City Council - Regular Meeting

I will call this city council meeting of April 21st, 2026 to order. We recognize that this meeting is being held on the ancestral lands of the Co Salish people. We pay our respect to those past and present. Tonight's invocation will be led by Pastor Drew Barnhart of Living Word Four Square Church. If we could all please stand for the invocation. Hey, join me in prayer. Lord, tonight we give you thanks for the life that you've given us. We thank you for this beautiful place that we get to live. And we thank you for the opportunity to serve this city. You invite us to pray for those in leadership and those who are exercising oversight. So we do that. We ask for wisdom and understanding, insight to see this place as you see it and to offer ourselves to make it better. And we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.

To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right, just a reminder that this will both will be both a physical um meeting and a virtual meeting. The meeting may be viewed on YouTube and following the meeting on Facebook. There is no need for roll call. All are present and accounted for, including council member Peterson, who is participating remotely. It's good to see you, Council Member Peterson.

All right. So, I have an opening statement that I would like to read. Um, it says, "Before we approve the agenda this evening, I wanted to provide a brief update. I know many of us have heard concerns regarding the abandoned recreational vehicle like located on State Road 20 near Pass Lake in Scadget County. While the RV is outside of both Oak Harbor and Island County jurisdictions, I wanted to proactively follow legal process and asked Chief Sloick to contact our local law enforcement partners and offer our assistance in removing and impounding the vehicle. Chief Sloick spoke to Washington State Patrol and the Scadget County Sheriff's Office. The Scadget County Sheriff said the jurisdiction where the motor home was parked belonged to the state of Washington and that the Washington State Patrol was working on the impound. Yesterday, a Washington State Patrol trooper confirmed that the Washington State Department of Transportation had sent an impound notice to the registered owner and explained that once the 15-day waiting period had passed and the paperwork was received by the Washington State Patrol, the motor home would be impounded. I'm happy to report that as of this afternoon, the motor home has been moved. Thank you to all who have contacted the city and to Council Member Stucky for discussing this with me during the Chamber of Commerce last week. We were happy to do all in our power and work with our partners to resolve the issue. Um we are slowly making progress on these RVs that are around town. So just continue to be patient as we work through these. All right, with that we are going to go on to the approval of the agenda. Are there any suggested changes to the regular agenda as it is presented? If not, I request a motion to approve it as presented.

So move. All right, we have a we have a motion to approve it as presented by Council Member Stucky, seconded by Council Member Marshall. Was that you? Okay. Is there any further discussion before I call for a vote? Hearing seeing none, all in favor, raise your right hand. Passes unanimously. Thank you very much. All right, we have presentations this evening. Our first up is our Oak Harbor Public Schools state of the schools presentation. and here to introduce Okar Public Schools as our superintendent Michelle Cus Sabula to present.

Good evening everybody. It's always a pleasure to be here. So, thank you for allowing me the next hour and a half to present to you. Right, Mayor Rightight. That's right. Okay, great.

It's all yours. Uh so it's easy to spend time bragging about our schools and I really appreciate out of all the matters that you deal with allowing us to be here tonight um to represent all the amazing things that are happening in Oak Harbor. So this is what we call our state of schools and by state of schools it's just an overview of some of the things that are happening in Oak Harbor public schools. Uh it's also interactive so feel free to stop me and ask questions or insert a comment that's great too. So, as many of you know, we started a strategic plan process two. We've been in our strategic plan for two years. So, three years ago, we started asking our students what was important to them. And I'm really proud to say that our board also board of the year for Washington State, mind you,

um was honored for their work with the strategic plan and specifically when we think about who our customers are. We're a nonprofit visit business. Our business is students and the success of our students creates our business model and so why not ask our customers, our students what they want. So this is what um our strategic plan is rooted in. And I think the last time I was here I gave posters away um to city council members and support staff indicating that when we think about our mission critical work, we think about student voice and all the decision-m and decisions are not easy in a system that's as large as ours. and it's compounded by some of the other nuances such as not having sufficient funding through the state um to allow us to do full service of what we think is right for students. So, student voice grounds us in all of our decision-m in Oak Harbor. So, I won't read them to you, but obviously our students know that we care about them. They have the highest data in the state that says we see you, we hear you, and which is great. It's part of your agenda here tonight. Um and our kids know that about them. we believe in them and we need to consistently push on be outside of the relationships our high academic rigor and success with students. So that's some of the work that we're engaging in and we want to make sure every student that walks in the door of Oak Harbor, we don't put a label on them. They're students first. So how do we make sure every student feels a sense of belonging in our school community across our system? Couple things that I want to celebrate is our partnership. We call it one Oak Harbor. The hashtag isn't just a hashtag. It's our mission as Oak Harbor. When I think about grandparents, retired community members, members new to our community, young families that come into our community, business partners in our community, nonprofit agencies in our community, and many of you, city council that have been really at the table from the start of saying, "What can we do to help support the Oak Harbor students and staff?" And so, when we think about one

