Ad Hoc Committee on Police and Community Relations - Regular Meeting

Alright. Welcome everyone to the Wednesday, 04/16/2025 regular meeting of the community livability and public safety committee of the Olympia City Council. While we are considered a regular meeting tonight, it should be noted that this meeting serves as our rescheduled March meeting, due to inclement weather warnings that were received. So for the record, we do have a quorum with all committee members present. And our first item is, approval of the agenda. So I invite a motion to approve tonight's agenda.

Move to approve the agenda.

Second.

Alright. All those in favor, aye. Aye. Alright. The agenda is approved. And so next, we have public comment. And so this is gonna run just a little bit differently. I mean, we're on a different platform today. We usually are using Zoom, but our talented staff helped us switch gears. And so now we're giving teams a go. Dawn, may I ask, is there anyone in the room in the physical council chambers for a public comment?

No. There is not.

Okay. And we didn't have virtual sign ups. Is that correct?

That is correct. They were offered the option to email any public comment that they have.

Okay. Well, and that and that still stands. So please do email any comments that you have to us. So we'll move on from public comment, and we'll move to approval of two sets of minutes. And it's an exciting and different night tonight. So, we have the approval of meeting minutes for the 02/20/2025 special meeting of the community livability and public safety committee. I need a motion and a second.

So moved. Second.

Alright. Any comments or corrections? Okay. Seeing none, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye. Okay. And the minutes are approved. And so another set of minutes, we have approval of the meeting minutes for the 02/26/2025 regular meeting of the community livability and public safety committee. I need a motion and a second for this.

I would move to approve the February 26 minutes as published.

Second.

Alright. Any comments or corrections? Okay. Seeing none. All those in favor say aye.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. Those minutes are approved as well. Alright. Moving swiftly straight to committee business. We have, three items tonight. We're gonna try to, they're they're heavier items, but, we'll try to, keep in line with getting out of here some sometime by 07:30 or or maybe a little after. So starting tonight with item six a, we have recommendation for a civilian police auditor presented to us by assistant city manager, Stacy Ray.

Hi. Good evening. Thank you, chair, committee members. For the record, I'm Stacy Ray, assistant city manager. And I'm gonna kindly ask assistant city manager Debbie Sullivan to please share her screen so so I can walk through my slides tonight.

Alright. Thank you. As you spoke to, chair, I'm gonna talk tonight about seeking your formal approval to move forward with entering into negotiations with a firm select that is the front runner, I guess, or the selected firm to serve as a civilian police auditor for the city of Olympia. Next slide, please. Okay.

So again, so tonight at the at the end of the presentation, I'll be asking for formal action, and that's again to recommend for staff to proceed with contract negotiations. But first, I'll just reiterate a little bit about your role as city council in relationship to the auditor, the other qualifications, duties, responsibilities. I'll talk a little bit about the process we've been to to date, a little bit about the preferred respondent, and, again, then offer recommendation for consideration. Next slide, please. So just to reiterate your role as a city council in terms of your relationship with the civilian police auditor, this is one of the few positions that you directly hire for the city of Olympia.

So staff has been managing this process on your behalf. Your role is to select the auditor. It's to approve the contract, and then you'll also receive regular reports and updates, including most significantly a mid year report and an annual report from the auditor. So I won't go in-depth here because, you know, we've been kind of moving through this process for a little while, but we recently updated the code to really to reflect the new qualifications and requirements for the police auditor. So those include experience in monitoring, oversight, and auditing, being able to look at trends in data and analysis provide analysis, be able to review and analyze and make recommendations around policy.

We're looking for an auditor that has ex exceptional personal and professional conduct and integrity. And, you know, fairly new or an update to the auditor qualifications this year, we really sought with this process was an auditor that'd be able to communicate and engage with the community. So we're not only looking for communication skills for their engagement with the police department, but also with counsel and now greater responsibility around commuting sharing information out with the community. Next slide, please. So it's more a little bit around specific duties and responsibilities.

Our civilian police auditor receives complaints directly of alleged misconduct within the Olympia Police Department. They'll audit all complaints and reportable uses of force. They'll make recommendations on updates and changes to operations training and policy. As I mentioned, there's more community engagement and information sharing with the community with the role of the auditor now. They will develop an annual work plan.

So kind of proactively, what are those policies, operational, or training changes they may wanna address within the year, produce the the midyear and annual reports. And another new added element that's been updated in terms of the dues and responsibilities is meeting with and engaging with the community policing board to share their findings, receive questions, work through questions, and receive input on their recommendations, and then also collaborating with that board around community education and engagement. Next slide, please. So this is a little recap of kind of where we've been with this process. So back in December 2024, council accepted updates to OMC chapter 2.38 around the police auditors' duties, responsibilities, and qualifications.

In January or excuse me. In late December, we issued a request for proposals to seek a new civilian police auditor. We closed that that period time period on January 9. We had six respondents with complete proposals. An initial review was done using a panel with the makeup of city staff from both the city manager's office and also the Olympia Police Department.

We had community representatives from our Social Justice and Equity Commission and also our current Community Use of Force Board. And on February, you as a committee interviewed three top respondents, and and a determination has been made to move one respondent forward for background investigation, the which has now been completed. Next slide, please. So the the lead respondent or the the applicant that we're looking for a recommendation tonight on is they're the OIR group. So they have three key staff, Michael Jenico, Steven Connolly, and Sam Pelka.

So they use a team based approach. They've been doing oversight for quite a while since 2001. They're longtime active members of the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement or NACOL. And they really, in terms of responding to our needs as a community and through the interview process, really demonstrated their ability to be available both virtually and person. Is that something we asked for was in person availability?

They serve as an independent police mod auditor, monitor, or inspector general for a number of cities of our size, and they have very similar frameworks and setups as we do. So very familiar with working with community policing boards, with community members, and stepping into this type of role. They also have a a broad range of expertise, including in performing broader system audits. So, again, kind of are very familiar with and have expertise in looking at different parts of the system and looking for opportunities for systemic change. So that might be around recruiting, hiring, promotions, training, performance management, are just some of the examples that they demonstrated.

They also have worked with cities of similar size around specific areas of concern or focus, including racial equity and justice. Lastly, I'll say OIR Group came to the table with demonstrated experience in maintaining long term relationships, both with the cities they contract with And included in that are the police commission's review boards or community policing boards, which is the name of ours that they've worked with. Next slide, please. So to enter into contract negotiations, I wanna just quickly edit this slide on the fly here. I I say two years, but we will actually be seeking a one year contract with an with an option to extend.

That's what's specified in our code language. We expect that the estimated cost to range from somewhere between 100,000 to 120,000. And the staff liaison to to or excuse me, the staff member who will serve as the liaison will be Margo Morales, our community engagement program specialist. So in terms of our timeline for the transition, depending on how you would like to dress direct us to move forward tonight, we would look to bring a draft contract for count full council consideration on May 6. We would work diligently through June and July to onboard and transition away from our current auditor and bring the new group OAR group onboard.

We expect that to go fairly smoothly seeing as how our current our current auditor has been a fabulous collaborator and partner for us and is very much open to working with the new group to ensure a smooth transition. And then we would still maintain our regular schedule of coming in front of you or full council with the midyear report. So we don't anticipate any issues with continuing to be able to deliver on a midyear report and then an annual report towards the end of the year. So next slide, please. So I know I went through that information pretty quickly.

So I'm happy to take any questions. But otherwise, see this these are the options before you tonight. And as staff, we're just requesting your guidance and support to move forward with contract negotiations with OIR.

Alright. Stacy, is it is it time for me to to to step in and and start the discussion? Please. Okay. Great. Thank you for your presentation. Of course, we were all that night. We're all there on February 20 to to interview all of the candidates. It's a really competitive bunch of folks, including OIR group. So we're excited to see this come forward. I see we already have committee member Gilman's hand.

Thank you, chair Wynn. Stacy, oh, at first, I agree with the chair that I'm I'm really I was very pleased at the interview and reading their materials, and I'm excited to make the recommendation. I am I I just wanted to clarify that your last slide and the staff report asked for two different things. So whether we're recommending to the city council that we hire OIR group or we're recommending you negotiate a contract, or is it this is it different way of saying the same thing? What would you like us to do tonight?

I would like you to approve us to enter into negotiations with contract, but it is very, very similar in the ask. So, essentially, we would be if you if you approve us to move forward into negotiations, I would then be asking going to afford the full council to ask to hire the OIR.

Great. And I I've I've lost mayor Payne from my screen, so I'll wait to see if he has questions. And I won't make a motion now, or maybe he wants to make the motion.

Thank you, committee member Gilman. Chair, is it okay if I speak? Can you see and hear me?

Yeah. There you are. Go ahead.

Okay. Yeah. I, like, disappeared from the meeting for I, like, zipped away, and then I had to rejoin. I'm not sure what happened there. Anyway, I I don't have a whole lot of questions about this process, more so just comments about I really appreciate it how how smooth this process went and the fact that we had we had some good options to choose from. So I was really pleased with the candidate pool, and I'm glad to be at this point. So I just wanna say thank you to everyone involved to get us to this point and look forward to what council's questions are about OIR group.

Thank you, committee member Payne. And did I already hear that, we had a committee member just ready to make that motion? So if no other comment, we I'm we can go ahead and move that way.

K. If I may, I would move that we authorize staff to negotiate a contract with OIR Group and and forward that recommendation to to hire them to the full city council for approval once we have a contract negotiated.

Second.

Alright. And the motion and a second. All those in favor, aye.

Aye.

Aye. Motion is approved. Great work to Stacy and Margo. This is a lot of a lot of big stuff here. Yeah.

Thank you. I just want to reiterate thanks and also acknowledge Margot Morales for her coordination of the process. She's done an excellent job and really lit did carried a lot of the weight to get us here. So thank you very much.

Alright. Thank you. Have a great night. Alright. So, just like that, we're at item six b. And item six b is an update on the citywide wayfinding master plan and a review of signage design concepts for recommendation, which is presented by strategic communications director Kelly Persprazza. And I'm gonna go ahead, and let you, Kelly, introduce the Tangram design team.

Perfect. K. So, just just a little background. Like like I like you mentioned, we're here to share with you the work being done on the annual way way find on the on the work on our we're doing around way finding. We have been, as you know, working on this for about a about a year now.

We we at this time last year, were we were doing, RFPs, to create a citywide master plan for Olympia, a plan that would be a guiding document for that would incorporate best practices, in wayfinding for the community. Our wayfinding as the capital city is insufficient. As you as you are are aware, our our downtown strategy has noted that our wayfinding for downtown is needs updating. Our city entrance sign is badly outdated. There's, nothing that in on West Olympia that there's very little to identify or directions or anything around wayfinding.

And very few of our neighborhoods are also identified. So we we wanted to create this plan, and we went through RFP process, a selection team, which included communication staff, me, but also staff from public works transportation, CP and D planning, parking, parks, and a representative from the ODA, reviewed, we put out an r p RFP. We reviewed, 12, app proposals from across the country. We interviewed six people, six firms, and we landed on Tangrum. Tangrum Designs LLC, and, just a little bit about them.

