hard to plan 2 years ahead when it comes to budgeting when all of your traditional funding sources have um can't be relied on. So, I'm I'll continue to keep you posted. The agency itself is uh pretty healthy overall financially. It doesn't rely as much on uh grant funding as a lot of other agencies. So, we we feel like we're pretty well positioned, but um I'll let you know if that changes. And uh San Juan as I updated probably a couple months ago, um San Juan County rejoined the clean air agency after like 25 years or something. So, now it's Island, Whatcom, Skagit, and San Juan counties. And um they fit right in and it's a long travel time for them. The meetings are in Mount Vernon, so they usually participate virtually and uh they're fitting in great and we're getting stuff done. So,

I'll let you know when the strategic planning thing starts to get finalized. Thank you. Anybody yes, Councilmember Womack. Uh just a quick note with regard to controlling the birds and code enforcement in general. It's it's an outstanding idea to have uh an ordinance about not feeding the birds. I mean, this is great. But, we need to make sure that the public is made aware out of abundance of caution and respect for the citizens who have been perhaps for some of them feeding birds for 20 years or more. So, uh I just would say that uh in the planning phase and also with any code enforcement as we're being more proactive um that the citizens are made aware that it's it's not like the old days. That's all. All in good time. We're getting there. One thing at a time. Yes, we're getting there. So, all right. Anything else for the good of the order before we move on to public hearings and meetings? All right. All right, we're going to move on to public hearings and meetings then. The first up is ordinance number 2040 annexation of property. Here to introduce this is our community development director Stacy Pratschner and principal planner Rajesh Kack K'mack to present.

[clears throat]

And it's just Kack. Welcome, Kack. [laughter] Thank you. Good evening, Mayor members of the council. Rajesh Kack K'mack principal planner. Uh short presentation. The council is familiar with the south annexation area. There was a joint meeting uh in March um on March 19th uh between city council and the Island County Commissioners to discuss this interlocal agreement. It's a process that the state has provided so that jurisdictions can talk to each other about transferring land. Um this is a process that's slightly different than a property owner initiated annexation. So uh as you are aware, we followed the process, did all the notification, had the interlocal agreement, and both um the uh in the joint meeting the agreement was approved, and the agreement was signed. This is just an implementation of that agreement. We're taking follow-up action and acting on the ordinance so that the actual annexation can occur, and then we can do the follow-up technical steps necessary with the state to make sure that the property is registered and transferred into the city of Oak Harbor. So, um without any um further information, our um our recommendation for this is to approve the ordinance. I have a map of the areas. Again, the council is familiar with these areas. Uh we had no changes there from the uh joint meeting, and our recommendation is to um approve the ordinance and approve the annexation of the south annexation area. Be happy to answer any questions. Yeah. All right. So, at this time I will open the public hearing and call first on those who have signed in to speak. Michaela, was there anyone that signed in to speak on this issue? Uh yes, Mayor. We have Marnie Jackson. Hi. Good evening, Mayor. Council, staff, and community. I'm Marnie Jackson, executive

director of the Whidbey Environmental Action Network, serving members within the city of Oak Harbor and beyond. As I and others expressed to you during a recent joint meeting of Island County and the city of Oak Harbor, ordinance 2040 does not comply with the growth sequencing required by state law. Whidbey Environmental Action Network reserves the right to challenge this annexation before the Boundary Review Board and to petition the Growth Management Hearings Board following final comprehensive plan adoption should those steps be necessary. State law is explicit. RCW 36.78.1103 requires urban growth to be located first in areas already characterized by urban development. The so-called donut hole neighborhoods, fully encircled by Oak Harbor at urban densities without city services, are exactly those areas. Annexing 80 greenfield acres before serving those communities inverts the sequence that the Growth Management Act requires. The city has the tools and the authority to follow the law. RCW 35A.14.295 authorizes annexation of surrounded territories by council resolution with no petition required. RCW 82.14.415 provides for a limited time a mechanism to distribute infrastructure costs across the broader tax base. You are letting that window for that program close while giving the appearance of prioritizing developers over existing residents. This is both a public health concern and an environmental justice issue. A plan that defers annexing and providing services to existing urbanized communities in favor of vacant land with no capital facilities planned for either will have serious difficulty surviving Hearings Board review. Please annex the donut hole neighborhoods prior to or concurrent with the proposed annexation. Please ensure your comprehensive plan includes a concurrent infrastructure plan for these and all annexed areas. And finally, for the health and safety of all city residents, please act swiftly

to explore the funding pathway made available in RCW 82.14.415 before the window closes so that these underserved neighborhoods can benefit from infrastructure modernization in the coming years. This will support the health and well-being of all Oak Harbor residents. Please do not adopt ordinance 2040 until you are prepared to annex the donut holes as well. Whidbey Environmental Action Network is prepared to hold Oak Harbor accountable by all legal means at our disposal. I understand that each of you is here to be of service to your community. Please consider these donut hole neighborhoods as a neglected part of our community that is bound by state law to be served in the appropriate order prior to greenfield annexation. Thank you. Thank you very much for your comment.

[clears throat]

Is there anybody else, Michaela, that has signed up to speak this evening? No. All right. Is there anybody that is with us this evening that didn't have an opportunity to sign up that would like to step forward and speak on this topic at this time? All right. Hearing seeing no other additional folks that want to step forward and speak on this, I will close public hearing at this time, and I will now call upon council for their questions and comments at this time. Councilmember Stucky. Couple thoughts. One, I'm all for annexing the donut holes. I live two houses from the donut holes. There are houses in the donut holes I would love to move to, but if I were to do so, I would not be on council anymore. That said, knowing a lot of people in those donut holes, a lot of them don't want to be annexed because they don't want to pay the higher utilities. I mean, there will be a day that things fail, and there will be a day that all of a sudden it's an emergency. Um but a lot of them seem to not want to be annexed. And then there's the idea of the taxpayers paying for all the infrastructure, which eventually that something like that may happen, but that doesn't necessarily fix the problem which we're trying to address, which is being the housing uh amount of how many houses we can get for the equation. Those are all fully developed single family properties. It wouldn't be practical for a developer to buy those, tear them down, and put a bunch of multi multi family homes in them. So, it doesn't fix the issue of affordable housing, and it doesn't fix the housing matrix which we're trying to address. That being said, I I too would love for them to come into the count into the city. Um is Hillary on the phone with us? Yeah? Are you able to Yes?

