City Council - Regular Meeting

I will call to order the Wil the work session of the Wilstone City Council of January 22nd, 2026 at 6:07 p.m. I will start by asking council members for review of the agenda and items on consent. Are there any comments? Okay. Under counselor concerns, I have some matters I'd like to address and then I'll recognize any other counselor who may have concerns. I want to speak clearly and directly about boards and commissions and just make a record. Um I do not support the proposed changes that have been suggested regarding the appointment process. The current process is sufficient. It is lawful and it works. Our city charter is explicit. the mayor appoints and the council affirms. The structure is intentional. It ensures clarity, accountability, and transparency to the public. The ordinance already provides an opportunity for council input before appointments are made, including the ability for counselors to interview applicants and make recommendations to me. This is not a system that lacks checks or balances. It is a system that assigns responsibility clearly and that clarity matters. I am open to administrative improvements, but I do not support altering the underlying structure or ordinance simply because some disagree with particular outcomes. those administrative improvements can be made without any formal changes

needed which I'll discuss in a minute. I also want to briefly explain why I do not support the specific changes that have been suggested. Some of the ideas that have been raised such as formal formal interview panels, rigid scoring rubrics, HR style screening or background checks for volunteer boards may sound objective on the surface, but they create real problems in practice. First, they blur accountability. Our current system makes it clear who is responsible for appointments. Once decisions are diffused across panels, scoring systems or committee style processes, it becomes harder for the public to understand who is accountable and accountability is essential in my view in a democratic system. Second, they misapply an employment model to volunteer civic service. Boards and commissions aren't jobs. They are volunteer roles grounded in service, judgment, and community trust. Turning the process into something that resembles hiring staff risk discouraging exactly the kind of thoughtful community-minded residents we want to encourage. Third, rigid criteria and scoring systems cannot capture the qualities that matter

most for civic service. Judgment, temperament, the ability to listen and a willingness to work collaboratively with people who hold different views. Those qualities require discretion, not formulas. Fourth, some of these proposals risk chilling participation for residents new to civic engagement. An overly formal or investigative process can send the message that service is gated, adversarial, or political rather than welcoming and inclusive. Finally, I'm concerned about making structural changes in response to dissatisfaction with particular outcomes. Governance rules should be durable and designed for long-term, not rewritten in reaction to a single appointment cycle. For those reasons, I do not support these changes. The existing process already provides transparency, council input, and accountability without undermining civic participation or institutional clarity. I also want to be clear about something else. The process I followed was fair, thoughtful, and done in good faith. There have been distortions and misunderstandings about how these decisions were made. I'm not going to relitigate those claims point by point. What I will say is this.

Decisions about government governance should not be driven by manufactured contra controversy or external pressure. I've chosen to speak about this now because this is the appropriate forum. This is a conversation about institutional roles, process and accountability and it belongs here among counselors not in public speculation or online debate. This agreement is part of democracy. It strengthens decision making when handled constructively. Let me explain to the council how I approach appointments. First, not every term expiration represents a open vacancy. Historically, if a board or commission member is eligible and wishes to continue serving, they are reappointed. That practice predates me and exists for reasons tied to continu continuity and believe it or not, prior litigation uh which underscored the importance of respecting ongoing service absent term limits. Second, I do not treat all boards and commissions the same. I think of our boards and commissions in two broad categories. Tier one boards and commissions, which is my designation, including the budget committee, the planning commission, and development review board, go directly to the business and planning of the city.

Some are advisory, some in my view fiduciary, some quasi judicial, but all are consequential to how the city functions and plans for the future. For tier one bodies, I place a premium on readiness that includes prior city board or commission experience, completion of the civics's academy, or both. But readiness is not just technical. I also evaluate judgment, temperament, the ability to listen, and whether someone can serve the city as a whole rather than arrive with a single grievance or agenda. Tier 2 boards such as parks and recreation, DEI, arts and arts and culture, the library board, and tourism promotion. for example, are also critically important, but more advisory and program focused. These are often entry points in my view into civic service, and I rely more heavily on staff expertise and community connection. Across both tiers, I do not rely on a single factor. I review applications for completeness and thoughtfulness. I consider professional experience, but I also look at civic involvement, life experience, and the perspectives someone brings. I think about balance, diversity of viewpoint, and whether the board as a whole reflects the community it serves. I pay close attention to judgment and temperament, how someone listen, works through disagreement, and collaborates constructively. These qualities matter just as much as technical expertise

because this work is collective and long-term. I conduct interviews and before making any final decision, I always seek staff input. When there are many applicants, I give priority consideration to those who have completed the city's civics academy. The program is open to anyone, administered entirely by the staff and neither I nor the council has any role in selecting participants is not a requirement or gate is a recognition of preparation and commitment. This reflects the Wilsonville way, engagement grounded in learning, preparation, and respect. With that framework in mind, I want to walk through the specific appointments I made during this cycle. So the record is clear. the budget committee. At the time of the application process, there was one position identified as potentially open on the budget committee. That position was held by Cynthia Russell, who was originally appointed by a prior mayor. Ms. Russell requested reappointment because she was not termlimited and consistent with long-standing city practice shaped by prior litigation, I reappointed her. Miss Russell is a CPA and a senior state auditor with extensive experience and from my perspective provides strong accounting and financial expertise. As a result, there was no competitive opening on the budget committee at that

time. Separately, inconsistent with my authority as mayor, I reviewed whether existing board members were best aligned with the city's needs. Tabby Trar, excuse me, Trar who has served two years on the budget committee, had originally applied for the planning commission, which was her first choice with a prior mayor. She is a realtor with land use knowledge that I believe was better suited to that role, and she still wanted it. As mayor, I'm permitted to move sitting board members to other boards or commissions without requiring a new application. I placed her on the planning commission. That move created a new opening on the budget committee. To fill that opening, I appointed a And Ad Andre, excuse me, Adrienne Scritzmeer, who had served with distinction and was current chair of the Kitakata sister city advisory board, was in the process completing all her terms and had completed the civics academy. I viewed her as a ready was ready to move from a tier 2 advisory role role into a tier one committee. She was also a semifinalist in the recent city council appointment process. Some have suggested I should have appointed an accountant. The budget committee functions best when it is balanced. Miss Russell already provides deep accounting expertise. It is also worth noting that Miss Trer herself was not an accountant when she served on the committee. In my judgment, Miss Gritmire brought preparation, leadership, and balance to the role when replacing Miss Trar.