They were clearly excellent in their field. That that showed in our in our in our, review. But also, they were the only of the firms who talked about CPTED, which as you know, has been as part of our design, the the the City of Olympia's approach to design. And, and their principle has roots in in our in our region. So, all of that sort of like, feels that feels a little bit like home.

So Tangram, dug into the community. They visited Olympia. I know they've talked to, members of the of council. They engaged community members through a process specifically holding stakeholder engagement events in in City Hall on three separate occasions in June, November, and February. They're joining us tonight to present the the signage concepts that were shaped from that engagement with the community.

So we have with us tonight Matthew Delaid, who is a principal partner. We have George Lynn, the founding partner, and Anna Giuliano, who is the brand specialist. So I'm gonna turn it over to them to talk about this cool, the the the cool work they've been doing. And as an ask for you, when all this is done, what we would like is for you to review these concepts and also recommend a signage design concept to move forward for council to review and and and move forward so we can get to a plan. So I'm gonna turn it over to to George.

Well, can you all hear me?

Yep. Great.

Thank you. Thank you, Kelly. Jeez. I'm gonna have to fire my PR person and and send you an application. Holy crap. That was well done. First of all, thank you very much and great to meet you all on the screen, your your tiny little photos. Hopefully, we get to see some of you all in person when we come back into town. Tangram Design, and and we are just proud to have gotten to this point with the projects, but there's still there's still a bit to do. There's still, you know, some things that we're gonna need to do. So I'm gonna hand it over to Matthew to just kinda catch you all up and let you guys have your nightlife back. Thank you.

Alright. Can everybody can everybody see that alright? Great. Alright. Well, as we say, we're Tangram Design. Tangram is on an experiential graphic design firm specializing in branded way finding signage programs and community engagement. We're based out of Denver, Colorado and established in 1996. Really, our our, oh, our tagline is your community, our strength. We really do, as Kelly said, invest ourselves in the community. You know, these are things that are going into the environment being a a makeup of the city and the community.

And so having that community involvement and understanding is essential is in developing signage and wayfinding throughout your community. Just a quick project status update. So far, we've completed our kickoff meeting, site survey, or or or report from the site survey, our initial concept presentation, stakeholder meetings, and the community survey. We have your meeting tonight and then present to city council, and then we still have to finalize the nomenclature list, which will the messages that will be on the sign, and then a sign location plan and message schedule where the signs will be and what they're located, and then a final bittable document with design intent drawings. Just a quick project overview to let you know we were tasked with.

Really creating identification and directional signage for Olympia's downtown, you know, with twenty fifth twenty first century way finding technology for drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists. This also has a our first phase focuses in downtown and the West Side, You know, really looking at entrances in the city as well, parking. We had to be aware of the capital campus signage, but didn't need to coordinate with it. And then looking at the neighborhoods, as Kelly mentioned, there's a lack of identification of these neighborhoods and where you're at. And then lastly, you know, providing concepts for interpretive and place making items for your cultural and historical assets and then meeting all local codes and guidelines.

Just quickly, we wanna show you, just existing conditions we saw when we were out there. As you know, real a lot of dated signage as far as the wayfinding. Type size too small doesn't meet, you know, the, readability and visibility guidelines by the, MUTCD, which is the governing body by the DOT. Some lacking locate our hard locations where signs are hard to see. As you can see in the top left, that sign's located across the intersection up in the right with a lot of signage clutter, making it almost ineffective in the environment.

As you guys also know, your your your lovely existing gateway sign that everybody has, not only is it dated, but it's also in a really hard location for visitors to know that they have arrived in Olympia. And then lastly, really a lack of pedestrian and bike signs throughout the community. It was when we we talked to individuals in the community, was a really heavy bike community, but a lot of lacking of signage. And additionally down in your downtown, there's really no pedestrian signage to help people understand where they're at or even what businesses or offerings you have that really can help promote businesses and and let people explore downtown a lot better.

Yeah. So we're just gonna kind of start off, just showing you guys some of the feedback we got from the first stakeholder meeting. This really drives kind of what we do, kind of the signage that we make, what we wanna integrate in. And this all comes from the first stakeholder feedback, the first stakeholder meeting that we have. We ask the group to kind of give us some feedback on the desires expectations, the ones for the visitor experience, and some keywords.

So just some things that were important to you all in those meetings, directions to important destinations. You want signs that are visible in the environment, something that's gonna pop with all that gray and sort of the greenery. You wanted something that's authentic and inclusive to Olympia's people, Clear and consistent messaging, a good color scheme, and then parking information and instructions was a really, really big one. Once for the visitor experience, you guys said that you wanted us to remember it to be beautiful, unique, historic, welcoming, and friendly. And then some keywords for Olympia, you guys are creative, kind of a do it yourself culture, very diverse and unique people, outdoorsy, very nature, inclusive, counterculture, vibrant, kind of got some funky local, you know, people out there.

So

So as as you can see with the with the first meeting, this is something that a design firm just it is a challenge. It is a it is from one extreme end to another in a in a lot of lot of words. And for a design firm to to hear this, it's a challenge, but but but it's something that really pushes us to say, how do we answer all the needs of the people who showed up for that first meeting? It shows how diverse and how makeup of Olympia is. There's no one solid direction of commonality, I would say.

It's a it's a strong, diversive, and everybody has their voice, and and we love we love seeing that, you know, and we took it as a great challenge. Sorry, Anna.

No. No. You're fine. So from there, we go out into Olympia and do a site survey, kinda look around, see what you guys have existing, kinda get, you know, our feet dip into the culture, and we kind of pull out some inspiration and some words. So, you know, you guys are urban, very Pacific Northwest.

You're a capital city, but you're also very counterculture. You've got that historic port, like George was saying, a very diverse people. You've got the Squaxin Island tribe as well, and it seems like a lot of creative and inclusive people. And then from there, we kind of do a little bit more of our own research, bring in some of our own inspirations and some words that we kind of distill it down into kind of some more simple ideas. So water, playful, natural, modern, unique, branded, colorful, DIY again, sophistication, and a little bit kitschy. So these are the things that drive a lot of our designs.

And just before we, show you the concepts and the feedback we've received from stakeholders in the community, we wanted to touch on color. Color is always a interesting, aspect when you're developing a a signage or even any brand or any logo or things like that. For these concepts, our our colors is really based on the environment and what's out there. So looking at the wider range of colors, a big thing we also heard back from the stakeholders was they wanted to pop in the environment, something that's really noticeable and easy to see. So we take these colors from the environment, and use them in in our design.

But the thing we also look at is how do they work in, oh, how do they contrast each other? Can they work well together? So this is mainly just showing if you flip the colors, how they can kind of contrast with each other and make them, noticeable in the environment. So this is just kind of where the initial colors, were came from in here. Concept development. So first first, we're gonna we did as meant as as our as required, we're doing the wayfinding and the city wayfinding. So the first concept for wayfinding, which we'll show you here, is concept one. So I'll let Anna take this one off.

Cool. So this is our first concept. We kind of used a similar panel shape to the current Olympia way finding, but we wanted to kind of update it and make it a little bit more contemporary. Use like a shape that's simplified but unique, would be easy to identify out in the environment. And we included like a double wrought iron tube you're fine.

A double wrought iron tube, like, iron structure that kinda gives it a little bit of sophistication. We also chose kind of some bright green colors that's kind of a pop against the more toned down blue, which is gonna be used for more of the informational parts of the panel. So the message are the messages are easy to read, but the signs do still kind of have like a nice pop of color. You can keep going. And then this is just showing some of the different sign types in the scenes out there in Olympia, give you guys, kind of a better idea of what they will look like.

And then some three d's just showing you kind of more of the forms, how they'll look in the back, that sort of thing. And then for this, we were also tasked with, identifying different neighborhoods, around Olympia. So this is just showing how color can, identify neighborhoods as well as maybe art pieces on top of the signs and kind of how, a collection of signs will look from, you know, a vehicular sign down to, like, a pedestrian sign. So they all kind of look the same but are a little bit different. And then just showing, you know, how the different art could change.

It could be anything, but just some examples of different inspiration that we pulled. Another thing we were tasked with is identifying the different districts. So we thought of using medallions that could go onto the signs that are a little bit smaller. They could maybe clip onto the signs and then as, you know, a pedestrian is walking by, they could see kind of where some of the boundaries of those districts are.

Yeah. It was interesting combining you know, how do you identify neighborhoods and multiple districts all on one sign without being too cluttered? So, we like the solution that kind of separates the neighborhoods with the color and the name on the sign panel, and then the districts kinda get their own medallion. So trying to create a cohesive look with multiple entities being identified.

And that is some of the that is a key challenge within the the the community meetings where when you get multiple representation that all wants to be represented in their own, you know, purposes or manner that they want on the sign. How do you work together? How do you work together to satisfy all that? And so as a design firm, we try to find ways to, like, incorporate all into one without, you know, showing an exclusion but an inclusion.

And then this is just showing a single poll option if, you know, the double poll seems like it's finicky, we can also kind of simplify as well. So there are options.

Great. So option one, the concept two. Concept two, play a little more with the the connection to water and, just a a brightness of colors for Olympia. So, the the base tube on there is is cut out to give sort of this effect of water, And then we have the the circles that are used to highlight the arrow fields in the directions, but circles kind of help enforce the o for Olympia as well as sort of bubbles or elements you may see kind of come across with waters. Then we have the color around the circles that sort of has helps pop and and and bring those information with inside the circles and near the circles to light.

Then for, like, something like the directory, those circles, we included an image or some sort of interpretive element that can be added at the base to really help reflect that that local community or art piece or real or anything that can help identify that sort of area. And here's these signs in the environment. Again, one of the big things the the stakeholders like was sort was was natural colors with sort of a bright color pop in there. So using the blue, it sort references the water and Olympia Olympia's brand with those colors of pop with those pop of color, trying to achieve what the what the stakeholders were looking for. And here's a three d design or shape and form of this concept.

And some of Anna's there was, similar to the concept one that Anna presented, the neighborhood identification was a big thing as well. We and we really they really wanted to take a hold of making it their own. And so, again, using that o and that circle to create that element where our pieces could be placed. And, also, the color will change based on the the neighborhood that you enter similar to the concept one. Similar to this, it could be different images, it could be history, art, community, culture, environment, really anything that the, neighborhood feels, is important to identify.

And, again, it can be different at different points too. Similar to before using medallions to help highlight those districts. So for here, be two circular district two circular discs at the bottom that help relate to the the circles on the sign. And the backside also changes. Last concept, concept three.

So concept three, was looking at making more of a simplified system that has a nice hint of the water, but also creates a nice modularity and an interesting shape and form in the environment. So here with this side here, the arrow field is pretty straight, but at the bottom, it starts to curve to sort of imply that shape of water. We also use a lot of curved corners on this sign just to give it more of a welcoming feel, approachable. It doesn't have that harsh that maybe harsh angles or corners sort of give. It sorts to create more of a welcoming look and feel in the signage system.

And then on the side of the sign or on the side where, it would include the name of the, city or neighborhood. Again, playing with sort of this bent feet these bent pieces with this rectangle tube, again, using the curves, that sort of relate to that welcomeness and water connection. And system directories, but a freestanding pedestrian directionals. Here's some different options in the environment. And here, the with this, an interesting piece is that this would all be actually one panel.

