Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

And back to you, Chair Harrington.

Great. This is the afternoon portion of the Washington County Board of Commissioners work session for Tuesday, May 12th, 2026. And we have a full complement of the commission today. So, we're going to dive into our very first topic starting off in the afternoon, medical examiner facilities feasibility study update. Now, we have our our subject matter experts to take us through this. Thank you so much, Chair Harrington. Uh, good afternoon, uh, board of county commissioners, Chair Harrington. My name is Mera Seantal. I use she her pronouns. I serve as the director of health and human services. Um, and with me today are two incredible subject matter experts. Um, I have Dr. Kimberly Rep, who is our public health deputy division manager within the Department of Health and Human Services, and she oversees our medical examiner's office. And then I also have Brian Rob um who is our senior planner for real estate and planning within the facilities fleet and parks department.

All right. So today's work session um Dr. Rub's going to start. She's going to brief your board on our medical examiner's office facility gap or MEO as we call it and associated risks to our current service delivery. Um, and then she will turn over to Brian, who's going to introduce possible near-term and long-term paths explored by the consultant, um, whose full report was included in your board packet, um, including key findings of that feasibility study, um, really focusing on the needs, um, that were identified. And then we'll wrap up by getting your board feedback on what staff should refine, if anything, and bring back to your board for consideration. So, with that, I turn it over to Dr. R.

Thank you, Mayor. Good afternoon, commissioners. So, my name is Kim Rup and I have supervised our medical examiner's office here at the county since 2018. And to review the functions of what we do, we are responsible for investigating any death that is suspicious, an uh suspicious looking homicide, anything that's essentially not a natural death or if it's a natural death at home, the person is unattended. We in Oregon since 1960 use a statebased medical examiner system. What does that mean? That means that all the forensic pathologists, the people who take seven years of training after medical school before they can do their job, they are all in Clakamus County. So every person that dies under medical exam examiner jurisdiction that needs an autopsy, excuse me, has to be transported to Clacamus County. Whether you're in eastern Oregon, southern Oregon, here, it doesn't matter. Everything has to go to Clackamus County. As you imagine, that might be a little bit challenging. So the medical examiner's office is the the power is dictated by OS146.090 and that requires us to be functioning 24/7. That means it doesn't matter if the county shut down. It doesn't matter if it's Christmas morning. It does not matter. We are required to port duty no matter what. Uh just like law enforcement. So, what's unique about the medical examiner system in Oregon is that the medical legal death investigators, those are the people who work at the county. Those are the people who go to the scenes. They're not physicians. They're not at the state office doing autopsies. They have to be appointed by our district attorney and our state medical examiner after the hiring process in Washington County. So, we are

functioning under the authority of the district attorney and of the state medical examiner. So every county in Oregon has their own set of death investigators at the county level, but everybody takes their deedence for autopsy to the state in Clakamus. So in our office right now, we have a chief and we have six medical legal death investigators and one program specialist. We are responsible for identifying the deceased, help determine the man or cause of death, coordinate any external examination, connection with funeral home. Obviously, we're constantly with law enforcement anytime we're working. And the take-home point of what we do is we are the last people to provide justice for those who can no longer speak. So, it's our job as death investigators to be independent completely so we can investigate all types of death and uh bring justice to those who need it. As you may be aware, the population of Oregon is increasing every year and with more earths means more deaths. So we've had the same Clackmus County morg for decades now and it has been exhausted for capacity and pathologists. Yet every county still relies on taking our deedants to the state medical examiner's office. It's it was so bad in 2023 the state medical examiner's office said, "You know what? We can't do all the autopsies we're supposed to be able to do. We just can't. We don't have enough pathologists. we don't have enough space, we can't do it. So, they reduced the uh type of autopsies, the amount of cases we are allowed to bring in for review. Now, to get an autopsy, if you're curious, what automatically gets

you an autopsy are only the following criteria. A drug overdose, age 45 and younger. A suspected natural death age 55 and younger. Suspected natural means we don't have any medical history. the person doesn't hasn't been to the physician or there's there's no information. Homicides, sudden unexplained infant death cases or medically sensitive pediatric cases, like if we're thinking abuse or something like that, motor vehicle crashes, there are no accidents. and uh any in custody death. So if they're in any sort of whether they're being arrested or in the jail or whatever happens, any association there automatically gets an autopsy for that death. And we also take any person who has a retained projectile. We don't bury projectiles in Oregon. They're removed from the person before they are either buried or cremated or whatever the family wishes for that individual. Is that like a a bullet or

Yes, ma'am. or a tip of knife or like literally anything that's not a medical piece of equipment that was already in them. Got it. Yeah. Oh, well that makes sense. Yes. Yes. Okay. It's nowhere near what we would like to be. Any medical equipment gets buried with the individual?

Yeah. So, I just had my jaw broken in four places and I had little metal plates in here. So they would not remove these. They But if I had a projectile in me that was not naturally part of, you know, not medically installed, then yes, we would remove it. So that's usually bullets, uh, broken metal pieces. Sometimes in car crashes, things can snap off inside. It depends. But yeah, we always remove everything before the deed is returned to the family. So the state gives you less access and you've had temporary access for cold storage and an exam area, but we need more permanent solutions. So that's where the study was built.

Yes. So right now we don't have any Washington County facilities. So where do the autopsies? So an autopsy is at the state medical examiner's office in Clakamus. So those bodies are transported to the state medical examiner's office and they can hold anybody who's getting an autopsy. But everybody else that's your county responsibility.

Yeah. So getting in there and afterwards and also the majority of cases 81% of cases do not receive an autopsy. So those are people we have to transport and get to a funeral home. So the problem is I don't have anywhere to store these deedants. So if I had a car crash right now or plane crash four people for I don't have anywhere to put the bodies. We don't have a county facility. The only thing that I have right now is a local funeral home has agreed to hold one table for us to do our external exams and our cold storage. We are completely relying on that for all of our medical examiner needs at this point. What what funeral home is that?

It's a Springer and Sense. Yeah, they've been really great partners. We had a consented. Yeah. So, um I want to make sure I understand this list. Yeah. Um uh so I'm clear on for those 100 minus 81%. That get an autopsy. Once the autopsy is done, you have to take control. But there's also this 81%.

So I'm trying to get clear on what is the work whether you may call it a death investigator, but I think from what we've been through with other facilities, we need to know we need to have some idea of the tasks we may be getting to that. Yeah. So is some of this all related to death investigations? It is our required function for every single death. Got it. These are the things we're lacking. Chair. Yeah.

This dotted list is all the things we do not currently have. So for the death investigations, you need to have facilities and these are the kind of facilities you need for that because I don't want a PhD of what a death investigator does, but I do want to have an appreciation for the high level appreciation for the work that needs to be done and the kind of facilities and flexibility that you

uh you may or may not been in Ryan. I think was in the room when I said that I'm a little overwhelmed by this topic. So, uh I I got reassurance that you're not asking me to make a final deadline here, but I'm trying to make sure that I and we are thoughtful in the level of direction for today. And I know Miss Hy will keep straight and grounded.

Yeah. So, maybe can we take a pause and do a grounding? Um, this is really the first time your board has had a deep dive into medical examiner services. If you may recall, um, I believe two budget cycles ago, we needed to add FTE to the medical examiner's office. Uh, one of the, um, items I appreciate if Dr. rep would touch on is just what our our coverage or our staffing responsibility 247 needs to be. Um because to me that is part of um a consideration for facility too and proximity of facility as well. So I would suggest the board think about this as this is your first conversation um and we can determine um after this also maybe even one ones because it does the I would I am coming to this conversation appreciating this is just your first touch point with medical examiner services because it is a service that is not typically seen by the community.

Yeah. Yes. Picking that back up, Dr. Rup, could you kind of explain like the chair's point like just a quick example of like what would you be needing to do as an MTI? Absolutely. Even for a case that doesn't need an autopsy.

Sure. Absolutely. No problem. So, what happens is a person discovers a person who has died, they call 911. 911 goes, it's usually EMS or fire, law enforcement sometimes first. It depends who gets there first. They check for a pulse or any life- saving measures. If they are not able to administer any life-saving measures, the person is considered deceased and then they call us. They when they when they talk to us on the phone, we get information like, "Is there paraphernalia at the scene? What do you see? Is there trauma?" Uh we interview law enforcement to see what kind of information they're detecting at this very early stage. Then after speaking to law enforcement, we will get all our gear, get in the truck, and we will drive to the scene. Under Oregon law, the second that the person is deceased, it is the jurisdiction of the medical examiner's office. It's no longer under law enforcement. So, law enforcement gets the scene, but the actual deedent is the medical examiner's office. So we are responsible for going in uh examining the body and by that I mean we need to remove the clothes and photograph everything. Everything we do has to stand up in court period. So it's got to be very methodical. There are a lot of policies and procedures. So essentially after that after we've done our examination of the individual and determined what we think is the manner and cause of death we get on the phone with a state medical examiner. say, "Hi, forensic pathologists. This is Kim at Washington County. This is a case I have. I run it by them." They say, "Bring them in for autopsy or don't bring them in for autopsy." If if they want them for autopsy, they're transported. If they don't, then we work with the family if they're there to figure out which funeral home they would like to use. Uh, and then we can

transport to that funeral home. Or if they don't know what funeral home, most people aren't expecting a death that day when we get there. It's usually the worst day of their life and they're in total panic. They might not have a funeral home picked out. So that's the case where we have to hold that for the families until they make up their mind on where they would like to go. Is that an acceptable? Very helpful. I've read too many Patricia. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I got the basic steps. That helps a lot, right? You need to read Patricia Cornwell. Yeah. Yeah. I know. Moving on. So, what kind of information our chair is?

She's a coroner. Happy to answer any questions as always.

So, why are we here today? Why is this becoming urgent? Well, our state medical examiner's office, although they're trying to get a larger facility and trying to get more staffing, they remain as they are. uh Multma County and Clacamus County as of June will be out of the state medical examiner's office. Both those MEOs used to be inside the Morgan Clacamus. They're both out now. And there's one company that we use for transport our deedants. So, it's less expensive for the county to pay a transport company to take the deedent to the state than it is to use staff to drive to the body of the state. It takes, you know, two and a half hours to do all that. So we use a tri a private transport company. Unfortunately that transport company did not make a profit in the five years of business and they will be closing on June 30th. This removes all transportation for all three medical examiner's office in uh the metro area.

