Legislative Meeting - Regular Meeting

Let's talk a little bit about French.

Hey, good morning. Welcome, everyone, to our September 14th, 2026, 9 a.m. strategic planning meeting. Let's reflect that we have four commissioners are present. Commissioner French is not available this morning, but we have Commissioner Kearns, Waldorf, Jordan, and Brooks. So we will go ahead and get started. So Kyle. I should have sat next to Scott, my bad.

Good morning. Just wanted to give you all a brief update. We have executed a contract with our local engineering firm, Parametrics. They have a few experts, a couple of them in their local office, as well as nationally available within their organization to provide technical feedback on the proposed data center coordinates. Scott is going to be working with them we'll manage the contract and fund it through some of the nexus with aqua protection as well as wastewater treatment so we have a vehicle to pay for those services but really Scott and his team will be working most directly with them

And we've had an initial meeting with Parametrics last week as the contract was being executed. They will be up to speed. They will be attending the Planning Commission meeting on Thursday. And it's really helpful to have that technical expertise as well as the research that our staff has done over the last few months to pull this together. So we feel like we've got a good basis to bring something forward. At the Planning Commission meeting, we will be discussing the comments we've received over the last couple of months and how we've addressed those comments and how those will be guiding the next draft of the ordinance, which will come before the Planning Commission. If we're on schedule on October 15th for a public hearing, presuming that the Planning Commission makes a recommendation, it will then be on your calendar for later in the year. We feel like we've got a good foundation now going forward.

We had them both come in today just doing the data center topic is what it is. Then we'll get questions on what to expect from this group.

Yeah, I'd ask what should we expect from this group? Can you kind of speak to their credentials or what exactly we envision their role be? They have worked or had clients that have

incorporated data centers, and they've worked in the energy industry, generally speaking, in the Pacific Northwest. They seem to have the credential and the expertise to give us the technical expertise that we need in addition to the policy expertise that we've acquired from doing our own research. So they're really bringing in the electrical side of the equation from a scientific perspective.

And will they be helping with, like, making sure the setbacks and all those things are...

Yes, they'll be reacting to the information we've already produced. The draft ordinance is in their hands. Also, a number uh we've received on the planning side we've received a couple of hundred comments um probably 90 of them are just simply no don't do it uh and the other five to ten percent actually have some suggestions on well this this is these are the things we want you to protect if you go ahead with the ordinance so it's been uh fairly rewarding yeah that we've gotten good comments them before the Planning Commission. We won't have a draft ordinance because we do want to hear again from the public one more time on their comments.

so um Scott Jeff Jeff and I were playing around on the plan commission website so there is there a place on the plan commission website where people can see the comments that have been submitted yes but where does it reside on our it's where we were looking before click on the left side to make the right side load okay

place for document distribution we split the comments into two folders one is just opposition and the second was suggestions if you click on either of those on the left side it'll populate on the right side of that page you can click on each one individually to read that so is there a link on that page for the public to send their comments because i've been getting comments that i've been

You know, people have sent you comments, they've sent commissioners comments, and I just forward them on to your office.

It's not clear where... Generally speaking, on the building and planning page... You can make it really apparent.

Be nice.

All right, we'll do that. There is a place where everybody can submit comments, and what they do is they check a box to say, I want to be notified if something changes in this folder, and they get a ping if we add something to that folder as well.

on the plan commission if i'm news page there's a way to comment but when you the drop down menu is mostly about the growth management update right there's nothing about data specifically so i think that would be helpful sure we'll do that because then people could just send it right there rather than kind of sending it all over but we haven't had you receive comments we should be sending it to you and you will make sure they get put in the appropriate appropriate so Yes. And reviewed hopefully by this new technical assistance contractor.

We are providing, it's very difficult as we've discovered with our comprehensive plan consultants. It's very difficult to give them access to our linked documents because of the bare wall that the county IT system has. So we generally have to send them the documents themselves.

continue to send them comments as we get them isn't the procedure if we get individual comments it's supposed to go to the clerk and the clerk sends them out is kind of the receptacle I don't know I we I know that you also are getting direct comments perhaps

at some point those should be brought together in an archive and we're happy to do that if you know Shelly if you want to send everything over to us we can put it in a single place that's fine I'm forwarding to Shelly I mean I think that's that's kind of and then usually it's the clerk of the board that makes sure that they

Well, they accumulate them all, and that's why if something goes to the clerk, she's sending them out to us as well.

So you guys just see them. Would you like to listen to me or somebody different thing else? Rona. Okay.

Question on data centers. It's one thing to get comments, but if we get questions that constituents have that are more technical in nature,

they're going into a matrix with comments and questions and then there's a response column to that for each of those that will be distributed ahead of the planned commission meeting on thursday so if the public's been Michael Leccese, SRA22 Panellist, And it doesn't mean if we get comments after that we'll certainly take them and we'll get them in our file, they just won't be distributed with the Planning Commission packet. Michael Leccese, SRA22 Panellist, They'll wait till later for distribution. Michael Leccese, SRA22 Panellist, We expect to have a full house on Thursday morning.

Karen Hollweg, Yes. Okay. Well, thank you. I'm happy that we have the technical expertise coming.

It's a big advantage for us to be able to have that third-party expertise as well as policy issues that will be back before you sometime after October.

And I just want to say that I want to make sure the contract is, I don't know the details, but it's sufficient that they're going to be wanting to put their name to it, you know, well that we're not so we're just doing them we're not staying too high level i guess i just worried about funding it's like i'd rather make sure we do it right than about the funny side of it so i think that's going to be an important piece and if we need to find additional funding we can but that's that's the piece that i i want to make sure i know is sometimes with engineers they can give a high level um and and it's like we want to make sure that

they're just as comfortable that's not just high level it's it's a full technical we're anticipating and directing them to pretty specific code language that will guide you know a zoning code and also provide the skeleton or the framework for the corresponding development agreement that we want to start with any applicant that comes into the county so yeah we're looking at some pretty detailed level of advice

But I know that takes time on their part too, so. It does. I'm willing to, I think we're all willing to make sure we do what we need to do to make sure it's done right.

We just set it up right now as a blanket team. We have an NTE on it, but we can always amend that. Just speed was key, getting it executed.

No, but parametrics, I mean, they're a well suitable engineering firm to embed.

And they've been pulled into this data center space quite a bit in the last, I don't know, 24 months.

That's our impression with them. They've got a lot of recent experience.

That's what I'd heard as well. So I'm happy. So thank you. Thank you, commissioners. Thanks.

That's Tessa and Jason for budget. If you guys look at page four on your read-ahead, we're not going to be uploading lots of documents this year in your read-ahead because everything is already online. You can go and find everything on the public facing website.

Okay.

And so you'll see on page 4, right above the CIP. You'll see the list of the departments we're going to talk about today. Administrative services, board of equalization. And then you'll see the 2nd list only has some of those. And on this particular week is because the top five don't have any monetary asks. So there is no fiscal impact. If you approve their budgets, you approve those budgets as requested. Those are departments that came within the target and don't have any aspects. So, starting with the county clerk on down, there are some asks. The clerk is here. His ask is a unique one because he has a funding source behind it. It's not a general fund. So as you get your read-aheads from Monday morning, that's kind of how we were planning on doing it, because you can always go online as you will actually be talking while Ron will be pulling up the actual online bubble pacing.

Yes, you won't. I didn't get him prepped that far, but we'll review kind of how to get there.

And if that doesn't work for the board for any reason, let us know and we will address.

They also have a shared folder.

so everything's added to the shared folder that we sent around right before it was a week ago Monday I guess two weeks ago that is the data I've been pulling from today we are hoping the board might be ready to make some final decisions particularly on Lincoln's first five sentence asks I said the word final a little prematurely everything that we're making decisions on right now, which is direction to the board, to be put into a final draft. Nothing will be final in any direction up until the final votes can be changed. So until December 5th, nothing is final until that vote is taken that first Tuesday of December.

I want to say 7th.

I think it's as late as possible.

The first Monday of December.

And so anytime I say final, it's like when we pass out, it might affect myself. But that has been our kind of our plan, and we're happy to adjust and adapt as directed. But with that, Tassel was going to start going through

Yep, we were going to start by reminding the public that is listening that all of the budget documentation can be found on the county's public facing website under your government, executive management, and then budget and finance. We will work with Charissa to get maybe one of the quick click tiles updated. I think since we passed the election cycle, we can remove one of the quick click tiles that had been previously utilized. taking over the website, so we'll sneak budget back up a little bit and rank it, not that it supersedes any of those important topics. And then, Commissioner, as a reminder, you do have that shared folder. Everything will be put into that folder for you to access. Any updated documents, additional documents will be added there. And if you need help making it easier to find, let us know. We're happy to link that for you to find quicker. We will start in our folder. We added the 2027 budget matrix. This was maybe or maybe not a favorite part of the budget process last year. Ron, if you don't mind pulling that up, it is the Excel workbook. And this budget matrix starts with general fund unallocated budget capacity at the very top. and then displays all of the other revenue options that are available at the current estimated dollar amounts. Some of those are subject to change based on the assessor refining their estimates and things like that. And then we've added column G taken if the board decides to take action on any of those sources, we'll fill it in and it will add to our budget capacity overall.