I I I mean, I'm assuming everything we're doing is legal and above board. I mean, it seemed to be insinuating that that be the case, but having been our legal expert, there's no reason why we can't proceed with these annexing of this property without the donut holes. Is that correct? That's my understanding. I mean, the Weenas, of course, entitled to bring a challenge before the Growth Board or in Superior Court, but I've heard nothing. I've seen no law cited. I've received no documentation that we've done something wrong. Um no one's pointed to uh any law that we violated or any process or procedure that we violated. So, at this point, I I'm scratching my head a little bit. I don't see any reason for concern or pause. Sure. And like I said, I I would love those donut holes in in the I joint meeting, even the county discussed. I mean, we'd like to get those donut holes, but it takes a little bit of time, which we don't have to get in time for this um goals that we need to hit for the comp plan. I I've always been the kind of guy that says I you know, we represent, I'll go with what the majority. We mailed letters out to the property owners. If there had been, you know, a dozen property owners here who said, "Heck no, we don't want to be annexed." I probably would be inclined to vote no. But, we haven't gotten that. And in the joint meeting, I think there was the two special interest groups that came and spoke, and then one member who owned property was looking confused on the property lines. Have we had, to our knowledge, any other property owners that have come up and said they don't want to be annexed or anything like that. Okay. Cuz that'd be the one thing that would be the hesitation for me, but if they know there's been no objection to by the property owners, I you know, I I don't see any reason not to proceed. Thank you. Yeah, and and to your point, I think it's also important to point out that we have worked jointly with the county step by step through this process um with county commissioners as well as with the um engineering and planning

staff, as well as with um Department of Commerce, correct? Um so I'm sorry. Yeah. Well, yeah, our consultants, for sure. But, I mean, um but we've also been working with um the State Department of Commerce as well. So, um they've been involved every step of the way. So, if we were off if we were off base legally, they would have brought us back in line in in in in that way. So, um in a lot of these points that are being brought up with respect to pockets and um areas where there are concern um for failing infrastructure and that, we're already looking to work with the county and partner with the county to mitigate these damages. But, again, I've been very passionate sitting here as the mayor that I'm not going to put this on the backs of my tax-paying citizens now, 100%. We have to partner with the county and find a solution to this together um so that we're both bearing the cost of this, and we're helping people out of this situation, because it's not fair that we're having a certain group of people pay 100% of the cost to bail people out. Um So, those are all avenues that we're working down for these pocket areas, and we're working towards those things in addition to furthering the comp plan down the road. So, we are we are achieving both, but they're both going on different tracks, and they're both moving forward. So, that being said, I will I will digress and move on to open it up to you all for your comments. This is your time. So, councilist, questions, comments. Yes, Councilmember Romero. I have to measure my words. The truth be known is that there's tens of millions of dollars of vested interests um in both in in any track with regard to or not a track of land, but any course of action with regard to development. And I would say that uh as an elected

office holder, my keen interest is in the stakeholders who are basically our citizens. And we need to get things done. And what I've found uh by observation is that there's certain organizations that are by nature just obstructionist. That is the And as far as legal cases, um anybody who's been in law or in criminal law uh criminal prosecutions or defenses, they understand a case can be made either way. But, my main focus is the people of Oak Harbor. And of course, I strongly favor, like Commissioner Bacon Melanie Bacon said, "I hate the donut holes." Well, roger that. I hate the donut holes, too. But, the fact of the matter is it's much more complex to get those donut holes into the city than the undeveloped land. And so, um I would be in favor of a parallel process where you have work being done on the donut holes as well as the undeveloped land, and then uh putting priority on the things that happen fastest, because as I'm well aware for the two, three, four, five, $600 an hour they're paid by paid to legal counsel to be obstructionist or um throw up barriers or firewalls to getting things done, that's not what I was elected to do. As a legislator in the city level, my job is to enable the executive to get things done. And we have a wonderful executive team with the mayor and all of all of the leadership and staff. So, um I'm saying all of that that uh we should take all deliberate action, and I'm delighted that uh our own legal counsel has investigated with regard to this claim that we're supposed to do it in a particular order, because in any legal in any legal case, you can always make a counter case, but I'm trying to avoid that because of the of the cost and the uh the obstruction.

That's all I have, Mayor. Thank you. Yes, uh Mayor Pro Tem. Thank you, Mayor. Um lots of good points made, and the thing that I keep coming back to is you know, yes, it would be nice in theory if things proceeded a certain way. You know, if we were if we were do making this decision in a vacuum, just kind of generically planning for future growth, then yeah, the order in which we do things would probably look a little different. Um but we're not making this decision in a vacuum. We've got the the we have to accommodate the state's housing requirements, and um you know, we're we're being pushed and squeezed in all these directions, and all of the various directions that are pushing and squeezing on us, you know, things start to kind of change shape. And so, while hypothetically, it would it would be ideal if things happened, you know, cleanly and in a I don't know, a more specific logical uh order, it's just we have to we have to work with what we have and the reality that we're living in and respond to the conditions that we currently have and are predicted and the requirements that are constantly changing, and um and so, you know, we're we're we're doing the best we can with what we have. We're we're confident that we're on solid legal footing, and you know, and two things can be true at once. The you know, we we can be working on the donut hole thing while it's working on on this. So, I'm and I under I know that our this administration, particularly, is uh very

good at multitasking. Um and I want to thank uh Kat Camack in particular for the amount of work that he has poured into into this. Oh my gosh, yeah. I Yeah. Thank you. Um So, you know, this is actually kind of a big deal that we're doing this this annexation so cooperatively with the county. It's kind of unprecedented, and I'm really proud of the efforts that that have gone on behind the scenes to make this happen. Um I think it's a solid decision. Like I said, in a perfect world, ideally, it we may have proceeded differently, um but you know, we are where we are, and we have to comply with the current requirements. So, we are doing the best we can. And um I wholeheartedly support this annexation. I think that the uh the cooperative relationship that we have managed to foster with the county, it bodes well. I hope so. It's it's really been delightful working with them. And so, I'm looking forward to uh more progress. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Councilmember Wiggenstain.

[clears throat]

Good evening, everybody. Um these 80 acres, if I remember correctly as it was being explained to us last week, are right? Um wasn't just a random 80 acres that we picked out of the hat. It's it's been the urban growth area for night since 1991, right? I mean, that's what the the property owners, believe it or not, all know. They've known since 1991. Anybody who's purchased the property since then would be informed that they're part of the urban growth, and therefore would be would know. And so, um 30 years from now, our population's going to be a lot more than it is now, and we have no way of accommodating those. Presently, right? We're hoping to make room so that we can, cuz the city's going to grow. We're not just going to grow out, we're going to grow up. And some of us don't want to grow up, literally. Like, I don't want to I don't want to stay a kid. Um And so, I too would love to see the donut holes and the areas that um you know, really do need the infrastructure of the city. And we'd love to get them on board. And and I believe that this administration has been working on that simultaneously to this as well. I I That's That's the impression I got last week. And And I'm That's That's it. I mean there hasn't been anything that you know, they said they were going to do that has fallen through without some sort of an explanation that I'm aware of. So, I have faith that this will get through and I'm in favor of that annexation. I'm in favor of the annexation of the donut holes and Hillcrest. I'll say it. I'm not scared to. I grew up in that neighborhood. I'd love to see it get its support that it needs. It's well it's old. So, cuz I'm old. Um so, yeah, I'm in favor of this. And again, CAC, thank you so much for all your work that you do and everybody else and the team, the leadership team, for working with the county um unprecedented to have this um

cooperation and and we should capitalize on and keep going. So, thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Bergin. Thank Councilmember Arms. [clears throat]