Oarbor, it takes all of us to graduate our students, not just Oak Harbor public schools, all of our community to invest in our students. So, I want to say thank you on behalf of Oak Harbor Public Schools for being a partner at the table because we can't do this important work alone. Um, I want to share a couple um pieces of information that are grounded in our work with our strategic plan and we have a lot of goal areas in our strategic plan. So, um the next hour I'll go into every single goal. Um, no, I'm just kidding. I'll just give high level. So in our goal area one, we truly have this rooted foundation based on what students told us is the importance of making sure they're with their peers in the classroom learning environment. So that's our inclusionary practices about a believing that all students have a place in Oak Harbor public schools. And when we think about our data that I was talking about earlier, 80% of our students say that they have a trusted adult in the system that they can go to. So when things go bad, they're feeling um insecure or they don't feel that they have a place or someone they can go to. They have an adult in our system. And to have the data 80%, that's pretty incredible. Um however, we'd like to get to 100%. Imagine if each and every student at Okar said, "I have an adult in the system that believes in me and I trust in the adult in the system to go to." So we're at 80%. It's great. And as you can see, our goal area by June of 2027 is to have 95%. and then I'll come back next year and say, "Hey, guess what, city council? We already met that goal. We're at 110%."

Um, but anyway, we're working on it. A couple other areas, our goal areas already set grow. So, when you think of goal area two, it's really thinking about our youngest students in the system. The more support we can get younger students, the goal is the less supports they need later on as they are adults. So, when we think about that goal area, we switch to a model called W Kids TS Gold. So what TS Gold is, how many of you are parents, raise your hand. How many of you remember bringing the baby to the doctor and they said, "Hey, your child's in the 50th percentile for height. Your child's in the 50th percentile for weight." Well, W Kids does similar things. We look at kids on grade um on age bands, not grade bands. So our TS Gold really looks at how is your child performing with like peers on that age domain, not grade domain. And so we use TS Gold to really think about cognitive, tactile, vocabulary, learning readiness, academics, agility. So when we look at our domains, there's 31 domain areas that we use to assess our readiness for our students. The other belief is we have parents that parent every different way. I was raised differently than you and you and you. And so when I think about that, our parents trust when we come into the school system in kindergarten, we are ready for the kids. The kids do not have to be ready for us. So we take every kid as they enter our doors and we figure out using the TS Gold domain readiness where is that student and what support systems do they need to be K ready. We don't say to the parent, go home and read these books to your child, make sure that they're math fluent and then they can come to kindergarten. We take all kids and they come. So our goal area is really thinking about how can we continue to increase our intentional intervention support and K so that our kids are ready for kindergarten. The other thing I want to talk about is the state gives us lots of moving targets. Every year they change it up for us so it keeps us fresh. Um and uh that opportunity allows us to really look at our systems in Oak Harbor. So we

look at our ELA which is English language arts. We look at goal areas in our literacy and writing components. We look at math and science. Um and we look at multiple factors for the state what we refer to as the Smarter Balance Assessment. Many of you may have heard of it. many of your kids may have complained about it because they've had to take this test. We take it once a year, then those kids leave the next year and then the teachers get the results and they're like, "The kids have already left us." Um, so we use things called I Ready data. So we use internal assessment three times a year to monitor progress while the state data is good and we report on the state data. It doesn't give teachers or students or families in the- moment adjustments and instructional delivery to make. So, we use other assessments that allow us to really tweak instruction and tweak support as needed for our students. Um, the other area I want to talk about was goal area four. This is future ready. So, when you think about the continuum of learning, it's really mainly our high school that we're we're our goal area four is focused on. And our goal area for is our pathways. So, many of you went to high school and you had one route to graduate. We have a lot of routes for our students to graduate here in Washington State. And in fact, it can be overwhelming for families and students and even staff to keep up with all the different pathways for students. But one of the areas I'm most proud of happened with the community supporting a bond measure which was paid off quite a few years ago. So we are debtree for bonds and it was our last major renovation project was our high school and it was not a new build, it was a remodel and a build. So when we think about taking care of an old building and then adding to it, we added an incredible CTE, which is a career technical education wing to our building. And we have amazing programs in our high school. So one of the pathways is to make sure all of our students have an experience in the career technical education pathway that they can dip their toe in it. And I was one of those parents that had a kid that didn't take any engineering classes till