So you can see like right now of the sales tax coming in strong. On the left, there's 9.6 million that the board at this point is there. You can prioritize buybacks, so to speak, without money. On the right-hand side, the top one, if the criminal justice sales tax was implemented, that would be roughly 14 and a half million dollars next year. If that was taken, then that 9.5 million would bump up to 23, 24 million that you could buy back with. And the same thing, just by way of reminder, the rental car tax is actually not a tax increase. That's the one that was... only used sports before correct and now you could you can also use it for criminal justice um and then the ones below are the ones that you will recognize from the last meeting of the year where you talk about the one percent the bank capacity and road levy shifts there are the other property taxes that we've talked about multiple times we've just heard

less interest in them to date and for the space sake of space they're not up there but they can be added back at any point in time so sorry where is this document it should be in your 2027 budget bocc shared folder right i'm in there and it should be the excel workbook called budget matrix commissioner worksheet got it thank you yep question

What is the remaining capacity in REIT to support general fund departments? Should that be on there potentially?

We are going to go through our six-year CIP, which includes some REIT funding opportunities for M&O. Is typically the one that can be used So we will get to some of that shortly.

Rita is playing merrily capital, but we do have that expansion up to five percent of the needs for purchasing. There should be a couple of million dollars.

Just a quick question on that. So most departments, you know, went through the exercise of trying to make budget cuts. and cut some expenses and then, you know, had requests like, well, we can cut this, but we'd really like to have this back because of these reasons. So, you know, it goes through that exercise. Did every department do that? Did the sheriff's department? Is there any new information that we should be looking at?

No new information since the 1st of September at this point. Okay.

I didn't know if any other departments had sent in more. narrative or information. Okay. So there's just an assumption if they don't do the exercise that they want us to buy everything back.

Correct.

They're not going to make any adjustments.

That is the current working assignment.

Okay. All right. Yes.

So we have listed.

You don't have any of those on your calendar today.

we did the easy ones we had a few groups thank you they submitted but i still i guess i just for the record would appreciate if every department would go through the exercise of looking where they can make some adjustments.

Anybody who submitted the way you suggested, we replied and gave them an extra week and requested that they make some and some did, some didn't. So we did do a second round with a week's time.

So we had a few departments that did submit at target and we thought we would just kind of start working our budget tentative preliminary decision making muscles. and uh start talking about those um so first out of the gate we have administrative services um included in administrative services is the purchasing grants project management nail center budget ceo and communications offices so we have quite a suite of services offered out of that budget um We will be making a one FTE reduction to achieve our target budget. We did include a brief write-up in your large binder packet that describes a little bit more about that. We do not feel it will impact our service provided to other departments in any substantial way.

There's so many subcategories. So with the next one, should we add more? website.

Absolutely. He's got the binder up and ready to go. It's a loving binder. It's just not, he's asking a question.

We have to explain our terminology.

This super big PDF that's 260 pages.

Imagine it being a binder.

It used to be the physical paper binder. So we still call it the binder. Yeah.

We still have one physical protected binder in our office, guys. We are old school a little bit.

Got one in my office.

Ron made it for me. I like the physical binder. They mock me over it, but they do use it.

I've used it several times already, so it's been helpful. Next on our quick list, assuming the board has no concerns with administrative services reaching their target, we'll go to Board of Equalization.

Okay, so I guess I'm going to ask. So where do I?

Jason, can you help her get this pulled up where she can see the side bookmarks? Once you get the side bookmarks and they stay open and it's really convenient.

I mean, because I guess, again, if you've already made a decision on the Ministry of Services, I want to see what all goes into it. And knowing you're looking at an FTE down, like where is that following all of that? Yeah.

Another thing you'll see and I'm happy in the future.

We don't want to take a time to get this. We're going to have discussions with Commissioners as to what you're wanting to do and think about. But it's just individually. But I kind of want to know what you're thinking is and where you're out there and how these different groups got there, too.

Okay. Thank you.

Yep. So up on the screen is the agency summary.

Each agency within the general fund has one of these prepared for it. It has revenues listed by ledger category. If the department has any revenues, the one on the display here, Board of Equalization, they do not bring in any money. Down in the lower section, they have their expenses listed by ledger category. Amy Nunez, New this year in 2027 is the internal service expense for most departments, and that is the liability insurance bill that the department had to absorb within their target budget. Amy Nunez, uh.

Just to remind you of last year, the Board of Equalization and the next one, the Hearing Examiner, were both offices of two FTEs. We did have a layoff last year. That was one of the actual layoffs. Well, we weren't able to do that one through attrition. And so now these two very small departments, Board of Equalization and Hearing Examiner, are sharing an admin person. And it seems to be working well. They both have peaks and valleys, or mostly consicular, how their work comes across the year. And it's been working that they can share the one admin person. So they're both now 1.5 FT offices. And this year they've been able to squeak into their budgets. I would say in the future, much less likely. There's really no more, you know, their supplies are at $2,000. And both of them are paper heavy offices. board of equalization pays for the board members there's a small stipend for them that's their services so while we've been able to keep things relatively flat and they did take a savings last year through that 0.5 each for a full fte these would be two groups that next year just don't think it'd be realistic to get that much

So the reduction is via attrition in this particular department?

Last year, when they actually let the person go.

At this point, there's no further.

There's no further. They both need admin support, and they both need the principal doing the work. So this year, we do OK. There was enough last year when groups I would say the other group was Mike's farmers office when he had his admin person also went away. Their cuts last year were so big they covered 2 years. And instead of giving them 100% of the cut last year and then saying you have to take more this year, we essentially took into account that they were doing a multi-year cut last year and made the accounting work.

On to the next page is an agency detail. Again, each agency has one of these. Board of Equalization fits nice on the screen, so it's a good one to highlight real quick. Two years of actuals, 2026 budget, 2027 preliminary submission by line item, so spend category. If they had revenue, there would also be revenue categories included, just to give a little more context to what makes up the $207,000 budget for the Board of Equalization. Next page real quick in the packet is a FTE sheet. It's hard for us to split the FTE as Jeff estimated that there is a halftime FTE that supports BOE as well as the hearing examiner. We just left it predominantly in the hearing examiner, but financially it is split 50-50. So every agency has an FTE sheet like this that shows 2026 whether it was filled or vacant, the manager or staffing level of the position, and then if it was proposed by the department as a potential reduction in 2027's budget process. So these pages are probably the most informational as far as reviewing other larger departments when we get into more challenging conversations. then if a department had any capital or um requests back those would also be listed in the packet so board of equalization is relatively straight forward this year as jeff said we do have concerns about 2028 budget but we're not there yet any questions before we move on to hearing examiner Hearing Examiner looks very similar when Ron gets it up. They do bring in a little bit of money. They provide Hearing Examiner services to a neighboring county. Again, it is 1.5 staff people, and we were able to get them to achieve their 2027 target. They also have their liability insurance included in that and did not need to request back any funds.

Can I ask why their charge for services is up and down as much as it is? Like 25 was a big year compared to 26 and 24.

25's accounting has some anomalies. That was our transition into Workday. And so some of our accrual accounting kind of hits funky. And this is one of those departments that just had some revenue come into it that likely should have been posted to a different period.

I think the service is earlier than 24 actual to 79,000 there.

He's looking at the charge for services, the revenue.

Like 19,000 to 46 and a half down to 10.

And their revenues can swing and depend on how many hearings the hearing examiner goes to do in the neighboring county.

Minus the sound. Yeah, because of a split of 5050.

Oh, yeah, the first two.

So, okay. Thank you.

Next up, we'll go to Parks and Recreation. This is a larger department, and we'll get a couple of nuances about some of their revenues. They were able to come within their target budget. The Parks Department has been working on, if the board would like to hear from Doug, a presentation about how their services will be Emily Marlton- modified to achieve this target budget for 2027. Emily Marlton- There were no. Emily Marlton- Substantial changes that we were aware of. Emily Marlton- But it was likely most of the changes in doug's budget or financial related to the vista stadium contract. So he was able to come into his target budget because of the changes to that of the stadium contract and no longer having to pay for some of the M&O expenses at the ballpark facility. So that is helping redirect funds that the county currently invests from either REIT or formerly the car rental tax that we are recommending gets shifted to REIT. And that is what equals the other financing sources that $620,000 in revenue.

Can you repeat that? So last year we put a little bit of the operational REIT to be able to buy back a few positions in parks.

