Remarks by Paul Berendt
23 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 1
- Play at 44:27
“Council Member Barrett. Thank you. I had a question on the commercial side. Is it growing? Is it shrinking? Do we market to people that are not our customers to try to get growth? I just want to have a concept of how this works.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 46:38
“Did that answer your question? It helped a lot, but I mean, do we do 50% of the commercial? Do we do 25% of the commercial?”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 1:13:19
“Thank you. several years ago the city of olympia bought a green direct contract with pse in which the electricity bought by the city is ultra green uh wind generate wind generated power it was a designee um uh and i i'm assuming that if the city had the utility and we went electric we would be operating under that contract of green electricity but I don't think a private hauler would be under any obligation to do that. Now, the state is requiring PSE to green up its grid overall to everybody, but the sale times the week before last did a large article about how it was actually heading in the…”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 1:15:00
“Thank you. I don't think PSE, for whatever it's worth, I don't think PSE has the capacity personally provide that much green energy to private carriers for whatever it's worth. Right.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 1:21:20
“This kind of goes back to community benefits. And so I'm sorry I missed the question when I should have. But when I walked in this evening, I saw this great brochure that was out on the table, Utility Assistance Programs. And we have lifeline rates for low-income and disabled or low-income and over age 62 for our garbage utility. And I'm not trying to ambush anybody. I was curious how many people benefit from that reduced utility rate This brochure said low income or disabled and low income and over 62. If you qualify, it's a 50% reduction in your garbage bill each month. Do you have a sense…”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 1:50:49
“Thank you, Mayor. I think we just have a great utility service. And Mark and Ron, thank you for that presentation. That was really good. And it was what I was looking, hoping for this evening, something really thorough. And I think you really hit it out of the park. We have a great service. I think it reflects our community values in many, many ways. different ways. Even I learned about services that this utility is providing for people in the course of this evening that are important to the community and that I know we would lose if we went down the privatization route. I'm not comfortable…”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 37:46
“Thank you. I'd like to thank everyone who came out. All of the people who talked about the waste resources, thank you. The food assistance, Grace, thank you. And also the Walnut Division and Richard, too. One thing I wanted to mention is on the consent calendar tonight, I'm not going to have this pulled, but I did want to note There's a $75,000 appropriation from the Waste Resources Department to clean up the jungle. It's money that was spent to clean up the jungle. If we didn't have the garbage utility, this wouldn't have existed. We wouldn't have been able to do this. It's just a tool. It's…”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 1:23:08
“Thank you. I'll keep them very short. because I think Councilwoman Madrone did a great job of summarizing them, but I do believe that on the issue of affordability, this is one of the hallmark actions we can take to move the ball on making a basic need in the community more affordable, and that if we make a step forward in that, this will be a wild success. I think that there are a lot of disparate resources available and that this process is really going to be key in kind of identifying them all and bringing them all together to work in unity and unison. uh, bring our community to the next…”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 2:11:46
“I have a lot of questions, but I had a question about that last slide. Why would we provide incentives for market rate? Or are these buildings partially affordable and partially market rate?”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 2:12:40
“So we're essentially just encouraging market rate housing in some cases.”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 2:26:55
“Thank you. I had a series of questions. Do these impact fee exemptions only apply to multifamily or do if a developer that was developing a dozen houses came to you with a with those single-family houses be eligible for for similar exemptions if the developer applied for them.”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 2:27:49
“Are there many that have applied for them or is it just an unutilized option?”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 2:28:20
“Great. This is a follow-up to Council Member Vanderpool's question on the extension of MFTE. How many... extensions do we have that are alive in the city if any i just have people i know that mft hasn't been around forever so you know i don't know maybe we haven't even hit the the mark yet but i wanted to know if developers have come and asked for an extension uh on projects that are in existence and receiving that benefit”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 2:30:26