she went to college and decided, I don't really want to be an engineer. Right? She didn't have the opportunity in her high school. She didn't go to Oak Harbor. Her other high school, it was just AP. Well, kids in our high school have multiple pa pathways. They can be a running start student. They can take online classes. They can be in person. And they can take career technical education pathway classes. So, we give our students here in Oak Harbor multiple pathways to graduate. So, we're looking at making sure every student at Oak Harbor High School has the opportunity to take a career technical education pathway and at least dip their toe into that venue of options for them. Um, we also have a goal area that all of you should celebrate and that is when those kids walk across the stage at O Carver High School while the teachers, Miss Shulie, right, is um and Mr. Shulie, they're the ones like really pulling them across the finish line when they're high school teachers. But we have had a community that supports students all along the way. So when we I always say when we celebrate the graduation of Oak Harbor public school students, the community should be celebrating that because it takes all of us to make sure our students get across that finish line starting when they started preschool. So we have 96% of our students that graduate. Um we're pretty proud of that, but I want to talk a little bit about what our goal area is. Wouldn't it be great if 100% of our students could graduate on time? Um, we also have a program that serves students up to the age of 22. So, the state gives students the option to serve up until 22. So, while they actually technically graduated from the high school, we have to keep them if they choose until 22. So, they actually graduate, but they don't get their diploma. So, they're not counted as a student. So, some of the scores here is counting our students that actually graduated and met all the requirements, but they're still in our programs in um our school district. A couple other exciting things. Um we were talking earlier about Chief Slowick and his crew um using one of our buildings as a training when we decommission it, but we have two brand new schools um coming on. And again,

it's debtree to the community. When I say debtree, it's not bond debt, right? It's federal monies and it's also um a grant for 80% funded by the federal government. And then we have 20% of that from a grant called the Department of Defense compatibility through the state of Washington. So, we have two schools coming on board. The grand opening is in October. So, mark your calendars. We're going to get our kids into the building and then we're going to invite the public after we get them settled. Um, so thanks for giving us grace to do that. But in October, we'll have the grand openings. And if you haven't had a chance to drive by and see these two amazing schools, I would encourage you to do so. So, on top of these um two grants that we received, federal and state, we also received um federal grants just recently, noise mitigation. So, we have noise mitigation grants, which is all new soundproofed windows for four of our schools and all brand new HVAC systems. So, all of this totals over $28 million in the last three years written for Oak Harbor Public Schools that are all grant-based um to allow infrastructure upgrades, HVAC system upgrades, and two brand new stu schools to our community. You would think we're done, but we're not. We still have aging facilities. We have had a committee that has met almost three years to identify what is the problem of practice that we're trying to figure out here in Oak Harbor and everyone uses the sub our um uh auditorium at the high school. It it's well-loved. All of our gym spaces are well loved. Our community loves our spaces and yet we have some needs in our buildings that need to be addressed. For example, many of you I interviewed when I came on new, we didn't have hot lunches in Oak Harbor. So we had schools built without a cafeteria. So it's a cafeteria, gym, something else space. So when food is being served out of closets in the gym, we can't have gym classes for our students. So we really have some infograde structures that our capital

facilities advisory committee has really struggled through. And I think because the needs are so great, it's hard to identify what is the next best step to take. And that's something that our board is really going to have to spend some time identifying in our community. So I want to thank our capital facilities advisory committee for spending three years to come up with identifying the problem of practice and then trying to come up with the solution. And it's not going to be an easy solution. But I can guarantee you it's going to take one Oak Harbor in the community to help support us with our aging facilities. Um a couple other things that I'm really excited about when we talk about supporting Oak Harbor public schools. I am so proud of the work that our Citizens for Better Schools has done. They really got the word out about the importance of being fiscally responsible to our taxpayers and being really transparent about how we're spending taxpayer money. We take that very seriously. Um, as a result, we went out and spread the message about the need for a materials and operations levy and we passed it by 62%. It was one of the highest that we've seen in Oak Harbor. So when we know there's um a need in the community, we can identify it and we can be transparent about it and really go to people that are confused about it and have those conversations. People better understand the use of their investment in Oak Harbor public schools. So I want to thank all of the people that supported Oak Harbor Public Schools with our M levy. Um President Goel and I and a couple board members were in Arlington last night. um board directors got together in our region and we had one district that has failed seven levies.

It is so sad to think of the things that they're cutting for students. So again, we are very grateful for the passage of our MO levy. Now, we're not done because as I started this conversation, um the state of Washington really needs to do uh a better job of thinking about how we support public schools. It's easier. As my grandma Ruth used to say, you can wake up in the morning and you can find a negative story and they're all around you. Or you can wake up in the morning and you can find positivity and spread it because it'll make you feel better when you lay your head down at night. And that's exactly what we need to do. Start spreading the stories about the success that's happening in Oak Harbor Public Schools and all public schools. So, I'm going to do a little test because I have another 45 minutes. Um, raise your hand if you were a product of a public school. Look at that. and you are all pretty darn successful. Look at you right now. So, we need to spread those stories about we are here. I am here because I was a product of a public school in upstate New York. And I thank all of the community that supported me to be here today in Oak Harbor as a superintendent. It was people like you that did the work to support public schools. We need to keep sharing the story and the importance of critical funding needed not only for aging infrastructures, but in order to do high quality work. Demands of teachers have really changed. It's gotten harder, but it's not impossible. And we just need our state to understand that we need appropriate legislation to support the funding appropriately of public schools. So, in the past couple years, it has not been fun to come in here to Oak Harbor four years in and we'll be at almost $16.5 million in budget cuts in four years. Um 12 million already. So, when I say we're fiscally responsible, we're trying to live within our means and it's getting more and more difficult. So, if you ever want to sit down and have coffee and talk about what ideas we have to better support the public funding of public schools, I'd be happy to meet with you. Um, but we have some exciting things. We

