City Council - Regular Meeting

We acknowledge that this meeting is being held on the ancestral lands of the Coast Salish people. We pay our respects to those past and present. Tonight's invocation will be led by Amy Akituro from Whidbey Grace. If we could all please stand for tonight's invocation as well as remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Micah 6.8 says, He has shown you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you with grateful hearts. Thank you for the gift of this community, for the beauty of Oak Harbor, for every person who calls this city home. Thank you for those who have accepted the responsibility to serve through public office. Leadership is often challenging and we are grateful for their willingness to carry that responsibility on behalf of others. And as we reflect on the call to act justly and love mercy and walk humbly, we ask that you would give our mayor council members and city staff wisdom beyond their own understanding, help them to listen well, to lead with integrity, to make decisions that seek the flourishing of every resident. We pray for those who serve and protect our city, for our police officers, our firefighters, our emergency responders, our healthcare workers, and the men and women serving the Naval Air Station, Whidbey Island. Grant them protection, Lord, strength and peace, and bless their families as they faithfully care for our community. Cutie baby. We also pray for our neighborhoods, for our schools, for our kids, for our local businesses, churches, and nonprofit organizations. Help us to be neighbors who show kindness, extend grace, and work together for the common good. May we be a community where differences are met with respect and where hope is stronger than fear. And as this meeting begins, May every conversation be marked by wisdom, every decision by integrity, and every action by a sincere desire to serve others. We ask for your blessing upon this council and upon the people of Oak Harbor. We pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Amen. All right, you can join me in the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which All right, this is a reminder that tonight's meeting will both be a physical and a virtual meeting. The meeting may be viewed on YouTube and following the meeting on Facebook. We do not need to take role as all council members are present and accounted for. So we will move on to approval of the agenda. Are there any suggested changes to the regular agenda? If not, I would entertain a motion to approve the agenda as presented. Yes, Mayor Pro Tem.

I move to approve the agenda as presented.

Second. Right. We have a motion to approve the agenda as presented, seconded by Councilmember Wittgenstein. Is there any further discussion before I call for a vote? Hearing seeing none, all in favor? Raise your hand. All right, that passes unanimously. Thank you very much. All right, the first order of business is to move into executive session per revised code of Washington, RCW 4230-110, parent one, parent G, parent I. At this time, the council will move into executive session per revised code of Washington, 4230-110, 1G, to evaluate the qualifications of an applicant for public employment or to review the performance of employee and per RCW 4230-110-1I to discuss with legal counsel litigation or potential litigation. Anticipated duration is 15 minutes. Action may or may not be taken upon return to the open session of the meeting. Executive sessions are not open to the public. We are moving into executive session at 534. All right, we have now come out of executive session. I'll resume the open session of the regular meeting. No action will be taken at this time regarding the matters discussed. And we will now move on to the presentations section of the meeting. Our first presentation this evening is 25 years of service recognition for Mary Ann Ledgerwood. And here to introduce this is our Chief of Police, Tony Slowik.

All right, good evening, Mayor and City Council. Chief Slowik, if I can get Marianne to come up here with me, please. All right, so this is one of my favorite things is being able to recognize employees. And when we get employees that reach a milestone of 25 years of employment with the city, I think that's something to be commended. So I want to get, this is Marianne Ledgerwood. I just wanted to, give a little explanation of all the things Marianne does for us and, um, uh, hand her her certification or certificate. So over for over two decades, Marianne has served as a, an essential pillar of the municipal court system or municipal justice system and, uh, serves as the city sole senior paralegal, her meticulous work in processing police investigation reports, drafting critical legal documents, and reviewing body-worn camera footage has been foundational to the effectiveness of the Oak Harbor Prosecutor's Office. She is the only full-time employee, city full-time employee in our Oak Harbor Prosecutor's Office, because we have a contracted prosecutor. And so she is the linchpin between the Oak Harbor Police Department sending those reports and that information over to the prosecutor, and then that information getting processed and those cases being worked by our prosecutor. So beyond her vital administrative contributions, Marianne has demonstrated a profound commitment to public service through her role as a domestic violence victim witness coordinator. This is a collateral duty. It is something she has just picked up because we have a need within the city and it is, um, it is, it's nothing within her job description. It's to fill this gap. Um, and, and being that coordinator, and contacting the victims, witnesses, connecting them with our prosecutor and working with them so they can get services as well. Her dedication to supporting victims and witnesses during challenging times has been provided comfort and stability to those navigating the justice system. Furthermore, Marianne has served as trusted representative of the city, acting as the primary point of contact for claims and collaborating with WCIA. And it's with great gratitude to Marianne for her unwavering professionalism, her commitment to the community, and her quarter century of exceptional public service that I'd like to present her with this certificate. Because without her, we wouldn't be able to do all the wonderful things that we're doing, be able to prosecute cases, get people held accountable, be able to get justice for victims, and A lot of her work is done without complaint, without knowing about it and behind the scenes. So she does a tremendous job and I just want to give her a round of applause.

Thank you for this recognition.

Congratulations again, Marianne. All right. Our next presentation this evening is by Allen County 2026 Hazard Mitigation Plan Update. And here to introduce this is our fire chief, Travis Anderson.

Mayor, Council, thank you for the opportunity to stand before you and present this. This hazard mitigation plan is something that is required every five years for the Island County. We are just one little piece of Island County that fills our portion out. This specific presentation is to talk about the risk piece of it. But I just want to go back, back to October 2025 was the first open meeting where we pushed out this information to the public and they had an opportunity to do a survey on what they felt the risk are issues and have some feedback or some say in county hazard mitigation plan. And the county hazard mitigation plan is important because if something isn't in this document, if it isn't a hazard that we've identified on here, it makes it really hard to go get grant funds to address that from DHS and FEMA. So it's an important part to be a part of. So in October 2025, we pushed it out. We were actually recognized by the third party consultant as a best practice for the county in our outreach that we got. I don't know how much the city's Facebook page got in outreach. I was able to look at the fire departments, but we had 1300 views. I'm sure the city's page was more than that. But the third party consultant recommended that the other jurisdictions kind of follow our lead on how we were able to do that. So kudos to Maggie and her team on getting that out. This is the second piece of that and all we're here to do is again present the risk. So what you see right here is all the jurisdictions on Island County populated together and this is the risk. You can see on top is 2020. This is what is going in there for 2026. The first four didn't change in order. A couple of landslide and floods moved from medium to high. Again, this is the likelihood of something happening. And then what would be the consequences if it did happen? So, and it's a little subjective and the public has the ability to put information in. And then we had our own subject matter experts that participated on this group. So a lot of different department directors within the city participated that as well as city leadership and public safety. So that is how Island County came out and what you'll see in the new hazard mitigation plan. And then this is the city of Oak Harbor. So ours really didn't change at all. The numbers changed a little bit, but the ranking didn't change. You'll see that ours are a little different than other agencies because that countywide vulnerability rating of significance, the formula takes in some other factors like population, Uh, so, but here is that ranking, uh, for us, severe weather is number one. It was number one, five years ago, still number one earthquakes is number two. We all know we had that earthquake, um, a couple was a couple of weeks ago last week. Uh, so, uh, high up on the list, but again, our order didn't change based on, um, all the information. And most importantly, if you have any further questions, uh, want to see, uh, more about the Island County, uh, hazard mitigation plan they can go to this website right here that's on the county web page and get a lot more detailed information about the process and again this was just to provide some uh a required public meeting on what we identified as our risks so with that if anyone has any questions i'd be happy to answer them if not i'm done thanks chief any questions for chief all right thank you

