City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the City of Pasco Council meeting. The Council thanks you for being a part of your city government. At meetings, the City Council takes formal action on items, holds public hearings, and conducts other business of the city. Agenda packets are available on the City of Pasco's website at www.pasco-wa.gov. This meeting is also being televised live on PSC TV channel 191. on Spectrum Cable in Pasco and Richland and is streamed on the city's Facebook page, website, YouTube channel, and Microsoft Teams webinar. This and previous council meeting video is available on the city's website. Lastly, the public may submit their comments and or questions by contacting the city manager, city clerk, or by using the Ask Pasco app. And with that, Madam Clerk, would you call the roll, please?

Campos?

Here.

Cotta?

Here.

Pigueroa? Hernandez?

Present.

Perales?

Here.

Milne?

Present. And Grimm? I'm here. Thank you, Mr. Figueroa's excuse for the evening. With that, if everyone would rise for the flag salute. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, All right. Thank you, everyone. Moving on to number four, our consent agenda. All items listed under the consent agenda are considered to be routine by the city council and will be enacted by a roll call vote as one motion in the form listed below. There will be no separate discussion of these items. If further discussion is required by council or desired by council members, the item may be removed from the consent agenda to the regular agenda and considered separately. Letter A, approval of meeting minutes for the August 17th and 24th meeting. B, bills and communications approving claims in the total amount of $9,764,000, or $962.25. Ordinance number 4853, amending the 2025-2026 biennial operating budget for park security enhancements. Letter D, Ordinance No. 4854, Approving Lightspeed Networks, Inc., Franchise Renewal. Letter E, Resolution No. 4778, Accepting Work Performed by Clearwater Construction and Management, LLC, Under Contract for the Wastewater Treatment Plant Phase 1 Project. Letter F, Resolution No. 4779, Accepting Work Performed by Tapani, Inc., under contract for the process water reuse facility. Phase two, winter storage. With that, are there any council members who would like to pull anything from the consent agenda? Not seeing any. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, Mayor. I make a motion to approve the consent agenda as read.

Second. Motion on the floor by Mayor Pro Tem Milne to accept the consent agenda as read. Seconded by Council Member Perales. Ms. Sanchez, a roll call vote, please.

Campos?

Yes.

Cotta?

Yes.

Figueroa? It's not here. Hernandez?

Yes.

Perales?

Yes.

Milne?

Yes. Grimm? Yes. Thank you, everyone. Moving on to number five. We have three proclamations, and a lot of times we like to do these, kind of separate them out, but it just doesn't always work that way. So we have three tonight, and they're all really, really important. We are going to start with letter A is Attendance Awareness Month Proclamation. Mr. Stewart. You can proceed with all three of them.

I don't have anything to add other than it's outlined in the memo.

Perfect. Thank you. We have Dr. Ayers who came and introduced herself. I'll meet you right down here. Thank you. I'm going to read this to you, present it to you, and we'd love to hear some remarks from you also. Thank you for bringing this forward. This is Attendance Awareness Month for September 2026. Whereas regular school attendance is essential to student achievement, well-being, and graduation rates, helping students be proficient readers by third grade, have higher achievement rates in middle school and higher graduation rates at the high school level and whereas one out of every four students in the pasco school district was chronically absent that means they missed 10 or more school days for any reason in the 2024 to 2025 school year and whereas all students even those who show up regularly are affected by chronic absence because teachers must spend time reviewing for students who miss lessons and whereas chronic absenteeism can be significantly reduced when schools families business businesses elected leaders and communities work together to promote regular on-time attendance, and to address barriers that keep children from attending school. Now, therefore, I, Charles Grimm, Mayor of the City of Pasco, Washington, do hereby proclaim September of 2026 as Attendance Awareness Month and encourage all residents to continue building a community culture that ensures our children have an equal opportunity to learn, grow, and thrive as they gain the knowledge and skills needed for high school graduation, the essential pathway to careers in our region. Thank you so much. Appreciate that.

Mayor and Paschal Council members, thank you so much for this annual recognition of the importance of showing up. Attendance matters at school, at work, in relationships, in life, and those habits start really early. You know, right now we have chronically absent first graders. And so our goal is to work together as a community to increase the number of kids who show up regularly. We really start even before that with our kindergarten preparedness, with the birth of children locally. And we're really proud to continue to honor Dolly Parton's legacy in our community. Over the last two years, we've distributed over 200,000 books in the mail to parents locally in our two counties, ages birth through five, getting those kids ready for kindergarten. About half of the kids this week tested, and about half the kids tested this week will not pass that entrance evaluation. And starting on TAP really, really makes a huge difference. Keeping kids in school is our next goal so that more kids can graduate from high school and have a platform for a successful, self-sufficient life. So thank you to the Pasco City Council and staff and all of those of us who live in Pasco, like me, because it takes all of us, it takes the village to ensure that every hour of learning counts. Thank you.

Awesome. Thank you, Dr. Ayers. All right. Our next one is for Suicide Prevention Month. This is also a proclamation. You must be Mr. Jensen.

I am.

I'd love to join you down there also.

And if I may approach the clerk.

Thank you for bringing this forward, Chris. Whereas suicide is a serious public health concern that impacts individuals, families, friends, workplaces, schools, and communities, including here in the city of Pasco. Whereas suicide prevention requires a community-wide commitment to awareness, education, early identification, access to support, and reducing the stigma associated with mental health challenges and seeking help. And whereas mental health concerns, substance use, grief, trauma, isolation, financial stress, spiritual problems, or other life circumstances can increase vulnerability to suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and whereas suicide can affect people of all ages and backgrounds, and effective prevention requires compassionate support that recognizes the unique experiences in needs of youth, adults, older adults, veterans, families, and others throughout our community. And whereas strong connections among health care providers, schools, community organizations, first responders, faith communities, employers, families, and residents can help recognize warning signs, encourage early intervention, connect individuals with resources, and support those impacted by suicide loss. And whereas Suicide Prevention Month provides an opportunity for our community to reaffirm Seeking help is a sign of strength and that each of us can play a role in creating a community where people feel valued, supported, connected. And now, therefore, I, Charles Grimm, Mayor of the City of Pasco, Washington, do hereby proclaim September 2026 as Suicide Prevention Month and encourage all residents to increase awareness, learn the warning signs of suicide, support those who may be struggling, and help foster a community of compassion, connection, and hope. Thank you, Mr. Jensen. Appreciate it.

Well, thank you for having me tonight and also for your support for this very important proclamation. A group of individuals and entities came together, formed a working group, a consortium, if you will, to bring focus and attention to suicide prevention in our community, both in Benton and Franklin counties. I'm here tonight representing that coalition along with I also serve as the vice president for NAMI Tri-Cities, which is the National Alliance on Mental Illness. We have a chapter here in the Tri-Cities and I'm a part of that as well. So basically what our intent is is to help raise awareness and to bring about education to not only our community members, but our schools, our youth. It's no secret that we're seeing a huge increase in suicides among our youth. A lot of it driven, in my opinion, is by the social media and other pressures that they face, along with just life events. So part of the things that NAMI provides in our school is educational Assistance to our students both in Benton and Franklin counties It's called ending the silence and basically what it is. It's a couple hour course. We try to hit all of our students with ending the silence about Suicide and it's okay to talk about it. It's okay to have concerns about it. It's okay to report if you will People who you believe may be in crisis situation or that are heading in that direction how many times have we seen where a school shooting has happened and they interviewed a the Adolescence after the fact and always the same message, you know, I saw something going on I should have said something, but I just didn't know how. So those are some of the important things that we're trying to bring into our community through the schools and then through behavioral health partners throughout our community. TO HELP RAISE AWARENESS AS WELL. I HANDED OUT A POSTER OF AN EVENT COMING UP TO CONCLUSION OF THE SEPTEMBER EVENTS. THERE'S QUITE A FEW OF THEM, ANYWHERE FROM WALKS TO RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT SUICIDE AND THEN OTHER EVENTS THROUGHOUT THE TRI-CITIES COMMUNITY THAT WE ENCOURAGE ALL PARTICIPANTS TO PARTICIPATE IN THAT AND BECOME BETTER AWARE. SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR HAVING ME.

Our next proclamation is for the 25th anniversary of 9-11.

Letter C. Tuesday, 9-47 a.m. Hi, baby. Baby, you have to listen to me carefully. I'm on a plane that's been hijacked. I'm on the plane. I'm calling from the plane. I want to tell you I love you. Please tell my children that I love them very much. And I'm so sorry, babe. I don't know what to say. There's three guys. They've hijacked a plane. I'm trying to be calm. We're turned around. And I've heard that there's planes that have been flown into the World Trade Center. I hope to be able to see your face again, baby. I love you. Bye.

End of message. That was Cece Lyles. She was a flight attendant on Flight 93, and that was a voicemail for her husband. That plane, as most of us should know by now, crashed in Shakespeare.

We were in the trading room, and everybody was analyzing numbers, talking to their clients. We were settled into the day.

That, too. Todd Beamer was also on that flight and prayed with an operator on the phone before you could hear him ask a small group of passengers if they were ready, to which he embodied the American spirit and replied, let's roll. Todd and Cece are two of nearly 3,000 people that lost their life on that day. 9-11-01 is a day that will now live in infamy as one of those you will always remember where you were at, what you were doing when you first heard moments. This is the kind of event where we all have a story and a connection to that day. Mine was on January 1st, 1999, when two of my best friends and I made it to the top of the South Tower and stood on the roof at sunset. Tell you guys what, of all the man-made structures I've been on, it was the most beautiful view I've ever seen from there. Literally nothing keeping you from the streets below, 1,500 feet below than just barbed wire fence. So beautiful. You look to the north and saw all of Manhattan Island and Of course, Liberty Island out there and the Great Bridges and all the other great sites. There was nothing above you. They just literally let you be on the roof. I still have a picture framed that's in my study at home that I bought at the gift shop, and they called that gift shop the Top of the World Trade Center, and it serves as a reminder to that fateful day. This Friday is the 25th anniversary of 9-11. I thought we should note it with a proclamation. I chose to present our police and fire chief because of the lives lost and the valor and bravery so many first responders demonstrated that day. I took my family to the 9-11 memorial two years ago. I couldn't bring myself to even take a picture. Inside, it felt like hallowed ground. Especially moving was all that remained of the fire truck from Ladder Company 3. that the rest of the scene, that rushed to the scene, and none of the 11 firefighters that rushed there ever made it home, perishing in the attack. Tonight, we commemorate not only Ladder Company 3, but all of our first responders, including Officer Richard Rodriguez, who is credited for saving many lives, selfishly running into the North Tower, but was killed when it collapsed, and CeCe and Todd and everyone else who lost their life at the hands of those who hate America and everything we stand for. With that, Chiefs, if you'd meet me down in front, and the rest of your firefighting crew, Mr. Crowley. All right. Whereas on September 11th, 2001, our nation was struck by an enemy that rejected the moral and political foundations of Western civilization, ordered liberty, the equal dignity of every person, and a society shaped by faith, reason, and the rule of law. Whereas nearly 3,000 innocent people were murdered that morning in New York at the Pentagon, and in a field in Pennsylvania, and countless more lives were permanently altered by loss, injury, and the long consequences of that day. And whereas in the face of deliberate and ideological violence, ordinary Americans answered with an uncommon courage. First responders who ran toward the danger, citizens who aided strangers, and a free people who refused to yield the inheritance previous generations had defended at great cost. And whereas the years that followed tested the resilience of the United States, it also revealed a deeper national resolve to protect a civilization that has long been contested by forces determined to destroy it. And whereas President Ronald Reagan previously reminded us that the ultimate determinant the struggle now going on for in the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas a trial of spiritual resolve the values we hold the beliefs we cherish the ideas to which we are dedicated and whereas 25 years later we remember the dead honor those who served and recognize that the contest revealed on that day did not begin in 2001 and has not ended, that free societies must still choose in every generation whether they will remain clear-eyed and steadfast in the defense of the civilization entrusted to them. Now, therefore, I, Charles Grimm, Mayor of the City of Pasco, Washington, on behalf of the City Council, do hereby recognize September 11th, 2026 is a day of solemn remembrance in the city of Pasco and call upon our residents to pause in gratitude for those we lost in honor of those who sacrificed and in firm resolve to remain worthy of liberty, country, and the civilization handed down to us. Thank you.

Well, I just want to thank the mayor and council for their support and the city staff and the women and men that show up every day to do the things that our community needs done. And it's not always easy. And I'm grateful for them.

Yes, this is a pretty important day, and so I just want to say thank you to everyone, Mr. Mayor, Council, for this. It's just important that we don't forget. We always talk about the first responders, but also, like we said, it's just everyone there were heroes, and we can't forget that. So it's not just what we do, but as a community, and we still stay strong, and it's just important that we remember that. So thank you.

All right. Thank you, everyone. Moving on to number six, public comments. The public may address council on any items unless it relates to a scheduled public hearing. I'm going to get back to that. This item has provided this public comment time to allow the opportunity to bring items to the attention of city council or to express an opinion on an issue. Its purpose is not to provide a venue for debate or for the posing of questions with the expectation of an immediate response. Some questions require consideration by council over time and after a deliberative process with input from a number of different sources. Some questions are best directed to staff members who have access to specific information. Citizen comments will normally be limited to three minutes each. Those with lengthy messages are invited to summarize their comments and or submit written information for consideration by the council outside of formal meetings. Lastly, when called upon, please state your name and city or county of residency into the microphone before providing your comments. So with that, we have, I think, five public hearings tonight. And so Mr. Kenney, our legal advisor online, or Mr. Stewart, our city manager. I want to make sure we get this right because this isn't about quenching citizen comment. As a matter of fact, the previous council, we opened it up for more opportunities for public comment, but just making sure we're getting it all at the appropriate time because public comment is not a time to talk about things that are on a public hearing, but yet the public hearing as it relates to data centers for one and marijuana for another, just to get this right, I guess Mr. Kenney helped me out, that Like the moratorium, for instance, for the data center part A, people can talk about the moratorium during that public hearing, but if they want to make general comments about data centers, this is the correct time or the appropriate time, correct?

That is correct, Mayor. The public hearing on that particular item, on the data center item, which is 8A, is just about the moratorium itself. And so if there are comments about the imposition of the moratorium, that's for 8 . And if there are general comments, that would be during public comment.

Okay, thank you. And keeping in mind, there is a little bit of crossover where people may, you know, have thoughts about the moratorium based on the way they feel about, again, using letter A, the data center facilities. I guess that's something we just need to be careful that it doesn't blur the lines too much.

Yeah, I mean, I guess the way that I would say is that if the lines are going to start to get blurred towards the moratorium, hold those comments for the public hearing and if that line can be held or identified, then public comment opportunity on non-moratorium items is fine.

Okay, thank you. So we do have, just to be clear about this, we do have letter A as a public hearing on what's just popularly known as data centers, even though there's a few other things in there. Letter B is amending the Pasco Municipal Code regarding cannabis retail facilities. C is the targeted urban area tax exemption program. D is the public hearing for a right-of-way vacation for a portion of Road 108. And E is a public hearing for the transportation improvement plan revision. So if somebody wants to talk about any of those issues during the public period is the appropriate time. If you want to just talk about... for example, cryptocurrency data centers in general, or any other topic as it relates to the city of Pasco, this is the appropriate time. We will now open up public comments.