Was the transport company like a a medical transport company? Yes. Biohazard specifically for deedants. Yes. Okay. Yep. And that can't be accomplished through any of our contracts with AMR or No, they uh not with the deceased. Okay. Unfortunately. Yeah, that would be a good question. Interesting. Yes. Yeah. We deal with that for communicable disease a lot with our EMS, but not for unfortunately the deedants. So, the problem is we we we're not going to get anything improved at the state medical examiner's office. You have problems with storage and with transport. Oh yeah, I'm just getting warmed up. I'm with you.

I'm getting the message. Okay, first conversation. Yes. So really soon. Yes. Thank you. Got it. Message received. So there. Did I get the message?

You did. I did. So there is one company left in the state of Oregon that does transport of deedants and they are it's not clear if they're able to handle the entire workload of the Tri County Metro Medical Examiner's Office and as of this morning they would not commit to any performance times. So, uh, that affects our law enforcement partners who we value very much because they don't get to leave the scene until the transport company comes. So, right now we hold them to an hour. So, our current transportation, they'll be the officers will be waiting or deputies will be waiting no longer than an hour. That is going to change dramatically if we can even get a contract with this the one remaining business to do this.

Can I ask who pays for that the transport? We do. Yes. So, it's somebody dies and it's our responsibility to transport the dead body to some place if it's suspicious. If it falls under medical examiner jurisdiction, if you die at a hospital, no, we No, I'm just saying it doesn't I thought Medicare or some other insurance policy would transported your dad. No. And insurance companies out

medical and there's no biohazard. That's a common misunderstanding. We don't clean up a scene. We investigate it. So the family has to hire a biohazard company on top of that to do the cleanup. And commissioner, this is out on the road. Yeah. Fire usually hoses down the road, but I mean not always. is I I said um it's in state statute that it's a county responsibility. Yeah. Holy moly. So, we're learning things every day. So, this is why I actually getting a little uh uncomfortable so to speak in our our current status. I feel like

Oh, you had me at June 30. Oh, right. Right. So basically I feel like we the medical examiner's office were floating in the middle of the ocean treading water and the funeral home was giving us a life jacket. Okay, they're giving us a place to store. They're giving us, you know, a place for exams that's safe and respectful and dignified. However, if that's pulled away at any time, I got a big problem really quickly. So that's why we're here today to learn about the the feasibility study and other professional options that have been evaluated for you to consider. And there are options. That's some good news. Yes.

Oh, great. I'm going to write that there. Uh so in 2023 we uh reached out to facilities our internal facilities team to start brainstorming some ideas. I'll turn it over to Brian.

Sure. Uh the board just as a recap the board received a memo in 2023 outlining the state the changes at the state level uh outlining the reduced service levels. Um, and in 2014 we partnered with HHS. And I got to tell you, one of the great joys of my job is all the people I get to work with and learn about new things. This was not what I was expecting. 2025 bingo card folks here. Um yeah I was I was not friend in some AOC convened meeting starting in 2023 and through those years

right so in um 2024 this was added to the capital improvement plan actually the needs assessment itself was added to the CIP and the work study or the work began in 2025 and took most of that year coming up into the first part of 2026. And since that time, we've been um really reviewing it ourselves and trying to understand implications particularly as things have changed with um interim relation or interim arrangements rather for the shortterm demand storage issues. Thanks. The co the consultant was tasked with helping the county answer a practical question and that is what does Washington County need to maintain reliable medical examiner services today and how could demand evolve over time? We're not static in time or our population continues to grow. Case load will continue to grow and what facility strategies are operationally feasible. So the study documented current operations, workloads, staffing assumptions, facility gaps, long-range growth considerations. We also looked at options for potential new construction versus retrofit opportunities and facilities we already own and then a range of costs related to those planning options. Um, one important distinction throughout the report is that it separates our facility needs and readiness from operational activation. So, in other words, the study evaluates what a building could eventually support over time, but that doesn't mean that the county is committing immediately to activating all future functions of some facility. So that distinction became

very important as we evaluated what was appropriately scaled for our current and long-term needs. Okay. Sure.

Um this is really great. I did scan through part of the the report but what I didn't get and I didn't read the slides ahead of time which I often do. So that's why I wanted you to know. Um there's the facility, but there's also this transport problem and from a contract standpoint, uh June 30th is like tomorrow. And so does the does the feasibility study cover transport? No.

Okay. So, I'm gonna hold myself tight and we get through the presentation to ask more questions about because I I know use work storage opportunities rural homes have their own business demand and whatnot. I'm going to learn more about that but I'll I'll get my brain refresh transport later. Okay, that'll work for me. Thank you. I have a plan

on this slide though that says facilities partnership. I guess I'm I read them the report parts of it. I looked at I if there's opportunity big picture to be partnering with the other counties, this seems like something that would be efficient to do that with, but I maybe I'm jumping the gun or I don't know what. But that there and this is not the only need we have that I think fits in that category. I mean, there are there are things that I think could be strategically located that could benefit multiple counties and this is just one of them. So I don't know if there any nexus to that but

yes uh unfortunately when someone passes away and they go under the jurisdiction of the medical examiner's office they have to stay within the geographical confines of that county where the me has jurisdiction. So we can't store in Multma County we can't store in Clakammus County unless we are transferring chain of custody to the state medical examiner's office for an autopsy. And whose rules is that? State. But the state can change it if they if they even thought they do what they were doing. Okay.

I mean, I think there's an easy solution. There's just one small place where all three of the metro counties touch. It's in Lake Asiggo. And I think it's going to need to be our new There is that spot. That's not a Do you know how big that ceiling would have to be? alone. Oh, we're gonna get to that. Okay, great. Hang tight. We're learn. Okay, we're ready. Okay, we're going to share this slide. So, I'm going to pass it off.

So, our service may be impacted by these upcoming changes. We will have transport delays. So, if we do not have a transport company, we will transport ourselves. we have a truck that could transport one person and then that staff member is out of commission for the entire time they're transporting. That's we're not exactly staffed for that. So that could cause transport delays. Again, uh the loudest I think besides me that you're going to hear from for the impact of this will be law enforcement because they are the ones that will be having to wait because we're not getting there fast enough for transport. Uh so in terms of autopsies just to paint a little bit of a picture in 2024 19% of Washington County cases that we took jurisdiction of which was,00 cases in 20240 of them were autopsy. So, a forensic pathologist, the people who perform the autopsies, national best practice is that one pathologist does no more than 250 autopsies in a year with a maximum of 325. So, if you look at 2034, we're going to need two forensic pathologists just for our workload. That's not including any of the other tri counties. So right now at 140 autopsies, our state medical examiner's office, the pathologists are doing over 350 in autopsies a year each, way beyond what the national recommendation is. So they're trying as hard as they can. Uh but they are not staffed anywhere near to be able to handle the workload. So again in 2024 we took jurisdiction of,00 deedants 140 of those were autopsied and uh yeah I'll pass it over to Bren.

Thanks. Um so when we first commissioned this study we had I really had no idea how large a facility like this might need to be and all the specialized spaces and equipment that it would require. So um in light of the the growth trends both population and um cases um we initially started looking at what a new build might look like. How could we meet that capacity or increase our capacity to meet that need over the 10 20 and 30 year horizons. So we were looking at um you know green field development in that case. But as you can see those are pretty big dollar amounts and that immediately raised concerns uh to us as staff because first of all it's financially difficult. They also don't meet the immediate needs of the department right now. I have a much more a much longer lead time to do that type of development. So when we were presented with this information, we pivoted a little bit with the consultant and asked for a more right-sized day one retrofit fit strategy. So um we were looking for smaller upfront costs, lower barrier to entry essentially um advised time for us to more strategically um plan for that growth um as it comes up. Before you move off from the slide, I had a question about

I appreciate the numbers of the present and then the future future future presented on the right side top um PowerPoint I was wondering about and I couldn't find this information in the report but what was the numbers for you know 2020 that data? Oh. Oh. Okay. So there were so COVID a death by COVID is considered a natural disease and if they had medical history andor diagnosis of COVID they would be required to be signed out by the primary care physician and it would not become jurisdiction of the medical we don't touch natural deaths and disease is considered natural. So you didn't use those statistics because because of the pandemic. Is that what I hear? Because there was a population growth as well.

Oh, we had more cases report to us. They just didn't have more autopsies at the state. So yes, if I reported the number of cases to us instead of being,00 for 2024, it was probably 1,800 for 2023, 2022. But again, because if they're natural, they're not going to go to the state for an autopsy unless something else was going on. That was nefarious. Okay. Just seems like 140 and 24 and 434 and,4 I mean it seems to me those are exponentially going up. So is that because well even um with your population aging that doesn't qualify for you either because it's a natural death. So I don't to me those numbers are a little bit

where's that demand change coming from? So they're 10 years and so it's taking the the consultant did this and so it's taking our current proportion of cases that are autopsied which is 19% and applying that to the population increase that Washington County experiences over year by year and adjusting it for age and they produced those estimates. So is that using the PSU forecast? I don't know. I think they just use census data. I don't know if they used PSU, but essentially they just took the proportions that we had now and applied it to a larger population denominator. Yes. Yeah.

And it's 10 years. So think about how many people we add a year and then which has been declining. I think that's why you're seeing some constrnation. Well, and we're dealing with something that's in the immediate. So we're dealing with 140 and escalating growing up. So we got to deal with the immediate problems which is 140. But then as we get our feet on the ground a little bit we move towards what a 20 30 for today. I'm just saying okay that's somebody falling stuff. So it may or may not be true. We're going to be dealing with 140 people at least. That's last year. It's more this year. It goes up every

I mean the jump I'm just going to say it more directly. the jump from 140 to 400 just based on population statistics and or projected population increases, which if you took just that alone, you know, you're almost you're more than doubling it, almost tripling it in 10 years. And we can tell you that's not going to happen in the county. Um, so if it's because there's a way more people that are older that are then going to be subject to autopsy meeting the criteria, I guess we'd need to understand that too. But something about this doesn't sort of make immediate intuitive sense to us. We can look at just just to like at the big picture.

Sure. Maybe there's an up on the methodology and how that's calculated um and where we're going. sneak peek is we're really going to present you with an immediate need solution today. So all of these comments and questions are fantastic and I think they really get at kind of that longer term planning and for today we'll be wrapping up with kind of more your direction on short-term needs. So then I wasn't going to ask this till the end but it's kind of pertinent to our conversation is why is the transport company not profitable? Are we not is there a fixed amount?