So it break it break forms around the edge of the tube creating sort of an interesting face inside to the panel. And also we could do something on the backside where interpretive panels get put into the backside of the sign.

And that's a that's a philosophy of tangrams where yeah. Go to the next one. Go to the next one, Matthew. So so imagery on the side of like art and then go back to the last slide and imagery of history. It's a philosophy of Tangram's for for a few years now of Paraceptid is when we include history or or or emotional connectors of the community onto our assigned system, it has shown a reduction of of vandalism.

And and because communities start to, like, you know, take a little bit more engagement with it and connection with it. And there was something that we explained during our our presentation and interviews, like, it has shown a decrease in the country on the systems that we have put up in other cities, partly because when when people are in in mid shake of a spray can, they they kind of think about it. They're like, you know, maybe not this one, you know, because now they're now they're they're reading history and connection with communities, so they're taking ownership. And so we we have adopted that theory and and started putting it in the systems throughout. A competitor of mine actually talked to me about that system and used it for Tacoma.

And and and so so we like the idea of personal engagement. And and if we can start doing that, we we get we get community buy in, but also it extends the visitorship's experience of the city. So as they move around and and move throughout the city, they find out more, they learn more, and they take something away and come back for more the next time. And these are all have been documented and and the statistics and matrix of these kind of reasoning for this design has been proven. Thank you. I yield.

And similar to the other ones, using art or sort of pieces that, can be included, like, George just mentioned, but using this sort of that space that was previously the Arrowfield and using it for art. And then, again, the colors would update based on the neighborhood you're in. And then, again, using somewhat sort of medallion or a version of medallion right here, I have sort of a tube that goes over the top of the of the support tube. So this is similar a little bit different way to identifying that through medallions. So based on all those concepts, we did get feedback from stakeholders and the community through Engage Olympia.

For the stakeholder meeting, which was held in February, it was basically out of the 13 votes, six voters voted for concept one, making it the favorite. And then based on the Engage Olympia feedback where we had them rank their favorite concepts from one to three, so the the lower the number was the preferred concept. So with all those added and averaged out concept one came in as the favorite with a 1.79. So there was a kind of a agreeing concept design between the stakeholders and the community for wayfinding. So for the concepts, are comments that we received.

For the likes, there was really both the stakeholders and Engage Olympiad agreed on all the likes. So the natural elements, topo design on the back medallions and colors, wrought iron pieces, the shape, and the tribal and local artwork inclusion. And just to be clear, that any tribal work or anything that is done in any of these signs will be involved with the tribe, and if we work with them and simultaneously we will not be doing or making up things on our own and that was something in the stakeholder meeting that we wanted to make clear and the community also wanted it to be understood. For their dislikes, the stakeholders, they're just concerned about vandalism on those neighborhood sculpture artwork pieces. And then as far as the community concerns about was the yellow and light blue color.

Some some people did have concerns about the medallions and colors for the neighborhoods, vertical text, centered arrows, all caps can be found can be hard to read, and just the space in the polls could be leave for trash they felt. So so just some of the the common comments that likes and dislikes that we did receive for wayfinding concept one. So we do have some of the gateway, but I wanted to before we just get give you too much information, maybe we take a break to discuss the wayfinding and then if if that's okay.

Yeah. Thank you. That would be great, George. Alright. So I'm trying to change my view so I can see the committee here. So I'll go to the committee first. Committee mates, do you have any comments or questions thus far? Okay. We see committee member Gilman, and then oh, I see committee member Payne.

Alright. May I?

Mhmm. Yeah. Go

ahead. Thank you so very much for both this the the art, but also for your extensive community engagement. I I I I really appreciate the the time and energy you put into that. I I have a a strong preference for the first one, and I also I like all three of them, and I I like the second one or the I'm sorry. Third one very much also.

But the the first one, we we began our wayfinding conversations that I'm aware of after University of British Columbia about fifteen years ago had a a wayfinding remake, and the same firm eventually did Seattle and several other Northwest cities. And I I think you you're able to express all the clarity of wayfinding, the instructions in something that's that's not dark black dark blue or black monolithic giant rectangles. And I I really appreciate that it it's just that it's it's sculptural and it's three-dimensional while it conveys that same information. So just super grateful to Kelly and to the Tangram team for for getting us to this point, and and I I would look forward to recommending this work to counsel.

Thank you. Committee member Payne?

Yes. Yeah. Well said, committee member Gilman. I appreciate, first of all, clearly, all the work that's gone into coming up with all three concepts. That's obvious. I do like concept one. I wish I could take concept one and three and marry them together. Mhmm. I'm feeling like I like both of those a lot. I'm really encouraged by the thought of including art and history to the signage because that is who we are as the capital city.

So I'm inclined to

He's speechless.

Thank you for well, just get committee member pain a moment. Alright. I think he's gonna rejoin.

Okay. I'm back. Can you hear me?

Yes. Go ahead, proceed. So we left off that you really liked concept one and three. And go ahead.

Yeah. I was just saying that, you know, I I think concept three really speaks to who we are as a city, bringing marrying, you know, art and history together on signage is who we are as the capital. So I'm really I'm feeling like I'm leaning towards concept three for those reasons. Although I do I do like the colors within concept one. I think it's it's a little bit it's a little bit different than the blue and white that we're used to seeing, I think, when we think about the city of Olympia.

So I I really do like the colors in concept one. And also the comments about deterring graffiti for concept three is something I I certainly share a concern about. And so I like the idea of deterring that kind of activity as well as they really put some thought into this with the space and the polls leading to people putting trash in them. And that's I appreciate the thought that's gone into that. I yeah.

I I would have to say that I agree that that's, you know, a smart approach to go with the the single pole style. So, yeah, I'm struggling with between the concepts, if I'm being honest. I I like one and three quite a bit, but I'm more than happy to recommend at least either one of them to counsel for consideration.

Oh, I gotta be clear too. All our options here will entail including history and art onto all three options as that level of as that level of deterrent also of education. That's part of our philosophy for all of our community wayfinding. So don't let, like, one, like like, you feel like only one is doing that. All three will do that.

Oh, okay. Okay. That's that's that makes it a lot easier for me then. Okay. Well, then concept one with art and history.

Great. Awesome.

Alright. Thanks, George.

So so can we actually go back to that last slide, please?

This one?

Well well, actually, I'm curious about the Engage Olympia. So I understand for the in person meeting, there was thirteen thirteen voters. And so how much engagement did we have on Engage Olympia?

Like the count? Like the amount of submitters?

Yes.

I wanna say it was like probably around a 100 ish. They had some totals at the bottom that said like how many people answered.

I see. I don't know.

I thought it was something like a 154. Okay. Something like that. Yeah. Okay.

And then for the stakeholder meeting feedback, so that I understand that's from one meeting, but my understanding is that there were multiple in person meetings. Is that right? Or two or three?

That is that is correct. So the first meeting was for mainly just gathering feedback at just individual individual questions. No concepts were presented. The second meeting initial concepts were presented. And based on that, we updated concepts and came back and showed what what you're seeing here to them. So it's kinda it narrowed down.

So three three community stakeholders meetings, like, working in sequence of guidance.

Okay. And if I can jump in the the the the folks that were invited, and they came either not everyone came to all the meetings. Some came, some dipped in, some doubt, but we invited jurisdictional partners. As you know, the council was invited. We invited representatives from the port, from lot, from inner city transit, from the Squaxin Island tribe.

We invited in experience in Olympia and beyond. Those folks were in pretty deep. The Heritage Commission, the Olympia Historical Society, folks from Transportation Engineering, the Creative District Art Space Alliance folks, folks from the West Side, OPD, the chamber of commerce, some like I said, some dipped in, some didn't. We sent an invitation to Capital Medical Center because that West Side stuff and public works, The Capital Mall, the the a downtown alliance was involved all the way through and still continues to be Hands On Children's Museum, the Washington Center, and then all the directors directors from from the the e team were also everybody was invited for that too. So plus that's those were the the stakeholders.

So folks so staff from all those from all those departments also joined in.

Okay. Thank you. That's really helpful. And, you know, it's like, I've been to town halls. I've been to public engagement things. When you get only a limited number, it's a little deflating. But I just wanted to make sure that in this this presentation, this meeting, that we're capturing the full scope of all of the engagement that was done with with your design team here. And it sounds like it was, you know, pretty thorough. So thank you. I also will you humor me and go a slide forward with that likes and dislikes, please?

I can go wherever you wherever you need me to.

Thank you. And that service. Thank you. So so I love all the the likes section here and and and it is actually funny that I see that the third one for medallions and colors of the different neighborhoods and districts was both alike and a dislike. I really like that, and so I'm glad that it's staying on the list.

The a portion of I forget which one it was now, but when you were showing the mock ups, there was one or two that had had, like, a little figure. I would say it's like a little metal figure on top. It's almost like a medallion on top that was not circular. It had, a guitar and stuff. So what are you what are you calling that? What would those be? Like symbols or something?

I think I think we're leaning to was a an influence from a lot of the creative sector of Olympia really wanted some part of this program. And and one thing that we do for cities who have a high culture in in, you know, you know, arts and and and physical art, we offer areas within the signage component that they can have some display on the signage program. So that particular option was on the top of the sign for our three d sculptor type of artists and our our pottery artists, our metal artists can have a section there to create something to help identify a unique neighborhood. So there could be some some artists within a certain community or neighborhood around there that may wanna do a piece to be attached on top of that pole. It could be it could be pretty much anything ceramic, metal.

We showed that options. Those are just like you can attach up on the top.

Oh, great. And and would that be a part of this if we move forward with that, would that be a part of this process or would it be like you make the poll so that it can be affixed to it and then we as a community figure it out?

Exactly. And Okay. Let let let the creative let the creative community have a a a something to work towards or, like like, they can run or run their competitions or their selection and and make the selection and and work to work towards to attach to that top of the pole.

Okay. Got it. Is there when this goes forward to the full council, is there a way that we could capture, you know, whatever we wanna call that component so that it's not lost? That was something that was really, really intriguing to me. And I'd love to just just make sure that we're we capture it.

Yes. If if if there's more exhibit that is needed from our end to help with cancel presentation, we'll be glad to do it.

Okay. Thank you. I also I also, like my committee mates here, really liked concept one and concept three. So I do wonder if we you know, I don't wanna keep us here all night, but I wonder if we oh, and council member Gilman has a hand up. We had heard from committee or sorry.

Committee member Gilman. Committee member Payne had mentioned that the art and the history is what he what really grabbed him for concept three. So I'm glad to hear that it can be in any of the concepts. And then also something that I like that as well, but something that I really liked in concept three was there's a lot of rounded edges. And I wonder if we can't incorporate that into concept one as well.

And then I think about the I don't exactly know what you would call it. You would know because you're design people, but there's that that wanting to that sort of swoosh. Right? So wanting to kind of connect with the water or as it was presented to us in concept three. And so I really, really I don't know. I I just felt like that really was appealing. Just go to committee member Gilman.