Um just like uh Councilmember Stuckey said, there's a lot of people in those areas that don't want to be annexed. And I've heard a lot of that. And they're not ready for that change and they don't want to. It's something we can work on future and hopefully we can eventually get it there. But a lot of those people are saying no. And you know, we do have to kind of respect how they've lived their life and what they're, you know, willing to fix their septic or do whatever they're going to do. Eventually, it's going to happen. But a lot of these people don't want that change. They have been adamantly saying no. And so, you know, we also have to take that into consideration. We just can't say, "Well, I'm sorry. You're going to have to pay this or do whatever." We have a plan and that plan does accomplish Mark plan. And it was wonderful working with the county and agreeing and um you know, the donut holes will get discussed. But right now, there's a lot of people who are really happy with what their situation is. And sometimes we do have to respect that until we get to a point where we're like, "Okay, now we have to change." But I don't think the time is now and these people are not very happy. They do not want to be in part of that right now. I And as a follow-up, I think it's important to also just point out one additional thing here. Um as we were working through this process with the county and the Department of Commerce, um they were really caught off guard by the number of individuals that resided in the UGA area that were still on septic systems. Um so, this just shows you I think how out of date some of our RCWs and our laws are. There are many situations locally um

with our RCWs and our laws, um even our own municipal codes, where we're having to do a lot of code revision and a lot of updates because things are just so out of date and things don't make sense anymore. Um and this is just one more area where I think that when we were actually going through this exercise and working with them, they were even caught off guard by this. And you know, from the state level, they like to take this blanket approach and apply it to everybody. And that that may fit in certain larger populated areas, but areas like this where you have a very unique situation that's an island, it doesn't work so well because our UGA area that has septic systems and and different um antiquated systems, it's it's a unique circumstance and maybe they didn't plan for that. So, and they didn't necessarily have feedback and you know, but again, they were working within the confines of what they knew the law to be. So [snorts] again, I think to to your point and to Mayor Pro Tem's point, there can be two things that are right at the same time and it doesn't necessarily make it right on any for anyone, but it's still right. Um and so, this is just something where we're going to have to continue to work through this. We're not blind to this as an administration. Um these are all things that we've taken down in notes as we've worked through this process. We're very aware of what we need to be mindful of to be thoughtful for our citizens and how we're leaving our community and going forward for the next administration even after we're no longer in office. Um so that somebody picks that up and they carry that forward and we're we're taking care of people as as those people come in to, you know, make this their home in the future. So, um you know, I don't know if that helps at all, but I I just wanted to also give you that perspective as well. Um did I miss anything there? Did you want to add anything else? So, I'm sorry. Councilmember Marshall also wants to add something. So, but go ahead. Did

you want to add something to that?

going to say I I completely agree with the mayor on that. Um [clears throat] they even when we talked to Department of Commerce, there was even some awareness about other counties that were dealing with similar situations. There is an assumption that most communities have already switched to having water and sewer infrastructure systems in place. And when they we were able to identify for them, this is the areas that have well systems and and septic systems and eventually they're going to fail. And these are the concerns that we have around that and what those those individuals or those families are going to do in those situations. So, this was a really good conversation that led to where we were able to say, "What's the path forward?" And also, how do we prevent this from happening again? The prevention of that is to have this plan where we're saying we're going to address the under or undeveloped area first so that we make sure going forward, whatever is done with that is done correctly with the right systems and has a plan for that. And then we start working on the system that was not um that needs to be addressed as well. So, we have the plan is to do a work group that starts working on that, focuses in on the issues with the right staff in place and even includes the Navy because again, to funding resources, there is some community resiliency funding that is available, but we need to have a plan for that. And that's what we want to work on and that has been the direction of the mayor and the council. So, that's what we're working towards. Thank you. I assure you that this administration, not me, I'm talking about the administration, everybody that sits on my team, we have the brightest people, I feel like, in this entire state working on our team. Whether it's our public works director, whether it's our community services director, whether it's our um city administrator, we're all thinking and working together collaboratively and strategically to move the city forward in a very positive way, in a way that's taking us down the road 40, 50, 60 years. So, and you know, we're [clears throat] we're doing that

as thoughtfully as we can do that every single day. Um you know, I've sat in many a meetings um where I've had other elected officials been like, "Well, that isn't going to be my problem. I'm not going to be in office." That's the wrong attitude to have. I mean, I may not be in office either, but that isn't how I want to leave things when I'm not in office anymore. I want to leave it good for the person that's coming in behind me because this is still my community. This is where I live. It's also been home to me for 30 years. So. Yes, Councilmember Marshall, did you have something you wanted to add? Thank you, Mayor. CAC, I have a couple questions for you. Um so, just just to my understanding, when we annex this if and when we annex this property, they the people do not have to connect to city services immediately. That's correct? Correct. Okay. In order to get to the to this Let's just use this acreage that is on along Highway 20. How would we service that property? Would we come down Highway 20? Would we come down existing properties? How would we if if and when somebody wanted to connect? Let's just use the first property that's that's on the north side of that. How How would we get to them? Would we Would we use water that's along Highway 20? Would we use surrounding areas? You're talking about this? Yeah. Area

Yeah. Um yeah, I think so, there's a development happening here. Yeah. And so, we have infrastructure extended along the highway here. It's a requirement that they extend the infrastructure all the way to the end of the property with their development. So, they'll stub infrastructure out here. And so, these properties can then pick up the infrastructure that's that's in the city limits. They can extend it this way for sanitary sewer. There's Depending on the lay of the land, it can slope either that way or it can slope this way, but eventually most of this will end up with the Scenic Heights lift station. Mhm. That can go up over there. And then storm water will also have to be managed again based on the slopes of the land and which direction they're going. So, that's how basically the service system works. So, I asked those two questions to ask this question. The The property that is Capital Street. That That Let's just the the block on the right-hand side there. The The furthest uh no, go up. Up. Right there. Okay? So, that that area right there, I used to live in that neighborhood. And that neighborhood is serviced by septic systems and it is serviced by a well. All of those things could fail basically at any time. This is what we talked about failing infrastructure, right? We have infrastructure appears that is going right by that along the highway currently. In addition to that, if if we annex that property, those property owners don't necessarily have to connect to city services right away. That would be done on a case-by-case basis. If the well were to fail, then we would look at it that connecting that entire community to water. But if each individual septic system were to fail, then we'd be looking to connect those homes individually to city sewer, correct? Yes, that would Yes, it would have to be based on the failure and and so on. Yes.

