City Council - Regular Meeting

So, good afternoon. As it is 1 p.m., I will call the city council workshop of April 14th, 2026 to order. I will remind you that this is both a physical and a virtual meeting. The meeting may be viewed on YouTube and on Facebook following the meeting. Public comment is not normally taken at workshop meetings. Although the council may allow or request public participation on action items, we have no action items on our workshop agenda today. I have one quick comment and then I will turn it over to council for their comments. Um, in recent days, the president has a proposed budget um that he has released for fiscal year 2027. That budget has significant cuts um that impact state and local governments dramatically. I just want to highlight a few of those things for all of us here today. Specifically, community development block grants, FEMA, raise grants, Department of Justice, Economic Development Administration. all of these which directly impact us here at the city of Oak Harbor to the tune of $16.9 million. So I have personally written letters to Governor Bob Ferguson, Senator Patty Murray, Representative Rick Larson, and state representatives Dave Paul and Clyde Shavers as well as State Senator Ram Mazal. And I welcome all of my council members. If they would like us to prepare letters on your behalf, we would be happy to do that as an administration and then have you guys sign those as well. So with that, I will turn it over to council for your comments at this time. Yes, council member Stucky.

Just an update on tourism. We interviewed candidates yesterday and hopefully there should be a offer by the weekend to have a county employee assigned to the Highland County Tourism and then we can reestablish the board. So things are getting closer. Thank you for that. That's good news. Anybody else for the good of the order? Council member Arms.

Uh, we did not have a backboard last night because we didn't have a quorum and u, but I was down feeding the fish today and they're getting busy and they'll be released on the 9th at I think 10:00 a.m. I'll have to look at it again, but they're almost getting ready to go. It's exciting. All right, anybody else? All right, if we don't have any other council comments to share, then we will move on to the agenda and move on to community partner presentations. First up on the list is Island Transit phase one of the long range transit plan. And here to introduce that is the island transit planning and outreach manager Brad Wendler.

Good afternoon, council. Uh, and Mr. Mayor. Um, if I could get the PowerPoint brought up. Ah, there we go. Um, so Island Transit is kicking off a long range transit plan that will set out um our 20-year goals as well as some short- range goals over the next 5 years. And so I'm here today to talk about what we're going through right now. If I could get the next slide, please.

Oh, I do have a clicker. Okay. All right. Um, so what I'm going to go over with you today is the what, why, how, the who, and the when. what's going on here in our phase one, how uh we are going out and trying to encourage public feedback and then what will be coming on in the next steps as we move forward. Um a long range transit plan uh can bring a lot of benefits, but we do get questions about what are the benefits and why are we uh doing this? And the answer to that is we're developing our 20-year long-term goals. Um and those are going to drive our annual decision-making process. Um, we try to have an integrated planning cycle that provides connectivity between these long-term goals such as where should we have coverage, where should we provide service, what kind of technology should we be putting on our buses, what kind of fuel sources should we be using in the future, and tying those long range goals with our short range uh annual budgets, our annual transit development plans, the board meetings and service changes that we have in any given year. How do these short-term decisions tie in and make sense with our long range plan? The other thing that we're looking at doing is we're going to be going through this process to develop a prioritized list of service improvements because right now as we get new resources right now, we go out and say, "Well, where should we offer service?" And as we're going through and talking about all the public feedback that's going on and and talking to the public, right now is a great opportunity so that as resources become available, we have a list of one through how many ever and we can start going forward and start enacting the services that the citizens are requesting. So this is a great time for the city council as well as the citizens of Oak Harbor to tell us what they like, what they don't like, and

what can we do better in the future. Here in phase one, what we've got going on is we're collecting data on current operations. We're looking at how are we doing, how many writers per hour, what is our cost per hour, those kind of things. We're surveying the public for feedback on our operations and wanting to asking them, you know, what they want to see in the future. And we're doing that in a number of different ways. We have meetings like this where we're out talking to everyone. We're hosting our own uh public meetings uh that are available. You can see a list of those on our website. Uh we're putting out rack cards, special materials, um flyers. Uh we have surveys that uh the public can take online or in person. We also have them in paper for folks who do not have technology. Uh we're having a lot of stakeholder meetings. We're going to be reaching out to public staff from a variety of agencies as well as nonprofits to come in and have staffto staff conversations with us about what is it that their agency needs, their nonprofit. What about the clients that you serve? What can you tell us about your clients? What are their needs? What are you hearing? So that we can try to hear what our community needs in the way of transportation from a d a bunch of uh different perspectives. We also have our board of director meetings where we're open to the public and asking folks to participate and uh bring us comment. So, who do we want to hear from? And the short answer is everyone. Um it's not just about our current writers. We want to talk to our non-writers. Why do people look at us and think we're not an an answer for their transportation needs? You know, what can I do to win over a non-writer? Uh what is the changes that we can make? We want to talk to private businesses. We want to talk to the chambers. Um, are there clients able to get to them? Do they have workers that need to get to and from their businesses? One of the things that we've heard is, you know, in here in Oak Harbor is that employees at restaurants and stuff that close later

are having a hard time getting home. So, is that an issue that the business community would like us to address? So, these are the the kind of feedback that we're hoping to get so that we can develop services in the future. and of course elected officials and the local jurisdiction staff. We want to hear from everybody. Um the public feedback here, we have an array of public meetings. Uh the first one has already happened, but you know, we have another five or six there that are coming up. We certainly hope that city council members as well as the general public will show up and participate. They can also go to our website, participate in the public survey or um hit the QR code there. Uh the QR code is on all of our material as well. That'll take them right to our survey. So that is where Scadget Transit is at right now. Uh we're hoping to have this complete in the late spring here, uh early summer. Phase two is this summer and fall. And this is where we start talking about financial analysis and administrative analysis. as we grow services over time, we want to make sure that we don't overgrow uh and have to cut something back. So, that's where the financial analysis comes in. We're going to be developing service concepts based on the public feedback that we hear in phase one um and try to use those to evaluate the services that we uh have in have out there today. Um and then this winter, we'll have some draft policy recommendations. We'll have a draft prioritized list of service improvements. We'll take this all out for a third round of public feedback. This uh phase two will have its own round of public feedback. And then we should have an adoption of the final report uh late in 2026 or early in 2027. And with that, I yield to your questions and comments.