“One thing that wasn't disclosed is the cost of MFTE. It's exciting that all these projects are going on and that there's a lot of projects benefiting from getting up and running because of this incentive, but I was wondering about the cost side. Is that information available? Meaning, what is the cost to the city of the tax exemption Um, there are people in the community who, who worry about the cost shift, you know, and, um, I, I, I certainly think, uh, affordable housing is a substantial benefit to the community, you know, and so, you know, that's, that, that warrants strong consideration,…”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 2:33:10
“I would very much like to see that dated presentation without having to recreate it necessarily. That would give me an idea. I'm just trying to figure out if this is bigger or smaller than a bread box as far as the fiscal impact to the city's budget and whatnot. And I had just one final question. Are there state incentives that you didn't list? You kind of listed some, you know, state housing council funding and whatnot. Are there other incentives that are outside of the city's purview that these developers get that weren't on the list? I was kind of under the impression there were, and I…”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 2:35:03
“Thank you, Jacinda. This is all very good, and I really appreciate your presentation. Thank you, Mayor.”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 3:09:35
“Council Member Barrett. I just have a few quick things. I attended the Home Builders Tour the week, it was the last week, and it was great. toured, they highlighted a project of multiple units going up on 21st in Southeast Olympia and kind of what was happening, the challenges with that development. Learned a few things about the real estate market in Olympia Lacey and Tumwater. Toured one of the 25 least expensive units for sale out of the thousand that are for sale in Thurston County, and it was in the $415,000 range. This was one of the 25 least expensive. And I only say that to illustrate…”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 6:32
“Yes, I just wanted to join the others in welcoming you and... saying thank goodness you're on board. We've got a lot going on. It's an aggressive agenda, and I look forward to working with you as everyone else. Thank you. Thank you.”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 8:45
“Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem, and it's an honor to be able to read this proclamation this evening. Parks and Recreation Month. Whereas parks and recreation is an integral part of communities, throughout this country, including the city of Olympia, and whereas parks and recreation promotes health and wellness, improving and physical and mental health of people who live near parks, and whereas parks and recreation has the opportunity to create a sense of belonging for all who engage in our services and facilities, and whereas parks and recreation promotes time spent in nature, which positively…”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 15:01
“Thank you. Thank you for that presentation. I get really excited about the parks because we have such fabulous parks. Since being elected to the council last fall, I made it a point of trying to visit every park. I haven't gotten to them all yet, but I will be. And Grass Lake, Watershed, Squaxin Park, such fabulous trails. for the community to get away. I'm a daily user of the parks. I have a dog and I go to the dog parks at both Ward Lake and Mud Bay. And people love those parks. The community, we just have this tremendous deep well of affection towards the parks that, not just the dog…”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 1:12:50
“Thank you. I think the greatest challenge this project has faced is that the community has had a hard time visualize the reality of it. It's been a conceptual, but not reality. And I'm so excited by this presentation because it's very tangible and real for the first time for me personally. So thank you, and thank you for all your work. I also just want to recognize our legislative delegation that has worked so hard on getting this to this place. Representatives, partially, Indolio and Senator and, frankly, Governor Ferguson. I think his office has really not turned his back on this project,…”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 1:49:34
“Thank you. And Mike, thank you. This was a really good presentation, and I'm grateful for it. And just a few thoughts. I fall into the category of liking a quarterly report. When we see these reports in real time, these are metrics that really show the exact management health of each of these departments in real time. So twice a year is great, but I think quarterly provides council members with more robust information to make decisions. I also think that we, from time to time, are asked to make unbudgeted budget approvals. And while they fall more like in the $10,000 range or the $30,000…”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 2:02:33
“I have a couple of things. I just want to acknowledge that I attended the Thurston County Food Bank conference breakfast, and Councilwoman Madrone was one of the great speakers at that, talking about food security. She did a fabulous job and represented us well, and it was a great event for one of our community's premier nonprofits. I also met with a group at the South Capitol neighborhood. really want to try to help them work through a dozen sticky issues. And we discussed this some at our land use meeting under short-term rental policies. There are many, many issues facing the households in…”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026