have um other things that are uh like a trifecta. Declining enrollment, increased cost of doing services. How many of you are seeing increased costs in groceries? Gas, anyone? Right. So, these are the things that are really compounding some of the it makes our work tricky, not impossible. And we have creative people in our system, creative teachers, hardworking individuals that if we come together, we can figure it out. But we really have to address the funding of public schools in the state of Washington. Now, shall we sift shift to some fun things? We have community partners like Oak Harbor Education Foundation who are working really hard to support some of our graduating students and creative teacher grants to come up with some incredible ideas to support students in the classroom. So they they have a fundraiser coming up and I want to thank the city for helping them with that. So we have a fun run on May 30th. If you would like to come out and run, walk, jog, hand out water or just make a donation. Oak Harbor Education Foundation will be there. Um and we have a QR code. But if you have any questions about it, we'd love to see you out there downtown. It's going to be sunny and beautiful, right?

Isn't it? Yes. Um and again a a huge thank to thank you to all of you for being part of one Oak Harbor and helping us to graduate successful students that will someday be in your chairs. Um so questions questions comments yes council member Stucky thank you for that presentation one comment and a question you and I'm only mentioning the comment because you had on there the exceptional academy that is such a wonderful program. We have someone at one of my workplaces just a rock star. So if you guys are still looking for potential business partners, there are business partners. Oh yeah, that that's a great one to, you know, because they work in the businesses. So

that'd be great. Yeah. And then have you noticed a difference when it comes to things like test scores, graduation rate between home connection and non-home connection? No. Our kids across the board are doing really well. Um in incredibly well. And I love the home connection program because it it truly is a partnership program and our teachers are really part of the work that we're doing with our standards base and unpacking priority standards. So we're all teaching the same standards. How we're delivering it and getting to that is very different. And I would say home connection is one of those ones that are reaching the same set of standards and achieving it differently with the same success rate that we're seeing across the system. And that's an excellent question.

Wonderful. Thank you so much for all you do. Appreciate it. Council member Romero,

I wanted to recognize the superintendent for the leadership that you provide, not only in just general education, but more specifically the adaptability and flexibility under adverse conditions to cause great things to happen. Um when I was in school so many years ago, it was pretty much lock step about what you did. But I I observed um both publicly and privately that you are you are really expanding to meet um vocational trades and uh special needs and a wide range of areas. So just keep up the good work. I I don't envy you though about the the enrollment piece. All right, that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. Anybody else? questions, comments. Yes, Mayor Prom,

you touched on this and it reminded me that I I read this just this incredible quote uh like sometime in the last few months is recently and and I I really really really wish I had written it down or who said it down or something, but the the gist of it was um about why we should care about other people's kids and uh you know why are other people's 's kids are a problem. Why should we care about other people's kids? And it's like, you know, someone else's child is is going to be the one that cares for you when you need medical care. Someone else's child might be the one that commits an act of violence against you. And we want to prevent that. You know, someone else's child is is going to be sitting in these chairs someday. and and that's why it's just we it's very easy to become insular. You know, I've got nieces and nephews but no children of my own. But um it is important to be involved as as much as one can be because other people's kids make make the world go around and so that needs to be a priority for us. So, thank you for for touching on that and I will I'm going to go try to find that quote so I can be more articulate about it next time I reference it. Thanks.

Thank you. And we're always looking for volunteers. So, if you're ever wanting to spend an hour a week or two hours a week, we can find a spot for you. It's true. I had fun last week reading to them and welcoming them to school. So, all right. Well, anyone else? Well, thank you very much for being here. Yes.

All right, we are going to move on. I have a couple of awards to present tonight, the we see you awards, and I'm going to start with our first one. The first we see you award tonight goes to a high school teacher chosen by the Association of Washington Student Leaders as their 2025 Northwest Region High School Adviser of the Year. This teacher was recognized for her student centered approach to creating spaces where every student not only belongs but are encouraged to be leaders in shaping the culture of Oak Harbor High School. The director of the Association of Washington student leaders shared that this teacher is the kind of leader who makes you feel braver just by being in the room. She doesn't just advise students, she empowers them to see their worth, shape their world, and lead with love. Join me in congratulating Oak Harbor High School ASB adviser and leadership teacher Erica Shulie. Yes,

I used all of my words today. Thank you very much.