George Dockstader, Desert Hills Realty. Be 50 years this month that I've had an office in Pasco, and I've seen a lot of changes. But the one thing I've seen the most is this city council lacks a vision of what they want Pasco to be. You sit on your rears, let staff run off Costco, who produces over a half a million of taxable sales a day. plus sides providing 130 jobs per store that are good paying. And you sit there and you don't do any guidance and tell them what to do. They're telling you what to do. Now you're sitting here talking about data centers and what are we going to do? Oh, we're scared. Look at the tax base that they bring in. to our community and the jobs. It looks to me like all you guys care about doing is turning Pasco into Pothead City. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Dockstader.

Yes, ma'am.

Come on up. Just your name and city or county of residence for the record, please.

Hi, I'm Natalie Williams. I'm from Pasco. And I was told that – oh, I left my phone. I have notes, but I was told that we need a list of what we need to do for – during the moratorium. We're needing to have a working meeting, I think, and I don't know if that's what tonight is for, but I thought the moratorium was put in place, and then we were supposed to get – thank you – a working group together to address the citizens' concerns. I'm being told that we don't have a list of citizen concerns, so I quickly made one. Okay, thank you, Rose. Water use, waste water, I'm also being told that there's a wastewater situation where they'll shove it back into the aquifer. So that's, I mean, what water are we using? Are we using our aquifer? Do we have an aquifer? I'm not sure. Noise levels, there's audible noise and then there's noise that we cannot hear. Watershed stability, I don't know if we have a watershed. I'm assuming we do. I don't know if it's going to contribute to that or ruin that. Also, when you discharge water back into the Columbia or whatever's going to happen, you need to know what environmental impact that would have. So we would need to have experts on that. Power usage, what kind of lines, how big are these facilities that we're going to put in? Fire risk, are you going to put a BESS? Amazon when I went to their meeting in Walla Walla that they had this showcase they didn't even know what a BESS is even though they're gonna put a BESS battery storage facility in their Amazon plant okay at the Wallowa Gap they don't know anything about like that there's a bird sanctuary right there right what is what do we want for our our facility what types of data do we want and collected, what types of data centers, what size. And what is it being used for and I don't think the people want surveillance Okay, so what what type of are we using it for cryptocurrency? I thought your moratorium did a great job Listing out all the different types of data centers which horrified most of us So do we need longer do we need longer than a six-month moratorium? It looks like we haven't done anything We didn't have a meeting we were supposed to have so Do we need time to put experts into place? And do we need a year? Do we need a permanent one? I mean, yeah, we would like that. So, I mean, a small data center is fine, but I don't think any of us want the resource, our resources being spent for something that doesn't produce jobs that might actually take our jobs away. I'm a nurse, and I don't want my job being taken away. They'll do discharges with AI. and you won't see your nurse for a discharge, they'll let them do the discharge, like a computer or whoever's remotely doing it. So anyway, I made a list.

Okay, thank you, Ms. Williams. And I know you have my email address. Feel free to send it to me, and I'll share it with the rest of council. It's literally just a quick down. Send me what you, you're more than welcome to send me what you have. Anybody else in the chamber, step right on up.

Mary Mahoney, this is with past comments and requests. The Pasco Aquatic Center Phase 1, Pasco calls the fun phase, has so far cost the taxpayers over $43 million. In the news, Pasco Aquatic Director and ex-Pasco Mayor Matt Watkins said, quote, it's always been known that the Pasco Aquatic Center is going to be out of subsidy, end quote. Are payments to Pasco Aquatic Director Matt Watkins a subsidy? Are payments to Pasco City Attorney Lee Kerr and his proxies a subsidy? Provide the Pasco Aquatic Center's contracts with Matt Watkins, his LLC, and contracts with Lee Kerr and or the Kerr Law Group. Include Mr. Watkins' salary of nearly $11,000 per month. his LLC payments, travel expenses, and provide his passport. Next, provide a pie chart comparing all our tax dollars to be spent on the Pasco Aquatic Center versus all our tax dollars spent on a low-cost spay-neuter clinic for our dogs and cats. See Animal Control's own projection of 50,000 roaming homeless cats in the Tri-Cities. CNews, quote, five years after the Tri-City animal cruelty scandal, cases still lingering, end quote. The lingering cases include 48 counts of animal cruelty, including deaths, bogus certificates, first-degree theft, money laundering, including siphoning a $545,000 donation by our local 93-year-old veteran, his will. Also see A to Z animal sheltering services to locate our missing and or stolen rainy day fund. See news quote pound or shelter. Debate grows on future of Tri-City animal services end quote. Animal control definitely is not a shelter. However, it is a research animal provider. Since 4-16 of 03, Animal Control sends dogs and cats to WSU for research, then they're killed. Or, as Animal Control Angela Zeiler stated, quote, the dogs euthanized at WSU were one's Animal Control would have had to kill anyhow, end quote. See documents provided on 7-2-26, including the ongoing WSU contract with Animal Control and due process violations by Animal Control Ben Ziegen, authorized by Pasco City Attorney Lee Kerr. Many more files are available. And last month news, Pasco suspends Animal Control volunteer. Mr. D. Piazza says it was retaliation. I agree. It was retaliation. Please wrap up, Ms. Mahoney. Request the RCW 42.56 with notice to pass vote.

Thank you, Ms. Mahoney. Ms. Wade, I've got a couple more in front of you, I think, that started their way up first, but we'll definitely get to you.

Come right on up.

Thank you.

I'm Christine Barkley. I'm a Pasco resident. I rise to address the data center development within the region, specifically the tri-city area, Columbia Basin. I have a background in project management in the built environment for more than 30 years. Over the last year, I've spent three to five hours every day studying what is behind the curtain with regard to data centers. Not how they work, but who's working them, why they're interested in it, and what is coming down the pike for those of us here in the West Coast now that we see what they have done in the East. Each one of those situations has brought with it its own heartbreak. The entire nation is speaking out about this. And so I ask you to remember that once we address excuse me, and roll back the moratorium, there will be, you know, issues with concrete being poured and transmission lines and financial scale that these entities outmatch municipal litigation issues. We'll never have enough money to argue with them again. And I will stop there because there's much more. And with my knowledge, I would suggest that we have another hundred hours worth of energy put into this, at least from the staff side, because I know I've put in several hundred hours and it frightens me more than it did when I was a child and I knew my brother was on the enterprise and my mother was worried about nuclear war.

Thank you for your comments, Ms. Barkley.

Hi, my name is Andy Johnson. I live in Pasco. I'm here to support the moratorium on the data centers, and to extend that moratorium.

Okay, if you're going to speak on the moratorium specifically, you can hold that for the public hearing. If you want to talk about data centers in general, this would be the... Okay, let me talk about data centers. Yes, please. Okay. Thank you.

Right now, what's happening in the data center, I don't know what you would call it, in the world, is that the research that's been going into what fuels these data centers is changing so rapidly... that the systems that they have now in place that they are trying to sell the American people will be outdated in a number of years. China is already doing so much more with energy, chips, and data centers than the United States that in two or three years we may be looking at these data centers and going, well, this is a white elephant. What do we need this for? It's just changing that fast. So the pollution that is created by these data centers, noise, water, the runoff contamination, and the stress on resources, I do not believe makes it worthwhile to move ahead swiftly. I think we should wait. And One of the other things that I want to say is that each one of us as a citizen needs to evaluate how we are using this technology. The number one use of AI, like for instance, let's say Siri, is to ask Siri to talk dirty. Okay, so this is a technology that is every time you ask Siri one question, it uses a drop of water. And this is what Americans are using AI for is party games and like who won the Super Bowl in 1969. okay one drop of water every time you use Siri and I think that we need to put a halt to this because America needs to wake up our resources are not unlimited our money is not unlimited and quality of life for Americans it's going downhill thank you thank you for your comments miss Johnson

Ms. Hatch, thank you.

Thank you, LaWanda Hatch, Franklin County, but I do have a PASCO address. I am not sure if this is right, so correct me if I shouldn't be talking here, but I know at the last meeting that we had about the cannabis stores, there was a presentation by the people that were wanting to have this And I guess we can talk more about the lifting of the limit to four. But they were approved at the last meeting. It was said that they had gone to the Road 90 and spoke to people. So as we were leaving, I had asked one of them. I said, I don't believe you. I want to see the signatures that you went door to door. And actually, he puffed up his chest and kind of charged towards me. Not really. I mean, just a couple of steps and started yelling. But his family kind of held him back. But I want to say that I went there today, just for an hour. I only got 17 houses. A lot of people, it was between four and five. People weren't home. There were only three yeses out of the homes that I went to. And I can say that what I found out was not only had they not heard of it coming to their neighborhood, they were not notified the first time it came to their neighborhood. Nobody has consulted these people. They weren't sent anything in the mail. Nothing. They were completely blindsided. As I was leaving, there were two young boys, nine or 10-ish, on their little motor scooters, driving by. One had a helmet, the other one didn't. I thought his mother only knew. But they were going down, and they went up into that parking lot of that business, which right now is just offices. There's no retail outlet in that parkade. And it just has me greatly concerned because on Burns, this road is between Burns and Sandifer, and at the end of Road 90 on Burns are two schools, and one of them is an elementary school. And children are playing in that neighborhood. And I heard some other people say that they were concerned about the speed limit. Cars going through from Burns to Sandifer to the stores is a real problem. They were really relieved when it left. And Mr. Perales, one thing you said, that people need to control their children. Well, I understand that. But children do have a right to live. and be free and play with their buddies in their neighborhood street. And I can also say that from the studies that I've sent you, the studies that were not available the last time this was voted on the first time is that it causes brain injuries. In children, it's irreparable. In adults, it can take two years. The gentleman that burned down Spokane, yeah, he was a THC addict. That is what it does to you. And I can guarantee you. Please wrap up. Sure. Thank you. If there's a school shooting, a lot of the school shooters used marijuana. It is not the 1970s with 1% to 3%. Thank you. Ms. Hatch.

Sir, thank you. I'm going to ask one question of our legal counsel before you go. Mr. Kenney, that's going to be a little tougher subject to, I think, keep within the guardrails of public comment and the public hearing itself. Is there a line that I should be especially wary of or aware of?

Are you referring to the cannabis discussion? Yes. Yeah, so the public hearing is on code changes, and so if there are just general comments, which is what I personally was hearing, general comments and no comments on how the code should change, how the code revisions are good or bad, and policies behind it, I think you're doing fine, but if they're speaking to the code changes, reasons there should be code changes, then it should be in the public hearing. But that seemed to be generalized and didn't touch on the ordinance at all.

Perfect. Thanks for the points of clarification. Go ahead, sir. Name and city or county of residence.

Yes, sir. My name is Daniel Christensen. I live in Pasco. Thank you guys for being here. So, yeah, like I said, I'm a resident of Pasco. This past Saturday, local families arriving at the Pasco Sporting Complex for regular ongoing seasonal softball games were forced to pay a parking fee to enter the main lot. We were told this fee was mandatory because a regional soccer tournament was happening simultaneously under a temporary special event permit. While I understand that large tournaments bring a lot of benefit to Pasco and that they have the right to manage their lease space, I believe that our family, friends, and players show up to play these municipal leagues should not be forced to be treated as out-of-town tourists or pay taxes. commercial gate fee just to park at a public facility that we already fund through our property taxes and through ongoing Fees that we already paid for playing in the games our families and friends are being charged simply for occupying our parking space and no distinction made for the sport we are actually there to play. That creates unfair financial barrier for regular local players and their guests that are just trying to utilize the city parks as originally intended. I am asking the City Council to direct the Parks and Recreation Department to update its special event permit policy. Moving forward, any organization running a shared municipal sports facility must be required to provide a league player and family free parking pass. or designate a protected free parking zone for regular seasonal league participants. In addition to this topic, I also wanted to bring up a topic as far as schools. I know you guys do not direct schools, but you do have a hand in them, and My son went to James McGee for kinder, first and second grade, and the HVAC system was broken all three years. My nieces and nephews currently go there. That was two years ago. It is still broken. Given our climate around here, that is a huge burden. The school department has a a specific policy regarding this in which when the temperature is overly hot, they will do indoor recess. Indoor recess does not work when the HVAC is not working. So I would ask you guys to direct the school department to look into this situation.

Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Just a couple of clarifications on... Christensen. Oh, Christensen, sorry. And I had to switch my page. I typed it in there. Thank you, Mr. Christensen. A couple of things is actually, no, we have no oversight whatsoever of the schools, but the school board, I was just looking it up is what I was doing, is 6.30 on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month where the school board meets right there off of Lewis Street. They would be the ones that can hear and actually do something about that. We are completely separate entities. And you have zero oversight over them? Absolutely zero, yes, sir. And then also, Ms. Bichon, If she might be able to get your contact information because I know Even some people address summers or went to summer sub in Pasco There was some frustration also that day about some of the parking everything and we'd love to dig into that So if you wouldn't mind providing her some more information, maybe we can follow up, but I can do thank you for your comments Anybody else in the chamber? Thank you Miss Wade

Good evening, and I do appreciate the council taking September as Suicide Awareness Month seriously. If you have not heard of the name Jared High, I would like to remind Pascoe who he was. Jared was 13 years old and attended middle school here in Pascoe. After being severely assaulted by another student, he struggled physically and emotionally. On September 29, 1998, Jared died by suicide. his mother turned that loss into advocacy testified before the washington legislator legislate and helped push stronger anti-bully protections jared's story later became connected to legislation known as jared's law in november of 2023 members of jared's family were helping bring water to our neighborhood here at the sands mobile home park That same month, on Thanksgiving Eve, another mother from our community was helping pass out five gallon jugs to residents here in our park. She showed up week after week helping others. Less than a month later, I learned while she was looking for her son, had taken his own life. I attended his celebration of life. Those are two families connected here to Pasco and there are many more stories we will never know about. Did you know that actually Benton Franklin County's highest suicide rate is not in fact our children, it is in fact people 65 plus. But we should not have to know those stories before deciding somebody deserves dignity. We should not have to decide whether someone suffered long enough, worked hard enough, or behaved perfectly enough before treating them like human beings. And during Suicide Prevention Month, I think we need to look at our own behavior. Suicide is not funny. Mental illness is not funny. Somebody struggling is not entertainment. So Pasco, what are we actually going to do with Suicide Prevention Month? not just what we're going to proclaim. What are we going to change in the way we treat people? Because we should not need somebody's tragedy before we stop laughing. And housing is suicide prevention. Healthcare is suicide prevention. Disability support is suicide prevention, along with being treated with dignity and respect. And we should not need their obituary before deciding they deserve compassion. If we truly mean suicide prevention, then perhaps the first thing we can do is stop requiring people to prove their pain before we treat them like human beings. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. White. Thank you for keeping Jared's memory, too.

