Legislative Meeting - Regular Meeting

Recording in progress.

Okay. Good afternoon, everyone. We are going to go ahead and get our two o'clock meeting started. It is June 16th, 2026. It is the Board of County Commissioners two o'clock consent agenda meeting. Let the record reflect that we have four commissioners that are present here. Commissioner French was not able to attend. We will go ahead and get started with, we'll ask everyone to stand for the pledge.

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, with liberty and justice for all.

We did not receive any written comment for items on today's agenda and I am going to take item 5A separately just because our Our K-9 unit needs to be headed out to fight fires and be available. So we're going to go ahead and our K-9 is here with us, Apache. So I will look to my fellow commissioners for Item 5A.

Madam Chair, I move that we approve Item 5A as presented on today's agenda.

Second.

I have a motion and a second for Item 5A as presented on today's agenda. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye.

Aye.

Aye. And Lieutenant Buell, I don't know if you'd like to come down and say a few words. I know, he may be a little nervous with the crowd, so we're just trying to kind of help out here.

Thank you for putting us on the agenda today. This is our canine Apache. He is retiring today, so this is his last day. This canine's been through a lot. He's the first canine that we've had that was actually a cloned dog, so something special that we've never had before. To add to that, he's been on the road for probably seven plus years, and he has outlasted a lot of people. He's been through two handlers, four sergeants, and three lieutenants, so he lasted longer than all of them. He's also a dual purpose dog, so he did a lot of work with finding narcotics as well as finding people. bringing them into custody, I guess is what we could say. But he's going to be now awarded to Deputy Phil Pfeiffer, his original handler. But we'd like to thank him for his service and everything he's brought to our unit. Thank you for seeing us today. I appreciate it.

Thank you. We appreciate you being here, and thank you. Phil, okay, Deputy Pfeiffer for taking him and helping him retire and yeah, just love on him. So thank you and thanks for Apache for all his work he's done for the county. So thank you. And we'll let you guys get out of here and go fight fires. take care take care people okay so then we have that will jump us back to our agenda and so it is open public forum time so at our open public forum we have fifteen minutes allotted for people to speak to anything that is not on our agenda and i do have seven people i think at this time signed up so i'm gonna hold this to see if everyone can speak in two minutes That tends to be what I do if I've got a lot of people, so I'm gonna go for two minutes each and start with Zenitha, sorry, Peterson. And so you'll have two minutes if that's okay. And then just state your name and just area for the record and the timer will be up there.

Hi, I'm Cynthia, I'm from District 3, and I'm here today to talk to you about the proposed data center here in Spokane. Now let me be clear, as a resident and as someone who absolutely loves this city, we cannot allow a data center to be built on the lands of Spokane County. The effects of data centers are well documented and incredibly damning. For a start, the crown jewel of Spokane, the Spokane River. We risk further drying it up. Not only is it an absolutely gorgeous part of Spokane, but we rely on it for power and drinkable water. It is a resource that we must protect. And on the health impacts of such a development are astronomical. Water, sound, air, and light pollution are common from data centers. Side effects include hearing loss, insomnia, stress, respiratory issues, PFAS contamination, and the list goes on. Who would want to live in a city like that? How do you expect to attract capital into this region when the quality of life here becomes that poor? It's not like the data centers provide much for jobs in this region either. The city of Spokane is already planning on passing a moratorium, but Avista is a regional supplier. Please, I urge you, work with the city of Spokane and other cities in the county to pass similar legislation. We must be unified as a region on this issue. Thanks so much for your time.

Thank you. Next I have Tina McKinstry. Welcome.