Council questions, comments. Yes, Council Member Maro. Thank you for the worthy, realistic, and outstanding presentation, Brad and Seline. I know from firsthand experience that what you're stating here is exactly on target. That's all I have. Thank you. Yes, Council Member Stucky. Going to kind of put you on spot, so maybe you don't have an answer, but do we know so first of all, wrership average cost per writer? Yes. Our average cost per rider right now is uh around $21. That's for is that is that for that's systemwide.

So if I ride the bus on Monday or I use your services and then I do it on Friday, are you telling me it's $21 each time? Uh the way we calculate that in transit is we look at the total cost of our agency and then we're doing a a a division based on our annual wrership numbers. And so what you do is and that's how you come up with a cost per trip. So uh if you go out and ride our route 10 from Harbor Station, does it cost you 20 does it cost us $20 that day to provide you that trip? No. That's a that would be a different calculation for what we'd have to do. The way it's done in the transit industry is it's done on an annual basis to find that cost per trip. And I guess this is this is mostly an education thing. So these are these are just me not knowing enough.

That seems high. Like if I were to go ride the bus anywhere, I can't imagine it being that much. I understand that that's an average. You know, you're picking up someone from the home. That's a lot more than someone riding on the but seems high. So our so we are a fair free system. So we don't actually charge $21, right? No, I understand that. I understand that. Okay. But it's still taxpayer money, which seems like a lot of money being spent by the taxpayers per writer.

Um it's probably uh I would say a little less than what is the average. And it's we're a rural system, so um our costs are a little different than say King County Metro or Community Transit or even Scadget Transit to the north, but that is fairly uh that's not an unusual number. Okay. I've always wondered cuz when I look at the sales tax breakdown, Island Transit is pretty close to what the city gets on sales tax and it just that just seems high. And maybe that's just me needing to get some research, but that that seems like a lot of money to be putting towards each writer, but that's I guess I just need to educate myself a little bit more. Thank you.

Y anybody else? So, I just had one quick question about the surveys. Um, as you get that survey data, I understand you're going to be using that data to incorporate that into how you're formulating the next phases of information that you're bringing out, but is that survey data going to be made available to everyone to see like on your website or the responses? I'm saying is there going to be like a summary of that data that's available for people to review and look at? Yes. Uh, and it'll be included at least as an appendix uh in our final report.

Okay, great. that that's what that I was just curious to see the the information that went into making up the Okay. All right. Great. I think that's it then. Thank you so much. Yep.

All right. So, next we have two presentations by the police department this afternoon. The first one is or actually Yeah, we do. I'm sorry. Uh is a catratom presentation and here to introduce that uh is our police chief Tony Slowick as well as Amy Weldon, Oak Harbor Youth Coalition Coordinator. All right. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Um, I'm here with Amy and Amy's going to give a presentation on, um, look forward to all your questions after that. So,

thank you. Full disclosure, middle age has made me allergic to public speaking. So, if you see me turning all shades of red, don't call EMS. I'm okay. Uh, just a little little frazzled. But good afternoon, city council and Mr. Mayor. My name is Amy Weldon. I am the co coalition coordinator for the Oak Harbor Youth Coalition. And just a little tidbit on what we are. We are a group of volunteers funded by the Washington State Healthcare Authority. And our job is to keep kids off drugs, um, prevent misuse and abuse with our local youth in our community. And we do so by coming together with community members in different sectors and assessing the risk protectors that we currently have in our community and putting in place some protective factors to keep them safe and help them make healthy decisions in their life. Uh one of our one of our protective factors that we are concentrating on right now is reducing access for youth to um alcohol, tobacco and other drugs and as the chief has said is our growing concern at the moment. So what isratom? I know a lot of people maybe don't even know what is or haven't heard ofratom but um historically it is a naturally occurring plant in Southeast Asia. If you pick the leaf off the plant and chew on it, it gives you the same effect as a strong coffee. Um the primary active compounds are metroenine and seven hydroxygenine. Low doses have that coffee stimulant euphoria um effect whereas higher doses can act similar to opioids and do carry similar risks. They're currently sold in gas stations, vape shops, and convenience stores all over the state, um, including Island County. Um, it's currently banned in seven states, and there are a lot more states that are looking at regulating um, and

uh, being federally um, unregulated. They're often contaminated with things like heavy metals such as nickel um, and biological agents such as salmonella. So, this is just a quick little snippet. This is 15 years ago. Um, and this is calls to the poison control center. Um, and the level of care that was needed after. So, this is single use. This is monotherapy where cratom was the only substance that was um that was involved with the call. And you can see it's pretty it's pretty moderate um across all critical care, hospital ward, and psychiatric help. But once we go to poly substance where there was another substance involved, the numbers shoot up. So in the hospital ward, children less than 13 saw um about 65% needing the hospital and then in critical care that number went up to 35%. Some of the adverse um effects that were mentioned are here. We're not going to go through all of them, but I really wanted to point out the tachicardia because that is something that is found in your typical opioid responses. Um and then the respiratory depression u withratom itself that's not so much of a big deal but um we'll see why that's circled a little bit later. This is from the Washington state um poison center and I'm not sure if anyone knows but there have been two credom related wrongful death suits in Kitz County. one is still on ongoing and one was awarded uh $2.5 million from the manufacturer of overall 32 states received the Sudor's funds which is the state um unintentional drug overdose reporting system of the 32 11 were reported from um reported overdose deaths from 2016 to 2017 and then just 6 months later that number jumped to 27 of the 32 states.