Next to development review re review board and planning commission, Rob Candrian was serving as chair on one of the development review board panels and had recently been reappointed. He completed the civics academy and brought significant experience. He also was one of the finalists on the in the semi finalist in the uh city council appointment process. Um and if I've already said it, he completed the civics academy. He brought significant experience. I believed his judgment and background would be valuable on the planning commission. I asked whether he'd be interested. He agreed. I want to be clear about this. Mr. Candrian is was one of my opponents when I ran for mayor. That did not matter to me then and it does not matter here and now. I selected him because I believe he would serve the city well. All remaining tier one appointments shared a common baseline, either civics academy completion or prior board experience or both. All tier one appointments were discussed with staff through the city manager or assistant city manager before final decisions were made. With respect to the tier 2 committees, including the DEI committee and the tourism promotion committee, I rely heavily on staff expertise. I especially want to recognize Zo Mombert who brings care, thoughtfulness, and deep commitment to this work. For the DA DEI committee specifically, all five individuals I appointed were on the list provided to me by staff following

my interviews. Staff's assessment and my own mirrored one another. I will share one additional example. Early in my term, in the first appointment process I did shortly after I was elected, I appointed an individual who had applied multiple times before I became mayor and had completed the civics academy. He believed he may not have been appointed previously because he had raised concerns about city decisions. I do not know why he was not appointed earlier, but his willingness to raise concerns was not a disqualifier for me. It was a qualifier. I appointed him to the board he applied for because it was clear to me that he was well suited for that role and had the civics academy experience. My appointments are not defined by whether someone agrees with me, supports me, or belongs to a political party. They are guided by preparation, judgment, balance, diversity of perspective, and a willingness to serve the city as a whole. As I've said before, I tried to follow President Lincoln's approach to building his cabinet, bringing together people with different views and experiences who are committed to the to the work even when they do not agree with me. Going forward, staff will continue to play an important and appropriate and an significant and appropriate role in this process. Staff administer the application process, help ensure applications are complete, and provide insight into the specific needs of boards and

commissions. I support staff being present during interviews and offering candid input based on their professional expertise. And that is what's going to happen moving forward. I've asked the assistant city manager Gina Troha to help me through that and manager [clears throat] uh Brian Cosgrove as well. To ensure transparency and to avoid issues related to serial meetings, I've asked the city attorney and staff to assist in establishing a clear process by which city councilors may provide their input prior to any appointment decision I make. That input will be shared with me in a structured way during a city council work session before the appointment process begins. In other words, before I make any final decision, I will take those recommendations under advisement. But consistent with our charter, the appointment decision ultimately rests with the mayor and is then subject to council affirmation. In other words, you can vote against my choices at any time. What will not change is the structure staff advise, the mayor decides, and the council affirms. That clarity protects everyone involved including staff, volunteers and inst and the institution itself. With respect to suggestions regarding criminal background checks, I do not believe that approach is appropriate for the selection of volunteer board and commission members. The circumstances arose in Marian County involved a different type of board and a different governance structure and that situation does not exist here in Wilsonville. That said, and I emphasize that

that said, the broader issue of safeguarding children at city sponsored events is a legitimate and important conversation. is a city-wide policy matter that should be addressed thoughtfully and consistently with guidance from the city attorney and staff. That discussion should include not only volunteers, but also vendors and other participants who may have access to children at public events. And that may capture folks that serve on boards and commissions. But to me, if we narrow it to boards and commissions, uh, and we limited to focus it on protecting children, to me, that's an important thing. And I'm very strong component, strong supporter of that. But again, I have reached out to the city attorney and I've reached out um to ask guidance on that. I do not know if that's possible. And so that's something we can talk about later. I'm just making that uh bringing that up now. I believe that conversation belongs in the proper policy context rather than being tied to the board and commission appointment process. Before I close, I want to say one final thing, not about policy or process, but about how we conduct ourselves as a community. Wilsonville has always been a place where people disagree without being disagreeable. Where we respect one another even when we hold different views. Where disagreements focus on ideas and decisions, not on personal attacks. These are hard conversations. They are supposed to be. But we are grown-ups and we can have hard conversations as

grown-ups with respect, honesty, and care for one another. How we do this matters, especially because we are modeling civic behavior for our children, our grandchildren, and the next generation at large. I was raised by parents from the greatest generation and they taught some simple civic values. Disagree without disrespect. Preserve public dignity. Respect institutions even when you dislike outcomes. Treat civic service as an honor. Value restraint as a strength. and draw a clear line at personal attacks. These values still matter. They matter to me and I believe they matter to this community. I approach this role in good faith. I exercise the discretion voters entrusted to me carefully and transparently. People may disagree with outcomes. That is healthy. But this agreement never requires personal attacks, whether in person or online. I remain committed to the Wilsonville way and to leading with steadiness, respect, and care for this community. And I really appreciate council giving me the opportunity to council concerns to communicate that. That's all I had under counselor concerns. Is there anybody else on counselor concerns? Councelor Cunningham.

Thank you. I fundamentally disagree with a lot of what you just read. I believe that the clarity and transparency of this process is not in existence. If for example I had not pointed out the several other people who had substantial budget experience, the citizens would have never been any the wiser. I have a hard time looking at, as you call them, tier one committees and looking at something like budget committee. Our city is facing financial issues. We will soon be considering what we can do once more again on the sewer and storm water issue. We're in a place where we've gotten here and I think citizens are starting to get frustrated with it and especially given that backdrop of the appointments in front of the pretty record crowd that we had here in city hall for the sewer and storm water rates conversation. people are going to start to draw the conclusions on why those rates are high. Correct, not correct. The end of the day, it doesn't matter. But when you give them ammunition that that says,

"Here's somebody on our budget committee that has zero accounting, budget, finance history, experience, anything that that's such a critical critical committee and board or board uh committee u to to put someone without any kind of experience in front of a budget of our citiz that that that controls the quality of your It controls the tax money of our citizens, their life and labor and the right people have to be put in those positions. So on the clarity and transparency front, I don't believe that that currently exists. I don't I don't think the ci that citizens have any understanding of of really the qualifications of these people when they're being uh put on these boards. Uh you asked the question of of this creates a question of accountability. At the end of the day, I'm not asking for council not to make these decisions. Council still would make the final approval, which means that as the leaders, the elected leaders of this community, we are the ones who are accountable for those final decisions. And we're accountable for the decisions that were made in that last round as well. There's a lot to uh unpack here. I tried to make some notes. Um, you mentioned judgment, temperament, etc. Again, on a on a budget committee, someone's there's there's an element to that, but I guess our citizens have to decide whether or not they think that's the most important thing. if they think that someone with proper judgment, temperament, uh, whatever those other key words that were used, if that's more important than the actual expertise of being able to balance a budget, ensure that the budget

is is is meeting the needs of our community. U, I guess that's a that's a decision for the the community and that's a decision that they'll have to make for u how how they respond to that. I guess I guess we'll see. Uh, I'd also like to make it clear that this is not directly a response to dissatisfaction. The last time that uh this process was updated was September 19th, 2011 in resolution 2321. U signed by Mayor Knap, Council President Nunees, Councelor Hurst, Councelor Goddard, and Councelor Star. Probably a lot of people in our community probably don't even know those names. Um, it's been 14 years, over 14 years since since this process has been even uh looked at and what I offer uh I don't believe is out of out of the question. I don't believe that it's it's extreme and it seeks to address some things that have been points of friction in our community um throughout the years. Things like appointment privilege, words like that have been thrown around and used. And whether again whether or not it's true uh on its face there's a perception out there uh I you know I don't believe that this is manufactured controversy. I heard some of the testimonies from some folks who have who went through this last process and being

asked a question like, "Do you have any issues with current city leadership?" That seems like a almost like a a like a loyalty test that has no place in this process and it brings up concerns that I seek to address in this proposal which would ensure that the questions being asked are uniform, fair, impartial. Um, you know, at the end of the day, I think the Civics Academy is a great thing. I think it's a it's a great thing for people in our community to endeavor to participate in if they can. Some people might not have that opportunity. Um, some people might have the opportunity, but they might not be the right people for a budget committee. I I I don't I understand that that you see that differently, and that's okay, and we can all take our own personal uh approach on that. But to me, at the end of the day, I'll take expertise. Um, I'd also point out that there is no argument against Cynthia Russell. Uh, there was no there was no heartburn over that. There's no push back over any other appointment. Uh, the only the only one was the one that was stated. Um, as for background checks, uh, this past year we had an issue where somebody, uh, that was on one of our boards is no longer on our boards. I would hate to have to go through that process again because it's not an easy process to go through. It's not easy to remove people from our boards once they're there.