All right, we are gonna move into public comment. 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 comments regarding public hearing items will be heard during that portion of the agenda. We have no public hearing items for today's meeting. 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 and the order in which you signed in to speak. Julie, did we have anyone sign up?

Yes, Mayor. John Chazar has asked to speak.

Great. John, if you could please state your name, address, and then limit your comment to three minutes, please, sir.

Sure. I originally signed up for talking about something else, a consent agenda, so I'll hold those for now. But I do want to recognize a couple of things. So when I walked City Beach. Name, address. I apologize. It's okay. I'm really bad at following directions. That's all right. John Chazar, 2700 Southwest Scenic Heights, Oak Harbor. On the morning of July 5th, I was walking City Beach, and there was a whole youth group on the beach cleaning up the activities from July 4th on the beach. And I just want to recognize, I found out through social media it was the Cub Scout group that was cleaning, and I'm not sure how many people know that was going on. But the morning, it was about 9 o'clock in the morning, and City Beach Park was absolutely spotless. And so I just want to point that out. And then also, I'm not sure if anybody knows this, but the gentleman to my right, earlier in July 2nd, I believe it was, in the morning, about 8 o'clock in the morning, he and his fellow officers, and this is leadership by example, were cleaning up the Scenic Heights Trail and pulling all the debris out of the woods and everything else. So I just want to say thank you publicly and appreciate everything you do. Thank you. That's all I have.

Thank you for acknowledging him. Thank you.

Mayor, that concludes, pardon me, that concludes those that signed up in advance to speak.

All right, is there anybody else that is with us this evening that would like to step forward and make public comment that did not have an opportunity to sign up on the sheet when they came in? All right, hearing, seeing none. Do we have any public comments that were received since our last meeting?

Yes, Mayor, we do. We have two public comments that were received.

I didn't see it. All right, thank you very much. I know that we have a couple of our appointees to boards and commissions and committees present here this evening and I would like to invite them to introduce themselves if they haven't already. If you'd like to step forward to the podium and state your name and just introduce yourself to council.

Good evening again, John Chazar, 2700 Southwest Scenic Heights. Thank you. I'm back like a bad penny. I'm on your agenda today to be appointed to the Planning Commission. It'll be my pleasure to serve on the Planning Commission again. I served for a little over two years prior to taking a job in Louisiana where I traveled back and forth for two years. I'm glad that is over with. But anyway, I just appreciate and I'd be humbled to serve on the Planning Commission.

thank you thank you for your volunteerism thank you hi there my name is David guy I'm at 1031 Northwest Longview Drive I'm also on your agenda for the Planning Commission look forward to serving you and the people of Oak Harbor thank you very much for your volunteerism all right is that one more all right

Hi, I'm Donna Kendall. I'm also on the Planning Advisory Committee. I'm really excited and grateful to be able to serve the community. So, thank you.

Awesome. Well, welcome and thank you for volunteering. All right. I think that covers everybody. So, at this point, we will close public comment and move on to consent agenda. Are there any objections or changes to the consent agenda as presented? If not, I would entertain a motion to approve it as presented.

So moved.

Second. All right. We have a motion to approve consent agenda as presented by Council Member Stuckey, seconded by Council Member Wittgenstein. Is there any further discussion before I call for a vote? Hearing seeing none, all in favor, raise your right hand. Passage unanimously, thank you very much. We're gonna move on to mayor comments. Bear with me, we had a lot going on recently, so we have a lot to talk about. What a great weekend to celebrate America's 250th. It was wonderful to see our community come together to enjoy the festivities, from the carnival and vendor fair to the parade, and we can't forget the pet parade at which my dogs had a great time and enjoyed it very much. I want to thank our city staff for partnering with the Chamber to help make that weekend such a success. It takes a tremendous amount of planning, coordination, and teamwork behind the scenes to host events like these, and I appreciate everyone's hard work and dedication. Thank you as well to the Chamber, the many volunteers, vendors, participants, public safety personnel, and everyone who contributed to a safe and enjoyable celebration. Most importantly, thank you to our residents and visitors for coming out to celebrate together. There's a lot I would like to say about this year's AWC Annual Conference in Spokane, but I'll give you a brief summary of what the week looked like. The conference provided a valuable opportunity to learn, connect, and bring new ideas back to Oak Harbor, with educational sessions, workshops, networking events, and conversations with our elected officials from across Washington. One of the biggest benefits of the conference was the opportunity to hear how other cities are addressing many of the same challenges we face. It was helpful to compare approaches and build relationships with leaders who are willing to continue those conversations after the conference. I especially appreciated the keynote presentation by Doug Griffiths, author of 13 Ways to Kill Your Community. His presentation focused less on prescribing solutions and more on identifying common pitfalls that communities should avoid, emphasizing the importance of thoughtful leadership, adaptability, and long-term planning. A topic that stood out throughout the conference was the growing need for stronger partnerships between health and human services. Communities across Washington continue to face many of the same challenges surrounding homelessness, behavioral health, and access to supportive services. Hearing how other cities are coordinating resources reinforced the importance of continuing those conversations here in Oak Harbor and identifying partnerships that best serve our residents. One opportunity I'm particularly excited about is participating in the Washington Collaborative Elected Leaders Institute, a cohort through the University of Washington. I'll be part of this cohort that includes Anacortes Councilmember TJ Fantini, and I'm looking forward to learning alongside elected officials from around the state. The program will provide an ongoing forum to discuss shared challenges, exchange best practices, and build lasting professional relationships that can benefit our community long after the conference concludes. Beyond the formal session, some of the most valuable moments came through conversations with fellow elected officials and community leaders. Overall, I returned from the conference with new ideas, new professional relationships, and a renewed appreciation for the importance of collaboration. While every community is unique, there is tremendous value in learning from one another, and I look forward to applying those lessons as we continue to work together to serve the residents of Oak Harbor. I will continue to support opportunities like the AWC annual conference for our elected officials because ongoing learning is an important part of effective leadership. I want to thank council members Peterson, Merrow, and Wigenstein for participating in the conference and taking time to step away from their day-to-day responsibilities. I can't reiterate enough how opportunities like these allow us to see familiar challenges through a different lens and to hear how other communities are approaching similar issues. I hope you all returned with fresh ideas and new perspectives. I know I did. There is a real value in broadening our understanding and continuing to grow as public servants. Those experiences ultimately help us make more informed decisions and better serve our residents. Lastly, I'm going to close on a somber note. Today we lowered city flags in honor of former Mayor Bob Severance. We postponed this honor to allow the time to focus on Bob while waiting until after the various holidays and required flag lowering events between Memorial Day and the 4th of July. Bob never wanted attention for himself. In true Bob fashion, he asked for no public memorial, no ceremony, and no fanfare. But his service deserves to be remembered, and lowering our flags is one small way to express the gratitude of a community that benefited so greatly from his leadership. As I lowered the flag this morning, something remarkable happened. A bald eagle soared overhead, circling above the city hall. It was one of those moments you can't plan or explain. It felt as though Bob was saying goodbye in his own quiet way. Whether you see it as a coincidence or something more, it was a fitting tribute to a man whose heart was always with Oak Harbor. As these flags fly at half staff over the coming days, may they remind us all not only of our loss, but also of Bob's lasting example of humble service. Thank you, Bob. Your work here is done, but your legacy will continue to guide this community for generations to come. With that, I will turn it over to council for their comments. Council Member Romero.

