[1:58] Sorry.
[1:59] No problem.
[2:06] I call the meeting to order.
[2:08] Good evening and welcome to the August 19th, 2025
[2:12] business meeting of your Ashton City Council.
[2:14] Councillor Duane will offer the land acknowledgement.
[2:17] Thank you, mayor. We acknowledge
[2:20] and honor the aboriginal people on whose
[2:23] ancestral homelands.
[2:25] We work the oxon ban of the stat nation, as well
[2:29] as the diverse and vibrant native community,
[2:32] native communities who make their home here today.
[2:37] We honor the first stewards in the rogue valley
[2:40] and the lands we love and depend on tribes
[2:43] and ancestral lands in and surrounding.
[2:46] The geography of Ashland Watershed include the original,
[2:50] past, present, and future indigenous inhabitants
[2:55] of the Shasta Ilma and Abassian people.
[2:59] We also recognize
[3:00] and acknowledge the Shasta Village of Waka Ka,
[3:04] where the crow lights, that is now the Ashland City Plaza.
[3:09] Thank you. And Councillor Dale will lead
[3:11] us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
[3:16] I pledge allegiance to testify
[3:19] of the United States of America
[3:21] and to the republic for which it stands,
[3:24] one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty
[3:28] and justice for all.
[3:31] Roll call please. Alyssa. Councilor Shell.
[3:36] Here. Dale. Here. Bloom Here. Mayor Graham.
[3:40] Here Kaplan. Here Duquesne.
[3:43] Here. Hansen here.
[3:46] Great. For mayor's announcements,
[3:48] I have two agenda changes, the public hearing
[3:54] and first reading of Ordinance 32 72
[3:57] and ordinance annexing property
[3:59] and withdrawing an AG annexed area from Jackson County Fire
[4:02] District number five and also repealing ordinances 32 15
[4:06] and 31 94,
[4:07] which were the previous annexation approvals in Casita one
[4:10] and Casita 2, 15 11 Highway 99.
[4:14] Planning action number PA T three dash 2024 dash 0 0 1
[4:20] is going to be continued at the applicant's request
[4:23] to September 16th at 6:00 PM
[4:26] and under ordinances, resolutions and contracts.
[4:30] The second reading and adoption of findings
[4:32] for a legislative amendment
[4:34] to the Southern Oregon University facilities master plan
[4:37] and implementing ordinances 32 67, 32 68
[4:40] and 32 69 number PA dash L dash 2025 dash
[4:45] 0 0 0 1 6 is being amended
[4:50] and so it will come back.
[4:51] We are canceling the second reading.
[4:53] It'll come back for a new first reading
[4:55] with those amendments on October 7th.
[5:01] I also wanted to say it was so great to see
[5:04] so many Ashland out last night at the park celebrating the,
[5:08] the great music concert series
[5:11] that our community partners have hosted
[5:14] and it was just a lovely way
[5:15] to cap off the evening last night,
[5:17] so I hope you were able to be there.
[5:18] If not, check out the calendar
[5:21] and make sure there's still a couple of more this year.
[5:24] We move on now to approval of minutes.
[5:28] Are there any changes to the minutes?
[5:32] The floor is open for a motion
[5:33] to approve the minutes. Councillor Blum.
[5:36] I move approval of the minutes.
[5:38] Is there a second roll call please? Alyssa
[5:45] Hansen?
[5:46] Yes. Duque? Yes. Kaplan? Yes. Bloom? Yes.
[5:50] Dale? Yes. Sherell? Yes.
[5:53] Thank you. And we are now to the consent agenda.
[5:56] Are would any counselor like
[5:58] to remove an item from the consent agenda?
[6:03] Okay. The floor is open for a motion
[6:05] to approve the consent agenda.
[6:08] I move to approve the Congen consent agenda as is
[6:11] Second Roll call please.
[6:17] Dale? Yes. Bloom? Yes. Sherell? Yes. Hanson? Yes.
[6:22] Duquesne? Yes. Kaplan? Yes.
[6:25] Great, thank you. And I just wanted to,
[6:28] to thank the people who have stepped forward
[6:30] to serve on the Housing and Human Services
[6:32] advisory committee, the planning
[6:34] or the Historic Preservation advisory committee
[6:37] and our new ad hoc committee
[6:39] that will be developing a facilities plan
[6:41] for the 2200 Ashland Street Project.
[6:44] That community service is really
[6:46] what helps this council do its work
[6:48] and we appreciate the, the hard work of all of our council
[6:51] or committee members and commission members
[6:53] and the new people who have stepped forward to help us.
[6:57] We now move to special presentations
[6:59] and this evening I'm going
[7:00] to offer a presentation on my trip to Ukraine.
[7:04] In early June, I was invited to the city's
[7:08] and Regions summit in Ukraine in large part or entirely
[7:13] because we have a sister city relationship with a town named
[7:18] Fisk, which is in the esque Blas.
[7:22] We have been in conversations
[7:23] with our sister city since the council approved
[7:26] this relationship about two years ago
[7:29] and a little bit later on, I'll invite
[7:32] the folks from the Ashland FTE Harris Aid project
[7:35] who have been really leading the charge in
[7:38] developing the sister city relationship.
[7:41] In terms of the people to people aspect of it,
[7:43] I will invite them up to share briefly
[7:45] what they have been doing in those two years
[7:48] and the, the various ways that we have been able
[7:50] to help our sister city.
[7:57] So when I was invited to to come to this summit,
[8:01] I reached out to our city manager
[8:03] and to our council chair Councilor Dale,
[8:07] because this is not a typical request to, to go into a,
[8:11] a place that is an active war zone is not something
[8:15] that people typically do on purpose.
[8:19] And I wanted to talk with them about what this meant
[8:21] and what, what this risk was
[8:23] and what did they think about it.
[8:27] And of course there were concerns about safety,
[8:30] but there was also a strong support for doing this,
[8:34] for standing with our sister city in whatever way
[8:36] we could do this work.
[8:38] And so I, I committed to going
[8:40] and we were instructed
[8:41] to not share information about this publicly
[8:44] until the summit was complete for security reasons.
[8:47] And so I went
[8:49] and we start out, the way that they have this set up is
[8:52] that they meet the delegates
[8:54] that were coming in from cities all around the world,
[8:56] primarily Europe and some from the us
[9:01] but they met us in Poland
[9:02] and then we took the night train to Kiev and,
[9:08] and this is an eight hour train ride
[9:11] after four flights to get to Poland.
[9:13] So it was a long, it was a long haul to get there.
[9:17] And we drove, we we went through the night on the train and,
[9:23] and that morning the very first thing
[9:25] that we did when we arrived was I met with Mayor
[9:29] Vladimir Rab Balkan.
[9:30] And so Mayor Vi Balkan is the man in this picture who is,
[9:33] has this Ashland together hat on
[9:36] Ashland Better Together hat on.
[9:37] And we exchanged gifts.
[9:39] And what I brought for Mayor Alkin, I wanted to have a mix
[9:44] of things that were useful
[9:46] and also things that were beautiful because his community,
[9:49] and you'll see it a little bit later on,
[9:51] the map is right near where the Russians are.
[9:53] They had overtaken Vieta here for, for several months
[9:56] and then the Ukrainians were able to push them back.
[9:59] But they're, they are very in very close
[10:01] proximity to the Russians.
[10:03] And so I brought a lot of things from Ashland.
[10:06] We have a variety of things from the city
[10:08] that I wanted to share with him.
[10:10] Also brought him some things that taste good and,
[10:14] and then a solar lantern
[10:16] because they have a, they have difficulty
[10:17] with generators and that sort of thing.
[10:20] One of the things, go back, if you can go back, sorry.
[10:25] One of the things that I particularly liked was I,
[10:28] I brought a flower, a a paper flower bouquet
[10:31] because when I talked to Mayor Alkin by Zoom, he's in a,
[10:36] he's in a, he's in a building that, of course is the kind
[10:39] of thing that you run military operations out of.
[10:42] And so I wanted Ashlyn to give him this bouquet
[10:45] that wouldn't wilt and it wouldn't die over time.
[10:48] And where he could see it
[10:49] and remember that, that people in Ashland are thinking
[10:53] of him and his community
[10:54] and we're we're sending all of our good wishes
[10:56] for a peaceful into this conflict.
[10:59] I wrote in that there, this, that,
[11:02] that bouquet comes with a little card.
[11:04] And I wrote some things to him about
[11:08] how we feel about their community and,
[11:10] and the courage that they all have.
[11:13] And I had our, our folks from Ukraine Aid
[11:16] and Aid International translate it for me.
[11:18] So it had a little translation inside of it.
[11:21] And each time I talk with Mayor Rab Baan,
[11:25] what he says is two things that what we are able
[11:28] to help them with in the physical space is really important.
[11:31] And they very much welcome it and appreciate it.
[11:34] And also they appreciate knowing that someone sees them
[11:38] and that somebody is paying attention to
[11:40] what is happening to them.
[11:42] And so he, we, we exchanged gifts in the hotel
[11:46] and one of the things that he brought to me,
[11:49] and you can see the head sticking right outta that little,
[11:51] that little bag
[11:56] Is this doll.
[11:58] And this doll is a handmade doll. It's made out of string.
[12:01] I'll have it where people can see it at the break.
[12:04] But it is each blatt, which is kind
[12:06] of like a state in Ukraine, has its own doll,
[12:09] its own its own design.
[12:12] And it is a protection doll.
[12:14] And I thought it was interesting that I'm arriving
[12:16] and he's sending me home with a doll to protect my town
[12:21] from, from the different things that might befall us.
[12:24] And so, so I accepted this gift.
[12:26] We, I gave him his gifts and then we went outside.
[12:30] They had someone there to do a media interview
[12:34] and the media interview was going to be broadcast across,
[12:38] across the, the o blasts where he comes from.
[12:41] And they were paying particular attention
[12:43] to bringing these messages of friendship back into
[12:47] that space where they are, are really struggling with,
[12:50] with the reality of the war.
[12:52] So I was pleased to do that interview.
[12:54] Mayor Rab Balkan also spoke to the media folks
[12:57] and then we went on to the, to the summit.
[13:03] And so when we got there, it, it was a,
[13:06] it was a very interesting thing.
[13:07] It's a completely international summit.
[13:09] And so they were going to be speaking in Ukrainian.
[13:12] And so they gave me the, the translator,
[13:16] the translator headphones.
[13:17] And then this is where we, we met our
[13:20] partners from Ukraine aided international.
[13:22] You see the two gentlemen on the, on,
[13:24] on the bottom of that screen.
[13:26] And we went through that summit with them
[13:28] and spent another day, the next day in Kyiv with them.
[13:33] And I just wanted to point out,
[13:34] when you hear from Ben Stott a little bit later on, Ben was
[13:37] with us and you would've seen him in
[13:38] that first, in that first picture.
[13:40] And so we had representation both from the city council
[13:44] and also from the Ashland's Fiat Harris
[13:46] aid project at the summit.
[13:50] So one of the first things that happened was
[13:53] President Zelensky came and he offered some words
[13:56] and he gave awards to a variety of different cities
[13:59] and regions that had been helping directly Ukraine and,
[14:03] and helping with their communities
[14:05] and what they, what they needed
[14:06] and providing similar support to what we are doing
[14:09] with vie tehir.
[14:11] It was, it was an inspirational speech,
[14:15] even though I didn't understand a word he said.
[14:17] And I had to get it a little later in terms
[14:19] of the, the translation.
[14:21] But it was a powerful moment to be there with
[14:24] President Zelensky thanking the
[14:26] people who have been helping them.
[14:31] Then there there were a variety of different panels
[14:33] that talked about different elements of how to, how to
[14:38] continue to do the, the work of living
[14:41] and repairing things while they're still in a war zone.
[14:44] And so one of the things that was interesting
[14:47] to me is we all saw the, the mess, the pictures
[14:50] of Kyiv right after the Russian invasion.
[14:53] And it looks like very much like what's on the
[14:55] left side of that screen.
[14:56] But when you go around Kyiv now, you don't see that
[14:59] they have repaired or
[15:01] or rebuilt 22,000 of the 30,000 physical objects in the city
[15:06] that have been destroyed.
[15:07] And so it's a, it's a people that are very much trying
[15:11] to carry on with living while being in the middle of this,
[15:15] this very difficult situation.
[15:19] So this is, they had a, a wall map of Ukraine
[15:22] and what you could see is Mayor Alkin is showing us where
[15:27] that the region where FHIR is located, that that white
[15:33] space that that next one over is the one
[15:35] that the Russians hold.
[15:37] So you can see that he's right on the border with
[15:40] where the Russians currently are
[15:42] and that Ukraine is a huge, huge country,
[15:45] but they're right, they're right up on the edge of it.
[15:48] And that is the reason that I did not go to Vieta sk
[15:52] there was that that was too risky of a space,
[15:55] but others from Ashland have been all the way
[15:57] to the, to the village there.
[15:59] And I also wanted to share this picture
[16:01] because you'll see in all of the pictures that we have
[16:04] of Mayor Alkin,
[16:05] he always has his Ashland better together hat on.
[16:09] And he's super, he's super keen about Ashland.
[16:12] I will say he, he decided to come
[16:14] to the summit when he found out that I was coming
[16:17] because we have been talking as you know,
[16:20] over these last couple of years.
[16:22] And this relationship is important to him.
[16:25] But the other reason he's wearing that hat is
[16:28] that he has a head wound, if you can go back, Sabrina one,
[16:31] he has a head wound and he is bandaged underneath that hat.
[16:36] You could see a little bit of the bottom
[16:37] of it sticking out the back.
[16:39] And and he apologized to me
[16:41] for not taking his hat off in these sort of formal spaces,
[16:45] but explain that he has a head wound
[16:47] that is being, that is healing.
[16:49] And so that's what was happening with that.
[16:53] Let's go ahead and move on.
[16:56] So we have been trying to sign our official documents
[16:59] for quite some time.
[17:01] When you have to translate something into a foreign
[17:03] language, it doesn't always go super smooth even when,
[17:07] when you've got native Ukrainians translating there,
[17:11] there are very specific things that these sorts of documents
[17:15] must say and must not say in their language.
[17:17] So we, I was able to bring the final version over
[17:20] and we were able to sign the official documents ratifying
[17:23] our sister city relationship.
[17:29] Go ahead. Okay, there we go.
[17:31] We also were able to be there with Ukraine Aid International
[17:34] as they won an award from the esque Blatt.
[17:38] So the, the Oblasts gave them a specific award
[17:41] because they're helping not only Vieta husk
[17:44] but some of the other cities that are right,
[17:46] right there on the edge of the conflict.
[17:48] And I also ran into the National League
[17:51] of Cities president Steve Patterson, who is the mayor
[17:54] of Athens, Ohio.
[17:56] And his community is also assisting a Ukrainian
[17:59] community through a different program.
[18:01] So it was great to see some other Americans
[18:03] and other American mayors at the, at the event.
[18:06] Go ahead. So one of the things that was,
[18:11] was really striking to me while I was there is, is just
[18:15] what it is to be in a city that has, has, has been bombed,
[18:18] has been invaded, is trying to carry on
[18:22] because children are still growing
[18:25] and people still have to go to work
[18:26] and groceries still have to get bought and cooked.
[18:29] And seeing how people are reacting to that
[18:33] and how they're coming together
[18:34] and they have been together as a,
[18:36] as a nation has was really very touching.
[18:39] That street was just outside of where my hotel room was
[18:43] and that's what it looked like before the curfew at night.
[18:47] 'cause there is a specific curfew
[18:48] and once the curfew is down that giant street with
[18:52] what eight lanes is empty,
[18:56] there is not a single person out there.
[18:57] There's one, maybe one police officer at the,
[19:00] at the intersection to make,
[19:02] to find out if anybody's driving what that's about.
[19:04] And that's a, people do it voluntarily
[19:06] because they know it's a security issue,
[19:08] but it's just a very different reality.
[19:12] And one of the things that they instructed go back,
[19:14] if you would, one of the things that they instructed us
[19:16] to do before we came was to download the Air Siren app.
[19:20] Who would've known that there is an app for that?
[19:23] But there is. And so when there are air raid sirens
[19:28] that are going the app, you'll tell you tell the app
[19:30] where you want to be notified if,
[19:33] if there's a, if there's a warning.
[19:35] And when I was on the first train into Kyiv the first night
[19:39] I woke up because there was, we were stopped
[19:42] and the air raid sirens were going.
[19:44] We, we, they had stopped us in a train station
[19:47] and the air raid sirens were going
[19:48] and I was just waiting to figure out what,
[19:51] there was really nothing to do, but to wait it out.
[19:55] So that happened the first night and my app didn't catch it
[19:57] because I wasn't in Kyiv at the moment.
[19:59] But we went on
[20:01] and the second night that we were there about two 30 in the
[20:04] morning, the, the sirens went off in the hotel
[20:07] and my, my phone went off at the same time
[20:09] and I took screenshots of the two.