Mayor, council members, staff, I'm Jason Malloy, the general manager of the Pasco Resource Recovery Center. It's great to see all you again. I am pleased to share another positive financial update on behalf of Burnham and highlight the continued work of our team as we strive to be an exceptional long-term partner. to the City of Pasco and food processors. Last week, following the completion and filing of our 2025 tax return, Burnham finalized the second stage of an investment tax credit transaction that will result in an additional $3.6 million being provided directly to the City of Pasco within the next 30 days. The finalization of our tax return allowed us to identify and capture additional tax credit value associated with the construction of the Pasco Resource Recovery Center. Capturing these additional tax credits were neither simple nor guaranteed. It required significant effort from our team to identify and complete this opportunity, and we are extremely pleased to deliver this outcome. Importantly, we understand that every additional dollar we are able to return to the city helps offset the overall cost of this infrastructure, improves the economics of the broader system, and helps reduce the financial burden on the system and its ratepayers. This is a tangible benefit of our partnership and one Burnham takes very seriously. This is also a great example of the type of value we believe a long-term partnership delivers. We remain committed to identifying opportunities that create value for the city and to improve the overall economics of the Pasco Resource Recovery Center and the broader process water reuse facility. As we look ahead, our priorities remain the same to be an exceptional long-term partner and proactively pursue opportunities through renewable energy, operational improvements, cost reductions, and new revenues that deliver meaningful financial value to the city and its rate payers. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Malloy, for the update. Anybody else in the council chamber want to address council? Yes, sir.

Hi, I'm Wilson from Pasco. I'd like to talk about what a proclamation is and how it applies. Good night for that. To stop the website, it's an opportunity for the city to recognize exceptional events, recognize and celebrate the extraordinary achievements of Pasco citizens. And Pasco nonprofit organizations to honor occasions of importance and significance to increase public awareness of issues to improve the well-being of the people of this city, which we had good examples of tonight. I'm really proud of a lot of the things that we do. I'm Pasco proud. I was born here. There's a definite policy when it comes to proclamations. For example, we're unable to accommodate proclamations for out-of-community events or for profit causes. Also, we ask that national or international groups requesting proclamations have an in-city sponsor. What I'm getting at is about a year ago I came in. I was really proud that we were gonna recognize Hispanic Heritage Month with proclamation. I love living in the city. The Hispanic culture has shaped me as a person and taught me about a lot of things that I would not have learned elsewhere. What I was surprised of on that night is it was brought to the city to also recognize the passing of this guy, Charlie Kirk, that I had no idea who he was. If you go back to that video, you'll know that I said, I'm going to look into it. See if he has a Pasco tie, if he's You know, who his in-city sponsor is, at least, because that's supposed to be how we do a proclamation. And it also says on the website, if we don't meet those very easy requirements that are spelled right here, that I just mentioned. The greetings from the mayor or other forms of recognition, excuse me, can be issued when a proclamation does not meet the guidelines. So I'd just like to point all that out. Is there a way we can rescind, reform, move that? Hey, I got an idea. Dolly Parton was mentioned. More kids in Pasco have been helped by her imagination library than I ever found any evidence Charlie Kirk had an influence on anybody in Pasco. So come on, man. Can we put the politics aside, realize that that was a flash in the pan, and that that was nothing that we should pursue politically or be proud of as someone who lives in Pasco? So I don't know what we can do, but that's my thought on that. So anyway, as far as that goes, Data centers. Technology is too new. At whose expense are we guinea pigs? The employment is going to be up front. It's not going to be ongoing. And who knows what unknown hazards without consideration lie in wait for our resources. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Wilson.

Yes, please. Step right on up. Name and city or county of residency for the record, please.

Thank you. Tanya Logsdon, Pascoe. here in Franklin County. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I'm here to talk about the cannabis retail store that you guys want to include another one in. I'm not sure if you guys are aware, but 16 years ago, Pasco was recognized by the Health Care Authority as one of the worst cities in the state with a drug problem. And since then, we have had a prevention coalition here in the city. And we have been working hard to reduce youth substance use. Raising the Raising the cap is a premature step that disrupts the balance within Pasco and the safety of our kids. Roughly 20% of adults in Pasco use cannabis. This does not support bringing another cannabis store into the city when that would actually do more harm to the rest of the residents here in Pasco. It also changes the fabric of our commercial and residential zones. It places an additional burden on our local law enforcement and regulatory staff who must monitor these facilities. More importantly, expanding access signals a normalization that conflicts with our community's shared goal of preventing underage substance use and protecting our youth. I have a background in substance use disorder, and so I read a lot of studies. I do a lot of stuff with that. And a study by Washington State University found that regular exposure to storefront advertising in close neighborhood proximity to retailers significantly increases adolescents' intentions to use marijuana. And it also increases their perceived availability. High concentrations of retailers lower a teenager's perceived risk of the drug. When a cannabis shop is visible in their daily routine, youth report viewing the substance as easier to access and less harmful, which later on leads to more use amongst youth as they get older. And this directly correlates to risky usage patterns. It was previously, stated that there are two schools with...

Please wrap up. Please, thank you. Sorry. You're okay.

Two schools that are within the bounds of the store. Roughly 2,000 students go to these two schools, and a good portion of those kids are walking and biking every day and seeing this store.

Thank you for your comments. Thank you. Appreciate it. Yes, sir. Step right on up. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Fernando Magana. I'm a PASCO resident. Thank you council members for all being here tonight. Thank you guys for your information about cannabis. My question is how many bars do we have that are close to local neighborhoods that are close to schools that might have an impact on what kids do when it comes to alcohol. As far as I know, every marijuana dispensary that I've driven by, if I blink, I miss it. They're not advertising. They don't have big neon signs. They don't have advertisements in stores where families go in a grocery shop and kids see the display for the Super Bowl party this weekend or whatever holiday that's going on. As far as I'm concerned, I don't know very many people that have to go and steal and pawn stuff off for their marijuana addiction. Marijuana, in my opinion, is, I mean, not bad. I mean, it's in its infancy, of course, with legalization. Just like when alcohol was in its infancy, people hated it. You know, and look at it now, I guess. I know a lot of people more so that go home at night and have a glass of wine or have a couple beers to take the edge off. As far as I'm concerned, alcohol is more dangerous than any other drug that has potential to be illegal. So if we could just consider that, I mean, that's all I've got to say, I guess. Thank you for your comments, Mr. Fernando.

Mr. Mayor, we do have one person online.

Oh, perfect. I'll take this one more comment since the gentleman's up. Thank you for letting me know. Thank you.

Hello. Good evening, everyone. My name is Marco Serna. I'm a Benton County resident. So I'd like to start off by saying I'm in favor of the motion of a fifth cannabis retail shop to be allowed in Pasco with my full support for Compise LLC being that fifth retailer.

Mayor?

Yes, sir.

Speaking to the addition of a cannabis location is specifically for the public hearing and just would remind the public of that.

Oh, thank you. So, yeah, if you want to talk more general, but you're more than welcome to bring those comments to the public hearing in about 20 minutes.

Yes, sir. I have no specific criteria for breaking down the codes and all that. So with persistent demonstrated success, Compas LLC, they've already set themselves above average and shown community their work ethic and proven how devoted they are to not only making the community their work, excuse me, not only making a difference, but being the difference that this social equity program has outlined for individuals like Compas LLC. This isn't just some handout that gets passed down to the undeserving Rather, it's an opportunity for individuals who found themselves, unfortunately, categorized as some sort of negative statistic set forth by society based off their upbringing in life, race, and financial struggles. So one thing that really stood out and hasn't sat well with me from listening in on the council meeting that was held on August 3rd to vote this motion in was a comment made from Mayor Grimm in regard to the social equity program, and I quote, I would just respond for me personally by saying we have already gone above and granted one social equity license for somebody who just perhaps in our society was unfairly treated or didn't have all the opportunities someone else had. So I believe we've already met that basis, and this is just opening it up to what would be an unending amount of continuing to open it up, end quote. So to that, I say yes, this is opening it up for these individuals and hopefully in the future for the other cities to recognize the potential and beneficial aspect that this program has laid out per se. With that, who's to say there's a cap or limit on opportunity for individuals involved in this program just because of their social status? On another note, I'd like to mention that I am a former frequent cannabis user who hasn't partaked for over eight years now. I was presented with the career opportunity that required me to exclude myself from cannabis use, and I can affirmatively say that it was easy as flipping a light switch, given you have the right mindset, willpower, and drive to make that change for the better and to be the difference like COMPAS LLC has and will continuously prove themselves to be. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for your comments. Ms. Figdell, yes. Oh, hold on, Mr. Toronto. I want to take the comment that's been waiting online. You will be next, sir. Okay.

We have somebody online. Their last four-digit of the phone number is 2493. If you could speak, if you have something, a public comment to make.

If you are online and your phone number ends with 2493, if you would speak up, if you are able to, name and city a county of residency.

We can come back to that.

Thank you. Okay, Mr. Toronto.

Hi, my name is Taylor Taranto. I'm a Pasco City resident, and I just wanted to make an announcement to the city of Pasco that while you can't prove it, I solved it, and that is the sphere packing problem in higher dimensions. I solved it, and I want to present it really fast. So it's really interesting because you take any prime number and you square it, and then you minus one, and that delivers you the result of what dimensions. It's very simple, so anyone can do it. That's why I wanted to share it. And it's an unsolved problem in math, so I figured I'm past go proud to announce I solved it, and it's prime squared minus one. That's all.

Thank you, Mr. Taranto. Anybody else in the chamber for public comment? Anybody else in the chamber? Oh, sorry, didn't see you. You got stuck in the corner tonight.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, and city staff. Thomas Granbois, Big Maple Properties, 108 North 4th Avenue. I think it's great that we have the attendance proclamation sitting in full chambers here. It's not often that I have to stand in the back. So congratulations, everybody, being able to come here and take part of the Civic. your civic requirements or duties. I wanted to talk a little bit about Tri-Cities Best. I don't know if everybody takes their time to read that, but it's put on by the Tri-City Herald. And I wanted to give a shout out to two of our downtown businesses, Cafe Con Arte, which is downtown on 4th and Columbia. They got silver in the Best Art Gallery. And Ciao Trattoria on North 4th between Lewis and Clark got gold for Best Italian Food. So if you want to come downtown Pasco, it's open for business. And that sort of dovetails into my next comment was about the specialty kitchen. Because the specialty kitchen is really, it's a great incubator for businesses. A lot of times you don't see it. but because a lot of vendors use it to serve food off-site or they use it as a jumping start to get their brick and mortar. So I wanted to highlight some of these winners over the past four years that either had their start at the specialty kitchen or are still using it. Some of these may sound familiar. We got Swampy's Barbecue, Cafe Magnolia, Middleton Farms, Doggystyle Hot Dogs, Ann's Best Creole, and the Country Mercantile. So those are some great success stories, and it's really important that we continue to support the specialty kitchen as what it is. It's hard to see the initial... you know, the initial benefit. But if you look over the long run, it's really a great thing. I want to sort of dovetail back into Child Tutoria, who got gold this year for the Italian restaurant. They started in the specialty kitchen, and we actually recruited them to come into our building. And they've been there for, I think, four years now. And they're to the point where they are packed on the weekends. This upcoming weekend, actually, they have their final event in the alley going on. And I don't know if anybody's had a chance to check it out, but this is happening in downtown where we close down alleys and we bring down fine dining and we fill those tables. So we're open for business. Come downtown and make sure to support the specialty kitchen. Oh, and one other thing. Ms. Mahoney made a comment about spaying and neutering. There are two great organizations for anybody that's not aware. There's Prevent Homeless Pets and Pet Overpopulation Prevention in the Tri-Cities. I know that we have, personally, my wife and I have spayed and neutered well over 100 cats through them. So if you're looking for a great organization that does that, I'd highly recommend supporting them. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Appreciate your tireless advocacy for downtown. Come right on up. Yes, please.

Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. My name is Melissa Michael, and I am a member of PASCO, a citizen of PASCO, and I wanted to add my voice to those who were expressing concerns on the data centers as far as water and energy usage, have concerns about health impacts. noise levels, and then also cost that may be passed on to us. I also wanted to ask about or just talk about flock cameras. I went recently and was trying to find information on it and had a hard time finding out the information. I know that there's a Washington State, you know, Ferguson issued some regulations that need to be followed. And then I did see a Facebook post by a lieutenant for the Pasco Police Department that was talking about, you know, we've had some version of these since 2009, which they're very different today, of course, and that they're following the Washington state law that doesn't allow the data to be shared outside of Washington. So it seems like maybe they are active now, and they do have concerns about that on who is monitoring it, where is the transparency, and even if we're not sharing it or if our City isn't sharing it outside. What are the organizations they're sharing it to within the state? And what's to stop when it goes to flock servers or Axon or whoever it is, that organization to share it outside. I did see that flock had changed some terms and that they were being, in their new terms of service, were asking for permanent rights or saying they got permanent rights over info that was collected from public streets. And so I just wanted to express my concerns on that, that we don't become a surveillance state and get rid of our freedoms.

Thank you for your comment, Ms. Michael. Thank you, Ms. Sigdell. We'll try the comment online again. Thank you. If you are online, it looks like your hand is raised. Yes, go right ahead. Naaman City or County of Residency, for the record, please.

Hi, my name is I live in the city of Pasco and I too have some concerns about the data centers coming into the area. I see what we're learning from other places and towns is that they use an enormous amount of energy which is going to raise the cost for the local citizens. They also use a lot of water. The noise that they make is tremendous The light pollution that they create is also tremendous, and I believe that a six-month moratorium is not sufficient. I think we need to have a longer period of time so that we can actually have some information brought forward. I'm not prepared to speak at all, but I do have the concerns, and I'm glad that I can raise that, and I think that more of the citizens of the community should be able to speak up and learn some more information because I think that everything's going way too quick around the country and it's in the best interest of the community to protect the citizens first over the people that are coming in. The drugs that they're going to provide are minuscule to the amount of stress it's going to put on the community itself. So I think that you guys have an obligation to us to actually have some constructive dialogue with no NDAs hidden here and hidden there and and actually have some talks about is it going to benefit our community in some aspect, and what are those things, and what is the detriment that it's going to bring to our community, too. And I'd just like to say thank you for having this. I'm interested when the public meeting is being going to be held, and I'm not sure when that is.

All right. Thank you for your comments. And that was the only person we had online, Ms. Signell. Awesome. Back open in the chamber. Anybody else like to speak on anything not directly related to our public hearing? A lot of people in here. This is your opportunity. Oh, very good. Yes, sir. Step right on up. Name or city or county of residency for the record, please.

Good evening, Councilman. My name is Alex Diaz. I lived here in Pasco, Washington most of my life. I live in Kennewick, though, but... Once I heard about another dispensary being open here in Pasco, I was all in for it. Knowing that Compas LDC is going to be mostly black, Hispanic, and Mediterranean, made me believe I'm more willing to go for it. I'm in support of the fifth dispensary in Pasco, which I believe is going to be very beneficial for the city of Pasco and its people. That's all I've got to say.

Thank you, Mr. Diaz. Appreciate your comments. Yes, sir. Come on up.