Is this the time to speak with regard to the transit district? i just wanted to note that uh... that in the transit district uh... we're in the process now but uh... doing a long-range plan and the phase one is getting inputs from the public which i can say is really quite challenging to get realistic data from the public about uh... their needs and wants with regard to transit services and then also we have uh... six-month change or review of service provided and in this one there's going to be changes for route one and route 60 that would be Clinton to harbor and then Langley from Clinton. I did also want to take a moment to speak with regard to the AWC conference because our mayor did not mention the fact that he taught one of the classes. And so I wanted to make mention of the fact that he boldly went where we dare tread to go, and that would be annexation. So he taught us all with regard to that, and we thank you for that, Mayor. I have another comment, too, with regard to the regulatory item. And I may not get a chance to state it in the future, so I'll state it now, is that whenever the state creates for us unfunded mandates and demands for us changes and then packages regulatory structures that are supposedly going to benefit us, say, for grant writing, and then we find that we're really having to have a net loss of resources to process it. I wanted to go on record to say that that's very frustrating and I don't think it represents the best in state government. But I do want to praise the mayor City Administrator Sabrina Combs and Deputy Administrator and Finance Director David Goldman with regard to the legwork that they had to do to find that these grant changes, these application processes are a net loss to us as far as having to do the legwork on it. That's all I have, Mayor.

Thank you, Council Member Romero. Anybody else for the good of the hour? Council Member, I'm sorry, Barbara Arms.

Got who I was already? You haven't seen me for a couple weeks. I didn't go to the conference, but I did go to the garden tour that was on the 27th, and it was better... than last year it was so fabulous i could imagine at one of the stops we actually had free food and then at the nursery we had free food so you got plenty of food but it was the gardens were lovely it was a fabulous tour it was more at the for one of the Kathy who has who we often see for part of the garden garden people she had her place and so it was a fabulous time also I want to mention at Ace Hardware they always do the roundup and this month of July is to do with the marina. It has to do with the nets and pans and all that money goes back to helping improve that for when the fingerlings come back in January. Also, from what I understand, we're getting a food truck down at the marina. So all is well in that realm.

Thank you. Council member arms. Council member Stucky.

I just really want to reiterate the thanks for all those that are stepping up to our boards and commissions, especially for the Planning Commission. It's been a long time since we've been full there. So I look forward to serving with you guys at this critical junctions. We work through the comp plan. So thank you so much.

Council Member Peterson.

Thank you, Mayor. First of all, thank you so much for lowering the flag in appreciation of. I shall use my outside voice. Thank you for lowering the flag in recognition of Mayor Severance. That was very kind and very much appreciated. AWC was informative. I was honored to carry the flag during the Pride of Flags, so that was kind of fun to wave it and run down and get clapped at. You feel like a princess a little bit. And I did not trip. Someone was afraid I might or hit somebody in the head. I don't know what you all expect from me. I really did appreciate all of the information that we received. I went to a class on security for elected officials, which I hadn't really thought much about prior to that. The gentleman who gave the class is currently in charge of security for the district court in Utah. And he is a stand-up comedian on the side. It was fun. It was informative. And I'm still wondering how a cup of coffee made it to a district judge and nobody took a look at it. And nobody knew where it came from. But that's a whole other story. It was wonderful and I'm looking forward to it again next year. Awesome, awesome, awesome job. Fourth of July, thank you very much to Council Member Marshall and the Chamber. My husband said second best ever in his whole life. First was the year we laid underneath the stars on the Annapolis football field and watched that, but he said second best ever and said thank you. And Arts Commission, we're moving forward and That's my report. Thank you.

Great. Thank you so much. Council member Wiggins time.