The little box to the left is showing that data that was from the previous slide, the 15 years ago, and how it was a little it was more moderate. And then if we look to the right, we can see that the numbers are jumping up um significantly. And as Dr. Jimmy Leonard, I'm a huge Dr. Jimmy Leonard fan. He's from the Washington Poison Center. Um he says what's kind of obvious there that the data shows a vertical spike in the US Poison Center calls. This is the newest data that we just received from the Island County Public Health. Um, and again showing the interesting thing about this is that you're going to see a jump in the um pol the monosubstance cases. So in 20 uh 25 we see um an exponential increase there with the mono substance and again on the bottom mono substance withratom and this is just reiterating that through the sexes and through the age groups and even more we've seen the monotherapy is catching up or exceeding the poly substance use exposure calls. So what happened from 2024 to 2025? This time frame coincides with the emergence of seven hydroxy metrogenine. Currently in our gas stations and convenience stores you can buyratom that looks much like this. Looks like gummies. It looks like 5-hour energy drinks. Um even seltzers which I mean I would walk in and probably get an orange cream seltzer that was labeled as a um an allnatural supplement. But then when you look at the bottom again, we have it saysratomratum vapes, but and this is kind of supposed to be a little um animation, but it zeros in on the part that says seven hydroxy because this is not. This is not your natural that you find um in the in the nature and it's not a powdered form that was made for um human intake.

Ah, so this was a cute little animation cuz I'm a science nerd. Um, but this is the difference. The metroenine is on the left hand side and all it takes is adding a hydroxal group to the seventh carbon. Um, and now you have the more potent seven hydroxy metroine. And there's actually YouTube videos that you can see um online that show you how to take metroine and convert it to the 70. Um, so 70 it occurs naturally inratum, but it's only 2% or less. um of the alkaloids that are found. It has a short halflife. So if you take it, you're high for a very short amount of time and then you decide, oh, I'm going to take it again. And that's how it leads to its addictive property. It binds to multiple receptors in the brain, but specifically to the opioid, the muopioid receptors, and it's proven to do so more potent than morphine. It gives you an opioid like high, and it can cause respiratory depression. So like before we said crratum itself usually doesn't lead to that but um with the 70 there's a high probability that it can lead to the respiratory depression. In that case nlloxxone is used to reverse the overdose and like we saw before it comes in vibrant colors sweet flavors and it makes it very appealing to our youth. Here's some more examples. Um again it's hard to tell the difference between the catum and the 70. Um, a lot of them are mislabeled asum and they're not. They're synthetic. January 14th, the US Navy completely banned the use, possession, and selling of cratom with all of its US Navy sailors and marines. Um, and if they're caught with it, then it's punishable under the UCMJ. Again, an animation, but there were three bills in this past legislative session for Washington State. Um all

three fell out fairly early um in the session and at the time of making this presentation there were no prohibitions or bans anywhere in Washington state but huzzah Spokane and Spokane Valley um and now Clay Ellum actually have all instituted um citywide bans on all cratom products. The latest consu largest consumer demographic is middle-aged middle-class educated working white women and it's mostly used to mitigate pain and offset um symptoms from depression and anxiety. So what does that mean for us? Island County has at least eight points of access. Again, convenience stores, um gas stations, and vape shops. There are currently no regulations on age um either. So a 12-year-old, 13-year-old can go in and purchase these um freely from the gas station. They're not regularly tested for, so there's not too much data. Um whenever there is an overdose or if there is someone who's going to a rehab clinic, um opioids are tested for, but 70 metrogenine is not tested for. So, it's hard to tell if anyone is um if anyone is experiencing overdose or regulation due to the cratom or or the 70 and prevention is needed um to get ahead of this in our in our community. Those are little letters. So, what can we do? Creative and 70 products are still available. Um and you can get them again gas stations and smoke shops. Um at le shops do have the 21 plus. So, you can't get in there unless you're 21. Um, but the convenience stores and gas stations are free for all. Um, implementing a ban on creative sales, much like the city of Spokane, will reduce access to these products. Um, but there's no age restriction, and that any age can purchase. So, implementing an age restriction would reduce direct

retail access for the youth, but it still keeps others at risk. And it also um allows for youth access in the home. So if parents have it, especially if they don't know the the dangers of it, then they can leave it out um and let the youth can um can access it that way. Local governments will be responsible for enacting ordinances until federal regulation or state regulation um is put into place. This is a recommendation. This is I mean we're this is just for education. I'm just trying to get the word out. Um but for our intents and purposes, the recommendation is a six-month moratorum much like the city of Clayum just so that we have time to do more research and make appropriate actions um and regulations within our community. It helps keep the community safe while also educating uh our community on the potential dangers of this. If we cut off direct access, consumers may experience withdrawals. So, we would need to make sure we're working closely with health care professionals so they know what to look for. Um, cuz some people that are using may not even know that they're addicted and now they're having withdrawal symptoms and seek medical attention. This is one of my favorite little graphics. Uh, if we start here, we prevent that fifth wave of our opioid crisis. And with anything, prevention works. Uh, we are keeping in mind that protective factors are important and anything we can do to help keep kids making healthy choices, we won't have to be chasing specific drugs around if we can just keep our kids safe from the get-go. All right, thank you. And I'm here for any questions.

So, first Amy, I just want to say thank you for coming and making your presentation. This is another one of these um subject matters that came up at a right to blend and um I met you and this came up and we had a conversation and I asked you to come and speak as well as I think chief actually asked you to come and speak. So with that I will turn it over to council for your questions and comments at this time. Yes, council member.

Thank you for an update on a developing another developing crisis. Um really we need a ground swell of public support to oppose addictive and destructive substances and one of that is dealing with the supply side. It's one thing to deal with the potential users and then those who are addicts and it's a whole another program to deal with the suppliers. And so I would say that uh that needs to be taken into consideration too. It's been a couple of few decades ago, but there was a Joe Camel ad that was just sweeping the country and um the mothers went berserk because all their kids wanted to be cool like Joe Cool. It was a camel, you know, with the shades and it was so influential that they were all getting um basically addicted to cigarettes. Um and we're reminded too that back in the 50s, right, 50% of Americans u adults were smokers of one form or another approximately. So, it it's going to take a multi-prong approach, and I would definitely in favor uh some sort of municipal ordinance with regard to this, but like I said, it doesn't necessarily particularly address the supply side because as long as there's an incentive to make money, um there's going to be some people that are trying to get people addicted. And uh I hate to see the, you know, I'd like to go into the moral, ethical, phil philosophical side, but I'm just talking about the economics of it because for every addict, it's, you know, 10, 20, 40, 60, $80,000 a year that the public is paying to take care of them. And u and that's completely unacceptable to me. So, and the way to do it is to get people back working. That's all I've got. Thank you. Thank you.