He didn't have a prior record. That was an issue that was clearly not something that necessarily would have been captured, but as I've said, I respect um your thoughts and opinions on this. I wasn't referring to that person having a record. There is a possibility though that we could end up with somebody on one of our boards who becomes an embarrassment for our city much like we saw in Salem. It's not an ownorous process to ensure that there's not a significant criminal history that there's not something there that that becomes an issue. Um, and if if if that's the the barrier for someone to not volunteer, then they probably shouldn't be volunteering. There's there's youth sports organizations across this city that engage in background checks of all of their volunteers on an annual basis. I've never had anybody I've never seen anybody go, "Yeah, I don't want to I don't want to coach my kids' team because I have to do a background check." So, I' I'd be surprised if that was the case here in the city. Again, there was a lot of there's a long statement. I'm sure that there's more that um I would have to to respond to. Um, I guess with that, uh, tonight I was going to ask council if there was, uh, consensus on whether or not they would be willing to give the head nod to staff to create resolution language to move forward with this proposal process.

Thank you, uh, Councelor Cunningham. Um, my view is we don't need to go through that process. Um, I do believe which is fascinating about the ordinance is that it has a process that looks like historically hasn't been used. Um, because uh the city council has an opportunity to the uh we you get all the applications at a time. You can review them. You can ask for interviews and make recommendations to me. I would love it. It's a very long process. It took me u I think four or five four Fridays. Um and it's helpful to have input from council. Um and so that process is there. And I think what we could do to avoid serial meetings is do it in such a way and I thought we could have a maybe a work session that was scheduled where counselors in the work session could give me their lists so it's in a transparent city council meeting. I walk out with those before I make any sort of decision and re-evaluate those applications. it's actually in existence. And then the only comment I will have is on the budget committee, it's not meant to be all accountants, let alone all lawyers, because we have a couple lawyers on there. It's supposed to be a balanced representation of the community. Uh because someone that's an expert on being a uh accountant may overlook something like a valuable u uh uh committee or need that they would think would be on the

chopping block for an accountant. uh the a person that's really has a connection with the community may offer a different perspective. So, but anyway, um that's the reason why I brought it up this evening because tonight and my view is the decision making to whether or not we move forward to direct staff. My personal view is we don't need to. And I've offered an administrative solution that doesn't require a change. it actually complements the existing thing we have. But that's my view and councelor Cunningham has made his view and I respect the other council uh councelor Skull. So I too have uh do not have prepared comments uh regarding this issue but uh in serving on multiple uh committees and commissions and kind of growing up in that process starting with the civics academy I totally support the uh the system as it is. Uh I interviewed with uh two mayors and they were fair and uh very good interviews. uh there was no pressure, there were no politics, there were uh there was nothing of the sort. There were uh good discussions about what I was looking to do and what I was looking to learn within the city and serving with deer and actually in the first interview uh because of my background in operations. I felt I was more aligned from a uh to a financial or the budget type committee and I requested that and I ended up on DRB. And so going to DRB, you know, I learned the process. I learned what needed to be done. It was a learning uh process there. I did end up on budget committee and served on budget committee for two terms, actually one and a half terms. And uh there was a good group of people

there that was a mix of different professions and uh along with city staff presenting and the city financial staff is actually starting their budget process right now. they go through it year uh yearly and it's a very comprehensive uh uh process and from my perspective uh I respect that process and I respect the uh uh the financial team that brings that information forward and presents that and basically has got they're held accountable for that and uh if you go back and look at this these commissions or committees are advisory committees so you know they would point out certain issues they would ask good questions and uh and it would get into it would be taken care of at the time. And then moving the planning commission again it was a no experience and it was basically a learning process for me walking into it and basically engaging and uh and essentially learning and becoming more comfortable with the subject matter as we as we went down the road. And then from an integrity perspective for the participants in these uh uh these committees and commissions u everybody uh that I've worked with uh in all the commissions have been exemplary. Uh they've helped uh they've made they've asked smart uh questions. They've asked uh or made smart decisions and uh you know I trust a whole bunch of them uh you know to basically work with them again. And so I really uh don't see a problem with it. I think it's a it's a fair process. And in terms of and I in hearing the citizen input, you know, people have applied and they don't get selected or whatever. When I applied, I think I applied two or three times before I got on the first time and then basically uh I applied one more time in

between there. So, I've got four, five, six applications in there to serve on three commissions. And the same thing happened to me in going to uh Clackamus County. I served on a commission or a committee in Clackamus County, but it took me three applications to get to it. So, you had to go through a selection process there. So, uh so long long story short there is that I support the the system as is. Councelor Shadlin,

thank you. Uh I want to thank the mayor for his detailed description of the process. Uh I have a much better understanding of the process that uh he is taken that is um prescribed by um you know the the council previous councils etc. So I I didn't understand the amount of work that went into it. So thank you for that. I do want to thank councelor Cunningham for taking the time to draw up his draft. He put a lot of work into it. I did study it. Um I had some concerns that it seemed cumbersome in some ways because it was adding more steps. Um particularly the background checks. I'm pretty sure those cost money. So that would be a lot of background checks on all the applicants unless there was a way to anyhow I I understand that and I didn't feel like the background checks were necessary. I believe we did a good job in dealing with the situation this last this year last year when we had a council or a committee member that needed to be uh removed and um those things will come up unfortunately but we have to act quickly and respond accordingly when they come up. Um, I enjoy interviews. Uh, if there's a way that u council members can assist in the process through either the uh work session that the mayor is describing or some other process where we have an opportunity to uh study the applicants uh in a little more depth or perhaps I just didn't take the time to do that this first time for me. Um, but I would like to uh offer uh my assistance or help or uh any other way to provide input on future

applicants um because I enjoy that and I would like to be able to be of service to the the mayor and to the process if there's a way for council members to be more involved. Thank you.

Can I Thank you, Council Sh. Can I offer some clarity though because I could use that input. Um, the existing ordinance allows city councilors on their own to reach out to the you get the applications the same time and you can interview. We probably my concern about us doing it together is that doesn't allow me to have conversations with maybe a counselor that might know an applicant because it creates a serial meeting. But if we independently look at them and then you provide the names to me as people you think are good fits then I can use that as part of my deliberation. And I value that feedback. I trust me it's it I love I think the feedback's there. The existing um ordinance already establish it and I would value that. um we get that link from the city recorder with all those applications. So, it's a little bit different than um say appointing a city counselor because that's a city council responsibility as opposed to um what the mayor's job is in the city council's role is to make uh make sure that the mayor's made a good decision and either votes yay or nay. So, City Council President Barry.

So, I also appre appreciate councelor Cunningham taking the time to write out his report and to share it with everybody here. Um, my experience is I was interviewed with I think a city counselor at the time uh for the Wilsonville Library Board position and I thought the interview was fair and reasonable. Um, I think the process works the way we have it set up. Um the only uh change I would make and I don't even think it has to be a formal one is that if the mayor is busy and can't doesn't have time to interview all the candidates. I think that it would be it's fine with me if he were to appoint somebody to help him out. You know, it's from time to time.