I would love okay how let's talk about this. So companies that deal with biohazard rarely make it. Like biohazard companies turn over every year. It's really hard. You know, the family is like, "Well, who do we talk to?" And it's like, "We don't do cleanup. Just Google and see who's left." So with there only being one service provider even then, and they transported from M, Clakmus, and us, they still were not able to make a profit. They they're they were charging us, I think, $250 to transport from anywhere in Washington County to the state for an autopsy. And that's very uh that's that's standard. That's not an obnoxious price at all. It's very very reasonable. But they couldn't. Apparently, the owner said they had five years to make a profit and if they didn't make a profit, they had to shut down. And we just found out that they didn't make

He needs a good accountant. Yeah. And that was um 250 is too cheap. I thought some people I'm like 250 then you go 500 is there's no legislative cap on this. You you do what you have to do to make money. Yeah, that's private enterprise rule one. So anyway, it just seems funny to me that there's an opportunity here for some entrepreneur. Yes, there is. Uh I don't know what license you can burn your car education. There's a lot of training, biohazard training. Yeah, I would imagine there's a lot of upfront costs and things like that. Again, it's just to me there's there's opportunity here and I'm surprised that

this isn't their own line of business though, right? I mean, that they're they're in more the bigger picture biohazard cleanup business. No, they actually they were only doing this. They were but they had all three counties like they solely had this. So, they didn't have a market. Yeah. And the other company that I'm talking about now, the one that's left, did the transfer for funeral homes, not for government. So that's what we're left with. So they're going to get hit real hard with a lot of I mean the whole we're all trying to figure out how do we how do we fix this? So

and um just to add commissioners, this was information as Dr. EP stated it was recent. So this actually came to us as when we'd already booked this presentation to prepare and show you the findings from the study. So this was kind of a last minute like oh we need to address this company didn't exactly the contracts not deal with advanced notification of shutdown. Well, our contract with them expires June 30th and we went to renew it because it's time and they're like, "Oh, yeah, by the way." Okay, next contract we have to have at least six month closure notice. That'd be nice. Yeah.

Holy. Okay, got it.

I appreciated the comments about the the census numbers and when I first looked at it, I thought the same thing. looks pretty large. You know, these numbers look pretty large. Um, but they use the most recent census data available. So, as things have changed the last couple of years, that may have not have reflected what we've experienced lately. Um, that said, I think that sort of bolsters pivot to exploring our retrofit solutions and uh, you know, starting out with a smaller model up first. So really looking at a reduced scope to meet the immediate needs. Um and that really safeguards the existing services by providing what we've been talking about so far. A lot of this is recap but secure deedent intake and release cooler capacity to meet operating needs. Reliable access to a dedicated exam room. We have no county controlled exam room at present. um space for documentation and imaging support um public support areas when families come.

Does this 500,000 square feet you've got here proposed meet that criteria? It does. We worked with the architect in conjunction with um uh Crime Lab Design who are specialists in this area to really lay out the needs at two different locations which we'll get into next. And um as a day one operation, it does meet those needs. Um so there's the transport of bodies and then the cooler capacity. Can you buy coolers off the market service or are they all custom built?

That is an awesome question. Sorry. Right. Manufacturing may have pre-ordered like you know all kinds of other equipment for marketplace. You don't order a year and a half in advance but um are you going to have to build in place or can So we exhausted every possible cold storage option before we came to this. The state medical examiner's office has two semi-truckss for mass fatalities. uh they do not use them because of rodent infestation, right? We've heard about that before.

I covered that in oneonone briefings. We can buy a standalone cooler and we looked at that. We have nowhere to put the cooler. Uh no building like it has to go in something that has the plumbing for biohazard. Uh so that was not costefficient at all. It basically put us right back into the same thing. We've got to have somewhere where to put it because you can't just like we couldn't just put a cooler in this room and store here. We have to have two layers of security like like it has to be so locked down. Building off of Evergreen. Which one?

There's USDA building off of Ever West Road. before you get to on the north side or south side. On the south is that west side. You're coming in just like my wife gives you. It's okay. So anyway, okay. It's just because we don't want any special public visibility of transporting like Yeah. It needs to be his private person.

I'd like to make a comment about that too. I think if we're going to be taking on the responsibility of transport as well, you mentioned we we have a truck. I guess I have had a personal experience with an accident scene where somebody was died and that there's a level of dignity and respect that has to be applied in that transport process as well because frequently family are present and I just of the public. Yeah. I just want to thank you that and our current transport company is absolutely outstanding like completely respectful. We vet them so hard because all it takes

we do this that my my request is that we have that same level. Oh yeah, we always have. Um but after June 30th we'll see. That's an interesting job description, right? Yes. Okay. Can I get a reminder? Uh because you have this in other areas for a 247 shift. How many people are is four? It's a little unique. It's different.

Yeah. So to cover 247 I think you need I forgot what the mathematical it's like 5.73 people or something. Okay. So yeah our bench depth is one. So when that investigator is transporting everybody's got to wait which is why we don't transport. We use another company so people don't have to.

Thank you. I'm sorry I cut you off. There I am touching apologology. That's okay. You um I don't know. I'll come back to it. Uh I I got Oh, I know. It was going to be again. We're just spitballing options and we probably should wait for you to finish this. So, why don't I do that then you I'll get my

Yes, sir. So continuing on to the retrofit solutions, we and facilities identified two potentially suitable sites for um such an operation. So we evaluated service center east and the planton campus fire station facilities doesn't have a lot of unused space. In fact, many of our different departments are pretty space constrained. Um, we looked at things like, uh, access, central, uh, central locations, um, land use, things of that nature, just to, uh, find reasonable places that might accommodate this need. So, we looked at secure transport access at these two sites. We looked at um secure transport access, discrete circulation, um mechanical feasibility was a big one, land use compatibility, sallyport potential for privacy reasons, and long-term operational flexibility. Could they potentially meet the need of f, you know, for the future as the need grows? Um, and both of these had some um positives. Uh but ultimately it ended up being Blandon that sort of came forward as the the best case scenario uh for several reasons. Um in particular privacy concerns with neighboring u uses is a big one. The Sallyport became a a really big feature w with the fire station. And there's huge rollup doors for the uh for the fire trucks which could be retrofitted into a a private entry uh for uh for that.

I have no idea what a teleport is. So when you back up like it's a private entrance that you like back a truck into and unload directly from the truck under a enclosed area. jail. It's where you drive someone in custody into a secure area. Yeah. Then enclosed before they go. And same concept. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Thank you very much. I just didn't know. Yeah. That's what Okay. There's one in the old jail across the street as well for um adults in custody. Yeah. Okay.

As I mentioned previously, the the ventilation constraints was one of the biggest drivers. Um the Plenum Heights at Service Center East are so low that it would take some really special accommodations to get that 247 ventilation system in there. And that was another um huge advantage for uh in the evaluation of the Bllandon Fire Station because of those super tall ceilings.

I have one last question. Uh that I found that very uh that was one thing that surprised me. The Baton I not well actually both both I would say but more so the plant the Bllandon campus fire station because when I think about the medical examiner I sort of think about commercial or accessibility to freeways and things like that, right? like for transport purpose. Yeah. And this is a sort of a residential neighborhood. So, it's a bit of a

but it's the cheapest because we've got it's got the double security already built in like a lot of the expensive stuff that we need because law enforcement was there because fire is there. It's already built. So, it just ended up being also in the center of the county. Yeah. Which piece of the property are you talking about? of the Bllandon campus. There's the main administration building which is on BL. It's not that. There is an actual fire station on the U. Is it 209? I'm sorry. Fire station. That's the part we used to lease the DF.

I just wanted to make sure we're all clear. That's all. Okay. Um, so do we do we have any covenants on that fire station portion with the bond? Excellent. Thank you. You did read ahead. Oh, I remember from our prior we've had this conversation. Yes.

For other reasons. We do currently have a TVFR lease on the property and that ends in June of 2027. We've already had conversations with Twice and TVFNR on this topic. We've alerted them that, hey, we're evaluating this property for another potential use. We know that you are um in the permitting process for your new fire station on 185th. um we please keep us informed as to the progress of that. So um conversations are ongoing in that regard for Blandon Fire Station. Also uh we've been in conversation with our um county council as well on if this use does align with the bond use restrictions and so far it sounds as though this is perfectly aligned with that use. Um as Dr. rep mentioned earlier, medical examiners are first responders. She describes it them as being the last first responders, which I think is really, um, you know, important distinction. So, um, in terms of the the bond requirements, the language speaks directly to use by first responders, and I think that aligns with other uses we've had there as well, such as, um, AMR for emergency um, dispatch. Um, so we also believe uh, Blandon does solve their immediate needs within the space that's there. Um, it has the uh the bays that increase, you know, have the high ceiling height for the actual medical examination rooms, but it also has areas for support staff that that could be retrofitted for office space

and uh public lobby, those sorts of things as well. But uh in doing or in evaluating these from a short-term perspective, it also allows us to come back to you for um strategic planning and decision- making as we continue to evaluate the population growth, look at the case load numbers and also the financing that would need to be reviewed as the need increases as well. before you move on another slide.

So, um I realized while you were going over slide 11 that I was having a little difficulty distinguishing slide 10 from slide 11. So, I know there's the transportation problem that

given that TBFNR is building station and therefore won't be vacating it for over another year, possibly 18 plus months. Um, I don't understand the proposal on slide 10. I how do we So, how do we function? I don't know if the state the way you've been functioning thus far during calendar year 2026. I don't know if you continue to operate that way transport aside for a little while longer or if I need to be thinking some date like July 1. That's this slide. So I'm confused. Okay, speak to current operations.

So, current operations, we're hanging on by the seat of our pants. Uh, we are trying to execute the contract with the local funeral home. So, we have that guaranteed. They're going to hold one exam table for us and they have some storage and if they're not fully using their storage, they said we could do that. Uh, but that's what we're working with right now. Okay. So can I say this maybe a different way? We we are in a period of uncertainty and uncomfortableness with this service.