Hi, my name is Zeke Marone. I actually just retired. It's been about a year and a half since I retired. And I'm here for the cannabis issue. I had not partaken in cannabis, you know, until then, because I retired from the Marine Corps, did not then. Went out to nuclear security, did 20 years there. So like 40 years that I did not partake in it. Stopped drinking five years ago. But again, a year and a half ago, I retired. And I have to... partaking in the use of cannabis. And I could tell you this, some of the comments that I'm listening to tonight, you know, it just blows my mind. You know, I've gone to the store, bought alcohol, not once have I, you know, on the way home, driving erratically or anything like that, you know. Now that I go get some cannabis, same thing, you know. And, you know, one of the comments about the guy who burned, spoke hand down, probably, you know, smoked cannabis or what have you. Now I think that guy had some mental issues, you know. I think we could all agree on that, you know. I'm not a pothead like one of the guys said earlier. But, again, I'll take it on occasion. Okay. I can tell you this. I was at a Mariner game. I had a sciatica issue. Good thing my hotel was just across the street. And yes, the only thing that helped me was some cannabis. I didn't smoke it or anything, but I took a chocolate. I guess that's, you know, another word for it. But as far as, you know, some of the things that are said where people are in danger or things like that, I don't see it at all. I've been a first responder for my whole life. I've always been on the right side of the law. I always try to do the right thing ever since I moved to Pasco. I've been a Pasco resident since I retired from the military. And again, if I didn't believe in it, I wouldn't support it. That's why I'm here. And thanks for your time.

Thank you. Thanks for your service to our country also. Thank you. All right. Anybody else in the chamber for public comment not related to a public hearing? You, sir. Step right on up.

Good evening. My name is Mike. I'm from Pasco. I'm here tonight because I believe the process used to award Pasco's newest cannabis retail opportunity was unfair.

Well, sir, yeah, keep maybe more general. Your comments, we're going to have a public hearing on that and some of those, and it's just two agenda items away. We get too specific. You're more than welcome. We'd love to hear your comments then. Might be the best time. Yes, sir. Yep. Hold those for now. Anybody else in the room for just general public comments? Going once. Going twice. Last call for public comments. Not seeing any. We are going to close public comments and we are going to move on. Oh, come on up. You can squeak it under the wire.

Good evening. I'm Sam Alaniz, resident of Pasco. I just want to say that I'm the gentleman that the lady had approached, and the way she had approached me was in an aggressive way. It started out with, I don't believe you guys went knocking on doors. Well, that's absolutely false. We did, and I've got the proof here. This is my side of the street, which I've got names, addresses, whether they support us, do not support us, or they have zero objection to us with signatures. However, with her approach, I didn't feel like it was necessary for me to show her anything, right? Who is she? Nobody to me. But nonetheless, I was made aware that she was out there knocking on doors because we made friends out there that day. And I left my phone number with many residents because I want them to have a way to contact me if they ever have any concerns today or in the future. But I was made aware that she was out there on a ring video from a friend of mine. So at that point what I did was I reached out to a gentleman who happens to live directly across the street, second home in, who I met that day when I was knocking on doors. But before I get there, I want to say that I had also seen online comments with people doubting that Zack and I were knocking on doors. They said because they live in the neighborhood. Well, I didn't feel a need to respond to them, but I'll just let it be known now. That was about four or five weeks ago maybe that we went out. In the evening, we chose to go about 5.30 to 6.30. And it was pretty hot out, so we didn't hit, we didn't knock on every door in the neighborhood, right? So no, we didn't knock on every single door. But we did reach about 60 homes and we had a great response. And I invited a gentleman here tonight, Omar, he's sitting back there raising his hand. He lives two doors in. I mean, if he slams his trunk, I could hear him from the store location. But nonetheless, I don't know if he wants to come up and say a couple words, but that's what I have to say. So this is the list. This is mine. Zach has his as well. But I'd be more than happy to share with anybody who wants to look at it, but I can't hand this over to anybody because it's got private information on it. But thank you.

Perfect. Thank you. All right, now we are going to move on to number seven, reports from committees and or officers. Events, anything? Nothing? We're going to keep rolling. Oh, thank you, Mr. Hernandez.

I did go to Heavenly Scoops and Ice Cream. I guess they have their grand opening, which is on the address, which is a new coffee and ice cream shop. I had a gelato, which they said it was freshly made. But I was with my nieces and nephews, and they were making too much racket. So I did not ask if they actually make it there or not, but they said it was freshly made. So I'm assuming they make it there. But it was very good. Peach gelato. I recommend it. It was very, very good. And they're on 939 South 10th Avenue, right before the bridge. So if you have a chance, you can go try some gelato, ice cream, heavy scoops, and coffee.

It was good. Awesome. No, thank you, Mr. Hernandez. Appreciate it. I attended the Stark Design Plus ribbon cutting there in the old Signs by Sue building there off of 10th Avenue. City Manager Stewart was also there. Great facility. Love everything they've got going. Love some of the projects they had going on. bringing revenue into the city of Pasco so I know we have a long night and a lot of more a lot more things to discuss so with that we will continue on this is number eight hearings and council action on ordinances and resolutions relating there to letter a is a public hearing ordinance number 4850 imposing a six-month moratorium on licenses and permits related to new data centers cryptocurrency mining facilities blockchain computing facilities and and artificial intelligence computing facilities. And with that, we are going to go to our Deputy Director, Mr. Raymond. Good evening, sir.

Good evening. Thank you very much, Mayor and Council Members. As you know, on July 20th, 2026, the City Council adopted Ordinance 4850, which declared an emergency, that the emergency existed, and that it was in the public interest to place a temporary moratorium on permitting and licensing of data centers for cryptocurrency mining facilities, blockchain computing facilities, artificial intelligence computing facilities, and other high-density computing facilities. I'll just refer to them generally as data centers from now on. As you know, permitting and construction of facilities known as data centers are rapidly expanding across the country, including right here in Washington State. There's significant urgency in both the expansion of the data center infrastructure due to the demand for increasing capacity, and on the flip side, there can be significant opposition, as you've heard, to some of these facilities due to the concerns of the impact to the communities they're located in. Since the adoption of the ordinance, staff is working on outreach to other communities which have navigated the data center issue successfully, learning real-world examples of impacts, whether they be positive or negative, related to data center development and to develop appropriate regulations for the city of Pascoe. In accordance with RCW 3670A390, we are required to hold a public hearing within 60 days of the adoption of Ordinance 4850, and staff requests that the council hold the hearing this evening, but is expecting no other formal action other than just to hold the hearing. So at this point, I'll turn it over to you, Mr. Mayor, and please do conduct the hearing. Thank you.

Okay, thank you, Mr. Raymond. And I guess it's important to know before we open up the public hearing, a moratorium is basically just putting a pause on this for a period of time while we figure it out. And the ordinance Mr. Raymond mentioned that we passed was for a six-month moratorium. As one commenter tonight, yes, we can extend that. You can't go permanent with it, though. That becomes something other than a moratorium at that time. But this is just a period of time. The city council set out six months to really just to study this more for staff to dig in. For us also, I was talking with another council member today, just trying to dig in and do their own research, too, and everything like that, apart even from what staff is giving us feedback on. So we're going to open this public hearing. And again, this is comments just related to a moratorium, just the period of time of the moratorium, not general comments. That was our prior public comment period. So this public hearing is just for the six month moratorium. And with that, I will open this public hearing. Would anybody in the council chambers like to come forward and speak specifically to the moratorium on what is generally called data centers and other related entities? Yes, ma'am, come on up. If you'd be so kind as to state your name again for the record, and again, just related to the moratorium, please.

I'm Christine Barkley. My family's been here 140 years. I'm concerned, not as an anti-tech person, but I am concerned about what it means for the future within the context of this discovery that you're going to go through for the moratorium. You have a limited list of issues that you identified, and I would like to suggest that you put a longer list of issues to consider, those of which I might at some point be able to support in addition. I'd say them tonight, but it's not going to introduce any enthusiasm here at this point. But it is very important that that not be the sole focus of what is explored which is in the body of your ordinance and the docket so that's what i have to say right now i mean everything i have to say is not pro for data centers mainly because of what their end game is and the effect on humanity but the long list of what should be explored within this moratorium needs to be expanded

Thank you, Ms. Barclay. And feel free to send those comments to me, to all of council, to staff, so that we can really look at everything you think we should consider. Absolutely. Yes, step right on up, ma'am.

Again, I'm Natalie Williams and I'm from Pasco. And I just want to address that it just seems like if we're going to visit data centers or all that and gain that type of information, which is what happened the last time we came here, we had reports of things of what the data centers said that was going on that was positive for our city. I would like us to consider that we need to, in this time period, make sure that we understand what the data center is going to be used for and make sure that it's not one of these hyperscale ones. And it seems like the other cities are having you guys come look at the data centers and saying, oh, look at all of what it can do. But we need to be careful because while they might give us a lot of tax income that we can make and use, what is the ramifications? And we might need a longer moratorium. It seems like we do because If this is all we have and this is our first hearing, it seems like more work needs to be done. And I'm a little bit disappointed that there isn't a committee already. there should already be a committee. And we need scientists. We have a huge science community here. Where are they? And why are they not speaking up in the community? Are they being told to be quiet? I mean, what's going on? Because we have a huge amount of very smart people, and they're not helping us in Richland Residence. They're not helping us in Walla Walla. I'm not hearing from anybody commenting and making any educated comments. We have scientists. Why aren't they speaking up? So I'm just curious.

Thank you, Ms. Williams. Appreciate it. Anybody else want to speak specifically? Yes, step right on up. Specifically to the moratorium, please.

Again, Wilson Pascoe. So I'm not familiar with moratoriums. But what comes to mind, is it possible to make it indefinite pending the outcome of a vote of a concerned citizen panel of maybe five people that are out there getting the details, that are digging up the dirt, that are actually taking the responsibility out of your hands maybe i mean maybe that's something to consider i just need to know if we made an indefinite with that requirement that's what i'm putting out there awesome thank you mr wilson appreciate anybody else want to speak specifically on the moratorium during this public hearing time this is the appropriate time mr taranto thank you

Hi, Taylor Taranto again, Pesco resident. So I'm familiar with a lot of data center stuff and data science. And as I understand it, data centers is kind of a misnomer because it's more like a computational resource center. And while data storage is pretty much ironed out, as far as I'm aware, I think we need to be more aware, if anything, about what happens with consumer grade technology, about this moratorium specifically as well. If we don't put it here, they're just going to take their their service elsewhere. So in one respect, it's a doable thing. But in another respect, it's like we're really aware of what they're doing with the data and computational.

Yeah, Mr. Trento, just to the moratorium, just to the time period, if you would, please. Correct. That's what I'm talking about. Thank you.

Yeah, well.

It's hard to not, I know, not go general with it.

It's not, well, I can be general, too, about this specific incident, I think. You can talk to your counsel. But what I'm going to say here is that what they're specifically doing with the data is, and how they're manipulating the data and running computations against our data should be looked at. And it shouldn't be neglected. And, you know, it's seemingly like, you know, while we're concerned about this and this is just business, one of the things that we have for gone still and we're not talking about, at least I'm not aware of, is the sex offenders in our city. They're coming.

Thank you, Mr. Trento. Appreciate it. Anybody else want to speak specifically to the moratorium?

Yeah, I would. Oh, name one more time if you would. Andy Johnson, I live in Pasco.

Thank you.

I would advocate for a longer length of study, a longer moratorium. What is the rush? What is the rush on this? And I think it's really interesting that the only person who stood up tonight and advocated for data centers was a real estate guy. So does that tell us anything about where the interests lie? It's big money. It's big money. Is it a scam? Are they shoving it down our throats as fast as they can before the technology changes and we realize that now we have this big data center in our community that's worthless to us and it isn't even top of the line cutting edge technology anymore. What do you do then? And so my question is, what is the rush?

Thanks. Awesome. Thank you. Appreciate it. Anybody else in the chamber want to speak specifically to the moratorium? Last call, speaking specifically, our public hearing on the moratorium we have imposed on new data centers going once, going twice. We are going to close this public hearing. Anybody on council want to make comments about that issue before we move on? Mr. Cotta.

Yeah. There's a great list of concerns that I've heard tonight about data centers. And I really think that this moratorium should go on as long as we have those concerns. And so, you know, six months, it's just like a predetermined set of time to kind of figure out where we want to go with this. And if we want to extend the moratorium, we can certainly do that. The comments about data centers possibly becoming obsolete, that wouldn't surprise me at all. What I think is interesting and what I've looked into with data centers is a lot of it is contingent on the time the data center is built regarding what issues they have and how careful the cities were in holding the people who are creating the data centers accountable. You know, they can make, bring your own power source. It can't be connected to our grid. And then they come up with their own power source. And then it's not an energy problem anymore. In fact, it can contribute energy to the cities. And so there are things where if we hold them accountable, it works out. I don't have an answer for things like magnetic fields and things that are causing people issues with headaches and stuff like that. But I'm not going to want to sign on for one until we see some of these data centers work in a way that we see the communities are satisfied by them. So that's just kind of where I stand on it. I guess if I'm for or against, I'm against them right now because the way that I'm seeing a lot of these things work, they're not working that well for everybody. And they need to work well for everybody. So that's just where I am on it. Thank you.

Mr. Perales?

Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, I know. Just to provide some context, the reason why I brought this to the council a couple months ago, about a month or so ago, was in regards to reviewing City of Richland City Council meetings and seeing the individuals come there and speak against them. data centers or where are they at with the Atlas Agro data center. And so I think it was incumbent upon us to review what regulations we have in the books, land use policy and what have you. Another thing in there was also about energy. Do we have the energy? So that's the context behind the moratorium. And I'm for the moratorium, but this really to me is a pause. It was just a let's reset, let's make sure we have the regulations in place so that we're not being impacted. A lot of people are starting to see that some places across the country are being impacted by these data centers. So yes, at one point, someone could have came in, an entity, a Microsoft, a or Amazon could come in and essentially develop if they had everything that they needed to develop it. And so we just put this pause in place so that we can grab the information, BECAUSE OF NEW INFORMATION HAS BEEN GIVEN TO US THROUGH STUDIES AND ALL THESE OTHER IMPACTS WE'VE SEEN ACROSS THE NATION. BUT REALLY, I REALLY WANTED TO UNDERSTAND THE TIMELINE OF, YOU KNOW, ANY UPDATES ON BEHALF OF MAYBE THIS WORK GROUP. IF YOU LOOK IN THE PACKET, THERE IS NEXT STEPS. AND I'LL JUST GO AHEAD AND SAY THOSE FOR DISCUSSION REAL QUICK. SO THE NEXT STEPS BASED ON THE STAFF REPORT WOULD BE GATHER SUCCESSFUL EXAMPLES OF CODIFIED DATA CENTER REGULATIONS AND OTHER FEEDBACK VALUABLE FOR THE CITY COUNCIL AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS. conduct additional public meetings to gather community feedback on potential impacts and concerns, direct staff to draft and present a recommended data center ordinance no later than December 2026, and then council could hopefully adopt ordinances and lift the moratorium no later than six months following adoption of this moratorium. And so I want to look to staff to see where we're at with those public meetings, when are those, because doing the math, we're essentially about 90 days away from the Christmas break and 90 days will come very fast, and so I think providing the community with a timeline of what we have in mind, community meetings, leaning on individuals, you know, like over there in southeastern Oregon, Boardman, you can tell the Hermiston area, we can talk with those cities and what they have found with the impacts, and and pros and cons of the data centers, but also leaning on individuals in the community. Like Ms. Parkley, she sent an email a couple weeks ago. Great stuff. It made me think about a lot of different stuff in regards to data centers. So where are we at with the next steps? Have we secured any times for meetings and days? I think the community wants to know that so that we're not – I would hate to see us punt this at the December 7th meeting, like into 2027, or extend the moratorium. You know, are we on pace for some type of study? I know that we're looking to do perhaps a tour over in Quincy. That's all good stuff, but where are we at with the timeline?