Yes, Council Member Marshall. Thank you, mayor. Any idea why it it dropped out at the state level? Why the state wasn't interested in pursuing some kind of a ban or moratorium on this? This was the first time that it was brought to legislation. And uh it's my understanding that usually takes a few times to to really make progress. Um and I other than that, I don't know. I I don't know why they would um not want to get this stuff regulated.

Yeah. any is there any effort at the county level to make this kind of a countywide ban as opposed to just O' Car? I mean I I support the idea of doing this at O' Car but we are just one municipality, right? You just go right outside of our our limits and then they have potential to purchase it there as well. So the most effective approach obviously I would think is the broader that we can do this. Uh so is this discussion been had at the county or Yes, I've been working closely with the county health advisory board. Okay. Um they're a little backed up with the board of health meetings. Um but we're slated right now to present it to the board of health in May. Okay. Or June. June.

Okay. Well, I I for one would like to see Okar County take the lead on it and so I think this would be great. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody? Yes. Mayor Prom.

Thank you. Thank you for your presentation. I don't didn't know much about the topic. That was interesting. Um I am I don't know. I'm I would lean more toward uh regulations rather than an all-out ban. I know that it is really difficult for people to access medical care right now. And so if they have found something that works for their I wrote down pain, anxiety or depression, uh good for them. But I also take issue with something that's, you know, totally unregulated and potentially unsafe and um especially preventing underage use. That's keeping the the kids out of it is the thing. I'm I'm less concerned about the adults and more concerned about keeping the kids out of potentially dangerous stuff. And so what is stopping us as a city from implementing a must be 21 plus to buy? I mean, would that be a potential like I I was shocked. I just assumed I mean, I've seen it in the store. I just assumed you had to be at least 18 to purchase it. um didn't realize that was not the case. Yeah.

Um are there any municipalities that have done something like that? And Tonyy's smiling. He might have some information about that. Not in Washington. Um but you we can distinguish between natural leafratom. Yeah. And 70. However, the n the leaf cratom it has to be explicitly labeled and and the ingredients have to be explicitly labeled because we need to hold the manufacturers accountable for what they're putting into the because I mean they can put anything in it right now. Um so maybe a temporary ban on the cratom but the 70 I feel that there's no other option than than banning that.

That that makes sense. Sorry, thank you for spec I don't want to conflate the the two as being the same thing. So, you know, creative may or may not help some people. Um, but the 708 is a different

issue entirely. So, thank you for that clarification. That is important. And I mean, yeah, I remember the youth coalition coming out several years ago with data about, I mean, an entire generation of kids who were starting vaping were addicted to nicotine because they were buying the flavors that said zero nicotine or nicotine-free. And turns out that manufacturers lie and it was actually full of nicotine. And um so yeah, that's so important to keep the youth from getting started. So, um yeah, I would certainly support the city taking some kind of age restricted action and um definitely isolating the the 70 as you I'm not going to attempt to pronounce it as well as you did. Uh isolating the 70 and um maybe doing something to address that. That's that's scary. And my recommend my recommendation would also be to um kind of have it be all synthetic versions instead of just the 70 because then we get into all these other um manipulatives and now you've got all the different 11 and eights and um there's a new one it's called uhine pseudo and no that's coming out. So they're all kind of just they're taking what's going on with 708 seeing how that's taken off and just making new new things. Yeah, there's always going to be the next Yeah.

thing. Um, and we Yeah, we need to know what people are consuming. I mean, I feel like that's not a I don't that's not an unfair standard to to hold a manufacturer or distributor to is like, no, you need to actually be accurate in your testing and your labeling so that people know what they're consuming. That's a pretty minim bare minimum standard in society. So, uh, yeah, anything we can do to help, uh, keep people safe, I'm I'm all for it. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, Council Member Wiggenstein.

Thank you for, uh, showing up and and presenting on this and you took the synthetic right out. I was going to bring it up. Um, Tony, do we have anything from back in the bath salt days that the city did?

Yeah. No. So, so I think the challenge you have here is that this isn't regulated statewide or federally. Um, the city doesn't have the ability to manage or enforce what manufacturers put on labels. Um, and we so we don't really have a mechanism for that piece of of what's being brought in from um outside manufacturers. Um, I think that, uh, like Council Member Marshall said is if if this was if this was something you wanted to move forward with, this really needs to be a public health emergency or something where the p the health department makes a declaration to help um, enforce the sale of those items because it's not restricted within the state. We wouldn't be able to force possession of it. Uh, law enforcement wouldn't. um you would really be looking at, you know, the health department enforcing the sale of those items or through a code enforcement piece. And

is that what's happening in Spokane with theirs and Cleellum or you know

regardum I see that they're they're um I went back and looked at the Clay Ellen piece. Um that ban expired in January. So, I don't know if they it doesn't look like they actually put that in place where they um so they had a six-month moratorum. Looks like they're back to allowing it to be sold again. Um I'll have to call that jurisdiction. I can't find anything saying that it it that they did put an ordinance in place. Um and I'm not sure in in Spokane how that's going. I know they were one of the um uh jurisdictions that was pushing a ban statewide. um talking with our drug enforcement task force um isn't on their radar as anything that is being impactful to overdoses um that that we're seeing. However, most uh current opioid tests, they don't they don't track that. That's not something that they're looking for. So, they would have to uh be pulling a different blood draw to um to do a different analysis. Um I do I am supportive at the health department piece of this and and and how we would move forward and you know if the state decides to make a ban like other states have that I think that would benefit everybody. So

yeah um yeah I'm in favor of doing something as well either either either option um I lean towards the idea of banning it within the city limits. I know you can't or the celibate within the city limits. Um I know you can't but I would include all synthetics cuz I can remember those days of the bath salts and people eating people's face in Florida and all that good stuff. And and just to piggyback while I have the opportunity, um prevention isn't just teaching our our youth about what not to do. It's about encouraging communication in the family at the home and and making sure the mental health is taken care of so that so that they're all, you know, working on that way together. Um, and we got to start it younger. We're not we're not starting young enough. I think we we wait till fifth grade to do a lot of prevention and I believe prevention can start in preschool. So, um, thank you again and tell everybody hi for us.

Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Wickstein, Council Member Arms. Yeah, I think this is a great uh idea and I think it's uh probably long overdue and thank you for coming and whatever we can do if it's just banning the city, but I think you know working with the public health I think would be a good thing because then it it carries more weight and then when it comes up again in legislative things you can see that there are several cities or counties that have done this and so it might carry more weight to get something passed. and then well it's no big deal nobody's doing anything so I think this is a great start and thank you both thank you Tony thank you

so yeah chief really quick before I call on you I just wanted to say thank you for the conversation this morning that we had and um I sit on the island county board of health and when you come and make your presentation I will be making a strong statement and support of you as well as chief he will be there um we feel like that is the best path forward is to bring this forward through the island county side of Um, it's still going to, you know, be led through. I I it started with you through here and we're going to continue to push it through there, but it's going to be it's going to allow us to make the biggest impact in in this area um and make something that's enforceable and have um do the greatest good. So, that's where we're going to go with this, I think. So, but with that, Chief, back to you. So just to just to um as we look at bath salts and that drugs the drugs there those um those are schedule one um uh drugs banned by the DEA federally. So that's where we are able to enforce that uh in in possession or distribution. So where this isn't banned at all.

So thank you Amy again and thank you councel for your comments. Yes. Thank you very much. All right. Next up is our proposed ordinance presentation. Information only. Introducing this is our police chief Slowick to present a draft ordinance regarding vessel trailer, recreational, and oversized vehicle parking Oak Harbor Municipal Code Chapter 10.12.

All right. Good afternoon everybody. Um uh just like the mayor said, I'm here to discuss a proposed ordinance for vessel, trailer, recreational, and oversized vehicle parking. Um so for over the last 10 years, the city has been impacted by vessels, trailers, and recreational uh and oversized vehicles being parked along um the city rightway. Um long-term storage of non-passenger vehicles impacts neighborhoods where parking is limited. Um we have uh several different development areas in in our city where um if you look at like southwest BIS or southwest section of town, I'm sorry, southeast section of town, there are many roads that have um very limited shoulder parking um uh possibly they don't have storm water drains and and they have um uh ditches and things like that. you get to the southwest part of town where it's um newer developments and we have um limited the style of parking. Maybe it's on one side of the road or um uh made for passenger vehicles only. So, uh many of the homeowners associations uh uh developed after 2019 uh ban RV, boat, trailer, and oversized uh vehicle parking or restrict it. And then since January, um, we have had more than five verified reports of RVs being parked in Oak Harbor that have had spillage of human waste. Um, and that creates an environmental impact to the city and our ecosystem and our storm water system. So, some of our health concerns we have um uh with and public safety concerns are that um public safety uh city streets aren't um currently being designed for the combination of with uh for recreational vehicle parking um and active traffic. The use of RVs for living accommodations on the city streets has led to the discharge of raw

human waste and litter. um those impacts um uh for that that illicit discharge 80 90% of the effluent discharge um goes right into the future sound or into our storm water system and then we have legal complications because we do have a um a storm water permit with the state. So, some of the need for change here is that um our current parking ordinance um is under chapter 1012 only provides for enforcement of vessels, trailers, recreational vehicles, and oversized vehicles when they are not legally registered. So, that's really our only mechanism for getting vehicles off um this the city rideway. Um surrounding jurisdictions um have implemented different parking restrictions. Um, one of their, um, one of the ideas is a 24-hour parking restriction. Uh, the challenge with that is people just move the vehicle within a 24-h hour period and then it could be legally parked for another 24-hour uh, period. Um, our legal authority is under RCW35A11, which allows the city um, the authority to adopt new ordinances and regulate um, uh, government within the city. And then um as we've talked with um development services, the police department has talked with development services, public works and engineering um we have a proposed ordinance here for which includes vessels, trailers, recreational vehicles, and oversized vehicles. What happened there? Did I press something? I think I pressed the wrong button. So, as we look at our comparable jurisdictions um and Anacortis, Burlington, Mount Vernon, um here are just some examples of um the parking restrictions. So, in Anacortis, u they actually have a 24-hour parking

restriction for um all vehicles. Um uh if it's parked in front of your res residence, it's a 72-hour um parking uh authorization. And then for longer they actually issue parking permits, four permits per household and then they manage that whole permit process. Um the Burlington has a variable permit process um and strictly prohibits uh any uh large vehicle parking for um it could be anywhere between 2 hours and and 24 hours in different areas. Uh they restrict um RV, camper and trailer parking and there is no dwelling in vehicles. And then Mount Vernon is just a 72-hour unoccupied vehicle parking. Um there is no um uh parking in the right of way for anybody that's camping in vehicles and they have a no overnight camping ordinance as well. So, as we talk about some of these, while while it's easy to probably think of just Beayhore Drive um and think of um what this could be as as a few trailers or RVs that are parked on uh Southeast Beayore Drive, um we my my uh officers went around and took some photographs of actually some areas that we are seeing long-term parking. And when we talk about long-term, I mean, this could be years. We have some of these things that are parked here, not moving for years that impact um neighborhoods and whatnot. Um often we'll contact some of these owners. They'll just go put new tabs on their their item and uh say, "Hey, we're good to go because I comply with the city ordinance." And technically they are good to go and we have no mechanism to move them along. So here's just some uh some vehicles or vessels and trailers, RVs. buses. Um so those are just some examples there. So when we're talking about this proposed ordinance, uh when