This budget contemplates that continuing. At the same level or? Yes. Okay. $10 invest.

In that same length of time you guys had. I had four weeks last year, two on the front, two on the back. Or was it just two on the front?

I thought Doug came in with a recommendation of reducing one on each end. And we said, no, keep it where it's at and add to it. So a net gain of four weeks.

We're the same window as far as the number of weeks of service. Yes. Good.

that is accurate that it would be what established for this year routine those two weeks that were arrested last year also contemplates some additional services with regards to trash removal and bathroom cleaning increasing that into next year that has to do with the positional change he's proposing as well as restoring the water to the

regional parks can can I ask we had the the discussion with the dog park I know one of the the options I threw out when we were having that discussion was I mean and I mean I I would support this being a one-time expense is there any way we could move the fencing to our property that we own out there rather than it being on the state-owned property because I remember there was if i'm remembering correctly because the fenced off area was on the state's on dot's property that's why we had to then maintain not only our property but their property as well there was additional expenses because it was on their property and not the county property is there a way we can move the fenced area just to a property that the county owns and would that bring down any cost for us um

I don't know if that's been explored. I know it has been explored is fish and wildlife has really stepped up and they're agreeing to take on a substantial portion of that cost. So they're actually, I believe they're mowing our property. they're doing a lot of the main so I think they've probably taken 15 000 of the maintenance that we're doing out there um and we're helping with the water and scraps volunteers are still helping with the cleanup um seems like everybody's kind of found a sweet spot there where our contribution is James Forrest, Norcal PTACC, he'll even take a third of what we've historically done so it's it's pretty normal at this point. James Forrest, Norcal PTACC, So I want to say it was like the 15,000 is all over now we are normally I think it's in the 30s yeah. James Forrest, Norcal PTACC, yeah fish and wildlife really. James Forrest, Norcal PTACC, wants our help out there, so they have leaned in and provided a lot of those maintenance services, the county has historically.

I did get an email last week from one of the scraps volunteers that I was going to follow up with. Oh, it got sent out to the commissioner assistance, then Mary forwarded it to me, Mary Dabrowski. Sounds like some of the weeds in the dog park area have not been mowed. The other areas are being irrigated, and the ones that are being irrigated, those areas are being mowed, I'm guessing by... Fish and wildlife. But the area of the dog park has gotten really weedy, I guess. So there was a request to go and see. Anyway, there was just a few comments of a few things that I think could be improved upon. But overall, it's going well. But there's a few things where I think the scraps volunteers are willing to do some things, but they have to have authorization. So anyway, I'll forward this on. But yes, I see what you mean, Commissioner Kearns, because we have this whole area that we own, but it's not fenced for a dog park.

Would you guys like to have Doug come in with his presentation on services and further this discussion with all of them?

I guess what's the reduction in service? It actually isn't.

It would just be making it clear whether there's actually a little bit of service increase. Yeah, since the Avista contract is now paying for stuff we used to pay for that free money.

I don't know if I don't need a presentation, but I think we're going to have other presentations that are going to be for you.

We're going to have some other presentations.

But I guess my only concern is that we're on the Vista Stadium stuff, that we have funding for things with the increase of funds that we're getting through, that we're ensuring that we're putting together a reserve for future capital items. I'm just trying to figure out a capital item. You kind of want to take some of that and make sure you're covering those future costs. So you know we're going to happen like years for golf.

Yes, the other questions you'd like feedback on from I think my only other like budget question is just as we go through, we look at the read. know should we use more reach to offset general fund in parks or not you know but i think we need to know more about the capital asks and how much we have to play with and but it is always an option now right to put a certain percentage conversation to come up as we get right to the end to know that he didn't have to put any more of the re operations in there to to balance things so that's good okay last one on our easy hit their Target list um risk management

or security. This is the security checkpoints and campus security. It's under risk management. And the department was able to reach their target thanks to the board's decision to support the closing of the valley district court location. When notice was given on that, we made sure Dan and team were aware so they could plan accordingly in their 2027 budget. So that allowed the security budget to come in on target.

The security guard out there is actually a larger savings than that. We're still in discussions with the city of the valley as far as having a way for payments to be taken out there. So we're hoping that will come together. James Forrest, Norcal PTACC, Seem like just a matter of. James Forrest, Norcal PTACC, So now we've got service available for people who live that direction.

James Forrest, Norcal PTACC, Where are we looking at like a possible kiosk or some sort of automated way to pay tickets or something out there like that or.

either or that or just one of our staff sitting out there like maybe two days a week with their laptops like working remotely but from that location is another thought that has been floated so we're just waiting for those um district courts been a part of that conversation the valley

and there was discussion as what for you know same location where where the district court is out there at the the valley precinct there's um some scope volunteer or i don't know if they're volunteers or if they're scope staff or but scope has some sort of space there do we have any resolution on sort of the direction of that and are we being charged for that is there because i think that was the discussion we weren't paying for it but they were saying but if you move this out maybe

we'll pay for i i don't i don't know they were hoping to have a contract signed um really around liability if something were to happen but i don't think they're going to charge any rent okay it was just more of a document this is what's going on so if something did happen TAB, Mark McIntyre, County versus in the city, but last I heard. TAB, Mark McIntyre, They say that wrong.

TAB, I know you said. TAB, they're healthy you said it correctly, I said, but the scope volunteers are helping the city of valley.

TAB, Mark McIntyre, sure sure that that's why they're there.

So yes, I mean they're not helping county residents. I mean that's what there's different school boxes around the region.

So that's what we're still working on. Hopefully get something before in the next couple of months.

And was there or did you know that it is when would the final day be for having that courtroom 12 31. it would just end of the year I mean okay with the holidays that might be sooner than that but okay from a legal standpoint 1231. okay yes the sheriff's so And if it's an if it becomes an issue there's lots of other places in the valley that have scope offices, where they because I think I heard it's for it's for workstations I would think we could find or workstations that a variety of other places that aren't far from there.

Based on preliminary conversation I don't think this is going to be a major issue.

oh that's right so they have several in their city i can't remember the edge but one is still there the one on sprague replaced the edge cliff that's what i believe that's what is that okay so got options yes

okay um so that's the end of our submitted act targets list um next we're going to move into our one and only truly revenue backed request featuring tim fitzgerald in the corner um just listening um one and only one and only i know not not everyone brought such nice uh decisions for you to the table um so we'll try to capture the spirit please correct us if we um misstate anything tim um the county clerk himself has the option to assess an additional fee for filing through his e-filing system um i would say sorry yeah come up here come come and sit up that hurt okay This is your budget, so. As part of his budget submission, the clerk has proposed a couple of vacant positions that will be permanently reduced. One position is being moved to Becca funding, which was a big win for the team.

Both of those positions are very Christian.

Yes, they are currently vacant.

And then there are.

two admin support specialists, two judicial proceedings clerk positions that he would propose and request the board to reinstate with this e-filing fee. So the revenue appears to Pencil that it will cover those four positions in totality.

TAB, Mark McIntyre:" budget office standpoint works for us the revenue is there, but this is a policy decision of the board to say yes to the new fee and then to dedicate it to to his office to cover it, you know it's a filing the filings will continue, so it is a reoccurring that would in source and beyond that you have questions.

No, I guess for for me it's like it is revenue source. It's kind of been through things that are happening within the clerk's office. You need to make sure that judges are requiring those faces that correct.

They are not. I am. We made a deal 5 years ago with the Bar Association in the legal community. We would start charging for refiling when we got all the things done that they had asked us to do. document coming in so both sides are aware electronically. And we have e-service the legal community and they fully understand that they will now be charged to file their documents electronically five dollars five dollars per bundle we actually have six months we actually have nine months we have six months of historical data already on the books so our projected cost of two hundred and um seventy one thousand nine hundred twenty dollars we have six months of actual funding that would have come in and we've been charging so this is a pretty accurate projection of what will happen next year So this revenue we know will be coming in. What was that number again you said? For over six months? For over six months, it was $271,920 divided by two.

It would be half of that. So when you spoke to the Bar Association, they know it's coming? I know you've worked with them. I know you have a great relationship with them. Was there any pushback from them? They're expecting this?

They actually thought that we'd be doing it already because we had an agreement. Thomas Greene, And i'll be putting an article into the calendar call with your newspaper saying you will now start being charged $5 per bundle to electronically file and something so little. Thomas Greene, yeah but it's the bar association that used it when.

Thomas Greene, we're at 29% of the time filing right now screen.

Thomas Greene, This is revenue these numbers are we feel are looking for you remember last one every 200 surcharge. I said, I will use that surcharge to pay for one position. And I gave you a projection. That number is pretty accurate. We thought we'd be on that position being covered by the surcharge, just being covered. And this is not funding. These are not fees that the court is allowed to waive. These are liabilities. Okay.