[20:11] The first one is the one you see right in the middle is the
[20:13] one that when it first started.
[20:14] And you can see that incoming missiles are the places
[20:18] where they have detected missiles coming.
[20:22] And then you can see that
[20:23] of course dark red is the most dangerous place.
[20:26] And then kyiv has a little,
[20:28] is a little bit darker red section
[20:29] over there in the lighter red.
[20:31] And then when it's done as it's playing out,
[20:34] different elements show up.
[20:35] So you can see where the Ukrainians are responding
[20:38] and then at the end you can see where some
[20:39] of them have landed.
[20:42] And so that's, that's just a daily reality for the people
[20:45] who live there is
[20:46] that they get woken up very often in the middle of the night
[20:50] with their phones looking like this
[20:52] and having to decide what to do and how to respond.
[20:56] Go ahead. And I will just say knowing
[21:00] that air raid sirens exist is a whole different thing than
[21:03] actually experiencing one
[21:04] and having to decide what, what am I going to do The day
[21:09] after the, excuse me, the day
[21:11] after the, the summit we spent
[21:17] just going around kyiv with the mayor
[21:19] and with the staff from Ukraine eight International
[21:21] and made on square is right in the middle of Kyiv.
[21:24] And it is really the place where their pro-democracy
[21:31] demonstrations began several years ago, I think in 2014.
[21:34] And they have a flag there for the people
[21:37] who have died in the war from kyiv
[21:40] and towns across Ukraine have similar things in their,
[21:43] in their city squares.
[21:45] But when you go up, you can see pictures of people,
[21:47] people have brought, family members have brought photos
[21:50] of them, they've brought me mementos of their lives.
[21:53] And there are so many flags, there are so many flags
[21:57] and there are flags from other countries too,
[21:59] from the other people who have come to their aid
[22:02] and have not returned home.
[22:05] And so it's a, it's a, it's a powerful display of, of
[22:10] of heart for their community.
[22:12] And also a reminder of the tragedy.
[22:14] You'll see there's a doctor there in that picture.
[22:16] There's, these are not all military people,
[22:20] but it, it was a very, it was a reality check
[22:23] in terms of what that looks like.
[22:25] And now, before we move on to the next slide,
[22:27] I also just wanted to mention
[22:28] that while we were walking back from Madon Square, we,
[22:33] we saw a procession coming in
[22:34] and it was a funeral proce procession on the
[22:37] way to the cemetery.
[22:38] They had a, a military person who had been killed
[22:41] and they came to that big intersection that you saw in one
[22:44] of the earlier slides.
[22:46] And everybody stopped all,
[22:49] all traffic in all four directions stopped.
[22:52] The drivers got out from their car, they took a knee
[22:55] and they played their national anthem.
[22:57] And then they stood for a minute of silence
[23:00] before the pre the, the procession moved forward
[23:03] and we stood still on the side.
[23:05] And we, we watched this and,
[23:09] and the mayor told me that this happens very frequently,
[23:13] not only in Kyiv
[23:14] but in also in towns across the country as they bring their,
[23:18] their, their soldiers home who have been killed in the war.
[23:26] They then took me out to the bridge.
[23:27] You may have remembered when the, when the
[23:30] invasion happened initially, that
[23:32] the Ukrainians blew up their own bridge to keep them out.
[23:36] This is the bridge that was blown up
[23:38] and they've left it there as a, as a reminder,
[23:41] they've built the new bridge next to it as a reminder of, of
[23:45] what, what that day was.
[23:48] And, and I think in many places around the city, they're,
[23:51] they are doing a variety of different things
[23:53] to remind people, this is probably the most stark
[23:56] of the reminders, but to, to carry those memories forward,
[24:01] not only with this type of a scene, but also with art.
[24:04] And so one of the things that, that we, they took me
[24:07] to were they had these kind
[24:09] of art memorials at different places
[24:10] where they had stacked up, burned out vehicles,
[24:13] but then artists had come and,
[24:15] and drawn beautiful things on the side as a reminder of kind
[24:18] of both of the elements
[24:19] that we find in a conflict like this.
[24:23] Go ahead. One of the things
[24:26] that I think was the most striking to me was
[24:29] how determined people were to carry on to
[24:34] keep moving in the space of this difficult, difficult time.
[24:38] And so they went
[24:39] and took me to places where you could see more of the city
[24:43] go ahead and,
[24:46] and then we found a restaurant where
[24:48] apparently it's a very famous Ukrainian chef,
[24:50] but what he's doing is he's playing
[24:52] with traditional Ukrainian food as, as his contribution to,
[24:57] to his culture and to the effort.
[25:00] And so I got to experience both traditional Ukrainian food
[25:03] and also traditional Ukrainian food with a twist.
[25:06] So that was, that was a great day.
[25:09] They were very keen to share traditional Ukrainian food
[25:13] and what they do in terms of their customs
[25:15] and the love for their community really came
[25:17] through in those those times.
[25:24] One of the things that while we were up high like that,
[25:27] mayor Alkin and I were talking and,
[25:30] and there was some music coming up
[25:32] and he was, we didn't, we didn't share the same language,
[25:35] but we could hammer through the fact
[25:37] that this was a Ukrainian composer.
[25:39] And, and,
[25:42] and I found out in that conversation that before the war,
[25:46] and I guess he still could probably play,
[25:48] but Mary Rab Balkan was also a musician
[25:50] and I knew that he was a, a teacher,
[25:53] but I found out here that he also is a musician,
[25:57] Kerry fool, go on.
[25:59] And then just a lot of street scenes where people, you know,
[26:02] finding joy where they can
[26:04] and taking pride in their community.
[26:08] And then we went out to some of the places
[26:09] where they have the larger monuments and, and,
[26:14] and the kind of the, the, the, the city's the city monument,
[26:18] the country monuments that you would expect
[26:20] to find in a capital city.
[26:23] And then they even had a little bit of fun with a,
[26:26] with a floor mat and some things, street,
[26:28] street vendors out, like I say, people really trying
[26:31] to hold steady in the middle of this, this war.
[26:37] And then I would just close out the, the trip
[26:40] with just saying the, the friendship
[26:45] that we've been developing with Fihi with their leadership
[26:49] and also in more of a a person to person relationship
[26:53] is really important.
[26:55] It's, I think sometimes we forget the importance
[26:59] of friendship, the importance
[27:00] of traveling away with someone else.
[27:03] And before he left, what Mayor Alkin told me was
[27:07] that the first thing he was going to do when he got back to
[27:11] his people in Fhi was he's going to, he was going to read
[27:14] to them what I put in the card.
[27:17] That that was, that was the, the prized piece
[27:20] that he was bringing back to his community.
[27:23] Go ahead. And so we came back, I have the,
[27:27] I have the, the designations.
[27:28] We did them in English and in Ukrainian
[27:31] and we each have a, a copy.
[27:33] So I have those here and I'll let,
[27:34] I'll bring 'em out during the break as well.
[27:38] I also, yeah, so I got back to Poland
[27:43] and they were just then announcing the new pope was
[27:45] in, was in place.
[27:47] And so I took the train ride home.
[27:49] There was no air raid siren on the way home.
[27:52] So that was appreciated. And, and we got there to the end.
[27:59] I'm really glad I went.
[28:01] It was a tough trip and I,
[28:05] and I was so honored to be able to represent this community
[28:09] and the heart that I know that we bring
[28:11] to this relationship with them.
[28:12] We are feeling our way through with it.
[28:15] We don't know exactly what it looks like
[28:16] or what will be called on to do to help with,
[28:21] but we also know that that friendship is,
[28:24] is really what's at the core of it.
[28:27] As I mentioned, mayor Alkin
[28:29] and I have been in touch in, in talking
[28:31] for these last couple of years, not very often
[28:34] because it's a 10 hour time zone difference
[28:36] and he's right, right in the thick of it.
[28:38] But one of the things that he, he was very keen
[28:41] to share the history of the conflict
[28:43] and of the people's rising up for,
[28:45] for their democratic values.
[28:47] And one of the things that he, he did is he told me more
[28:51] of the story of about a gift that he had sent
[28:53] to me last year and before the invasion.
[28:57] S vie was a lot like Ashland.
[29:00] It's got beautiful forests and mountains around it.
[29:03] Rivers people would come from miles
[29:06] and miles around as a tourist draw.
[29:09] They have a beautiful old, very old
[29:12] church in their, in their community.
[29:14] And they were a place where, where they had art
[29:17] and theater and fun things.
[29:18] And I have refrigerator magnets from, from Shir
[29:23] because they, they were very much like us.
[29:26] And what they used to, what they had
[29:28] before the invasion was the, they had lined the streets
[29:33] with Ukrainian flags.
[29:34] So coming into Fhir, the, they, there were two big rows of,
[29:39] of flags and of course the first thing that an invader does
[29:43] to, to harm the mor the morale of the people that they're
[29:48] overtaking is to take down their symbols.
[29:51] And so they tried
[29:53] and they had, the Ukrainian folks had gone,
[29:56] they had stationed people up in the hillside
[29:58] and so they were never able to fully take this section
[30:00] of the road because when they would try,
[30:03] they would get shot at.
[30:06] And so the flags never came down.
[30:09] After they were able to push the Russians back,
[30:11] they pulled the flags down and they put new flags up.
[30:13] Of course, as you do, the flags
[30:15] that came down from the sides of the,
[30:18] the road into Shir are now in
[30:21] museums across Ukraine.
[30:24] But one of them is here
[30:38] and it's not every day you get a gift in an ammo can,
[30:41] I will say that's, it is a different reality for me,
[30:46] but I would ask Councillor Blum if you'll help me.
[30:51] It's very fragile.
[31:07] Well this
[31:11] Is the flag.
[31:44] I haven't known exactly what to do with that flag.
[31:47] So I've held it. When I was there I asked Mayor Rab Balkan
[31:50] if it would be appropriate for us to frame it so
[31:54] that we could hang it up without it being damaged.
[31:56] And he said that would be very, very nice.
[31:59] He would appreciate that. So we are going to do that
[32:01] and we will find a place at City Hall to hang that.
[32:05] So thank you for, for taking
[32:09] that little journey with me.
[32:11] At this point I would like to just invite Ben Stott
[32:13] and anyone else from the Ashland FTE Harris Aid project.
[32:16] They're going to briefly explain to us
[32:18] what they have done in these last two years
[32:21] and then they will be coming back in front
[32:23] of council a bit later on,
[32:25] but we can also ask questions of them.
[32:27] So go ahead and come up to these two microphones.
[32:42] Yep. If you can turn, hit that button in the front,
[32:44] it'll turn red for both of the microphones.
[32:48] Well first of all, my name is Jim Nagle
[32:51] and I'm the president of ASAP
[32:54] and I want to first of all, thank you Mayor Graham
[32:58] and the city council for allowing her to go to Ukraine
[33:04] and bring back that wonderful presentation.
[33:08] I'm not gonna speak too long
[33:09] because the gentleman next to me, Bensad has been
[33:13] to Ukraine, been to Hurs many times,
[33:16] and he's much more familiar with everything that's going on.
[33:20] And what we would like to do is just to talk
[33:23] to you a little bit about what we have managed to do
[33:26] through our fundraising efforts to help
[33:29] Hurst do some recovery.
[33:32] And some of the, the infrastructure
[33:35] that was totally destroyed
[33:36] or stolen by the Russians when they came
[33:40] were critical to keep a city running.
[33:44] And so Ben will address those issues.
[33:46] At the same time, I, I would like to recognize a couple
[33:49] of our other board members who are here in attendance.
[33:53] Rich Whitley who's back there and Mike Petrovich.
[33:58] So we've got a small group but they do an awful lot of work
[34:03] and I'm really proud of this group.
[34:05] So Ben, if you'd take over
[34:07] and talk a little bit more. Hey, yeah,
[34:09] Nice to see you all.
[34:10] It was two, two
[34:11] and a half years ago that I was here when you
[34:14] so kindly agreed to take on ska as a sister city.
[34:19] Since that time we've done a lot.
[34:22] I wanted to say first of all,
[34:23] because you got a chance to meet Amer Baan
[34:25] that you should know that four months ago he found out
[34:28] through DNA evidence that his son
[34:32] who had disappeared had been burned in a tank.
[34:35] He was a tank operator.
[34:38] And so he just found out not too long
[34:41] before he came to this meeting
[34:42] that he'd lost his son in the war.
[34:45] So it's, he's a magnificent man.
[34:50] Sato Husk is a small town.
[34:52] We chose it because it was quite a bit like Ashland.
[34:55] It has a tourist, big tourist industry, it's a lot
[34:59] of forestry and it's one
[35:01] of the prettiest towns that I've seen in Ukraine.
[35:03] And I've been over there now five times driving.
[35:07] I've driven all over the country doing various things
[35:10] and I think Scott Des is probably the prettiest town
[35:12] that I've seen, although I'm told in the far west in the
[35:15] Carpathians it's also gorgeous.
[35:18] So since we started, we incorporated
[35:21] and got 5 0 1 C status just
[35:23] before we got the approval to be a sister city.
[35:27] We've done three fundraisers each time we get Ukrainian
[35:30] people to perform other musicians
[35:34] and we've been pretty successful in raising money.
[35:36] I don't know the exact to total,
[35:38] but I know the last one we did, we raised $40,000.
[35:41] With that money we've tried to help provide things
[35:45] that Mayor Balkan said
[35:46] that would be most useful for the town.
[35:50] His thing was not to spend too much money on rebuilding
[35:53] 'cause they're, frankly, they're not sure they're gonna
[35:55] survive the, the Russians are still pushing
[35:57] and they're only 25 kilometers away.
[36:00] So we focused on providing machinery to provide,
[36:05] to rebuild the infrastructure so
[36:07] that there will be a town there when people
[36:09] can move back safely.
[36:11] And so far we've bought a dump truck,
[36:14] a very large a dump truck, which is used
[36:16] to get rid of rubble.
[36:18] They got a excavator from somewhere else
[36:21] and so this, this dump truck helps to get rid
[36:25] of all the rubble so that they cleaned out a lot
[36:27] of the damaged area so they can be rebuilt.
[36:29] Also, they had a problem with their garbage.
[36:31] The, the garbage truck had been blown up by the Russians
[36:34] and so their garbage was piling up in a flat area in the
[36:39] center of town that was a big health menace.
[36:41] So using the dump truck, we were able
[36:44] to get rid of that, that garbage.
[36:46] The next thing was some municipal water system through UAI
[36:50] and some private funding through a foundation I have myself.
[36:54] We built a, a water reprocessing center in town
[37:00] at the, so people could come
[37:02] to a central location in the town and fill up buckets
[37:04] and take them to their places
[37:06] 'cause there was no municipal water.
[37:08] People didn't have any toilets or couldn't take a shower.
[37:13] So this system enabled them at least to have some
[37:16] of the things that we take
[37:17] for granted here in Ashland that they don't have.
[37:21] We also help them to buy a, what's it's called,
[37:24] a wood pellet machine that makes fuel, which they used
[37:28] to warm up the municipal buildings where people could go
[37:32] and stay warm in the winter
[37:34] because nobody had any electricity
[37:36] and so no one had any heat.
[37:38] And so everybody, there are about 450 people
[37:41] who still live in this town out of around 4,500
[37:45] that were there before would come
[37:47] and they could stay in these, their
[37:50] two main municipal buildings with big boilers
[37:52] and the wood pellets that could take all the debris
[37:56] and the, all the trees that were blown down
[37:59] and all the leftover debris from the broken
[38:02] buildings can be put in this machine
[38:04] and they make usable fuel that could be used
[38:07] to burn in these municipal.
[38:09] So we've enabled them both to have water
[38:12] and to have heat during the last two winters, which has been
[38:16] important and helpful to,
[38:18] most recently they had a very severe forest fire last
[38:22] summer, so also similar to our town
[38:25] and about 10,000 acres were burned
[38:29] and they needed chainsaws in order to
[38:33] clean up the area so they prevent future fires
[38:36] and also to provide more fuel.
[38:39] So we've also recently provided them with those.
[38:43] We also did a project that actually didn't work out,
[38:47] but we tried to provide them with temporary windows
[38:50] for all the blown out windows in, in the buildings
[38:54] where people were trying to live by using a double plastic
[39:00] method, which is a lot cheaper than glass
[39:03] and also is safer in case there were more bombardment
[39:06] that there wouldn't be any fragments in the shattered
[39:09] glass they'd have to deal with.
[39:10] As it turned out, there was another method they found
[39:13] that was more successful.
[39:14] So we only did about one sample project,
[39:17] but that was our first attempt to try
[39:19] and solve that problem as well.
[39:22] Right now we're trying to raise money.