Good morning commissioners my name is Tina McKinstry. I am the president of the board of Tequesa Village Homeowners Cooperative. in Meade, a community of 192 homeowners and growing. I'm here today to talk and ask Spokane County to include manufactured home preservation and affordable homeownership in its 1590 funding plan. When people hear affordable housing, they often picture apartments, and apartments are part of the answer, but apartments don't give you skin in the game and a sense of community. Homeownership gives you pride and a sense of community. For many working families, seniors, disabled residents, and people on fixed incomes, including individuals starting over after drug and rehab, this is their path to home ownership. These are real homes. These are families with yards, pets, gardens, neighbors, and roots. Modern manufactured homes are not pull-behinds. Homes built after June 15, 1976 must meet federal HUD construction and safety standards. But even with that, funding and lending systems still often treat these homes as less than site-built homes. This stigma has consequences. weatherization programs can come in and help with small improvements but when someone needs a roof furnace safety repair or accessibility repair they often cannot access normal home equity loans the way a site built home can this leaves people choosing between a leaking roof a dangerous furnace a predatory loan or losing their home they already own Spokane County could lead by setting aside a portion of 1590, funding for manufactured home repair, assistance, low-interest loans, grants, or preservation programs. The county could also support expansions of resident-owned communities like ours. Housing stability is public safety. Helping a senior age in place, a disabled person stay independent, or a family keeping the home they've already worked so hard to keep. So I'm asking that you enact 1590 and give communities like Tequesa a seat at the table and that funding reaches the homes and the families that are worth saving because the cheapest affordable housing is the home you save before it's lost.

Thank you. Next I have Deb Tupper.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair and Commissioners. My name is Deb Tupper. I live in the Spokane Valley. I'm a member of the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection and also the Spokane Alliance. But I come to you today as a seasoned landlord to discuss asking you to enact HP 1590 as a step towards providing more affordable housing in our region. My husband and I have owned 31 units in Spokane over the last 25 years. Most of our properties have been located in the historically low income districts of both the city and the county, and our experiences personally have taught us that housing stability can be very fragile, and it's why we manage our business the way we do in keeping our rents under market value. My husband experienced homelessness as a teenager and I lived in nearly a different home every year of my childhood because my mother could not find affordable housing for us to live year after year. Over the years, we've worked with tenants having COVID related to illnesses and losses, life altering situations, legal challenges, and unfair labor practices. I'd like to tell you about one such mother that came to us through a referral family promise. She was pregnant and had four children under the age of six. She was a victim of domestic violence and she temporarily lost her custody of her children and had no transportation and no job and very few options. We were able through programs that existed to provide her safe and affordable housing and through that she was able to get her life back in order and avoid ending up in the system in any manner of ill will. The affordable housing challenge is bigger than any personal landlord can help. It needs to have dedicated funding and we respectfully ask you to enact under the power that you have, 1590, to provide the income that we need to have more affordable housing in the county. Thank you very much. Thank you.

So next I have Dee Bird.

My name is Dee Byrd and the Vice President of Tequesa Village Co-op. We are a community run by the members and a board. We are an affordable manufactured home community. We are here to ask that a portion of 1590 be provided for low interest loans for manufactured home repairs because no bank will loan to an owner so they can do the repairs to their homes like getting a new roof or an expensive replacement of a fuse box. We had SNAP come and do some weatherizing, but that doesn't help with the other major repairs. This makes it hard for our residents to maintain their homes and not become homeless because their homes may be weatherized, but they still cannot get a loan needed to repair their home and keep them off the streets. Houses and apartments are a huge struggle. As rents are $1,200 to $2,800 a month, a single person or someone on Social Security cannot afford Spokane's rent. and they can end up homeless. I feel 1590 could supply many Spokane residents with a home through manufactured co-op projects in Spokane and Spokane County. Let's make Spokane better and give people ownership that could be met with places they can afford. Everyone deserves to have a piece of the American dream of ownership. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. next i have i'm becky um and i'm not sure your last name on scene this is on data centers oh is it becky dicker i'm sorry becky becky i couldn't read your writing this time