Thank you. I'm going to read mine because I had to, otherwise I wouldn't get through it with ADD, you know, me bouncing all over the place. Um, Mayor, fellow council members, thank you for the opportunity to attend the city's conference, Washington City's conference on behalf of the city of Oak Harbor. I'd like to spend a few minutes sharing what stood out for me. Not so much the conference agenda and individual presentations, rather the perspective I brought home from the experience. The conference included sessions on legislation, infrastructure, budgeting, and housing, public safety and economic development, and many of the issues cities across Washington continue navigating. Every session offered something worthwhile, even so with what stayed with me longest happened between the sessions. I'm gonna have to do bigger print next time. Yeah, the conversations over meals, the discussions in hallways, time spent with elected officials, city staff, attorneys, community partners from communities across the state. Something else happened too. The conference created space to listen. It created space to reflect. As the week unfolded, one question continued following me. What creates a community where people genuinely feel safe enough to participate, belong, and contribute? From there, I found myself listening a little differently. Instead of hearing separate conversations about housing, behavioral health, homelessness, economic development, youth engagement, infrastructure, and public safety, I began noticing how often those topics intersected. We often organize challenges in separate departments, organizations, and in funding streams. People don't experience life in departments. We experience one interconnected system. One part becomes unstable because pressure spreads across the entire system. One image stayed with me throughout the week. A watershed. Rain doesn't begin as a river. It falls across an entire landscape. Each drop appears insignificant on its own. Together, those drops shape valleys, feed streams, support ecosystems, provide drinking water, and sustain communities many miles downstream. Communities work much the same. Small investments in safety, belonging, relationships, prevention, and community connection may seem modest today. Over time, those investments can influence countless lives. The opposite holds true as well. When upstream conditions weaken, downstream systems begin carrying more of the weight. Emergency response, health care, behavioral health, housing, local government all respond to challenges that have grown more complex over time. One of the greatest values of attending a conference like this isn't finding all the answers, it's coming home with better questions. Throughout the week, I met people from communities experiencing some with thoughtful, locally driven approaches to challenges we all recognize. No two cities look alike, nor should they. Every community has its own history, culture, strengths, priorities, and resources. Our responsibility isn't to duplicate another city's work. Our responsibility is to learn from another, adapt ideas that fit Oak Harbor, and continue building on the strengths already present in our community. Several conversations centered on partnerships among local government, nonprofits, healthcare providers, schools, first responders, businesses, and community organizations. Every community approached those partnerships differently. One of them surfaced again and again. Whose responsibility is this? How do we become better partners in solving it together? I carried that thought home. As I reflected on the conference, three opportunities seemed worthy to continue exploration. The first involves continuing to learn from other Washington communities. Many cities are trying creative approaches to collaboration, community partnerships, and coordinated services across organizations. These successes and the lessons learned along the way can help inform our own conversations. The second involves continuing to strengthen relationships among organizations already serving Oak Harbor. Cities may not provide every service directly. Even so, cities are uniquely positioned to bring people together, identify gaps, and encourage collaboration around shared goals. The third is really another question. How do we create conditions where people find support before reaching crisis? Emergency response will always remain essential. Healthy communities also grow through prevention, connection, belonging, strong local partnerships. These reflections are not recommendations for immediate action. They're invitations to continue learning together, asking thoughtful questions, exploring ideas worthy of further conversation. I returned home encouraged, not because I found the perfect solution, because I met people across Washington asking many of the same questions we're asking here. To me, Oak Harbor is not beginning this conversation alone. We're joining a conversation already taking place across the world, actually. Thank you again for the opportunity to represent O'Carver and Washington City's conference. I appreciate the opportunity to share these reflections with you this evening. I look forward to the conversations ahead and continue our work together serving our community. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Wittgenstein.

Council Member Marshall. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to echo your comments about the contributions from city staff and the community for a great event over the weekend. No event of that magnitude happens. without the the cooperation of multiple organization entity departments it's just it's always a pleasure to work with the various departments within the city and the communication that occurs long before the event throughout the event through the end of the event just makes for a smooth successful event and so i i very much appreciate

all this help that the chamber and the city and that we received from the city staff for so thank you well thank you for your tireless hours that you put out there i know you were out there a long time so i saw you so i appreciate you All right, is that it for council comments? All right, we are going to conclude council comments and move on to ordinances and resolutions then. The first ordinance up is ordinance number 2046, amending speed limits on State Route 20 north of Northeast 16th Avenue. And here to introduce that is our city engineer, Alex Warner.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. Yes, I am Alex Warner, your city engineer. Not today. Ordinance 2046, amending speed limits on State Route 20. So this may look familiar. I'll give you the details of it, and then we can talk about the background. So this ordinance proposes to revise the speed limit on State Route 20 in the vicinity of the North City limits. Specifically, it revises this section of code, section 10.8.10, speed limits on SR20, section four of that. The speed limit along SR20 from mile post 33.69, 1700 feet north of Northeast 16th Avenue to the north corporate city limits on SR20 is established as 45 miles per hour. that is the change it currently states 50 miles per hour so the revision is to reduce that to 45 miles per hour this ordinance does not change any other speed limits on highway 20 within the city so i put together this graphic for you in the red there that is the length of the highway that would be reduced from 50 miles per hour to 45 miles per hour So this is in the vicinity of the FACMA Road and Highway 20 roundabout. I brought this or a similar ordinance to you last September. WSDOT had requested that as part of their construction of the roundabout that we change our code to set the speed limit in the section of the highway to 45 miles per hour because that's what their design documentation was recommending. Council had some interesting feedback for me and they said, why can't we just set it to 40 miles per hour, make it consistent from our 40 mile per hour zone a little bit further south all the way up to the North city limit. So I was encouraged to hear that feedback. I did reach out to WSDOT, I did some research and we learned that the state has ultimate authority on setting the speeds. We are simply revising our code to be consistent with what the state sets. They did do some extra work for us, though. They went out after the roundabout was installed. They took a speed study. I include it in your packet. And the results of that speed study, based on real-world actual vehicles traveling through that section of the highway with the roundabout in place, recommends 45 miles per hour. So I reviewed that. We discussed it. I think this is a good revision. It is reducing the speed limit, even though it might not be from the 50 to 40 like council had requested. Um, there is some additional consistency in this area. So in the meantime, from the last time I brought this to you, uh, the Island County, um, Staff went out and changed the speed limit on Alt Field there from 50 to 45 miles per hour. So with this revision, all three approaches to Alt Field will be 45 miles per hour as WSDOT intends to extend the speed reduction up to Hoffman Road. So that would be 45 miles per hour on the highway until you get past that little section of commercial there just south of Hoffman Road. And then it would jump up to 55 miles per hour. I can take any questions or you can vote on adopting the ordinance.

Before we do that, I'm going to first confirm whether we have received any public comments on this matter.

Thank you, Mayor. No public comments were received.

Is there anyone here with us this evening that would like to step forward and make public comments on this matter at this time? I'll get it out eventually. All right. Hearing, seeing none, I'm going to close public comments and call upon council for their comments. Yes. Council member Stuckey.

So just to reiterate a couple of things. So I'm clear. So right now, if we're looking at this picture, the area above the red right now is 55 North, North of the red.

It is 50, 50 miles per hour, 50 up to the signal.

So it goes from 50 to 45 to 40.

There is no 45 on the highway currently. It goes from 40 to 50 down at the southern portion there of the red. Here, I'll point over here. At this point on the highway, it currently changes from 40 to 50 miles per hour, and that 50 extends up to the signal, and then you hit 55.

The intent is for the state to reduce to 45 above it, you're saying?

So the red here is what I'm focused on as part of the ordinance. Right. But that 45 miles per hour would extend, would continue from the North City limits up to Hoffman Road. So this portion here north of FACMA Road would also be reduced to 45 miles per hour by the state.

Do you have an idea when that time frame might be?

You know, the best I can give you is the time frame we got for the speed limit changes at the south end of the city. And that was approximately three months from the time we passed the ordinance in January. January until the time the speed signs were changed.

So the part that we're looking at right now, what do you guess the length of that is? Half mile? Mile?

I would say, yeah, about three quarters of a mile.