And it's

We are online with all the other counties in the state. There's only two counties that don't charge us in Snohomish. That'd be five. A lot of counties don't. But only us in Snohomish do not charge. We will start charging in 30 days. And we pay the same, what we charge will be the same thing that the eastern counties all charge. That's $5 a month. This will cover four positions. If you authorize us to use this approach, never. And then we need to keep four positions.

which is their skin I think I just want to state that these fees could be going into the general fund but we're choosing to keep them in your office I mean much like as David from you know Chief Deputy Auditor the auditor raises a lot of fees that go to the general fund and don't get to stay in her office so I just want to make sure that you're noting that that's a choice the board is

It appears like that's going to have some tentative direction.

Yeah, the second request.

It just it it reminds me sort of of like the the room night assessment fee like wouldn't for our Pt. But you know, for for tourism, a tourism promotion area where it's sort of an industry assess. They've asked for this. They know this is coming. They know this is part of because it's to pay for the service of e-filing. I mean, this

yeah I mean it seems like it's a cost recovery method this is a service of convenience that those that use the system get so yes exactly and we've told them it's coming just said you know when we meet the we will meet the deals that we agreed to now we're there so that's part one of our request okay

Request number two was House Bill 2543 changed and increased some revenue to the clerk's statutory collected fees and things. And if the revenue that is projected to come in above and beyond what is currently collected by this, it would allow the clerk to buy back an administrative support specialist and an additional judicial proceedings clerk. So two additional positions offset by this expanded House Bill 2543.

from a reduction of eight down to a reduction of two.

Currently vacant positions are the two.

This was a bill that passed the legislature to increase our costs for doing the work that we do. These are not an access to justice issue, so the court can't waive these either. So it doubles 25 cents a page. Now it's 50 cents a page. We have to pay for audio CDs and everything like everybody else copies for copies. And again, we have two months of actual funding that has come in. And that's how we came up with this $148,500 with two months of funding times up by six. These are pretty accurate projections. So what was the impetus for the bill, kind of statewide push? We're way behind everybody else. Everybody else is incredible. Look at the auditor's fees. Everybody's increased their fees, but the clerk, the clerk hasn't increased their fees in 15 years. So the legislature was pretty agreeable to let us increase fees because they noticed it hadn't been done in a long time. Any amount of work that goes into it. It takes two hours to go through an audio of a court hearing and pick out the one portion of the hearing that the legislator wants to buy because they can't have everything else. They only have to submit it.

Jose Aguto, Those like we're seeing that God's direction also.

Can I ask Tim, is it the 29% for the e-filings? I mean, we know there's always going to be some folks that aren't going to e-file, but I mean, when do we kind of, as people do so much online, people do so much electronically, when are we going to get to the point where maybe those numbers are reversed, where it's maybe 29% is all that don't e-file? I mean, when do we really see that ramp up to where we get a majority of folks that are using e-filings?

I would say given about a year, here's the reason why. We will make e-filing mandatory for the legal community. We're heading that way to the Attorney General's office. There's all of their documents e-filing with us right now, case type 7 and case type 8 and case type 6. They're all electronic now. I'll get the prosecutor, public defender, and the Council for Defense to electronically file. We do have to talk about that, because if there's a charging issue, their budgets do not support that. So we're going to have to talk about how we do that. Eventually, we make it mandatory. I'm going to start charging them now. I don't want to make it mandatory and charge them. Because then there might be some civilian attorneys out there that might try to split us. So you're making it mandatory and you're charging us. This is not legal. This is an access to justice issue. It may not be, but I don't want to put us in that position. So I want to charge first, and then down the road, we'll look at making it mandatory. John Gerstle, Just a positions to be cut this would restore six of the eight and then to remain unfunded and here's the third unfunded position also that I did coming up the back of fun, so that third position comes out of the general fund is paid for by the. John Gerstle, So it's actually three positions that are pulled out the general.

John Gerstle, So we had a becca came. John Gerstle, In 27. additional funding from the legislature. Thank you.

Thanks for being creative.

All righty.

Next up on our list is economic development. The request is predominantly M&O, or it is only M&O, excuse me. It is to honor the interlocal agreements we have with the PDAs in the city of Spokane to do the revenue sharing for those PDAs. We're anticipating needing an additional $150,000. Jason's here. He can answer any of your technical questions.

And you can't spend this as a positive. There's enough economic activity going on that we pass through the dollars.

So we've really received the revenue from increased sales tax and increased tax income in those areas. We just didn't want to go increasing this budget without having the conversation with you all.

Just so I'm clear, this is just meeting the obligation that we've already agreed to, which is the incremental increase they get. This is just what it's equal to. Yes. Okay. Yeah.

Because we have that 9.6 million extra, some of it. contractually we're going to go here okay yeah well there's no way for us to get out of i mean we have a side dinner but it does it is 150 000 that has to go here versus somewhere else yeah so it does come off of that top amount it does okay but it has to yep by contract but thanks for checking why we brought it to you all to make sure we were on the same page

I guess part of it is like helping us understand how much the PDAs are bringing in because you're seeing what incremental revenue is. I mean, it's like I would like to know what that revenue is. And then, yes, half of that is getting split. So, I mean, I'd like to see. And then also the University District, we just paid a flat $50,000. that has no revenue source to it, really, because it's going to be all within the city. But I think it would be helpful to kind of see what that breakdown is, because it would be interesting to see what the Northeast PDA is doing versus the planes, S3R3 and the University District. So just so people are aware and understand it.

When and I also want to highlight so, like, it's 150 going there, but there's also still a portion of the other 25% of that incremental increase is coming back to the county that we will keep for both property tax and sales tax. So. I guess you'd say what's, so if 150 is 75%, I'll ask the auditor, what's 25%? 75% is 150. 50,000. These are round numbers we should be able to get here. So yeah, so there's 50 that we are keeping based on the economic development that's occurred there. And so, you know, and sort of the argument would be absent that PDA, we'd potentially be getting zero because the economic development... wouldn't have happened. So yes, we're jimmy baca, jimmy baca, returning one fifty, but we're getting fifty that we wouldn't necessarily get potentially, and hopefully that one fifty will be the most of wisely to keep growing. Yeah, but I I agree with Commissioner Brooks. We should have Jesse from from from any Pda. And um, we should have S. S. Three R. Three in here to kind of talk about sort of where they're at. Have Chris in here to talk about sort of what what their financial look on kind of how things are going right, and to make sure that

again I want to make sure that we as a county are seeing you know what as I keep hearing the city are we really splitting these revenues uh so they were supposed to be or not I mean that's why I want to see what what is actually coming in um you know from a financial you know for these numbers versus but what we should because I mean we worked hard to get that 12 and a half 12 and a half if that's not happening

think we need to know whether that's happening or not so i've heard different things so we'll work to pull together a presentation there's also additional department agencies that are paid out of economic development um so we'll bring back economic development and our outside agencies later in the budget process and we'll put together a presentation that tries to incorporate all that and see if we can have those partners present with us too i think so because i think it's important to know that you know again

you know, with the outside agencies, we have GSI, we've got the chambers that are part of economic development that we should be incorporating, I think, here versus outside agencies, because that's the way that we use them as a department. Similar to the health district is really us choosing not to have them as a department, that they're an outside agency, but it's not a true just giving them funds to get the funds it's like we're required to give them funds because we've off loaded our department through the health district so i think i just mean you know as we're working with workday and kind of making these changes it'd be good to kind of look at those from that's a great suggestion and yeah we'll bring that back later in the budget cycle

Would you like us to pencil in 150 now and take it off the top for your consideration or would you like to wait for later? Alrighty. Next up for some of our other small M&O type requests, we have facilities. Facilities has requested $500,000 for increased utility expenses. At this point, we would recommend, Board, that you do not fund this request. We recommend that you hold off. We do believe that facilities will manage to their target for 2027. This is more of a plug for future consideration, As we look into 2028 and beyond for facilities, we know utility costs can increase heat, power, light, janitorial, things like that rather rapidly. And so we need to just be mindful as we make some building consolidation plans to potentially liquidate facilities that are more expensive or have lower utilization. So we recommend you don't fund this for now, and keep it on the back burner for a 2028 consideration like this.

And also as we watch city decision making through the press, if they do end up buying part of Rock Point and move a lot of their current staff out of this area to over there, that could be a complete rehaul of how we use our space. On the flip side, we have Monroe Court bringing in income, which covers all of its expenses, but we have added square footage to Gil's bills over both of the years. But we are hoping to get out of the Broadway Center building sooner versus later side. then goes this plan prosecutors would be moving into the third floor and move forward first into first second quarter mid-yearish next year and then if the city were to vacate i don't think they'd be that quick i guess but that could also supply room for the two courtrooms of broadway then little would we be selling a building based on BCC previous conversations final decisions of course not made, but if we were to offload the building that would also a lot of deferred maintenance in that building and security will be required on the market. So it's a six figure savings annually.