Mr. Mayor, members of council, I think you guys have correctly represented tonight that this was, as a pause, this is to give us some time to research how our ordinances currently handle things, what items should be considered as we develop an ordinance on how to address issues how these uses are allowed within our community. So we're working on all that. I'm also trying to make sure that it's not one-sided, that we're not just giving the council all the pros or all the arguments against, that you're hearing equally from both sides. And so we're working with the Port of Pasco staff who have some more expertise than city staff does on these issues to help arrange for tours to Quincy, which they've had a lot of success with data centers. Also looking at communities, as you suggested, like Umatilla, Oregon, and some of those that maybe their experiences haven't been as positive, so we can learn from them. And also setting up some presentations to come forward to council in an open public meeting similar to this. where there's experts on both sides that can answer questions publicly regarding the pros and cons of data centers. We're also using the Port of Pasco's connections with Denmark. Denmark has had some successful design of data centers that address a lot of the environmental and utility issues that have been discussed and whether or not there's anything that they've done that we can also consider and adopt here in Pasco going forward. Those schedules will be posted as part of agendas as they come forward. But again, we're trying to do a balanced of both sides of the issues and giving time for the council and the public to ask questions and raise their concerns and have those explored going forward. Given the amount of issues, depending on once that panel has come and done their presentation and answered questions, there may not be enough time left to develop an ordinance, and there may need to be some extension of the moratorium at that point. But we'll handle that when we get to that point.

There is no hurry on this.

Okay, thank you. Yeah, I'd just say we'd love to see, like Mr. Prowl said, number two, additional public meetings. It's hard for some of them. We heard the comment tonight about just public involvement and engagement and those kind of things. I'll be honest with you. This is something we really struggle with, just not on this issue, but as a society. We held four meetings across the city about the state pushing sexual, violent predators into our neighborhoods. and they were sparsely attended, you know, just a handful of people. And these are huge issues affecting our community. And, you know, it's great to see a full chamber tonight. It really is. We love to see this chamber full and community engagement. It's your city. But at the same time... We need people to be involved, and it is a struggle. Not only this, but in school organizations and church organizations, it is a struggle to motivate people to action, to be involved. So this is definitely not unique in this. But yes, I look forward to reaching out to the public more, learning more, seeing everything we can find. Mr. Figueroa couldn't be here tonight, but he emailed all of council, and I asked him if he wanted his comments put forward, if there was a discussion, and he said yes. So these are Councilman Mark Figueroa's comments he emailed to all of us this afternoon regarding this issue. He says, regarding data centers, I support developing sound. consistent procedures for future proposals that account for the city's available water, power, land, infrastructure, and financial resources. Data centers have existed for many years and play an important role in maintaining modern infrastructure. However, I would oppose hyperscale data centers because of the significant demands they place on limited community resources. Any future policy should protect PASCO's long-term interests and ensure that proposed benefits justify the public resources required. So with that, we are going to move on to letter, oh, sorry, Mr. Perales, go right ahead.

I'll put a bookend on this. Sorry, I meant to mention, I had a community member ask me if I've signed an NDA in regards to data center development. I was speaking for myself, and I told her I would wait to see if it counts. I have never signed an NDA, nor will I. I think as a city, we shouldn't be signing that stuff. I think if there's things that we need to know about, the community should know about that. And so I just wanted to put that out there because I did get asked that because that's something that's came up across the development of data centers and a lot of cities and entities are going away from those NDAs. So I just wanted to make that known. But again, I'm just speaking for myself. Thank you.

Perfect. Thank you. Okay, moving on. Letter B. This is another public hearing. We're going to do five of these in a row. Amending the Pasco Municipal Code 25.10.025 Cannabis Retail Facilities. And again, we're going to you, Mr. Amon.

Thank you very much, Mayor. On July 27th, 2026, during a city council workshop, staff presented an overview of Washington's cannabis retail licensing framework, the city's current regulations per PMC 2510025, and we also covered the cannabis revenue received by the city, as well as policy options available to the council at that time. Following the discussion, council directed staff to prepare an ordinance that would increase the city's cannabis retail Density limit from four to five with further direction that two of those licenses shall be social equity licenses Attached to this evening's agenda report is a draft ordinance prepared as requested for review in consideration for final action on September 21st Staffs request at this time is that the City Council conduct the public hearing to receive public testimony regarding the draft ordinance Thank you.

Thank you, sir Okay so with that we'll open up this public hearing and remember this is the the lines on this one are a little blurrier but more related to the code the updating the code for cannabis retail facilities. So with that I will open this public hearing for anybody that wants to speak about updating the code for cannabis retail facilities. Did I lose the gentleman that was here earlier? Oh, I'm sorry. Okay, well, I'm sorry about that to the gentleman. Anybody else in the chamber want to speak on this issue? Yes, sir.

Thank you, Mayor and council members. I'm here tonight to support increasing Pasco's cannabis retail cap from four to five. I want to acknowledge there is some legitimate concerns about cannabis availability, but I think the question before the council should be, does allowing one additional highly regulated retailer in the city of Pasco, of Pasco's size, create a meaningful additional community risk? I don't believe the evidence supports that conclusion. We're talking about one additional highly regulated retailer, not unlimited expansion. The proposal maintains the city's existing zoning and location requirements and ties the additional license to the state's social equity cannabis program. The evidence leaking the dispensary density to crime is also mixed, so I don't think we should assume that one additional license business will create a less safe Pasco. I also think we should be careful about using crime as an argument against this proposal at all. The research on dispensary density and crime is mixed. There isn't strong evidence to support that, and having one additional licensed dispensary will not make Pasco less safe, as I said before. What we do know is that these are highly regulated business. The alternative to a properly regulated fifth retailer isn't necessarily that cannabis disappears. It is, of course, as we know, illegal in the state of Washington. But it makes people purchase cannabis from existing retailers, which are already established, as I said, or travel to neighboring jurisdictions or purchase through other channels, which, of course, we don't want. So I believe the better question is whether PASCO can handle one additional and be able to get the tangible benefits of that, which is additional economic activity, additional employment, additional competition for consumers, which is always good to have competition, and additional local and state tax revenue. We should regulate cannabis responsibly, but regulation should be proportional to the demonstrated risk. Going from four to five stores does not represent a dramatic change in availability. It represents a modest increase in a market that is already legal and regulated. A regulated cannabis retail is also fundamentally different from an illicit marijuana market. Licensed businesses operate under state regulations governing who they can sell to, what they can sell, the vast amount of security, record keeping, and where and how they operate. So that is why I agree that we should increase this moratorium from four to five.

Thank you, appreciate your comments. Anybody else in the chamber want to speak on updating the Pasco Municipal Code? to allow more cannabis dispensaries? Mr. Taranto.

Hi, Taylor Taranto, Pasco resident. Yeah, I've spoken on this issue before and I still stand with it. I think that by the city imposing a moratorium on the potential growth of cannabis dispensaries prohibits fair and friendly and you name it, competition, between retailers and So I just don't think I mean while it should be somewhat managed within the city limits and stuff I think that I think we're we're overburdening Specifically this retailer, and I forgot what they're called, and any other in the future. And I don't support it. I think we should remove the cap on the limits of it.

Thank you for your comments. Yes, ma'am. Come right on up. Name and city or county of residence for the record, please. Yes, ma'am, by all means. Thank you.

A little short here. Good evening. My name is Sandra Najera. I'm a Pasco resident, retired after 40 years with the Washington State Department of Licensing. I'm here today to express my support to the Compass Group and their proposed cannabis retail business. I've known these gentlemen for many years, and I know them to be hardworking, responsible, and dedicated family men. I believe they will operate their business with professionalism, integrity, and respect for the community. I also believe it's important to recognize that cannabis serves a legitimate purpose for many people, including those who rely for medical reasons. This is something that is very personal to me. My brother-in-law, who passed away a few years ago, relied on medical cannabis to help control his pain and allow him to sleep during a very difficult time in his life. I saw firsthand the relief that it was able to provide to him. On a more personal note, I consider myself to be a Christian woman and my faith teaches me the importance of compassion, understanding, and not judging others. I believe adults have the right to make their own personal choices, particularly when those choices are legal under state law. Supporting this business does not mean everyone must personally choose to use cannabis. It simply means recognizing that it is legal, that it can provide meaningful benefits to some people, and that responsible, hardworking individuals should have the opportunity to operate a lawful business in our community. I have confidence in the character of these gentlemen and I respectfully ask that you give their application your fair consideration and allow them the opportunity to demonstrate that they can be responsible and positive members of the business community. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you, LaWanda Hatch, Franklin County, Pasco. First of all, the way this has all been handled is untoward. Both my parents worked for government. My mother was the state president for the school employees union. And I know very well that you have to open things up and then take applications. This has been a carve-out for one group. And that's also why it's so untoward. It actually, as one gentleman was starting to say, it's unfair, and hopefully he'll come back and speak, because it is not the way government is supposed to be done. If you're going to hire a contractor, you have to put it out to bid. You can't just make a carve-out for one group of people because of your friends. And maybe they have good character, but I do understand one of them did time in prison. I saw the news articles and as far as the claims of the gentleman, I gave your city manager the list that I have because when I got those names, I told them I would be sending them to the city. So that is something that I believe that having one more marijuana store when there's another one two miles away. And as far as cannabis goes, not all cannabis products are bad. You can order CBD oil on Amazon. So this is about the THC products. And medical marijuana is also available through medical reasons. So there's no point in opening up another permit for a fifth marijuana store. The stores that we have now only collect 41,000 in taxes. That doesn't even take care of the cost that it does to a society. So where the, and it is federally illegal still. Yes, our state has made it legal, but it's federally illegal. And five stores in our little city of Pasco? Really? That's crazy. We don't have a Costco. We don't have a sewing store. We don't have a craft store, but we got five marijuana stores. So we get to be known as the drug capital of the Tri-Cities. And it's very, very dangerous. It sends a terrible message to children. And as I stated the last time, during prohibition, people still drink. But children didn't get it. And alcohol does not cause brain damage. And marijuana does. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hey, you guys, I need order. We need to keep respectful to everybody's comments, please. Thank you. Anybody else in the chamber have a comment? Thank you. Welcome back. Remind us your name for the record, if you'd be so kind, please.

Tanya Logsdon, Pasco resident. I am clearly not in support of a fifth cannabis retail store. For reasons outlined before, you know, and honestly, Here in Pasco, we have five to six grocery stores that support the entire community. We have about 20% of the community as cannabis users. Adding a fifth cannabis retail store just does not make sense, especially when it is .6 miles from the closest elementary school and .9 miles from the middle school, from Ray Reynolds Middle School. And a ton of kids are walking past that. And yes, there's no advertising, but they know. they know what's there it's on the the the storefront the name of the the dispensary they're not clueless the the more they see it out there the more they think it's normal to use and thc is not what it used to be it is so much more highly concentrated and it makes addiction even worse. And I understand that, you know, there are a lot of people here tonight that will say otherwise and they will say, you know what, I didn't have a problem coming off of it or whatever. I'm very happy that they didn't and that they didn't have any terrible side effects, but that is not true for everyone. and the addiction properties in young adults their frontal lobe is not fully developed and that is the that is the the area where they make choices and when they start using drugs because just bring it back to um updating the code sorry please yep If we update the code, it's going to cause so much more harm in the community. And we want to keep our kids safe. We don't want to normalize the situation. So thank you.

Awesome. Thank you for your comments. Appreciate it. Yes, sir. Come right on up.

My name is Sam Ramos, and I've been a PASCA resident for going on 40 years or so. She talked about safety and the safety of our children, and I wanted to talk about that as well. I have the privilege of knowing the guys that are spearheading this thing for many, many years. And about three weeks ago, I had a conversation with them because I'm a general contractor, and we talked about some of the tenant improvements that they wanted to do for aesthetics and whatnot. We talked about the opportunity that they have in front of them and what it allows them to do. And what it allows them to do is to go out and to educate these children on the rights and wrongs of how to go about cannabis use. We talked about the resources that it's going to allow them to do, to have, to put back into the Martin Luther King Center where we all grew up playing basketball. We talked about all the good that this fifth store can do What we need is children that are educated and that's exactly what they plan on doing. I would trust these men with my checkbook and my children and that's the highest compliment that I can give to those guys. You guys need to know who you're going to be partnering with in this because it is a partnership and they're high integrity men and those are the types of business owners that you want leading these and spearheading your businesses in the Pasco community. But just wanted to share my thoughts. Thank you for your comments, sir. Appreciate it.

Anyone else in the chamber want to speak on updating the code? Not seeing any. Yes, sir, in the green. Come on up, sir. Oh, wait until you get to the microphone so the whole world can hear you, sir.

My name is David Elling. I've been a lifetime community member. I live in Benton County at the moment. I want to say I would like to support these guys. I've known these guys for a very long time, about half my life. You know, regarding the potential location of this business, I think it's highly a valuable location where it's at in Pasco. You have a very rapidly developing business. part of Pasco and that whole area. It's kind of a hub right off the highway. You service Richland. You service other parts of the community. I think a little open competition does a lot for everybody. One more store isn't going to hurt any of the other stores by any means. It's going to And as far as taxes go, nobody's going to argue with a little more money in their pocket. So I support this, and that's all I've got to say.

Thank you for your comments, sir. I appreciate it. The other gentleman that was going to rise, did you want to speak?

Hello, my name is Ivan. I live most of my life here in Franklin County. I want to say I do support this cannabis business because it's going to be well regulated just like any bar or any other place that you would go. As far as the youth, it is not a business targeted towards youth or kids. It is a business 21 and over just like you would go to any bar or any place that I've ever been to that is a marijuana place or alcohol place. I always have my ID check and they will not let you in even if you look 21 or older. So I guess as far as the youth or any of the other concerns, I feel like people should be more educated because alcohol does cause brain injury. And I guess that's all I've got to say. As far as that business, I'm all for it. For the tax revenue and more competition, I guess, to this community. So that's all I've got to say.

Thank you for your comments, sir. Appreciate it. All right, you guys, last call in the chamber. Going once, going twice. Not seeing anybody sneaking up. We're closing the public hearing. Before we move on to letter C, anybody on council want to comment on this? Mr. Kaveh?