[39:24] They've asked us to try see if we can find them something
[39:27] like an armored car
[39:29] or a protected vehicle that they can use for
[39:34] ferrying supplies in from further west
[39:39] because now the,
[39:40] the roads going into fiat husk are becoming dangerous
[39:44] and they, they're having, they're thinking
[39:46] that they'll need some kind of relative protection so
[39:50] that they can continue to bring food
[39:52] and also to take out anybody who's wounded
[39:55] to local hospitals that are further away.
[39:58] That's our present project is to try
[40:00] and locate something that could serve that purpose.
[40:06] Yeah. So that's our, our work to date.
[40:09] As you know, people are tired of hearing about Ukraine,
[40:13] so it's a challenge to, to raise money
[40:16] and so we're working to find novel ways
[40:19] to encourage more public interest
[40:21] and get people to stay engaged
[40:24] and your help through the city just as a bully pulpit
[40:28] to keep people in Ashton aware of that we have a sister city
[40:32] and their needs are great, is really helpful
[40:35] to us in doing the work we're trying
[40:37] to do to help this city.
[40:38] So thank you. Oh, one thing I wanted to ask you,
[40:40] do you all share a email address as council members?
[40:46] We have a, we have a group address
[40:47] and then we each have our own
[40:48] Individuals.
[40:49] Yeah, I would like to get that from you
[40:51] because I didn't bring any audio visual stuff,
[40:54] but I have a very short video of si husk
[40:59] as it was before the war.
[41:00] It's only about three minutes long.
[41:03] I also have the movie that we made this last year
[41:07] Insto Husk, which really shows
[41:10] and gives a feeling for
[41:12] what it's like in there are in interviews
[41:13] with a lot of residents.
[41:15] So you can meet some of the people who are there
[41:17] that's 20 minutes long, which may be a bit much,
[41:20] but we've made a five minute short promo sort
[41:24] of version of that.
[41:25] And with your permission, I'd like to send those three clips
[41:28] to you so that if you have the time
[41:30] and interest that you could see some of the scenes
[41:33] of the actual town that you're doing so much to support.
[41:36] So thank you. That would be great. And Alyssa can give you
[41:38] that, that email address.
[41:41] Are there any questions? Go questions?
[41:42] Oh yeah, any questions? Oh,
[41:44] I might add, Ben, you forgot.
[41:46] We also purchased with our last fundraiser, the water truck.
[41:50] Oh yeah. To transport water so that the people don't have
[41:53] to come from far distances to go to where the water source
[41:58] Now we have a water truck for them
[42:00] that takes the water out dis dispenses
[42:03] that go out the yard 2000 meters.
[42:04] It's a big one. Great. Council Blum,
[42:09] Thank you so much.
[42:11] I I just want to start by offering my immense gratitude
[42:14] for you all individually
[42:16] and your organization for what you're doing.
[42:19] The reality is obviously very difficult over in Ukraine
[42:23] and I think that what you are setting up
[42:27] and what you're, you're seeking to do is, is going
[42:29] to be the model for rebuilding.
[42:32] There will not be a Marshall plan as there should be,
[42:36] but if we all individually as cities around the world and,
[42:39] and certainly within the United States can partner
[42:41] with cities in Ukraine like we are, that's how they're going
[42:45] to rebuild and get past this.
[42:47] So thank you so much
[42:49] Councillor Dale, By the way.
[42:50] IIII just found out that Oregon actually is a sister state
[42:55] to one Blas in Ukraine
[42:59] and Connecticut is also now adopted the whole province
[43:02] or Blas of donts of which sw s is part,
[43:06] which should make a big difference for fundraising
[43:08] for in a larger scale.
[43:11] By the way, I'm also leaving in three days to go back
[43:14] to Seattle s so I'm hopefully I'll be able
[43:16] to send you some film this summer.
[43:18] Great Councilor Dale.
[43:20] Thank you Mayor. And and thank you Ben and Jim.
[43:23] I, I don't, mayor asked if you have any questions.
[43:27] I don't know what I would ask.
[43:29] All I have is a statement
[43:30] and it's, it's similar to Councillor Bloom.
[43:32] I just, I I am so deeply
[43:36] and grateful for all the work that that ASAP has done and,
[43:39] and I've been able to follow along
[43:41] and watch all of the good work
[43:43] and the constant work that goes into to what you do
[43:47] and the fundraising and just the care
[43:51] and you know, listening to the mayor as well
[43:55] as the conversations we've had,
[43:57] and I I I routinely try to remind my kids,
[44:01] I heard this several years ago
[44:03] and it, it goes something like this on your very,
[44:07] very worst day that you could possibly imagine.
[44:11] There are at least 3 billion people on the face
[44:15] of this earth that would consider their prayers answered
[44:17] to trade places with you.
[44:20] And when we think about what we talk about, the good work
[44:24] that happens up here that we're trying to do it,
[44:27] it pales in comparison to the work
[44:30] that's being done in places that, that
[44:33] we have the luxury of.
[44:34] And, and this, this pains me to say,
[44:36] to not even think about on a regular basis
[44:39] because we're worried about the little things
[44:40] that we're worried about, whether it's stuck in traffic
[44:43] or a whatever.
[44:45] And and I also wanted to share a little bit about
[44:50] when I received the call from Mayor Graham
[44:53] and she, she answers the phone and,
[44:57] and it, it was a tone unlike anything I've heard when our
[45:00] conversations, which she, she says, I need to talk
[45:02] to you about something and I could tell it
[45:04] what was coming was serious.
[45:07] And, and, and she explained and,
[45:09] and we had a, we had a healthy conversation to start about,
[45:13] about safety and about logistics and, and,
[45:20] but if I know Mayor Graham, there is zero chance
[45:23] that she turns from anything, she goes right into this
[45:26] to help people and, and to,
[45:30] and to bring our, our values and her leadership.
[45:33] And I, I just am I'm so incredibly proud of you, mayor,
[45:38] for making that trip and,
[45:40] and the connection that you brought halfway across the world
[45:45] to another community that is, that if anything needs,
[45:49] of course they need rebuilding and they need infrastructure
[45:52] and they need tools, but they need hope and they need love
[45:56] and they need connection and community.
[45:58] And in addition, Ben trip number six and,
[46:01] and everyone that has been involved in the mayor, I just,
[46:04] I wanna say that, that when you got back,
[46:09] I exhaled and I was, you know, we, we
[46:13] and we were in communication while you were there and,
[46:15] and it wasn't quite fine.
[46:17] My iPhone like it is with my daughter, but,
[46:19] but I was so incredibly proud
[46:24] to be part of this community
[46:25] and thank you so much for going, that just means so much.
[46:30] And for, for anyone that doubted whether that was
[46:34] appropriate, I highly suggest
[46:38] that you watch tonight's council meeting over and over
[46:40] and over until you do not have any more doubt.
[46:43] This is what governments do, this is
[46:48] what people do, this is what communities do for one another.
[46:51] And thank you so much to
[46:52] everybody that was involved in this.
[46:55] Thank you Councillor Duque.
[46:59] Thank you Mayor. I don't have a question.
[47:02] I have just a brief voice of gratitude.
[47:05] Thank you both and the other two gentlemen in the audience
[47:08] for all that you do.
[47:10] And it truly gives me a sense of gratitude.
[47:12] Keep up the good work Ukrainian people are
[47:16] resilient and awesome.
[47:18] We can all take a page. So thank you so much
[47:23] Councilor Hansen.
[47:25] Thank you Mayor. I'm really grateful that you went
[47:27] and to represent and I'm sure it was a tough trip,
[47:31] but we are all behind you and we thank you
[47:34] and I appreciate you coming forward
[47:37] and speaking with us this evening.
[47:39] But really the efforts for the last two
[47:41] and a half years are really not going unnoticed.
[47:43] And when you came here and you told us that you aspired
[47:46] to the dump truck, I I I was confident that, that
[47:50] that was, that was, that was the mission
[47:53] and, and you would do it.
[47:55] And hearing now all the other important infrastructure tools
[48:00] that you've been able to bring back to the community,
[48:02] I'm just so proud of you and the work that you've done.
[48:04] And my heart goes out to the Ukrainian people and,
[48:08] and I, I haven't forgot,
[48:10] but as we get busy in our daily lives as as,
[48:13] as it's been said, it's, it's, it's good
[48:16] and healthy to be reminded of, of the struggle.
[48:20] And the struggle is real. So appreciate you and,
[48:22] and thank you very much and I, I really wish the rebuilding
[48:26] and the conflict ending like tomorrow
[48:30] and the rebuilding continue.
[48:32] So thank you
[48:34] Councilor Kaplan.
[48:36] Thank, thank you Mayor. I don't have a whole lot to add.
[48:39] Thank you to the eloquent words of those who spoke
[48:42] before me, particularly Councilor Dale and Councillor Bloom
[48:46] and, and both to you, Jim and, and and Ben.
[48:49] Thank you so much for all that you do.
[48:51] I think all of us have a, you know, a different lens of
[48:55] how we look at these things.
[48:56] I have a personal lens.
[48:57] My, one of my grandfathers was one
[49:00] of my grandparents was born in, in Ukraine
[49:03] and came to this country many years ago.
[49:06] I never met him. He died when my mother was 13.
[49:09] But I, I think about him and his family
[49:12] and I appreciate all that you're doing for, for, you know,
[49:16] our si sisters and brothers in, in Ukraine.
[49:19] So thank you very much.
[49:23] Councillor Sherell.
[49:24] Yeah, I don't know how I can follow all of that,
[49:26] but just thank you so much for your service.
[49:28] Not just the two of you, but the rest of your group
[49:30] and the people that you leave behind when you go
[49:33] and the people to support you and call you every day
[49:34] and say thank you and we love you.
[49:36] We're really lucky to have members like you in this room
[49:39] and in our community and I'm
[49:41] glad you made it back safe, mayor.
[49:43] Thank you. Say just one thing.
[49:46] This is a very key moment right now
[49:47] that I just heard on the way over here
[49:49] that the Senate is going to hopefully pass a bill
[49:53] for severe sanctions on Russia, which
[49:56] can totally change the tenor of this war
[49:59] and could potentially end it in short order.
[50:01] So now if there ever was a time
[50:03] to call your Congress people, whoever you know,
[50:06] and you guys have more influence
[50:08] 'cause you're, you're in the political sphere, please
[50:12] use your influence to, to make sure
[50:14] that the Senate doesn't get cold feet
[50:16] because this is a critical moment right now there 82
[50:19] senators have signed on for a bill
[50:21] of a hundred percent sanctions
[50:23] and that could totally change the tenor of this war.
[50:26] So now's the time to put the pressure
[50:28] on to make a difference.
[50:29] Yeah, thank you.
[50:31] And I, I would just like, once again,
[50:33] thank you Mayor Graham, thank you council members
[50:36] because you're bringing this to the forefront
[50:40] of this community certainly helps our fundraising efforts
[50:43] and without your support,
[50:44] I'm sure we couldn't have done it nearly as successful
[50:48] as we have been able to do it.
[50:50] So thank you.
[50:52] Thank you both safe travel's. Been
[51:08] we are now to public forum.
[51:14] We have 15 minutes for public forum
[51:16] and we have five people who have spoke, signed up
[51:19] to speak public forum is for any items
[51:22] that are not on the agenda for the evening.
[51:25] Generally I tell people how to sign up,
[51:29] but today with the agenda changes, I skipped,
[51:32] I missed that section.
[51:33] So if you're intending to speak tonight on something
[51:36] that is not on the agenda, can you please raise your hand
[51:40] so I know if we've got everyone?
[51:42] Okay. So what you'll like to, what you'll do ma'am, is
[51:44] to please go over and
[51:46] and get one of those sheets and fill it out.
[51:48] Yes, exactly. And bring it to Alyssa.
[51:50] And it looks like that'll make seven people who,
[51:53] who are have signed up to speak.
[51:54] So go ahead. Is that the last one?
[51:57] There's no more. There's no more. This one. Okay.
[52:02] So if the two of you can please get your papers in quickly.
[52:06] You don't want to, okay. Oh, you're here.
[52:10] Okay, great. So we'll go ahead and get started.
[52:13] Each person will have two
[52:16] and a half minutes to speak.
[52:19] You'll come up to this microphone here.
[52:21] You'll have a, a light display that tells you
[52:25] where you're at in your time.
[52:27] There's also going to be time up on the clock.
[52:29] When you get to, when you have 20 seconds left,
[52:31] you'll hear a chime and your light will turn
[52:33] to yellow from green.
[52:35] And then when you are out of time, it'll go to red
[52:38] and the time will will end on the clock
[52:41] and you'll hear another chime.
[52:43] At which point, please finish the sentence that you're on so
[52:45] that we can move on to the next person.
[52:48] The people who have signed up to speak are aero, Paul
[52:53] Mina, Debbie Swan,
[52:58] and Ashley Ro Roberts,
[53:02] and then Kathy Bowen Jones.
[53:03] And then we have one more person. So please go ahead.
[53:06] We'll start with Aguero. Are they here? Go ahead.
[53:19] Hi, a ****, you know I'm an Ashton resident.
[53:23] I'm here to comment on the recent discussions you guys have
[53:25] been having on the ELA expansions, the kind of control
[53:30] of who's allowed in what places in the city of Ashland.
[53:35] We're being told that this authority should be given
[53:37] to the police
[53:39] and that this authority can be used through people
[53:42] who are not even charged with anything
[53:46] just at the police owns accord.
[53:50] You heard from your chief of police saying
[53:53] that we should do this one
[53:54] 'cause Medford's doing it respectfully.
[53:56] That's a ******** argument.
[53:58] Another one is that there's no complaints that
[54:00] your current policies are not equitable.
[54:03] My personal experiences with the police here,
[54:06] I'm not gonna explain it on record,
[54:08] but I'm not gonna complain like that
[54:10] 'cause I've been profiled,
[54:13] I've been defecated by the police here.
[54:16] So yeah, if I'm being charged
[54:19] or something, I'm not gonna go complain to the police.
[54:21] And that's just not, that's not just me.
[54:23] That's many people of color here.
[54:25] That's many houses people here.
[54:27] So, and kind of like taking us out of like the bubble
[54:31] that we live here in Ashland, a lot, like,
[54:34] I'm sure you're all aware of the policies being passed in
[54:36] Washington DC right now.
[54:38] Who can be policed in what areas and who cannot.
[54:42] That's exactly what is happening right here.
[54:50] It's not just for houseless people too.
[54:53] Our freedom of speech,
[54:58] Ice being in our communities, people's right to protest
[55:01] that is being under attack.
[55:05] If you're giving police the authority to
[55:09] remove people based on their first amendment rights, you're,
[55:13] you're doing Trump's job for them.
[55:16] For him, you are giving the police more power
[55:22] on freedom of speech, who can beware
[55:26] with no actual convictions, just authority from the police.
[55:33] And I got 20 seconds.
[55:36] I'd also like, now that I'm here,
[55:39] I've written you all multiple emails about
[55:42] our police department being in circles with ice.
[55:46] I've asked you what kind of comments I can get from that.
[55:50] I haven't heard anything. We,
[55:53] our police department is in the same circles as ice
[55:56] and yeah, I would just like a response to that.
[55:59] So if you want Ashton
[56:02] to be a police city, do it.
[56:04] But just reevaluate the values you say the city
[56:07] of Ashton has, if you're gonna do that. Thanks.
[56:10] Thank you. Paul Mina,
[56:15] followed by Debbie Wan.
[56:17] My name's Paul Mina. I live in Ashland.
[56:20] I'd like to call your attention again to the, to
[56:22] what happened at, at the recent budget process,
[56:26] the 20 25, 20 27 budget.
[56:29] The, the city of Ashton, you,
[56:31] you violated some important principles.
[56:33] The council, the mayor, the, the city administrator, the,
[56:35] the city attorney, the police, the police chief.
[56:37] And, and one of those is the oath of office that you took,
[56:40] which was to support the city charter.
[56:43] And so lemme I just wanna call your attention to, to
[56:45] what happened during that budget process
[56:48] and how he violated the city charter.
[56:49] And I'm speaking about mayor
[56:51] Point of order.
[56:52] No, not yet. I I'd like to, I'd like
[56:55] to speak, I'd like to complete my thought.
[56:57] If I can, I can I get some time back on my clock there.
[57:00] I'm I'm being interrupted.
[57:01] I I would appreciate it if
[57:02] you could go ahead, give that time back. Yeah,
[57:04] If you can give him a little bit more time.
[57:05] I, I appreciate that. The Ashland Charter chapter eight,
[57:09] section six says, proceedings to be public.
[57:13] No action by the council shall have legal effect
[57:15] unless the motion for the action
[57:17] and the vote there on take place at
[57:19] proceedings open to the public.
[57:21] This council amended the budget that was approved
[57:25] by the Citizens Budget Committee
[57:27] and that amendment process was not open to the public.
[57:31] There was no public vote.
[57:33] You, I mean, you had the discussion in public,
[57:34] but there was no motion or public vote to make that change.
[57:38] You made a decision and, and you did not have a vote
[57:42] or a motion to make that decision.