That's your job. Yeah. City council president. That works for me. So, I I like the program the way we have it set up and I I don't see a need to make any changes at this time. Thank you. I'll only add from my perspective on the criminal background check. I still think I need an education as a member of council on how we address, you know, some of our activities out there. I can tell you that. Okay. If you're working with vulnerable populations, whether it's seniors or children, you go through a background check. Understood that. I understand. Including our vendors that

do we I Yeah. Do we have a policy in place? We do. And I can share that with council. Oh, okay. Because I had I made the ask and I didn't have the Okay. So if we have that then that's she's looking skeptical but I was told we do have

and I didn't want to put you on the spot. It would be interesting to have have feedback on that because um I agree with councelor Cunningham that you know my I I volunteered with for my son and if it be sports or if it's school and I go through a background check um vulnerable populations like that um if the city's involved and we have volunteers that are out there I think it's reasonable to expect them but that is beyond and is a broader capture quite frankly when you look at that policed to focusing in on if they can serve on a board commission. I'll I'll share with what we have. Okay. Thank you.

All right. Anything further? Oh, excuse me. Uh, councelor Cunningham, just a couple of things to note. I'd point out that we did not remove the member of the board earlier or last year. That person chose to leave. I asked him to resign. So is what happened through the the help of the city attorney and in the point point of order. I'm just clarifying something. It was I believe I have the floor. Go ahead. Thank you. It's a work session, but that's fine. The presiding officer who is the mayor is the one who decides points of order.

Yeah. So I will just say clarify the record counselor that the person was asked by me in conjunction with the assistance of the city attorney and the assistant city manager at the direction of council to see if I could do that and they did resign. You have the floor back.

So that that member chose to leave. He was asked to leave and he chose to leave. If he chose not to leave, if he decided to fight it, it was going to result in probably him staying on in service in our city. If we end up with the same situ, if we end up with not the same situation, but if we end up with a situation where we don't spend, and I can uh councelor Chevlin, you you question the the cost. I can tell you that little league does it for less than $3 a background check. So, it's not a very large cost to ensure that we're not putting somebody with a criminal a serious criminal record onto a city board, which would be extremely embarrassing for us and for our city. For somebody who has to vote to approve these people to uh in support of the mayor's recommendations, it makes me uncomfortable that we wouldn't have that information going into it. And then we also want to be able to dislodge them once they've inserted themselves. Um given the this the current you also use the word cumbersome and I would I would point out that given the current uh resolution that guides this uh it does allow each counselor to go and have their independent interviews. So we could have up to five interviews with each applicant and I would call that a cumbersome uh process. uh much more cumbersome than adding two people to a board and having some prepared questions ahead of time and then ensuring that they're not a rapist that we're putting on a a board. That's my comments.

Okay. Thank you. Any other concerns? Okay. We will now turn to the pre-consil work session update on city council goal 2 rental housing inspection program. All right. Uh, good evening, Mayor O'Neal and members of the city council. My name is Dan Carlson and I serve as the city's building official. I am here tonight to provide an update on council goal two, specifically strategies 2.7 and 2.8. Both strategies focus on evaluating a rental housing inspection program. Um, first before I dive in, I thought I'd offer some brief background uh for of myself as it may help in our later discussions around this issue. In my capacity uh as the city's building official, I oversee aspects of building permitting and construction in Wilsonville for compliance with the state building codes. Construction codes are regulated by OS455 and OAR 918 and others. Building construction codes and building maintenance codes are similar, but they're very different. The state building code is not a maintenance code, and that's an important distinction. Our local building code program is also responsible for investigating and resolving complaints about dangerous or hazardous building conditions. And these conditions are described in the international property maintenance code, a small portion of which we have adopted locally as our dangerous building code. I have 30 years of experience as a code professional, 20 years were in service for the city of Corvalis as their

building official where I also oversaw an extensive code enforcement program with two dedicated staff. Our program investigated and resolved around 150 to 200 community complaints a year. Most complaints were nuisance code enforcement issues, but many were centered around livability issues with tenants and landlords. Between around 2012 and 2015, my staff and I were tasked to serve in support of a community initiative to create a rental housing inspection program which would be administered within their housing and neighborhood services division. I served in support uh in support their housing uh manager as they undertook a program to adopt what is now the Corvalis livability code. The expertise of my staff was tapped in describing the issues observed during complaint investigations and developing code language to effectively deal with the circumstances of neglective properties in the built environment. That was quite some time ago uh but perhaps it will be useful in our discussion together tonight. So with that bit of background, let's dive into the reason why I'm here and that is to discuss strategies 2.7 and 2.8. Um 2.7 was to undertake a comparative analysis of other cities rental inspection programs and 2.8 was to investigate developing a local rental inspection program and related funding for program support. So, I think um it's important to ask how many rentals we have when we talk about developing a rental housing inspection program. That is really where we should probably start. Um in Wilsonville, we have taken a shot at estimating how many

rental units we have and it is between 50 to 53% of our housing or around 6,000 uh units are rental housing units. So, what is a rental housing inspection program? Um, page three of your staff report asks and answers this question. It's basically a more local program focused on resolving disputes between tenants and landlords and addressing maintenance issues that impact livability both in the interior and exterior of a structure. A rental housing inspection program ensures a code mechanism to enforce local rental housing standards for both landlords and tenants. So, back to the slide here. For program types, uh programs take on a variety of types ranging from formal to informal programs and proactive versus reactive. Formal programs typically have dedicated staffing, dedicated funding, locally adopted codes, and inspections of rental units that occur on a regular basis of typically one to three years. Formal programs are either proactive or reactive or both. A proactive program is simply that inspections occur regularly uh such as a program that they have in Gresham. A reactive program is that inspections occur only when there is a citizen complaint. So that is the type of program that they have in Toalatin. Informal programs usually try to triage the issue and solve locally with mediation between both parties by referral to a higher governing housing authority. This is the model that we have and honestly it's for good reason as the county has a very robust mediation program for tenants and landlords.

In fact, just yesterday I had this pleasure of speaking with Melissa Miller of Clackamus County Resolution Services who is a coordinator for landlord and tenant mediation. The county program is backed by funding from the governor's initiative to prevent homelessness. Melissa was very proud of their success rate and she should be in bringing landlords and tenants together. She shared that over the last two years out of hundreds of cases being mediated only one case went to court for eviction. This is a tremendous success rate. This underscores what our experience is as well in Wilsonville as often people just need some help and education to understand what their roles and responsibilities are and help with effective communication to resolve an issue. As part of Wilsonville's informal program, when a complaint is brought to staff, we listen. We try to raise awareness and get the two parties to talk. If they refuse, we believe county mediation will be more effective. We'll refer the complainant to county mediation. Moving on [clears throat] here to the next slide. So sometimes this awareness is simply regarding what OS90 says. There is an extensive uh body of law with OS90 that deals with tenant and landlord issues. most often uh education about how to deal with maintenance issues like mold. We hear that about about that a lot. And to that end, we talk to the individual through the mold issue and provide resources through a dedicated mold FAQ page on the building division website. We get very few tenant and landlord complaints. In fact, just two this last year directly to the building division. Doesn't mean that they don't exist. It's