Yeah, I guess the first thing is just order. You guys are all here because you're passionate about this issue one way or the other, and there's obviously been other issues tonight. I don't want to say don't talk to each other when you leave the building. You guys are adults. You can do what you want. But, man, you just got to know that maybe this isn't the place to do it because you're obviously emotionally involved in this. That's why you're here. That's a good thing. I'm glad you're here. But just treat each other with the utmost respect when you leave. You know, and this isn't about, like, the integrity of the businessmen that want to pursue this venture. My issue in being against the cannabis dispensaries is just the harmful effects that it has on the community. You know, cannabis use disorder is a real thing. And I get people are coming up and saying, well, you know, I've consumed cannabis in whatever manner I do it, and I don't have a problem with it. Well, I totally believe you. I mean, as far as cannabis use disorder goes, it seems like, you know, like 30% of the people that consume it are the ones that get it. This says up to 47% of regular users experience withdrawal symptoms. So it's not addictive to everyone, but for 47% it is. And so it impacts a lot of people in the community. I know kids aren't, it's not targeted at kids, but what the studies are telling us is that, you know, when the cannabis dispensaries are here, cannabis use disorder goes up, they can track it by the number of hospital visits, and there are kids doing it too, regardless of it being targeted towards them or not. I'm a pastor, and so I'm part of substance abuse recovery all the time. Alcohol can absolutely cause brain damage. I get all that. It's not really a take on being pro-alcohol or anti-alcohol. We're just talking about adding a store. This study says that... Attempted suicide. We talked about suicide awareness tonight. This is one of those issues that's going to impact suicide when you bring more, have more marijuana available to the population. And so those, it says 1.4% of adult marijuana users actually attempted suicide compared to 0.6% of the national adult population. So basically if you're consuming marijuana, your chances of attempted suicide more than double. It also says among adult alcohol users, attempted suicide at the same rate as the adult population. So the percentage doesn't increase. Attempted suicide does not increase with alcohol consumption, but it more than doubles with marijuana consumption. And so there are differences. I understand that alcohol still has problems. And I'm not saying we shouldn't be regulating some things about alcohol. It's just an issue of when you bring these cannabis dispensaries in, the youth starts thinking it's okay. It has impacts on how they go about it, how they view it. It's not dangerous to them when they see it just being taken into normalcy by the public. So that's why I'm against these things. Thank you all for being here tonight. Thank you.

Anybody else have any comments? Not seeing any, we will move on to letter C, another public hearing. This is for Targeted Urban Area Tax Exemption Program, commonly known as a TUA. And for this, we are going to our Deputy City Manager, Ms. Sigdell. Good evening, ma'am.

Evening, Mayor, and evening, Council. Tonight's item is another public hearing on targeted urban area tax exemption program. I'm just going to call it TUA for ease. And the only action requested this evening is to conduct a public hearing. For reminder, TUA is a new ERR. economic development tool in Washington state. And it is unique about Washington state that we don't have as many economic tools as many other states do. So it is harder state to compete and attract businesses. It lets the city designate industrial and manufacturing zoned lands where the value of the manufacturing construction can be exempt from property tax for 10 years. So it's just a 10-year program. And the exemption is narrow, as in it only applies for improvement value. So the land value, you're still taxing on it. There's a few requirements in the state. And I should go back. If the city is going to be adopting TUA, then it's only just the city's portion that is the property tax exempt. So other partners like school, port, other taxing districts, they would still be collecting their taxes in full. The requirements for this program is to certify, which is for the businesses, to certify that the deciding factor in locating in Washington was because of this exemption program, also called a but-for. So if it wasn't for this program, that they would have located somewhere outside of Washington State, that it creates at least 25 new permanent jobs, that averages at least $23, which is a living wage for Washington, so that can move, meets a minimum improvement value of $800,000 in manufacturing or transportation classifications. Also to be aware is that once we open up this program, you do not have a choice on which business you pick as long as they qualify and we have the program in place. They are going to be located in the map that we proposed that they would be accepted into the program. At this point, no current property owner or taxing district loses existing revenue. essentially this is for what you would build on top of the building and however there is a little bit of a more complicated tax shift that tends to happen because you let's say we open this program we have an applicant they qualify they're building the facility and as soon as they're completed building the facility that is when the tax exemption starts. But we are taxing them up until to that point. And so there's a little bit of a tax shift that happens. We have gotten some questions about what the impact to an individual homeowner might be. Unfortunately, that's a hard one to assess right now. What I can tell you and share with you is our partners in Richland have seen very little impact to individual homeowners. It does depend on how large the project is. What's the assessed valuation of the project? What is our rate at that time? What is your home's assessed valuation? So there's so many factors to it. So staff is not really able to give you an exact answer. However, at the end of the 10th year, if there was a significant shift, it would come back. However, from lived experience from City of Richland, we're not seeing a significant tax shift. And with that, my question to Council today, outside of conducting the public hearing, is if you would like for staff to do more public outreach, especially with, if you're good with the maps, especially with the property owners whose land would be included within that map.

Thank you, ma'am. With that, Mr. McFadden, were you planning on speaking to this issue? Or Mr. Dye, both of you guys? Okay, I'm going to upgrade both you guys to presenters and call you subject matter experts if you guys, before we open the public hearing, if you guys would make an impromptu presentation, I'd appreciate it. Good evening, Mr. Dye.

Mr. Mayor and members of Pasco City Council, Carl Dye for Tri-City Development Council. Thanks for this chance to talk about the targeted urban area, and thanks, Richa, for doing the staff work. So as the City of Pasco's economic development partner, along with the port, uh we worked with city of richland to implement the first one in the state so it was pioneered in snohomish county there was only one county that the legislature allowed to do this program and then it was allowed that the rest of the counties and cities in the state could do it about three years ago and so in richland they had a couple of uh expansion projects that were on the line as well as a new green fertilizer company atlas agro that already came up tonight And so they implemented the program, and I can tell you City of Richland, for those three examples, won site selection contests against the state of Oregon, North Carolina, and Virginia on three manufacturers. So ATI titanium melters that was already in Richland, they doubled the size of their operation. They added about $120 million of capital. Framatome, that's a nuclear fuel rod assembly company that's been there since 1969, did a joint venture with a company who's now known as Standard Nuclear to do high assay, low enriched uranium fuel. That's about a $350 million build out when it gets done, adding about over 200 jobs to them. And then Atlas Agro itself, which is 200 employees. The initial target was about a billion dollar capital project. It's probably up to about 1.5 billion now. It's been a very effective tool, and I think from our perspective as being the regional partner to everybody, I think for PASCO to consider now adopting this puts you on an even footing with Richland. And so, you know, from a regional perspective, that's where we want to see. We want every city to have an equal shot. at being able to use this tool because as richard said it's the only one really that we have in washington state when we're up against these big projects it's been a very effective tool um i'll just say a long time ago back in idaho 20 years ago as a county commissioner i learned a little bit about property tax and i'll just say that that but for that reaching them mentioned means a lot because it's something that you as elected officials can look back on your on your citizens and your taxpayers and say We gave this tax break because it was the only thing that was going to get this job creator here. And so as Richa said, the tax that's already being paid on the ground continues to be paid. And when the facility is being built, you get the increment off of the percentage of complete that it's done. that you can use, and I think what Reach is indicating is, as the city council does its excellent job in due diligence for new property tax that comes on the roll, managers your budgets under the 1% cap from existing properties from the state of Washington, you can minimize the impact that that coming on and then coming off your tax rolls would be, and then maximize the input for your tax fares at the end of the 10-year cycle. So at the end of 10 years, And I'll run a scenario because Dairy Gold is a project that the city of Pasco, Port of Pasco, Franklin County, everybody worked together really, really hard to be able to land that facility here. It's now the largest property taxpayer in Franklin County and in the city of Pasco. And so that has a benefit to all of your taxpayers because what we all really want is that mix in between residential property tax base and and industrial property tax base. So the more industry that we can have, it balances out the property tax burden, if you will, for your residential taxpayers. And so that's been our experience that we've worked on with the City of Richland. We're really excited that PASCO's considering it. And I think for all of us, it just makes PASCO equally competitive. But I'll have to say what I saw on the billboard as I came down 395, keep your eye on PASCO, right? So PASCO's always gonna have that advantage. Of course, I say that to all of our partners. But I just wanted to give that perspective. I hope that helps. And if there's any questions that we could answer, I'd be happy to have Stephen present as well.

Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Dye? No, I appreciate your comments about, you know, yeah, it puts us on an even playing field with Richland. But obviously we're very pro-Pasco around here. But we understand, you know, even if we were to implement this and it puts us on an even playing field, even if somebody comes to the area that wouldn't have come before and chose Richland, you know, they very well may live in Pasco. I mean, all the boats kind of lift. Yeah, we want it over here. We want to rise first. That's very true.

And they'll come to Pasco to buy their pickup, right? Like we know. I mean, we all share in that. And we actually work, we have some economic tools that in maybe the future council meeting, we'd be happy to bring it over because the job multiplier effect of these industrial manufacturers that we bring in really does float our boats. And so where do people go and buy their pickup? And where do they go to buy, where do they go to the restaurant? You know, we heard about Dantau Pasco tonight. You know, we... As a community, we really are one. This is where we spend our money. If the money starts here, we can keep it here collectively. That's a great point, Mr. Mayor.

Awesome. Thank you, Mr. Dyke. Appreciate it. Mr. McFadden?

Yes. Stephen McFadden, I'm the Deputy Executive Director of the Port of Pasco, responsible for economic development. And I kind of like the opportunity to follow Carl, because Carl gets to talk about the entire region. I get to wear Pasco blue, and I get to talk about Pasco. And we are competitive, and we do our best in the site selection process at the Port of Pasco to win projects like the Darraghville project that, as Carl mentioned, number one property taxpayer in Franklin County now. We're competitive. And what's happening right now is there's an imbalance. I love that Richland has TUA in place as an incentive tool. We would love it if PASCO had it as a tool. The one thing I don't think that got pointed out is in Benton County, not only is the city of Richland a participant in TUA, but so is the Benton County government as well. So to make this even stronger, you would have the city of Pasco adopt TUA, and you would have the Franklin County Commission consider to adopt TUA as well and participate in the program. It just strengthens it just that much more. When we do site selection, one of the first questions we get is what incentives are available in Washington State. And we typically respond with, we have very limited incentives available. The Washington State Constitution actually prohibits the majority of tax incentives that are typically used for economic development throughout the rest of the United States. I believe TUA gives us one more tool right next door to tax increment financing for us to be able to attract and close a few more deals with industrial manufacturing companies. I think it's a great thing for you to consider. I appreciate your support for it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McFadden. Yeah, I know we're fighting an uphill battle. Yep, I'm going to open the public hearing in just a second, Ms. Johnson. But no, I know it's a very un-business-friendly state, and it is an uphill battle to compete with other states. So I appreciate all your work on this. So with that, we will open up this public hearing. For anybody who wants to talk on this issue, the Targeted Urban Area Tax Exemption Program, this is the appropriate time. Good evening again.

Hi, my name is Andy Johnson. I live in Pascoe. Does this make it easier for data centers to get into communities without public comment and without regulation?

If they fell within the category of everything under the targeted urban area, as far as I know, it doesn't discriminate against certain businesses.

So how do we utilize this to bring in things like dairy gold and not data centers?

I understand your comments. Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Ms. Johnson. Mr. Day.

Mr. Mayor, I'll go on the record to address the last comment just to make a public comment for the hearing. This targeted urban area is a manufacturing property tax exemption. There are certain NAICS, which I don't know, Stephen probably knows what NAICS stands for. It's an acronym for how jobs are categorized. It has to be certain categories that specifically are manufacturing. And I think Richa said in her overview that there are some transportation ones as well. So it's got to be those specific ones. Okay. I believe I'd have to look it up, but a NAICS code for a data center would be a totally different number. It wouldn't qualify under the existing RCW.

No, perfect. Appreciate the clarification, sir. Anybody else in the chamber want to speak on the two of the targeted urban area tax exemption program?

Ms. Hatch, welcome back. So are we speaking about the area where Dairy Gold and all of that manufacturing?

This is, yeah, about the targeted urban area.

So would this include, because Foster Wells Road... is a major, major accident-prone area. That's part of my precinct, actually. And I would really like to see some solutions there, because you have a lot of semi-trucks coming on to that, you know, it's four, two lanes on each side, it's a split highway, and so it gets very confusing for a lot of people. I actually visited a woman with some of our missionaries, and she, her son was killed there. So, it's, you know, and I've passed so many accidents that end up with a cross and flowers on the side of that highway, especially in that spot. So, I would really like to see with all this urban development and this tax-free zone, is there any way that some of that money could be used to actually make that a safer on-ramp and off-ramp onto the highway at that location with all those manufacturing there.

Yeah, and that's a great point. And yes, the intersection you're talking about does fall within the TUA area, so that's definitely a concern as we continue to see that grow. Anybody else want to speak on the targeted urban area tax exemption program? Not seeing anybody coming forward. Going once. Going twice. We will close this public hearing. Anybody on council want to speak to this issue? Not seeing any. I'm going to roll on. Letter D. Another public hearing. on Ordinance Number 4855, Portion of Road 108, Right-of-Way Vacation. And we are back to you again, Mr. Amon.

Thank you very much, Mayor and Council Members. As the city expands, its boundaries and service areas occasionally run into conflicts with extension of those city services and facilities against the existing infrastructure where some level of development may have occurred under the county jurisdiction. Essentially, that is what we have here this evening. Over time, as the city has progressed north, it became apparent that road 108 would need to shift slightly west. The shift ultimately resulted in excess rights-of-way that is eligible to be vacated because no longer needed. The process for a right-of-way vacation starts ultimately with a petition. And once we have a complete petition, the city will conduct a public hearing to consider a few basic criteria, such as traffic circulation, future public use, resulting property access, and the impact on the public interest. We will also determine whether or not a professional appraisal is needed and whether compensation is appropriate in that particular case. The aerial on the agenda report shows the property to be vacated, and the package also includes more detailed drawings depicting the right-of-way dedications and vacation extents. THE EXHIBIT SHOWS A CLOSER DEPICTION OF THE RIGHTS OF WAY THAT HAVE BEEN DEDICATED ON THE WEST AND THE REQUESTED VACATION AREAS. THERE YOU GO. WITH THAT, YOUR HONOR, MAYOR, I JUST APPRECIATE IF YOU WOULD CONDUCT THE HEARING AND TAKE ACTION ON THIS ITEM.

PERFECT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR REPORT, MR. Let's open this public hearing. This is a public hearing on the right-of-way vacation, VAC 2026-002. We would take any public comment on the right-of-way vacation for Road 108, Ordinance Number 4855. Would anybody in chamber like to speak on this issue? Not seeing anybody coming forward. Going once. Going twice, we will close the public hearing. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem? Oh, yeah, we could. Yeah, I was going to just have you make the motion to discuss.

All right, Mayor. I'll make a motion. I move to adopt ordinance number 4855, vacating a portion of the Road 108 public right-of-way dedicated under auditor's file number 1918957 and 1956207 and authorized publication by summary only. Second.