[57:44] In chapter in section nine it says vote required except
[57:48] as this charter otherwise provides, the concurrence
[57:52] of a majority of the members
[57:53] of council present at a council meeting shall be necessary
[57:56] to decide any question before the council.
[57:59] You had a question before that council
[58:01] and that was the funding for the childcare grant program.
[58:04] You debated it, you talked about it, you gave instructions
[58:06] to the city administrator.
[58:07] And then at the budget meeting on June, on June 3rd,
[58:11] you simply assumed that a motion,
[58:14] in fact the Deputy Adminis administrator said
[58:17] that a motion had actually been, been taken on this.
[58:21] There was no motion, there was no vote,
[58:23] there was no public vote taken.
[58:24] You violated two important chapters
[58:27] of the charter in the processing of that amendment
[58:30] to the CBC.
[58:33] Okay. I I just wanna make that clear. There was no vote.
[58:36] And the charter explicitly says there's no carve out for,
[58:39] for changes to the Citizens' Budget Committee.
[58:42] There's no carve out there.
[58:44] You, you, you, you have to vote on every decision.
[58:46] The, the, the, their approved budget was on the table.
[58:49] You decided to change it,
[58:51] but you did not have a vote on that change.
[58:53] Every single time a resolution comes
[58:55] before the council, when you wanna change it,
[58:57] you vote on the amendment and then you vote on the issue.
[59:00] On the item as amended.
[59:02] Can I have a couple more seconds? I was interrupted by
[59:04] You.
[59:05] Were you added? She added time to your time Mr. Mina. Okay.
[59:08] I appreciate that. Thank you. And I thank you very much.
[59:10] I really have a problem with the way you all handled
[59:12] This.
[59:13] Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mina.
[59:14] Mayor. Point of order. Yes, I move to suspend the rules.
[59:17] Second. Yes. I'd like to address this.
[59:20] This has been coming up multiple times. Mr.
[59:22] Mina has been responded to on these claims.
[59:24] I would like an opportunity for the city attorney to respond
[59:27] to this publicly so
[59:28] that this misinformation does not continue.
[59:32] City Attorney. Thank you, mayor.
[59:42] I'm just looking for the exact date.
[59:45] This has come up numerous times
[59:48] and it looks like on,
[59:53] sorry, I'm trying to find the date here.
[59:56] On July 2nd, I responded to Mr.
[1:00:01] Mina and I will read that email as follows.
[1:00:03] I reviewed the email that you sit and study of council and
[1:00:06] provided my analysis back to them.
[1:00:07] I also had conversations with department heads
[1:00:10] and council members to address any
[1:00:11] follow-up questions they had.
[1:00:12] I will summarize very briefly for you.
[1:00:16] My interpretation was that the study session relating
[1:00:18] to the principle subject of a financial update was a
[1:00:20] perfectly legitimate time
[1:00:22] to discuss financial questions pertaining to the budget.
[1:00:25] Additionally, as a matter of state law, the absence
[1:00:27] of a subject from a notice does not preclude the governing
[1:00:30] body from discussing it.
[1:00:32] Under the Oregon Public Meetings law, the list
[1:00:36] of anticipated subject does not limit the ability
[1:00:38] of a governing body to consider additional subjects.
[1:00:41] CORS 1 92 0.640
[1:00:44] by consensus at a study session,
[1:00:46] the council may direct staff to act on other matters
[1:00:49] that do not require council decision
[1:00:51] by ordinance or resolution.
[1:00:53] That comes from Ashland Municipal Code
[1:00:55] 2.04020 C section one.
[1:01:00] In this case the budget resolution,
[1:01:02] or excuse me, in this case, the budget resolution
[1:01:04] that was noticed and eventually put forth had council's
[1:01:06] guidance and direction that included changes
[1:01:08] to not use the Reserve Fund
[1:01:10] and rather to take it from the additional funds released
[1:01:13] from the parks fee and then re-appropriate a portion from
[1:01:16] the HO homeless budget, which can get replenished
[1:01:19] as needed mid-year.
[1:01:21] That is what council voted on at the
[1:01:23] budget adoption meeting.
[1:01:25] There was no need for a motion to amend the budget
[1:01:27] because it was already discussed in prior sessions
[1:01:29] and included in the budget that they were presented
[1:01:32] to vote on per budget law.
[1:01:34] After the budget committee has approved the budget
[1:01:36] and a public hearing was held,
[1:01:38] the city council can make changes to the budget
[1:01:41] that was approved when adopting the budget.
[1:01:44] They do not have to go back to the
[1:01:46] CBC if the expenditure is under 10%,
[1:01:50] which it was not.
[1:01:53] Excuse me, which it was. And
[1:01:54] that comes from the local management budget
[1:01:57] manual, chapter 11.
[1:01:58] And also from ORS 2 9 4 0.456.
[1:02:02] Council more than sufficiently discussed the change in
[1:02:05] previous council sessions and right
[1:02:07] before the public hearing or at the public hearing.
[1:02:10] So it was clear and transparent
[1:02:11] before they voted on the adopted budget.
[1:02:14] Budget law provides
[1:02:15] that the Budget Council adopts can already have those
[1:02:19] changes in place and they can vote on it.
[1:02:21] That is what occurred. All members of the council
[1:02:24] and staff took your concerns seriously.
[1:02:26] And I provided responses to them to address them
[1:02:29] and explain the legal approach.
[1:02:30] Thank, thank you for bringing your
[1:02:32] concerns to the attention of the council.
[1:02:34] Thank you. We'll return to Public forum
[1:02:39] Debbie Wan.
[1:02:40] Debbie said to leave.
[1:02:42] Okay, then Ashley Roberts.
[1:02:54] Hello? Yes, yes. I'm Ashley Roberts.
[1:02:58] I'm here to comment also on the proposed changes
[1:03:01] to the police's exclusion zones downtown.
[1:03:05] So to the community, the current exclusion zone ordinance
[1:03:11] downtown states that if the police identify a person
[1:03:15] that has three
[1:03:17] or more violation qualifying charges,
[1:03:22] convictions, then they have the authority
[1:03:24] to remove certain people from downtown.
[1:03:27] And the police chief is trying to change it so that
[1:03:31] police will have the authority
[1:03:33] to remove people if they're just have
[1:03:37] certain violation charges without even being
[1:03:39] committed of a crime.
[1:03:43] And I have to speak honestly here,
[1:03:46] this policy is absolutely unhinged
[1:03:48] and city council, you need to understand this.
[1:03:51] The exclusion zone policies in place are already a violation
[1:03:55] of the constitutional right to exist in public spaces.
[1:03:58] But with this, a PD is trying
[1:04:00] to completely eliminate due process for unhoused people,
[1:04:03] the most vulnerable members of our community.
[1:04:06] It is unhinged to propose giving a PD the absolute power
[1:04:10] to remove whoever they want from the city without a criminal
[1:04:13] conviction who will hold a PD accountable.
[1:04:16] You have this list of violations
[1:04:18] that would justify removing people,
[1:04:20] but if there are no courts involved,
[1:04:22] what will stop Ashland cops from just like lying
[1:04:25] and saying that people were committing violations on the
[1:04:28] list when it isn't true?
[1:04:30] What will stop a PD from just removing whoever
[1:04:32] they want from downtown?
[1:04:35] Make no mistake, this is the exact same dynamic at play
[1:04:38] with Donald Trump and Ice.
[1:04:39] Donald Trump is giving ice the absolute power
[1:04:42] to remove anyone that they want from the country
[1:04:44] stripping away due process
[1:04:46] and not allowing those targeted
[1:04:47] to defend themselves in a court of law city council,
[1:04:51] you are in a position of power in which you could choose
[1:04:54] to do something to absolutely compassionately help the
[1:04:57] unhoused members of our community.
[1:04:59] Instead of trying to make their suffering invisible in the
[1:05:01] name of property value, you could remove the exclusion
[1:05:04] zones, move money and resources away from policing,
[1:05:07] and instead support evidence-based practices like harm
[1:05:10] reduction and affordable housing.
[1:05:12] However, if you instead approve this,
[1:05:14] you'll be worsening policies that attempt
[1:05:17] to hide homelessness rather than address its root causes.
[1:05:20] And you'll be voluntarily bringing Donald Trump's fascism
[1:05:23] and police violence to Ashland without him
[1:05:26] even asking you to do so.
[1:05:27] Donald Trump is building concentration camps
[1:05:30] for immigrants and homeless people.
[1:05:31] What will you do?
[1:05:33] Thank you. I will remind the audience
[1:05:36] that we do not have, we don't have shows
[1:05:40] of support in that way.
[1:05:42] If you are supportive of something, somebody says,
[1:05:44] the the universal sign of applause for,
[1:05:50] for sign language is, is something
[1:05:51] that this entire council can see
[1:05:53] and it stays within the decorum of the meeting.
[1:05:56] We now move the next people on are Kathy Bowen Jones,
[1:06:00] followed by Maggie Thompson.
[1:06:19] I am shorter than everyone else, I guess.
[1:06:22] Hi, I'm Kathy Bowen Jones and I've never done this before,
[1:06:25] but I taught high school at Ashen High for 37 years
[1:06:29] and I, I guess the kids are probably, if they're watching,
[1:06:33] they're going okay.
[1:06:34] She's got the timer that she gave us.
[1:06:36] So my, I'm here
[1:06:42] and I'm sure this is just a beginning
[1:06:44] and I will probably not say everything that I intend to,
[1:06:48] but I, I got into
[1:06:52] the city politics this year over the Kero Park subdivision
[1:06:57] and my great fear for fire safety, I don't live there.
[1:07:01] I own a home there that I rent to seniors
[1:07:04] and I live at the edge of the forest service.
[1:07:07] I'm very grateful to someone who's in this audience,
[1:07:12] Chris Chambers, for guiding me
[1:07:14] and my husband to be firewise for over the last 35 years.
[1:07:20] I have a great fear
[1:07:22] that we're not doing enough in our community
[1:07:26] and that we're on a collision course with infill
[1:07:30] and fire safety.
[1:07:33] And I think we've witnessed it intensely
[1:07:37] for the last five years all over the world.
[1:07:40] And we can't ignore it.
[1:07:43] And I'm not saying you need to fix it
[1:07:47] or our city administrators need to fix it
[1:07:50] or the planning commission needs to fix it.
[1:07:53] I think our whole community needs to come together.
[1:07:56] And I wanna give you a model in my mind.
[1:07:58] In the 1970s when the comprehensive plan was being planned
[1:08:03] for this community, I participated along with
[1:08:07] many other people in this community at Stevenson Union
[1:08:12] and there were great leaders in that room.
[1:08:15] We were all at tables.
[1:08:16] It took almost a year a very thoughtful
[1:08:21] and sometimes painful conversations
[1:08:25] because everybody knows better than everyone else
[1:08:28] what this community should look like.
[1:08:32] But we all live here.
[1:08:34] We love each other and we do not want
[1:08:38] to see anyone in this community harmed.
[1:08:41] I do not feel it's safe.
[1:08:43] I do not feel that what's happening in Kestrel Park is safe.
[1:08:47] I feel that we have a lot of communities
[1:08:49] that do not have two outlets
[1:08:52] of exit in this community.
[1:08:55] And so I'm done.
[1:08:57] But I would like you to think with your team
[1:09:00] about bringing more of us together without timers
[1:09:04] so we can be thoughtful together in a space.
[1:09:07] Thank you. And really get the work done that we need.
[1:09:09] Thank you to do. Thank you
[1:09:11] Maggie Thompson.
[1:09:27] Hi. If I need to, I would seed my time
[1:09:30] to my neighbor Dan DeRoo because he wrote a letter
[1:09:33] and was supposed to be able
[1:09:36] to read it at this meeting tonight.
[1:09:38] Is he not on your list? He's not on my list.
[1:09:41] Well, he should be and I'll just step
[1:09:43] away and he can What's that?
[1:09:44] Read his, he's under the fire plan.
[1:09:47] Oh, he's, he's signed up to speak later when we get
[1:09:50] to the community Wildfire protection plan.
[1:09:52] Can we restart her time? Sorry,
[1:09:55] I could speak to it now.
[1:09:58] This this sir, this time is the public forum time,
[1:10:01] which is for issues that are not on the agenda.
[1:10:03] Okay. You're signed up for later on in the evening when we
[1:10:06] talk about the community wildfire protection plan.
[1:10:08] Go ahead ma'am. Mine is concerned about the
[1:10:11] kestrel development too.
[1:10:13] We live at the top of the hill right at the edge
[1:10:16] of where the grass is.
[1:10:18] And my husband
[1:10:20] and I have a plan that when there's a level one evac having
[1:10:24] to do with the North Mountain neighborhood,
[1:10:26] we will be packed and gone
[1:10:28] because there's no sense in sitting around
[1:10:31] and waiting to see if we can get the out, get the hell out
[1:10:34] of our house, which is one block off of North Mountain.
[1:10:38] There are two exits out of the whole, the Keal units below
[1:10:43] the Mountain Meadows units
[1:10:46] and the, the high rises at Mountain Meadows
[1:10:49] where 227 people live all of that time.
[1:10:54] I mean, all of those people have
[1:10:55] to get out on Mountain Avenue and guess what?
[1:10:58] Mountain Avenue is gonna be bumper to bumper.
[1:11:01] Nobody's gonna let you out.
[1:11:03] So it's just, it's just awesomely crazy
[1:11:08] to allow this dense infill that they're planning
[1:11:12] that Kyle Taylor is planning to build, you know,
[1:11:15] 20 feet away from all of the houses at the top with
[1:11:20] no new roads that add any access.
[1:11:24] So we're really concerned about that.
[1:11:27] Many of the people at Mountain Meadows
[1:11:29] and in the, in the Fair Oaks neighborhood talk about, well,
[1:11:34] you know, we'll just burn in place
[1:11:36] 'cause many people don't drive anymore.
[1:11:38] You know, the people at Mountain Meadows don't have cars
[1:11:42] and they're, you know, they're walking
[1:11:44] with canes and walkers.
[1:11:46] So the city re really needs to, I feel, rethink
[1:11:50] that density that Mr. Taylor is being allowed to develop
[1:11:55] right behind all the mountain meadows
[1:11:58] houses at the top of the hill.
[1:12:00] And I don't have anything more to say. Thank you. Thank you.
[1:12:11] So we've postponed the public hearing
[1:12:14] and also the second reading on our agenda.
[1:12:17] So we move now to the emergency shelter
[1:12:20] contract agreement or amendment.
[1:12:22] Sabrina.
[1:12:27] Thank you Mayor Tonight, director Flury is here
[1:12:29] to talk about the contract
[1:12:31] for the construction at the 2200 Ashland Street facility.
[1:12:35] If you remember, council gave direction
[1:12:38] to include several things.
[1:12:40] One was to make it permanently
[1:12:43] usable for a severe weather shelter.
[1:12:45] The other was to include showers, laundry, and storage.
[1:12:49] So tonight we have
[1:12:50] before you the construction contract to move forward
[1:12:53] post the design phase.
[1:12:55] Currently we're still on track to be open in November
[1:12:59] for the winter weather for this severe weather shelter.
[1:13:02] And with that I'll hand it over to Scott
[1:13:04] Presentation complete.
[1:13:10] So before the council tonight is a request
[1:13:12] to approve a construction contract amendment
[1:13:16] with Outlier Construction Company
[1:13:18] for emergency shelter upgrades to 2200 Ashland Street
[1:13:24] is part of your responsibility
[1:13:26] as the local contract review board.
[1:13:29] We'll get into some of the details of what the project plans
[1:13:33] for improvement to meet code requirements
[1:13:36] and facilitate its opening based on the master
[1:13:39] plan recommendations.
[1:13:42] So here is a general timeline of what's transpired.
[1:13:45] Over the last couple years,
[1:13:47] the shelter was acquired in 2023.
[1:13:51] It was used as a low barrier shelter in that winter.
[1:13:54] Then an ad hoc committee was established
[1:13:56] and developed a master plan of which the council accepted
[1:14:00] that master plan.
[1:14:02] Those guiding recommendations in the master plan were then
[1:14:05] used by staff to develop the solicitation documents
[1:14:09] for a progressive design build project
[1:14:13] to upgrade the shelter, to meet building code requirements,
[1:14:17] including fire life safety requirements.
[1:14:20] Then monies were requested in the budget process
[1:14:23] that council approved as well.
[1:14:25] So we have performed the solicitation
[1:14:29] and it was approved by the legal department
[1:14:33] and as I said, it was a progressive design build
[1:14:36] and we did it that way in order to facilitate the kind
[1:14:39] of narrow timeframe.
[1:14:41] And for those who don't know,
[1:14:42] a design build project brings on a mechanical electrical,
[1:14:46] plumbing engineers, civil site engineers, architects
[1:14:50] and the construction contractor.
[1:14:52] And they all work together to develop a schematic design
[1:14:57] and construction documentation for the planned improvements.