Thank you. It's it's nice to hear both of your your reactions and feedback to this. I one other thing I was I was hoping you could speak to a little bit before we move this on to council is something you you spoke to when when we first met was about the the layers of previous wayfinding efforts that exist and and that we're sort of harmonizing them. I'm wondering if there's anything in the design or in the choice of different sorts of signs that lends itself more to evolution and updating over time? Is is there one that's less likely to be stranded as that was the 2026 effort and and we're doing something different in the next I I I don't if if you could just speak to that.

I don't I don't know your work your world very well, but I know that that's been an issue for our city and for other communities I've visited.

All of our all of our signage systems are designed to be changeable and to be if it gets vandalized or hit by a car or or in some parts of the country, there's an extreme, what do you call it, sign hunting where where you see you see a lot of signs being shot up with buckshot and and and and, you know, in certain parts of our country, and those signs have to be replaced. So a lot of the older a lot of the older sign systems are designed in a way where the changeability or the future advancement of it was restricted. So all of our design programs, as you saw here, like a simple panel can be removed and replaced without a lot of intricate ways of getting either the panel off or have to replace the whole pole or have to, like, resubmit something. And and Matthew can speak to certain guidelines of that we're bound to by the by the Department of Transportation where there are breakaway systems, which is required. So so sometimes with those breakaway systems, yeah, they get pushed over by the car, and and and there there are pieces that that can still be used and replaced the panel, those types of things.

So a lot of every one of our systems is is designed with with that in mind for future advancement and and replacement of damage in a in a much easier way.

Yeah. Thank you. That's really encouraging.

And one and one more thing I'd say is even regardless of signage and design, one of the biggest things cities do is not having a plan for maintenance or upkeep, especially with the signage. It's kinda like getting a car, you know, it's not you don't get a car and you never have to upkeep it. It's like you if you have a plan for the future to, hey. Hey. We set this much aside. If we don't use it, then it can go somewhere else or we set this aside so that there's a there's a an understanding that, hey. This sign's faded. It can't be read. We need to replace that, not just leave it up for a long, long time. And we help cities, with those plans, and that's even you know, that's as equal in my eyes as as the design, know, keeping upkeep and and things together for the city.

Exactly. Or or don't hang the sign so high up on a on a light pole that that that you don't have the availability of a of a of a very tall ladder, and and you leave that sign up for over twenty years. You know? And and that and and that's what I see with Olympia. It's like all the way finding is so high up that that that that it's not even in the line of sight, And then I wonder why it stayed there. And so I'm asking myself, it's like, maybe they just can't get to it easy enough. So so you make the decision of like, well, you know, we'll just leave it alone. We just won't go replace it. You know? So so so that's that's some of the things that I see with Citi is like, you know, if it's not easy enough, it it it doesn't get taken care of.

So so that was something that we worked on throughout our development of our methodology. It's like, let's make it easy. And I think I think Matthew touched on or maybe not. We design all of our signs with standard construction materials and material sizes. So they're easily procured. It's not like all this fancy stuff that it's over designed that you have to order from Italy or something. A yield. Thank

you. Committee member Paine?

Yes. Thank you. Matthew, you are speaking my language about maintenance and, you know, having a plan to keep, you know, keep up, you know, with the signage. And and also, I'm wondering if I don't know what the reason behind our signs being so high, but, you know, the the, you know, the fact that they would be damaged given the fact that we're the capital city and, you know, we have a lot of activity here for lots of different reasons. And I'm wondering if, you know, the height of it has anything to do with having to do less maintenance on the sides.

So just something I'm I'm thinking about. But, also, I I have a question about on your intro slide, you had a picture of our welcome to Olympia sign. And I was looking at your website a couple days ago, and I saw that you did a beautiful sign for Monroe, Washington.

Yeah.

So I was just wondering if you could tell us a little bit about your your welcome signage and and, you know, what what goes into that? Because I I see that it was more of the the citywide wayfinding, but what about the entrance signage?

You're you're the perfect transition. We're we're just about to hop into that. That's that's right after this. So perfect transition.

Okay.

And we'll get a little bit I'll I'll definitely get into our, we do have some of up up up front up front slides even before the the concepts for the gateway, so we can we will show you that here in here shortly.

So if you all if you all still have more questions about wayfinding, we'll be glad to answer it. If not, we can move straight into the gateway presentation.

And just Alright.

Oh, go ahead.

Just so just also to be clear, there is, like, a slide after, like, the way finding and gateways are all the preferred concepts from stakeholders, and, community is all together. So if you all wanna, like, just say, hey. Like, for more of approve if you wanna approve to to say go to council, you will have kind of a more of a compiled slide of all of it together. So that might be helpful so we don't hold it up. That's all.

Thank you. You can go ahead and keep going. The floor is yours.

Thank you so much.

Alright.

So city gateway signage. So one of the first things we always do, especially in our surveys, are what are the access points into the city? Primary and secondary and even tertiary in some instances. So we noticed the main entry that people used into Olympia or more directed into downtown in the heart of Olympia is I 5 and on the and the exits right for Plum Street, and I have it in the next slide, 14th Avenue. There's also some additional secondary points which, we'll discuss in a little bit.

So currently, along Plum Street, you have your welcome to Olympia sign, which is in the in the corner, hidden in the shade, really hard to see. And then along 14th Ave, which is more of the kind of towards the capital, there's just this simple welcome to Olympia sign that is is connected to the wayfinding sign. So, again, both dated and not a kind of a cohesive look. One of the things we're looking at is also relocations and making sure that these gateways can be clearly seen and noticeable for visitors into the city. So along, 14 or sorry.

Apologies. Along Plum Street, we have a, there's an island right after you get off the exit that was is perfect for this. And we're currently, working with the city engineers, to get approval with DOT. This is already a land that's maintained by Olympia, but there's just some rules and regulations for signage as you enter off of DOT exits and roads and stuff. So we're working with them on that.

Secondary enter secondary possible entrance along Plum Street is just to the right side of the kind of overhead green signs you have now, and it would be kind of a vertical in this location where the, lions club and and rotary, membership, all those signs are out right now that might need to be replaced. For 14th Ave, there is a nice roundabout before you do this underpass going into the capital. Again, makes from some a nice welcoming point into the city. So these are the two locations and areas that we are identifying for the primary gateways into the city to relocate gateway signage. And so, yeah, I will jump into the city gateways.

First thing I do wanna point out, there's two theories that go into into gateways. You know, you can have something that's similar or you can have something that's completely unique and different. We don't go by the the fact that the the the gateway has to look identical to the wayfinding signage. There can be that connection, but it it doesn't have to be that. And it can be its own unique animal and its unique beast that really highlights the community of Olympia.

So I just wanna make that a point before we jump into it. Concept one, calling these the horizontal. These will be located more of the roundabouts in the large islands into, along Plumstream and 14th Ave. So first, we have, concept one. So for the structures here, we have these round poles in the back that are meant to reflect the mountains and shapes of the surrounding landscape, but also Olympia's music history, sort of sound bars and sound waves that you would see.

And so using these as a unique structural element to hold the letter forms that welcome individuals to Olympia. The letters themselves have layering to them. One of the big things that was really important to stakeholders in our meeting was the diversity and the uniqueness of the people of Olympia. Really no one's the same and it and there's just a multiple layers of people that make up the community. So we wanted to play with this idea with unique letter forms that make up these layers for the community.

And then it sort of plays through in a three-dimensional form. So that is what the purpose of the colors are and the layers and that uniqueness of Olympia. And then lastly, just including some natural vegetation, stones, things like that that really connect to that outdoor environment that Olympia has. Oh, and then And we're

ahead, George. And we're constantly challenged about getting the history of the music scene in Olympia out there visually. That's a challenge. And and and when we were sitting in our studio of of looking at sound waves and and sound bars, this idea came about. And and the discussion of the of the history of music in Olympia will always continue, and I hope it does, and I hope it's nurtured as as as history of Olympia.

But how can there be an element out there for people to even talk about? Like, they may not see it right away, but when you talk about it, it's that, oh, oh, yeah. Absolutely. The music, you know, is that kinda like third degree of separation into into the subject matter? Yeah. I yield.

And then and then just the last thing is for the welcome. It was really important include some tribal recognition or welcoming also to the area. So including welcome and then that is I think that's the closest I could find for welcome. But, again, that final message will be worked together with the tribe who we had who we have had meetings and communications with.

Great. So concept two. This one is also kind of inspired by, the water and the waves of the sound, which you can see kind of in that main, sort of undulating structure that the letters are on. We also wanted to kind of, include some see through elements so that we could kind of highlight, some of the beautiful nature that you guys have in Olympia, so that it could be in front of as well as behind the structure. And then also we included a, like, cedar wood box planter, kind of highlighting, like, the forestry and the lumber history of the area.

And similarly to what Matthew was saying about the first one, we did this kind of different kind of layering on the letters to kind of once again show just like the different layers of people in Olympia that kind of all the different parts that make up the whole and how bright and colorful, you know, everybody can be. And then concept three is mine. So this one is kind of also inspired by, like, the dimensional and repetitive nature of, like, waving water forms. So when you look at it from the front, the colors are kind of what give it a sense of, like, that flowiness. But then when you look at front look at it from the side, you kind of begin to see, like, that the bars are flowing as well and the letters are kind of sit on top of them or, like, inside of them and kind of gives it like a little bit more of a modern look.

And the and the imply of, you know, sound and music, you know, it's like, you know, how much more can we, you know, try to have the imply of of what was going on in all those meetings. This was challenging, but a fabulous. So to have to have this type of resolution coming up was like very abstract. I mean, the the things that were thrown at us was very abstract wants. So when the when these abstract of wants are are asked of a designer, oh, it's challenging, but we love it.

Right. So based on this, this gets to our next fee feedback for the horizontal options for those more that the roundabout locations. From the stakeholder meeting, concept one was the most preferred with eight votes. And then if we're engaged in Olympia, concept two is actually the most preferred, and that would came in at a 1.76. So there was a a different view from the stakeholders to the community on these options.

Again, here's the close-up of that. So with this, they liked it was clean for con the concept one for the horizontal, they liked it. It was both both entities like it was clean, simple, a connection to music and water, mountains, the pole design, playful, see through elements, funky, weird tribal language. The stakeholders like the pops of color and the Engage Olympia like the bold letters that are easy to read. Both entities felt a little too busy, distracting, and and maintenance could be an issue, again, with the trash in the polls.

And then they engage the community said it looked like a fence, still unwelcoming. Fun fun was boring, too whimsical, retro dated in colors, and white naked dirty. Well, concept two, like the both groups like the plants, the layering, natural elements, wood, tribal language, easy to read, and and the movement stakeholders like the wavy components and then the community like the pop up art feel. Then lastly, the dislikes were they both felt it was too busy. The wood looks look couldn't look worn over time.

Too little Pacific Northwest in the layers. The stakeholders that concerned about plant maintenance and the community dislike the font, color scheme, and color of the letters in the purp in the purple wavy bars. So this one had a little bit of a, you know, some contention between the two.

Matt, am I understanding that this is the time for conversation?