we're talking about oversized vehicles, uh this is um exceeding 22 feet in length and 8 ft in width. Uh we didn't put a height restriction on it. Um but we do have the ability to do that as part of our we have those um uh that oversized vehicle in other parts of our code. Um, recreational vehicle includes motor homes, travel trailers, fifth wheeler trailers, folding camper trailers, utility trailers, or anything that transports good equipment, machinery, livestock, and then vessels includes boats and their trailers. So, um, the proposed ordinance is it would be unlawful to park or leave standing any oversized vehicle, RV, utility, trailer, or vessel on any street, alley, or public way more than 12 hours. So, this is throughout the entire city. Um, this doesn't really require us to have signage if we're doing it for the entire city. We're not doing it for a specific zone. Um, and um, removal would be based off of observation by an officer seeing that there's a violation and that we would place a 24-hour tow notice on the vehicle. Our practice is that we try make every attempt to contact the owners and document that um, before anything is impounded. That is our current impound process already. So what we're doing is just enacting our current impound process um for other restrictions. So if you had expired tabs on your registration on your vehicle, this is the current process that we would use. So there is exception to this which means that you can park it at your residence for 5 days. uh that would allow for um if you're loading or unloading your recreational vehicle or boat in preparation for a camping trip or or coming back for a camping trip. And then it would need to be off the roadway for um we're saying 72 hours. So um yeah, so the proposed enforcement action, the

summary is is here really. It's in chapter 1012. It's the parking and traffic control section. Um the notice requirement is that most violations related to vessel oversized vehicle would require a 24-hour impound notice and that immediate action. We still have the ability if the the um oversized vehicle, vessel, trailer, RV impacted traffic, we would still have that ability to impound um just like we would in our current ordinance. And then we would be bringing this forward to a future meeting. So, I'm happy to discuss.

Thanks, Chief. So, before I turn it over to council for questions and comments, um I just want to quickly highlight that this is another one of those items that came up at a right blend. Um we had concerned citizens questioning or commenting on RVs that are being parked near schools and ball fields where they didn't feel their children were safe even exiting schools or coming to and from either soccer games or baseball games. and I felt like, you know, those are very adequate concerns and they um were something that I personally would drive around and continue to witness and observe. So, had further discussion with chief, we worked with um our city attorney as well as Stacy to draft this draft ordinance and then bring this forward to you. And it's set to come forward um to council on May 5th for um a motion. So, um, now is the time to have full discussion and work through all of the details of it if you're ready and I'll turn it over to you to ask your questions. Council member Romero,

I just wanted to state thank you, Mayor, with regard to bringing this topic up. And Chief Slo, it's always great to hear your messages because they bring sense to a difficult situation. they want to I I would point out that we want to make distinction u and the reasoning between those who basically are living out of their place u like on Hoffman Road I mean I'm not sure the extent that's in the city but the main concept of people living in their vehicle and they're willfully not fixing themselves they're not taking care of themselves their addictions and all the rest of it and um and then those who are basically citizens who have their items that they're that they just park on the street. So, I I don't think they're categorically identical, but I still think they need to be regulated. Um, I get exasperated because there is a presumption in human nature that if I buy something and that it's a free country and I'm a free agent getting it that I ought to be able to keep it. But then the the the ill logic is that therefore the storage cost should be borne by uh the city and by putting it on the street I don't have to pay storage costs for those items. And so that transference of uh cost to the taxpayer or to the general citizenry uh and not as well as the cost to the neighborhood, you know, that that's another factor too with regard to trying to get others to bear the cost of something that you have. And there's been other discussions about derelict vehicles and all the rest, but anyway, I would generally favor this uh an ordinance along this line. Definitely. Thank you,

Council Member Stucky. I am disappointed there was not a Christmas vacation national lampoon reference, but I digress. So, this is one of those ones I feel like we got to be a little careful on because the intent is good, but it's the unintended consequences that could be sticky. We discussed this. Some of my peers probably remember we discussed this in 22 where we talked about doing this with a 72hour uh window and it it kind of didn't go anywhere and my mind's a little hazy but I think it was partly because of the push back for those that you know bought an RV they had in front of their house and and and I get that. So I I do worry about things like do we have enough storage for RVs? What about somebody who's visiting their family for now it's 6 days or a week? I mean those those are the the devil in the details. So a few questions here. You mentioned HOAs which I hadn't considered before. Can an HOA ban parking on a street when they don't own the street?

So the HOA can enforce their HOA rules through fines and those type of things. they would need to make that determination if they are going to do that or not. Um, I would turn that over to legal or Stacy if they want to answer any more questions. Well, you mentioned 2019 that most HOAs are established after 2019 have made that. So that would stand to reason that if you if I was in an HOA that had been around for 20 years and it was a legitimate problem, I could at the HOA level put some language in there about not having that happen. Correct.

Yeah, definitely. So, so like I live in a homeowners association that's been around prior to 2010. It has restrictions in that on on uh large vehicles and those things. Uh non-motor uh non-passenger car uh parking. um the action of the the managers for those homeowners association, that's up to them on on what they're going to do. Often they'll call the law enforcement and then we work within what our rules are. We help mediate those conversations. Often there's compliance. So, um yeah, HOAs can be uh tricky and drama-filled, too. we talk about, you know, I mean, you're really working with your neighbors when you get HOA involved there.