[1:15:01] And then once they develop those construction documents
[1:15:05] of which we've submitted to the building department,
[1:15:08] the building department has reviewed those
[1:15:10] and approved those for a building permit.
[1:15:14] The contractor develops
[1:15:15] what they call a guaranteed maximum price
[1:15:19] and as part of that guaranteed maximum price,
[1:15:21] that covers all of the construction activities plan
[1:15:24] to upgrade that facility.
[1:15:26] So we've gone through those steps currently
[1:15:30] and that's what's before the council tonight is
[1:15:33] that construction cost amendment to our base
[1:15:37] schematic design and construction document contract
[1:15:40] that we've approved internally.
[1:15:42] As part of this process, I, as the city manager said,
[1:15:47] you know, the improvements are developing new restroom
[1:15:50] facilities with shower, new laundry facilities, washer
[1:15:54] and dryer facilities in the facil in the building itself.
[1:15:58] And these facilities per the code
[1:16:03] allow a certain level of occupancy within the building.
[1:16:06] So the main portion of the shelter in
[1:16:08] what we call the garage area, was designed to allow
[1:16:12] for an occupant load overnight load of 32 occupants
[1:16:16] with two shelter staff.
[1:16:18] There is also two overflow areas designed
[1:16:21] and the facility as well that can allow another 22 occupants
[1:16:26] and two more additional staff
[1:16:29] potentially requiring additional outside restroom facilities
[1:16:33] and shower facilities as part of that.
[1:16:35] The code, I believe it is nine people per
[1:16:41] shower or nine people per restroom
[1:16:45] and 10 people per shower, vice versa.
[1:16:47] And so that's what they use
[1:16:48] to establish those occupancy loads for the building
[1:16:52] and also to meet fire life safety requirements.
[1:16:55] They'll be the installation
[1:16:56] of fire sprinklers throughout the whole facility itself.
[1:17:00] And then as part of our design process,
[1:17:03] we talked about alternate additions into the design scope.
[1:17:09] And the first alternate addition is the adding
[1:17:13] of a new HVAC system to provide for adequate heating
[1:17:17] and cooling in the primary garage shelter area.
[1:17:21] The current units are undersized
[1:17:24] and don't provide adequate heating
[1:17:27] and cooling for the whole facility.
[1:17:28] So the recommendation as part of that design process was to
[1:17:32] add an additional unit.
[1:17:35] And part of the other scope is to recommend to replace two
[1:17:39] of the existing units that are essentially end of life.
[1:17:43] They were installed in 93
[1:17:45] and there's concern of keeping those going
[1:17:48] and having a catastrophic failure at some point,
[1:17:50] knowing our luck during when the shelter's open.
[1:17:53] So the recommendation is to replace those.
[1:17:56] There'll be new a DA access from the exterior,
[1:17:59] so a DA parking, it will be leveled at grade
[1:18:03] and a DA access into the facility itself.
[1:18:07] And so, as I said,
[1:18:09] we've received the code review approval from the building
[1:18:12] department and the building permit has also been approved.
[1:18:16] All of the documentation has been submitted by architect
[1:18:18] and outlier and been reviewed by our building official
[1:18:21] and green-lighted for the next phase of construction.
[1:18:24] And so that's what brings us here tonight
[1:18:26] for contract approval for that construction phase.
[1:18:30] So here's a look at the overall building
[1:18:32] layout that was in your packet.
[1:18:34] As you can see in what we call the garage area,
[1:18:37] there's the addition of the fire riser room
[1:18:40] for the fire sprinkler structure, a restroom
[1:18:43] with shower facility, a washer
[1:18:45] and dryer outside that restroom, kind
[1:18:47] of a utility kitchen area.
[1:18:50] And then the actual open space shelter area,
[1:18:55] there's a firewall break between that garage area
[1:18:59] and the main portion of the building
[1:19:01] that's accessed through a door.
[1:19:03] And then within that middle section of the building,
[1:19:07] they are restructuring the existing restrooms to allow
[1:19:10] for an additional restroom.
[1:19:12] So we go from two restrooms in the facility to four all
[1:19:16] with showers and two, the two of them
[1:19:19] or three of them are a d, a accessible restrooms.
[1:19:21] And then the addition of a washer
[1:19:24] and dryer within the main body of the facility.
[1:19:26] And then also kind of galley style kitchen
[1:19:30] within that facility.
[1:19:31] And you can see there's two areas that allow
[1:19:34] for additional overflow common area here in the main space
[1:19:39] and the common area here to the east.
[1:19:42] Then all the offices, you know, are available
[1:19:45] for potential other uses for the facility itself.
[1:19:49] And then as part
[1:19:50] of the project they'll supply storage lockers for storage
[1:19:54] of anything that gets brought into
[1:19:57] the shelter when it's operational.
[1:20:01] And as I said, as part of the structure of the contract,
[1:20:04] we talked about those alternates.
[1:20:06] And one of the alternates was the addition of
[1:20:10] a new HVAC system to provide
[1:20:13] for adequate heating and cooling.
[1:20:15] The other addition was to run underground utility to an,
[1:20:20] what we call kind of an RV pedestal
[1:20:22] that could be potentially used in the future for laundry,
[1:20:26] shower, restroom, hookup, RV style to the
[1:20:31] west of the facility itself
[1:20:33] and what would be kind of the grass area itself.
[1:20:38] And so we broke it out into potential options
[1:20:41] for the council to discuss the base
[1:20:44] guaranteed maximum price is the facility improvements
[1:20:47] themselves, the A DA, the fire, the laundry, the restrooms,
[1:20:51] and that's the 856,000.
[1:20:55] The addition of 60,000 for the new
[1:20:59] HVAC unit would bring you to nine 17
[1:21:02] and the addition of the HVAC system
[1:21:06] and the RV pedestal with power would bring you up to
[1:21:09] that 9 47 amount.
[1:21:14] And I think really that's kind of the nuts and bolts.
[1:21:17] I know there'll be some questions about the system
[1:21:20] and we're trying to still meet that kind
[1:21:24] of November timeframe to open up the facility.
[1:21:27] So we're,
[1:21:30] we are tight on the schedule from outlier's perspective
[1:21:34] to meet that, but they are working with our sub-consultants
[1:21:37] and their vendors to kind of hold to that schedule
[1:21:41] as part of this overall process. Councillor
[1:21:45] Dale.
[1:21:46] Thank you mayor. Thanks Scott, I appreciate that.
[1:21:48] Couple questions. I think you partially answered
[1:21:51] my second one right then, which was,
[1:21:54] I'll just, I'll phrase it this way.
[1:21:56] What would you say is the probability of it completing
[1:22:00] or what is, you said by November?
[1:22:03] So I was gonna ask when would it be ready to go,
[1:22:05] but you said potentially November
[1:22:07] and so maybe I'll just look for a probability of that.
[1:22:09] Number two is, is I'm
[1:22:12] and this to to the best you No
[1:22:17] it's a heating and cooling shelter.
[1:22:19] Why was heating and cooling an option or an alternate?
[1:22:21] I mean I think that wouldn't that just be like table stakes?
[1:22:24] Yeah, so what we found out when they looked at the
[1:22:27] existing units and talked to their contractor, they
[1:22:32] decided that the existing structure,
[1:22:35] the units didn't provide the level of cooling
[1:22:38] and heating of today's standards in that garage area.
[1:22:43] And so that was the recommendation
[1:22:45] to add an additional unit.
[1:22:46] It is, it does have heat
[1:22:48] and cool in it, there's two registers that feed
[1:22:51] that garage area
[1:22:53] but based on the size of the facility itself
[1:22:55] and the existing units, their
[1:22:58] HVAC system contractor recommended an additional unit
[1:23:02] to bring it up to what we would say today's standards are.
[1:23:05] And then when we first began this discussion,
[1:23:08] we didn't anticipate replacing the existing units
[1:23:11] but our facility staff made that recommendation
[1:23:15] because they are from 1983.
[1:23:17] And then our concern, as I said, of a system failure,
[1:23:21] you know, when they are loaded during winter at any time
[1:23:24] and then we have a non-operational unit
[1:23:26] and we're kind of scrambling on a temporary basis
[1:23:29] to add space heaters to the facility while we try to go out
[1:23:32] and get bids to replace the existing system.
[1:23:35] So that's why that was added in as part of
[1:23:37] that design process.
[1:23:40] It's for the schedule, the RFP
[1:23:45] determined or laid out November 1st was the anticipated
[1:23:49] opening date of the facility itself.
[1:23:53] I think right now based on our discussions with outlier,
[1:23:56] we could probably be potentially
[1:23:59] based on the outcome tonight, within one to two weeks of
[1:24:02] that I have to talk to them about schedule two
[1:24:06] 'cause there are probably some things
[1:24:07] that they could do while the shelter could potentially be
[1:24:11] open that wouldn't impact operations.
[1:24:14] There's probably some logistics that we can work on from
[1:24:17] facility improvements that would still allow that.
[1:24:20] Great, thank you so much Scott. Councilor Bloom.
[1:24:23] Yeah, thank you. So my question is kind of around budget.
[1:24:26] So once construction is completed,
[1:24:29] there's obviously operational expenses associated
[1:24:32] and those aren't really optional, right?
[1:24:33] So you've got utilities, janitorial, supervision,
[1:24:36] security, facility management.
[1:24:38] If we move forward, those become permanent obligations.
[1:24:41] So my question is how much will this cost to operate
[1:24:43] before we commit nearly a million
[1:24:45] dollars to finish building it?
[1:24:46] Do we have estimates on that?
[1:24:49] So our intent would be to contract
[1:24:51] with a service provider like we've done before.
[1:24:53] So we do have money budgeted for that we currently pay for
[1:24:56] and have budgeted for the utilities,
[1:24:58] the phone line, et cetera.
[1:25:00] So I think, you know, those costs depending on, you know,
[1:25:03] the partnerships that we develop for the other side
[1:25:05] of the building beyond the severe weather shelter are kind
[1:25:08] of to be determined.
[1:25:09] But you know, my recommendation would be that there is an,
[1:25:12] an agreement with whoever is in that building
[1:25:14] and part of that cost obviously is gonna be paid by them
[1:25:19] as leasers or utilizers of the space. Quick
[1:25:22] Follow up.
[1:25:23] So, okay, so trying to kind of understand this,
[1:25:27] so it's let's build it then we'll figure out
[1:25:29] how much the budget's gonna be.
[1:25:30] We'll figure out what money we can get out of providers
[1:25:33] that would pay to rent spaces
[1:25:36] and that money would be coming out of our,
[1:25:38] our homelessness fund essentially, right?
[1:25:39] Correct. So that money then wouldn't be able to be used
[1:25:42] for other services
[1:25:43] or other potential options to help the unhoused? Correct.
[1:25:46] So it would be, you know, council's discretions.
[1:25:49] So right now that money is used for kind
[1:25:51] of infrastructure on the dusted online
[1:25:53] and then for contracting for severe weather shelter at this
[1:25:56] Point.
[1:25:57] So we're going all in on this and then that's,
[1:25:59] That's it.
[1:26:00] And if I may, the council has already made the decision
[1:26:02] To move forward with this, which is
[1:26:04] what the contracting element is.
[1:26:07] The, the, the reason that staff has done this design work
[1:26:10] and engaged in this contract
[1:26:12] with this construction company is
[1:26:14] because this council directed them to do that.
[1:26:16] And the next step in this process is the, this
[1:26:21] second ad hoc committee that is being put put forward.
[1:26:25] They're going to be looking at the larger property
[1:26:28] and the rest of the facilities that will be built around it.
[1:26:31] But as you can see from this design that we have here,
[1:26:34] there are a number of offices
[1:26:36] that have been protected in their current state so
[1:26:39] that other providers can come in.
[1:26:42] I think that that maybe, maybe it would be good to speak to
[1:26:44] what that process will be to, to identify
[1:26:48] what service providers will be offered space in
[1:26:50] that building.
[1:26:53] Yeah, I think using the ad hocs plan for the site, right,
[1:26:58] the city would look to, you know, RFP
[1:27:01] or work with our partners to identify services
[1:27:04] that are not currently here that should be here
[1:27:07] or I know that there is some need for more space from some
[1:27:09] of the service providers that are already here.
[1:27:11] So there would be, you know, a formal lease agreement
[1:27:15] 'cause legal's sitting here, you know, formal documents
[1:27:18] that would outline, you know, expectations about the use
[1:27:21] of the building as well as the cost of,
[1:27:23] you know, being in that space.
[1:27:25] Point of clarification, mayor, something,
[1:27:27] something you said, yeah, we agreed to to look at this
[1:27:29] but this council could decide that this isn't satisfactory
[1:27:31] and not vote on this contract.
[1:27:33] Correct.
[1:27:35] Yeah. Thank
[1:27:36] You Councillor Kaplan.
[1:27:38] Great. Thank, thank you mayor and thank you Scott.
[1:27:42] We, when we, I mean we bought this,
[1:27:45] we purchased this building now two, two years ago
[1:27:50] and we knew that there was going to be, it was
[1:27:52] for the specific purpose of severe weather shelter
[1:27:55] and other services that could be provided for emergencies
[1:28:00] or for homeless services.
[1:28:02] It was a unanimous decision by the council at that point.
[1:28:04] We knew there were going to be, there was going
[1:28:05] to be some needed infrastructure improvements
[1:28:08] and then also some operating costs associated with that.
[1:28:10] But we decided that we needed to do that.
[1:28:12] So I really appreciate you coming forward today
[1:28:16] with this contract and really working creatively to try
[1:28:18] to find a way to get it done, you know, as low,
[1:28:21] at low a cost as possible
[1:28:23] and also as quickly as possible to make sure
[1:28:26] that it's available for this next winter.
[1:28:28] I mean, I'm very focused on making sure that this gets,
[1:28:32] that the garage space,
[1:28:34] which will be more than a garage space,
[1:28:35] will be a lot nicer than just a garage space like it was
[1:28:37] last time will be available when the weather gets really
[1:28:41] cold again, according to this council's direction and
[1:28:45] and resolution of
[1:28:46] to open a severe weather shelter when the temperature dips
[1:28:49] below 32 degrees.
[1:28:52] So my, my question really is about the heating
[1:28:55] and cooling facility in the, in the shelter space.
[1:29:00] The fir fir the primary shelter space, the,
[1:29:02] the formerly garage space, I'll call it, that's a new unit.
[1:29:06] We had a conversation about this, that that's a new unit
[1:29:10] because the existing units are,
[1:29:14] the mechanical engineers determined that, that they're
[1:29:18] working pretty hard to try to get there.
[1:29:21] That the space is heated. Heated or cooled.
[1:29:24] But we have a, an administrative policy in this city
[1:29:28] that says that we don't put in
[1:29:32] natural gas fuel equipment that emits carbon
[1:29:37] and the that's been specked,
[1:29:38] that particular unit has been specked
[1:29:40] to be a natural gas unit
[1:29:42] because the other two units are natural gas.
[1:29:44] So my question really is what would it,
[1:29:47] do they all need to be the same?
[1:29:49] Could we spec that new unit that is a new unit?
[1:29:53] It's not, you know, there yet, could we not add
[1:29:57] to our carbon footprint by specking that
[1:30:00] with a high efficiency electric heat pump system instead
[1:30:03] of a a natural gas unit?
[1:30:05] That's my first question.
[1:30:09] Yeah, we can partition that structure out
[1:30:13] and look at, have, have outlier work
[1:30:17] with their HVAC engineers to develop
[1:30:21] and spec a heat pump for the additional cooling
[1:30:25] and heating needs for the facility
[1:30:27] and what the electrical loading would look like
[1:30:29] and the electrical connections for that as a kind
[1:30:32] of a standalone process.
[1:30:35] So right now as part of this,
[1:30:37] we have this guaranteed maximum price.
[1:30:39] I'll get into the weeds a little bit here,
[1:30:41] but some of these things are not fully informally designed.
[1:30:46] It's a system, it's a hot water heater,
[1:30:50] it's this and this.
[1:30:52] The subcontractors then formally design what that component
[1:30:58] looks like and how it gets installed
[1:31:00] and then they take it from there and get it permitted.
[1:31:03] So we can look at it
[1:31:04] as the one unit could be a standalone package
[1:31:09] and so that alternate would be $60,000 to add
[1:31:14] that additional unit.
[1:31:16] The cost for electric versus natural grass
[1:31:21] and the basic equipment of the system is relatively similar.
[1:31:25] Your additional cost is gonna be the electrical wiring
[1:31:28] and conduit and any sort of upgrades to the panel
[1:31:31] that would be required.
[1:31:32] So for one unit it would be relatively small
[1:31:36] and we still need to work through the
[1:31:37] costing with outlier on that.
[1:31:40] I know that and speaking with them to do all three,
[1:31:45] the cost would be generally the same for the equipment,
[1:31:48] but you're looking at 85,000
[1:31:51] to do the electrical system upgrades
[1:31:53] and that's kind of a, a surface level look.