Thank you. Motion on the floor to adopt ordinance number 4855 by the Mayor Pro Tem and seconded by Council Member Perales. Discussion? Not seeing any. All in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed nay. Motion carries. Moving on to letter E. This is our last public hearing of the evening. Resolution number 4780-2027 through 2032. This is the Transportation Improvement Program Resolution. And for this, Director Serra, good evening, ma'am.

Good evening, Mayor and council members. For this item, our engineering manager, Mr. Avetisian, will provide a brief overview, and then the hearing can be held. Thank you.

Good evening, council. Good evening. This is the amendment, this public hearing also comes with a motion proposal, and this is the revision to our current six-year, or six-year 2027-32 transportation program, which, of course, kind of highlighting, we recently adopted the actual six-year program as we do annually back in June. So just kind of highlighting what we did before. We have included, that program included 52 projects, three programs, and five plans and studies as well. So as far as the proposed revision, the proposal is to recommend adding four different projects, which are roadway segments located in the Broadmoor area. This is tied to the Broadmoor master plan, kind of continuation of the Broadmoor master plan and tied to the tax incremental financing funding that was approved back in council meeting ordinance in 2024 that established the maximum not to exceed 39 million for that Broadmoor area. So consistent with that, this will also help support economic growth in this area. And the four projects, visually, it's a little easier to see on the map here. We kind of broke it up into four segments, although they are in close proximity. On the south end, you see that's the new Sandifer extension, Sandifer to the west of Broadmoor. And Buckingham, ours, the red and the yellow, that's Buckingham extension, proposed extension to the west as well. There is a newly built traffic signal at that intersection of Broadmoor and Buckingham that's currently active as that was part of one of the other projects in this vicinity, Broadmoor area, along with the Sandifer extension to the west and, of course, 108 to the south. far as the proposal to make the revision the it's harder to see on this but the added four projects are bolded there in the middle we with the current kind of a planning level estimate cost estimates for both design and construction costs based on the current what we've seen on the recent projects in the same area there And just to highlight, yeah, this, based on RCW, the transportation improvement program is implemented every year, but it can be revised at any time with a majority of the legislative body or city of town vote, but only after a public hearing, which is what we're doing tonight as well. Just to... I think that summarizes the revision proposal, so I'll...

Awesome. Thank you. Any questions or comments from counsel for Mr. Andre? Mr. Perales.

Thank you. I guess I was kind of taken aback when I was reading this agenda item because I feel like this is in hopes of some type of development agreement, perhaps. And I, for the life of me, can't remember approving something with a potential developer. respect to these projects and so my first question is how much more TIF money is out there that can be used and if we get to the point where I'm asking very specific numbers and we can't talk about it that's understandable but I guess that's where my mindset is at it seems like this came now we're having to have a have a hearing to update the tip which we just did back in June And so if someone could provide me with some information for catch-up, because I feel like a development agreement should be in place prior to any of this stuff, because I feel like we're codifying, yep, we're doing this stuff, when, in fact, I haven't heard of what that development agreement really entailed. And so that's where my mindset is with this. And I felt like the same way for the next item in regards to Apex, because I'm, like, thinking, okay, so they're going to be out there with drill rigs next week and doing borings? Like, what exactly... is going on here, because I haven't, again, seen development agreement. So if staff can provide something,

I can speak to the dollar amount you mentioned where we're at, and then maybe I'll defer to as far as where the agreement is at to the city manager's office maybe. But the amount we are currently approximately out of that 39 not to exceed on the tax incremental financing, we're roughly near $28 million out of that, which is committed or spent. There's still a few action items as far as the construction. So that's roughly where the amount is at currently.

Director Serra, thank you.

addressing why bringing this forward this early. Our process for entering our agreements and getting going in projects that are publicly funded are lengthy. And so setting the stage for being ready to move forward if an agreement is to be finalized with a developer seemed the most prudent move and so that's why we are bringing the items all together you're you're seeing them together so it's in context right uh the the hearing and the amendment to the plan and then a bsa for services to be provided um so that we are ready to go otherwise between the time that the negotiation starts and the timeline is set then we're spending a couple of months maybe in just this preliminary stage

Okay, no, I appreciate that. So I'll just go ahead and add this in there. So the next resolution, we're not releasing APEX PBS to go out there and start digging test pits in two weeks. This is just if we get an agreement.

We'll have the agreement ready and we can give them the go-ahead to the sign as soon as we have the green light to do so. There's a... understanding that there's going to be a really tight timeline. So being as ready as possible to have a project ready to be delivered is in our best interest.

I appreciate that. That clears up my comments and concerns. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Stewart. I guess let me just add a follow-up question just from what Mr. Perales asked that may just kind of get answered in what you're going to say is, If I'm understanding this correctly, too, this isn't necessarily TIF funds being used for this, correct? It's just laying out the grid that's going to help keep Broadmoor from becoming another Road 68, correct?

Correct. This would help Complete that grid and the plan is to use TIF dollars to to use both the design and construction Not for the utilities, but yes for the runway But again moving on to the next steps would require a green light.

Okay, perfect. Sorry. Thank you.

Mr. Stewart Yeah, the only thing I'll add here just to kind of make it more clear the roads we're talking about were rows that were already designed as part of the Broadmoor development and we are negotiating or in the process of negotiating a potential development agreement with a developer for the Broadmoor area that would potentially expedite the need for those roads quicker than what the tip outlined previously. So regardless of whether or not we enter into that agreement, these are still roads that need to be built to handle the traffic in that area. This allows us to be able to move it a little bit quicker than staff was originally planning to do.

Anything else, Mr. Perlman? No, thank you. Okay, good discussion, you guys. Oh, Mr. Campbell.

I just had one question. Thank you for the presentation. I agree with all these additional projects, but we have 52 projects overall. Does adding these have a significant time impact? Does it push the other projects a little bit longer out, or I'm just wondering about the timing of all of them.

think some of the time you will be future in the future negotiate with the agreement I think there's some preliminary timing targets for getting the design completed but Yeah, I don't think it's going to affect the other projects that we have commitment to. We're going to continue those moving forward as well, yeah, the ones that are funded especially. Thanks.

I was going to say, I'm going to fight for those too, those other ones. Mr. Stewart?

I guess to answer Council Member Campos' question, the intent would be to move forward, but we are moving this up in priority, and we only have a certain amount of staff resources and time. So while we will try to keep those other projects going forward, At least since I've come in as the new city manager, Broadmoor has been the priority of development. And so, again, we're expediting some of these projects a little bit quicker than we had built in our work plan in the future. So there is a possibility that with these being prioritized higher, we may not have the staff or resources to do some of those other projects that are now being bumped back a little bit further. But those will be conversations further in the budget and through our CIP plan and those other things as we move forward.

Perfect, thank you. And with that, we will open up a public hearing on this. Public hearing is now open for, let me catch back up here, for the Transportation Improvement Program revision. Would anybody in the chamber like to speak on resolution number 4780, the 2027 to 2032 Transportation Improvement Program revision? Not seeing anybody in the chamber moving forward. Going once. Going twice. Still not seeing anybody. The public hearing is closed. Mr. Milne.

Thank you, Mayor. I move to approve resolution number 4780, revising the 2027-2032 six-year transportation improvement program for the City of Pascoe for the purpose of guiding the development, design, and construction of local and regional transportation improvements, and further authorized publication by summary only. Second.

Motion on the floor by the Mayor Pro Temp for Resolution No. 4780, seconded by Council Member Perales. Final discussion? not seeing any all in favor say aye aye those opposed nay motion carries moving on number nine we're done with our public hearings ordinances and resolutions not relating to hearings resolution number 4781 and ordinance number 4856 the broadmoor tiff area psa with apex for engineering services and adjusting capital budget and for this going back to you director sarah

Good evening again. For this item also, our engineering manager, Mr. Avetisian, will provide the presentation.

Thank you.

Okay, good evening again. And yes, this is the continuation. So the APEX companies is the... consultant that was solicited back in 2022. The city had a solicitation for consultant help to get the design for the Brogmore Master Plant area, which is what we were talking about. And since then, continuously, there's been project after project moving forward. As you guys have seen, some of the more recent construction wrapping up on the bigger projects, that includes, I guess, the area, that area I'm referring to, just to be clear, is north of Harris and west of Broadmoor and south of Burns is kind of the limits of the Broadmoor area consistent with the master plan. So as the discussions about these roadway extensions came up recently, the intent is to be ready, like we talked about, to get the design going for the potential agreement that's going to be in discussion. So we got a scope and fee with the consultant to continue this and what it would take. to get that moving forward again the same area is highlighted as far as the extension west of uh broadmoor on buckingham and the the the legs south of 105 and 103 connecting to sandifer and this graphic does show it a little nicer with the current improvements being there um the total uh agreement amount is not to exceed that 800 just under 850,000 is what was negotiated for all four separate projects together and As far as the other, I wanted to mention there's also two motions with this one because the ordinance that we're bringing up as far as part of this agenda report also talks about if we happen to be ready in 2026 to move this forward in design, amending the current 2025-26 budget to incorporate some funds to move that forward as part of this as well, which is just an estimation for the 400,000 of it to be projected for the, until the rest of the year, with the remaining amount being part of the coming up budget and capital project proposal soon here. So the 2027, 2028 portion of it will be part of that. So, I think it's, I think I'm forgetting one item, but I believe if there's any questions, I can just answer that as well.

Perfect. Thank you, Mr. Andre. Questions for Mr. Andre from council? Not seeing any. I think you're off the hook, sir.

We don't have a public hearing, you guys, Mr. Mayor Pro Temp. All right. I'm going to make a motion. Move to approve resolution number 4781, authorizing the city manager to sign and execute professional services agreement with Apex Companies, LLC, for the design services for Road 103 north of Sandifer Parkway, Road 105 north of Sandifer Parkway, Buckingham Drive between Broadmoor Boulevard to Road 105.

Second. Motion on the floor by Mayor Pro Tem Milne, seconded by Council Member Perales to approve resolution number 4781. Final comments from council? Not seeing any, all in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed, nay. Motion carries.

The second motion is I move to approve ordinance number 4856, amending the 2025-2026 Biennial Capital Projects Budget, ordinance number 4750, by providing supplement thereto to provide additional appropriation in the City Broadmoor Tax and Procurement Finance Program.

Second. Motion on the floor by Mayor Pro Tem Milne to approve ordinance number 4856, seconded by Councilmember Perales. All in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed nay. Motion carries. Moving on to letter B, resolution number 4782, general petty cash fund increase. Not sure if Mr. Hebden is on the line, so I'm looking right at you, Ms. Sigdell.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm presenting this item on behalf of Mr. Hebden. Before you is a resolution which would increase the city's general petty cash fund from $7,500 to $10,000. There's two specific reasons for a city to have a petty cash fund. One is for reimbursing small business expenses when other purchasing methods are not practical, which is fairly rare for the city, especially with cards and other forms of payment that are available to us. More importantly, it is to provide change to departments that accept cash payments. The last increase was in June of 2018, where we increased the from $6,000 to $7,500. However, since 2018, cities' transactions and services have grown quite a bit. More specifically, our aquatics program has grown significantly where there's a lot of cash transactions. And what staff is finding right now is they're having to travel back and forth quite a bit to make sure that they have enough cash and enough change to make sure that they can serve our customers properly. So we're asking for an increase on this petty cash fund. What Mr. Hebden would like to make sure you're aware is that we do have a lot of controls over cash, and those controls and reconciliations will continue to happen, so there's not an added risk to this increase other than efficiency. And with that, I'm open to any questions you might have.

Awesome. Thank you. Any questions for the Deputy City Manager from Council? Not seeing any. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, Mayor. I move to approve Resolution No. 4782, amending Section 3 of Resolution No. 676, as previously amended by Resolution No. 3839, to increase the maximum amount of the City's general petty cash fund from $7,500 to $10,000. Second.

Thank you. Motion on the floor by Mayor Pro Tem Milne to approve resolution number 4782. Seconded by Council Member Perales. All in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed nay. Motion carries. Moving on, I see number 10, unfinished business. Before we get to number 11, new business, you guys, I want to power through, but at the same time we've been at it almost three hours. I need a five-minute break. We will take a five-minute recess and resume at 946. The time is 947 we're gonna bring this meeting back to order resuming with number 11 new business letter a is Pasco softball complex and Happo Center and for this we're going to mr. Stewart good evening.

You mean mr. Mayor members council So just a brief update on where we're at at this point this has to do with regards to the the Pasco softball complex in the Happo Center and Previous direction from council to staff has been to try to move forward with preserving as much as we could the availability of the softball complex to the community going forward. We have a lot of tournaments and things that are scheduled out there. Late last fall, before the contract expired or the lease expired, we did request an extension of that lease to the county. I think I even went to one of their meetings last fall to talk about it. in person. We have not received a response on that request to extend that lease at this point. So that lease expired at the end of December of last year. In the meantime, we've also made offers to purchase the property from the county and The most recent one being here a couple months ago, and it had a 45-day time frame on it, and we have not received response on that. So that offer has since expired. So staff is seeking direction from council on how you'd like to move forward on this issue on behalf of the community. Those could range anywhere from a council directing staff to offer more money to the county for the purchase of this facility and this property. It could include doing nothing, and if the county chooses to sell it, then the softball fields disappear and we don't have those assets available within our community. Or a third alternative would be to direct staff to... Begin pursuing other alternatives and going down the route of potentially building these facilities elsewhere if that our community that are underneath the city's control so With that we have to answer any questions, but staff is looking for correction on how the council would like to proceed on this issue Thank you.

Mr. Stewart questions. Mr. Carter.

Yeah, I mean we see how valuable these softball fields are to the community and it just seems prudent that we would explore a another place to build this since it seems like we're hitting some dead ends with the county. So I would be in favor of directing staff to pursue an alternative area and an alternative place to build softball fields.

Okay, thank you. Mr. Perales.

Okay, I appreciate it. I'll make it quick since we were going marathon meeting today. Yeah, I had a lot to think over the weekend and I think it's in our best interest to direct the city attorney to address the letter that was sent to us and the validity of that $1 check, buying out our interest. I think we have a stake in the HAPO Center and I think we need to start looking into the validity of that because I think at this point the county believes they are the sole owner of the HAPO Center and all of its interests. And so I would like to gauge the council's interest about directing the city manager and the city attorney to look into that. It looks like Mr. Kinney wants to say something.

I bet he does. I know Mr. Kinney.

Yeah, I'll just provide just quick context. That has already been pursued. The city manager wrote a letter to the county disputing the letter that was received from the county. I have reached out to the county attorney now on many occasions requesting a response. have not received one. They are working with an outside attorney or outside of the county attorney. And I am told that they will prepare a response, though I've been told that now for months. And I have reached out on numerous occasions indicating that we need that response so that we can understand the basis for their letter. The letter references citations in the agreement that don't match up to what they're trying to accomplish. And so we're trying to understand truly what their perspective is. So we have looked into that and continue to do so as recently as yesterday I reached out. And so it is certainly on the radar and something that we are actively trying to pursue.