just that that's that's what we get. When we do get them, we're they're usually about mold or parking or noise or garbage. When we educate, the issue seems to get resolved. A number of issues fall to code compliance and are addressed as nuisances through our existing municipal code language such as parking or noise or garbage. As a worst case, when a structure has been so neglected that it becomes dangerous, we use the definitions in the International Property Maintenance Code to declare it dangerous and order the issue abaded. I'd say that we've had between six and 12 in Wilsonville over the last 10 years that I've been here. These are addressed by the building department. So, one of the two goals 2.7 was [clears throat] to complete a comparative analysis of rental housing inspection programs. This chart is contained in your staff report as attachment two. Column one lists the jurisdictions with green highlights being Wilsonville's actual comparator cities and a few tossed in for extra measure. Corvalis in particular because honestly that's what I'm most familiar with. [snorts] Uh column two lists the O rate or owner occupied housing rate. The inverse of this percentage that you see in the column would be the percentage of rental housing units in that jurisdiction. So an example like Lake Owiggo that has a 70.8% O rate that would equate to about 30% for a rental housing rate. Column three is the median rent uh ranging from Lake Oiggo at the top at $231 per month, then West Lynn, Sherwood, followed by the fourth would be Wilsonville at uh $1,839

per month, followed also closely by Tiger, Toualatin with the lowest being Mcmittenville at $1,290 per month. Column four is what type of approach they use. Do they have a program or not? Or do they refer? We refer to the county as does Lake Oiggo and Oregon City. Those four marked as no likely also refer to the county but did not say so in the survey. Footnotes five and six are also important on the left hand side of your screen as all address dangerous buildings through the building department and all respond to general property nuisance through their code enforcement. Column five is whether they have a proactive versus reactive or complaint-based program. Only Gresham, Oregon's fourth largest city, was found to have a truly proactive program with regularly scheduled inspections. Proactive programs are very effective, but they are challenging to implement. Corvalis actually started that way and now is a reactive program. It is complaintbased. They can also have the effect of being inconvenient to arrange access for tenants and landlords alike to gain access for inspections. Column six lists the code or standard used to apply to address rental housing inspection program issues. And finally, column 7 provides a snapshot of the funding source. The majority of reactive programs are general funded. three, Towolatin, Corvalis, and Gresham charge a per unit fee to cover program costs with Gresham being the most expensive at $79 per unit for one or two units. Or you can get the discounted bulk rate of just one of just $44 per unit if you have 200 or more.

Tuolatin charges an annual fee of $10 per unit, but not does not do annual inspections. The fee is basically to license the unit with the city so that it can be properly tracked and investigated if there is a complaint. Otherwise, it also funds code enforcement activities. So, I'm going to stop there for a quick breather. Ask if you have any questions before I move on to uh 2 strategy 2.8.

City Council President Barry. Um, so I'm just curious the two complaints for the year 2025. Where do you think all the people that are upset about their um their rental unit? like are they just complaining to their neighbor or do they end up finding the the county resources on their own or what do you think happens to those because there has I mean on social media and stuff there seems to be a lot more than just two complaints.

Sure. And that's that's fair. Um this is pure speculation so I want to

share it like that. Um I do know that we do get some of those complaints like mold complaints. Uh people will take those to our code compliance program and those are triaged referred to um our website, our web page and ultimately um they'll find resources there that also um sort of breadcrumbt trail them to county resources. Uh I suspect that is a lot of what's going on. um we encourage them when we get complaints, you know, again to reach out to mediation, but uh they do have a pretty phenomenal program. I also would say that a lot of them probably go unresolved or or just people end up living with the conditions and um that's a sad state of affairs quite honestly. But that's that's just my opinion, my perspective. I I'll just give you an observation from running a you know a law firm here in the community for the last 12 years is I got inundated uh with calls um off and on about mold some other issues and there is no practicing lawyer in Wilsonville that does it unless things have changed but historically we've have had a refer out to I think there's a law firm in can be and then you have to refer them out to Portland that actually represent tenants and um but mold is a big call I get.

Yeah. And so um and I do have received information through Senator Courtney Muran Mistlin of immigrants being affected. Uh I met one that you know there's a concern that for them that they're afraid to complain uh because they're worried about you know the current environment we live in. They were afraid before the current environment we live in. So but and they suffer under those conditions. But I'm sorry to interrupt just a comment.

Yeah. No, if if I may. Um just um that's certainly a legitimate comment and uh where we find a lot of um effectiveness around mold in dealing with mold issues is around educating people about the causes of mold. what causes mold and what can you do as a tenant because it is the tenants's responsibility over their own interior environment um for for addressing things like uh uh running the bathroom fan when they take a shower for example or running the the exhaust fan when they're when they're cooking. um uh opening a window uh you know there there's a tremendous amount of of moisture in the air particularly this time of year and when that moisture condenses we run into uh some mold issues where it's going to happen and mold is everywhere uh even in this room as we as we sit here and speak. Uh so it is a lot about education. Uh we have some great resources on the website about educating you know giving people some tools some resources to know how to address um uh mold.

Thank you. Other questions councelor Cunningham

on that education front. As I was reading through the packet I was thinking about ways that we might be able to consider expanding that. I don't know if we're going to get to that in the next point but u I don't know if there's we could do. Um, the thought that came to mind was to, you know, anytime somebody enters into a lease agreement for a rental in the city of Wilsonville that they receive certain documents that explain to them, you know, about the conditions and about what they can do if if they face poor conditions. Um, so I just kind of throw that out there as food for thought as as maybe uh as we as we look at this and we consider the cost and everything involved with with it. If that would be something that would be a lowcost option to help increase education and to u and to get more people to understand that they have more rights as as renters, that they don't have to live in those bad conditions. I don't know if that's something that that you'd be aware of that that's been done or is being done already or here or in other communities.

That that is a great suggestion actually. Um I agree. There's a great idea.

There is a tie that we could make. Um we don't currently, but we could. Uh, I think it would be an easy win uh and get at, you know, maybe not fully but partially at least to what you're referring to. The the county has a um an educational program, a class for tenants. Uh, I did include a link to that in your staff report. I think it's I can't remember the URL on the top of my head. It's like rent free or something like that, but it is in your staff report. you can click on it and check that out. They have a a regular series of classes that they offer for tenants to help educate as to what um their responsibilities are. And I was also given uh just yesterday um by uh Melissa from the county an exhaustive resource list that they have that they draw from uh for attorneys, for uh for landlords, for tenants, for anybody who's interested. I could see very easily that we could take that and develop a communications piece, a web page, um just some really good resources to help sort of help people find their way. um they offer a lot of their resources in other languages as well which is really important kind of getting at what you were speaking to. Um so so yeah

thank you counselor skull inspected a whole bunch of apartment buildings. there's a lot of mold and other things going on. And one of the questions that comes up a lot about uh how to mitigate that and you know from a tenant perspective, how do they deal with the the owner, you know, or the the landlord, they they just don't know how to approach that. In some cases, they're afraid to do that. Yeah.

You know, because they don't want to cause conflict. They they're afraid it'll cost them or, you know, they might get evicted or something of that sort. So what are the you know what are the options there?

That's where I think mediation services could be extremely valuable. Um these are trained individuals who their their whole focus and goal in life is to try to prevent evictions and they have a very high success rate at doing that. So a referral to mediation services helps an individual have that difficult conversation because they are difficult. I've been party to those conversations uh with a tenant and a landlord that are going at it and um it's very challenging. Um you know, I'm not well trained in mediation. Uh but somebody who is a mediator can can really um it's free. It's a free service that they offer to tenants and landlords. Uh and they they will do it by Zoom or they'll do it by phone call. They call it shadow calling. Um, so I think that if we are to move forward, you know, take a a baby step so to speak and try to develop some resources uh some outreach resources that that could be a pretty effective tool uh to refer people to uh and they mediation stressed with me they want to be involved. They really really want to be involved. They're fully funded by the governor's office. We should be taking advantage of that. Okay, that was my next question.