[1:31:56] Panel upgrades, conduit upgrades, some demolition
[1:31:59] that would need to occur in the facility to run that conduit
[1:32:02] to all three locations for those units.
[1:32:05] So we can partition that out for sure
[1:32:08] and task outlier with one
[1:32:11] and then work as a sidestream on the other two
[1:32:14] potential moving forward.
[1:32:17] They operate, you know,
[1:32:18] and maybe that's one of those logistic things
[1:32:21] that those don't get changed out.
[1:32:23] You know, by that November 1st deadline we have adequate
[1:32:26] heating and cooling installed with that third unit
[1:32:28] for the garage space and then the other two get replaced
[1:32:33] outside of kind of our schedule threshold
[1:32:35] that we've established.
[1:32:37] Okay. A follow up? Yeah. Great. Yeah, thanks.
[1:32:39] Thanks Scott. That's helpful.
[1:32:41] I, I know that there's also currently a,
[1:32:46] an electric hot water heater in the building.
[1:32:49] You, we had a conversation about this.
[1:32:50] There's minimal water heating needs in the current space.
[1:32:55] There are three wa sinks that have hot water.
[1:32:58] So there's, so part of the spec is to actually put in a,
[1:33:01] a larger water heater that can heat the showers as well.
[1:33:07] And I know that you told me earlier that that's not,
[1:33:09] not been speced yet, whether that's electric or, or
[1:33:13] or gas, that that could also be go,
[1:33:16] that could also be specked to be an electric
[1:33:18] as well in order to comply with our administrative policy.
[1:33:20] Not to use carbon emitting equipment in the, in the building
[1:33:25] That could be specked as an electric cot, water heater.
[1:33:28] And it's hard with this little pointer here.
[1:33:30] But yeah, that green storage area is
[1:33:35] the design plants call it the utility closet
[1:33:37] and that's where the new hot water heater will go.
[1:33:40] And so this area where the bathrooms
[1:33:43] and showers are going is all gonna get reconstructed
[1:33:46] with new electrical and plumbing.
[1:33:48] So would be, you know, in line with kind
[1:33:51] of the project scope to run power
[1:33:53] to power an electric water heater in that utility closet.
[1:33:56] We just need to provide outlier with directions so
[1:33:59] that they can provide their subs with that direction
[1:34:01] And, and then just to follow it.
[1:34:03] So which would save also if it's not gas, you don't need
[1:34:05] to perforate the membrane, the, the the ceiling
[1:34:09] and then then the membrane roof in order to do an exhaust.
[1:34:13] Yeah, you wouldn't need the venting. You
[1:34:14] Wouldn't need the venting for an electric.
[1:34:16] And then as have one tiny little thing,
[1:34:18] there's a door that's been bothering me.
[1:34:19] I don't, it seems like a door to nowhere.
[1:34:22] It's, I dunno if you can see it on there just above the,
[1:34:25] on the west, on the garage side, just
[1:34:27] above the green storage, there's a door.
[1:34:29] Where does that go? It seems
[1:34:31] to go into a little closet from the outside.
[1:34:33] That's the fire riser for the sprinkler system.
[1:34:37] So they're installing a fire vault
[1:34:41] outside the parking lot area
[1:34:42] and running the fire line into the building to a fire riser
[1:34:46] and from there it goes to the sprinkler system.
[1:34:48] Got it. Throughout the whole facility
[1:34:50] Itself.
[1:34:51] So it's not an egress door?
[1:34:51] No, it's it's a utility closet.
[1:34:54] Okay. Thank you very much. Sorry. Yeah,
[1:34:56] And this is kind of the schematic design, the one
[1:35:00] the permit drawings in your packet as part of
[1:35:02] that guaranteed get into more of those details of
[1:35:05] what gets installed in those locations.
[1:35:07] Thank you
[1:35:08] Councilor Hanson.
[1:35:12] Thank you Marion. Thank you Scott.
[1:35:14] This is the, this is the design.
[1:35:16] I think that that checks the boxes.
[1:35:19] You know, there's offices for regional partnerships,
[1:35:23] you know, it, it meets, it meets what we ask for.
[1:35:27] I appreciate the attention to detail
[1:35:30] and meeting our climate goals and focusing on fuel sources.
[1:35:34] I think that's important and I appreciate you bringing up
[1:35:36] that in the conversation.
[1:35:38] I'm curious though with, with the new heating
[1:35:41] and air system, are we going to be able to filter the air?
[1:35:45] I know that the, the heating
[1:35:47] and cooling shelter is something that our
[1:35:51] other vulnerable populations, the housed are going
[1:35:54] to be visiting our heating and cooling shelter
[1:35:56] and during smoke season I think it's gonna be, you know,
[1:36:00] super important that we have our infrastructure in.
[1:36:03] So in these discussions, are you keen to HIPAA filters
[1:36:07] or whatever kind of air filtration system we need to do
[1:36:10] to make this, you know, truly a disaster resilient hub?
[1:36:15] Well sort of, I know it from city practice.
[1:36:19] So what we've done in the past from a city operational
[1:36:22] standpoint is during smoke season when we do have smoke in
[1:36:25] the valleys, we change out all the filters within
[1:36:28] the city facilities.
[1:36:30] I think they're called Merv four filters.
[1:36:32] So they have a finer micron filtration point
[1:36:36] that filters out more particulate matter in the system.
[1:36:39] So that's kind of our basic operating protocol is
[1:36:43] to install those filters
[1:36:45] during smoke season when we have smoke in the valley.
[1:36:48] So that would be the same for this facility.
[1:36:50] You know, from our facility operational standpoint,
[1:36:53] we haven't discussed, you know,
[1:36:55] truly like an air purification filtration system.
[1:37:00] As part of that we're kind of falling back to managing it
[1:37:03] through the appropriate installation of filters.
[1:37:05] Okay. I'm just wondering if there's a,
[1:37:09] there's a heat pump system that has filtration
[1:37:14] and if not it, it already has an HVAC system
[1:37:18] which can monitor to a certain extent air quality.
[1:37:22] But I would just like to put that on the, on the list.
[1:37:26] And then my second question is the pad,
[1:37:29] I was here January 1st, 97
[1:37:32] and hiked up to count wells
[1:37:35] to get water from the National Guard when we had our flood.
[1:37:39] And when I, when I think of the pad
[1:37:41] and I think of this new ad hoc committee that's going
[1:37:45] to be paying attention to the exterior
[1:37:46] and the opportunities that this facility might have
[1:37:49] for residents in an, you know, greater emergency.
[1:37:52] I'm just wondering is the, is the pad
[1:37:58] intended to be like, you know, base camp for,
[1:38:02] for a natural disaster resiliency hub
[1:38:05] or is is, you know, I'm just wondering if we should,
[1:38:08] if we should you know, either take it off the board
[1:38:10] or put it on the board with a little bit more infrastructure
[1:38:14] or just could you describe
[1:38:16] what the intention is of that pad?
[1:38:18] So there's two RV pads a little different than like,
[1:38:20] you know yeah resiliency hub there there's two components.
[1:38:23] One, you know the intent as part of the base price is
[1:38:27] to have the in utilities for that installed
[1:38:30] to the exterior wall.
[1:38:32] The additional price is actually trenched across the parking
[1:38:35] lot to install that riser.
[1:38:37] When we talked about it with outlier,
[1:38:40] the overall intent I think,
[1:38:42] and the city manager can correct me if I'm wrong,
[1:38:44] but was to provide for a higher level of ability to meander
[1:38:49] through a bigger emergency event
[1:38:52] by having additional resources be able
[1:38:54] to connect to utilities.
[1:38:56] And one of the things we talked about is
[1:38:57] what if we have firefighters that need to camp there
[1:39:00] and we need to bring in a shower trailer
[1:39:01] or a laundry trailer that could be parked there
[1:39:03] and hooked up and utilized
[1:39:04] during a bigger emergency operation.
[1:39:07] So it sounds like you're checking that box
[1:39:08] because we, that's one of the discussions that we had
[1:39:10] during this design phase for
[1:39:12] that is looking at the bigger picture
[1:39:14] of potential use for that facility.
[1:39:16] It's, we've talked about it as a hub
[1:39:18] for storing water bottles and things like that.
[1:39:22] Food and things like that for a bigger emergency
[1:39:24] so people can circle in and pick up things and come in
[1:39:28] and outta the facility itself If we were
[1:39:30] to have some larger scale emergency event.
[1:39:32] Okay, I know this facility isn't gonna,
[1:39:35] isn't gonna do everything we want it to do
[1:39:37] but if we're gonna spend the money on it, I'm glad to hear
[1:39:39] that those things, those conversations are happening.
[1:39:41] So thank you and thank you staff
[1:39:43] Councilor Duque.
[1:39:45] Thank you. Okay, so
[1:39:52] I appreciate the conversation that was had about the AVAC
[1:39:56] and HVAC system
[1:39:59] and I remember our meetings in that building
[1:40:02] and I was freezing to death so
[1:40:05] the air conditioning works well.
[1:40:09] So something, I had some questions on this really quick when
[1:40:13] I look at this first off, something that was mentioned
[1:40:16] before, this property was purchased in 2023 via the grant
[1:40:21] that had the criteria that this building has to be used
[1:40:25] for the unhoused
[1:40:28] and having this in that capacity,
[1:40:32] this building is going to be an emergency,
[1:40:37] a severe weather shelter, correct?
[1:40:40] Correct. Okay, so I just wanted to put that out there
[1:40:44] and it is not going to be
[1:40:48] a opioid recovery center.
[1:40:51] Correct.
[1:40:53] So the intent, you know,
[1:40:54] council's direction was severe weather shelter.
[1:40:56] Yes. And then the direction for the building really
[1:41:00] where staff went with the designers
[1:41:02] and I appreciate their attention to this, is
[1:41:04] to make a building that's as flexible for use as possible
[1:41:07] because I think there's still ongoing discussion
[1:41:11] with the ad hoc and with council
[1:41:13] and the opportunities to partner.
[1:41:15] And so the design of the building is really to allow
[1:41:18] for the severe weather shelter allow
[1:41:20] for overflow in emergencies, allow for it to be used
[1:41:23] as an emergency center if we need to.
[1:41:25] It is not going to be a methadone clinic
[1:41:28] or anything like that but I think, you know, it's
[1:41:31] to be determined what social services
[1:41:33] are going to be in that building.
[1:41:35] And I heard mentioned prior
[1:41:39] about regional partners, we have 10 offices in this building
[1:41:43] and I know we are having a new ad hoc committee in the prior
[1:41:48] ad hoc committee had mentioned working
[1:41:51] with regional partners in these office spaces.
[1:41:55] So sending out the RFP, I don't know if that's gonna come
[1:41:58] to the community
[1:41:59] or if it's just gonna stay within the realm
[1:42:02] of the ad hoc committee of who
[1:42:07] will be given an opportunity
[1:42:09] and asked to be in one of these offices.
[1:42:12] I do, I believe it's very important that we're transparent
[1:42:16] and let the community know
[1:42:18] that these are the regional partners that we are considering
[1:42:21] or that we have asked to occupy one of these offices.
[1:42:27] I think that's important.
[1:42:29] Are we considering that
[1:42:31] or is it gonna be in the ad hoc,
[1:42:33] is it gonna come to council?
[1:42:34] What is that gonna look like?
[1:42:37] So it would probably be a similar request for proposal
[1:42:40] but the city would publicize that we're looking for partners
[1:42:43] to utilize that space
[1:42:45] and using the, you know, master plan for the space
[1:42:48] as the parameters and any additional things
[1:42:50] that might come out of the, the second phase of the ad hoc
[1:42:53] to kind of guide what we're doing in that building
[1:42:56] Before they go out.
[1:42:57] Would the ad hoc or council
[1:43:00] or the community members know
[1:43:03] what regional partners we're looking at?
[1:43:06] I would assume so. I don't know why not?
[1:43:09] I would hope so. I, I think that's important
[1:43:12] because I want us to have an open conversation
[1:43:16] and communication with the neighbor neighboring community
[1:43:20] to let them know that this is the direction we're going in.
[1:43:24] And I also wanted to mention that the
[1:43:29] previous ad hoc committee had talked about when I look at
[1:43:36] providing utilities to outdoor shower trailers
[1:43:42] and one thing that,
[1:43:44] and I heard you mention Scott, that if it was an emergency
[1:43:48] and we had to have firefighters come down
[1:43:51] and be housed in this building
[1:43:54] having additional showers and what it's permitted for now,
[1:43:59] but in a state of emergency,
[1:44:00] just like when the governor brought down the state
[1:44:03] of emergency when we first acquired this building
[1:44:06] and we didn't, we had no egress, no fire,
[1:44:11] no smoke detectors or anything.
[1:44:14] We were allowed to have additional people in that space.
[1:44:18] I'm thinking that in case of an emergency
[1:44:21] and we did have to open it up for other use such
[1:44:25] as firefighters
[1:44:26] that looking at seven people per shower
[1:44:30] or 10 people would supersede the,
[1:44:33] the emergency would supersede that.
[1:44:36] And I say that to say that the previous ad hoc committee,
[1:44:41] one thing that they stressed very, with strong importance is
[1:44:45] to have all plumbing indoors to have no showers, no toilets,
[1:44:50] no porta-potties out of doors for many reasons
[1:44:54] for the community around 2200
[1:44:57] and for the privacy of the unhoused.
[1:44:59] So I don't support that.
[1:45:01] I also see that we are already 86,000
[1:45:05] and some change over budget if we adhere to
[1:45:10] just sticking to what we have
[1:45:13] and I appreciate the suggestion of the HVAC and the upgrades
[1:45:18] and the bells and whistles,
[1:45:20] but right now I think it's important to use this building
[1:45:24] as it was purposed to be.
[1:45:28] And I don't see looking at everything
[1:45:32] that's hitting the people right now,
[1:45:37] the general fund right now,
[1:45:39] I believe we should keep it simple
[1:45:41] and stick to what's in front of us.
[1:45:43] Counsel you do have a question?
[1:45:46] So my question was about just the purpose
[1:45:50] of the utilities out of doors.
[1:45:52] I just wanted to make that point about the
[1:45:57] previous ad hoc question.
[1:46:00] So on here it says
[1:46:02] that we anticipate receiving a hundred thousand to 300,000 K
[1:46:08] in the years to follow from the money
[1:46:12] and is that kind of a ballpark?
[1:46:16] Can you tell us how much money we are receiving now
[1:46:20] and what that looks like?
[1:46:22] So we have a guaranteed 230,000 to come in still
[1:46:27] for 25, 26,
[1:46:29] but there are two more settlements that just happened
[1:46:32] and so I'm unsure of that dollar amount that will be coming
[1:46:35] but there will be additional funds from those
[1:46:37] two settlements as well.
[1:46:38] And would that money be used
[1:46:40] to go towards some concerns from Counselor Bloom?
[1:46:43] What he mentioned?
[1:46:46] I'm sorry, could you specify Some of the concerns
[1:46:49] that Councilor Bloom mentioned was how will we pay
[1:46:53] for the management of this
[1:46:54] and utilities and things like that.
[1:46:56] Will that money go towards the additional
[1:47:00] So as long as it falls under the exhibit that allows
[1:47:02] for the use of that money, it can be used for
[1:47:04] That.
[1:47:05] Okay. Alright. Thank you.
[1:47:07] Thank you. So I have a couple of follow up questions kind
[1:47:09] of in that same line of the, of the,
[1:47:14] of the RV hookup.
[1:47:15] So the ad hoc committee that is forming now
[1:47:18] that we just finished the appointments for this evening, one
[1:47:20] of their primary element is going to be looking at how,
[1:47:23] what else to do with the property.
[1:47:25] And I know that the first ad hoc committee had identified
[1:47:28] some sort of more permanent housing on that site in the rest
[1:47:32] of that property.
[1:47:34] So to what extent does that pedestal limit
[1:47:39] what can be done on that site?
[1:47:44] It would just be the electrical service.
[1:47:46] So you're looking at probably a 50 amp electrical service
[1:47:50] to the one pedestal and then a water service.
[1:47:52] So a a a half inch water feed line.
[1:47:57] So it does limit your ability if you're looking at a greater
[1:48:01] expanse for use of the facility, you would want
[1:48:04] to look at upsizing those utilities out into that area
[1:48:07] or another area on the site that might be used for something
[1:48:11] outside of a, a hookup.
[1:48:15] But we would have to plan for the potential
[1:48:17] of a trailer out there in terms of if there's housing on,
[1:48:22] there's not very much land is what I'm suggesting.
[1:48:24] And so it sounds to me if I understand you correctly,
[1:48:27] that if we put the pedestal in we we it will
[1:48:32] interfere in some some way with, with the potential
[1:48:36] for the rest of the build out
[1:48:37] of the property, is that correct? It
[1:48:38] Could.