I mean, we don't we don't enforce HOA rules. So, that's we're very clear about that. Sure. Um, I am a little hazy and maybe it's just my reading of it. I read through the the ordinance that we have currently. Yeah. And I guess I'm a little confused in the language where it talks about parking on municipal property. So motor vehicle parking standing on property owned, leased or operated by a city is subject to the following restrictions. Only ones that are, you know, owned by the city can park

where pavement markings are signed designated parking stalls on such property. Where pavement markings designate a parking stall or all stalls where signs on pavement marking prohibited or restricted parking. This is all stuff no doubt you've read through. I just I'm the way I'm reading it. Maybe I'm wrong. If I'm parking in front of my house and I it's not I don't have parking stall things on my road. Why why couldn't you enforce this now? Yeah, that's that's actually doesn't apply to city rightaway. The that piece those pieces apply to the city- owned parking lots that we have. So, we have one right down here on um Ireland and and um H Falago Hathaway Ireland

right here. City parking lot, Doc Street and Pioneer City owned parking lot. So, those are we're actually enforcing

uh parking restrictions right now. I was talking to mayor about that earlier using that code that doesn't apply nec that doesn't apply to the city rightaway part portion. So that is that is um off of city rightaway. So when we're talking s city rightaway it's other parts of that chapter. Um and and when we talk about that it's it's parking in the correct direction. How far off of the um the the shoulder or curbing? How far from a driveway, a fire hydrant, a stop sign, crosswalk? you know, there's restrictions there if the if the we don't do a lot of marking for parking in the city because that is a lot of manpower and and cost. And um however, if let's just hypothetically throw this out because this was actually at a at a right blend uh uh coffee presentation was um we had a person who I believe is also on our planning commission say why don't we do striped angled parking on Southeast Behore Drive. So, if that was like the curve from Flintstone Park on that south side of the road was angled parking, somebody couldn't come through and park across five spots. Uh, that would be a violation. We could take enforcement action there.

Um, but, you know, if it's straight parking, it's it falls under rightway parking. And I don't I guess I've got I understand that the Bayshore. I understand I mean commercial areas. I understand by schools. I've just I'm struggling with the residential like the strictly residential areas and you know there's a lot of times where you're right there is that boat that's been there for 2 or 3 years. Sometimes the neighbor doesn't want to call the police on their neighbor but they'll they'll complain about it within their home. I mean I I get that.

I I just I'm really struggling with that aspect of it in the residential areas and that's why we're having this discussion. Um are is our co our code enforcement has historically been complaintbased? That's correct. And that's under development services. So I mean are we expecting a change in that? That's kind of been the discussion. I mean will there be if this goes into effect is there going to be someone on occasion driving around being like, "Oh, it looks like that vehicle's been there more than 5 days."

So So if it's on the city right away, it's the police department takes action. And so yes, we're we are taking action. I we have a whole list. I've got two guys right now that are trying to work through a lot of these problems and and work with the property owner uh to to either remove their property, let us do junk vehicle affidavits, whatever that would take. um uh some of so again in another right at at the same right blend as the parking angled parking we had a different individual that brought up these concerns about um the Hulk vehicles or these Hulk uh uh RVs and boats in their neighborhood and bringing down their property value being an eyesore. So this is a concern to to community members. I think property owners, I think that it's going to be a competing concern on who's got a louder voice. You know, people who go purchase an RV or a boat and leave it parked in front of their house for 9 months out of the year and don't, you know, don't use it. Is that the sto is that where long-term storage is? And I guess that's up for the council to decide. Is that's where you want long-term storage? There are other jurisdictions like I showed you that that have a permitting process. there's a cost that goes along with that that finance would really have to evaluate and weigh in on. Um, if you wanted to go to some permitting thing, um, you know, I think those are all challenges that we have. I think the the biggest thing when we look for the police department is we want to make sure it's enforceable throughout the entire city. It's consistent and that officers aren't putting us in a, you know, impounding somebody's car um and it's in long-term storage and now the city has to pay uh you know through an arbitration or something has to pay a fine or pay all that storage fee or replace the person's vehicle. We don't want to take on that risk. So, but at the same time, we can't do nothing. And you know, I think this is a growing concern that we have

100%. And you you you mentioned two of my other concerns there. One, the cost if we start towing RVs, but but most people I think will probably comply when they get the the notice they have some most would probably comply and

and we work with I mean currently we work with uh we take an incident number. So, you know, like I think it's important to understand how do we track these things. you know, if it's a complaint that's driven by the community, it's a calls generated. We have an incident number. If it's a complaint that's driven by the officer, um it could be a um uh we create the vehicle or or boat record and then it goes in that record and then we we manage that. Um however, we try to always work we're an education department. We we try to always work with our community and and educate and enforcement's the last action we take unless unless that's what we have to do. I think that's that's what makes us a small community that's supportive of each other.

Now, you mentioned who has the loudest voice, too, because this is one of those ones that no matter what decision we take, there will be issues with those that own their homes that, hey, I've had my vehicle there or, you know, my family's visiting. So, you're right with the louder voice, you know. Um, I guess my last question before I defer to my peers here is, is it possible to modify the ordinance where it was more no commercial zones, not within so many feet of a school? I mean, I I just hesitate with the the blanket is easy. It makes it it certainly makes it easy from a a policy perspective, but I I would like to see a little more into the nitty-gritty with it not being a blanket restriction everywhere. if I own my that RV and I have it in front of my house and none of my complaint neighbors are complaining but that's where it gets into the more subjective which is difficult. So I'd like to hear what my my peers think but I'm hesitant to have a blanket but I do like the direction it's going. So I just want to add one one piece of information in there too though is one of the things that I ran on was public safety. Um, and these vehicles, whether they're RVs or boats or whatever they are, pose a very big threat to people's ability to drive or back out of their driveways or drive safely and get around these vehicles. And we have children playing in neighborhoods that are running into streets. And these are potential big hazards for big accidents, and I don't want that on my shoulders. So, this is one way where we can make a difference, and we're addressing the problem citywide. So that's that's why this is being rolled out this way. So with that, Council Member Arms.

Uh well, part of the problem is way back in the day when they developed these places, they didn't accommodate parking. And so what you have is single garages with no real parking. And once you park the car there, you're stuck. And if uh I will talk to you personally about my neighborhood uh because it is a problem. And the thing is down the road it's parked in the gutter basically and been there forever. But this is the problem even on uh would be there would be an old Liy they have striped it so you can park and you can't really see either way and but there's no place for these people to put their car. See that's part of the problem. There is no place for these and you know there isn't any storage and storage is expensive and people don't want it and this is the problem. There is no driveways and there is no garages and it's because it's an older neighborhood. But I will talk to you personally what's happening on mine because I'm not going to say it out loud.