Thank you. Any other questions? Council President Barry, thank you. I really like the idea of your uh recommendation about the resource web page. Um I I pulled up the information that you just mentioned on mold, which is awesome, but if we could, you know, beef it up a little bit, that'd be really great. Absolutely. Thank you. I would just add by, you know, have it more than one language, you know, for and to councelor Cunningham's point, if we do have handouts that they should be in Spanish and other languages. So, point well taken. Thank you.

Okay, I'm going to move on to our next strategy if that is fine with you. That's perfect.

Okay. And u I'll try to keep this brief. Uh so, strategy 2.8 8 was to investigate developing uh a local rental inspection program and related funding for program support. What follows in your staff report in attachment three is a memo that I prepared earlier last year and subsequently recently revised as I was able to gain additional insights in going through this uh process. Uh to summarize my recommendation at the end if council is to pursue a rental housing inspection program is to further study is that further study is needed and formal needs analysis should be completed. Um council will then be able be better positioned for successful outcomes in making key decisions about the following key tenants of a program. The type of the first one would be the type of formal program whether that is a proactive versus a reactive program that they wish to pursue. Um the second would be outreach. What type of outreach that you think is necessary? Um it is certainly needed with landlords and property managers and tenants. Uh this I I will advise based on my prior experience in going through the adoption of a rental housing inspection program uh that this is likely to be very contentious as it was in Corvalis. Um it's not that we should shy away from it, but you need to know that going into it. Um other jurisdictions have also indicated that this is uh their experience. Um in Corvalis there were around 40 uh community meetings uh to to address rental housing many of which were very long and very emotionally charged. Uh the issues uh are significant on both sides. Again it doesn't mean that we shouldn't address

those issues but just just know that going into it. Uh we also need to uh jump in and figure out what codes we need to adopt. So we need to identify the code gaps that exist between current municipal code the OS or others and then write and adopt the codes that are necessary. Uh this is also going to include administrative provisions for enforcement for civil penalties for appeals. People need to have their right to an appeal uh for developing internal policies and procedures uh for that implementation. So it is a it is a fair lift. Uh and then of course uh funding um funding is a challenge. So a determination would need to be made on the funding source and the amount needed. Uh in your packet in the memo I've put together some uh estimates based on current salary information that I was uh I gathered from HR uh and a total compensation as well as other program expenditures. uh this is shown on page three of attachment three. So uh the timeline uh to talk about the timeline just briefly, I've put the timeline for all this and implementation should you move forward with a formal program. Um and depending on the program level that you would select, uh the timeline I I imagine would be roughly two years uh to pull this together. Um, so in conclusion, while you have a lot to consider given the current budget climate, the appetite or not for additional impacts to housing and current resources that are available such as the effective and wellunded mediation services at the county, u, my recommendation is to stay the course and to fine-tune what we have with additional resource pages uh, for

tenants and landlords on our website and then to monitor the web traffic to see if it's actually being used. Um, I would also recommend linking to additional educational resource offerings such as rentwell.org, which is in your in your packet. And I would recommend strengthening relationships with county staff so city staff has some established points of contact. Um we do care about the health and safety of the members of our community uh particularly those who are vulnerable and without resources uh yet are experiencing challenges uh either at as a tenant or a landlord. Uh we don't want to leave people uh hanging without help and this is something that we can do with current resource limitations. So with that concludes my staff report and I would be happy to answer any other questions. Councelor Chevlin.

Thank you, Mr. Carlson. I will say that the city of Wilsonville and the citizens within the city of Wilsonville are particularly the rental population are lucky to have you. Thank you. Um, and I'm sorry, Corvalis lost you, but nevertheless, we're [laughter] we're very glad to have you.

I um appreciate your report and read it and found it very informative. I believe that our uh reaction, is that the right word program um is seems appropriate um at this time. And um I believe that uh the relationship that you have with the county is appropriate. And I think that your approach of um just beefing up our website and our opportunity, you know, providing links on the website for the educational opportunities and other resources is the best way to go. Now, I think it would be helpful for us if we knew um about an annual report, something that could just be submitted to us as to how many uh concerns that you're receiving. Um I don't know if my fellow counselors would like something more frequently than annually. Certainly, you would know because you're such an expert at this that if you felt as if there was a sudden increase, you would be letting staff know, county know, and council as well. So, uh, we trust you with that. Someday you're going to retire and then we'll have to find a replacement for Mr. Carlson, but we just hope that the systems are in place that, uh, all the good work that you offer will continue.

Thank you. Kind words. Thank you, Councelor Skull.

Thank you for the report. It's very good. Uh and uh this was actually a subject that came up I think it was in the housing when I was on planning commission. It was in that part of the housing uh housing production plan. It was one of the line items there. So I can appreciate what's going on or how the relationship there. Um again in in being out in the field and seeing this I think this is most important. I see a lot of this amongst other things and I think it's most it's really up to us to make sure that the you know the renters are safe and I get kind of a stuck in between the renter and landlord relationship there you know I hear so much of that it's uh it's really not funny and u so I can I hope we can move through forward with this and uh basically make this a standard practice for the Quick question. You know, if we were to take a proactive approach, uh would there be a suggestion in terms of the age of the property that we would look at or would it be all the property, all the apartment or rental properties? You know, that's a fair question because literally and you know, you look at this picture right here. Uh this is a brand new affordable housing project that we have. They're rental units. So, would we have a need? Would there be a need, you know, to do inspections of this? I wouldn't think so, but I don't know. You know, you have to have a program that's responsive to everybody. Yeah.

So, um it it seems like the question another question is about your funding. You know, if you're if you're going to charge a rental housing unit fee, what does that look like? What does that need to be? uh for a proactive program. Um I have in my staff report in the range of I think it was $43 to to 50 some dollars, you know, for for a proactive program where we're doing annual inspections every year or every three years. That's an expensive program, right? Um would that be necessary for something like this? It's it's a fair question.

Yeah. Some homework to do there. But I think the key point there to understand is it's not just mold, but there are a whole list of other things in these inspections that you want to that we would want to look at to make sure that it's a safe environment for the you know for the for the tenant. Yeah. Correct. Especially when it comes to children to you know I have a concern. Um

the one of the key things that I see is uh right now is there's a uh a distance in the uh the railing and everything [clears throat] where the railing can be some of the railings can be 8 to 10 inches and right now it's regulated at 4 in so the little ones don't fall through the railing.