So I do have that. Okay. I wonder if there is, like, a we have some vertical gateway, so I we put we gave some room for comments and questions. I wonder if we do we just have these let's let's just talk real real quick here, and then we maybe we can do the comment the vertical ones after, and then that should be a lot shorter than this. So

Yeah. Okay. Committee member Payne?

Yeah. I I actually agree that concept one is too busy. Yeah. I don't know if it's just the the the way it looks as a computer generated image. I'm not sure if that's just you know? But it does it looks like it could be hard on the eyes. I I am also wondering about there were a few comments about the maintenance of it. Yeah. So trash. Yes.

Again but, also, I I'm wondering what type of material these poles would be made of. We live somewhere where it rains a whole lot. So is this, material gonna rust, you know, in no time? I have questions like that about the the type of material. If I had to pick one of the two of these, I would say concept two would be my preference, But I'm not excited about it, if I'm being honest. I'm just I'm just being honest.

Definitely be honest and and and we don't want we don't want the city feeling forced to either or any of these if if they're not happy with it. And we we need to get the feedback to see if maybe there maybe even some further development for for I mean, gateways are even much more touchier than the the one that you you found on our portfolio for for Monroe. There was a lot of back and forth until until we got to a final point. And and so don't feel that whatever we're going to show here is final. Maybe there's more feedback that that we that we look at it again because don't don't feel forced to to accept something.

Thank you, George. I think committee member Gilman.

Thank you, chair Greg. So two two questions come to first, I I actually like the layered letters very much. I I like those a lot. But I'm I'm I'm wondering both about the height, and it was hard to tell whether in the rendering how much they obscure the view around the traffic circle. So I was wondering about that.

And then this maintenance question since it came up both about how debris might stop at the snow fence kind of function of the of the sculpture and about the white letters. I'm I'm thinking about our Plum Street sign and our Martin Way sign that very seldom get maintenance now. And I'm wondering whether we have a new a new promise or a new expectation from public works maintenance and parks about the kind of care that this this sort of a sculpture would require to to continue to look like these illustrations.

Yeah. Thanks, committee member Gilman. And I I think I'd ask staff to to answer that one. And so if we could is that alright, George?

Oh, absolutely.

Okay. Alright. So I see city manager Bernie. Go ahead.

Yeah. Thank you. I think that that council member Gellman is is right on point that we also need to recognize with whatever concept we land on, there'll be a maintenance obligation that we're gonna need to all commit to to keep them looking the way they are. Because I also agree that the current ones have fallen by the wayside for a variety of reasons. One is being there out of date and I think at some point in time things become out of date and then they come out of sight out of mind.

But I think if we're gonna invest, which we need to, and I think the council all knows how I feel about our entryway science, I've been very vocal about it, then we do have to recognize that we're gonna have to figure out how to maintain them to keep them in the shape that they're in. And that's the commitment that we'll work on as we continue to move through this process. I think once council really lands on a preference, then we'll work with Tangram and the team and the public works and parks team to put together a good proposal and a plan for how we maintain them so we can bring all that back to council as a package.

Thank you. That's that's really helpful. And so I I I guess what I would ask is in our consideration, we we we consider whether a representation of these sorts of images that's that's more of a flat panel that has an automatic washer built into it might might stay more sparkly. And and it it's really just I I I love having this sculpture, and I'm I'm wondering whether or not we would really be able to, over the years, continue to keep it attended to. And and that's so or or is it wiser to choose a design that's that's less complicated to clean and maintain?

Right.

Yeah. City manager, Bernie, did you have more?

I think councilor again hits on a lot of good points. I think thinking about how we maintain them will be really important in this conversation and that might be just one more piece of homework we might wanna do as we're leaning towards something is just to check-in with our maintenance staffs about any complications that they see with maintenance of any one particular concept and just make sure we're keeping at the forefront of our conversation so we don't get hit with a surprise.

Great. Committee member Gilman, does that address all of your comments and questions for now?

It does. Thank you.

Okay. Yay. It's my turn. Okay. So thank you so much. I'm so excited to see these. I have like many people, have very clear ideas, subjective for me of what I like and don't like. I love that there is that there is the different languages there, And I think that's a big piece of it. I also wonder if there is something to be said for maybe an oops. Sorry.

An original name of what the Squaxin Island tribe called Olympia so we could kind of do that double because I'm understanding that the language there, the tribal language there or the indigenous language there is welcome?

Correct.

It's my understanding. So I wonder if we could kind of add add a little bit to that. I really, really like concept one. I love the letters for concept one. Committee member Gilman said layered letters. I'm not sure. They both kinda looked layered to me, so I'm not sure where where you're landing on that. But but I think concept one and concept three are using the same letters. Is that right? They look like they were like the same color for the layers.

They're treated differently though. Within our community meetings or our stakeholder meetings, the layering of the different neighborhoods and the peoples and whatnot, so that was a popular idea. But you're seeing two versions of how we would treat the layering of colors.

Oh, I see.

But, Matt Matthew, you wanna go you wanna go into the three d? Yeah. There you go.

Yes. Yes. This one is more this one's kind of more of a straight shot unlike the sides are layered. This one we kind of off kilter, and it's almost like a it's pushed. I don't know. Like, you got a deck of cards and you push it to the side a little bit, kinda like that.

Sure. Can you go to concept three for a moment? I'm curious if that oh, that's totally different. Okay. So I really like thank you for that. I really like the letters for concept one. I could see what people mean by offense, but because I saw that under one of

the

dislikes. It is I wonder if there's another way that we could figure out or we as in you all can figure out how to kind of get that effect in there without, you know, with making it maintenance a little bit easier. And then and then also not having this, you know, folks' fear of, like, trash flying through there. Or let's be honest, people, like, wedging trash in there. And, you know, I think it's really unfortunate that but also a reality that we have to think about, like, hey. Like, can we have nice things? Right? Because a lot they're hearing comments also about, upkeep and maintenance, which is important, but also about, like, hey. Are people gonna vandalize it? Are people gonna throw trash at it?

And so that's unfortunate. So I just wanna say that. I really, really like number one, and then I also I like number three, secondary to it. And y'all are design people, so I think that you're really resilient people because people have so many opinions about what looks good or not. So I'm just gonna trust that you won't take it personally when I tell you that I do not like concept two, and I would not be in favor of moving that forward. It's not personal.

Oh, no. We love it. We love the negatives. That the negatives, that's what drives the cons I mean, that you don't like it, that's that gets that that that we get we learn more about the likes, the dislikes, and the likes. So we we we we take it with pride, and and we don't take it offensive at all. So, you know, we're we're totally fine with it.

Thank you. I just have one quick other comment, and then I see more committee hands. So I I think that you had kind of in that little exercise that we did about the layered letters, I think that you had you had answered this for me. But I was curious if the way finding signs the different colors in the way finding signs are we're going to connect to this the I forgot what you call it, but basically the main Olympia signs here, and it sounds like it does. Is that right?

It's so that's the intention. Yeah. Some of these are a little bit different because we were just playing with the various colors, but, yes, the intention is so it's, like, kind of as it comes first full circle, all the neighborhoods kind of make up the different, you know, the different the different layers of Olympia and the people. So, yeah, those colors our intention moving forward is to make sure that what the chosen wayfinding and the colors for that were will could connect to this. That's our intention.

Got it. Thank you. Yep. Committee member Gilman?

Thank you. So I just wanted to clarify that you said you you strongly felt like the the the second one shouldn't move forward. And I believe that mayor Paine said he thought that the first one shouldn't move forward. So I I just wanted to ask what is our our our next step to move to move forward with getting to a gateway sign.

Without without overstepping my my bounds, and I would defer to Kelly because I answer to her. And we and as a design firm, we we wanna hear from everybody. And if there is if there is a great need to to take a look at

this

again because my goal as a design firm and a designer is to always make sure all everybody's happy. And we and I would I would be glad to take a look at another round to move forward again, but but I don't wanna overspeak for Kelly.

Well, Kelly wants counsel to be happy with the with the the signage they're going to have to approve money to spend on. So Right. That's that's number one. And what it sounds to me is, like, we have some consensus around the the wayfinding, and so we can probably move that forward and that we might need to do another round on, on the on the gateway signage based on what you're hearing from from Klipsch right now. This is this is why we have these conversations. So

I I am so I am so happy for the, I guess, flexibility of the city and the people I see in front of me that that would allow us to, you know, take take another round on this. And, you know, as you can hear with how we're describing here, we we heard a lot of voices and and and a lot of different asks. And and we narrowed it down to these three here in in in the way finding, but we showed, what, six or more on on on each. So so so the the it it challenging. It was a lot of ask, and and we came up with a lot of different options and until it starts to get narrowed.

But like I said, that that's the challenging part is the exciting part of design.

Thank thank you. I appreciate that conversation. And then I would just ask that as you get the next the next set of proposals that we have a specific check-in with the public works maintenance folks to get their reality check on on what it would be like as a as a piece. Or I don't and I actually don't know whether it's the arts sculpture caretakers or it's the public works sign people that would care for something like this. But Kelly can help connect with the appropriate staff and just just to make sure that they're they're they're specifically signed off on whichever proposals come forward. Agreed. Oh.

I wanna I say.

Great pun, committee member Gilman. Make sure they're signed off. Okay. So I see a committee member paints hand, but just wanna kind of lift up a a comment that you just made there, committee member Gilman, is that we do have sculptures throughout our city with our Percival plinth project. And so it it wouldn't be a new thing for our city to have sculptures with, you know, potential trash crevices. I hope I'm not encouraging anyone. And and we managed to take care of that, and so that's a kind of a good reminder. Committee member Ping, you've been waiting patiently?

Yes. Thank you. We do take care of it, but it's different when it's an entrance signage to the city. No trash ever. So I for me, I appreciate the work that's gone into it.

I do like, obviously, the fact that we're looking at having the indigenous language there, which is an aspect of history. And I appreciate, George, you saying that you're willing to take another stab at it, all of you. I I really do appreciate that. You know, for me, I think what I'm having struggling with is that it just doesn't say capital city to me. And I don't mean literally.

I mean just Mhmm. To me, it just it doesn't have that feel. And I and I think that's what's missing from it for me. I I see bits of arts and creation. I can see the history there with the the recognition and acknowledgment of the Squaxin Island tribe. I just don't see that feeling that we're Washington's capital when I look at these images.

I really appreciate you saying that out loud because that wasn't a strong statement or wants during the stakeholder meetings. In fact, and, Kelly, you can slap my wrist if you want, but it wasn't a strong statement made in the stakeholders meeting and almost to a point of avoidance. And because it's heavily dictated by who shows up to the room and and and has a a strong drive of what they want. And and creative was very strong, and and the makeup of the people of community was very strong. And and I don't think and and Matthew and Anna, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but capital was never really talked about and wanted on on not only the wayfinding, but but especially on on the gateway.

But that was something that we alluded to, that that we said, well, you are the capital city. And and so so that is something that I wanted to hear from this group, you know, council members of what are the other messages, what are the strengths of of Olympia that should be included here. Like I said, we went rounds with Monroe, and and I encourage all those who haven't seen the gateway in Monroe. The gateway in Monroe is actually in a roundabout circle like what you all have here. And everybody wanted their piece of of their understanding of the community on that gateway, and I think we went maybe three rounds.