From my my seat, I have been in that feeling of uncertainty and uncomfortableness for probably about nine months or so before we had that contract in place with the funeral home. I mean I so I continue to be in that uncomfortableness. We are bringing forward a proposal to continue to explore the Bllandon to help get us out of a phase of uncomfortable. But I just want to openly there is no shortterm fix to this. But we're getting to a point of solutions and we needed to go through this thorough assessment and guess what? The transport happened along the way. That was a surprise and that's not our problem that we can solve today in this room. staff will follow up and I have full confidence in the staff team of potential problem solving or options. I'm not we don't know what they are yet, but we'll continue to work that through. So, if you're if you leave this conversation feeling a bit uncomfortable um and that there's not I think that's fair. So, I don't know if that's helpful or not helpful. I I I thank you for continuing to be uncomfortable. I haven't been necessarily uncomfortable because there's been a plan. But the message that I'm getting today is my word. It's not just uncomfortable. We're hanging on. Just hanging on. So to me, since there's no certainty yet,

there's a crisis. I'm going to hang on to that word for another minute.

Um because from what I'm feeling today, not wanting to kick the can down the road to the next board. Um because I don't envy the situation I know they're already going to be in. There is a current lease with TBFNR. We have to tell them you have to be out of there at the end of this week. We can't extend it. The situation has changed. And therefore, for me, in this way I'm describing it right now, there's date certainty that as of July 1, 2027, county construction demolition happens. So that this the team knows kind of date certain that this situation will be changed because as a board member we've been in this juncture before where we can only go so long telling employees it's going to get better it's going to get better right we've been doing this so that's where I'm at at the moment so I would love to just comfortable. But right now, I'm I'm feeling in crisis and ready to take the roll by the board, which I'm really good at, but I'm not going to.

And and chair, I am saying that um uncomfortable to keep us all measured. Yeah. If that's fair, I mean, because honestly, if I the employees Well, yes. And responsibility. There is fiscal responsibility. and I could p bring forward multiple other service areas with issues too. So that is why we need to be um measured in this and and thoughtful and sequential. I mean what I'm getting out of this whole discussion is we have a workable plan right now that is very tenuous. Yes.

And sort of we can't control our own destiny. what you're putting forward is a plan that, you know, sounds like by June of next year, we might be moving towards controlling more of our own destiny and being less reliant and less fragile of a system. And that's as fast as you think we could move. And I guess I don't even know if we can really be Can we really be constructing in July of next year? I don't know if that's practical. Great. But I don't want to, you know, tell LTVNR they have to be out in June if we can't practically be acting at that point.

That it takes it takes more than a year to build a fire station. They haven't started yet. Then June 3027 is not feasible unless you're going to put them out on the street, which we can't do.

Well, I think this is a great segue actually to the next slide. Um, and Brian can touch on or actually have two slides. There we go. Sure. Um, we've been bringing in this chart to for a lot of our projects just to kind of remind ourselves where we are and help people uh understand where we're at, not just for you, but for the general public as well. Um, we really we've gone through defining the problem. Uh, we've in this phase, phase two, we're trying to find solutions to that problem. the um the transport issue. It was a recent more recent problem than what we were studying at this time. So that's one of the way one of the things that we could not include in this um study because it was unknown. But what we're asking for this particular site is to if you would approve or if you would approve of our um interest in the site to study it more for this use. Um that would include refining our preliminary plans, programming, refining our cost estimates before we come back to you again um before we create a project. So um I understand there's more immediate needs that we we need to resolve. We have a good relationship with TVFR. They're they're aware of our interest in the site. Um, I believe Greg Wyman may have spoken with Chief Weiss about this in the past that there's an urgent need for this. Um, there may be opportunities to work creatively with them um on that issue. Whether that's moving, if they're able, moving their capacity, their fire capacity to the neighboring stations, things of that nature, we don't know yet. Those are things we need to explore.

Where are we at on this chart? Are we pre one or are we in one, two? We are in two and we're asking to move into phase three. It just seems to me that I'm perfectly fine with approving the moving into phase three, but it seems to me the most immediate problem is transport. So, this is this is nice. We can work on this for the just please for a second for the next year.

But what would it take to go back to the current transport company and say how do we make you profitable because we absolutely need a transport company and we don't have that. There's none of this conversation is transport. So we haven't solved the immediate problem of that. And aren't the other two counties in the same position? Yeah. So, yeah. Why can't we why can't we make some sort of a proposal to this company that is already doing it? Would have implied something not. So, we'll take that back to the team as one of the options. Sorry.

I don't even know how you got there. But anyway, it just seems to me like we've got a company that's already in place. Make them profitable for a year at least. the team will take that back as an option and we will follow up and schedule an update with your board specifically on transport given the level of concern. We are not really we what I'm would ask for today continue to bring your questions but let's focus on the next steps on this facility um and get that direction which is going into um phase 2 three and I also want to just remind us all of the budget direction that you gave the sheet where I said unfunded needs there is no funding for this set aside. There is no funding in the proposed budget for this. So this is a problem that we not only have to sign figure out from design and construction, it's also a financial problem too. So I'm just putting that on the table and now adding the conversation of transport into that and what problem that is. So I just we can follow up at another board meeting for with transport specifically.

So with regard to your next steps um because this was a really great meeting for me to better understand the requirements of the medical examiner office. The uh support the community the basic mechanics you know I wrote it down but there's a flowchart begging um because we need to start being involved with educating city councils mayors community members because this is a hidden aspect of county government and we have to educate our legislators Um, I've lived here for 36 years and it's only because of being a commissioner and learning uh through co and beyond about responsibilities. Uh, that's

I think the Blandon plan makes a lot of sense for the reasons you guys have described. We'll have to figure out the funding part I assume. Yep. as it gets scoped, correct, the cost part will start to become more clear and the there will be sorry. Uh so I I just I want to say that certainly the transport thing has got to get worked out. That's an operational issue. Um there may be lots of ideas and opportunities uh with

I'm really comfortable with moving from two to three and I apprec I appreciate the the background information. I also want to state that I have confidence in our facilities management group as a whole. We have faced other emergency situations maybe a little different in nature whether it's the HVAC system at the jail or whatever it might be and I trust that that our group comes forward with the best options available to us. So I know that I'm not the facilities expert in relationship to Bllandon East or whatever it might be. You are and that's that's what that's what I will depend on. I do support the concept of a communication plan as we move forward especially with all of our partners here and I understand the separate nature of the transport issue that is separate from the the constraints that we need to be addressing. So thank you thank you for this.

I want to hear from the new person at the table. Uh good afternoon um Chair Harrington and commissioners. For the record my name is uh Dr. Marie Bowman Davis. I'm the public health division manager. Um I joined the table today just to uh reassure your board and the public that in absence of a contract for transport as Dr. Rep shared earlier our team our staff does the transport Washington County will not be without service. So, I just wanted to reassure your board um and the public that may be slow continue to offer service as Dr. Rep has shared and so um thank you.

Don't you have a have to have a special vehicle to do this? We we have the vehicle. We have transported before and we can transport again. Um and as an interim solution, we will uh remain compliant. We will ensure Washington County is compliant with our obligations as Dr. rep outlined earlier.

Thank you for reinforcement that I can way in. Um, one of the thing you said was how slow the like how it slows down law enforcement because of the transport issue. And I can tell you that uh there's been a recent death in the community that I attended and it took all day until in the I think um early nighttime to be picked up and the person passed away early morning. Uh so I I can I can testify to to the truth nets of of um of that. if the private industry takes that long, I can't imagine a stretch of a government or on a string budget. So that's the point that I was um trying to relay that I seen it firsthand your the challenge that you brought to life. You know, I I read the feasibility uh report um and I will be honest with you uh that uh it was a big jump for me to get to Bllandon. Uh not that I don't um I appreciate the level of uh work that went into the report and the mass that you shared. Um but as big as our county and knowing the facility index that we have that report um I didn't see um due diligence on like laying out the number of facilities that are optionable different scenarios of multiple sites that it was and then I don't also see an explanation of the residential part because that will be um and I also was hoping more of this discussion around the community engagement side of it because there's a

lot happening on 209th uh we're about to place uh pod villages um uh so I think uh we refer they're different areas um but it's a heavily residential area uh but then heavy activity around the county happening So for me that was the part that I couldn't um so uh I couldn't get to blatant be the recommendation that I put forth. I would have liked to see so from with that I would like to see different scenar options of multiple options to sort of do our due diligence and say okay here's why this is the best option you know is it the easiest option right in front of us or is it the the right you know what are the other options that will be out so that the community knows that

you know service center east were there other serious seriously viable options. I mean, just inspected every cap building we own. They spent weeks and weeks and weeks looking for properties uh that they could buy for that had the proper zoning. I mean, months and months and months of work went into that before they we even got this for a second. This isn't a residential area. Yes, it is. Across the street from and right behind it and to the side to the site. Have you been there? I've been there once. Please let me finish. I I'm just correcting your terminology.

No, this is not this site that it's on is not a residential site. There is residential to the south on Bllandon across the street from Blandon. It's not the the fire admin building. over here on 209 which is a major collector which is off of a principal artery.

There is South Hillsboro over here that is separated from an arterial which is 209. So it's not a residential street. We're not talking about putting or taking a fire station that's in the middle of a residential community. We've got an Intel campus over here going over here, a pump station for water. I can't remember if it's EWD or JWC. So, there is industrial use all along here. So to say this is all residential, that's why I want in followup, we're going to need a good map. And I don't mean a site map. I mean the larger context because I'm not satisfied with hearing this information from this discussion.

This pretty quiet activity. What's BL? Very loud. Institutional. What's the zoned institutional? Zon institutional. And um on the corner of Blandon and 209th is a a PGE site, electrical um transfer station facility. Um to the north on 209th is some industrial uses, no residential there. And then to the backside is the the plant administration building. I've been traveling and then further eastel right

so um I guess my question to that would be uh your point Jason that you just made um this is a business that we don't come in sirens blaring and lights on we don't make a bunch of noise we don't create a bunch of odor. Uh this is just like well better not there's no ventilation. Well, that's what I'm saying. We we're gonna retrofit it to facilitate that. But with any rate, this particular business could function without anyone ever knowing what is there. That's the goal.