Hello there. First of all, I'm sure you can imagine how thrilled I am to have all those people behind me supporting 1590. I did not know they would be here today, or I may not have opted to speak. Because I'm not here to speak about 1590 for a change, and I'm not even here prepared to speak. I'm here to talk about the data centers. and as you know i've sat here for years listening to the people the residents of the west plains plead and beg for help to test their water and to come up with a solution to their water which they discovered after years had been contaminated and contaminated their food Recently, PBS had a story about data centers and how they must be part of the community to come up with a reasonable solution. So you can imagine how I felt when I learned through Avista and through the research from Range that one of our elected officials had been actively courting a data center to come here without public info. I can't tell you how surprised I am after all the issues we had with PFAS that again we were involved in a secret negotiation without public input. Data centers have issues, pro and con, as a recent PBS publication supported. And without human input, without community input, Those issues cannot be resolved to support the entire community. So again, I'm asking the commissioners, do not hide this data center procurement in secrecy again. Be open and transparent so the entire community can participate. Thank you. Thank you.

And then I have Dr. Elizabeth O'Halloran. Did I say that right? You get to correct me.

Hi, my name is Dr. Elizabeth O'Halloran and I grew up in Spokane and I currently reside in Spokane County. I'm opposed to any new data centers in our county and I would like, if possible, that we have nuisance control ordinances to prevent light and noise pollution and air pollution and I would like zoning laws that would actually prohibit new data centers. There are huge health risks from data centers. One is as already discussed by someone else, noise pollution, and they can produce up to 96 decibel level noise 24 seven. Hearing loss will occur at 85 decibels acutely, but over long term lower levels of noise will cause hearing loss. There's also light pollution which is constant from data centers and it disrupts human circadian rhythms and also disturbs migration of birds and other animals. And then of course there's air pollution. Data centers emit nitrous oxide. methane, particulates, and other pollutants. And scientific models predict that data centers will cause 600,000 asthma attacks by 2030, as well as 1,300 premature deaths, and that's from air pollution. And this is at a healthcare cost of $20 billion that's predicted. uh... regarding our water as you know our main aquifer is the sole drinking water source for five hundred thousand people large data centers use five million gallons of water per day we must protect our aquifer and then regarding power costs something people don't think about is that land from private owners will be taken by eminent domain to make the electrical grid that is necessary for these large data centers. We already have high power costs and that will rise further for everybody. And then there's also an environmental justice issue because these centers disproportionately affect low income and minority groups. So thank you. Please no data centers, not now, not ever. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Okay, so that is everyone that I do have signed up who signed up for open public. I don't, but we will go ahead and let you speak, and then we'll have you.

Everyone's been very prompt. Thanks, guys. Hi. Good afternoon, commissioners. My name is Sarah Olson, and I'm here today with the Spokane Alliance, as are many of these other speakers. And I do want to apologize.

Yes. It is in here, and I just missed it. Great. I apologize.

I'm sorry. I don't want to waste your time.

Thank you. You can go ahead and start over.

Thank you. Good afternoon, commissioners. My name is Sarah Olson. I'm here today with the Spokane Alliance. We are here to ask, as you implement the recommendations of the Safe and Healthy Spokane Task Force, to enact HB 1590 to provide local funding for affordable housing. Safe and Healthy Spokane calls on you to immediately identify systemic housing gaps and prioritize action to address them. HB 1590 gives Spokane County a practical tool to do exactly that. 1590 authorizes a 1 10th of 1% sales tax dedicated to affordable housing and behavioral health services. For a $100 purchase, that amounts to 10 cents. Across Spokane County, it would generate $7 million annually for low income housing, supportive services, behavioral health programs, housing preservation, and other evidence-based solutions. The good news is that we do not have to guess whether this approach works. In the City of Spokane, HB 1590 funds have already generated significant investments in affordable housing and supportive services. Today, you face important decisions about public safety, but the Safe and Healthy Spokane Task Force reminds us that public safety begins long before someone enters a jail cell. The Task Force report makes clear reforms to the broader system will fall short without investment in the entire affordable housing pipeline. Commissioners, you have before you a proven tool, a dedicated funding source, and a clear recommendation from your own task force. 1590 is a tool you can enact as soon as you put it on the legislative agenda. We urge you to enact HB 1590 and make affordable housing and behavioral health investments a central part of Spokane County's public safety strategy. We will be reaching out to request a meeting with each of you in the next two weeks to discuss this tool in more depth. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you. And again, I apologize that somehow I missed your name. Okay. Okay, so then that takes us to the end of our open public forum. So I'll close our open public forum and we are gonna go to our proclamations. And so we are gonna start with 3A, which is to proclaim June 16th, 2026 as Mount Spokane High School Fast Pitch State Champions Day.