So Yeah. Don't don't don't get us wrong. We're gonna do it as many times as we can to get it right for you all. Alright?

Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate that. And and by the way, when I say capital, like I said, I don't mean literally and I don't mean an image of a dome. I feel like I'm gonna say that out loud just to be clear about what I mean.

Well well, that takes our first idea off the table. We'll show oh, that one's off.

No. That's

that's great. I mean, it's like, it's your it's a visitor's first impression of the city. You want it to be you you know, we wanted to meet what you guys desire. So, yeah, I I I you know, like, I think we you know, I don't know speaker, but I think it's an agreement that we take another stab at these take another stab at it and and and see where it goes from there. Thanks so much.

Alright. So I do have some vertical gateways that are next, but I think with the consensus of this is and it's been a bit we've been on this for a while that I'll I'll go through it a bit quicker. And since we will take another look at it, I'll continue. So for the city, we also have vertical gateways we've looked at. So one of the things that we included with more of the vertical aspect for that Plum Street entrance that would be needed, but also a lot of secondary entrances.

You wanna make them welcoming, but it's not as grand as, say, a primary entrance in the city. Something at least signifies you have arrived, but may not have to be as grand. So this is some of these vertical option we developed. Similar a a lot of relation to concept one from the horizontal options with the layered letter forms and on the on a vertical pole with some natural wood at the base that welcomes you as you enter. Concept two, again, very create creative design using layers of different glass colors that are transparent.

And as you see through, it starts to create, oh, different effects and and in different colors. So and and very abstract looking. You're sort of for the three d for that. And three and this is this is the one we wanted to use again, different layers, different components. So, like, the building blocks.

So we created these blocks that have different textures and different colors that sort of make up can make up above the different entities of Olympia. So on the face, it would be those sort of patterns and textures and colors. And on the side, we have some sort of welcoming information on there. Based on the stakeholders and the community feedback, the concept one with the layering was the most preferred out of the two for stakeholders and community. And then just some of the likes that both groups like was the wood elements, the bold letters, colorful fund, the single pole, eye catching.

Then the community like that. It was reminiscent of a totem pole, and the vertical nature is appealing. Dislikes by both groups, the wooden shape at the base, welcome being on the base and too skinny and tall. And as the community had too many colors, they didn't like the font, layers, felt dated, goofy, hard to read than horizontal, a little childish and cartoony. So I'll leave this up and but, you know, with the thought with with with with the understanding that we will go back and revisit this, if you have any comments on this.

Yeah. Committee member Payne?

Yeah. I'm just is this in lieu of the signage we just seen or in addition to?

So sorry. I'm gonna be clear. So the if the the photo on the right here, this would be in lieu if that if the DOT doesn't allow us to put a sign at that and along Plum Street, so this would be here. But the one on the right would be more for secondary entrances into the city just on the side of the road to let people, you know, you have arrived. I see. Okay.

It's I'll correct that. It's more of a secondary type of option for for this particular space here. Our our goal is to do a a the bigger horizontal one over in the circle. And Right. And but but but because of the limited space on other areas, we had to look for the footprint on how how another one could fit. But I would like to see, you know, well, like your secondaries and your tertiary where you're reminding your visitors that maybe you are still in the perimeter of of Olympia. They always work well when you have that type of reminder around your cities.

Yep. Okay.

Okay. That's helpful. Thank you. I do like the I forget which concept it is. I think it's the second one. Yeah. That one. Over the building blocks one. So this one this one says us to me, and I like it a lot.

Great. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. I also really liked that one, the concept too. I also well, I'll just say it. I I don't think we need to I don't think that Tangram Design is trying to do this, but I don't think we need to try to make a poll that looks like or try to make a vertical sign that looks like a welcome totem pole because we already are going to be having a welcome sign that we're working with the tribe on so that if I wouldn't I wouldn't want us to we like, as that's a like in in the like category, I wouldn't want us to lean too far in that direction. We we just don't need to.

And you've already come up with some some nice nice design concepts here. And if I'm not mistaken, I think that I saw this smiles come across committee members' faces when you showed concept too for what it's worth. Mhmm. Yeah. It just sort of gives you, a feeling. And yeah. And I yeah. I really yeah, it's just as it's a lot of good things. So I don't know which one of you did this, but whoever did good job.

Thanks thanks for sharing about the totem. And so there will be something else being designed with the the tribes to be are they gonna be in the specific areas that we are looking at as well or or how is that gonna work?

Yeah. Sure. So they're not in the areas that you're looking at. So there's there's no sign off competition here. They're gonna be over by over by the water next to one of the the main bridges in town. And Kelly can, you know, share more about that with you if you're interested. Yeah. But, no, not in the area.

Okay. Yeah. That that that's my only concern is, like, we hear about some of these things after the fact, and then then then we would have like worked with placement a little bit better instead of having having different things come up that rival each other that cause visual confusion or visual clutter. And and so so that's all I wanted to ask about. We you know, we're not we're not that sensitive that we're gonna be so concerned about some kind of sign off competition that by no means.

You know, we just wanna solve the the welcome and and the and the wayfinding for the city. And and some of our recommendations in our reports is, like, not to have clutter and not to have confusion. And and and sometimes we find out, like, oh, oh, you guys selected that particular spot for the welcome, but yeah. But we have commissioned a a art piece right next to it, you know. So so those are the type of things we just need to know about ahead of time.

Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. That's do you mind committee member Gilman? That reminds me of something that's related to this. Thank you. Maybe just and this could be something for later, but the arts commission is working on the gateways into Olympia project, and so there's eight gateways into Olympia. I think we have two at the moment. And so just being mindful of of where that placement is going to be. Oh, and just like that, we have staff from work the work with the arts commission. Stephanie?

Yeah. Thank you. I can confirm that none of the art crossing projects are located in the same area that the signage is planned for.

Okay. Thank you. There you go, George. It's all good.

Yeah. We had their participations in the in the community meeting, and and and and we already had that discussion with them during the that particular engagement. So we knew about all that.

Oh, good. Committee member Gilman?

Thank you. I so I I also think this concept too is beautiful, but I I had a thought about the concept one. And it's about I reacted more to the scale of it than the design that at at just large enough to read the letters at 25 or 30 miles an hour, I think it would it would be more interesting to me, and it and it's reminiscent of the little granite pillars that are all through New England, the way that they marked their towns. And and, you know, those are four foot high, and you're traveling at the speed of a horse. So I suppose it was, you know, easier to see the smaller monument.

But but I I think the I I I don't know that the really large, the 12 to 15 foot sort of scale communicates more than than something that was just large enough to to hold letters that were visible. So that's it's and I know this is backseat driving, but thank you for the opportunity.

Oh, that that thanks for the comments.

Yeah. Great comments. Alright.

Great. Back to you, Matt.

Okay. Alright. Promise we're very close now, everybody. Alright. Let's Alright. But, yeah, so this is what I was talking about, the preferred concept overview. So these were kind of all the concepts together. We have the kind of blessing to move forward. My understanding is we have the con the blessing to move forward with the wayfinding concept one, and we'll revisit the gateway designs based on the feedback you've provided and the feedback that the community and stakeholders provided. Great.

Alright. So last thing we have is the interpretive signage section. We were tasked to kinda create creating concepts, you know, to highlight the cultural and historical elements throughout Olympia. But one of the biggest things we noticed out there was the connection between downtown and the West Side Bridge. We drove across, and we felt that it was just a really an opportunity that was missing to help connect the two kind of entities and communities.

So one of the things we felt would be really great is to start just putting some banners on the the onto the polls as you cross the bridge. It can highlight whole historical elements, community events, community places, and so highlighting these entities. And then when you get to the other side of the bridge, it welcomes you to the West Side or it welcomes you to downtown. So this is one element that we we thought could be really nice, you know, even at Christmas time, the banners, things like that things like that are really nice, beautiful element that can be great to connect the two communities or two neighborhoods. And then just one of the last thing we have here.

When we were visiting, we we learned from what you the historians of kind of the the purpose of the the alleyways and the names that you see around there. It was an interesting idea. I think it was it was connected to this to boats and the boats and ships and names like that. But it's really hard to a visitor who came there would have no idea what that meant, and we didn't know what they meant, we even asked. Additionally, the alleyways we felt, felt a little unsafe to go down, some of them especially.

Maybe because the the, graffiti, trash, really any anything that can kinda contribute that makes someone feel a little unsafe. So one of the things we wanted to propose, is creating interesting alleyways that really highlight the history and cultures, and these alleyways can have different components. So I've kinda created like an elevation here. Oops. Wrong way.

But it's something maybe as visitors are walking by, there's a historic highway indicator and for and for example, this one we've updated to be the independent music of Olympia and then it has some background about it. And then as you walk down, you can scan QR codes, don't, see posters, interact with the places, maybe start adding some seat furniture, making it a welcoming place where, you know, people wanna explore, and it helps tell the stories about while re revitalizing the alleyways and creating a safer environment. Another example that we did here is just the Squaxin Island tribe. You could talk about the tribe. And, again, you know, I think it just starts creating these places that tell information and tell stories, but, oh, in a unique way.

So that's kind of just what we had and just some initial thoughts, but, we feel it can be a really interesting proposal for the city and and how to revitalize these alleyways. That's it. That that's the rest of our that's it. That's the end of our slides. I appreciate you guys all for sitting through it. And if you have any comments on this, it'd be great.

They all fell asleep.

Thanks, Matt.

Okay. Going to committee mates first, we have committee member Gilman.

Thank you, chair Nguyen. Oh, I I appreciate this. This we've we've had conversation for many years recently about daylighting or activating the alleys. And I I think the the proposal's interesting, but it also makes me think about going back to the heritage and arts commissions and talking to them again about maybe we look at examples in other towns of Active Valleys. We because we we had imagined that lighting, outdoor seating for shops or restaurants, you know, that there were along with trying to supplant the graffiti with intentional sorts of murals.

So I this this piques my interest, and I I think that it's it probably calls for it to go back through some of the folks who worked on the the previous iterations, the pretty previous attempts of activating those alleys. And I I did have a little bit of a reaction on the bridge. So I I love the railing of the bridge, and ice I I'm always trying to see what sort of a glimpse I can get of the Olympic Mountains and whether there's any activity at the port and what's going on out in the bay as I go by. So I'm not sure that that it would that I would that at least personally that I would connect with having additional visual information on the bridge. I I feel like it's just really rich.

It's like Seattle's Alaska Way Viaduct was the waterfront view for all of us ordinary people who weren't gonna live in the high rise condos. And it's it's the same thing. It's my moment of a gorgeous view as I crossed the bridge. So I just would consider that. I

don't think it would interrupt from that particular viewpoint and and angle of looking into the water and towards the the harbor. I I think the banner system of of connecting the communities and and really a gateway into the downtown from this area. I feel this is a strong lost opportunity, but I do hear you about, like, don't disrupt the natural beauty of of of what Olympia is as well. And and and maybe there's right now, these are concept, and maybe a sense of scaling could help with that. But I would encourage the city to look at some type of activation on this bridge because I really feel like there's there's it it's multiple.