I think that'd be great. I'm just curious as we've talked about selling phones for the the energy efficiencies and all of that we talked about saving money and I kept saying don't put that in the budget because it's not really money savings and so you're where are we seeing those savings right now you're seeing a trench between this building and the other building there

Which is why 2 of us can't park in our parking.

Yeah, so that's the visual right now. But joking aside, you know it's going to take a while for the work to get done.

But for any cost savings as realized, I would say 28 would probably be the earliest we would start seeing numbers.

Yeah, which is why I just kept saying they're not real numbers until we actually realize them. So we should be, though, still pushing for seeing those savings and seeing what they're going to do.

Question. So he's already eliminated the construction

are vacant yes and they aren't vacant currently yes has kept positions open over the course of the years when people are leaving and they're both retiring to plan for this and we've centralized the um account tech work into the budget office administrative services um financial teams so we have taken on that and it seems to be working Amy Nunez, effectively currently that's one of the nice tools that workdays provided us with any department can start paying another departments bills and the system kind of routes things and processes don't slow down.

Amy Nunez, I think there's a lot unsettled with facilities and so it makes sense to hold off on. Kjell Anderson , City of Boulder OSMP, We obviously have to pay those bills yeah so.

Kjell Anderson , City of Boulder OSMP, When they come to. Kjell Anderson , City of Boulder OSMP, worst case scenario, we might be back with a budget amendment right.

We'll do our best to avoid that in guilds. Yeah, working hard on managing the team. Okay. Next up are some MNO requests out of human resources. There are... Six total requests, um, equaling about 93, almost $94,000. Um, they are ordered in priority order of ad back. Um, so first requested ad back is about 16, $17,000, um, anniversary pins and retirement watches. Next up would be certified letter funding at 2,800. 70,000 for outside counsel. this one specifically we do recommend board that you likely hold off on adding um and if there is outside counsel needed we tap into our non-departmental budget we do budget for several hundred thousand dollars of outside counsel and professional services that as various issues come up throughout the year the board can direct us to utilize those funds first instead of placing them within a department. I think this is one that's easier savings for you that you do not need to add back at this time. They requested $2,000 for training, $2,000 for advertising, and then $500 for work costs.

I don't know else here if you have questions.

yeah super hard with maintaining our status in our departments and we are trying to tap into the talent that we have in-house and do some internal training and two things around like for example in benefits we have adapting our HR systems who have prior experience in management of needs and so we have helped Jamie with that portion where which is our HR system to help with requests and to answer the requests more timely and accordingly. So we were very happy that they had that knowledge to help us out. And then I had another HR assistant that helped with training and labor relations. She has a master's degree in employment law and bachelor's in human resources. So I have tried to be a little bit more creative and we have trained her internally to start working on compensation analysis and help us out. And we're sending her to training accordingly so she can get more technical knowledge and help us out that way. So we don't have to hire or add other positions, but we're tapping in our internal talent and trying to promote the talent from within and do internal training to get them where they need to be. So we were very, very cautious about not adding more to the general fund, but because of all the expenses in 2027, we had some things that we are going to do, like the rewards and the pins and the watches. We had some in our facility, but they're running out for 27. So unfortunately, if we don't get that, we will lose that service with our retirees that are leaving. The second one is for overpayments for the letters that those are certified letters. We were advised by legal to send them a certified to make sure they get where they need to be. And that is very important for our compliance from within the overpayment letters happen and they are delivered.

Shouldn't those happen this year?

well um i don't think we're gonna be able to do all of them in one year so we might have some for 2027 as well depending on how big is the list and how fast we get through all of them and how fast we get to the finish line with overpayments in general so all right are we with the using guide house and marianne and

It is for W. twos and individuals tax people.

We have to get them paid correctly this year, but the overpayment letters are for employees that have not been paid correctly throughout when we kicked off work day, and we have some overpayments that have happened, and we're trying to work very hard that and diligently to get them done. So we need to start to send the letter certified and get the employees agreements to pay back the county. for the overpayments that have happened in the meantime and those certified letters will cost like I think two dollars and fifty cents per certified letter so that charge is huge and we're just trying to put it for it it adds up to your estimate for 2800 but I'm I'm thinking we've we have put additional funds into

um guide house with Marianne to make sure that everything's getting done this year yes um so I wouldn't expect that we would see because we got to get the w-2s ready for this year so so we should know before the end of the year what those overpayments are or not yeah so I wouldn't anticipate that we would need that money in 27. So again, I would probably hold off on that request.

And we can likely take it from non departmental as well.

Yeah. I mean, it's kind of one of those things that if we need to do it, we're going to have to do it. But I mean, that's part of why in the budget there should be a bit of a contingency for some of these unexpected things or even expected things. But I would hope because if we don't have our payroll right by the end of the year, it's that becomes a nightmare for everybody because then you're asking employees to do amended tax returns and all of that because a lot of people do their taxes right away um so that's why i approved whatever it takes to get it done so and that additional funding has been approved so so and and this is a very minor amount absolutely i just think it's not should be done this year. If it can't be done this year, then I think it's part of contingency.

Okay. That works. Thank you.

Is the 70,000 for outside legal services a large bright contract?

Correct. Yes. These are important because sometimes there's some conflict and we need to go to outside services to get us where we need to be. They are very important services and they happened with the investigation that are put on our plates.

They've been excellent.

Yes, very good one.

Yeah. Was that just a contingency contract? It'll be needed.

It will be needed we're trying to like the well stated we're trying to build up our internal skill set our HR attorney is new starting out and it's extremely valuable for her to be able to call Council. On demand as legal questions come up also there's conflicts and. third party cases that they take on for us, so I anticipate using that again this year, the need for it.

When it comes to staffing, HR is not taking any reductions. But one thing this board has talked about that I'll throw in right now is some consolidations. And we could look at, if the board went this too, consolidating HR and civil service. There's definitely same type of workflow there. And there could possibly be a cost savings with that consolidation. We've also talked about, we're talking about consolidations, CFD and PD is another one. Is there a third one I'm forgetting?

And then just continuing our internal services, the accounting functions and payroll functions within Workday. Workday is a strong tool to have more of a centralized model. So we wouldn't propose that long-term.

And we're specifically working with Sparber right now on, you guys have already blessed that one, as far as working with the criminal justice general fund departments.

Or like just the different budgeting departments within each individual department. Kind of bringing all of that into one main shop. I mean, kind of, and i i kind of think it's almost like the civil department how all the civil attorneys work for the civil department and they're sort of farmed out to their they have clients essentially doing that with budgeting here so it can it can work well for some departments and other departments

not as well, you know. So it's just, you know, how you picking the right flavors.

You guys good with us looking into that and bringing back what we think it would look like when you're making a decision at this point.

But look at everything, the decision to look at it like at everything, and I think I think As we start on these departments, again, it's like we have to look at it holistically. I can't say that we're going to agree to any of these increases, tiebacks, because we don't look at all the paybacks. So until then, I mean, it's like I can't say, yeah, these all seem like they're needed and necessary, but I can probably say that about everything that comes to us. So again, I can't give confirmation to each of our The clerk's office, I think we can give confirmation because these are revenue source talks.

That was a unique situation I wanted to put in front of you today.

But otherwise, until we really look at it holistically, it's just hard to say yes to different departments and all of that. Going down to the very bottom on the parking, I'll go even further down. 34,000 to pay for the 12% commercial parking tax and the sales tax on that. So, I mean, now we don't have a choice. So thank you, city of Spokane and state. I mean, so that's something we have to pay choice on. I don't know if we're rad on our parking rates to try to increase to cover that. But it's also going to show as an increase in budget from last year. But how do we offset that? Can we offset it with increased rates?

We can get you an answer on that specifically. Okay. We can come up

HAB-Juliette Boone, I mean, please, because I think we're just going to I mean now something we just have to pass along and you know choice to just eat that cost for everyone that's parking. HAB-Juliette Boone, So, so I would want to make sure we look at that. HAB-Juliette Boone, figure out how we're going to. HAB-Juliette Boone, use parking and it's going to increase staff parking because we're having to pay. HAB-Juliette Boone, 12% on.

ours our spots and we've got to increase that so it says this expense is included in our 2027 budget so it's that additional or is it already baked into the budget I'm just trying to understand it's obviously asked as an increase but it also says it's already included in the budget

we are already kind of paying for it so it is within that it has to be accounted in the budget because it's a tax that has to be paid so we're trying to see how we could put it into our budget line but uh with neri's question i think i can go back and ask some more how we can

How can we increase the amounts and see if we can help with the yes, because the the tax is currently being collected right like yeah, I think when the city passed that it was it went into effect.