I'm just trying to make sure. If they're going to reduce the speed above it to 45, then it makes sense. If it was just that stretch being 45, that's kind of tricky. But if the plan is to do it the other part, then that makes sense. And then just to clarify or reiterate, we have no say. If we were to vote no, all it would be is basically a protest vote and they could change it anyways. Does that sound correct?

Yeah, the state would make the change and then our code would be overruled by their determination.

So they just ask us because it's nice to have municipal partners on board and we can change it.

Okay. Essentially. Yes.

All right. That's all. Thank you.

Um, I just wanted to jump in here and let you know, council member that when I was at the IRTPO meeting, commissioner Johnson and I spoke to washdot and I followed up with Alex on this, that they need to be better partners with us in working on these so that we can work together. on the needs of our community. So we did express that very clearly from both Commissioner Johnson and myself representing the city and council, because I said, what happens is we end up taking the hit, council members and staff, for changes that you're making when you're not working with us, because we know what our communities need.

MR. Preach. Mayor Pro Tem.

MS. Just wanted to say thank you for including the traffic study in the packet. That was really interesting to look at. I mean, I know these decisions are You know, they might feel arbitrary to us, but they're not made in a vacuum. They're based on data. And it's nice to actually see that data. It was very interesting. So thank you.

You're welcome. Council Member Wittgenstein.

Have they talked about the light at Alt Field at all?

Uh, the most I've heard about that was recently one of their contractors, uh, ripped up a traffic loop that caused some, um, some traffic backups. They got to the bottom of that and we're looking to fix, fix that issue. If it's anything more than that, no, I haven't heard any conversation about it.

Is the signal, the light, the States, is it ours or is it the County or do we all have a piece of it?

That's a great question. It is the state signal.

Okay, so they need to do something with that right turn going to alt field and make it green when it's should be green because everybody's running the stop sign. Anyways, they're just flying, you know, they really need to take a look at it because they're going to have a major accident at some point. That's the bottleneck, by the way, coming into Oak Harbor. That's the only bottleneck coming into Oak Harbor now. I will make note of that. Thank you. So the sooner they can fix that intersection, the better our economy will go because people will get here without having to slow down to a complete stop most of the time.

Okay.

Thank you.

Anybody else for the good of the order? All right. Oh, sorry, Council Member Peterson. Sorry.

Will you please show me with your pointer the north end of the city where the city county line is?

Sure.

Thank you.

That is here, right at this intersection with FACMA, is the North City Limits. Yeah, you're welcome. And Tim, if you could go to the next slide. My clicker isn't working. I've got the motion.

All right, so if there are no further questions or comments for Alex, I would entertain a motion. It's up on the screen. Hello? Yes, Council Member Romero.

I move to adopt ordinance number 2046, amending Oak Harbor Municipal Code section 10.08.010 relating to speed limits on Washington State Route 20 north of Northeast 16th Avenue.

We have a motion as presented by Council Member Romero. Second. Seconded by Mayor Pro Tem. Is there any further discussion before I call for a vote? Hearing, seeing none. All in favor, raise your right hand. Write that passage unanimously. Thank you very much, Alex. All right, next up is contracts and agreements. We have an employment agreement, parks and recreation director contract. Here to introduce this is our human resources director, Christina Hines. Our new human resource director.

Well, yeah, so this is my first time doing this, so I'm trying to remember what you did for me, and I think it was just like, okay, so I'll start with, you know, this was a really competitive recruitment process. We had some excellent candidates, and we had a really difficult time working through the last final two, because they were so closely matched, and ultimately, this particular candidate, his experience within the organization itself, right, so his institutional knowledge, his readiness to move on, and his demonstrated performance in both his current, well, his former role, or current role, I don't know how to say that because we, but you get it, as well as former roles prior to arriving at the city, led us to select, I don't wanna mess up your last name, Craig, so Craig Lamas-Cole for Director of the Parks and Rec Department. Are there questions for me.

All right so with that I will first confirm whether or not we received any public comments on this.

No man, no public.

All right so is there anyone here with us this evening like to make public comments.

Hi, my name is Craig Lamas Cole and I'm up for this position and I just want to say I'm very excited to bring my experience with both the City of Los Angeles and the City of Oak Harbor and lead this Recreation and Parks Department to great things through transparency and most importantly community involvement and making sure that what we do is a reflection of the Oak Harbor community.

Thank you, Craig. All right, is there anybody else with us here this evening that would like to step forward and make public comment? All right, hearing, seeing none, I will close public comment and call upon council for their questions or comments. Yes, Mayor Pro Tem.

I just want to thank Craig for going through the process and being willing to accept said position. I know sometimes department heads can kind of feel like they're in front of a firing squad. And it shouldn't necessarily be that way, but the people that we have as department heads in the city, they are masters of their craft. And so they're held to a very high standard, and we rely very heavily on their expertise. And so if we're picking your brains, it's because you are better at what you do than than we are, so we're relying on that expertise. And you know, council isn't normally involved in the day-to-day hiring of people, and so I was not familiar with your background or your resume prior to being on one of the first round of interview panels. I participated in maybe the second round, I don't know. I participated in the process somehow. But in looking at your your details I realize my first comment was like I had no idea he was so overqualified for his current position for the position that he's currently I mean so overqualified because we're not normally privy to that kind of thing. So I'm delighted to have you on board. And I was personally I think I was I was at the part of the process where we had like narrowed it down to five or six and we interviewed those five or six to narrow down to a top three or a top two. And I was absolutely blown away by every single candidate. I mean, they just kept getting better and better. And I was blown away by the amount of talent and it's, that's always a difficult decision to make. It's a good problem to have, but it's difficult. And so I'm really, really pleased that, you know someone on our own staff rose to the top of that extremely competitive process it was really impressive so I'm excited about this thanks.

Thank you, Mayor person Councilmember Stuckey.

I see we had quite a few applicants and still went with the internal hire, which says a lot and is much appreciated. I've seen you juggle quite a few things and kiddos during the summer, and you do a wonderful job. I do pause when I see working for the Los Angeles Dodgers as a Mariners fan, but I'll let it slide. Hopefully, congratulations, and I look forward to seeing you out there. Council Member Romero.

Congratulations, Greg. I've done some informal and some formal reviews. I used to do law enforcement, so everything's legal. And I just wanted to say that you are the right person for this position at this time without question. That's all I have.

Council Member Marshall. Thank you, Mayor.

uh i had the opportunity to sit on that final round of three interviews and two of the three were definitely head and shoulders above and um craig i think is going to be the right choice to lead our department he's got experience with our city already he's seen kind of some of the pitfalls or challenges that we've had up to this point was very Frank about it, you know, and and has some great ideas on how we can address and how we can move forward and I for one and very excited and looking forward to working with you and and seeing the successes that you have in the department. So congratulations, Craig.