So, if we're able to plan for annexing unincor- or green space, you know, low developer under developed properties, how come we can't concurrently plan to annex that property and and connect to those services when it seems as if the same rules would apply, right? They don't have to connect right away. And the services are already there, so what prevents us from annexing those properties concurrently with this with this property right now? The The challenge is not knowing which which property will have the infrastructure failure. So, if you have properties failing from the edge going inward, then every property will build their infrastructure needed to serve their property and you can extend the infrastructure accordingly. If you have a property in the very middle of this island that failed, then you have to extend the infrastructure past so many properties to get to their property. So, who's going to pay for all of that and how do you get the cost back? So, these are the challenges with already developed properties and extending infrastructure. So, unless there's a public fund to extend a main line through all of the streets and then have all the houses connected, which means upfronting all of the financing, and so on. So, the challenge is in not knowing the timing of how things fail and who would want the connection and then when they do want the connection, how do you provide it and how is the funding done? So, do we not have that same issue with depending on who'd wants to develop their property within that that developed UGA?

In the undeveloped properties, it's larger properties, developments are new developments. They're extending the infrastructure newly, so they can extend that uh infrastructure for their development and there is enough incentive for returns on the investment as well. So, in a in a scenario of Capital Street, for example, if if somebody in the middle of that island were to fail now, what is what is the next step? Are they going to be able Let's just Let's just say it's their septic. Are they going to be able to get a new septic permit or is that that point we're going to have to provide that infrastructure anyway and then we just have to figure it out.

So, the the process that should ideally be followed is that they would go to the county and ask for a permit to replace a septic system. This county would tell them that they would have to annex into the city. They would have to come to the city and say, "Can you annex me in?" So, if there So, the city would look and see if the back of the property is adjacent or we can say, "Go talk to your neighbor. If they're willing to annex, we can get contiguous to you and we can annex." So, we start to strategize to get them annexed into the city depending on where they are so that they can have the infrastructure connections. If there's no connection or no way or nobody's agreeing to it, then the city can say, "Well, we can't annex you." And then they can go to the county and say, [clears throat] "Well, the city can't annex me right now. I would need I can I need a permit for my sewer for my septic system." In In your opinion, is that the best path forward to put in another septic system in one of these particular island areas that we know we're going to have to annex at some particular point anyway or is it in our best interest just to plan for that future annexation and plan for funding those capital improvements? I think ideally, if you were to follow growth management, you would want to have all of these properties on city infrastructure with urban services. So, ideally, you would want to have an overall plan to to build infrastructure for all of these properties and have them connect. The more sewer or septic system permits we issue, the longer we're delaying all of these properties annexing. It should be a It should be a last uh uh kind of uh solution. Mhm. Um but we have to go through the steps to get there and it shouldn't be straightfor- It shouldn't be easy in the sense that, you know, once your septic system fails, they shouldn't automatically be able to get it if they're on these donut holes. We

have to try to annex them in. That's the effort we have to try to put in when these donut holes uh infrastructure fails. Yeah, but are we making the the process more difficult when we know that we're going to annex this property anyway or at least we need to annex it not only just for the services itself, but also for for first responder services. We've created a pocket there that is surrounded by, you know, Oak Harbor Police Department, Oak Harbor Fire Department, yet this particular area is North Whidbey Fire or the Sheriff's Department. And so, we're creating you not only you know, public utilities issues, but also public safety issues in in in in my opinion. And so, um why make the process a a little more erroneous with saying, "Well, you have to get a neighbor to help annex in or you have to get more properties" when we can just say, "Hey, we're going to annex this in. You guys going to be part of it. We can make this contiguous as part of of our current annexation." And then we are just going to have to We We're going to plan for it anyway. Why are we not just planning for it now, right? You That's That's part of the plan with the county. So, why not just plan for it now? It So, not having a planning plan in place makes us follow these steps. And these are the steps in our intergovernmental agreement in terms of this back and forth stuff. If we have a plan in place, which is what Island County and the city are planning to do, is if you have a plan in place and you have an infrastructure plan, then the course of action we may take in the future will be different. And that's what I think we're trying to get to. So, currently, it's very challenging to deal with planning-wise. The city can't plan for it. It's not in the city. Our zoning regulations don't apply. County is finding it difficult to plan because they're surrounded by city. So, we have to do a joint effort to plan and then the planning effort will involve all of these people providing input, which hopefully will

shape the future actions we may take when these property owners do have infrastructure failure. And at that time, with this plan, hopefully there'll be a common understanding of what happens. Right now, the intergovernmental agreement lays out the steps for what needs to happen in these instances. We don't have a plan. It's just a technical approach to what happens. So, if we have a plan and if we have kind of a desired outcome, maybe our actions for these different donut holes when infrastructure fails will be different than what it is today. I can just say my neighbors at the time knew that when their infrastructure fails, they're they're hooking up to the city cuz they're surrounded by city, right? I mean, there's especially on that Capital Street, they're they're completely surrounded by city. And so, their expectation is once infrastructure fails, septic, their their um their water, they they won't have a choice. Um and so, my only concern and I'm you know, just just quite frankly is that we are going to spend money on litigation, defending litigation when we could have a plan in How long would it take to put together a plan with the county, do you think? Um hard to tell. It's supposed to happen between now and the next update. And these This is part of the problem. This is You guys are arguing the point. This is the point that Jill made at the last meeting. This isn't the stage to make the argument you're making. That happens in the next step. We're working on that plan.

man. This is my time to ask questions. So, I appreciate that. to help you answer your question. No, I'm asking CAC and we're going to

CAC, you want me to help you answer the question? I mean, we have the question answered. I I Obviously, I mean, there's I'm just trying to help him remember that this was already addressed. So, um the in in part of uh our discussions with the county in terms of dealing with all of the UGA and uh So, we had several steps we decided needed to happen uh in order for all of our comp plans to move move forward. Um so, by transferring the land into the city, the city takes on the responsibility for planning for that land, takes it out of the county's planning, which allows them to adopt their comp plan in time, and so we can do the annexation. So, that was the first step. As part of all of the discussion, we discussed the ILA for that as the next step towards it. So, since we now have focused on annexation, took that step, the next step is to focus on the ILA that will work on the donut holes and the rest of the areas that we need to plan for. So, we have to start working on that. We're working on our comp plan. How long will the entire planning process take? We have to enter into a discussion with ILA, determine the scope of it, what we want to do, what we want to accomplish, how much funding do we want to contribute. So, there There's a lot of planning to start the plan. That itself is a another interlocal agreement, if you ask me, in order to get both of our responsibilities lined out before we head into the planning process. So, it'll take a little bit to understand what we're dealing with. Okay. And just to be clear, I'm I'm just These comments were made to us at the last meeting. So, we haven't had a lot of time to absorb this. And so, I I This is why I wanted to just make sure that I am asking all my questions before we make a decision of this magnitude. So, I appreciate the the attempt to help, but I this is why I wanted to ask these questions cuz this is presented to us relatively late. And so, I'm just trying

to get a better understanding.