HAB-Juliette Boone, that's that's what I think it's like we have anyway to state it's because cities adding their 12% and the state's now charging sales tax on the service. HAB-Juliette Boone, us. HAB-Juliette Boone, You know, because otherwise and we're. HAB-Juliette Boone, Covering using general fund dollars to subsidize.

I will throw out one of the things that I would like to see us find the funding for would be the recognition for the years of service for the employees. I mean, we've done away with a lot of the kind of parties or celebration, the barbecue, sort of those things to kind of improve morale. I think the service pins are well received. I think that's important if we can

yeah I think the pins are are important the watches I don't know how much those they're 300 so I mean I I don't know how much people are really enjoying them because a lot of people don't use a regular watch anymore and I don't know how many we give out a year we have received feedback from employees our entire team that they appreciate being recognized that way so

it there is an interest we can buy them apple watches for that oh god doesn't have the kenny logo on the outside let's let's look around there's probably an app they can download and put the personalization yeah put it on the home screens you're all it's gone retirees they're only for the retirees that are 25 years old

And right now, everybody has been in the county that long so that increases the amount of the top of the.

yeah I mean that's why I guess i'd like to get a feel for that and I just remember when I was ever in the auditor's office and about that, but some people like them some people to they'd rather get the $300 is. versus a watch that is going to sit on a shelf you know or in a closet or a drawer so I I just would ask that you kind of look at that again to see what or if there's other vendors make those watches with a logo for less yeah or or just other options you know it may be we can I don't know, give a retiree a couple of options. You know, it's, it's a nominal gift. But it's, yeah, I don't know. Like I said, I, I heard comments about it years ago.

The other HR questions. With that, for the sake of time, I'll hold internal services for our next gathering and go over to the CIP.

Yep. So Ron, that's that other PDF. It was included in the packet as well for more public consumption for Jason. I brought him to provide tech support and not on the PDAs. so randy helped us compile this this year um we couldn't have done it all without him that's for sure he'll be back in a few weeks after his lovely vacation i know um so this is the 2027 through 2032 requested projects we have the requested funding source as requested by the department for the most part for 2027 only. So we don't have identified funding sources for 28 through 32 on here just to help us consume the mass amounts of data. This is not intended to drive decisions today. This is simply awareness. Other questions that we have, we can go research and come back at another time on the CIP much later in the business budget process.

Canada Commissioner Brooks' comment a little bit ago, giving you all the background so you have it in your heads, hopefully, as we start making decisions.

Yeah, because they don't have money for capital.

No, no. There is REIT for private use.

So all of the new requested projects are here at the top section. There is a section lower in here that includes departments funded by M&O. So REIT funding to pay for M&O in those departments and then some ongoing or carry forward projects as well. So starting at the top, we have animal control. Their crematorium needs to be replaced. They requested to add a barn. and update their HVAC system at the scratch facility, as well as some concrete floor repairs into future years. So they have $3 million of requests for 2027.

Can I ask, is the barn the one i mean they they were they didn't used to call it a barn they wanted a secondary building for overflow for additional kennels and larger yes and or revised concept okay that that was when they were facing uh space issues and they needed it okay so that's what that is okay we did fix the crematorium this year so i think hopefully looking to fix an old car we all hope we get 227 with it

um but as you look at 20 flown away from the different states to come to the flight anniversary from florida it's old enough and unique enough that it's not something you just have somebody come from town and then we also learned in the process that the current building was built around the crematorium and so to get it out we'd either have to tear down the building or remove the roof or a wall it's going to be a construction project ronnie who's doing a wonderful job i believe is also looking into some alternative newer methods of carcass disposal that maybe technology will happen faster than the life of our crematorium and we don't have to worry about it. So, but just, those are some pieces around the crematorium. I don't think we'll need to replace it in 27, but we could, it's old.

Is there a way to add on to the building if we get a new one? And what is the cost of a new one?

It's a significant six-figure number.

Can I ask, what's the life of a crematory? Because wasn't that facility built in? I was going to say, yeah, it wasn't that long.

That just doesn't seem like such a major piece of equipment.

Oh, I guess I didn't know that. I didn't know. Yeah, I know, but I didn't know the crematorium was secondhand. I don't think we're the original owner. I don't know the...

Because I mean the building was already there. How is it that it was built into the building? There's a small outbuilding outside of scraps that has the crematory. Oh, okay.

Oh, sorry. It's not in that.

It's not inside of the sheltering facility property.

It has like a freezer side into it. So they're handing the freezer and the crematory water together in that area of the building. And it's not fun to open that freezer.

I get in there and I'm like, oh, my God, this is like taking a tour of the medical examiner's building.

It's jarring. The HVAC system Gillen facilities team is also working on some alternative options and solutions to bring that price tag down, see if there's Another chiller we have here that could potentially go out there and provide some solutions or potentially creating an awning over the HVAC system and part of the stuff sits just in the sun at scraps and just bakes all the time. So if it could be covered, that may help give us some more life to the facility. So he's working on some options, but at this point, likely none of those projects are hypercritical for 2027, given our limited funding. The clerk's office has requested your support in replacing some scanning equipment. This ask is only $43,000 and is something that, Board, if you do not wish to fund, you could direct the clerk to find this within his budget capacity if this is a priority for him in 2027.

Certainly, we've tried when it comes to copy machine scanners to not make those.

um a true capital project or operating evo this is an expensive one and this is how they requested it next up council for defense would like a to move and remodel space on campus um to have a larger space to the tune of four million dollars again that's one of those i think jeff mentioned potential consolidation options um could change this need substantially into the future Detention services, we've separated these requests by the facility, so we have a list of requests for the downtown jail. They've requested a transport vehicle replacement for 2027, several more into the future, plus additional requests for the downtown jail. They've also submitted $1,000,000 for Geiger to get Geiger fire codes updated, but over the next several years have $15.2 million of requests for the Geiger facility alone, or excuse me, for the total of the two facilities.

You have Michael Sparber coming.

The next week, then we'll preview the schedule.

It will be the following just to discuss Geiger itself. If the board is going to make any decisions on a no go, we're going to actually go no go somewhere on closing Geiger. And then depending on the board's direction there, The tension will come in their budget, of course, is submitted a status quo, where we have Geiger open if if the board wants to look at a closure over the next year, we want to give their team a chance to show the difference in budget between those decisions so.

much this whole section i would say wait until it was tba yeah maybe isn't there if there's already some kind of remodel going on yeah we're going to get to that at the end of the section all right um i mean it's hard to put a million dollars in the geiger when we end of its life and we're not there's no return on the best amount So, Barbara, I see you raised your hand.

Yeah, I was just going to say many of these items that are on here are rollovers from previous budgets. They just kind of redo them. And I don't have a good sense of what is a priority for them or not. I haven't talked to Bryce about this yet. But I would agree on the Geiger repairs and so forth with them.

with Commissioner Brooks on that so we will have an opportunity to talk about it and as Jeff said I'll be ready to make a presentation coming up okay thank you the other thing that might be helpful as we're looking is we're just looking 27 and ahead but it's like I also would like to see kind of and I it may be a separate spreadsheet to that if you could show what departments have received in the past, like three years to go three years, and then what their 27 request is, and then we can still go back to this to look at it. But otherwise it's hard when you're having to look forward. You're not having to look back to see who's gotten funds in the past and who hasn't based on requests.

I'd have to talk to Kyle about using a plotter printer to get paper big enough.

You could drop the future off and do 27 plus a look back.

I would just make a separate page that just shows. HAB-Juliette Boone, But history yes 27 like that, and then we can go from.

HAB-Juliette Boone, That period, for instance, we made some investments juvenile jail, you know some capital projects and just. HAB-Juliette Boone, Oh, we did make some you know, last year, the year prior so it's just nice to see that see have we made some investment be funded in the past versus what what we're looking at and want to make sure that you know if.

HAB-Juliette Boone, You know. HAB-Juliette Boone, yeah I mean it just.

because because i can't remember what we've done now in the past for detention services that's a great suggestion i love the concept and we'll work on getting that here before we bring capital back all right next page we do have on here um emergency management and emergency operations center um could potentially be grant funded um so we just have that as a placeholder for future discussions

So so on that so what's the 50,000 for this year?

Design the site, you know, just kind of the readiness, and then the bulk of the construction would be into a future period, just as placeholders rough estimates.

You mean the 500,000?

Yeah, if the board were to approve moving there's been conversation around a standalone facility built out by the chef training center there's been conversation around using some of the um shrek unoccupied space particularly with the city not joining us out there we do have i think there's a 44 000 square feet right now And so if we were to choose one or the other or some third option we haven't thought of yet, this would give some design, architectural, kind of those first phases, and then look at in the out-year fraction of construction. That's the concept.

Placeholder for discussion, knowing that's a larger conversation for you all.