Madam Chair, I would like to read this proclamation in the form of a motion. Whereas Mount Spokane High School is a member of the Greater Spokane League and a member of the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association, and whereas on Saturday, May 23rd, 2026, at the Regional Athletic Complex in Lacey, The Mount Spokane High School Fast Pitch Softball Team won the Washington State 3A Fast Pitch Championship for the first time in school history under the leadership of Principal Chelsea Gallagher, Athletic Director Bobby Lee, and Coaches Carl Adams, Bree Boer, Natalie King, Peyton Dressler, and Amber Helbling. And... Whereas, their victory returns a fast-pitch state championship to the Greater Spokane League for the first time since 2007. And, whereas, 18 Wildcats, Addison Jay, Ivy Westerman, Caden Bradine, Lexi Maughan, Maddie Welty, Mackenzie Morris, Quincy Sherman, Riley Kincaid, Sophia Terry, Sydney Arman, Avery Fox, Emmy Bond, Isabel King, Bailey Tampion, Candice Busher, Olivia Noddings, Allie Moffett, and Holden Farnsworth each contributed to the team's success. And whereas Mount Spokane High School strives for excellence in all it does, the girls' fast pitch and slow pitch softball teams consistently perform exceptionally well in the classroom as well as in sports. Now, therefore, we, the Board of County Commissioners of Spokane County, Washington, on behalf of the citizens of Spokane County, do hereby recognize the extraordinary talent showcased by all the Mount Spokane High School staff, students, athletes, and coaches, and proclaim Tuesday, June 16th, 2026, the Mount Spokane Fast Pitch Softball State Champions Day, dated this 16th day of June, 2026. Second.

I have a motion and second from two gentlemen that actually graduated up there. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye.

motion passes unanimously. I'd like to ask the coach to come up and then if you'd like to say a few words and then have the girls come up and they can state their name and their positions. Okay, that sounds good.

Thank you, commissioners. On behalf of all the staff and students at Mount Spokane High School, our team, our parent group, and our coaches, we'd like to say thank you to the Board of County Commissioners for the special recognition of our Fast Pitch State Championship. Our team of Wildcats, including our players, managers, parents, and coaches, put in countless hours of work to be prepared to compete for a state championship, and we are truly grateful to each of you for taking the time to recognize our group's accomplishment. Thank you again to all of you. Before I have our players come up to give their name and position, I'd also like to congratulate the Freeman Group, and happy to be here with you guys today. Congratulations to you guys as well. So at that point, players, come on up, give your name and position.

And then as you guys do that, come up front, and then we'll take a picture and hand you off. Addison J., pitcher.

Avery Fox, third baseman. Quincy Sherman, catcher.

Caden Bradine, first base.

Bailey Champion, utility. Riley Kincaid, outfield. Emmy Bond, shortstop. Maddie Welty, outfielder. Olivia Noddings, pitcher. Sydney Arman, third base.

Sophia Terry, first base.

Mackenzie Morris, second base. Lexi Mullen, outfielder. Allie Moffitt, first base. Cadence Busher, utility. Brianne Boer, assistant coach.

Thank you all. Okay, we'll probably have you guys scooch in.