In an ideal situation, we could have worked the entire annexation and the donut holes into one big ILA, but we would still be working on it and that would take even longer for an agreement to come forward. So, therefore we said annexation is a critical first step that we should take. Even without before the agreement, let's both agree to do that, which is great. It's a great show of cooperation that we agreed on that first step. And so, the next step is the ILA and we knew that would take a little longer. We didn't want the annexation to be stuck in that process while we're doing the comp plan. Okay. And Council member, the other thing is one of the things that we've talked about with county staff is we are doing the planning that somebody probably should have done for us 20 years ago. So, an ideal situation would have been able to go back in time and say, "Let's put all this stuff in the staging and the planning that it should be." Since we're not able to go back in time, we're setting the stage now for future as mayor was talking about. We're creating the plan to address that and the plan for the donut or pocket areas that we're talking about is a much larger infrastructure effort and discussion that we have to have. So, because staff understood that and we had that conversation with Department of Commerce, we had that conversation with Island County, we moved forward with a planned approach to say, "Let's focus on what we've referred to as area four that we're working on and then let's work on a work group plan and a way to also do some funding mechanisms to the concerns about the infrastructure impacts that that's going to create." So, that is how staff worked with Island County staff to come up with a long-term plan. Okay, make Yeah. Any more questions? All right. I think we are at the point of someone making a motion and Council member Romero.

I move that we approve uh the ordinance and approve the annexation of the South annexation area as described. All right. So, we have a motion a motion as presented by a Council member Romero seconded by Council member Arms. Is there any further discussion before I call for a vote? Yes, Council member Wigenstein. It's more of a uh shouldn't an ordinance number be in the motion? It's not. I would like to make a friendly amendment that we get it in there. Sure, we can. Probably should be in there. Yeah, you're right. Friendly amendment to change the ordinance to ordinance 2040. Yeah, I mean we just need to add add this number. Yeah, yeah. Second. I second that. Okay, so it's friendly then. We have a friendly amendment to add the motion 2040 to the amendment seconded by Mayor Pro Tem. All right. All in favor raise your right hand. Council member Peterson, there she is. All right. Of the amendment. Of the amendments. And now all in favor of the emotion as presented, all in favor raise your right hand. Okay, that passes unanimously. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem.

[clears throat] Thank you, Cat. All right. So, moving forward with ordinances and resolutions, thanks, Cat. We have ordinance number 2019 Marina Advisory Commission introducing Harbor Master Elise Henry to present the update to the ordinance and Hillary may assist as needed. Hi, Elise.

Hi. Good evening, Council and Mayor. I'm going to try to make this one fairly quick for you. So, we are here to update the ordinance 2019. And all we're wanting to update at this time is the addition of number two, remote access, so that the Council members can attend meetings virtually as well as in person. This recommendation did come from the City Council legal department and that was just to bring all the commissions at the same basic like line item, I guess, is the best way to put that. Marina Advisory Commission made the motion to accept that change. It was unanimous at the March 7th meeting. And I now recommend this motion. I move to adopt ordinance number 2019 amending OHMC sections 2.39.0 30 {comma} 2.39.040 {comma} and 2.39.050. All right. I will first confirm we've had no public comments on this issue from again then. All right. Is there anyone here with us this evening that would like to step forward and make public comments on this issue? Hearing no one, seeing no one, we will close public comment and call upon Council for their comments or questions. Mayor Pro Tem. Just as a matter of correction for the record, uh you mentioned the time change was so City Council members could attend the meetings. You mean Marina Commission board members. The time change is the next item. This one is just remote access and yes, it's just for Marina Commissioners. Yes. I meant commission members. No, we're all It's all good. Yes, this is just for the Marina Advisory Commission. I was like, why are we at the meeting Why are we at the Marina meetings? Uh

Barbara could as our ex officio log on remotely instead of coming in person. [laughter] One less meeting. I'm happy. Yes, Council member Stucky. I know this is to make them all match, so it could be most likely this way in the other ones as well. And I'm just looking through it real quick. I don't see a limit on how many they can attend remotely. Does that sound correct? As far as I know, they could attend all of them remotely. I don't think they put a limit on it.

Is that how it is with all of them, Sabrina? I'd have to go look, but I believe so cuz it's the consistent language we're just rolling out across the different committees. And maybe that's something I should have comment I mean, I'm not going to hold it all up, but it I I don't particularly like the idea of being on phone every single one in. I mean, someone could in theory just move and just for phone every single one in. I'm not going to hold it up cuz I want them all to match, but Council member, would you like us to make a note for future revisions Yeah, it it If you don't mind, there should be a limit to how many they could do remote and and also to point out on this cuz I don't feel like this is always done both in Council or on commissions, a commissioner's camera should be turned on when participating in the meeting. I don't know if that applies to Council as well. Prob- maybe should, but like I think that's one of the things we don't think about. You know, we just have it off and and I'll be honest, I've attended some meetings not for the city, but I have attended some meetings where the camera's off where let's be honest, you're half paying attention and I think having the camera on is important and knows that people are indeed paying attention to what's going on. So, I'm glad that's in there. Just may have to have friendly reminders if that doesn't happen. And this is a general comment. It's not just specific to this. So, it is something we added for exactly um the reason of making sure that we could see and hear um people who participating and it did come out of some of the COVID situation where we sometimes somebody would join and we'd say, "Are you there? We can't hear you." And so, due to technical issues, we made sure that we had highlighted this because if people do want to join remotely, if that's something you want to look at for the Council policies, that's something that staff can review and see if there's a way to add that.

Well, I just don't I I I just don't I just don't think I mean, if we're going to have it for commissions, I don't think they should be held to a higher I don't think they should be held I wouldn't mean to pick on you, Sandy. I'm sorry. I just realized. My apologies. I don't I don't think we should hold the commissions to a higher standard than ourselves. Yeah, again, we can add that as a note and when we do a revision of your board I Julie's not here to remind me of the name of the document, but I give it's in your drawers. Um I can uh ask that question and then we can add that to the It's Sabrina, it's Sabrina, it's the Council Rules of Procedure. Thank you. Yeah, it's in here. So, okay. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you, Council member Stucky. Anybody else for the good of the order? Going once, going twice. Yes, Council member Peterson. I'm disappointed by the way that you do not have a lei on. So.

[laughter] I'm my She's in Hawaii. You got to We can't hear you. You got to turn your mic on. [laughter] There you go. Did I do it? Yep.