That budget will be coming for you in the future. We've been doing to more discussions, right?

Is that building? Not a great building, either, but that's a lot of maintenance. I'd be I'd be curious what the maintenance comes right there.

All righty. Next up we have some facilities requests a lot of these We just kind of recycle year to year. Elevator rebuilds within the courthouse, that is CCH. PSB is the public safety building. And then eventually maybe the public works building. The elevators just need a little rehabbing in some of these buildings. new mag drive chillers. That's a very facilities type request. On-call system is part of their future movements with the new hydronic hot water system. They would not need 24-7 boiler coverage into the future. And so an on-call system like this, a $60,000 hardware investment could help them manage with uh less staffing on campus 24 7. so it gives some more flexibility for people to be on call was that not built into the phone this additional piece of hardware was not but if we have bond savings we may be able to squeeze it in there and plug it out of there okay because i mean we should have been thinking about all these that's what we did um courthouse slate roof repairs. That is $75,000 to fix a minor leak on the fourth floor of the courthouse. If possible, we'd look to utilize historic preservation funds to fix the slate roof portion that is having the leak. The historical courthouse repairs is a grant funded and historic preservation funded project for the tower that's been approved in prior years. We just keep putting it back on here because the work will happen in 2027. It's taken a while to get the design work done. But the grant expires in June of next year. So we will have the work done in time. So next spring, you'll see scaffolding on the tower to support that. And then we included a placeholder here for campus remodels into the future for if the city were to vacate spaces or we were to remodel other areas after the prosecutor moves to Monroe Court. We would plan for that into the future, knowing we likely won't make any fast moves in 2027. Sarah Bennett, Next up fair and Expo. Sarah Bennett, They are requesting to continue their campground improvements, most all of the fair and Expo requests are funded are supposed to be funded by the fair fund, which is good that's exactly what we wanted Aaron to be working on. Sarah Bennett, The one exception to that is project number two on the list to repay the fairground road that is kind of the stretch that goes in between the. parking lot and the Vista Stadium and the old parks admin building, I believe. You just kind of repave that bit leading into the fairground entrance. $450,000 requested from REIT. The rest are minor projects. Wi-Fi, they want to get a used man lift, maybe a scissor lift, some floor doors, floor repairs. Floor scrubber, just ongoing maintenance things, but good to have listed out here so we keep an eye on all the great things the FAIR team is doing. Next page, information technology. IT is requesting internet edge router replacement to the tune of $175,000. That is something that would likely have to be general fund funded if we moved forward with it. juvenile case management software replacement. This is an additional software program to replace an old, old, old homegrown IT-built system that juvenile currently utilizes. Juveniles also made the request, so you'll see it listed twice on here.

This is like a lot of the other programs we've done recently, just IT going through so many at one time and with all the momentum going. Monitor one for now.

This recording and then Carpel is almost done.

So this would be kind of the next phase of our modernization.

Thanks, Barbara. I see you raise your hand.

Yeah, just the report that you had asked for, for the analysis of all of the systems, talking to them to each other and where it's, you know, there's potential for improvement will be done in the next month or so. And there'll be a presentation to the board on that.

IT has also requested DIMM software data center physical server replacements. Servers are one of the costs that have gone up the most in this recent tech boom. And so those are substantially more expensive than we would like. which is why they are included on this CAPA request. And then campus switch replacements. And that is not like the electrical switch gears we're replacing. This is some other kind of internet relay switch mabob. Next we have juvenile. They again have submitted some of these requests in prior years. The lobby security remodel, bathroom repairs and remodeling, and then a terrazzo flooring in the detention area. And then that juvenile case management software replacement. The medical examiner is requesting $14,000 roughly to replace the server that runs the security camera system at the medical examiner facilities. It has likely reached end of life already. Next up, Parks and Recreation. We organized these by park to hopefully keep track of which park we're investing in. And I think that'll be easier to notice as well, which parks we've already invested in, commissioners, when we bring back a couple of years of recent history. So they're asking for support for their ongoing vehicle replacement plan, some signage installation, to make things more consistent across all of our parks. A retaining wall and some stairs at Camelot Park.

I want to go to the maintenance equipment. Didn't we kind of guarantee there was a five-year lease cycle that we were

working the replacing and leasing we the board entered into that with parks department um and you kick funded that or start funding it with um the proceeds from the raceway park sale um those funds have been depleted at this point There's a request to remove the pool and vacant building at Holmberg Park. That is likely a wise investment of $175,000. The north side and south side pools, the water slide needs reserving or water slides need resurfacing. We have under the golf course equipment replacement at the golf courses, and that would be paid for by golf course funds. So that is not a REIT request. And that is all of parks for 2027. Looks like they printed on two pages. Pretrial services is requesting the DIMS software. So that's where it links up from up above in the IT request. It is a small request, but would make pretrial services, tracking of various cases and things easier for them. The Sheriff is requesting to resurface the EVOC track. They have listed here, Valley Patrol Vehicles that would be funded by the City of Spokane Valley, Patrol Vehicles for the Sheriff's Office, and then a printer for their civil division. And then here at the bottom, we have our maintenance and operations costs. So new this year, REIT is able to fund the abatement of nuisance properties. So we could look at funding the new building and code department with Amy Nunez, reach dollars we don't have that currently penciled into the budget, we are currently recommending you utilize the interest from the building fund that we sweep off the building fund to pay for that program we would recommend it in the future. We let some of that REIT save up. And when Jordan has a property that is in need of some one-time nuisance investments, then we look to REIT to possibly fund those at that time. But we have to list all these things on our six-year CIP or else we can never use REIT for it if we don't start listing them. So that's part of why they're listed. That is a rule from the state auditor. we have parks admin at 419 000 so that includes the base investments that we've made over the last couple years um as well as we transitioned in money that had previously come to parks from car rental tax leaving all of the car rental tax capacity available for uh your decision making board and then 201 000 from Lance Ferry is what, excuse me, that's the one coming out of the car rental tax that had previously been funded there. So that is new to REIT, but is affordable within REIT.

So I think you said earlier that like other M&O or is it just parks?

Just parks. That nuisance abatement is another thing that was that Randy saw that was pulled out. That's the only additional thing that we have seen, which makes a nice sense. The interest goes into the general fund, more flexible dollars at that rate.

So do we have the option if we wanted to listed here. Correct. Yes.

So 35% goes up to about $2 billion.

So if we have to list it by state audit or rule, should it be listed in here to give us the choice or does not listing it not give us the choice?

We'd want to list it.

We also knew we'd want to discuss more of what our rate capacity was, what our ongoing debt is, and some of the other projects.

Preserve maximum choice.

Absolutely. Yep.

Make sure we get that updated and included.

And then finally at the bottom, we have our carryover projects. So the detention services team is working with facilities to do a remodel here at the downtown jail facility to add some bed capacity. The project was approved in 2026. And they'll spend some of the initial funds this year, which is why you're seeing 900,000 programs for next year. There's a lot of bulk of the work will be over the winter time. Since it's an indoor project, we're going to try to hit that construction season sweet spot and have indoor work done over the winter. Facilities is continuing to work on the campus infrastructure improvements. We sold bonds for that, so we'll look to see if there's available funds in those bond proceeds to pay for the previous requesting facilities for the on-call system. Campus remodel, we are underway for prosecutor Monroe Court building remodel.

Should start actually next month.

Yep, that one's been... fully designed and again, wintertime indoor construction project is a nice spot to be. Information technology is working with the assessor and treasurer on the augmentum implementation. I believe they're close to finalizing a contract. I know Ken's been hard at work keeping them on task. So if you say it's included in the...

Sorry.

No. In the treasurer. Yeah, go ahead. We're saying it's included in the IT 117. So why are those down there separate?

We just wanted to make sure that the Treasurer's Office submitted those as requests. So we just wanted to make sure that we recognized their request, but it will come out of those funds. So we should likely have $0 there or subtracting from the 117 up above.

Okay.

Yeah, otherwise it's just confusing into the total. It's going to be double killed. They have 11.7 and we are firm on that price.

So we will work on that. And that is the six year CIP about as fast as we can do it.

It will all come back in due time.

Yes, we'll talk more about it. And I'm sure as departments present on their budgets, we will get some more information to help inform on that process. So next up for some of our scheduling, we are going to have the prosecutor come in on the 21st, so next week Monday in the morning. We are going to have Mike Sparber give a presentation on Geiger, the 28th, as well as Superior Court come in and talk about their budget request the morning of the 28th. And then working to schedule the sheriff for the morning of October the 5th. And right now, those are the four departments that you had specifically requested to come before you.

um are there additional departments you would like to hear from or hear from soon we know there's additional departments you would hear from any other people that would be particularly front-loaded right i think criminal justice because if you're going to look at doing a one-tenth of one percent you've been trying to get those all in before decision time you've got to get those into different

This is a reminder for the criminal justice one-tenth next week. The twenty-first is actually the last day if we're not going to do any expedited thing. That would mean you're not making a decision next week. That would say next week. If a majority of the board wanted to actually post a public hearing, we'll go on the following Tuesday's schedule. Just posting the 2 week hearing. And then that vote next week is really just head nods telling us, or you can tell us today to put it on next week. The 1st vote would actually be the Tuesday 2 PM. And again, that's just a vote to host the public here. And then two weeks later there would be the public hearing after which, if the will is there, that's when there would be option for a vote on the election.