Should we get coaches in the middle? And you can hold the proclamation if you'd like.

We'll see if you can get in. Do you want to come up? Okay. Here you go. Yeah, if you two want to come up, you can be up here with us.

Okay.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

CONGRATULATIONS.

IT IS A PLEASURE TO HAVE YOU GUYS ALL DOWN HERE. YOU KIND OF GET TO SEE WHAT YOUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT, COUNTY GOVERNMENT HAPPENS. YOU GET TO SEE THE PUBLIC FORUM. YOU GET TO SEE SOME OF OUR THINGS THAT WE DO. SO I THINK IT'S AN EXCITING CIVICS LESSON AS WELL. WE GET TO CELEBRATE YOU. Thank you, I wanted to say that and then we will go to 3B which is to proclaim June 16th, 2026 as Freeman High School Softball State Champions Day.

All right, very exciting. In the matter of proclaiming June 16th, 2026 as the Freeman High School Softball State Champions Day in Spokane County, WA. Whereas Freeman High School is a member of the Northeast 2B League and a member of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association. Whereas on May 23rd, 2026 at Gateway Sports Complex in Yakima, Washington, the Freeman High School softball team won the WIAA 2B State Softball Championship for the first time in school history under the leadership of Tom Sefton and Jenna Williamson. Whereas the team finished the season 24-3 with its first state title in school history after finishing second the previous year. In addition, the Freeman Scotties are just the second team from the Northeast 2B League to bring home a championship and the first to do it since 2018. Whereas 14 athletes each contributed to the team's success in their state championship win. Seniors Kaylee Ripke, Maddie Brebner, Paige Lockmire, and Riley Russell, juniors Avery Berglin, Tansy Koiner, I apologize for any mispronunciations, Coley Collins, Sierra Hayek, and Sadie Stedlin. Sophomores, Sam DuPont, Peyton Poston, Rylan Ripkey, Laurel Sefton, and Sophie Wasley. And whereas, Freeman High School strives to maintain a scholastically successful athletic program that strives for academic excellence in the classroom as well as sportsmanship on the field. The Freeman softball team maintain a GPA this year of 3.57. Now, therefore, we, the Board of County Commissioners of Spokane County, Washington, on behalf of the citizens of Spokane County, do hereby recognize the extraordinary talent showcased by all the Freeman High School staff, students, coaches, and athletes, and proclaim June 16th as Freeman High School Softball State Champions Day.

I will second the motion.

Okay, I have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion passes unanimously. So I'd like to ask the coach to come up. And if you'd say a few words and then we'll do the same thing, have the girls come up and state their name and then we'll do photos.

First of all, on behalf of the team, the Freeman community, we want to thank all the county commissioners for having us here and giving us great honor. We appreciate all you do for Spokane County. Not an easy job. We really appreciate it. And to Commissioner Mary Brooks, we appreciate everything you do in District 4. and no we did not win the state championship with just four players I'll have to get with Carl on how how to motivate girls to show up but I also want to congratulate Carl I've known him for a long time he's not only a great coach he's a he's great with people and young people and the whole team I've known a lot of these players through a club and the same thing they're just great people and Great representation for the greater Spokane League, so congratulations. I will have the players come up one by one and state their position and their name. They're really excited to do this, too.

I'm sure they are. And then we'll have you guys come up here, and we'll probably come down and fill in since it's... Laurels, Upton, outfield. Brylin, Ripkey, shortstop. Maddie, Brebner, second base.

Kaylee, Ripkey, pitcher. Jenna Williamson, assistant coach.

Very good. Okay, we're going to come down with you guys and take a photo. Yeah, was it last day of school for all of you? Oh, there you go. Well, congratulations and enjoy your summer. And you're welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting or you're welcome to get out of here if you want to. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. Enough of the civics lesson. Okay, so we will continue our meeting and I will look to my fellow commissioners. We are gonna take item number five I separately. So with that, I will look to my fellow commissioners.

