City Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome back to Pasco City Council In Focus. I'm Communications Coordinator Alyssa Warner and this is a look at what's on the agenda for the July 27th City Council Workshop Meeting. We'll start with a ceremony swearing in Pasco's new Chief of Police, Brent Cook. Chief Cook has served at every level of the Pasco Police Department. He was selected to take over as Chief after a nationwide search. The state council is also scheduled to hold an executive session. This part of the meeting is not open to the public, but the council will announce if any decisions were made during the session. We'll have four items for discussion during the workshop, which means you'll have the chance to comment on each topic. First up, a presentation about cannabis income. Pasco was the first of the Tri-Cities to lift the ban on pot shops, and that means the city gets a share of the taxes collected from cannabis sales all over the state, even if nobody in Pasco ever buys anything. The city council will hear about how much money the city got from the state in 2025 and the changing legal rules about pot shop licenses. We may hear some discussion about whether to allow more pot shops in the future. We'll also hear a presentation about what the city is legally allowed to do when it comes to enforcing anti-camping rules. There are state and federal rules about how cities can manage homelessness. We'll take a closer look at some of the gray areas and the rules already in place for Pasco. Speaking of living spaces, City Council will be asked to consider extending the moratorium on essential public facilities, including LRA housing. Right now, Pasco's temporary ban is set to expire next month. But this is another complicated topic where we have to balance state law with what's best for local neighborhoods. Extending the deadline until the end of the year would give the city more time to create a plan. You can expect to hear a presentation about the possibility of creating a traffic safety program within the Pasco Police Department. It would be an additional cost, but we could take the money from red light camera tickets to help pay for traffic safety efforts. Now, these are the cameras that have been used for decades to catch drivers running red lights. They are not the same as automatic license plate reading cameras. Again, because this is a workshop meeting, you will have the chance to comment on any of the items listed on the agenda. You can find the full agenda and any updates on our website pasco-wa.gov. And watch the meeting live on our Facebook and YouTube pages starting at 7 on Monday evening. We'll see you next week for another Pasco City Council In Focus.