Okay. So, and we're not going to put a big sign up for front telling everybody what it is. So I'm not concerned about the residential or about the community other than we're just telling the community we're taking care of what was statemandated to us. It's also a community service. I just don't want to lose track of that. Right. And if we and certainly we expect to do it right

fire station was the fire train. still long answer to that but yes I'm in support of moving ahead but I think the largest area you have is TV or vacating by June 30 or as soon as we can reasonably act on our

so um thank you very much for that clarification Dr. Bowman. Um, so, um, as I talked about communication plan earlier, I'm not talking about countywide in terms of what we're planning yet because we don't have those plans yet. I am talking about, as I said before, the service of the county, correct? And that's where we need to get working on. Uh, I am in agreement with the majority of what I've heard from commission about moving to phase three. Um, I do appreciate, Miss Angie, uh, how you've, uh, gotten me back to the measured um, you know, tenuous, workable plan. Um, I was in this meeting quite panicked about where we are because I'm the kind of person I like for and that job before I finish as opposed to just wearing myself out before the finish line. And I recognize that there's a lot of stress and strain on this team just as there are on other parts of the organization. But I hear you being very judicious about how you're going about this so that we are meeting the immediate needs, the shorter terms and the longer terms. And that's what we as a governing board need to do. uh you've raised the appropriate flags at the appropriate times to let us know

where we've been. Uh as because with your tenure and three of us know this very well having inherited what in my words felt like a very good friend and getting us to I'm not going to remember the phrase comprehensively fac Yeah, managed care. There you go. Um, and we're working towards that and I look forward to the next board and beyond being able to continue on that continuous improvement. So you've got a majority of us that are very comfortable with proceeding to uh phase three and we continue to trust in your expertise and think that good work has been been done uh on this assessment and we want to keep going

for now. We're we're moving on to phase three. Um, so that's the next. So how about this? I think we need a resolution to memorialize that this board has signaled comfort with your analysis for uh as you've gone over here with the um exploring the retrofit solution and moving forward with phase three on Banton Fire Station. can be resented if a new board decided it to you can try selling that.

I'm not saying I'm gonna try. I'm just saying that's the options. So, we will move forward with putting an um an item on board consent agenda for action. Staff will move forward. I will be removing it. So it might be best to put it in an action item so that individuals vote on it rather than the consent agenda. That's fine. Okay. That

so we're upon board action we will move forward into phase three for Blandon. Um and then um as as we move forward and I'll work with staff um in the creation of that um that resolution to determine if we can also highlight what the next touch points

the other three members weigh in on um the the resolution before it gets into the moves on to an action item. Jerry, Pam, and Dick. So staff will prepare the resolution in order just as the board has opportunity in the board um agenda check-in. Board members can make any comments or changes during that. But best practice here is the culture here is you get a thumbs up from three members for you to do work, right? I already have a thumbs up from four. We have no the resolution. I'm saying

that's memorializing the same. That's all the resolution does is memorialize our direction for the work. I I'm just for culture purposes for best practices. I'm good with that. Good.

Okay. So once again preparing the RNL. We will do that relatively quickly on that. I will also work with staff to see if we can identify when the next touch points. that RNO is only going to be focused on the building, the facility portion. It will not be focused on transport. Staff will separately work on the best next step to follow up with your board given the concerns on on transport. So, more to come on that after uh Marne and I meet with the team.

Great. So, commissioners, thank you very much. Thank you. appreciate it. Uh we usually take a break somewhere after 2:30. Um we have the schedule to go through and this will be the place to ask any and all questions on your schedule before we have to move on in a business meeting and then we have the quarterly management report. Would you like to take a break now or after one of break please? Okay. So, we'll reconvene at 2:30. Thank you.

All right, welcome back commissioners. Thank you. We are back in work session after a break and we are picking up with our proposed fiscal year 2627 Washington County fee schedule. Mr. Styer, take it away. Good afternoon. I'm John Sty. I'm the chief financial officer for the record. Um Stephanie, I'm talk about the fee schedule for fiscal year 267. Um normally we have with me our budget analyst who done all the great work on this schedule working with the staff. Normally we have what? Chris Chris Weber who is our budget analyst. Thank you. I'm sorry. Has done all the great work putting this together.

Um he was not able to be here today. I'm gonna do my best to walk through the feed schedule the changes this year and some of that are I got questions for you. Thanks. Oh no, it's exciting. You mind answer. So we're going to just do the overview of you the process um highlight the changes and then the two policy questions.

This is our process. Each year we follow the same countywide schedule. In November, finance distributes workbook folks to departments and gives training. Departments review their fees November through January, including a meeting with county council as needed. Certain fees, all proposed updates and supporting documentations are due by January 30th, which helps us make sure that gets aligned into the budget. And then we compile and analyze those changes and bring the full proposed fee schedule to you by May and adopt the plan before June 16th along with our budget process. Um the idea is to have a be compliant have transparency in what we do and also enough time for departments to complete the meaningful review of the fees. Departments are required to review at least 20% of their fees each year and complete the review template that we provide for any fee increasing more than the WCPI the CPI customer price index inflation factors which was 3% at the time of our training this year. The departments also compare fees with other adjacent counties. So, Black Lamus County to help make sure we're aligned regionally. And this year, we tried to work to improve our analysis of requirements, adding columns in our our workbook as to whether or not each fee is full cost recovery or partial, why the fee is partial. Cost recovery, for example, it's capped by a statute or cost recovery would create affordability barriers. service that has a public benefit or component trash now that might have for having less than full cost recovery. Um also identify was last reviewed and estimated revenue for the coming year. We hope to continue to improve this data collection analysis as we go along to help us all make informed decisions.

For total number of fees, there are 1,290 fees individual lines and these are actual rows in the fee schedule. Here we had 1318. So it's relatively flat um based up or down on the number of fees that we have. But about 50% of the fees um are changing in some way this year. That includes increases, decreases, new fees, removals, and some wording updates. So most of the fee activity comes from land use and transportation and public health which together accounts for roughly twothirds of all individual fees. These programs are large, heavily regulated and have many specialized services. So they naturally have complex fee structure. So, I wonder what's changed in the last year. In the packet, there'll be a summary of some specific line items. I'll walk through many of those in the presentation today. There are 656 line changes, so 50% of all fees. Of the 633 fee increases, most are due to inflationary factors. There are three three fee decreases. One is for private case management calculated via aging case management fee formula and it meets cost recovery. One is related to ordinance 878 which deals with the public health strategy um helping to educate on uh inspect and enforce ordinance 878. And then there's one for pools and spas late license renewal fee that was decreased 18 had warning changes. Um, examples of that might be audiovisisual tape duplication. Previous had audio, didn't have video, individual notice of land ordinance hearing, corrected formatting to make sure the name were clear. Those

happen in reporting changes. There were two fee lines that change structure. One was in parks which removed a disc golf tournament fee and included as part of a non-admission community organization fee. Then the facilities electronic charging to kilowatt hour was changed from a previous rate of 0.14 to a kilowatt hour which is more in line with industry standards. And then we have 23 new fees added 11 of those from Westside Commons things like wingspan lawn space inventory equipment rental chairs tables audiovisisual items. We also had um was an assessment and taxation an appraisal industrial property fee a late filing fee was which is required by statute was added and then justice court the forcible entry detainer fee trial fee $75 and a notice of suspension fee which is added to traffic violations when a driver's license is suspended due to failure to appear. This is not new but the um fees scheduled all now for transparency and there were over 30 fees that were removed. Um either services are obsolete or they merged into others or no longer offered but the vast majority of these increasing reflect cost recovery or inflationary adjustments. Fe decreases reflect updated staffing or program information. And then total fees generate about $46.7 million for the county. Uh and that's total revenue. That's about 2% of our total revenue sources. As far as the general fund of that revenue about 4.6 million goes in general funds about 10% of that is general fund and the other is special funds.

Move into department highlights. Start with assessment and taxation. So that there's an increase to the marriage license fee because of a legislative change in Senate Bill 97A. Um it allows additional fee to marriage licenses. The legislature allows for additional $25 to support consiliation programs and you'll see this in our budget uh proposal this week as we talk about the programs. There were several A and assessment and taxation fees also increased to to maintain full cost recovery. for example, imaging project labor, custom reporting, and manufactured structured tax certifications. Uh the rate increases for inflation. These include programs like recording research fee, ctography services, special assessment, bill tax role, or calculations for estimates of deferred taxes. Under county council, we adjusted hourly rates slightly to reflect the fully loaded staffing cost. and elections has no key changes this year.

John, can I ask you a favor? Yes. Um, when you're going through this, I I try to I appreciate what you said about the 11 new that are from the Wingspan. Yes. Out of the 24 new fees, could you point out the other 11 as you go through? When I was doing my own homework, I couldn't figure it out. Okay. As far as new ones, like which ones are new? Just call it out if they're on this slide. Well, there's 12 in assessment and taxation.

There's 12 increases. I can pull together the list. Anything that's new? Yeah. Yeah. Many of them like the 11 that are in West. I saw that. Yeah, that was called out. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. The other ones I couldn't figure out. So are you going to start back on general government?

Um what's the next one? So we were just on assessment and taxation, county council and elections and moving on to animal services. Animal Services doesn't propose any does not promote propose any new changes because their fees were updated last year. The disability aging and veteran services adjust to counseling and case management fees based on updated hourly staff costs. One increases and one decreases. The Mercy Medical has a mix of consumer price index based increases and full cost recovery adjustments including for ambulance and wheelchair transport licensing, replacement licenses, and training classes. Note, the medical direction fee listed here has never been charged and is only in place as a temporary measure in the event that a fire district loses its medical director and needs to leverage the county's contract.

What is the license for? Is it for emergency medical services? Yes. For AMR, for example, or you're asking about the medical direction fee? No, I'm asking which No, I was asking about the license fee right above it. Replacement license fee increases and license amendment fee per vehicle. Is it per vehicle? I think so. I would have to look at the list. Yes.

Right on to public health.

New fees. So public health has the largest set of updates. About 70% of fee change fees changed. Many of these are environmental health fees tied to restaurant inspections, food service operations, pool and tourist facilities and subservice sewage permits. Several areas see across the board increases. 7% for restaurants, 5% for food service operations in schools and child care facilities, 9% for pool tourist facilities, and 12% for septic related permits. All are based on full cost recovery. Public health also adds three compliance recovery fees. Annual report evaluation violation, alternative system inspection violation, and septic work without permits. And these are capped by the state. The tobacco retail license fee is removed as it's no longer needed. And there was one decrease and that's the cost for public health strategy ordinance 878. Uh services is reduced after recalculate labor and supply cost of staff time and supplies to educate, provide inspections, and enforce the ordinance.