It's multiple layers with some of these things we're showing here in these last couple slides is, like, activation, economic redevelopment, all this type of injection of of energy that we heard in our meetings so that it's it's it's lost or it's not that is not as strong. I've seen these things done in San Diego has done a great job with their alleyway activations with everything that you just described. It's like not only on the walls, but they put out seating areas and adjacent cafes are now activated because now there's a place for them to go, you know, just around the corner to sit and eat and and has become destinations within those points of the city, and they're visited multiple times during the year at a high volume. So so it does work. And and I really believe in, like, these types of pageantry type stuff through it really really is striking bridge will also help.

So that's just my two bits, but I do understand what you're saying. Thank you.

Thank you, George. And and I appreciate that as while we have a policy role in this situation, we're just like another little focus group of three people getting a first blush impression. And I would be open to more information along the bridge, but I also just had that initial sort of gut reaction about I love that view. So Yeah.

I don't disagree either. So so thank you.

Alright. Committee member Payne.

Thank you, chair. I'm just gonna say, first, I love the alleyway concepts. I think it it screams Olympia, music, art. It it just and it also is I've never been to Nashville, but it when I look at it, it gives me that Nashville feeling of what I know of.

Right.

So I I absolutely love this concept. The signage on the bridge, I had the same reaction, committee member Gilman. I although as I'm looking at it, I'm like, maybe it just looks like a little large to me in the cons right here as I'm looking at the image. So maybe smaller banners that don't obstruct the view. These look pretty large in terms of if I'm looking at it here, it looks like it would be a a a pretty huge banner.

But maybe if they're smaller, maybe there's some middle way to to take that approach. I do love the natural beauty. And I think there's there's also a lot of historic significance, recent history with this bridge, and it's I think there's a lot of nostalgia and sensitivity around it. And so I think we just wanna approach that with care when it comes to any attaching any additional signage on it. So I'm open to exploring that, but also just kind of wanna let you know that as you go into it around, you know, thinking of of other ideas of how it might work.

And I see city manager Bernie's hand is up chair, and I know that he probably has some thoughts about the bridge.

Yeah. Sure. City manager Bernie?

I do, and thank you. And I just a few things I want to point out not to pile on the banners on the bridge. I think you got some good feedback on that one. The, you know, the bulb outs and there's other art concepts that were designed into the bridge. And I would hate to have any other components take away from the thoughtfulness and design that that those artists put into those concepts.

They're part of the bridge that didn't anticipate things like banners being on light poles because it just wasn't a conversation. However, this concept I was in Pittsburgh last year and walked through their creative district. And these banners that they use that are like this that that align as you walk through their creative district. These banners like this are all throughout their creative district that highlight local artists and highlight events and they really give you the sense that you're in a special place that you just walked into something different. So I think there's a There may be a place for these types of banners to really mark segues into places, maybe it's neighborhoods, maybe it's creative districts versus transitions into the community through something like a bridge.

That's just my kinda my 2¢ as I as I see it.

Okay. Alright. And did you have more community member pain before we transition?

No, Chair. I just wanted to say thank you again for bringing these these concepts to us. I'm I'm just very pleased with what I'm seeing tonight. So thank you.

Yeah. Great. So I have a couple of thoughts. I really, really love the activation of the alleyways. I wonder if, I saw in the mock up of when it was sort of yeah. Right there. And so are you proposing that we take off that sort of the the Potter historic alleyway, or was that just not included in here?

I think it could be it could definitely revisit if you wanted to keep, but I think but what I'm proposing here is to take it off and something at least informationally wise gets more at the pedestrian level rather than higher up and not missed.

Oh, I see. Uh-huh.

We we can still explore, you know, some archway walk under. It's just like these are just initial, and and Yeah. I think the reason why we pulled that particular one off was it it was a confusing thing to have out there where people just wondered, like like, what does that mean? And and but if it was done correctly and and in relationship to what the alley is, it could be perfectly fine. And and and we, you know, we've done, you know, several of these where we looked at it's like, it's a nice walk under with some cafe lights and and and the concrete is covered with a decking and some some some sitting benches where where it really isn't biting.

And and so so it it it can change. It can go any direction. We can keep it or or add something different.

Got it. Thank you. That's helpful context. Yes. I really love what you're proposing for the alleyway.

I do really like that archway and that it does explicitly say that this is the name of the, you know, of the historic alleyway. And I would love to actually see more of that even if it doesn't look exactly like that, but just something that explicitly says something. And it can connect to the to the mural that you're proposing, that that is that is something that I'm just really intrigued by, I'd love to see more of that. And then also for the for there's much discussion about the banners on their bridge. So I'm I'm open.

I hear what folks are saying. I'm open to what that could look like. And specifically, I mean, there's a lot of different poles on there. What if it was just just one in the beginning and one at the end? I think that sort of changes things that could just add and and because you are entering into a space, you know, whether whatever direction you're going.

And so then it would cut down, of course, on so many banners across that bridge. But it's just I don't wanna completely toss it out. I also heard that we could explore that around the city on the on the different poles around around the city too, so that's interesting to me. And this is this is just one for staff, really. But that reminds me of the project that city of Olympia, some some school high school students and the Olympia Downtown Alliance did, oh, like a few years ago.

And it was it was like diversity in our it was like it was something about our diverse leaders. And do you remember that banner those banners in the downtown core? And they're still there, but they're super high and we can't really see them or read them. So so with this, whatever we end up doing, I would love that to be an opportunity to I don't know if we could just do it ourselves or or, of course, we probably wanna let the ODA know, but work with them to to bring those down a little bit. Yeah.

But really pleased with what you all are sharing, and let's try to figure out how to strike a balance here and not completely throw out this idea of banners, whether that's fewer ones on the bridge or just around the city.

All I have. Great comment about that there is a lot of poles on that bridge and it doesn't have these are just first brush concept. It doesn't have to be every pole and it doesn't have to be at this scale. It's more of talking about the concept and direction of how you can work with these types of things for activation within the community. And great comment about, like, it could be every other pole. It could be or just the ones on the ends. It could be, you know, just just something that that we start looking at, like other thorough ways into and out of the city, and and can you get additional information out there.

Thank you.

Awesome. Well.

Alright. Thank you so much. That's it's gonna wrap this up. Okay. Great. And we've had our next items presenters just being really, really patient. So yes. So with no further comments, is that right, from committee mates? Well, I guess I would just I know that there needs to be a motion, but I just thank you so much for your presentation and and really, like, sticking with us through all of the different touch points of the city and everyone having their big opinions, I'm sure, and trying to trying to work with us as this ball of wax and and figuring out what that is. It and it does seem like we're really close.

So so with that, I just looked to committee needs. I I do believe we we need a motion tonight or some getting eyebrows. I'm getting eyebrows that I'm not appreciating. Okay. Save it. Committee member Payne.

Thanks, chair. I just wanna make sure that we have a summary of what we're agreeing to before we move so that we know what we're moving in.

So if I if I may, from what I what what I heard was you were comfortable moving forward with the with the the oh god. Concepts, the the oh god. The word is, like, leaving my head. The wayfinding. Wayfinding. Thank you. The whole reason why we're here. Wayfinding. The wayfinding concepts for for particularly with with the concept one to counsel. Of course, we'll show them all of them, but removing concept one.

And then I will circle back up with with George and and Matt and Anna and and and my boss around re taking another shot at the the entrance sign in. I see that the boss has weighed in, I'm gonna step back and let him.

Thank you. City manager Bernie?

I'm gonna wait for Kelly to finish. I I just wanted to highlight that on the concept one, did hear some input to maybe consider blending some of concept one and three. So I just didn't wanna get that lost because that was part of the conversation that you had. So, Kelly, I just think as we bring concept one forward to the council to make sure we bring that conversation piece with it.

Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah.

Was it and then I you were heading down another path, so keep going.

Yeah. So so we I was I was on the on the path of we we're we're moving one part of this forward, the wayfinding signage forward. The entrance sign, we're going to revisit another roundabout, and and we will be taking all of your thoughts along with the way finding concept as all of the designs as well with your recommendation for for number one and and and your other thoughts around it as well. They capture that correctly? Yes. Like a okay.

Okay. Yes.

So I think the motion is really about supporting moving that recommendation forward, and then we will and then we'll re we'll do the we'll we'll we'll continue to work on the on the gateway pieces of it.

Okay. Thank you, Kelly. Committee member Gilman.

So I would move to to to move the wayfinding signage recommendation to council with our preference for the option one, but one in the to see option one and option three. And it sounds like the rest of it is gonna have a little bit more work.

Second.

Alright. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor, aye.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. Motion's approved.

Thank you so much for listening and for weighing in on this. This has been actually, it's been kind of a joy project. So they've been it's been it's been fun to to see the community weigh in, and it's been great working with with George and Matt and Anna on this. So thank you so much for for the for this.

Thank you all. Looking forward to seeing you again. Hope you have a great night.

Thanks, guys.

Thank you so much.

Alright. So next item is item six c, review of advisory committee work plans for 2025 presented by strategic communications director Kelly Perce Rosenthe, and an impressive entourage of individuals here with us tonight. And we have almost all of the staff liaisons and just want to just thank you so much for sticking with us tonight, and we'll try to give you balance, giving you the time that you need. So please take the time that you need. And, also, I understand that the hour is getting late, and so we'll try to move through efficiently as well. So handing over to you, Kelly.

Thank you. I'm I'm back, and I was gone for so long. So as you know, CLIPS is tasked with the annual review of the work plans for the advisory boards, committees, boards and commissions, and your recommendation to to move those forward to council for approval so the committees can can can execute them. You have eight of the 12 bodies have submitted work plans, and they're the liaisons to staff liaisons to those bodies are here if you have questions. So we are just looking for your review and recommendation.

Thank you. Absolutely. And committee mates, any comments or questions for the advisory work plans? Oh, committee member Gilman followed by committee member Payne.

Oh, I I I misunderstood. I thought we were gonna hear from each of them and and go up. But let me just so at the highest level, I so much appreciate that the the work plans are structured much like our city and council work plans now by both type of content and type of briefing or interaction, and that that really helped me to to understand what what the work was before different different boards and commissions. So I was super pleased with that. The Heritage Commission's graphic layout of their work plan blew me away.

I I I thought that was super helpful. And and then I had a question for the bicycle pedestrian advisory committee, and that is theirs felt a little bit lighter than some of the other plans in terms of things that the committee members might really dig into in terms of creating new policies or bringing in new ideas. And I I wonder if if they're if they've just got a full plate in transportation planning or if they're looking for council referrals or if if there's anything we might do to to help make sure that that stays lively. Or maybe I'm misreading the plan, and there's more in it that I don't understand. Those are my comments.

And I I'm I'm just I'm really pleased with all the plans and and super excited about the the format, the presentation this year.

Thanks, committee member Gilman. And did we have a response from Steph?

Yep. Max is, yeah, Max is, is our liaison. So

Yes. Thank, take a chair. Yes. Thank you, committee member Gilman. This being my second year on the committee, I I it's my understanding this is a pretty full plate. They meet six times a a year, and each meeting does appear to have, you know, enough com content to keep the members really engaged. That being said, if there's a recommend you know, a referral from council, we could, of course, find a way to fit that in.

