City Council - Regular Meeting

Yo. We are live. Here we go. I am calling to order the 03/17/2026 meeting of the Olympia City Council via Zoom. It's 6PM. And our roll call has mayor Dante Payne and mayor pro tem Young Huynh both away on city business. And Danny Madrone called in earlier. She's unable to join the call this evening. But we do have a quorum, and we'll we'll move forward with our business. So I understand that there are no announcements from staff this evening.

Is that correct? Okay. No announcements. I would entertain a motion to approve the agenda for this evening's meeting. So moved. Alright. It's been moved by council member Behrendt. Is there a second?

Second.

It's been seconded by council member Vanderpool. Is there any discussion or comments on the agenda? Seeing none, I'll call for the vote. All in favor of approving the agenda as published, aye. Aye. It's unanimous we have an agenda. Terrific. And I don't believe we have any special recognitions on the agenda. I don't see any here tonight. So that brings us to public comment. And I understand there are two people in council chambers waiting to make comment to us this evening. So we'll call first on Christina Please, come on up and and give us your two minutes.

Good evening. My name is Christina Janis. I serve as the chair of Thurston County Realtors Government Affairs Committee. Thank you for your continued discussion on the proposed home energy score ordinance. The Thurston County Realtors Association appreciates that the city's commitment to client goals and housing sustainability.

As professionals who guide buyers and sellers through thousands of transactions each year, REALTORS see firsthand how housing policies function in the real world. Our goal is not to stop progress, but to ensure policies are clear, practical, and workable for consumers and the housing market. After reviewing the proposal, we must reiterate that we oppose the ordinance in its current form. However, we do see value in a voluntary home energy score model that supports consumer awareness without creating the unintended consequences. At this point, there are still significant implementation that remain unresolved.

For that reason, we respectfully request that the city extend the pause and convene a collaborative work session with elected officials, staff, and experienced real term members. This would allow us to work through those key issues, including how compliance would function within a real estate transaction, ensuring accurate use of industry terminology, avoiding reliance on our Northwest MLS as an enforcement mechanism, and exploring alternative approaches that support both consumer choice and the city's climate goals. Policies that impact housing transactions require careful coordination to avoid unintended consequences taking additional time now will help the city adopt a policy that is workable on day one and not one that needs to be fixed later We are committed to being constructive partners in this process, and we look forward to working with you to get this right. Thank you.

Thank you, miss Janice. Next, we have Henry Valls.

Hello, Henry Valls. 1622 Giles Avenue Northwest, Olympia High School swim coach. Since I spoke two weeks ago, we have now collected 3,800 signatures with over 2,500 from Olympian Tumwater to save the Evergreen Pool, and I believe we are starting to make process with the leadership commune in the community. This pool was to be used for lessons, the Washington State senior game, six high school swim teams, local law enforcement fire and fire departments. It was you it used to be used for water polo, dive clubs, scuba diving, club swimming, and collegiate swimming.

I believe this is why so many care. We were still planning on using it for our swim and dive camp to teach over 200 swimmers 200 students how to swim. And I want you to recognize that there is not just a value in the pool itself, but the entire facility. The CRC at Evergreen has so many things the community desperately needs. Meeting spaces, gyms, mat rooms, locker rooms, racquetball courts, weight rooms, climbing walls, and the pool.

So what I'm asking is to please meet with the aquatics community, tour the Evergreen Pool with us, compare it to the Briggs YMCA, which has become severely overutilized and damaged because of its overuse. Let's sit down. Let's talk. Let's plan. This facility is a piece of art, and it is an invaluable resource. You wouldn't throw away a 30 or $50,000 car because it needed a brake job. Let's not throw away this this Monet because it needs a little restoration. Thank you very much for your time, and hope to speak to you again soon.

Thank you, mister Valls. Susan, is there anybody else in chambers who wishes to make comment this evening?

I am seeing no hands.

And do we have anybody online who wishes to make comment?

Folks online don't have a way to interact to tell me tell me that.

Well, But but nobody had signed up to make No.

Nobody signed up. I'm sorry. I I thought I communicated that. Yes.

Yes. Okay. So that concludes public comment. Responses from council members? Robert, go ahead.

Yeah. I'll just be brief. I I it's quite impressive amount of signatures. I'd be I'm very curious to see how they process with the the pool goes going forward. Continuing to hearing updates on that. Also, home energy score will be a item next week, I believe, and I look forward to hearing more public comments then. Thank you.

Thank you, council member Vanderpool. And and I will just add that I I appreciate miss Janice raising the concerns tonight and the the consistent email traffic we've been receiving and and some really thoughtful, both reasons to support it and concerns people have, that that have been, coming across our desks. And I've I've also, I appreciate mister Vol's comment this evening, and I I really appreciate the recent email you sent that summarized, the the activity around the pool and the hopes for swimming and aquatic activity in the future. So thank you both for coming in to comment this evening, and I'm gonna wake my tablet back up and see the agenda again here. The the next item for us to consider this evening is the consent calendar.

Are there any questions, comments, or polls from the consent calendar this evening? Seeing none, I would entertain a motion to approve this evening's consent calendar. I

move we approve the consent calendar, as presented.

Thank you, council member Barrant. Is there a second?

Second.

Alright. It's been seconded by council member Vanderpool. Any discussion before we vote? Seeing none, all in favor of approving the consent calendar for March 17, say aye. Aye.

Great. With that, we have an approval of the consent calendar. And that with we have no new business or old business this evening. So, this brings us to councilcom intergovernmental and committee reports and referrals. And I would just I would suggest that since we are we are a a slightly shorthanded group this evening, if there's an item that you're hoping that the broader community will hear and that all of our colleagues will hear, you might hold it for the meeting on the twenty fourth.

If you have items that you feel like are time sensitive, urgent, you'd be welcome to share them this evening. And let's start with council member Barron. I have really kind

of minimal reporting to do. I'm a member of the Olympic Clean Air Agency, ORCA. And one of the things that I just report to the community is that the legislature has reduced their funding in this last legislative session because of, you know, funding cuts that that were occurring within particularly, model toxic control act, which funds a lot of environmental activity. And so the Clean Air Agency is considering a series of of fee increases to cover those costs so they can continue their their activities. These include certain inspection fees of of agent of of facilities they they inspect as well as, oh, construction for asbestos.

And I I think it's just important for the community to know. And in order to keep their their work going, these fees will probably have to be in increased. But that that that's the only thing that I would really think that's important that's timely. Thank you.

Thank you, Paul. Any questions or comments for council member Barron? Let's move to council member Green. Any reports this

Thank you, council member Gilman. I have no reports this evening.

Well, no reports is always in order. So next, we'll call in council member Vanderpool.

I'm gonna save most of my items, but I'm gonna do, I guess, a point of privilege here. And I just saw on my phone, my mom, after fifteen years of trying to be a superintendent in the Ohio school school system is now a superintendent, which is wonderful. I just wanna I know it's a point of privilege, but I I That's great. I'm very prideful of that. She she got her doctorate over a decade ago, and it's been a hard time trying to get there. She's she deserves it. So I'll let her know that it's on record now.

Congratulations to Robert's mother. Are there any other comments or questions for council member Vanderpool? No. Alright. And acting city manager Debbie Sullivan, any reports this evening?

Thank you, council member Gilman. I have nothing to report.

Right. Well, that complete that concludes our reports and referrals, and the only other item before us is adjournment. So on this Saint Patrick's Day, March 17, I will adjourn the meeting of the city council at 06:12PM, and we will reconvene at 6PM on March 24. Good night, everybody, and thank you. Good night.