[1:48:39] Based on sizing needs in the future, yes.
[1:48:42] Okay. And then I saw the mention of the portable toilets
[1:48:46] and I understand from the, the ratios
[1:48:49] that when you have a certain number of people in the
[1:48:52] severe weather shelter, you need to have a certain number
[1:48:55] of toilet facilities for them.
[1:48:58] How does that work?
[1:48:59] Where, where, what is, how does a portable toilet work
[1:49:02] because we wouldn't know until we were right on
[1:49:05] that emergency that we would need a,
[1:49:07] an additional toilet or two.
[1:49:09] Well that would be one of the thi that's one
[1:49:11] of the things we talked about throughout this process
[1:49:13] and counselor Duane just reference it.
[1:49:15] If we are in a declared emergency then we have some leeway
[1:49:19] and some flexibility about the number of people
[1:49:21] that we could put in that facility with the existing
[1:49:26] pers within it without having to bring in additional shower
[1:49:30] and restaurant facilities
[1:49:32] that could be hooked up on a temporary basis.
[1:49:36] I think our thought when we started this was a grander scale
[1:49:40] emergency, a a community based emergency that would require
[1:49:44] more items out there for use from community members.
[1:49:48] You know people like I said, you know, firefighters
[1:49:51] and things like that using that facility as kind
[1:49:53] of a emergency related hub.
[1:49:56] So that's, yeah I think that that's where we kind
[1:50:00] of ended up with what you see
[1:50:01] before you tonight as far as the design.
[1:50:04] So I think if I could give a scenario,
[1:50:06] so last winter we declared an emergency
[1:50:08] during the blizzard we went over the capacity
[1:50:11] of the building to allow people to be in there.
[1:50:13] So in a similar situation we could do that again
[1:50:15] and use the toilets that are at the facility.
[1:50:18] Now if there's an extended emergency such as a wildfire
[1:50:21] or a flood where we have community members
[1:50:23] or you know, wildland firefighters staying there
[1:50:26] for multiple days or weeks, we're going to need
[1:50:29] to bring in portable services
[1:50:30] because quite frankly it's just not
[1:50:32] gonna work for that number of people.
[1:50:34] So, okay. That that helps me understand.
[1:50:36] So when you say declaring an emergency,
[1:50:38] it can also be a locally declared emergency, doesn't have
[1:50:41] to be a state or federal declared emergency.
[1:50:44] I believe that's how we discussed it. Yeah.
[1:50:46] With the building official. Yes.
[1:50:48] So when we look at this with our existing toilet
[1:50:50] and shower facilities,
[1:50:52] we could in fact accommodate the full, what is,
[1:50:55] how's my math 54
[1:50:57] with the two overflow areas without having
[1:51:00] to suddenly scramble for a porta potties
[1:51:03] or some sort of temporary toilets
[1:51:05] Under that emergency.
[1:51:06] Under that emergency. Correct. We just have
[1:51:07] to declare a local emergency Yes. In order to do that.
[1:51:09] Yeah. And I, I think there's, you know, actual use
[1:51:13] to be considered and so if it's an emergency more than two
[1:51:16] or three days we're going
[1:51:17] to bring in portable services. Yeah.
[1:51:20] Okay. Councillor boom.
[1:51:22] Yeah, thank you. So my,
[1:51:24] and I appreciate that that was gonna be one of my questions
[1:51:26] and, and that that does help.
[1:51:27] So now kind of moving on to this, the use
[1:51:30] of the opioid dollars and,
[1:51:31] and I really appreciate the work
[1:51:32] that's been done contacting the state
[1:51:34] and kind of finding out where we stand with that
[1:51:36] and that it would be allowable, other cities are doing it
[1:51:40] unfortunately in the last two years of having to deal
[1:51:43] with this building, the state's lied to us
[1:51:46] before they've tried to move the goalpost on us.
[1:51:48] And so I understand that, that there is a potentiality that
[1:51:51] that could happen and, and in that case we would have
[1:51:53] to expand the kind of opioid addiction treatment facilities
[1:51:57] that the state would then require.
[1:52:00] Am I, am I wrong in that legal that that is a possibility
[1:52:09] The state moves the goalposts at some point?
[1:52:12] Sure, that's always a possibility.
[1:52:13] However, you know, we've talked about this I think
[1:52:17] to be totally honest, I think we're getting a little bit out
[1:52:19] of the scope of this contract vote right now you're acting
[1:52:22] as a contract approval board and,
[1:52:25] and I understand your question so I'll answer it in this way
[1:52:29] to the extent I can and it kind
[1:52:31] of ties into Councilor Duane's question
[1:52:33] so that'll actually be a better way to answer it.
[1:52:35] So the previous ad hoc committee had talked about, you know,
[1:52:38] appropriate uses for the property
[1:52:39] and that included appropriate ways to help people
[1:52:44] meet the needs for transitional housing including bridge
[1:52:47] housing and appropriate spaces for training
[1:52:49] and meetings relating to housing
[1:52:51] and homeless services that ties directly into exhibit E
[1:52:55] of the opioid use settlement funds,
[1:52:59] which is comprehensive wraparound services to so
[1:53:02] to individuals including housing, transportation, education,
[1:53:06] job placement, job training or childcare.
[1:53:08] Those are very broad
[1:53:10] and I think they could be interpreted
[1:53:12] by our community partners.
[1:53:13] Everyone's gonna say they fit that need.
[1:53:15] So I think we would be well within those that exhibit under
[1:53:19] that regard, providing employment training
[1:53:22] or educational services, hiring social workers,
[1:53:27] training behavioral health workers, there are
[1:53:29] so many things under that exhibit
[1:53:30] that the shelter could potentially be used for and
[1:53:33] therefore appropriate use of those funds.
[1:53:35] So I feel very confident that
[1:53:37] unless they just completely say we're not giving this away,
[1:53:39] if you look at the information set out to council,
[1:53:42] which listed numerous ways that people have used this
[1:53:45] and it's been approved and has gone through
[1:53:48] this falls smack down in the middle of all of 'em.
[1:53:50] So I feel very confident in the work that we've done
[1:53:52] to make sure that we're using those funds
[1:53:53] appropriately. Thank
[1:53:55] Councilor Rill.
[1:53:57] Thank you mayor. Appreciate it Scott, thank you
[1:54:00] for your time and bringing this forward.
[1:54:01] I've got about four or five questions that're really direct
[1:54:03] and they're like building specific construction
[1:54:05] related and value.
[1:54:07] Have we had an appraisal, do we have any idea what kind
[1:54:09] of contributory value this investment makes?
[1:54:11] And the reason I ask that is
[1:54:12] because a lot of what I'm hearing about this building
[1:54:14] and the whole process leading up to today is negative.
[1:54:16] And if we have to cut our losses
[1:54:18] and potentially divest in this building potentially at a
[1:54:21] loss, is this million dollar approximate investment gonna
[1:54:24] give us a contributory value?
[1:54:25] Have we had any appraisal at all to the construction?
[1:54:30] Not a, what I would say a real estate analysis on
[1:54:33] valuation of improvements relative
[1:54:35] to the base appraisal number.
[1:54:38] So we have not looked at that.
[1:54:40] I think our goal when we started this process was
[1:54:43] to just maintain the maximum flexibility
[1:54:45] and use of the facility
[1:54:47] with set improvements recommended by the ad hoc.
[1:54:50] But we haven't done kind of a, a real estate analysis
[1:54:53] with a a commercial broker giving,
[1:54:56] having them give us their best idea of what it would do
[1:55:00] to the facility itself.
[1:55:01] In your opinion of overseeing facilities,
[1:55:03] do you think this million dollar investment is gonna be a
[1:55:06] good investment into this asset
[1:55:09] For continued operation For the
[1:55:10] city of what we talked about?
[1:55:11] I feel like it will be, it provides the benefit of
[1:55:15] what the discussion
[1:55:16] for the master plan ad hoc committee has brought forward
[1:55:20] while still allowing flexible use of the space,
[1:55:23] allowing other people to come in and to provide services
[1:55:26] and lease out that space for those services.
[1:55:30] And then there's still future expansion area
[1:55:33] and changes that could be had based on additional
[1:55:35] recommendations that come out of additional discussions.
[1:55:38] Copy. And then as far as the hvac,
[1:55:40] is it just an HVAC contractor?
[1:55:42] I mean Outliers a reputable company, they're,
[1:55:45] they're respected here but is it their engineer
[1:55:48] and their HVAC contractor saying yeah it's from 93,
[1:55:51] upgrade it or have we done any data
[1:55:53] tests like temperature tests?
[1:55:54] Have we checked the refrigerant?
[1:55:55] What type of refrigerant is it? Can we still get it?
[1:55:58] Like do we have some data that says we need to replace it?
[1:56:00] 'cause what we find often in construction is
[1:56:02] that the older stuff lasts a long time
[1:56:04] and the new products that we're, we're installing today
[1:56:07] don't have the same legs.
[1:56:08] So have we had any data to support that we haven't
[1:56:10] or is better, let's just get new stuff
[1:56:13] Based on the age of the system and the loading required.
[1:56:16] You know with HVAC and I'm not an expert by any means,
[1:56:20] but the higher the load that you put on the system,
[1:56:23] the more use, the faster they burn out over time.
[1:56:27] And with this system being from 93
[1:56:30] and being of its age,
[1:56:33] we've seen this on our own facility side
[1:56:34] that they will just kick the bucket
[1:56:36] and then as I said, you're scrambling to get a replaced kind
[1:56:41] of under an emergency basis
[1:56:42] and then you're paying a higher, you know,
[1:56:44] front end to expedite it.
[1:56:47] Especially if we're operating
[1:56:48] as a city and emergency shelter.
[1:56:50] But we haven't done any, any sort of test
[1:56:54] on the system itself. Copy
[1:56:56] Two more.
[1:56:58] Have we, if we were
[1:56:59] to compare again super respectable company, a lot
[1:57:02] of confidence in them, but if we were
[1:57:04] to look at the contract we currently have with outlier
[1:57:07] downtown, can we say
[1:57:08] that they're staying on budget and on time schedule?
[1:57:10] 'cause that's a good comparator to the work we're about
[1:57:12] to take on in the Lyft we're gonna take at 2200.
[1:57:16] So I did actually look at bid tab from Community center,
[1:57:20] pioneer Hall to cross compare a couple of items
[1:57:24] and in the bid tab in your GMP, they kind of align
[1:57:28] with the previous pricing we've seen,
[1:57:30] especially on the HVAC system units
[1:57:33] and you know, some of the fit
[1:57:35] and finishes work that are proposed inside 2200.
[1:57:39] So it generally lines with what I've looked at,
[1:57:43] copy, cross comparison
[1:57:44] And then timeline similar as well.
[1:57:46] The timeline was extended for community center
[1:57:49] because we had the Mac
[1:57:51] and some additional structural renovations.
[1:57:55] So Pioneer Hall was completed within about a month
[1:57:59] and a half of the original anticipated finish date,
[1:58:03] which was slowed down by our process primarily
[1:58:05] and some lead time issues that came up.
[1:58:08] And then the community center,
[1:58:10] it's been delayed a couple more months
[1:58:12] 'cause of the additional structural work.
[1:58:14] But I still think
[1:58:15] that there was confidence when we originally started this
[1:58:18] that they could finish on that schedule that we anticipated
[1:58:23] for those facilities outside of potentially as, you know,
[1:58:25] some lead time issues that come up on procurement
[1:58:29] for equipment that drag a schedule down.
[1:58:33] So if we give outlier the green light, they already have all
[1:58:38] of their procurement ready to send out to their subs
[1:58:41] and give them the green light to start that process in order
[1:58:44] to kind of hold that November 1st target in place.
[1:58:47] Awesome, thank you.
[1:58:48] That was, that was a good answer to that.
[1:58:50] And the last question I have is not a dig to staff,
[1:58:52] it's not a dig to this building, it's just like, are we
[1:58:57] building a checklist based on the pressures we're facing now
[1:59:02] to use to do due diligence on the next building
[1:59:04] before we go buy it?
[1:59:06] Like all these meanings of the mind to go test the HVAC
[1:59:09] and to, to look at these systems like we should be having
[1:59:11] before we make the purchase not two years down the road.
[1:59:14] So again, not a dig to staff,
[1:59:16] like everybody's doing the best they can
[1:59:18] with what's in front of 'em, but are we building a checklist
[1:59:19] so we don't get in a similar pickle where the the committees
[1:59:23] and the, the people and the emails
[1:59:24] and everybody's asking us all these like pretty good
[1:59:27] questions and we're like, we're trying.
[1:59:29] So I'll interrupt
[1:59:30] and say that that's a question for the city manager.
[1:59:33] Yeah, I think the purchase of this building obviously
[1:59:37] was a different time two years ago, so I think there's a lot
[1:59:39] of lessons learned,
[1:59:41] but I don't foresee us anywhere in the near future being in
[1:59:45] a similar situation in terms of procuring a building.
[1:59:47] That being said, I think we can do it better next
[1:59:50] time. Great.
[1:59:53] Thank you both. I appreciate that. Thank you
[1:59:55] Mayor Councilor Dale.
[1:59:57] Thank you Mayor and,
[1:59:58] and yes, being just four days over two years ago when we
[2:00:02] made this vote, I I I can assure you I wish I would've
[2:00:05] thought about fire sprinklers when we had that vote
[2:00:07] and I didn't and I kicked myself every day for that.
[2:00:11] Carmel, thank you for stepping up 'cause this one's for you.
[2:00:14] This is is kind of along the same lines as,
[2:00:17] as the city attorney talked about, kind of opposite though.
[2:00:20] It is. You had written in here in the, in the packet
[2:00:24] about the proposed renovation and I'll, I'll read it
[2:00:26] and I do have a question at the end of this where you said
[2:00:28] the cross system service center is intended to act
[2:00:31] as a central point
[2:00:32] for collaborative cross system coordination,
[2:00:34] which is a crucial strategy for preventing over-prescribing,
[2:00:37] addressing opioid misuse and supporting individuals with OUD
[2:00:41] and coke occurring disorders.
[2:00:43] Planned upgrades, including sleeping in shower line fees,
[2:00:45] will enable the sit center
[2:00:46] to provide comprehensive wraparound services in a continuum
[2:00:49] of care for vulnerable populations
[2:00:52] affected by the opioid crisis.
[2:00:54] By co-locating various services
[2:00:55] and resources, the city will facilitate connections
[2:00:58] to treatment, recovery, housing
[2:00:59] and other essential support systems,
[2:01:01] thereby direct addressing the goals of the opioid abatement
[2:01:04] and community support specified in the settlement agreement.
[2:01:06] I don't know what that means. Can you simplify
[2:01:09] that and give me examples?
[2:01:10] 'cause what I feel like is I appreciate despite, you know,
[2:01:15] best efforts and, and all the hard work for staff,
[2:01:18] I feel like we're building this plan as we're flying it.
[2:01:20] And just even tonight I felt
[2:01:21] that scope creep has just really crept in.
[2:01:23] So like no, thank you. Thank you.
[2:01:24] Help me dial this in. Can I just
[2:01:26] Real quick, before Carmel gives her detailed answer,
[2:01:29] I just wanna point out that we're already doing this
[2:01:30] by contracting, excuse me, with Aura and Rogue Retreat.
[2:01:34] They're doing all that. Yes. Okay.
[2:01:39] Yes. Thank you for calling out my, I guess legalese
[2:01:42] or perhaps a too ver verbose of an answer.
[2:01:46] I mean, I think some of it really, I mean my analysis,
[2:01:49] it also really goes back to
[2:01:51] what the city attorney spoke about
[2:01:53] was taking a very close look at exhibit E
[2:01:57] and what you'll find in exhibit E, which was the,
[2:02:00] which is basically the outline for cities for how the,
[2:02:04] how cities or other counties, people, entities
[2:02:08] that have had a, that have agreed to partner in the,
[2:02:12] in the use of opioid funds.
[2:02:15] It's, it's like, it's very specific
[2:02:17] and broad at the same time.
[2:02:18] And, and that is sort of in my reading
[2:02:22] of the document in my kind of understanding
[2:02:24] of the opioid crisis is that it's broad on purpose
[2:02:27] because the people who suffer from opioid abuse have
[2:02:35] need a variety of care options.
[2:02:37] And so the terms of the settlement were written
[2:02:40] kind of broad on purpose.
[2:02:42] There are some, so the,
[2:02:47] so I think the, the long language was sort
[2:02:51] of my attempt to try
[2:02:53] and summarize Exhibit
[2:02:55] E if that answered it.
[2:03:01] Okay, thank you Councillor Hansen.
[2:03:05] Thank you. One more question about the emergency part
[2:03:08] of the emergency shelter.
[2:03:10] Are we putting in a generator plug on the
[2:03:12] outside power goes out, city has generators everywhere.
[2:03:16] It seems like if we're doing all this upgrade work, we need
[2:03:19] to have, we have some sort of ability to hook up
[2:03:22] to a a generator.