Too many clicking buttons. I'm a good button pusher. No, I appreciate Council member Stucky because I agree. Um I just didn't want to turn it on and, you know, not I don't know. Anyway, I am I appreciate that. I think you're right that way we know we're here and paying attention, which I have been. But I I I agree and so, I will stay online, but I will turn my microphone back up. So, hello hi, y'all. Good to see you. Anybody else for the good of the order? All right. So, I would entertain a motion then on this ordinance number 2019. Mayor Pro Tem. I move to adopt ordinance number 2019. All right. No, you don't. We have a motion as presented to [laughter] adopt ordinance number 2019 amending Ocean Shores Municipal Code sections and they're listed there. Second. Seconded by Council member Romero. Is there any further discussion before I call for a vote? Hearing none, all in favor raise your right hand. Passes unanimously. All right. Thank you very much. We have next resolution 2512 updating Marina Advisory Commission bylaws. Here to introduce that is our harbormaster Elise Henry to present an update to the ordinance. Hillary is also available if needed. So for this one, as Mayor pro tem mentioned, we are looking at a potential time change and that'll be for resolution 25-12. We are looking to change the meeting time from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. It'll still be at the same date and location. The Marina Advisory Commission has recommended this change because they feel we can keep commissioners a little better for retention purposes. We'll have more public attendance

and overall we actually did receive some feedback from our first all tenant meeting in an exit survey that said that they would appreciate if these meetings were a little later in the evening. Marina Advisory Commission again voted made a motion on the March 9th meeting unanimously to approve and adopt this change. So the recommended motion here is I move to adopt resolution 25-12 amending City of Oak Harbor Marina Advisory Commission bylaws and rules of procedure. All right, thank you Elise. I will confirm that we received no public comment on this issue. Michaela? Okay. And is there anyone here with us this evening that would like to step forward to make public comment? Hearing seeing none, I will close public comment and call upon council for their comments at this time. If there are no Yes, council member Stuckey. I move to adopt resolution 2512 amending City of Oak Harbor Marina Advisory Commission bylaws and rules of procedure. Second. We have a motion as presented by council member Stuckey seconded by council member Arms. Is there any further discussion before I call for a vote? Hearing seeing none, all in favor raise your right hand. Passage unanimously. Thank you very much. Moving on to contracts and agreements Washington State Department of Commerce 26-96330-119 contract. Here to introduce that is our grants administrator Wendy Horn. Good evening mayor and council members. I'm going to be talking about the connecting housing to infrastructure program otherwise known as the chip program. This is a state state of Washington Department of Commerce program designed to encourage and assist developers to build affordable workforce housing.

The funding essentially offsets the cost of utility infrastructure improvements and system development charges. In 2020 the state legislature passed HB 1590 amending RCW 8214530 providing council maniac manic council manic authority to impose a new local sales and use tax for up to 1/10 of 1% for affordable housing. In March 2022 the county Island County adopted that 1/10 of 1% sales and use tax as well and that allows us the city to apply for these grant funding. So since 2022 Island County has been supporting affordable housing projects including the recently opened chemist flats project generations place in Langley and a land purchase for Habitat for Humanity. More recently they awarded Opportunity Council and Blue Ridge Cascade formerly shelter resources the Mulberry Village project located on South Wells Southwest Mulberry Place. This project is going to create 96 multi-family units. 25% will be one bedroom, 50% will be two bedrooms, 25% will be three bedrooms. There will be a manager's unit and then also a community building which will have services and amenities. Um the developer has completed the pre-application stage with the city. They've submitted their site plan which is currently under review and they also have submitted an application to the Washington State Housing Finance Commission on March 30th for their bond tax credits and all other project financing necessary to start construction. The chip grant will support the construction of the necessary water sewer and storm utility infrastructure.

You may remember or you may not remember back in October 2024 I presented the chip grant to the city council for approval for the first application. Opportunity Opportunity Council had asked the city to apply on their behalf because only governments can apply for the chip funds. We asked for $1 million on their behalf and we were not awarded it at that time. So the next round of applications were opened in the fall of 2025 and again they asked us to apply on their behalf. We did apply and we were notified in January that we were awarded the $1 million this time. [clears throat]

So what does that mean? That means that the city will be receiving $1 million to assist Opportunity Council and Blue Ridge um to put the infrastructure in. The Opportunity Council will actually be the sub recipient of the grant so we essentially are going to manage the grant and pass the money along to them. The agreement before you today is actually the contract between the city and the Washington State Department of Commerce. It outlines the requirements for the city what we have to do to make sure we do the grant right. And the city's legal team has reviewed the agreement and approved it for signing upon city council approval. Then I just wanted to go back just a little bit just to remind you all why this process may seem a little odd but about a year ago the council adopted a new procurement policy that streamlines the grant process. So we now have two paths on the road to grant applications. The first requires the city council approval prior to the application being submitted if the agency requires it if there's matching requirements over $50,000 or if there's a long-term commitment on behalf of the city. The other path doesn't require prior city council approval if there's no matching funds if the matching funds required are under $50,000 or if there's no long-term commitment. So under this path if the grant's awarded the agreements and contracts above director thresholds then come back to city council for approval. And with all that said that's why I'm here tonight to ask for your approval to accept and um enter into a million dollar grant agreement with the Department of Commerce. And I have a motion for you to consider. Great, thank you Wendy. I will first

confirm that we've not received any public comment on this issue. That is correct, Mayor. Thank you Michaela and then I would ask anyone here this evening if they would like to step forward to make public comment on this issue. Hearing seeing none, I will close public comment and call upon council for their comments or questions at this time. Council member Romero. Anybody else? What? Oh, Sandy. I'm sorry. Council member Peterson. That's all right. If this is 95 units you said correct, Wendy? 96. Yes. I know I yeah because of the manager unit. Okay. So on page 23 of the information it broke it down into 30% AMI, 50% AMI. Um is somebody that I guess what I'm asking is to have somebody explain to me or what happens if the builder doesn't do it that way? And and who adjudicates that? I'm not sure I completely understand your question. I'm going to let you

Are you are you are you asking about how they qualify? Is that what you're asking, Sandy? Like the 30% 50% 60%? Yeah, on page 23 of the the draft the grant agreement draft there's a it says 30% one bedroom no would be 10, 50% AMI one bedroom would be 10, two bedroom would be 23 and three bedroom would be 11. I I'm not even sure I'm not even sure I know what that means but they have to abide by this so we're not in I just don't want us to lose this grant. That would be kind of an issue. No, they they have a a long-term commitment. They have a a minimum of 25 years but up to 40 years where they have to keep this these housing units affordable and they're that's based on 80% of the average medium household income. So there's actually a document that they submit to the Department of Commerce that guarantees that they will do that and it's on them to make sure that that continues to happen. Okay. That's not something that we have to actually ever keep calendaring to make sure that that's happening. We don't We do not. It's actually the Department of Commerce. Okay, perfect. I just was wondering if we were going to have to be in charge of that. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else? Questions, comments, or a motion? Since I can't get my microphone to turn off, I will make the motion if I can find it. I move to approve the draft agreement and authorize the mayor to sign contract number 26 96-330-119

between the city of Oak Harbor and the Washington State Department of Commerce connecting housing to infrastructure program. Great, thank you. We have a motion as presented by Council Member Peterson. Second. Seconded by Mayor Pro Tem. Is there any further discussion before I call for a vote? Hearing seeing none, all in favor raise your right hands. Raise your right hand. All right, there we go. [laughter]