All right, so we have two more we see you awards tonight. This is a dynamic duo. The next couple, our second award goes to a couple who have pretty much single-handedly cleaned up all of the litter in the friend Marsh sensitive areas. They started with all the garbage, pallets, and cardboard at the largest camp just south of the grocery outlet, then worked their way through the sensitive areas of the marsh, cleaning out over cleaning out four other encampments. They made numerous trips to the dump, hauling out all the litter. I know this couple would never want public recognition, but it's important that they know we see them and appreciate their efforts. So, join me in thanking Greg and Lyn Gobble for their for all they've done in the Friend Marsh area on their own time, as well as all that they continue to do on an ongoing basis for our community. You guys are just truly inspiring to me every day. So, congratulations If

I can say one thing, it wasn't single-handedly. Our son-in-law Skip Dickinson also helped and Joel Joel also helped. And then we want to say too, it took us, you know, two days, but the whole time you're thinking about Pastor Laura. Yes. How many times would you see Pastor Laura and it was in honor of him that, you know, we were down down there and just say, "Thank you for teaching us." Yes. To help our community. So great. Cheers to David.

All right, we are going to move on to public comments. 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. Please note, we have received a number of comments regarding a proposed ordinance that was discussed at the April 14th council workshop regarding parking of vessels, trailers, recreational vehicles, and oversized vehicles. The council had noticed a public hearing on the proposed ordinance for their regular meeting on May 5th. But it's okay. But in consideration of the volume of responses received, we have scheduled or yeah, we have scheduled this item for an additional workshop discussion on May 26th and issued a revised notice and rescheduled the public hearing on this item to the council's June 2nd regular meeting. We invite those wishing to speak to that item to attend that public hearing or to submit their comments online or via email to the city clerk to be included in the record. Comments on public hearing items for today's meeting are heard during that portion of the agenda. Visit our website for methods to submit public comments. Public comments sent anonymously or from a non-verifiable address will be shared with the mayor and council, but will not be displayed. At this time, we will accept public comments on items not listed on the agenda or on the consent agenda. The clerk will call your name in the order in which you signed in to speak.

Mayor, we had no one sign in to speak this evening.

Okay, great. Is there anyone here with us this evening that didn't have an opportunity to sign up that would like to step forward at this time and make public comment on anything that is not on the agenda? All right. Hearing seeing none, then we will review the comments that have been submitted then It's going to be Yeah.

Yeah, sure. So, I understand that all the comments regarding RVs will be displayed when we go to vote on that item. Is that could be the case? Typically, we've had it where you can either write in the comment or you can speak to it. And if that order goes through revisions that they may want to do an additional comment, I worry that they're not going to be able to speak if they've already emailed in a comment and we only give them one or the other option. Uh, does that make sense? I I think I'm following. Are you worried that we've been showing the comments all along though, haven't we?

I Well, we got a bunch of comments that were before the workshop, which we didn't. We don't show the comments at workshop. And so, I understand it sounds like the comments are going to be shown when we go to bring the issue back up for to vote on it. But if it goes for revisions between now and then, those people who submit their comments wouldn't be also allowed to speak. They only normally get one or the other. I see what you're saying. So, so I'm a little concerned with that. If it goes through revisions, they want to speak, they won't be able to. If if they sent a comment that was different than the comment they had said previously, we would still allow that comment. Council member,

it would it be because we do have another council meeting between now and then. Would be possible to display those comments ahead of that meeting as opposed to when we vote. I'm just trying to make it equitable for everybody. Council member and mayor, would you like to share those at the workshop as part of that? Yeah, I mean I think I don't think Yeah, I think it's fine too. I was going to even suggest that as the workshop. So yeah, we can do that. Just make them a part of the next workshop. So yeah, I think that's a fair point. Yeah, I see what you're saying. Thank you. Uhhuh.

Um, anything else about public comment? All right, then I am going to close public comment since we had no additional public comment from the floor and move on to consent agenda and call for any objections or other changes to the consent agenda as presented at this time. And if none, then I would entertain a motion. Yes, Council Member Romero.

I move we accept the consent agenda as presented. Okay, we have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented by council member Maro, seconded by Mayor Pro Tim. Is there any further discussion before I call for a vote? Hearing seeing none, um, all in favor, raise your right hand. Okay, I think that approves unanimously. We're good to go. All right, so bear with me for mayor comments. We've got lots of things going on. We've done lots of things recently, so I have a lot to report out on. We've been out and about. It's been a pleasure being out in the community these past few days. We all have busy lives outside our normal dayto-day, and seeing you support the community makes me proud to be your mayor. I had a great time making sherbet margarita mocktails at the popsies table at Wine Bites and Brews. Many of us attended the latter 81 push-in in ceremony. Thank you, Oak Harbor, for making this apparatus possible by approving the fire levy that had two ballot measures in November 8th, 2022 general election. Thanks to those who spent Saturday at the spring clean event downtown sponsored by the Main Street Association over the weekend. Lastly, it was great to see Council Member Stucky attend a recent Habitat for Humanity welcome home ceremony. It also was great to see the continued impact of Habitat's work in providing affordable housing in our community. We'd like to congratulate former council member Jim Weezner's daughter and granddaughters who were the recipients of this home. We look forward to Habitat's May events for women build 2026 and the Carter work project. Speaking of staff out in the community, we had strong city participation at the recent chamber lunchon where the recreation center feasibility study was presented. Our staff presence was intentional with each team member answering questions, gathering feedback, and engaging directly with community members. This kind of face-to-face interaction helps ensure we're hearing directly from the community. So, I want to personally thank all city departments