Who's who's paying that fee? I think this goes down to retailers when they go and do inspections.

They can still sell tobacco products. They just can't sell flavored tobacco products. We know land use and transportation is our largest desorted area and they continue their multi-year approach aimed at maintaining full cost recovery and avoiding the large one-time increases that we implemented in 2324. Uh this year most building and current planning fees increased by 3%. that reflects changes in staffing, materials and services, fleet cost and indirect program cost. There were 565 fees with changes to approximately 65% of the fees. Um there are no fee changes proposed by community transportation planning county surveyor road fund and engineering or the road fund operations. The building services development review current planning. Most fees increased for full cost recovery to maintain minimal uh staffing needed to meet service level timelines and avoid large catchup fees increased uh for feed supported programs. This 3% increase is following uh the 50% onetime catchup on most of the fees in 2324. Um If you recall, there was a resolution in order to implement an annual fee indexing structure based on ongoing cost increases. So many of the fees increased 8.5% in 24.5 and then another 8.5% in 25 26. All right. or development review. Current planning,

there are 216 fees. Most had increase of 3%. Current planning adds four new fees for application types that weren't previously captured like agricultural dwelling type one and marginal lands application and final approvals for special use applications. They also removed a small number of obsolete fees tied to transportation reports and an agricultural dwelling final approval step that no longer exists for building services fees most increase of 3%. Examples of these fees are building permit fees, hourly fees for electrical, plumbing and mechanical, temporary certificate, certificate of occupation, demolition permit, plumbing permits, residential fire suppression system permits. I think overall the theme for LUT is stability. It's just keeping up with cost while holding your direction to maintain predictable and incremental fees. on the Westside Commons. Most of the fees increase between five and 8% depending on the type of space or equipment. These adjustments reflect increases in personnel cost, utilities, and cost allocation plan, especially uh for the wingspan facility. In addition to increases, several fee structures are adjusted. Clover Leaf removes hourly rentals. Friendship Square simplifies its rental tiers into a single rate. Other space fees increase and there's a new rental option for the wingspan lawn. Parking lots, RV parking increases 5%.

And several equipment items and audio visual systems are now charged separately instead of being bundled. The Wingspan lawn, it's the fairgrounds lawn. Actually, the Wingspan lawn is I believe the part right behind the building there's a section there's a strip in there that they use uh for uh vendors and exhibits and stuff like that I think um and so and it's tied to the wings yeah it's tied to the wings tied to wings relative to the building's parking lot the two street it's right here

oh okay thank makes sense to me. Yeah, perfect sense. Lastly, on the the Westside Com, the water connection fee, um they haven't been charging for this, but there are other venues that do and so cost is similar to what another venue or rental companies would charge. then noted some fees are kept below full cost recovery to maintain competitive rates with others for Washington County Cooperative Library Services proposal.

Can you I'm sorry John I was Can you go back to the wingspan? Um what's our comparative there which part? Well, I'm just over our overall pricing because what I generally hear is wingspan is expensive and so now we're raising fees or and some of them are room charges that no longer have AV and there's a water connection in there and there's just a lot of things. Who we comparing oursel to? That's a great question. I have to get back. Yeah, I was going to be so impressed if John knew that, but I didn't expect him to know that.

I know they are looking at competitive. So,

um, so we'll follow up as the with that question as a followup. And just a reminder for uh for the board and members of the public who may be viewing this. Um, this is an enterprise fund. We are unlike other small market convention centers that have an off supporting ha another source of taxes supporting the operations. And so in some cases our fees are going to be higher because we don't have that um other offset. But we'll provide you that followup who our comparators are um and the work that's goes into developing the fees. And I'm sure over time as we work more closely with explore twin valley on things we're probably going to get back.

So we we have consistently received feedback. I will say um and I don't want to say I will call it qualitative feedback than quantitative because it hasn't been through surveys um but um feedback from um nonprofits um wanting to have free or reduced rent um at the facility um concerns um from some entities wanting a full I'll call it carrying cost for example of renting the trade show hall which um it is customary for venues to have separate costs for um AB etc. So there's been partial there's partially education on how these facilities run and the types of charges, partial um desire to just have free charge too. Um because what happens many times is when someone does want a free charge or no cost, they're contacting commissioners or myself to have those fees waved, which we don't fe we don't wave fees even for county events

and that and then also convinces them when I say we pay fully.

Yes. Without any discount. Right. So just if anyone listening, the county any county department pays full rate and then um there is that market um comparison. So we'll I know we're um scheduled to come back with um an update on uh wingspan um later this year and so we'll make sure to include this but in the meantime we'll provide a written update just on the comparable. Speaking of that, one of Speaking of that, um, one of the thing I I think, um, recalling some information in my head about the Wingspan, um, did we ever expanded the the option for vendor food for community- based organ like the community who are renting the space because I think the push has been like to push community like based organizations and businesses out there to utilize it, but the feedback has been like it's hard to get culturally specific vendors into it. Did we ever address that option?

We we have culturally specific food vendors that are pre-approved in the space. And I have not heard that concern now in several

years. Thank you for that question. Well, the libraries proposed one one change raising the non-resident library card fee from $140 to $195. This fee hasn't changed in 10 years and it's increase the lines lines up with the increase in the levy revenue and the fees that the neighboring neighboring library systems. It also helps ensure non-residents contribute proportionally to the cost of service they receive. The current fee is under $40. Last time it was increased plus 10 years ago. The levy rate increased from 17 to 22 cents at that time. Our partner libraries issue non-resident cards and collect the associated fees.

This is a onetime fee or a annual fee? Annual fee.

There are 80 cards that are issued um in 2425. Not a big uh amount. There are people that use the service. Um for neighboring library systems, Multma County charges 180 and Clackamus charges 95. So there's some comparison there. On to parks. So parking fees at Hag Lake increased for the first time since 2016. $7 to $10 a day for day use and comparable increases for seniors, veterans, and season passes. Annual parking passes increase $5. And reservable area fees, picnic area rental fees also increase $15. Cover picnic areas, reservations increase $25. I mentioned before, the disc golf tournament fee is being consolidated into existing special use fee structure, which simplifies the schedule and makes it easier to administer. These adjustments support park's long-term financial goals since the park has transferred transitioned into an enterprise fund. The goal is to build an adequate fund balance plus set aside funds for the launch of the upcoming campground at Hag Lake. uh and increasing parking fees generates revenues to help achieve both of those goals. Mets Park is revising its weekend rental structure for the weekend Friday through Sunday half-day rental option wasn't cost-ffective and is recommended to be removed. There's now an eight hour minimum rental for weekends, a $400 full day for um LI residents and $600 for non L residents.

The facility is rented uh rentable by the hour Monday through Thursday for $35 per two-hour minimum. And then under capabilities there are 18 fees primarily consisting of Washington County grounds use fees. There are some wording changes. For example, the general conference use fee clarifies external user fee responsibilities for room arrangements, cleaning and trash disposal and a state court attorney access request fee to noting applications of renewal but by attorneys. A question. Yes.

So on Mezer Park, what time staff investment is required for the rental option facility? That would seem to me like they file an application, we want to use it for this day, for this purpose. We don't have to go out there and set anything up. They do it right. Yeah, we have to let them in. We let them in the open afterwards, right? Do we? The building is not open. Okay. I guess I'm sorry. I didn't realize

there's a structure. There's a building that's there. I I feel like we are we are adding insult to injury there when we have just doubled their fees and now we're increasing the fee to use a facility that they we've just doubled their fees to use. I don't know. It just seems like we're piling on a bit there.

So So I can appreciate that. I would maybe look at it at as an inverse way. those residents within the LI that are using that hall are paying for the use of that hall, reducing the assessment burden on the other residents the LI or taxpayers within the LI who choose not to use that hall and pay their assessment. So those who are um taking a higher use of the park are paying an additional fee. And this is a way to capture non-resident non-resident fees.

Well, if they're not member of the LI, can they use the facility? It costs more. So they're paying the increased rate which benefit the taxpayers within the LI. I can understand that one. I don't think it's the time for the conversation, but I think longer term we got to figure something more out on me park. I would agree with you. Not the moment. Okay. Agree. I'm clear. Half day is removed. Only option is $400 for the week on the weekends only. Weekend. Yeah. Friday to Sunday. include holidays.

Yeah, good question. Well, include holidays. Holidays are Mondays. Check. It might just be a calendar day, but I check on holidays. For public safety and justice, the sheriff's office increases its pass through foreclosure deposit and adjust hourly uniform security delivery rates based on costs. The rest of their changes are wording updates. The DA's office are increases in several discovery fees to keep pace with staffing costs. They also remove a fee tied to child support because that function has moved back to the state. And then juvenile consiliation removes two outdated fees that are no longer used. in custody earning taxes.

That linked the juvenile one. Is that linked to the the increase in the marriage? Like am I tracking that? This is a separate fee that was retired by statute. But is it because we're now No, unrelated. I don't think so. No, it's unrelated. Oh, can I have a question on that? Yes. Did we consider the what is it security alarm permit fee or something every year? Those do get looked at. I don't know if it get looked at this year or last year.

I don't recall it increasing paid the same for a long time. I don't I don't remember ever increasing wherever it started. I don't even know what it is right now, but I seems interesting that we would county fee. Yes, permit fee. City fee. No, it's county fee because I have a permit and presumably they respond if I don't shut the alarm off, right? Has to do with your value. Oh, no. Yeah. So, there's no change in that this year. All right.

What is the uniform security and delivery increases? So uniform security if if office of the contracts do uniform security somewhere that's a fee that they charge but they get full cost recovery for the hourly cost plus overhead of the deputies going out there do that like the hop saying we want four deputies at the game or the fair and that's what the thank you that was very helpful one example that would happen like like is it Nike Well, that's that's a contract based the contract. Yeah. Yeah. So, this would be a separate events that the city's contract for that service

limited time duration, right? That's pretty cheap, right? Depends on if you're Well, it depends on how many deputies you have out there, too. So, if you're if you're having a event, the unique security Yeah. is based on the number of bodies. for peace of mind.

Um, for justice court, we adjust two fees to align with the statute and cost recovery. The wedding facility fee increases significantly. It's now aligned with state requirements and reflects actual staff time. So, going from $15 to $17. We have about 35 of those per year. The vehicle compliance fee increases to reflect material and staff costs. That's a pretty jump, big jump. 15 to 117. Where is this facility? The justice court.