All right, we pass unanimously. Thank you very much. All right, we have reached the last item on the agenda. It is the Marina dredging update and here to introduce that is our Harbor Master Elise Henry and Grants Administrator Wendy Horton. Thank you again, Wendy, for your presentation. All right, so I'll be taking the first half of the presentation and we also have Bill Gerken with Moffatt Nichol on the line with us as well in case there's questions that Wendy and I can't answer that he might be able to. So, just an update, we submitted our federal permits back in May and June of 2025. The city council approved all funding options back in July of 2025. And in a perfect world, that is a typical timeline that would allow for dredging to happen in 26-27 fish window. That is not the case. We are not in a perfect world, unfortunately. So, here is part of the reasons why we're not. Our entire schedule is controlled by the permit. If we don't have permits, we don't move forward. We anticipated them at the latest by now. Um federal government shut down in the fall of 2025 for 45 days. In NOAA's and National Marine Fisheries world, one day equaled a week. So, that delayed everything about 45 weeks for an organization that was already significantly understaffed, their words, not ours, and they lost additional staff in that federal government shutdown, which delayed us as well. So, um unfortunately, with all of that in hand, we are still in a holding pattern with the waiting on the National Marine Fisheries permit. And just um in case you're wondering why we're in the longer permitting process,

we were not eligible for the expedited Salish Sea Nearshore Programmatic or what they affectionately call SNAP. And we just learned on Thursday of last week, there's been a new federal court ruling out of California that has rolled back all of National Marine Fisheries and US Fish and Wildlife endangered species um stipulations, I guess, for lack of a better word, back to the 2019. So, there had was an update in 2019 and an update again in 2024. Both of those are no longer in place. It has been rolled back and they are working to figure out what that means. Uh NOAA has said that you are looking at weeks to months, so realistically, months. Um and then the Army Corps of Engineer is actually figuring out if the Salish Sea Nearshore Programmatic is even a viable option at this point or if that went away in this rollback of that court ruling. And I do have the exact court ruling if you'd like to go read all 41 pages of that. Um we have not been assigned a National Marine Fisheries biologist, which then has to do a biological opinion. Those biological opinions take anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks minimum. And it is really hard for us to justify when we might see these permits with all of this additional delay, unfortunately. Once we do get an assignment, we're probably looking at 3 months for National Marine Fisheries to turn over that biological opinion or the BO, and then it goes to the Army Corps of Engineer and trickles down from there. Um we do have to have about 12 permits before we can dredge, just so you're

aware of that. And it is an additional 3 to 4 months once all the permits are in hand for construction to start. And looking at our own procurement process, even if by some fantastic luck, we would receive all of them by July of 2026, realistically, we need 4 to 6 weeks to publicly advertise the project. We need another 2 to 4 weeks to negotiate and award the contract. We'd need another 2 to 4 weeks to come back to you with that. And our earliest start date would be October, early November, and we just would not have enough time to complete the project in full in 3 and 1/2 months. And if we're going to spend the amount of money that we have talked about, I don't see moving forward to do half of what we've set out to do making any sense. Because then you're also looking at a second mobilization of a construction crew. So, our next steps, we are going to continue on the design and the engineering for the project. We are going to continue trying to figure out where we are in the permitting process and try to get um confirmation if we are assigned a biologist or not and then it moving down cuz the permit process goes NOAA assigns you a biologist, they tell the Army Corps of Engineer, the Army Corps of Engineer tells you. And we are in contact with our Army Corps of Engineer um assigned biologists and they have not heard anything. Um so, at this point, unfortunately, we are going to advertise and award the contract for the 27-28 fish window. I know that is not what any of you want to hear and that is not what I want to say. Trust me, it has not been an easy thing to come to deal with, but unfortunately, that is where we are. So, we are going to make the best of it

and we're going to move forward and I'm going to let Wendy talk about the money aspect of it. Call again. Yes, so as Elise mentioned earlier, you all had approved a funding mechanism for the dredging and the breakwater um in July of 2025 that would cover the entire repayment of a bond for the entire project. Um however, the city has received a $1 million grant from Island County in their rural county economic development infrastructure program. Um we will be using that $1 million for design, engineering, and at the additional permitting expenses, whatever those may be. Um and we're going to start using that as soon as the Moffatt Nichol's contract is amended. Um any funds from that million dollars remaining after the design is complete will be used also for either the construction contract itself or project management of the entire um dredge. And I hoping we expect to have both the construction company and the project management team under contract well before the million dollars is spent. Huh? Oh, oh, thank you. So, repayment of the bond will come from the Marina revenue, B&O taxes, and um the lodging tax revenues. Um and as you know, the B&O tax was implemented in October of 2025 and the city is now beginning to collect that tax on a quarterly basis. The revenue um already collected by the time the bond is needed could be used to

either offset the amount that we need to borrow and or then the repayment. So, as far as other funding opportunities go, we are still waiting to hear from the federal government about the port infrastructure grant that we applied for back in the fall. This will be, if we get it, um would offset the project by $11 million. Um and we will be applying for this again. The window is about 3 months away if we don't receive it this time. Um Elise and I are also continuing to work on a grant for the Economic Development Administration that will offset the cost of the breakwater project by $5 million. Um having a little bit more time to complete the design and engineering is actually not a bad thing when it comes to grants because it makes us more competitive if we are that much closer to being shovel ready, as they say. Um and then just as a side note, you might have known that we did secure $621,000 from the state to upgrade the electrical on the E dock and also um upgrade and repair the upland bathrooms at the marina. So, while it's not directly related to the dredging, every little bit helps and it also provides and maintains the reserves for the dredge project. And then we continue to look for other funding opportunities. I will as long as until they start doing the project. And with that, that is where we are at with the project. We're happy to answer any questions. All right, Council. This is your time for questions or comments on this issue. Yes, Council member Stuckey. I'm not going to shoot the messenger. Cuz I can hear the frustration. Oh, you're going to

the frustration. I know this is not the fault of anyone in this room. With that said, couple of questions. Okay. When we were discussing this before we approved the B&O tax, I very much got the feeling that there was an extreme sense of urgency for this. Like, if this doesn't happen, I don't want to go so far as to say the sky is falling, but that was the impression that I got. And that was under the assumption this was going to be done on the timeline. Was it not as much of an emergency as we thought, or is this really going to be a struggle to kicking it one more year? Time will tell, but I have a feeling we're going to struggle. Okay. Um, I'll just be honest with you.