So next Tuesday. The 22nd, not the 21st, is what you're saying.

Next week. Next week. We do it either day. The next week would be the last opportunity to do every... We can always do same-day things. We can hold special meetings. There's all of those, but to follow regular order and regular scheduled meetings. We are at a decision point next week, unless there's the will to make a decision today, just to post it next week.

So that's where that was posted for a public hearing.

That's a two week posting. So on the 21st or 22nd, we say put it on the 29th agenda for post posting. And then two weeks later takes us to October 13th. but it's all based off of 75 days prior to jam 1 which is also over 16. yeah because you got to know about the state so the 13th is our last regular scheduled meeting before the 16th so the action right now is just to decide if we're going to have a public hearing on it correct like before have you said does have a public hearing we'd post it next tuesday

it's actually I guess that there's a vote action or another way to keep our options open for planning to post a public hearing if we could start that next week unless we hear about funds yes one week or another week I'd rather start the process so we have the process engaged and

then decisions are made at the end of it. I don't know. So I'd rather just...

Or just see you show the top of your 2 PM agenda. I'll just be posting on the hearing for the 13th. I believe Mr. Maceo is always already has it ready. We're going next next week. So I have to change the dates back the week. I think yeah, ready is for the following.

When did you say that those departments are coming that we've asked for?

Prosecutors next week. So following week is detention in Superior Court. with the sheriff being on the first week of October. Thank you.

And we do have an afternoon session available on Monday, the 28th. So if there are other departments that we'd like to notify now, we can and get them hooked into the afternoon time.

District forward or pretrial.

I was thinking the courts or pretrial might be. But I haven't looked at pre-trial to see how much buyback that they would like.

They've got theirs figured out pretty close. There's also Public Defense and Council for Defense, which are two other big.

Could we get updated numbers of open positions? in the public defender and the prosecutor's offices just to get a sense of how the hiring has been going well prosecutors would just be good to know how many are open attorneys yeah we can grab those and just see that one around you guys thank you all impressed today that's it

We do have two motions that Mr. Macio has. Your staff is here to talk about. And we have George and Heather here to discuss.

If I could have these passed around to the board members, these are the two motions that I have prepared for your consideration. And Heather Arnold is here and George are here to address these items. Basically, as you're probably aware, tomorrow afternoon in your consent agenda, you have two items. The items are identified on the sheet I just handed out as 6E and 6F. And 6E is accepting the award of a grant from the Department of Commerce with regard to the Spokane fires issue. And 6F, we take that money and we contract with the Spokane County Housing Authority to implement the grant that we're getting. On tomorrow's agenda for 6E, we have the award of the grant ready to go. But for item number 6F, which is the contract with regard to contracting the Spokane Housing Authority, the contract isn't finalized yet. And so what the recommendation of the CEO is that we take those items this morning because by law you have the legal ability to take things at this briefing session and approve them this morning. And that will give us a heads up in negotiating our contract with the housing authority so we don't have to wait another week because that grant doesn't last very long. Don't I say that correctly, Jeff?

And we did have M.R. and Lori something. Thank you. They were here two weeks ago. We discussed this and all the reasons why it was unanimous that we felt they were on the ground ready to move quickly. These funds must be spent by the end of January. And there's a lot of So they coming go very well with other funds. The housing authority has that they can help with rental assistance. They can help with furniture, you know, for somebody who has lost everything, and they fall within a the the hud level correct Ami numbers that they are Ready to be helped, and then our funds go to county residents. This is the funding the city received a 1,000,000 of there's just more city residents and county residents as proportional. They're working with good will on the city side. and the housing authority and goodwill have a good relationship they're all of the same data sharing agreements so we get a city person we can send them that way the reverse is true when they get a county person so i do believe it is set up well and we would just like to execute it asap um to get to get going and so that's why we would Mayor Mrakas, Ask for the word to consider passing it this morning, and then we'll get from all the t's cross and I started with. Mayor Mrakas, To save a few days from waiting.

Mayor Mrakas, Madam chair, and I did ask the deputy clerk, we have not received any. written comments on either of the items since they were posted on friday and of course as the boards where they would have to have their comments in by noon that doesn't preclude you from tape considering it today and if you act on today madam chair then tomorrow uh at the at your consent agenda you're going to have to move to strike these two items because they're already on the agenda but the mere fact that they're on the agenda tomorrow doesn't preclude you from considering them today during this briefing session, if that's your desire.

And we don't have to make a motion to strike them.

Tomorrow. By law, Madam Chair, you ask good questions. By law, you can't make a motion to strike something on an already published agenda until the day of the agenda itself, Madam Chair. So that was a good question that Matt and I looked at this weekend.

well anyway uh those are the two items i passed around some motions i hopefully it'll make the consideration easier for the board members yeah i see it should i do this one though dollar amount typos well no it's just on the top part not yeah on the motion side yeah no i think the one i'll have yeah correct me if there's anything wrong with the motion please Madam Chair, I move to accept the award for financial assistance from the Washington State Department of Commerce, contract number 26-46WFO-29 for the Wildfire Housing Assistance Fund in the amount of $500,000 and authorize the Chair of the Board majority of the board or acting ceo to execute at other than an open public meeting any and all documents necessary to implement this award as well as any subsequent amendment after review by the grant and procurement director designate second

I have a motion and a second for the item just stated. I do have to open it up for public testimony since we are taking action on this. As you heard, we are doing it so we can get these dollars out as quickly as possible to the people in need. So I will open up for public hearing at this point. See no one in the audience here in the conference room, no one online. Second call for anyone wanting to testify on this item. Susan Bakhshian, heard and final call see no one in the room, and no one online, I will close the public testimony and ask for the vote, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Susan Bakhshian, Aye motion passes. Susan Bakhshian, For this person.

Madam Chair, I have another motion. I move to authorize the chair of the board, majority of board or acting CEO to execute other than an open public meeting, a contract as well as any subsequent amendments thereto with the Spokane Housing Authority in the amount of $475,000 for the provisions of rapid support to households that have been temporarily or permanently displaced from their residents due to the Spokane complex fires subject to review as to form of the contract or amendment by legal counsel and review of the contract or amendment by the grant and procurement director designate. Second.

I have a motion and a second for what we just discussed. Amy Nunez, Again, this is to expedite giving this out to our citizens that need help on the complex fires and not pricing that contract, so I. Amy Nunez, will open up for public testimony, since we will take action on this today so first call for anyone wishing to testify on either the item just mentioned. Amy Nunez, See no one online. Amy Nunez, room second call. Third and final call for anyone wanting to testify on this item. Seeing no one online and no one in the room, I will close the public testimony. I should ask, is there any other comments before we call for the vote? I will call for the vote. All those in favor of the motion presented, please say aye. Aye. Motion passes with four commissioners.

Mr. Meacham and I came up with this concept late Friday. and thank George and Heather and Jim this morning for pulling all this documentation together to get it ready. They were working while we were going over budget. So thank you guys.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it. And so then we'll be striking E 16. Yes. Okay, that takes us to miscellaneous. I know we have a couple of executive sessions, so is there any miscellaneous items before us?

Okay.

I think we're trying to get through four executive session items and one closed labor this morning. No? How many would you like to attempt?

This one, and then... Go ahead, one item.

let's give it a shot okay but you guys are very capable we have them we will have yeah I can get updated later pending and potential litigation no action anticipated 10 minutes all of the

under the same statute, RCW 4231101I. First one, Jeff McMorris, Matt Folsom, Debra Kurta, Jasper Coulter, Jeff Perkins, and Kyle Selig. We would like to do an executive session. Qualifications of a candidate for appointments under RCW 4230110G. for curtain wall cuisine Madison Bryant the second closed labor under rcw 42 30 140 section 4 Matt Folsom Jeff McMorris Devin curtain wall cuisine Josh broke Tessa Sheldon that this one we cannot recommend this one okay Then one more pending potential litigation. 10 minutes. Jeff McMorris, Matt Folsom, Devin Curtin, Walt Ducey, Vicki Dalton, Wessie Gao. That is for a total of 50 minutes.

Okay, let's go. We will go into executive session for the items just stated. For the next 50 minutes, at the end of the 50 minutes, we will adjourn for the morning and see everybody back tomorrow. Thank you all.

you have to .