So it's just so they they're using they're going to court to get married. Justice court to get married this day and age. Got to have witnesses. All of that. Yeah. So what's the justification for 117 thou uh dollars it it aligns with the state requirements state and as seen there um aligning it to full cost recovery. looking at what the cost to allow access.

There are two uh new state cap fees that are added to capture eviction forceful entry and detainer trial costs and notice of suspension fees. So, previously the court had no need to include it on the schedule because the forceful entry detainer filings were very few and cases did not get to the point where the trial was required. However, now there is an anticipation of an increase in these cases and some may require to go to trial. Feel the need to add this fee the schedule. Likewise, with the notice of suspense fee is a fee added to traffic violations when the driver's license is suspended due to a failure to appear in court and failure to resolve their citation. This is not a new fee to the court, but a new fee to the schedule to make sure it's transparent. Community Corrections has no changes. These things like a C custodial home supervision per day and electronic monitoring services are the fees that they have. The library has no changes. Some of their fees include use of the program Pacer or federal eile database, invoice processing fees, and also replacement of lost materials. So board members, this is the opportunity for you to ask any and all of your questions, make your comments, share any concerns about the fee schedule, and uh to express if you're ready to move forward.

Made my comments and asked my questions while we worked through this, and I don't have further ones. I'm ready to move forward. I have a question. Sure. Yeah. Go ahead.

Okay. Uh on p on slide nine, uh it's the public health slide, the one that jumped out at me was the um uh TB screening tests and going I I recognize this is full cost recovery, but it goes from 9% to 47%. and um what's what is the target audience for those TV screenings? And I'm I'm curious about the impact if they if they aren't opting in for the for the TV screening because the cost increase. I see Mary ready to jump.

If you have that, that would be great. So, I I'll follow up and um verify, but um if if it's if it's related to a communicable disease case, then there medical insurance is going to cover it or communicable disease isn't going to charge like if it's related to a case. Um what are these used for case finding? But um some people get it for travel or for other reasons. So, but I will follow up with Marie and double check that I'm giving you accurate information and get back to the full board with the Are they even doing them for pre-employment?

Could be pre Yes, pre pre. So, it's more of a um a requested service and I would guess that it's pretty uncommon for us to be the ones doing it. But we're not going to deny somebody a TB um test when it's in relation to a communicable disease investigation or Okay, that was up And typically Medicaid will cover that or other insurance. Thank you. Yeah.

And then the other question I had was um on uh slide eight, the under community development single family home ownership rehab loan payoff fee increases uh 14% or uh full cost of recovery. Um and that is um can you give me an example of what that what that is? What slide are you on? Eight. Under Oh, under community development. Yes. Yes. I remember is that part of I asked about this and my mind is blank right now. So, I'll get back with you. I don't think this is related to CDBG,

but no, it's not CDBG, but it is I believe it's it's um is it home, do you think? Home money home program. I believe it's home program but let me get back to you. Okay. Thank you. Sorry my mind is blank. I remember asking that a friend. Yeah. Two questions. And the slide before that the cost of marriage licenses I thought that I thought we were at 60 bucks because that's the maximum state would allow us to charge

the the state increased that this year. So, we're going up to the new maximum and consiliation services which is provided in our juvenile um department um is funded through marriage licensing. And so, this is one of the funds that over the last several years has been a little bit tenuous, I'll call it, you know, and keeping this balance. So, this helps um stabilize the consiliation. the the $25 difference to it will be transferred from a correct reconiliation service. Oh, okay. So, you were going and you got answers to your question and so you're ready to adopt the schedule?

Yes, I'm done. Jerry's got no more questions and yes, he's ready. Commissioner F. Um, yeah, I'm I'm ready. No questions other than just to ask to you Tanya. I know recently we've been having a uniform deputy person in the board auditorium. Um and it when we were talking about the the uniform security and the increase is that something the board is specifically pays out of our own budget for that deputy. I know it really does calm down the therm the thermostat and the the auditorium when he's there. So,

um we do have we do have aou in place between the county administration office and the sheriff's office which is in line with the charges that they would charge to any other partner and it outlines exactly how many hours they're paid for etc. So,

thank you board members. I'll go last. Uh I really want to say thank you very much for the markup markup version. It was very helpful and good detail. Uh I agree with the partial fee full use setup that you've got and the choices. I really appreciated the columns on cost recovery uh and capped by that were highlighted in yellow and blue on the justifications uh things like in I'm observing increased cost staff time and materials fully loaded hour of staff time personnel cost increased over the past two years uh increase due to CPIW 2.7%. That was all really useful information to see. It's a big schedule. I know it takes time. So that's why I want to compliment the team in the due diligence. Uh my rest of are really set up uh as comments. Uh DA criminal discovery fees need more work. It was on page 86 of 177 at the time. The page numbers were slightly updated. Uh, so I totally agreed with that. On what is now page 116 of 218, uh, has to do with some park fees potentially maybe may be controversial. They're non-controversial from my standpoint. So, just wanted to reinforce that for the team. Um, there's a whole section in the prior to the Monday version. Uh it was page 118 of 177 where the estimated revenue was marked as immaterial. You know, every dollar counts. So I

would rather see a different comment around how it's included in other fees or other work. Um because every dollar of staff time adds up. And I say this now, knowing what we've known for eight years of reviewing this schedule versus having new players next year, that's all. Um, which got me thinking, so what defines material threshold? If it's immaterial, well, that then that begs the question, there must be a material threshold. So think about it before next year on um what was 114 of 117. It had to do with parks and Scoggins cancellation saying something along the line of uh under the column note to see the column to the right, but the columns to the right were all blank. So, I wasn't quite sure, not big enough to change my assessment of the whole thing, but I just wanted to point it out. And then on wingspan, uh, would exceed market rate to similar venues. So the decision to move forward with the wingspan was before my time on the county commission, but I got to experience that decision as a metro counselor and the operator of both the convention center and the expo center as well as the Portland Center for the Performing Arts. Um, and so I just want to give some comments to ensure that the new board in 2027 and future compositions know that the

construction land development broke ground happened before there was a business plan for at least break even and before there was a contract for construction. So that was all done with boards 2018 or prior. Um so this board as it was as of 2019 and to date we weren't responsible for the facility building decision but it has been our responsibility to be good stewards of the public's in investment. And that's what this rate schedule is all about. trying to make sure that we're being good stewards of the public in investment. So that's the way I see it. So I just wanted to add that comment. Uh I totally stand by these recommendations. I have no further questions. I've completed my comments and I'm I join my four other colleagues in being ready to move forward. If I could make one comment, it would be the visa on page three is the listing of your 24 new fees

in the in the in the wordation material. Yep. There was a memo. Yep. That outlines what the sir. Yep. Okay, we are done with that topic. So, thank you Mr. Sire. You did great.

Thank you. and give our thanks uh to Chris Weber, please. Yes. So, we are now onward to the quarterly management report. Oh, Miss Angie's got to use the clicker and drive it herself. Good thing it's only about a three slide presentation. Okay, so here we are again. Um uh this was actually scheduled um at your last work session. However, we had to schedule um an executive sk uh session. So, we we bumped um this item out to today. Um so, today's agenda, we'll review the quarterly management report, which I'll include some highlights, and there's additional attachments. I will note um Clerk Moss updated the packet um this morning, and so I printed you out a copy. For some reason, the attached PDF didn't print out the full PD document that's in front of you. The full document is posted online right now, but just for ease, you have the printed copy in front of you. And then of course, as always, answer any questions um and open to your discussion. Um so the format is the same um in the areas of one through four. Um this quarter I will highlight um there is a community correction center and Harkkins house briefing packet which is an attachment which I will uh walk through at a high level. So let's dive right in. Um if we um if you have the quarterly management report you can reference on page four. Um and we'll start um with the tour of the county um general government um capital and ARPA um update. All three major facility um upgrades, community corrections, justice services building, law enforcement um service are um

progressing as planned and well ahead of our ARPA timeline. Um current plans estimate that the community correction center will be finished by the end of May. uh followed by the justice services building and law enforcement uh center in September which does um ensure that the projects will be completed by December 31st of 2026. separate to the ARPress um spending but um happening concurrently with these improvements within the law enforcement uh center include um completion of anti- jump barrier installments and ongoing jail shower restorations and further enhanced safety and extension of the facilities lifespan. Um as you heard me in the elected um officials town hall that you hosted just last evening. This is um um these projects are um action dollars being put into action of taking care of the facilities and assets that we have now. So being stewards of those assets and also some improvements um to ensure safety um such as the jump barriers of um really helping support the safety of our um ind adults in custody which are housed there. Now moving um on to um ERP. It would not be a quarter without me talking about ERP. Um and the reason we wanted to um highlight ERP is number one it was a significant financial investment. Um but this um demonstrates how we are utilizing this investment in ensuring that we don't just stop. We continue to iterate um and make improvements as we move forward. So we have implemented a streamlined governance structure to improve how we manage and develop our

ERP system. So this includes workday and then um additional uh technology tools that may attach to workday if workday doesn't have the functionality. So in so this is internal. So it's not a governance system that the community nor the board will see. This is just how we do our work. Um, and it's aimed at enhancing decision- making, boost transparency, and aligns long-term strategy with daily operations and unified framework. Um, and so, um, we are looking at separate buckets of work which includes major releases, releases of new updates to the system, defects and enhancements. When I say defects, that means from a department standpoint, when something doesn't feel like it's working right, how are we going to enhance it? and strategic roadmap um um projects. I'll give you um an example of this in action. Um multiple departments um such as I just uh Aaron Kelbert and I just had a meeting with the sheriff's office and they have a list of things they would like to see. Well, that list needs to be prioritized with HHS list and housing. So we need a unified approach in how we manage this and then communicating out to employee like departments where do you fall on this list so they can see from a prioritization um and that we're actually moving the ball forward and it doesn't just feel like it's always the I'll call it the crisis of the day.

I I want to recognize that department's asking for something more from the tool. That's awesome. Compared to where we've come. Yes. No, we can't do that. No, we can't do that. The tool can't do that. Yeah.

Well, and then also with transparent sharing out, where where does it land on those list? And why are some things a higher priority than others? Okay. Continuing the journey, um we are going to move on to public safety um and justice, community corrections. So pearl and probation the statewide pilot assessing uh contact standards is finished and state uh standards will be formal formally implemented in May. Washington County is currently surpassed. Thank you. Thank you. Surprised us these requirements. Sorry, I had too many words in my head at the same time.