So if I if I may, Max, I just my my reaction was that I I know that there's sort of duties that each of these committees has to do of, you know, reviewing the capital facilities plan, those those kinds of things. And I just my experience as a committee member was when there was go ride routes and find another potential bike pathway or, you know, I I there there were some balance of sort of a sexy projects along with the really important work of helping to be a sounding board for the the planning staff. That's and so I I'll I'll just pay attention this year. And if there's a way that I can help make it even super more fun and engaging to be part of our boards and commissions, I'll try to help.

Sure. I guess I I I could add. I mean, one thing that's, I think, has changed is that the transportation master plan has really it had a shift in terms of how we look at our entire system. So so so the system kind of gaps have been identified, and city staff are working towards filling those gaps, you know, through the CFP and other means. There are all also opportunities that crop up ad hoc committees, invitations to to represent BPAC, other committees there. For example, vice chair Matt Scherholz is a member of the committee working with OSD for their safety levy funding in identifying capital projects. So so there there is additional work that's outside of just this the work plan that that shows up.

Thank you, Max, and thanks for being here tonight.

Thank you.

Thank you. Committee member Paine?

Thanks. I'm gonna try to make this quick because it keeps zipping me out of here. I just wanna thank all the advisory boards for all of their work. Obviously, their work plans are pretty extensive despite the fact that we've tried to really work hard on scaling back this year. And I do just wanna acknowledge that it's still a heavy lift.

I am curious when it comes to BPAC, the bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee, about the sidewalk assessment. And I see that they're gonna be looking at the sidewalk repair policy this year along with the citywide assessment that we've done. And I'm just curious about how if they will see the results of that assessment and how it might shape or inform the policy recommendation that comes from the committee.

Thanks for the question. So, yes, on the work plan, we for for next month, we'll be presenting the sidewalk condition assessment. And that's after presenting for the first time to land use, which is gonna be, at their meeting next week. One of the questions we'll be asking land use is, what are some of the other bodies that that that committee thinks, has has a purpose in that discussion? And, in working through this work plan, of course, we had to make some assumptions.

We were thinking that that or BPAC might be a group, to be briefed on in terms of the more in-depth policy questions that we'll be bringing back to land use in 2026. So sort of the phasing is we start with start with land use with the condition assessment results. Also, share those results with BPAC in the short term. And then as we develop some policy directions, we'll come. We'll we'll we'll be meeting with whichever whichever bodies land use asks us to be back perhaps being one of them and then come back to land use in 2026.

Okay. That's that's really helpful in terms of how how the two will will connect. Thank you, Max. And, I also just wanna really express how I we really are making progress on our equity work at the city, and it's very clear to me that you can see it woven throughout the committee's work plans. And so that's I just wanna call that out because it hasn't always been that way.

And I think that that's something that's really special about the work that we're doing. And then specifically with the social justice and equity commission, I appreciate their work of taking on looking into reparations as part of their work plan for this year. And, obviously, there's going to be quite an extensive report from TrueCollution that they're willing to take a look at and dig into and look at city potential city actions or things that we could do as I see it eventually in the long term. But we're certainly planting the seeds, I think, this council and this social justice and equity commission. And so I just wanna say thank you for that work.

Alright. Thank you, committee member Payne. I didn't have any questions for staff liaisons about about the different work plans. I I read them. I don't have any questions about them, though.

It's clear that there's gonna be a a a lot going on, and and I'm thankful for that. I am thinking about I've been thinking about advisory bodies quite a bit. I'm sure it's no surprise to you all. I think you all have been working with with assistant city manager Debbie Sullivan about the advisory bodies and possibly looking for ways to kind of make sure that we we assess and and make sure we're we're getting everything that we need, and that's everyone. Right?

From the staff liaison side, the the community members that are on the advisory advisory body side, and then also also as a council too. So that that work is still alive and well. And and, actually, meeting at our next regular meeting of CLIPS, we'll be hearing more about the progress of that work. I am oh, I'm also aware that this the ECLIPSE committee has changed how we have the annual meeting that I think most everyone on here for staff liaisons has attended that annual meeting with the staff liaison and then the chair. Sometimes the co chair is there or or the vice chair.

And we didn't want we wanted to have it a little bit differently, and so we didn't have it in March. But that's not because we don't care to have it. We just wanted to be more intentional, and we wanted to kind of reimagine what what that could be like and and make sure that everyone's you know, that we make good good use of that time and that folks are not sort of all sitting there and and and having to be a hyper formal meeting. And so I would love for any staff liaisons that would like to come off mute and share share with us their thoughts of what a what a great as we're planning it, what a great what a great annual meeting would entail. You all show up, of course, and then also you work with the chairs and about what to expect every time they're about to meet with council.

So I'd love to hear from you.

Well, I will I'll speak up. Jesse Barham, u utility advisory committee. So I just I think that the dialogue is super important and that chance for the committee chairs to connect with council. There's not so many opportunities, but there's that direct interaction. And I think those that's kind of my take. That's some of the and then the learning that happens about what everyone's doing across the committees. So those are kind of my two two things. So I think that that relationship component is important. I think that they really get some interactions with council and and the committee committee members.

Yeah. Thank you. Hey, Laura.

Hi. I'll kind of piggyback on what Jesse mentioned. And I'm not sure because it would kind of change a little bit how it has been done. But I feel like what I've heard working with PRAC for the last eight or nine years, is that, it's not just really the chair, but more like the the whole committee would like to maybe once a year have a council member attend maybe just at the beginning of a meeting to kind of connect with them. And so I know we've been putting in kind of more individualized, like, with the chair or the vice chair, but I just wonder if there's a way maybe for for time to be better spent and really the that disconnect that sometimes is felt by the members of to the council.

Just getting that face to face, like, hi, and seeing you in the same room type of thing might be really, really helpful as an alternative. So that's

my idea.

Yeah. That's great. Kind of opening up making it a little bit more inclusive for folks. Yeah. Thanks. Any other thoughts that folks have? What makes it rich? What are the risks of potentially being boring? I wanna know.

Oh, so I I was at Harbor House. I got kicked out for the cleaning guy. So, my Internet may go in and out. So, anyway, I, I really appreciate what Jesse said. And I've noticed, the arts commission has been on Zoom, but they've started doing quarterly in person meetings. And they really just love kind of being together. You know what mean? All of these people and all the boards and commissions are volunteers, and they do it because, you know, they just really believe in in helping out and meeting other people who believe the same thing. You know? I think that's really nice.

And I think in the past, it's been you know, I think that having a meal, sharing a meal together has been really great in a way to kind of make it a little bit less formal. But in the past, the reports have gotten so long that they haven't really had a chance to kinda communicate. And so maybe if there is I think information is really important, but if I'm guessing correctly, you're thinking it more of kind of a celebration a little bit too and maybe by making the or maybe there could be a report sent out in advance that everybody could read what other people are doing, and then, you know, it's more informal, you know, as they're as they're gathering. Just a thought.

Yeah. Just great thoughts. Anyone anyone else? Any comments, suggestions?

Hi. I'm Britney with the Heritage Commission. So this will be my first year taking part in the event, but I really like the points that everyone else has touched upon so far as far as like the relationship building and the in person, I guess, chance to meet other folks. And I also wonder if there's a way to provide some connections with either projects that could overlap or folks in similar roles. Like, for example, I'm new as a staff liaison.

If there are other new staff liaisons, I see Mario had posted in the chat, it would be fun to kind of have time for us to chat. My chair and vice chair are also new in their roles, and so if there's other commissions or committees that have maybe advice or ways to connect so that they can kinda get a feel for things, I think that could be fun and helpful.

Yeah. I think so too. Thanks, Britney. Yeah. I've been it's been really fun to see you around the city and stuff. Yeah. And that'll be great to have you join us for this I don't know. Should we call it a meeting? It's something. It's some sort of connection thing that we're we're still forming. Any other thoughts? Margo, I see your comment in the chat that it'll be your first time attending the annual meeting, so you look forward to opportunity to learn from others' experience. Thank you. And we have committee member Gilman. I saw your hand.

Thank you. I just wanted to second Laura's suggestion that in addition to having this celebration that having counsel people, even if it's very occasionally, be present. My experience I I really appreciated it when it was a regular assignment that we had. And and it it doesn't have to be in every meeting kind of thing. But what I found is is it became very irregular.

We just show up when there's an issue that nobody knows how to act or how to what's our role? How do we conduct it? So if if we schedule it at at inner cities community advisory, we make a schedule at the beginning of the year so then it's it's it's predictable. And and then also becomes a pattern of whether we get introduced and say something about counsel or we have a moment where they can ask us questions or whatever the format is. But it's it's it's less awkward than if we just drop in, and they're not sure what's the right way to interact. So I just wanted to really appreciate Laura's comment.

Yeah. Thank you so much. Committee member Payne?

Yes. I I actually it sounds like to me that Laura's comment and and what committee member Gilman is is reemphasizing is is that it might be helpful to have our new council position focus on some of that a bit. Maybe that role can engage with the staff liaisons to determine how council members can work with the advisory bodies. So some assistance with coordinating that for us as a body, I think, is is the perfect opportunity with bringing that person on board. So, yeah, I just wanted to offer that.

Yeah. That's great. That's great. Committee member pain. It sounds like you agree and you're trying to find a a good logistical solution here. Well, thank you everyone, for sharing. If if you have any more thoughts, please do. I'd love to hear them. You can email me. You can email Kelly. We're looking forward to getting together and planning soon. I just I couldn't help it. I feel like you're all a bunch of I hope this is appropriate, but you're all a bunch of juicy oranges. And I was gonna get something out of you tonight. You've been you've been waiting all night, and I wanna hear from you.

So and we have this thing to to plan, so it's a good opportunity. Well, with that, we certainly appreciate you all of your work that you do as staff liaisons. I'm sure it's it's not always easy. There's a lot of balancing to do because you do all of your work with the advisory bodies, and then also, you have all of your other work to do. So, looking forward to, figuring out we can, support you and the advisory bodies, further as we continue the the work with just assessing where we are with advisory bodies and and certainly appreciate your robust work plans that you put forth.

And it sounds like we have no other comments or questions from committee mates. Is that right? Okay. This one will also need a motion as well. Kelly, is that what you were coming coming off for? Okay.

Yeah.

Great. And committee member Payne.

Madam chair, I move to forward the advisory committee work plans for 2025 for the city council for consideration and approval.

Second. Second. And we have a second. Alright. All those in favor, aye.

Aye.

Aye. Motion approved. Thank you so much, everyone. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your night.

Thank you. Goodbye.

Thanks, Stephanie. Stephanie is out at the Harper House checking on all the art. Just making sure it's Thanks, Jesse. Okay. So that takes us to reports and updates. Committee mates, do you all have any updates? If you do, you can just raise your hand. No? Okay. City manager Bernie, did you have any reports or updates?

Do not. Thank you.

You're welcome. Assistant city manager Debbie Sullivan, any reports or updates for us?

Nothing to report.

Alright. Lovely. Well, thanks everyone for the extra time tonight. With no further business before the community livability and public safety committee, we are adjourned. Good night.