along with the members of the parks and recreation advisory commission for attending and showing their support. It was a busy week last week with a few outreach sessions for the feasibility study. Thank you to staff and council for attending those sessions. More information about the recreation center feasibility study can be found on our homepage at oak harbor.gov. I would like to recognize our city administrator, Sabrina Combmes, who recently spoke at the Northwest Women's Leadership Academy. This is a great leadership program that elevates women in executive roles. Sabrina was also recently selected by the American Society for Public Instruction to receive the advancement of collaborative governance award. This award honors individuals who have effectively promoted and engaged in this governance process, providing leadership that is inclusive and results in sustainable outcomes. Congratulations, Sabrina. Here's the funding opportunity for Island County businesses. I'd like to share this information sent to us from the Island County Economic Development Council. Local businesses have a chance to benefit from the Evergreen Manufacturing Growth Grants to support technological advancements, workforce development, and projects that strengthen Washington's key industries. More information can be found at edc islandcount.org. Holland happening this weekend. Our parks and recreation team will be hosting an Arbor Day celebration in conjunction with Holland happening this weekend. So, stop by the lagoon between 12:00 and 3:00 p.m. for tree climbing, demonstrations, games, prizes, and more. Cheer City Arborist Bob on during his tree climbing demonstrations at 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Also, don't miss staff, city council, and me at the parade. Make sure you wave at us if you see us. And I'm sure Council Member Marshall could probably still use some more volunteers at Holland happening. So, um, if you've got some time on your

hands this weekend, volunteer. I will be down there helping as well. Whby Island Marathon is also this weekend and they need volunteers. The Marathon is still looking for volunteers to staff water stations for the weekend. Locations and shift times vary. If you're interested in supporting runners at a water station and have a group of four or more, please email info@ fsventsnorthwest.com. Get involved. There are still several openings for our advisory boards. Please visit the city's website to apply. Stay connected. Come to a meeting a right blend. Send us a question via email. Give us a call or follow us on social media. And that concludes my comments and I will turn it over to council now for their comments. Mayor Promp.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh, if I could put our, uh, public works director on the spot. Um, Mr. Schuler, do you have any news about the Wind Gemer Lagoon swimming dock? Is that what's where is that in the the grand scheme of things?

Yeah, that was being handled by our park and wreck department and so I don't have any specific information. So to answer that question, Mayor Prom, um I am working with our park supervisor, Brandon Cable, and we are we do have a dock that we had purchased through a grant. Um so what we're currently doing is just working with WCIA to make sure that it meets the requirements for liability and other things. So we're working through that process right now. So we're just checking and making sure that it's good to install. Gotcha. So we have a dock. We're just working on the install. There was one that was purchased several years ago as part of a grant and so we're just confirming that. Okay. Oh, wow. Yeah, that was a while ago. Okay. Thank you for the update. Appreciate it.

Council member Arms. Well, back at the marina again. Uh this morning we had about 10 uh preschoolers down at the marina feeding the fish, which was great fun, you know, making sure they didn't fall off. Um but they were really excited. So, it was a nice event for them to come and spend time and learn about the fish. So, it was a really good time today. Thank you. Nothing else. Oh, Council Member Peterson.

Thank Thank you. My uh connection is weak. So, no, Council Member Stucky, I am here. I wanted to say um congratulations Sabrina. That was a great honor and you deserve it. I also wanted to thank the staff for what I seemed to me was a little bit of extra work that they did or a lot of extra work on the ag consent agenda items C and B so that we all knew what was going on and I really appreciated that. So thanks to staff for that and and for you Mr. Mayor because I didn't wear way la last week I wore a flower because I didn't want you to be disappointed. Aw, thank you. All right. Yes, council member Romero. I wanted to take a moment to state that the city is so much improved with the presence of the leadership of Sabrina Combmes as our city administrator. And I haven't really had an opportunity to state that in public, but I wanted to emphasize it with the strong in the strongest terms from my direct personal experience as well as just general observation that uh she brings great value to our city and um I don't think we could do any better than that. Thank you.