Have my number. Um, but this is a problem is there's no place for these people to put them except wherever they're putting them because you can look at the gravel road on one of the roads and where do you think they're parking them on that gravel? You know, I mean really, we'll talk about it. Anyway, um I agree with Stucky that I think it's a little restrictive depending on where you're at and uh a lot of these people have been doing it for years and they have no other place. There is no place to put their vehicles and trying to have storage and how much they're paying. People aren't going to be happy. So,

so I just want to clarify. We're talking about oversized vehicles, boats, trailers. I I know what you're talking about cuz I there's one in the neighbor. So, okay. Thank you, Council Member Arms. Council member Marshall.

Thank you, Mayor. And thank you, Chief. Um I I appreciate the the broad approach. If you don't address, you don't want it to be subjective, right? You have to be able to to tackle the issue in its entirety. And I I I personally understand the residential portion of it. if if you block them from being on commercial, then then they could go potentially into a residential neighborhood, right? And then then we have a bigger issue. I do sympathize with those, however, that have purchased vehicles over the years with with the understanding that they could park on the street. I mean, a lot of the examples that you showed us do look derelict, but there was one in particular that that struck me is that it it's all covered. It looks nice. Has plenty it looks like there's plenty of room around it. In which case, I would like to explore the the permitting option, right? In a in a situation like that, I don't know how the permits would work if we go and investigate and look to see if they have ample visibility and and not we're not going to run over a kid that that you know, you can't see coming out of a driveway. But, you know, for in those cases, like in that one particular instance where I saw where it looks like there's room, it it it's well taken care of. And so if storage units are are hard to get or they're expensive and and that's a case where it seems to work out for them, then you know perhaps that permitting process could work and and we could limit it to you are only allowed in front of your place. It is your vehicle in front of your place. That type of thing or somebody associated to your your residence in the case that that Council Member Stucky brought up if they're going to come for a week and then uh you know try to stay in the RV. Uh but other than that, I I support um the ordinance as is presented and I appreciate the work that went into it. Thank you.

Okay. Okay. Thank you, Council Member Romero. I'm I'm reminded in the Tokyo metro area, you cannot even buy a car unless you have a place to park it. So, but I'm not going to any extreme like that. But I I think that allows for a permitting process that's used judiciously um has merit, but I'm not going to go into the details. I just wanted to I was pretty blanket in what I was stating and I I I think there may be a a provision for a permitting process. That's all.

Thank you, Council Member Wiganstein. Um, yeah. Thank you, Chief, for presenting this. And, um, this one actually affects me. I got one in the front yard. Um, do we have an ordinance against people parking those in their yard if they can get them in there? So, no. Uh, there is an ordinance about working on your vehicles in in front of your house, but if it's in your garage or behind a fence line, that's fine. Okay. Um

um yeah, I I I'm kind of I still think we got a little bit more to explore in here. For me, I'm not quite comfortable with a blanket as well. Um I think um I like the idea of the permit and I like the idea of potentially just looking at the commercial spots as well. I actually like the idea of changing the parking on Beayshore. Um put it all on one side, make it back in or make it, you know, whatever. I don't care. But I I I like that idea. Um and get more people down there, I think, and potential opportunities to park and and then again prevents that other issue. But um yeah, I I I would like to see along those lines. So as it is right now, I wouldn't support it.

Mayor Prom,

thank you. I don't have any real strong feelings about this either way. I but I will say that if it comes down to safety or convenience, I'm going to lean towards safety every time. So, you know, I I understand that it's very convenient to get something and be able to park it in front of your house instead of at a a storage unit or or whatever. That's that's great. But I also understand what it's like to try to back out of a parking spot when or back out of a driveway when you can't see what's coming. Like, that's a that's a legitimate safety issue. So, as is the affluent, as is the sketchy god knows what parked near a a sports field or a a school. So, um I you know, I would be okay with looking into a kind of a permitbased things because, you know, there I mean there's exceptions to every rule, but at the end of the day, we have to keep in mind how timeconuming and labor intensive something like that would be for staff for the occasional exception. and if you know if if that ROI pencils out. But um you know so I would also be okay with a a consistent citywide blanket policy as well. It'd be nice if we could find something in the middle. So I'll I'll probably defer to your judgment on that. Whatever you think the best solution will end up being, I'll I'll lean heavily on. Um but yeah, at the end of the day, I'm going to prioritize safety over convenience every time. Thanks. Okay.

Thank you. Yes. Um, Council Member Stucky, just a note for my peers as we get closer to voting on this. May 25th, 2022 is when we went over this the last time. And I did not have time to watch the video. I just read through the packet, but a lot of things like permitting. We talked about permitting. We talked about the 72 hours. So, is is sometimes I like to go reference when we discussed a topic prior. So, if you look at the uh May 25th, 2022, that's where we we even talked about adding language of visual obstructions. So, it might be worth looking into as you, you know, help to make your decisions.

I do have a clarifying question here. When you're talking about commercial zones, are you talking about Southeast Bington Drive to the water from Erie Street to Midway? Is that what we're talking about? Commercial zones? Are you also considering um Goldie Road? What would what are your thoughts there, council? Yeah, I I would say yeah, that's that would that's what I would think the triangle plus wherever we're going to be potentially having businesses go in as well as you know in that areas and whatnot. Good.

And then the other question is is how do you compete permitting in front of a residence where a um HOA which was established um and and permitted by the city goes in and they say they don't want those things. How is that competing? And that's probably a legal question. We need to Right. But that's what we were tackling this morning was that's why the permitting thing becomes very complicated because you're you get into the legal aspect of it of what then we're battling with different HOAs cuz everyone's rules are different and so anything else? Yes, council member.

And I I do like the idea of HOAs taking a little bit of ownership. When you buy a home, you get the HOA rules and then if you're there I mean you could have an HOA meeting. Now granted, a lot of those times those HOA meetings are very poorly attended and it's the the five tired board members that have been on there forever, but they still have their own voice too in a an area where their voice may be a little more I don't want to say louder, but it's a smaller amount of people. So, you know, it I I just don't feel like every area of the city is necessarily equal when it comes to things like that. So, all right, everyone has said their piece. All right. Thank you, Chief. Thank you. All right.