Thank you comes from Marshall. Yes, comes from Wittgenstein.

Thank you. But the internal team.

Anybody else. All right. Yes, Council Member Stuckey.

I move to approve the Mayor's appointment of Craig Lamas Cole to the position of Parks and Recreation Director for the City of Oak Harbor and authorize the Mayor to sign the employment agreement. Second.

All right, we have a motion as presented by Council Member Secchi, seconded by Council Member Romero. Before I call for a vote, I just want to personally thank Mayor Pro Tem and Council Member Marshall for taking the time to sit through all of those interviews with other staff members. I really want to thank Craig for doing just an outstanding job and presenting himself in the way he did, because I'm telling you, it was a difficult choice between you and one other candidate. But you definitely, you did an outstanding job in your final interview and it was, and I feel like we made the right choice. So with that being said, all in favor, raise your right hand. All right, Pastor Janosley, congratulations, Craig, and welcome to the team. We are going to move on to concession agreement between the City of Oak Harbor and El Sazon de Oaxaca. Here to introduce that is Harbormaster Elise Henry.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. We'll try to make this straightforward and sweet and to the point. This will be providing a amenity that we currently do not have at the marina and that is to get food while you're visiting. It'll be a Mexican food truck that was previously over on Goldie road. It'll be operating on city property and I'll have some photos coming up that shared between the Marina and Catalina park. The goal is during our busy season from Memorial day to labor day, they would be open Thursdays through Mondays during non quiet hours. So that is 7am to 9pm. I don't mind in between what times they're open, but that way the live aboards down at the Marina are not calling me every night. telling me that the Mexican food truck is having way too much fun in the park and they are not enjoying it. And Thursdays through Mondays follows the crab season being open. So that's when you're going to see the most traffic down at the marina on a regular basis anyways. So the location of where it's going is located here on this slide. It's going in everyone's favorite close parking spot. And I know the civil servants are going to be the most disappointed when that disappears for a food truck. but they can get a taco while they're at the marina. So code requirements, the concession agreement with the vendor is from the municipal code stated. All businesses will have the business endorsement with the city of Oak Harbor listed. And then they'll also go through the mobile food vendor endorsement for the food truck and trailer. We have already met with the owner and have gone through the truck to ensure that it meets what the city is looking for as a food truck on the property. So we have had previous food vendors down at the marina. We had Orlando's actually when they first started up back in 2013, and we had an additional Mexican food truck that was down there in 2016. So state constitution says that this agreement is necessary. I'm not gonna read all of that to you, but that is why it is necessary. And the fee structure. So what we came up with was it'll be $300 per month for Francisco and his truck. We factored that in because it is about double our live aboard fee, which is $129 per month, which covers their water, sewer and garbage. And we have to include a state leasehold tax of 12.84% because this agreement is going to be greater than 30 days. So that puts us at like $283 and some change. So to make it a nice even number, we went to 300. I will talk about the utilities here. We're gonna mark off that parking spot with some bollards to make sure the trailer's not damaged, nor any boats and trailers as they come through the parking lot going that way around instead of going straight to the launch. Trash is included in the $300 monthly fee, and it'll be placed in the marina dumpsters. We have three of those in the busy season daily so that we ensure not to have a rodent issue. Signage will be up to the vendor. It'll be placed on city property. I will give him where I would put it, but I'm not gonna force him to put it in my chosen locations, because I will leave that up to him. As a business owner, he may know better than I do. power, we will have 30 amp provided to him at the site or he would be able to use a generator because we are functioning during those non-quiet hours and it's not gonna impede on any noise ordinance. For water, we will ensure that there is a water hose hookup about 45 feet from that cement pad. And marina staff will ensure that the trip hazard is eliminated or mitigated. We have gotten pretty good at ensuring that is not an issue for anyone across public sidewalks because we do it on the docks all the time. As far as a toilet for the vendor, we will allow that individual to purchase a gate card, which gives them access into all Marina restrooms and into the gate. And then there is actually a portable down at the Marina at the end of building four that is there 365 days a year and serviced and one of the cleanest ones I've ever been in. Background, I've been working with Francisco for a little over two months now. Actually, we had a recommendation from Council Member Marshall, and we greatly appreciate it. He came knocking and said, hey, I would love to come to the marina. And I said, hey, let's make this work. So we have had a meeting as city staff back on June 4th to discuss mobile food vendors. I'm going to be kind of the guinea pig. I'm going to start with the concession agreement down at the marina, and we'll see how it goes. And Francisco has already agreed to the $300 a month per an email that I have, if anyone would like to see that. And my recommended action is that you approve the concession agreement so that we can keep this ball rolling and get people in tacos down at the marina.

Any questions?

All right. Before I let them ask you questions, I'm going to first verify whether or not we received any public comments on this issue.

No, Mayor. No public comments were received.

Thank you. And is there anyone here with us this evening that would like to step forward and make public comments on this issue? All right. Hearing, seeing none, I'm going to close public comment and call upon council for their questions or comments at this time. Yes, Council Member Merrow.

Just an easy question. With regard to the 12-month, rolling 12 months, I mean, are we going to have yearly available service? I mean, monthly or just for the season?

As far as the food or the utilities?

The food.

I am hoping it will be there indefinitely, and that is kind of his indication of what he's expecting as well.

Okay, thank you.

council member peterson uh thank you how much is a gate card sixteen dollars and eighty seven cents i believe okay so just because i don't know no that's okay anybody who wants to be able to wonder the marina can buy one or you have to have a reason

So if you as a general public would like to come wander the marina, stop by the marina office during business hours, what we do is take your driver's license and issue you a guest gate card and you can go roam. Taking your driver's license kind of indicates that you're not going to wreak any havoc and kind of negate the security of having that locked gate. so that I can easily turn it over to the police department if you do wreak havoc, and they can find you fairly easily.

Thank you. And I'm not at all opposed to the food truck. I'm just curious, how is this going to affect the seagulls?

The seagulls? Well, we did just post a sign that says don't feed them right next to where the food truck is going. Not that they read them, but I don't know that that's going to have an issue for down at the marina. If it does, we actually have a contract already in place with USDA for wildlife mitigation.

Or our friendly whipty-dipty hawk could come over?

I would be happy to let the friend with the hawk come down to the marina and roam the parking lot. I am fine with that.

Thank you. Just a curious question.

I don't know many people giving up their tacos to the seagulls, but there might be someone.

A friend of mine in California told me she saw somebody fighting with a seagull for a taco. What do I know? Me either. Thank you.

Council Member Arms.