Madam Chair, I move to approve item 4A and 5B through H on today's agenda.

Second. Okay, I have a motion for 4A and items 5B through H. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Motion passes unanimously. That will then take us to item 5I that we're taking separately. So do I have a motion?

Madam Chair, I move to approve item 5I.

Second. Okay, I have a motion and a second for item number 5I. Is there any further discussion?

Madam Chair, I asked to take this one separately. I know this should be no surprise to my fellow seat mates. This was something I had some heartburn back in early 2023 with the MOU. AND A NUMBER OF THE THINGS I HAD CONCERNS WITH THEN HAVE NOT BEEN RESOLVED. I DO WANT TO LEAD OFF WITH A STATEMENT I MADE BACK IN 2023 IS I DO BELIEVE THE INDIANS BASEBALL TEAM IS AN ASSET TO THIS COMMUNITY, BUT I DO BELIEVE THAT The MOU at the time and the same belief with the lease agreement now. This needs to be more of a partnership. I feel too much of this falls on the public. Far too many public dollars have been spent on the renovations and not enough by the main tenant of the facility, and that is the county dollars, that is the state dollars, and dollars that have come from the city of the Spokane Valley. I also... SHARED THESE CONCERNS THIS MORNING. I BELIEVE THAT THIS DOES NOT FOLLOW COUNTY CODE OR THE RCWs THAT ARE REFERENCED IN OUR COUNTY CODE WITH RCW 3634160 AS FAR AS LEASING OUT OF PROPERTIES. THERE ARE NEW FACILITIES THAT ARE NOT A PART OF THE EXISTING AGREEMENT THAT ARE A PART OF THE NEW ONE. Please do not get me wrong, this agreement is better than the existing lease, but the existing lease is horrendous and this is just a bad lease. But at the end of the day, we are still on the wrong side of a bad agreement. Um, this is a 20 year lease that we will be locking the county into. And I hope that in 20 years, whoever sits in these seats up here can get a better deal for the taxpayers than we are going to give to them today. So I will be voting.

No, Mr. Jordan.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the comments. I don't think it'll be a surprise to any of my seat mates. I'll be voting yes on this agreement. I could say I think one of the things about today is that I think it's good news that the Spokane Indians will be remaining in Spokane for the foreseeable future. The commissioners will remember that when we started this, or when the previous board started this conversation, and there was a new board that kind of came in to continue it uh... we were looking at a situation where major minor league baseball consolidation was going on and so last i checked forty three cities around the country have lost their minor league teams and so minor league baseball has been a beloved part of the community for so many years and uh... the stadium as we know is a community asset owned by the county which which is not unusual around the state, tri-cities. The Dust Devils minor league team is owned by the city of Pasco, the ballpark in Tacoma. The AAA Rainiers is owned by Pierce County, so it is a fairly common situation for public entities to own these ballparks as a community asset that provides recreation and economic development benefits while there's a private team that leases it. On the dollars and cents of the lease, I appreciate the acknowledgement. It is significantly better on this updated lease version that we're voting on today. The staff for the county have worked really hard on this. They've told us that they've negotiated this agreement painstakingly. We are, just a few of the highlights for me that lead me to believe this is a good agreement is we are more than tripling the rent. The team will be covering routine maintenance costs at the ballpark that the county is currently on the hook for. We have increased rent above certain attendance thresholds, which the team did exceed by 14,000 fans last year. The agreement also saves the county some money on parking expenses, which then frees up those funds to be invested in maintenance of the fairgrounds lot, which has been a priority for us. We're also guaranteed a significant share of parking revenue in the future if the team elects to charge for parking. And so if you just take the first three of those provisions that I mentioned alone, depending on how you do the exact math, It puts the county about $250,000 per year better off than we are today. If you add that up over 20 years, it could be $4.5 to $5 million plus benefit for the county. So I think that's a significant improvement. I appreciate the team's hard work on it. I also just wanted to, on the topic of the improvements of the park, again thank the city of Spokane Valley for their contributions, the state of Washington. I'm glad that. through this process the community will continue to enjoy this great tradition we have and it was really great at the groundbreaking for that Project to see Republicans and Democrats and a great turnout of state legislators, especially from the valley area support that So just kind of a few concluding thoughts I think this is a public asset and I think there's a lot of reasons why a lot of people are excited that we've invested in it to maintain it and put the public in a position to be able to continue benefiting over the years one is the economic development and And so there's an estimate that the team produces about a million and a half dollars in local taxes, 27 million in economic activity, creating jobs, tourism, spurring spending, restaurants and hotels. People may recall that a couple years ago the Spokane Indians were featured in the New York Times in their travel edition. And so literally the New York Times has written to a national audience saying, come to Spokane and visit Avista Stadium. But the really important reason is the recreation and the kids and family fun. So that's what it's all about. There were over 264,000 fans that attended last year. And just for scale, that's the equivalent of 48% of the county's population. Of course, some people went to multiple games. I'm sure Commissioner Brooks and I may have done that. But it's just a great place to connect the community, have fun with the family, I got a chance to go to a game about a week ago. We got whooped 12-0, but it was just a great time all around. And just the look on my daughter's face when she got to see Ribby and take a picture was just an encapsulation of the recreational benefits. So I'll be voting yes.