Yeah. Um, we will see a lot of grounding issues because we do have siltation. Um, even with that emergency repair, there were a couple of panels that had been on the bottom for about 2 years. They were under 4 ft of silt. If that tells you how fast it is silting in there around F dock. Okay. Delaying this, does that increase the costs? Most likely because everything increases as the year goes on. Um, I don't know that we'll be dredging any additional volume, if that makes sense, but it would just be the increase due to the fact that it's an additional year. I'd also like to say that it's difficult to prove a counterfactual, you know? Like, um, based on this delay, as um, Elise was saying, if we were to wait until June or July to actually go out to bid and only do kind of like half the job, with the time that would be allotted, and this is of course a lot of ifs, ifs, ifs, if we get the permit, if NOAA Fisheries does their job, by doing a bid so late in the game, I remember being told in a at a meeting with our consultant, Moffatt Nichol, that if you wait that late in the game, you might get subpar bids, and they might be higher than they otherwise would have been. It's very possible that waiting until we have a sufficient amount of time to go forward with the bidding early enough in the process to get the quality bids in might end up, you know, um, costing about the same. And it's really hard to really hard to prove, you know, what inflation factors are going to, you know, play into this as well without having, you know, um, both sets of facts, you know? Yeah, I I Um, I Oh. Did you want to weigh in?

I was Yeah, I was going to say I just excuse me, this is Bill. I was going to weigh in on that point you just made relative to contractors and bids. For a project of this size, we already had, um, well, I'll say American Construction, they just did the emergency repair on the breakwater, last breakwater repair, dredging contractor on two projects I'm working with now. I think they did the dredging here last time. And they let us know that their dance card is already likely too full for them to bid on another project of this size for the '26-'27 fish window. So, you know, we're already hitting that point. And if we're pushing out to '27-'28, you know, I'm on the phone with the contractors that we'd really like to see bid on this, letting them know early it's coming, just so we don't run into the situation of the contractors who aren't bidding, their dance card's already full. And we're already running into that for this year. Sure. Sometimes I would sometimes wish businesses were more more like government and government more like businesses. It'd be nice to go to the powers that be, the governmental entities above us, and say, "Hey, you held us up. You should do us a solid or help us out financially when it comes to grants." But this is government, not business. Um,

Yeah, boy, don't I wish. Yeah. The last question I have regarding the LTAC funds, are we still going to collect the LTAC funds for this project then in this upcoming bid cycle, considering we're not going to be doing the work? [laughter]

Um, so the LTAC funds were collected specifically for the payment of the debt service. So, because we won't be paying debt service this year, we'll we'll have to evaluate that. Um, we may be able to put it aside to pay debt service in the future years, or we may decide just for the current year not to collect it and then move forward at a future date cuz the LTAC funds were approved over a multi-year time period. So, we'll have to kick that around, and we'll we'll get back to you on that. Yeah, cuz I mean, I can definitely see merits for both. I can see, "Hey, we're not actually using it this year. Let's let's have one more year where there's a little bit more for the LTAC." And I can also see, "Hey, there may be some increased costs, so maybe it's okay to squirrel that away a little bit." Even though it's really kind of a drop in the bucket in the overall cost of the project. So, all right. Well, appreciate you presenting the the bad news. Um, I don't enjoy the bad news, but I appreciate you presenting it and being transparent, and that's all we can do. So, thank you. Anybody else? Yes, Mayor Pro Tem. I I don't have a whole lot. I mean, what do what do what can we do? Right. Yeah. We've already done that. It didn't work.

[laughter]

It's stomp and scream, but, you know, to me this this just drives home the idea that delaying stuff like this is, um, not in our best interest. Like, when I'm in when I mean delay, I mean us as Council delaying decisions that then lead to stuff like this because, you know, we, um, if we have, uh, infrastructure, construct I mean, anything, really anything that requires permitting of any kind ever, um, you know, the longer we waffle, the higher the chances of something like this happening. So, um, this is just reinforcement that we need to be the Council that we wish we had 20 years ago, as Sabrina's always saying. Um, and so, and looking forward, you know, plan for the worst-case scenario. So, I, you know, we we were really optimistic going in. We knew it was going to be a I mean, everything was going to have to fall into line perfectly anyway, and so we went in with our fingers crossed, and it didn't work out for us, which is extremely frustrating. Um, but what what can we do other than just move forward, um, the best we can, and you know, we'll just let us know how we can support staff, and uh, keep us posted. Thank you. So, I will note the contract amendment with Moffatt Nichol will also include going forward with the breakwater so that we can get those permits in sooner rather than later in case we are seeing these delays months later so that we could possibly combine the two projects, become even more competitive, and also look at a lower cost overall because you're only mobilizing that contractor once. You're not mobilizing them twice. And yes, there are contractors that can

complete both projects within a fish window. That makes sense. Yeah, so maybe instead of thinking of it as our rush project getting canceled, we'll just think of it as, "Well, now we have a little more time to do said project." I'm trying to look on the bright side here. Great. Thank you. Yes, Council member Romero. Thank you, Elise and Wendy, for tackling the bureaucratic inertia that's built into the system. And I would say that, uh, this is an example of the administrative state trying to get stuff done, but it can be done. So, I wanted to encourage you because you're doing right, but do not give up and stay on target, you know, you get those Gantt charts, and you're trying to hit every deadline, but one thing is certain with regard to money, there's always somebody out there wanting to get the money that's available, and, uh, you we got everything done right, and if there's anybody who can do it right, it's you all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Council member Romero. Anybody else for the good of the order? All right. Well, that concludes the agenda. Can I have a motion to adjourn? Mayor, I was trying to ask a question. You didn't see my long hand.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Council member Peterson, yes. Um, the I probably have my terminology confused. The the money that the 621,000 that we just got, is that part Is that That's not the breakwater thing you're talking about, is it? No, it is not. That is going to be for some electrical upgrades that have been deemed the next fail point, and for the upland restrooms, which has also been deemed a fail point. So, we're trying to be proactive instead of reactive. Can can do that now, or do we have to wait? Oh, we're doing That project should be rolling this fall. Okay, so

I'm just waiting for the clearance to start spending the money. [laughter]

Okay, I didn't I didn't want us to lose another set of grant money cuz we weren't ready. And then um And then we have another million-dollar economic development um bucket of money that was also involved in this or am I conflating something? No, I think the million dollars is the same. It's the um Island County's million-dollar RCED grant. Okay. Okay, so same same same amount of money. There's not This is not become 2 million. It's still one. Yeah, just one. Okay, thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you. I'm done. All right, sounds good. No worries. Yes, Councilmember Wigans saying. I motion we adjourn. All right, we have a motion to adjourn. Second.