Elise, thank you so for working so hard. Thank you, Eric, for getting that. You know, that's something that that is only our second real food truck in the city. And I'm very glad that we finally got that done. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you. I'm excited about this and I appreciate you being willing to be our guinea pig, because in my mind, the vision is food trucks at Flintstone, the plaza at Windjammer, which was built for that intended purpose with power and everything. So just full of food trucks and vendors. And so that's the vision. And this is getting us one step closer to that vision. So thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Council Member Stuckey.

Can you talk a little bit to the search to find a food truck vendor? It says you reached out to me. Was there a post on a website? What does that mean?

So when we reached out, it was placed out through the Chamber of Commerce, I believe three different cycles. We actually approached some of the local food trucks to see if they were interested. And I did reach out to the Washington State Food Truck Association just to see what was in Oak Harbor. There were no listings for actual Oak Harbor food trucks that I could find at the time when I looked on that website.

And I'm cautiously optimistic. I think it's going to be, I mean, it sounds great. I think it might be a little difficult. If this did catch on and blew up, what's the chance of getting other food trucks there? Do we have space? What does that look like?

That is actually coming with our Department of Commerce grant that we received from Dave Paul. So Catalina Park revitalization should be coming the end of this year to the beginning of next year. And the bocce ball courts that currently do not get a lot of usage are going to be repurposed and have an asphalt overlay and some hookups for utilities so that we can add an additional I believe we're shooting for four food trucks in that area so that we would have the ability to have five food trucks in the park at that time.

Getting a little off the topic here, but you mentioned the Catalina Park. At one time, there was a talk of mini golf there. Has that been abandoned or is that still just on the... Don't know that it's been abandoned.

We're pivoting because 260,000 does not go that far. So we are focusing on this revitalization to have the hookups at least so that we can... long-term do an infinite number of opportunities. We're also going to revitalize the playground. It's one of the older playgrounds that gets significant usage. And we're going to turn it into an inclusive playground. We're going to have a global spinner. We're going to make it ADA accessible. So like I said, we're trying to spend the $260,000 wisely that we were given in that Department of Commerce grant and utilize it in the best way we know how at this point.

I mean, it sounds like a win-win, good for the folks that are already down there, stay on their boats, and anything can bring more people to the marina. Hopefully, there's a lot of success, so appreciate it.

Thank you.

Council Member Marshall.

Thank you, Mayor. Okay, so the only issue that I have with this, I'm really excited for them and I'm excited for the marina. I just have a little heartburn that we're charging them more than what we charge the yacht club for their monthly rent. Now I know that has nothing to do with you, I just had to get that off my chest and say that. To mitigate that a little bit, can we just give him the marina restroom card instead of making him pay for that? Can we let him use the bathroom? I mean, that's just one suggestion.

I think I can do a guest card.

Can we do that? We can figure out how to make that work. Yeah, great. Then I'd be happy to support this.

I can give him the guest code. Worst case scenario. Oh, I've been told apparently can only use it twice a day. So luckily there's a portable. You get to go twice a day.

All right. Thank you.

Thank you.

council member arms

The thing is nice too, it's right by the commissary, it's right by everything there, and the NEX did away with their food. And so they have none, so if somebody's hungry, they have a coffee cart, but they don't have anything else. So it'd be nice to do that, and I talked with Sabrina about what's at Skagit, because I think they got rid of all their, food thing that they were having. I don't think they have it. So if we let those people know that they can come, then we can pull some of that business in there. So just an idea.

Councilmember Marshall in talking with Francisco that was one of the things that he was excited about was the possibility of being a draw from the base as well and so he thought that location was was really good because not only just the marina traffic but also the ability to pull from this from the college and from the base and so I think it's going to do I think he's going to do well and it's going to be a great addition for the marina I'm really excited about this partnership and so well done for making it happen thank you.

Anything else for the good of the order. Yes, Council Member Peterson.

I'd like to make a motion. I move to approve the concession agreement between the City of Oak Harbor and Al-Sazan de- Oaxaca. Oaxaca, and authorize the mayor to sign the concession agreement.

Second.

All right, we have a motion as presented by Council Member Peterson, seconded by Council Member Marshall. Is there any further discussion before I call for a vote? Hearing seeing none, all in favor raise your right hand. Passage unanimously. Thank you very much. Thanks, Elise. Thank you, guys. Congratulations. All right. Next up is a report and discussion item, comment letter to proposed revisions to the rule regulation for federal financial assistance. That does not make any sense to me, but OK. Introduce Grants Administrator Wendy Horne to present.

Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. I'm here to basically lull you to sleep as we talk about federal regulations. So the Office of Management and Budget, or OMB, is responsible for the Federal Register, which is basically the Daily Journal of the United States government. On May 29th, they put out proposed changes to regulations that will affect the federal financial assistance grants. So what is commonly referred to as the 2 CFR 200 is basically the guidance for all federal grantees It provides guidance on things like allowable and unallowable expenses, terms, conditions, and other rules. The newly proposed changes states that they have three objectives. The first is to improve transparency, accountability, and oversight. The second is to clarify regulatory structure. And the third is to reduce the recipient's burden. So on the positive side, a few of the good things that these changes are recommending is that all discretionary awards will be publicly announced. The notice of funding opportunities or the NOFOs will be written in plain language. All applicants will be required to apply through grants.gov, although there are still some exceptions to that. The NOFOs must be posted for no less than 30 days. It also encourages federal agencies to use statements of interest where there is going to be a high application volume or lengthy proposals are expected. Executive summaries are limited to 500 words, and they also are striving to ensure that NOFOs are accessible to a wide range of applicants. So on the flip side of that, there are some burdens that come with these changes. The two other objectives have several implications that are going to most likely increase the administrative burdens to small cities. So these include writing mandatory uh excuse me mandating a written justification justification for every payment request mandating cities use the department of homeland security e-verify program and this program is basically a system for employers to confirm the eligibility of employees to work in the u.s the proposed rule will require that grantees First, enroll in the E-Verify program before requesting any drawdown of funds, and then run every employee or contractor working or supporting a federal grant through the E-Verify program within three business days of the hire or the contract. Then we would also have to report every final non-confirmation when e-verify cannot be confirmed. Then we have to retain the records for at least three years. It also expands the Buy America program right now to include iron, steel, manufactured products, and construction materials, which also would potentially delay construction projects that we have going on here at the city. It also creates more complex reporting requirements for smaller governments. It requires adherence to all current executive orders. Other proposed changes would decrease the flexibility of federal agencies to negotiate with grantees in terms of timelines and outcomes. And then another burden for small cities requires that the pass-through entities ensure that their subrecipients do not take actions that could significantly damage the reputation of pass-through entities, the granting agency or the federal government. If a subrecipient's public statements are deemed reputationally harmful, the federal agency may direct the pass-through to terminate the subreward or terminate the prime award to the pass-through entity entirely. A couple of other things. These changes would allow federal agencies the ability to impose new rules, remove conditions, make other changes, or terminate a grant contract at any time during the granting period at will. The new rule would require states to conduct prepayment checks for all federal pass-through grants in the federal Do Not Pay system. We're not clear if this is a one-time check or if it's every time we request a drawdown. And this again would delay payments from the states to cities. It would discourage cost reimbursement contracts in favor of fixed price contracts. Basically, fixed pricing locks in a set price, which shifts the cost risk to contractors. The proposed rule gives the federal agency heads, the leads at the agencies, which are typically political appointees, the final review and decision making for the awards. And that would allow these appointees to overrule agency expertise, independent merit review boards, and may affect traditionally nonpartisan grants like the U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and other federal agencies. and small cities who often lack the political influence of the larger cities are especially vulnerable to these adverse effects. So in conclusion, a few of the proposed changes are positive, but the majority of them will create a bigger burden for cities of our size. It will definitely change the way and our ability to apply for and manage some federal grants in the future. If this does pass, it will take effect October 1st, 2026. If it does pass, there's 14 of the city's grants that could be impacted immediately, which is a total of about $5.5 million right now that we're managing. So the mayor is submitting a comment urging OMB not to finalize the proposed rule. The deadline to comment is actually July 13th. My apologies, I had the wrong date. And if you would like to submit your own comment, I would be happy to provide you with the link to where you can do that. And I'm happy to answer any questions, hopefully.