I strongly concur. Anybody else? All right, we are going to move on to public hearings and meetings then. First up is community development block grant public hearing. Here to introduce that is our grants administrator, Wendy Horn. Good evening, mayor and council members. I am here to talk about our community development block grant that we received a couple of years ago. Um just as a refresher to let you know what the community development block grant is. Um it is a federal grant program through the department of housing and urban development or HUD. The state of Washington administers the grant as a pass through for us. Um, in order to qualify for the program, uh, the percentage of low to moderate income households must be above 50% and at the time of the grant application, we were just above that. So the CB CDBG general purpose grant um benefits low to moderate income households through community development projects and this can include comm community facilities including fire stations and equipment as part of the grant process. public hearings are required and the first one that we held was back in 2024 when we first applied for the grant. Um this is the final uh public hearing and the purpose of the public hearing is to inform residents of the use of the funds to provide a project performance report and then receive any public comments that might come.

So, the city was awarded $120,000 to buy equipment for the fire station 82. Um, in terms of the project performance, um, the fire department identified equipment that was going to be needed for the new fire station that was not built into the original cost estimate of the fire um, station itself. So, the first piece of uh, equipment that they identified is this extractor. It cleans turnout gear, the jackets and the pants. It extends the life of the gear, and it protects firefighters from cancer-causing um contaminants. It has been purchased and installed. It costs um $17,228. The next piece of equipment that was identified and purchased is this um fill station and compressor. Um it's basically to refill the department's air packs. Um, it cost $90,000 224 $90,224 and it's also been installed and the extractor and the compressor did come in under that $120,000. So, we asked the Department of Commerce, who administers the grant, if we could put the uh remaining amount towards a third piece of equipment, and they did approve that. So, we um put the $12,537 left over towards this decontamination washer, which um basically washes and cleans personal protective equipment, the air packs, the face masks, boots, gloves, helmets, tools, and again, this has been purchased and installed. And all of these pictures, by the way, that you see are is the actual equipment in the fire station. And we would just like to say thank you to the Department of Commerce for

providing that $120,000 in funding for our fire station. And that's all I have. I'm happy to answer any questions. And Chief Anderson is here as well. Great. Thanks, Wendy. At this time, I will open the public hearing and call first on those who signed in to speak. The city clerk will call your name in order in which you signed up to speak. Please use the microphone and state your name and address for the record. Mayor, we had no one who signed up to speak this evening.

Great. Is there anyone here with us this evening that would like to step forward and speak on this issue at this time? All right. Hearing seeing none, I am going to go ahead and close the public hearing and I will now call upon council for their questions and comments on this matter. or if you have none, I would entertain a motion. Do you have a suggested motion? So, there's no motion needed. This is just a opportunity for the public to comment. Oh, okay. Well,

Council Member Peterson has raised her hand. Council member Peterson. Council member Peterson, you have your hand raised. Council member Peterson, I believe you are muted. going once. There we go. Sorry. Can you hear him? We can hear you.

Thank you. Sorry about that. It's a pain and I can't do technology. I'm just so incredibly glad that um Wendy and the team were able to get this far, guys. I It's important and I'm so glad and so thank you guys and hope it gets used so many years with good health to our firefighters. Thank you. Anybody else? Council member Romero.

I would just as a matter of public record like to note that my experience with public funding and public grants has been very hit and miss, but with Wendy Horn and uh the successes that we've had in the city has just astonishing. It's just like a what do you call it? A Goldilocks moment for us. So, we hope we can keep keep on with that. Thank you, Wendy. All right, nobody else. Going once, going twice. All right, thank you, Wendy. Thank you very much. Have a good night.

Right, we are going to move on to ordinances and resolutions. Next up is resolution 2604, ratifying countywide planning policies amendments. And here to introduce this is our principal planner, Rajes Kakamak, to present.

Thank you, mayor. Good evening, mayor and members of the council. U here to present the countywide planning policy amendment. Uh the council is familiar with this uh topic. We've uh discussed this at the uh March workshop. So I will try and summarize um our discussions that we've had with the planning commission in February and with the council in in March um to uh uh to decide for you to decide on this uh ratification. So u the countywide planning policies were adop adopted back in March 2024. This is kind of the foundational document that allows all jurisdictions in the island county to proceed with their comprehensive plan amendment. It provided the housing for all income levels tool, the HAP tool that uh provided the distribution of housing units for island county and it set the stage for uh the jurisdictions to update the plan. As part of that, the Okabar UG was allocated 5,533 units. And I don't have to stress this, the UG includes the Okabar city limits plus the unincorporated um areas of the county. And therefore, this is kind of a twojurisdictional approach in actually u determining how growth is handled. The countywide planning policies of course um did not clearly state the distinction on how many units should be in the city limits and how many should be in the UG. This was supposed to be determined during the update process and therefore uh as you are aware this took longer than anticipated for us uh because that process was not clearly identified. So I'll just go over the a brief history of how we approached this