Good point. Um just I totally echo everything that's been said. Um, thank you so much for what you've done. I really like the I I know we focused a bit on the website, but I really like to have us consider the budget of some sort of handouts of some sort that councelor Cunningham proposed and what that expense would look like. I really like that as another option to the extent people aren't going online, but that might be an expensive Sure.

thing. Councelor Cunningham. And I wonder if on that point if there's I mean through uh through you know we can we can basically have have a code that says that upon you know signing a lease that it's the responsibility of uh I guess it would be the lease the owner of the property to hand that document to that person at that moment. Um, so it would really be on them, I guess, to provide that that document at that time along with any other required documents when you're renting a property. So I think that there could be ways that that maybe we can doesn't doesn't affect the budget. Um, but it it does create that that moment of offering that person information um and ensuring that they know what their rights are. Um, I was I was pretty I was pretty gung-ho about this idea of a rental inspection program. I think it's important to protect um our renters and and a lot of times, you know, going to the meeting last year with people who are a rent burden. There's oftent times people are are, you know, they have some disabilities and some things that make life more difficult and they're the more more vulnerable population. And you know, I think that's who we have the the greatest um the greatest need to ensure that we're doing our jobs and protecting the vulnerable among us. And so um I was a little bit I was I was kind of gung-ho and and really kind of passionate about this kind of looking through the report. It seems like the the need doesn't seem to align with with the that sort of response for me now. Um, but as was mentioned, I hope that, you know, should we see any kind of surge in that, um, you know, if if we were to start to

notice maybe any patterns of a certain property that we start to really be possibly more investigative and and take a look because, you know, if if we're getting complaints from from, you know, 10 renters in a in a 200 unit property, then that's probably going to be a little sign that there's a lot more people being affected and that that could just be that we do a targeted information um you know round with those people. We send just you know the people there. We get make sure that we send them the information in their mailbox just to be pro we can be proactive in that way. Um but a little bit more of a targeted proactiveness rather than just a blanket like you said do we really need to be inside the voya next week inspecting and making sure there's no mold. No. Um, so yeah, so that that would just be uh that that that's where I've kind of uh modified my view a little bit u from just the full-on program to to taking it down to uh a more focused approach.

Thank you. Can I also suggest some really he got me councelor Cunningham on these this information. I like that idea. um is our nonprofits to have that available. Wils Community Sharing uh Heart of the City um their resources that people go to when they and they're usually renters, they're struggling that having that information available for them to give to them. That would be helpful, I think. Anything else? Anything else you need for us? No, sir. Thank you for doing this. All right. You're welcome. And don't retire. [laughter]

Next, public safety council goal, graffiti rewards program update.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. Amanda Guy, Henman, city attorney. Tonight, I'm here with our law clerk, Hannah Young, to do a follow-up discussion regarding the graffiti abatement program and particularly focusing on um the potential for a rewards program. So, I'm going to turn it over to Hannah.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Um uh just to provide a little bit of context on this update, uh previously we met in August to discuss our public safety goal 2.4 4 and 2.5 specifically uh regarding graffiti abatement. Uh at that time staff provided um abatement strategies following in response to uh graffiti in the Wilsonville community particularly related to uh private property. uh and some other opportunities. Uh and then um this update at that time we received a recommendation to research the graffiti tips program although there are no uh current Oregon cities that um implemented that program. We are we did do research on a couple of California cities which were all detailed in that memo. But that's what I'll be going over uh tonight. And what we're hoping is to um ask council to move forward with one of the proposed abatement strategies in which we can provide proposed resolution language in the form of a pilot program. So the three California cities that we uh researched were um San Francisco, West Cavina, West Cavina, and Hayward uh California. I'll just provide a short uh overview on each of those programs and maybe then we can have a conversation about any if if any or which program council would like to move forward with. So to start uh we have San Francisco. This program is run through their public works uh district attorney and police department. It's all shared uh at various stages within the program. uh they offer up to $250 for their

reward. Um what's required out of potential applicants is a uh reward claim that was included in the packet as attachment one. Um that must be filed within 90 days of the incident. Um the applicant must be willing to disclose their name and phone number. They must be willing to testify. uh and the district attorney will alert the public works director uh based on accuracy and conviction. So the um individual that is being accused or I guess is provided as a tip must be both arrested and um convicted of the graffiti. Um something else that uh is not noteworthy is San Francisco's public works fund. Uh this is specifically for abatement uh for the tips program and that is run by the public works director. Next, West Cavina is run by their uh just their police department. They offer up to $100. Um what's required is the community member alert the police department um whether the graffiti act is in progress just occurred or is about to occur. Uh it must they must be able to prove that the graffiti act occurred within city limits and the suspected violator must be detained and arrested and the charge that they are detained and arrested for must be graffiti vandalism or possession of vandalism tools. Uh what's noteworthy about West Cavina's program is that they actually do not require a conviction in order for the uh tip individual to obtain their reward. And finally, uh Hayward California, uh Hayward Police Department runs their program as well. They offer up to a $500

reward. Um, they currently have a graffiti tip hotline and any qualifying useful information uh may include names and descriptions of uh those committing vandalism, specific tags or markings, when and where the graffiti was done, and anything else that will assist the police in making the arrest. If that information provides to be or proves to be helpful and then leads to again an arrest and conviction, uh an individual will be eligible for the reward. So what I'm hoping we can discuss now is um the things that should council move forward with a program like this, uh a couple of considerations that I or we realized. Um one is who will manage the program? uh what amount of reward will be offered, what requirements you'd like to impose on the tip itself, whether like that be qualifying information or whether or not it needs to be a conviction. Um and then just a general note to consider establishing that abatement fund. We've talked about this a couple of times with various public safety goals. I I just wanted to offer that as an option and something to think about when considering any other programs. Um so yeah,

I was waiting for counselor Cuttingham. He's a graffiti expert. [laughter] Um thank you for the research on this. Um, from from my perspective, I think that the West Coina model is is probably the best of the three. Uh, relying on the conviction and really that what that would end up relying on is that person going and testifying in court. And that's just a pretty high bar. Uh typically typically if if if they can be caught and arrested in in or after the act um that that secondary part of that person having to go and testify and do that stuff it shouldn't matter. Um so I I would I would say just based on information leading to arrest. Um and this kind of goes into it feels more like an act in progress just occurred or is about to occur. uses that language. Um there's oftent times tips that come in that somebody sees the graffiti and they're like, "Oh, I know who did that." And they provide that information to police and then police can follow up on that information and then if that does lead to an arrest, they can um they could then seek that that reward. So, u this is kind of more of like you're driving by, you see somebody doing it. I'm kind of talking more of, hey, I know who that guy is that's that's out there doing all this stuff and just kind of quietly gives the tip. So, I would I would ensure that that language um wasn't quite as seemingly narrow as the West Coven language provided here. Uh given given the I shouldn't say this out loud, but given how infrequent it's been recently, got to be careful when you use like the Q word when you're out. Um it's been a little quiet. Uh, I think that, you know, going for a $250 reward wouldn't be out of the question. Uh, for me

personally, just thinking about the number of of instances we've had, uh, in the last couple of years. Um, and to me, that that feels like an investment for the amount of damage that we've seen done by individual taggers um, when they go on these multi-day sprees. Uh, I mean, it's it's thousands of dollars worth of damage. It's a lot of uh public works times going out and painting over things when they they could be uh tending to other things. And so, I see $250 as really just an investment um in if we can shut it down and have that damage cease. Um there's just multiple levels of of why I think that's a a good idea. So, that's kind of my comments to start. Councelor Chevlin.

Um I I do agree with some points that uh Councelor Cunningham is making. I like the West Cavina model, although they were the $100 uh reward, right? Um but I also like and I think don't we have a hotline now? Don't we have a thought we had a number that or maybe that was just part of our proposal, but yeah, I thought we had a hotline. Right. Okay. Um so that's kind of a hybrid because Hayward has the hotline as opposed to um the form that San Francisco has to fill out which seems a little more um I don't know problematic perhaps. But anyway, I I like the idea um if I'm understanding correctly that we would go with the $250 reward. Is that to councelor Cunningham's suggestion?