So this is information only so you're welcome to ask questions and again. The letter is going from me so it is no way reflecting you you're welcome to submit your own letter. There's absolutely no pressure to do so, yes, come from around.

So if I want to sign on to the letter that you write though that's doable as well. Thank you. If if if if I want to sign on to the letter that he writes or his office he in his office rights and that's doable.

On that note if.

The proposed letter was to be sent from, on behalf of the mayor, sorry, and the city council of Oak Harbor. I mean, I know Oak Harbor is kind of small potatoes, but that's kind of the point of the whole letter is these small communities frequently get disproportionately lost in the shuffle on things like this. Do you think that that would carry any more weight if the council signed on in addition to or sent

a letter in addition to?

Do you have thoughts about the productive use of our time?

I know that they have received over 82,000 comments already. So any additional comments they say will be read. And if you would like me to add the city council to that, probably just need a motion.

So I view this like AWC, right? When we join on to their priorities and we adopt those as local priorities. so that it gives them a unified voice when they're going forward in Olympia to show that they have solidarity with all 281 cities within the state of Washington. Again, the stronger and more unified the voice, the more leverage that they have in Olympia. So, yes, that's a long way of saying yes.

Yeah, so if you were to say, you know, the letters coming on behalf of the mayor saying, and the city council unanimously, that would probably be pretty powerful. Personally, I'd be delighted if you added my name to it. I don't know how the other council members feel about it or if that requires any kind of action, but yeah.

And same with me.

Thank you.

Thank you. And this is something that's being actively discussed. I'm on a few committees with the National League of Cities, including the Finance, Administration, and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee. And this has been something that's been very actively being discussed by cities throughout the country for the past three or four weeks. And they are actively encouraging as many elected officials as possible to provide comments and to sign on to this.

I mean, when you look at it from just a business standpoint, and then I'll call on you, Council Member Arms, the fact that you could be in an active contract with someone, and at any point in time, the federal government could just pull the carpet out from underneath you, and then all of a sudden, now what is your contractor gonna do, and what are you gonna do when you're in the middle of a project? I think that's gonna leave a lot of broken pieces in a lot of our communities that I don't think we're really thinking the consequences of that through. So, Council Member Arms. Barbara, Council Member Arms, could you, yeah, thank you.

If we were right in the middle of grants so we could lose those grants or they could be held up or you know because I know we're looking at the marina. Right.

So we do have these 14 grants. They're either directly from federal agencies like the EPA or the USDA. But then we also have a large number of these being passed through the state. So the short answer is yes. basically the federal government can look at all of these and they can look at Washington state and decide whether or not they're going to continue with one of the annual grants that we get from the state of Washington.

Okay, thank you.

Anyone else want to say anything?

Just to add on to that real quick, there are three points that the National League of Cities is focusing it on from all the points that Wendy did talk about. The three points are that these changes will increase the administrative burden on municipalities, will create more uncertainty around federal grants because of issues like mid-award grant terminations, And it will politicize federal grant making rather than allowing agencies to rely on statutes and guidance provided to them by Congress.

Council Member Romero.

out of word this. To an extent, states are creatures of the feds, and cities, to an extent, are creatures of the state. And it is no secret that the larger the creature, in this case the state, they don't want to get held holding the bag if something falls through, say, with the And so they're going to pass down the liability to the cities by bailing. I mean, I'm oversimplifying it grossly, but the consequences are pretty clear from just the descriptions that I've read and what's going on here. So whatever the case is, we've got to take legal steps to mitigate any potential risks if the feds or the states pull back. Thank you.

All right. So anyone else want to speak on this? Otherwise that's all we got. Yes. Council member Marshall.

So Wendy, you had mentioned that we possibly would need a motion then to just add the council. Cause you know, having just read, reread the letter again, I'm comfortable with adding my name to it. At least I can't speak for all council, obviously, but several of us seem to be in favor of adding our support to this letter. And, um,

Council member Peterson I would agree with council member Marshall. I read the letter. I think that If we strengthen our voice it is better And while I not at all sure that all of this will all of this proposal will actually pass it's not a bad idea to Be proactive and I appreciate that We would be following what the the city overall city is doing so. Um, it would, is it proper to, um, make a motion to ask my counts fellow counselors to sign on? Is that how that would be done? Or do we just all say yes. What's the, how do we do this to be formal?

No, we need to do. Well, maybe, maybe the city attorney can weigh in because there wasn't information items. So maybe Hillary, yeah, that's appropriate.

To make a motion. Okay. Then I would like to make a motion that the city council counselors sign on to the mayor's second letter.

Okay. So we have a motion for city council members to sign on in support of the letter that the mayor has proposed to submit. Um, and it's been seconded by councilman Romero. Is there any further discussion? Um,

Councilmember Maryland just a quick note the of the strength of the messaging as a cohesive team. Yeah is stronger than sending individual letters, but that doesn't mean you can send an individual letter. But when a congressman or a state rep or somebody receive something that says that you know the mayor and the whole Council, I mean that's that that's a block so that that's all have all right so all in favor raise your right hand.

All right, passes unanimously. Thank you very much. There being no further business, is there a motion to adjourn? Mayor Pro Tem. All right, we have a motion to adjourn.