Awesome. I appreciate that update, and if Mr. Briggs or his sub-consultant attorney are watching, please respond at your earliest convenience. And I think that's good for the public to know. I think we've sent correspondence to them via email, probably phone calls, and there's virtually just no response, and so I want the public to know that. I want to engage the county about buying the softball fields more formally. If we need to have a joint meeting... ENGAGE WITH THEM ABOUT HAVING A JOINT MEETING SO WE CAN DISCUSS THESE THINGS, BECAUSE I KNOW WE'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT THE ILAs AND OTHER CONTRACTS FOR QUITE SOME TIME, BECAUSE WE'RE LEAVING THE SPORTS COMMUNITY IN LIMBO. IF YOU DROVE BY THIS WEEKEND AND YOU HAD SOFTBALL GAMES, YOU HAD SOCCER TOURNAMENTS, I MEAN, THAT PLACE WAS JUST BOOMING. THE HUB WAS THE BUSIEST I'VE SEEN IT IN SOME TIME. SO WE NEED TO REALLY ENGAGE WITH THEM AND LET THE PUBLIC KNOW THAT WE'RE TRYING TO WORK WITH THEM, BUT THEY DON'T WANT TO HAVE MEETINGS AND THEY DON'T WANT TO ENGAGE WITH US. HOPEFULLY, YOU KNOW, THE USE OF THOSE FIELDS ARE GOING TO BE, YOU KNOW, GOING TO BE ABLE TO BE USED IN THE FUTURE. BUT I THINK IT'S TIME THAT WE KIND OF UP THE ENGAGEMENT WITH THEM AND MAYBE HAVE A RESOLUTION WHERE WE SAY WE WANT TO HAVE A MEETING WITH YOU AND WE ALL APPROVE OF IT JUST SO THAT WE CAN TELL THEM, LOOK, WE WANT TO HAVE CONVERSATIONS WITH YOU GUYS. IF NOT, I THINK IT'S JUST IN OUR BEST INTEREST TO PROBABLY JUST MOVE ON. I THINK WE NEED TO HAVE THESE LAST DITCH EFFORTS OF ENGAGEMENT. if we can't get nothing from them, I think it's probably the best interest for us and our board. We have so many issues to work on, but I mean, I've been on the council for three years and it's just, it's the same old song and dance sometimes with the county. And so they really need to start, you know, working with us and we want to work with them. But, you know, there comes a certain point where, you know, I think a divorce is necessary. I mean, People get divorced, they stop talking, they stop going out. That's the way I feel personally as a council member. There's just nothing there. And I hate looking at agenda items and it says the HAPO Center, softball complex. This has been going on for way too long. And so we really just need to kind of figure things out. If not, then it's just time to move on. So those are my points that I wanted to make tonight. And I mean... Lastly, obviously, they're strapped for money. I mean, they're looking to go to Indian tribes to sell their land and get money. So, look, we're throwing $14 million at you. Give us the softball fields. It just gets to a point where, I mean, do you want money? Do you need money? If not, I mean, really engage us so we can figure this stuff out. Thank you.

Thank you, and I'll chime in. I actually did meet with one of the commissioners about this specifically. and also the county administrator one of their elected officials and um mr stewart and um miss sigdell went with me and we met for about 45 minutes to to really just to your point talk turkey mr paralysis and um talked about our appraisal showing the value of it and our offer exceeding um even the the appraisal and i want to be very respectful of them it is their position it's just worth much more than what we offered and though our appraisal is a commercial appraisal for highest and best use they just they just think there's a higher value to it and beyond that I should let them be fair to them let them speak for themselves but I guess one of the sticking points for me though was perhaps and i can't speak for them but perhaps one of the reasons they are putting more value on it than what we offered is because the improvements that have been made but we were the ones that made the improvements and so in a sense um i just i don't think it's fair to really ask the taxpayers of the county that live within the city of pasco to pay for those improvements twice you know wants to build them you know wants to basically buy it from themselves so that's a real sticking point but We did talk turkey, had a very frank discussion, really mostly respectful and everything like that. It was really good to sit down and visit, but definitely at an impasse, definitely didn't get to where we needed to. So for what it's worth, I would also be in favor of directing staff, as you and Mr. Codd have mentioned, to explore other opportunities at this point. Mayor Pro Tem?

Yeah, thank you, Mayor. I agree with everything that's been said. More in Rio, like Mr. Perales was saying, it's frustrating when they don't get back. It's gone on for way too long. So, yeah, I'd like to have them, like the location and everything, but, yeah, I guess if they're not going to do business with us, we could look at other options. So that's my thought on that.

Thank you, Mr. Hernandez. You were going to say something? Yeah, just, you know, move on and look at other options if they're not willing to negotiate at all or think their land is worth more than it actually is. So let's move on and try to replicate that somewhere else. Perfect.

Thank you, Mr. Campos. Oh, sorry, your light is on me, but thank you, sir.

Yeah, absolutely. I just agree with everybody here on the dias. It's an unfortunate situation. I think that we've invested as a city so much into that. And we're seeing how the community loves it, supports it, wants it. And we're talking about the same people. We're talking about people that live in the city of Pasco, but also live in Franklin County. And so it's the same people, yet there's some disconnect here. And I just don't get it. I understand that they may want more money. Well, then at least come and tell us that. Not being able to have that communication. Kind of sets the signal that they're ready to move on in their own way. So I am in support of that as well to just go and find a different alternative because we have to provide an opportunity for our community that obviously loves an event or a place like that. And so we have to do our due diligence to find that location.

Thank you. Yes, and just in all fairness, they absolutely did tell us they wanted more money than what we offered and everything like that. But, you know, you guys, I drove by there Sunday morning on our way to church, and my goodness, the soccer fields were just packed. The softball fields were just packed. I mean, people are definitely using that facility. It is a value to our community. And so, like, you know, Councilmember Hernandez even said, whether we replicate that somewhere else, I know... That's what others have said also, but Mr. Stewart?

Yeah, if I might add, in reference to the mayor's meeting that he referenced, and given what they communicated back and what they believe the value of that property is, I have a hard time as a city manager recommending that we pay that amount because unless I'm wrong with my estimates, you could probably build a brand new state-of-the-art facility for what they're asking for that. and still have to invest further money to keep it up to date and make it more usable for those tournaments. And so I think it's my recommendation is that the council directs staff to move forward so at least we have alternatives and we have better estimates for what that will cost, and then we can revisit that conversation again later on down the road when we have that information.

I think you agree. Yeah, the location is obviously premium because we have the infrastructure around there already with hotels and Summers Hub and also the other recently added amenities. But at the same time, if we can't go anywhere with that, yeah, I think we do need to look elsewhere. So thank you, everyone. Anybody have anything else before we move on? All right, number 12, miscellaneous discussion, starting with you, Mr. Harrod.

A couple of things real quick. First and foremost, this Saturday is our annual Fiery Foods Festival downtown, so we invite all of the public to come down there. It starts at noon and goes until 6 p.m. There will be a lot of great contests and vendors and all kinds of fun things going on downtown. There was a comment earlier during our public comment session with regards to flock cameras. What gets talked about in that too is our ALPRs, our automated license plate readers. So just wanted to report that the police department has resumed use of the automated license plate reader systems as we've developed policies that are now fully compliant with the new Washington state laws and requirements. So those have begun their usage again and wanted to let the council and the public know that. And then finally, I asked Chief Cook to provide an update on our new partnership program with Amazon regarding helmets for kids within our community who operate e-scooters and e-bikes.

Well, Mayor, Council, I am pleased to report that with the City Manager's Office, we've developed a contact system. from the state level who is helping us here with our, uh, our centers here with donations of helmets. I know that everybody's concerned about safety and what we're seeing with youth riding e-bikes and scooters and they're going faster than ever. Um, today we had another accident with a 14 year old and, um, And that is reported to not have a helmet on during that accident. So with Amazon, they've donated helmets. We've had four events with the partnership with the school where we have been giving those helmets out to kids who report that they have those type of devices, bikes or e-bikes. And so we're pleased to be working with them. I had a meeting with their representative today, and they are interested in continuing this relationship when it comes to safety and kids. And so we're looking at ways to do that to further our youth's safety.

I'd like to follow up that with a question. Chief Cook, so if there are members of the public that would like a helmet for their children are those still available and how would they get access to them?

So they are limited available right now, but I think we can access more. Right now we're doing them at events, but I think we are absolutely open if somebody is in need of one of those to contact the police department and we'll get them a hold of Tom Yaswinski, who is our resource officer who is handling those.

Thanks for your work on that. Anything else, Mr. Stewart? Mr. Perales.

In regards to the helmets, I think, you know, I don't know what the public engagement piece looks like, but I think attending events where there's lots of people. I went to the football game last week and tons of people were there. So I don't know, perhaps you and Amazon can set up a table or just like an information booth, hand out flyers to people. There are a lot of kids, right? And I'm sure a lot of those kids are riding scooters and e-bikes. Just a way to engage. I see an officer there. Maybe that's something he can do while he's there. He's obviously providing security help, but maybe he can talk with kids as they walk in, as they're walking around and stuff like that, have helmets out perhaps. That's just the thought. Another thing that kind of was brought up earlier from a constituent was perhaps we have a landing page that talks about flock cameras. YOU KNOW, WHEN WE IMPLEMENT IT. I MEAN, THEY'VE BEEN AROUND IN PASCO FOR A LONG TIME, YOU KNOW, BUT OBVIOUSLY THIS KIND OF ISSUE THAT'S CAME UP IN THE PAST YEAR OR TWO IS WHERE A LOT OF PEOPLE DIDN'T KNOW THEY WERE THERE. SO I THINK AS A CONSTITUENT SAID, HAVING A PAGE THAT TALKS ABOUT IT, YOU KNOW, I THINK I GATHERED SOME INFORMATION NOT TOO LONG AGO ABOUT THE RED LIGHT CAMERAS AND HOW MANY TICKETS AND STUFF. SO JUST HAVING THAT INFORMATION on our website so people can get our perspective on it and stuff like that. I'm a supporter of them. I think a lot of people are going to be running for council next year are going to probably be asked that question. But I think we need to provide a stance as to why we are implementing them and using them. And we had a presentation a couple months ago. So just kind of regurgitating that information to the public that they are a tool we use and we've seen success with them. I think that's probably the best thing that we can do right now. We haven't had anyone come in here and say, turn them off. We haven't had any instances, as far as I know, of people trying to cut them down and stuff like that. I probably shouldn't even say that because people are going to get the idea, but we just haven't seen that as opposed to other areas. So I wanted to kind of just put that out there. And then lastly... Obviously, I get a lot of emails and phone calls about stuff. I did have a constituent reach out to me. He's concerned about fugitive dust. I've had other individuals reach out to me in regards to this issue, in regards to construction next to older residential homes, flooding, washouts. One individual sent me pictures of a washout almost into their pool. That would have been really bad. Um, and it was adjacent to new construction. Um, this individual sent me this because he wants to know if the city would pay this invoice. Um, he had to clean his house, his home multiple times now. Um, and it's cost him 189 bucks because he's made complaints and I appreciate the city manager going out and speaking or going out and seeing the issue. I mean, but this 189 bucks is, you know, that's, that's a lot of money. ESPECIALLY TO INDIVIDUALS, IN THIS CASE, WHO ARE ON FIXED INCOMES. AND THEY'RE DEALING WITH THIS FUGITIVE DUST BECAUSE OF CONSTRUCTION AND STUFF LIKE THAT. WE WANT TO SEE GROWTH, BUT AT THE SAME TIME, YOU KNOW, I APPRECIATE US BACKFILLING THOSE CODE ENFORCEMENT ROLES, BUT, YOU KNOW, I JUST THINK ABOUT THE MANY INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE PAYING FOR THIS. AND, HONESTLY, I SAW SOME SIGNS THIS PAST WEEK SAY, HEY, WE CLEAN HOUSES. SO, OBVIOUSLY, PEOPLE ARE GETTING INTO THE MARKET THAT PEOPLE NEED THEIR HOUSES THEN, OBVIOUSLY. BUT I DON'T THINK WE SHOULD GET TO THAT POINT. I THINK WE NEED TO HOLD OUR CONTRACTORS ACCOUNTABLE IN REGARDS TO, YOU KNOW, STORM WATER PREVENTION MEASURES AND FUGITIVE DUST. AND SO I JUST WANT TO BRING THIS TO THE ATTENTION OF THE COUNCIL. AGAIN, THIS INDIVIDUAL ACTUALLY MAILED THIS TO THE CITY. IT WAS IN MY FOLDER. I WAS WONDERING IF HE WAS GOING TO E-MAIL IT TO ME, BUT HE ACTUALLY SENT IT TO ME. AND THAT'S AN INVOICE FROM TRISHINE WINDOW CLEANING FOR $189. AND SO I DID E-MAIL AND TELL HIM, YOU KNOW, THE CITY'S NOT GOING TO PAY FOR THAT, BUT I GET YOUR POINT. And so I told them I would share it with you guys. So other than that, appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody have anything else? Just wanted to bring up the email I sent you guys earlier today about our first Monday meeting of the new year. Any thoughts on that? Tuesday or just wait until the 11th? You guys, 11th? 11th. Okay, consensus on the 11th. And I guess I would take the other side. I guess just to close this out for the evening of the flock cameras, you guys. I am really struggling with them, and I'm probably done at this point. I know they are a huge value to our police department, especially in capturing the worst of the worst. I mean, we're talking kidnappers. We're talking other felonious issues throughout, but... This is just an ongoing topic we have about liberty and law and order and where do we draw the line and I think everybody's going to draw the line in a different place in their mind or you know somewhere in the law but in my mind this is this is where we draw and I know you guys we are tracked through placer AI where you shop and where you where your origination was before you went and shopped and where you go after you shopped and we are being tracked in many ways and we sign those user agreements and everything but at the same time I think there's a line as a society we need to draw somewhere and for me this is it I'm not saying you know not pushing for you guys to you know nod heads to pull the plug tonight and everything like that but I think that's a direction that at least I would like to, you know, see us move in. Me and Council Member Perales aren't going to maybe necessarily see this eye to eye, but it's something, you know, I would like to see us discuss further. Maybe not put it on staff's agenda right now, as I know they're trying to deal with the budget and everything like that. But at the same time, you guys, I just, for us to continue to be a free society, we have to draw the line somewhere. And I'll be honest with you guys. In general, I don't trust the government. I know that's kind of crazy being the mayor to say that. I do not trust the government. You know who else I don't trust? Corporations. I do not trust them either. Though corporations have brought us endless good things and quality of life to our human experience. And I think government is a gift from God to restrain evil. But at the same time, they're very corrupt. You know who I trust, you guys? individuals to make the best decisions they can for themselves and though we are also you know working from a depraved point of view I would put my money with individuals rather than some of the large groups for tracking and keeping track of us so with that said that's where I'm at I want to be on the record for it and at the soonest point three of others of you agree with me gone as far as what I think so Anyways, anybody have anything else for the good of our city tonight? Not seeing any, we're going to move on to executive session number 13. What do you got, about a 40-minute one tonight, Mr. Stewart?

We don't have one this evening. You're scaring me there, Mayor. It's not funny.

It's not April Fool's Day. Sorry. Good. Yeah, I'm not seeing one either. Number 14 is adjourned. This meeting at 1010 is adjourned. Thank you.