Commissioner Waldron. Wow. That was – can I just say ditto? Someone came prepared. No, I just wanted to make a few comments about why I'll be supporting – approving this new contract or lease agreement with our partners with the Spokane Indians Baseball Club. I just, I think that this new contract does improve the partnership and there was a lot of work that goes into that. A partnership is challenging, right? It's not always easy to come to agreement. We own the stadium. We have an investment in it. It matters to the county and to the county itself. residents that we have an asset that we maintain, but we also have a partner that runs it and they're looking to benefit as well. So it's always a balancing act of who's responsible for what and how much should the county get back. And as Commissioner Jordan just mentioned, we do have a larger return that will be coming in this new lease agreement back to the county. we will be doing less of the maintenance. So that frees up our staff at the county for other important facilities that we need to maintain. And so I think all around, especially the parking piece, that was kind of a, you know, we kept going to bat, so to speak, the Indians Baseball Club to make sure that they were also helping to invest in the maintenance of the parking lots, which benefits all of us who use the interstate fairgrounds for a variety of activities, not just the fair. So all in all, I think it's a good lease agreement. I think it puts us in a much better position as partners, and I look forward to supporting it.

Thank you. So I'll just say I've been a long supporter. I think if we had not invested in this asset, it would be sitting there empty, vacant, and we wouldn't have additional revenues that we have from all the economic development that does surround it. And we would be costing ourselves money to then maintain an asset that's sitting there vacant having to spend money to then figure out how we program that. It's not easy to program a baseball stadium as other cities that have lost their teams are finding out. They sit vacant and empty. As to the lease agreement, the building that was referenced by Commissioner Kearns is part of the same parcel, it is part of the same development site, and so I see it as part of the lease agreement. We see it separately, but our legal counsel agrees that it is part of it, so I'm going to be supporting this. Any other discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Those opposed?

Nay.

It passes three to one. Thank you. That concludes our agenda for today. Are there any other miscellaneous items?

No miscellaneous items for me, Commissioner.

Okay, Mr. Folsom, I think we have an executive session that has popped up.

One executive session item pending in potential litigation. No action is anticipated at the end of this. Present, I would like Scott Simmons, Jeff McMorris, Matt Folsom, Devin Kurta, Roy Cogan, and Anthony Harper. Again, no action, 20 minutes.

Okay, and some of them will be on Zoom. Okay. Okay. So we will be going into executive session for the reason just stated. At the end of that executive session, we will adjourn for the day, and we will see everybody back next week. So thank you all very much for being here.