We're done being surprised.

I don't want any more surprises. Um uh and this is really something to celebrate because this is not where we were um just a few short um years ago. So huge kudos to the team. Um this is um so in line with the state's direction and pilot results. We are finalizing our local standards. This project is related to optional arming initiative which is still scheduled for tenative roll out July 1st. Um, on that, we continue to collaborate very, very closely with the sheriff's office in neighboring counties to ensure consistency, gather guidance, and learn from their experience. Our approach remains thoughtful and deliberate, prioritizing service improvement, employee and community safety, and reduction of risk and liability. So staying with um community corrections um the center um is currently budgeted for 167 of its 215 beds. That is the same um budget that um you will see uh within your proposed budget. Reven uh renovations have resumed on the bathrooms in the first two dorms and are expected to be completed within four to six weeks. Once these renovations um are finished, re renovations will continue in remaining dorm rooms and in the public and staff restrooms. Um so there is a theme here in the county just both in this quarterly update and I'll put a nod to the um what you'll hear in the proposed budget and um sheriff's office related um restrooms. And when you think of, oh, improvements to restrooms or locker rooms, that may seem insignificant, but from both um individuals who are housed in these um areas and also staff needing to use the

restrooms and locker rooms, this makes a huge difference in both employee engagement and satisfaction. The cent's um leadership team continues to adopt innovative strategies and adapt to systems change to address community needs. Um working in partnership with the county administration office and county council. The center also offers ongoing support to the sheriff's office by accepting pre-trial justice involved individuals and out of custody J2s providing stability and transition services aimed at reducing recidivism through structure support and key resources. I wanted to lift this up because we talk about jail capacity and community correction center in in the same sentence and this is just one example of how they are working in

cost coverage for that within the center budget

and that's part of and I'm going to now transition great transition into the Oregon public safety coordination grant. So part of our um state dollars through CJC helps make this happen. Um chair, so um Oregon uh is consolidating multiple public safety grants into a single more structured process beginning in the 2729 bianium. Counties will need coordinated planning and progress reporting on this um process and we are preparing early and staying closely connected with CJC on this um new process. Um I will just editorialize this a bit that this makes me a bit nervous of what this change could mean to Washington County. Um, so I would call this an area to watch um as uh as we move forward with this new grant process and what it could mean um to the county.

So you're feeling like the combination the combining of these three into one is has some downside to it.

We're not sure yet. There could be there could be risk in that. um and the re and um we h we don't have a lot of experience of getting um additional money for operations from the state and so I think it's just based on um just what we've seen or experienced over time of reductions of the state um funding state county shared services that that's why I'm not saying what the caution but it's just an area to watch as this process.

And the third paragraph makes me think that they're moving from assuming you're uh performing satisfactorily unless proven otherwise or held accountable otherwise to now. You have to demonstrate satisfactory performance and then you might have might have the possibility of additional funding. This has gotten some air time at the public safety coordinating council.

It it has hasn't it to the AOC public steer public safety steering committee. So on that fourth paragraph I'm concerned that CJC is only communicating with the local public safety coordinating committees when ultimately the county commissioners are held accountable for the overall budget and our team does a great job in making sure that we as a commission understand funding. Sorry, Aaron is here. Erin Calbertt to hear understanding how the full stack of public safety and justice works through our budget um versus only looking budget wise at just public safety and justice. So, wow.

And that's why we wanted to make sure we included it here. And yes, Erin's not here and I know she's not listening because she's in the public safety meeting right now. Um, sheriff's office um staffing update. Really I the key point here that I want to highlight is um work uh progress has been made in workforce stabilization and u position the organization to reach full operational capacity across the jail and many of the other um divisions in this upcoming fiscal year. And you'll hear more about that um when Aaron Kelber presents the um public safety and justice um areas. staying consistent. Um we have provided um just an update on sheriff's office um recruitments um within the next section. Uh one area that I would like to highlight in August of 2025 um the sheriff's office um started to find creative and proactive ways to improve re uh recruitment which included starting a partnership with public safety testing. Public safety testing offers an alternative to the national testing network for entry-level written um exams. While most Oregon agencies rely solely on NTN, known for its strong statewide score sharing, PST is widely used across Washington state and other and offer similar benefits. So, this is just in essence expanding our pool. So, we expand our reach um and it's um proving to be beneficial. Now, moving on to land use and transportation. Following um your board's um direction, um we staff are working through the next steps of um implementation relative to um what was the CPO and CCI structure. This will include developing an ordinance to amend

the county's comprehensive plan elements according to the board's um direction. There's many references that highlight um CCI and CPO as well as specific responsibilities for those land use um plans. So um you will be seeing more information and I just wanted to list it here that we are continuing to work through um that process. um SP uh6001 um relative to safe routes um to school, this is um good news that uh projects that were already um awarded to the county um are still being um continued and awarded. We have two active safe routes to school projects. one to install sidewalks around Witch Hazel Elementary School in Hillsboro and another to fill sidewalk gaps between 175th Avenue um between Kinnaman Road and Blandon Street. Um I'm not going to talk about vehicle registration because we've talked about that several times, but thank you for your leadership, Commissioner Thrice and Commissioner Snider. Um and um LUT has been a wonderful uh one Washington County ethos partner in the capital improvement plan and we continue to make investments within um our transportation network.

Now everywhere all over the county.

Now moving on to um housing, health and human services. Um staff are exploring two related efforts including the office of community development and department of housing services. Um so that includes collocation of those um two work groups within um Adam Street Crossing which we're moving forward with. Um and then also um exploring um department integration. So combinate combining the office of community development into um the housing department. So what would be the goals of this combined department could generate cost savings by lowering administrative costs ensuring operational resources? Integrating the county's housing development funding and program administration functions could improve policy alignment, streamline processes, and enhance experience for community partners and residents. and the work continues to ensure the county maintains proper transparency and role clarity both as a funer and a developer owner in the community. So I think this is one example um that of just um the stellar work at department leadership and also within our ACAs to continue to explore how are we doing our work and is there a more efficient way for us to structure um structure our work moving forward. So, more to come on this.

That one is particularly interesting to me because when I first started, I thought they were part of the same. I I had to figure out that they weren't. So, now I validates my brain work. I thank you for being clear that this is being evaluated and it's early days yet. Great. Good work.

Okay, next. Um, hey Lake. Um so parks continues to develop three capital improvement projects. Campground visitor center park office at Scoggins Valley Park and the Twolatin River Access Facility at Eco Landing. Permit applications have been submitted. In March, Parks was awarded a $500,000 grant dollar grant from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department for the campground and submitted a $375,000 grant application to the Oregon State Marine Board for Eagolanding project. So, just want to commend our parks team for always they're always out there looking for any dollars and applying for any grant um which is incredibly beneficial and it is noticed. Um there's other just hey glake highlights within the quarterly management report um for your reference. If you turn to page 11 through um 13 um that is the program plan of record for your reference um and um status. I would say the highlight here is everything is complete um and or on track um to be completed. The only one I'll point out is on page um 12. We do have uh minor comp plan amendments um and that is just the we have uncertain at this time meaning timing um and that's just based on workload. So in the next quarterly report you'll see um an update of that um the back section which really want to give um huge kudos um to uh Erin Calver, Jennifer Kurley and Kayn Barrows for their work on this um uh prior to going

into this budget um cycle pri um before we had um the county received the good news on the AV growth. One of the questions that has came up um over time is could we um close Parkkins House? Could we close the community correction center? Could even the community correction center? Why even expand the jail? Can't community correction center just be rehabbed into another jail? So, lots of different kind of ideas. And so this was aimed at um providing some highlevel information of why do we have both of these centers. Um so within this packet I will reference you first to um this colorful um graphic which is a depiction of our public safety and justice service delivery model. I think this is a good high level of our model. I know I have used this in talking um with community members. So, I'm lifting that up in case that's helpful to you because uh from a community member perspective, what the county's role in public safety and justice service delivery is not always understood based on someone's own experience with the system. And so this helps really show um how interrelated it is and in many ways unfortunately how complicated um it can be to understand as well. if um so the first um um handout includes an overview of the community corrections um center including the cost um of operating the center programs and services um the outcomes of the center and then also the pathways um of individual how

how do you even enter or how do you become um a service user of the correction center and then the same is also um type of overview is given for the heart compon as well. The last longer written narrative um is included so that it's publicly available as well is the 2025 grand jury report on the correctional facilities located in Washington County. And so this report is submitted to the county and provided to the board on an annual basis and I include it in here so it's publicly available. First time I've seen it when I I'll kick off comments. I want to say that the uh flow diagrams for the community correction center and Harkkins House are really find a lot of clarity that show how the inflow of clients justice involved individuals or youth comes from aspects that the county has no control over, right? The court has a big say in all of this. The state with the prison uh and probation. So, it's it's very useful have that information. Everything in here is really valuable information. Other comments at this juncture? I know I'll I'll read it in detail at another time. I don't have any questions, but uh the under the report, what are the initials? Is that staff initials or

grand jurors? Grand jurors and the and their um number

makes me tired. There's a lot of work that has gone on. It's just it's amazing. It really is. So I guess kudos to you and to staff and to everybody. So I look at this as much of a celebration of work as well as a report out. So thank you for this. I'm very proud of the work that the management team has been leading and uh all the opportunities that you've been managing through. I think the detail of the month community correction center in Arkansas house really good

really well both well done and really helpful I think will help us answer questions of the community more thoroughly and I can make

that uh Commissioner Snider I can make sure that um we get to your staff assistance just the separate PDF for each of those so that you can use that for distribution. purpose. I'm thinking about other audiences for the entire report, especially the last piece on from the grand jurors. That's that's something that I think all of our mayors should have. That's that's the the very last piece, the last narrative. This black and white starting on stage. Uh yeah, you're in it. You're in it. Okay.

2025 grand jury. It's all uh word document. Um starts the title is 2025 grand jury report on correctional facilities in Washington County. This is required annually by the state.

Any other questions or comments? Lot going on. Thank you. Yeah, good job on this. Very much to work though. Okay, she says so very facitiously facitiously. Thank you very much. That brings us to the end of today's agenda uh for our work session. We covered a lot of ground and territory and uh that'll be it for work session today. So, uh, other than budget committees, we'll see one another next Tuesday. Thank you very much.