topic and why we're doing uh why the county is suggesting this amendment at this time. So once the CPPs were amended, the jurisdictions under uh have to undertake a lands capacity analysis which the city did in um August of 2024 and u also provided a land use options memo because the lands capacity analysis determined that there wasn't enough capacity in the city for all the units that were allocated. So you have to do a land use options memo that indicates what kind of changes you're willing to consider in the community in order to accommodate the additional growth. And once that land use options memo was released, there were some discussions between the city and the county on those land use options. This led to the joint meeting in uh 2025 early in 2025. This led to the discussion about expansion in April and subsequently the discussion with department of commerce in terms of how to rectify all of these differences that we had between the city of uh Oak Harbor's lands capacity analysis island county's acceptance of the capacity in the memo and what's acceptable to the state in terms of growth scenarios. So all of this uh in the middle of 2025 um kind of made a determination for a few things. Um one um uh it uh because of the time involved that uh would take in order to accommodate all the unincorporated areas. We don't have that time within the comp plan. and the county was wanting to uh adopt a comp plan at a reasonable time decided that they were going to do this amendment to reduce the population um and tackle all of these growth areas at with the next

update. In that same uh vein, they it was also decided to bring all the undeveloped properties into the city for annexation. So since August of 25 that was the direction that the jurisdictions went. Island County started the countywide planning policy amendments so that they can adopt their comp plan. Langley and Kul can do their work and Oak Harbor eventually got the numbers that uh were allocated for the city limits so that we can do our comprehensive plan which then determined that we have to do an EIS which again we started that process back in August of 2025 and eventually hired a consultant in January and here we are kind of starting that EIS process but the comprehensive but the countywide planning policy changes have to be ratified in order for the county to adopt their comprehensive plan and for Langley and and Killil to do so. And so, um, uh, since we were progressing with the annexation, the county was simultaneously doing these countywide planning policy amendments. And so, here we are at a point where the other jurisdictions have ratified the change and that allows Island County to adopt a comp plan. Ours is the last kind of say in the whole matter. And so here we are tonight um with the modifications and this step if the council does ratify it. Well, a couple jurisdictions the the the way the countywide planning policy language is is laid out is if two jurisdictions uh have ratified the countywide planning policies then they become binding from that point onwards. So are we are the last jurisdiction in the process. And so at tonight, we're asking the city council to consider this uh uh ratification and actually ratify the

countywide planning policies as presented. Again, this just allows us all to move forward in terms of adopting our comprehensive plan. And I think that was a critical decision that the county had to make at the time that they had to make in order to do this all in a timely fashion. So that's what is in front of uh city council tonight. I'm happy to answer any questions. Uh I have a a a recommended motion language here if the council is comfortable ratifying the the changes. Thank you, C. So I will first verify with Julie that we've received no public comment on this issue. That's correct, Mayor. No public comments have been received and no one has signed up to make public comment. Is that correct?

That is also correct. And is there anyone here with us this evening that would like to step forward and make public comment on this issue at this time? All right. Hearing seeing none, I will close public comment and call upon council for their questions or comments at this time. Council member Romero. If it's acceptable to the chair and mayor, I would like to make the motion then we can discuss it. Sure.

I move to adopt resolution 26 tax 04 ratifying the amended countywide planning policies adopted by Island County ordinance number CC 51 TAC25. Okay. We have a motion as presented by Council Member Romero, seconded by Mayor Pro Tim. Is there any further discussion before I call for a vote? hearing. Seeing none, all in favor raise your right hand. Passes unanimously. Thank you very much. That was easy. All right. Other items for consideration. Approval of accounts payable vouchers Chamber of Commerce. This voucher list contains a payment or payments to the Greater Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce, of which Council Member Marshall is the executive director. In order to avoid a conflict of interest, Council Member Marshall has stated he will recuse himself from a vote on such payments, which are now a separate agenda item. I will first confirm that we've received no public comments on this issue.

That's correct, Mayor. No public comments were received. And is there anyone here with us this evening that would like to step forward and make public comments on this issue? Are you raising your hand? Oh, okay. I just making sure that you didn't want to make a comment. All right. Hearing seeing none, I will close from a comment and call upon council for their questions or comments at this time or entertain a motion if you have none. Mayor prom. I move to approve the accounts payable vouchers for the chamber of commerce.

Second. All right. We have a motion to approve the accounts payable vouchers for the Chamber of Commerce as presented by Mayor Pro Tim, seconded by Council Member Stucky. Is there any further discussion before I call for a vote hearing? Seeing none, all in favor raise your right hand. Um, council, there you are. Okay, so we have six yays and one abstension. All right, we are good there. All right. So, there being no further business, I'm before I adjourn us, I'm just going to note that we're going into close session per RCW423144B. So, there being no further business, is there a motion to adjurnn?

So moved. I have a motion to adjurnn. Second. Seconded by council member Marshall.