Yeah. So, I would say I have a feeling that West Coina has a little bit more graffiti than we do. So, I would just I would think that 250 seems like a little bit more of an enticing number. You know, really at the end of the day, I'm thinking about some of the some of the cases that I saw where it's somebody's classmate at high school. That's I mean $200 maybe they might not bite at it but $ 250 that starts to sound like you know that's halfway to one of the new uh Nintendo Switches I think. So we can chalk it up to inflation. Yeah.

I guess I'm going to ask some off-the-wall questions. Um, what if we have a graffiti artist that goes to several locations and different people report this person? How do we decide who earns the award? That's number one. Number two, um what if the graffiti technically is in Wilsonville but falls within the school district and we have a citizen that is caught the school the graffiti on the school district property and they call the reward. Is there do we tell them I'm sorry that's not our that doesn't fall within the scope? Do we honor it? Do maybe we ask Does the school district want to participate in this as well? potentially if that happens. Um then some of our um our pedestrian walk lights, those aren't the cities, that's the county if I remember correctly because I

it's in the public right away. But the but if there's graffiti on what I have learned because I've been the one that called um is that if there's graffiti on the the uh pedestrian or the PGE you contact PGE. Yeah. So do maybe we could see if they want to pull into this if we you know as part of the funding mechanism. I'm just asking because um if we're helping maybe they can help support to this this policy would apply to public property.

So this the way the policies are structured is that if it's within the city limits and particularly if we're looking at Westcoina if it leads to an arrest under certain types of charges then they're eligible for the reward. It doesn't matter whose property it is. It has to be within the city limits. That being said, I think to the mayor's point, we can absolutely ask the school district and the utility providers if they want to participate in funding this program. Um, but if they say no, the question will still be, does council want to move forward regardless. Um, I think it's worth an ask, you know, just anyway. Yeah. Thank you.

Anybody else? And and I do want to clarify that because the West Cocoina um program it doesn't require the conviction. It does require an arrest. I'm assuming councelor Cunningham, you support that an arrest needs to be made to qualify for the reward. Yeah, I would I would say yes. Uh I mean otherwise you could have a situation where somebody goes and tags something and calls and says, "Hey, I I saw a guy." But and then the no arrest could could be that person doing it themselves that's just trying to collect rewards on themselves. So I think some sort of rest to say like hey this we believe we have the person who did this um you know some sort of probable cause threshold on that.

Um I might also um add kind of on that same front of where some you know it kind of makes me think of some of these gun buyback situations where people bring a gun that's worth 15 bucks and they get $250 for it. um that we would add something in there that the damage would also be in excess of a certain number so that you don't have, you know, somebody scribble with Sharpie on a on a bathroom stall and it's a $5 cleanup and somebody scores 250 bucks out of it. That seems like a little bit of a backwards situation. Uh

worked around a lot of people that like to use the system to their advantage. Um, so the damage in excess of would would be uh would be good. And then um I guess kind of thinking about I I I appreciate the point again of where we could run into these issues of well if we if four people see somebody doing it, what do we do in that situation? Um I mean we haven't had anybody really that I can think of that that I've heard of that we've actually gotten to uh you know really get to even that arrest. Like there's been there's been some some kind of behind the scene work and stuff like that that I'm aware of on some stuff over on the west side, but um I'm not aware of too many situations. I can't think of of many situations where you have multiple callers um that leads to an arrest. It's a good it's definitely something to consider because we'd hate to pay out thousands of dollars for a single incident. Um, so I guess that there that that is a consideration and and language like

first submitt the first one in first one. First one in first one I Yeah. Yeah. The f first everybody gets $62.50. Yeah. We start splitting it like it's a game show. [laughter]

Um, yeah. So, but yeah, that's Is there Was there any other questions that you were looking for? I I think the other question um and this might be more for staff to determine. We talked about who will manage the program. You'll see that most of these programs at least in are either run by the police department or in conjunction with the police department. We have a little bit of a different situation because we don't have our own internal police department. So in all likelihood, what I imagine is that it'll rest elsewhere with collaboration with the police department. Um and in all likelihood because of that versus having a hotline a form will probably be the easiest way to do that since um information will be going to the police department but for the rewarded pro it's coming to the city for that. So

it should follow the funding. So if it's general fund dollars then probably code compliance. Yeah. Yeah. Councelor financial penalty or is it kind of up to the judge? Is there a criminal? Is there a criminal? Is it criminal? Is it a citation? How does that work? You know the answer I'm going to give you. It depends. I think so. [laughter] Yeah. But it's scalable, right? Yes. And it it definitely can lead to criminal charges.

So maybe maybe that might lead to like if it's extensive, maybe maybe and the reward could be higher if like tie it to the actual criminal statute that Clackamus County enforces. Maybe we could come up with a tiered I don't know if this is something to councelor Cunningham's point I mean it could be a marker or it could be the whole you know the whole wall you know and there's a cost of you know there's a cost to correct and everything but uh you know I'm kind of curious as to what that penalty would be and if that is a a big penalty is there some kind of a pass through back so that we could scale the reward.

Yeah. So, I I will say that right now we're not anticipating a dedicated funding source for this and unless it's on city property, it's not restitution that would come back to the city. So, if it's on city property, we will oftent times submit a claim for restitution when there's damages done. Um, but if it's on private property, we wouldn't be entitled to that funding as a source to then pay through a rewards program. Okay. All right. In my previous city, we had a code abatement fund and it was just an all-encompassing if there was any nuisance fines or anything paid into the city. Yeah. Something like a graffiti reward, which we had there, we would just dip into that fund and as money came in, it would just replenish. Yep. So,

yeah. And and it feeds into this larger conversation we're having around that this entire outcome in updating our code enforcement policies. um you know, city staff when we do code enforcement, our very first goal is compliance, and we're pretty successful at getting compliance. So, we don't collect robust code enforcement fees. Um we have a few though that we've more than seated this program. So, [laughter]

so um but as we see these update as we see kind of the larger discussion of these updates, this is an underlying point about you know maybe a dedicated fund for these different types of code enforcement issues um coming out of that fund. Thank you. Is that something Yes. I mean,

if I may, council. Yeah. And to that point, you know, uh, given that tiered system again, you know, as the damage becomes more extensive, the need for it to stop becomes more imperative. So, uh, having a tiered system, I think, does a good job of responding to that.

Agreed. And then what I would also recommend um sounds like council is comfortable moving forward with um development of a resolution for this policy which we will be bringing back with the other graffiti abatement policies that we've been discussing that we discussed previously. Um I'd be interested to know because this is a new policy for us and is not something that we see in Oregon. Is council wanting um what type of review would council like to see? So something like um would council like feedback an annual report kind of like what we just talked about with the um rental housing inspection program discussion like an annual report of have people made claims if so what have we paid out and if so how much or you know like a three-year look back something like that. Is council interested in any type of reporting on this?

Council President Barry. Um great question. I would like to see like maybe the first six months how we're doing and then um after that maybe on an annual basis so we're not burdening staff. But in terms of language of the resolution is that what you're asking? Correct. So annual but you could also stipulate Yeah. For the first year of the program you want six months but you wouldn't put that in the resolution. Just annual would be fine. Yeah. Okay. Okay, thank you. That y Okay, thank you very much. City Council meeting work session is journ at 7:50 p.m.