[2:03:25] We haven't talked, We haven't talked about transfer
[2:03:28] switch installation on the exterior of the building
[2:03:31] where the panel is,
[2:03:32] but that's something that I can raise
[2:03:34] with outlier as part of the process.
[2:03:36] Yeah, so you could plug in,
[2:03:39] we do have trailer mounted generators
[2:03:42] and city infrastructure that are used in other locations
[2:03:45] that could be deployed potentially
[2:03:48] to provide backup power to the facility.
[2:03:50] So I can raise that with outlier as part of the discussion
[2:03:53] since this, if they move forward with panel upgrades
[2:03:56] and electrical changes, that's something
[2:03:58] that could pro potentially be easily slipped into
[2:04:01] that portion of the work.
[2:04:03] Right. Thank you very much. Appreciate that.
[2:04:05] Councilor Kaplan?
[2:04:07] Yeah, thanks Mayor Scott, I'm trying to move
[2:04:10] to us towards a, I'm, I'm trying to craft a motion
[2:04:14] but I need a little bit of help
[2:04:15] because what I, where I'm going if is I'd like to,
[2:04:19] I'm gonna try to create a motion that approves the
[2:04:23] contract amendment as we're talking about defers the
[2:04:28] HVAC upgrades for the main building, main part
[2:04:32] of the building, but includes a separate
[2:04:36] HVAC system for the, that main shelter area.
[2:04:40] And my problem is what's the amount not to exceed
[2:04:44] that should preclude?
[2:04:49] So I, I would look at it from a contracting flexibility
[2:04:52] side of things because if you look through the GMP,
[2:04:56] everything is itemized per a bullet
[2:04:59] and its amount, we can cross things off that list
[2:05:03] and add things to it.
[2:05:07] So you would be generally to provide us the ability
[2:05:10] to have those conversations, allow outlier to do the work,
[2:05:13] get bids back from the sub and refine those numbers.
[2:05:17] You would look at the alternate one motion.
[2:05:21] And what we do as part of the contracting process is
[2:05:25] do reconciliations throughout the, the structure.
[2:05:30] So say outlier finishes a scope item
[2:05:34] and it came in under budget by $500,
[2:05:38] then there's a change request
[2:05:39] that credits our contract amount by that $500.
[2:05:43] If a budget item goes over by $500, we do a change request
[2:05:47] to process that addition four $500.
[2:05:50] And so it's a continuous balancing of reconciling the,
[2:05:55] the amounts for each one of those
[2:05:58] bid items throughout the whole process.
[2:06:00] And that's how we've done the community center.
[2:06:02] We've had credits
[2:06:03] and we've had debts as part of each one of the scope items
[2:06:07] that get reconciled.
[2:06:09] So if we have that, I'll just say that 917 amount
[2:06:13] that gives us the ability
[2:06:15] to let them go look at that other unit.
[2:06:17] We pause the two new units.
[2:06:20] So just for reference,
[2:06:22] the new unit would be 60,000 plus the electrical work.
[2:06:26] A replacement of the two existing units is anticipated
[2:06:30] to cost 80,000.
[2:06:31] So you have kind of that balance there
[2:06:34] of washing those two out with a little bit
[2:06:37] of additional money for potentially the electrical upgrades
[2:06:40] that might be required that we haven't looked at yet.
[2:06:43] The change, if they anticipated the hot water heater under
[2:06:46] the original scope to be gassed to change that to electric
[2:06:50] and there's just from a contracting flexibility,
[2:06:52] a little bit more granted to staff
[2:06:54] to maneuver through that process.
[2:06:58] Councillor Duque,
[2:07:00] Thank you.
[2:07:02] I know we're kind of going back and forth,
[2:07:03] but Carmel, this one's for you.
[2:07:07] I'm looking at exhibit E
[2:07:10] and it says, lays out the vari a variety of ways
[2:07:14] that recipient can comply with the terms
[2:07:18] of the settlement agreement regarding the opioid fund.
[2:07:22] So if looking at the 10 offices
[2:07:27] that are at 2200,
[2:07:30] if there was a regional provider that
[2:07:36] assisted it was a resource
[2:07:38] and could direct people to go to a, B
[2:07:42] or C location to get treatment, would
[2:07:46] that satisfy that need?
[2:07:48] Yes. Yeah.
[2:07:50] And and and that's a great example of speaking
[2:07:53] to the flexibility to that the settlement really wanted
[2:07:59] cities to have in helping in helping treatment,
[2:08:04] which is, which is a lot of times partnerships.
[2:08:09] I want to express the importance that we adhere
[2:08:13] to the ad hoc committee, the previous ad hoc committee
[2:08:18] because I was one of the liaisons.
[2:08:21] And one thing that they really stressed was using this
[2:08:26] as a weather shelter.
[2:08:28] That's what it was. Got the grant was written for that.
[2:08:31] That's what it is. And
[2:08:33] so I wanna really stress the importance of hearing
[2:08:37] and listening to our community.
[2:08:40] Thank you Carmel for your answer.
[2:08:43] Any remaining questions? Councilor Sherell.
[2:08:47] Thank you. This is probably for city attorney.
[2:08:49] Do we have any prepayment penalty on the private
[2:08:52] debt that we hold?
[2:08:54] Like do we have any debt on this building still?
[2:08:57] Yes. I believe we have a private note for 20 years.
[2:08:59] Yes. Do we have a prepayment penalty if we have to bail out
[2:09:02] of this and sell this asset to recover funds?
[2:09:03] Because it doesn't work. We bill it and nobody comes
[2:09:05] or we have whatever problems the goalposts move.
[2:09:08] Can we get out of the debt if we had to?
[2:09:12] Yeah, we just have to pay it off without penalty. Yes. Copy.
[2:09:16] Thanks.
[2:09:19] Are there any final questions?
[2:09:21] The floor is open for a motion. Councillor Kaplan.
[2:09:27] I move to approve the contract amendment without Liar.
[2:09:30] Construction Company for the emergency
[2:09:32] shelter upgrade project.
[2:09:33] Pausing, replacement replacement
[2:09:34] of the two existing HVAC units
[2:09:36] and including a separate HVAC system
[2:09:38] for the primary severe weather shelter space not to exceed
[2:09:41] $917,250.
[2:09:45] Is there a second?
[2:09:52] For lack of a second. The motion fails.
[2:09:54] The floor is open for a motion. Councillor Hansen.
[2:09:59] Thank you. I move to approve the contract amendment
[2:10:01] with Outlier Construction Company
[2:10:03] for the emergency shelter upgrade project,
[2:10:05] including alternates one
[2:10:07] and two in an amount
[2:10:08] to not exceed $947,936.
[2:10:14] Second Councillor Hansen.
[2:10:18] Thank you. I appreciate my colleagues' amendment
[2:10:24] or motion.
[2:10:25] Thank you. But I'm really interested in the
[2:10:30] ultimate flexibility of this property having been through a,
[2:10:35] a couple natural disasters here in Ashland.
[2:10:38] I think it is a wise investment for our community.
[2:10:40] Now I know that this is going above
[2:10:43] and beyond perhaps the emergency shelter minimum
[2:10:49] Mandate, but
[2:10:54] we have invested enough in this resource that I feel
[2:10:58] that it's important for us to take it to the next level.
[2:11:03] I I'm really distressed
[2:11:06] that we didn't have our shelter in hand for last winter
[2:11:10] and I realized that staff worked hard and, and,
[2:11:13] and now here we are
[2:11:15] and I'm glad to hear that we can, we can try to get in there
[2:11:19] by November and
[2:11:21] that's my primary concern is
[2:11:23] can we get in there by November?
[2:11:24] And I'm glad that we're here. So I hope
[2:11:27] that something passes tonight.
[2:11:29] If not this one of the other amendments.
[2:11:31] 'cause that's the most important thing. I love the plan.
[2:11:35] I love the, the ability for services
[2:11:38] and to help our unhoused community get those services
[2:11:42] and get the help that they need
[2:11:44] and ultimately housing.
[2:11:48] So for those reasons
[2:11:50] and for all the work that's put into this, I think
[2:11:53] that is the best wise investment for the city to go for
[2:11:57] both the alternatives
[2:11:59] and that's why I support this, why I'm making this motion.
[2:12:04] Councillor Sherell.
[2:12:05] Yeah. Thank you Mayor. I could have supported either
[2:12:07] motion, I think, but I think there is gonna be an economy
[2:12:09] of scale if we do this job.
[2:12:11] Let's, let's do the best we can while we're in there.
[2:12:13] So we don't have any callbacks
[2:12:14] and I hope we're not taking longer and costing more.
[2:12:19] Councilor Bo? Yes, I move to amend the motion
[2:12:21] to add direction to staff to do the following
[2:12:23] before the building becomes operational.
[2:12:26] The no shower or laundry trailer will be allowed
[2:12:28] unless in the event of a citywide emergency
[2:12:31] that there will be no camping or outdoor lodging
[2:12:33] unless with the express permission of the city council.
[2:12:36] The selection of service providers
[2:12:37] for the building must be approved by council.
[2:12:39] That all access to services will be by appointment only.
[2:12:42] That property should be fenced
[2:12:44] and well maintained with additional trees.
[2:12:46] Fire safe landscaping, continuous weed abatement
[2:12:48] and routine maintenance to keep the site visually in line
[2:12:51] with other city facilities.
[2:12:53] And that before the building is operational,
[2:12:55] there is a clear operational budget
[2:12:56] for the expenses the city would be responsible for.
[2:12:59] Second Councillor Blum.
[2:13:02] Yes. I'm making this amendment to the motion
[2:13:05] because these are quite literally
[2:13:07] what the original ad hoc committee put in
[2:13:09] their recommendations.
[2:13:11] And I think that if this does go forward,
[2:13:14] which I do not support at this time, I think
[2:13:16] that it's important that we formalize those recommendations
[2:13:19] and make sure that they're carried out on behalf
[2:13:21] of the ad hoc committee and the
[2:13:22] hard work that they put into this.
[2:13:24] Councillor Duque.
[2:13:26] Thank you. I would like to ditto what my colleague said.
[2:13:31] The ad hoc committee took six months out of their life
[2:13:35] and hours out of their life
[2:13:36] and away from their family to spend good time collaborating
[2:13:41] with everyone housed and unhoused
[2:13:44] and business owners to put together
[2:13:49] a consensus, a common ground that we could all live
[2:13:52] with and live together.
[2:13:54] So I wanna make sure that our community is heard
[2:13:58] and thank them for their work
[2:13:59] and do it the right way the first time.
[2:14:02] Is there any discussion on the motion? Councilor Dale
[2:14:05] On the amendment?
[2:14:06] Mayor on the amendment? Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
[2:14:08] And thank you Councilor Blum.
[2:14:10] I I was sitting here thinking as you were reading
[2:14:12] and I was f following it along.
[2:14:15] Yeah. This is something I I still struggle the fact despite
[2:14:17] the absolute best efforts of staff and Scott, especially you
[2:14:20] and your team, you've
[2:14:21] done exactly what we've asked you to do.
[2:14:24] And, but I still, I still see this, I I still struggle
[2:14:28] with the kind of lack of a vision and that's on us.
[2:14:30] And we're, again, we're trying to just come up with,
[2:14:34] with ideas that just seem to be happening in real time.
[2:14:37] So any sense of metrics or KPIs or
[2:14:40] otherwise performance measurements is, I I think
[2:14:44] absolutely just fundamental to this,
[2:14:46] to the success of this project.
[2:14:49] Councillor Hansen.
[2:14:53] Thank you. I mean, yeah, that is exactly
[2:14:55] the original ad hocs verbiage off
[2:14:59] of the document that came back to us.
[2:15:02] I'm a little concerned with the amendment only in practice
[2:15:06] that this body isn't always here
[2:15:10] in an emergency like the city managers
[2:15:13] here in an emergency.
[2:15:15] So I would just suggest that I,
[2:15:21] that we amend the amendment to council
[2:15:26] or city manager or deputy manager.
[2:15:29] I think I'm, I think that's a great amendment,
[2:15:32] but I'm concerned that
[2:15:34] we're gonna get hung up on city council
[2:15:36] if we ever need to pull that lever. Speak
[2:15:38] To that. Yes, you can.
[2:15:40] Yeah, just, just to address that.
[2:15:41] So specifically I said, you know,
[2:15:43] with the shower laundry trailer in the event
[2:15:44] of an emergency, that the city manager still
[2:15:46] retains that authority to do that.
[2:15:48] I, I understand the other concerns.
[2:15:49] I don't see how they relate to an emergency.
[2:15:52] So I don't see a situation
[2:15:53] where picking a service advisor would be under an
[2:15:55] emergency situation. So that's
[2:15:57] No, no, I, that's, That's all I'm thinking.
[2:15:59] Go ahead. Yeah, I appreciate the
[2:16:01] clarification 'cause you read it really
[2:16:02] fast. Okay. Okay, great.
[2:16:04] And we'll read it again slower
[2:16:05] before we vote. Councillor Kaplan.
[2:16:08] Thank you. Yeah. In addition to reading it again, I'd like
[2:16:10] to see, now I have the, the master plan open
[2:16:13] and I, I I don't see the specific language.
[2:16:16] You said you, it was literally council boom said
[2:16:19] that it was literally from the ad hoc ma master plan.
[2:16:23] Just don't see it. So if you, when you read it again,
[2:16:25] if you could direct us to that space so I can follow along.
[2:16:28] Yeah, I, I can't direct you to the exact document.
[2:16:30] This is from literally members of the ad hoc committee.
[2:16:33] And, and just from memory, I remember we clearly discussed
[2:16:37] that there would be no congregate shelter,
[2:16:39] that there would be no outdoor shower trailers,
[2:16:41] that the facility would be upkept,
[2:16:43] including the weed abatement.
[2:16:45] I mean, those were all very, very clearly defined from the
[2:16:49] ad hoc committee in order for us to go forward.
[2:16:51] Okay. Are there, is there any other
[2:16:53] discussion on the amendment?
[2:16:56] May I have a point of order?
[2:16:57] Just because I'm trying to, in my brain
[2:17:01] and there's a lot of things that were just said,
[2:17:03] but practically attach this to a, the role
[2:17:06] as a contract approval board.
[2:17:08] So I totally see that your point.
[2:17:11] And I think that's a great direction to give staff.
[2:17:14] Tying it to approval of a contract.
[2:17:16] In my mind there's that the two motions are unrelated.
[2:17:22] It, this is, it's very
[2:17:27] sticky and it's, it's tough
[2:17:30] for me to even follow at the moment.
[2:17:32] And so I'm, I'm just throwing that out there that it,
[2:17:36] it's creating some confusion as
[2:17:40] to the role in the specific issues that are happening.
[2:17:42] And I totally, I understand the perspective
[2:17:45] and I understand the con you know, concerns
[2:17:48] and I support that, not that it's my place, but,
[2:17:51] but I'm just practically speaking as a,
[2:17:54] as the parliamentary, you know, weighing in here.
[2:17:58] I think that there, there are some issues
[2:18:00] with the way this is getting structured. Can
[2:18:02] I speak to that And what not yet.
[2:18:03] What would be the, your recommended path forward?
[2:18:11] I think a voting on the contract motion
[2:18:13] and then a separate motion directing staff
[2:18:16] and getting the supportive counsel to
[2:18:19] put those things in place as such as like
[2:18:22] with any other motion that would take more than two hours
[2:18:24] of staff time, if that just,
[2:18:27] And is there a particular order that is required to go in?
[2:18:31] Might the council take up this?
[2:18:33] What is the structural elements of this amendment prior to
[2:18:37] the, the vote on the,
[2:18:39] Well now you have to vote on the
[2:18:41] amendment and then on the,
[2:18:42] Well no, they can also be, we can,
[2:18:44] we can unwrap all of this.
[2:18:45] Yeah. So so what would your preference is
[2:18:49] there, is there a prohibition?
[2:18:50] Oh, okay. First question goes first on which one goes first?
[2:18:52] No. Okay. Alright. Thank you.
[2:18:54] So we have a, a structural question here.
[2:18:58] And under the advice of our parliamentarian,
[2:19:01] it would make sense to split this motion.
[2:19:03] And so I will put it to the, the
[2:19:07] amendment maker.
[2:19:09] So what you would like to do,
[2:19:12] Make that a title for me.
[2:19:13] Geez. I personally, I I think that this amendment is,
[2:19:17] is legitimate in this situation.
[2:19:19] It is germane to the topic that we're discussing
[2:19:22] and it involves adding staff direction.
[2:19:24] So the main motion goes forward
[2:19:25] to approve the contract in this case
[2:19:27] that Councillor Hanson made.
[2:19:28] And this is simply an amendment giving staff direction to
[2:19:33] do these particular things
[2:19:34] as the building becomes operational.
[2:19:36] But, and I'm happy to, if it's easier for everybody
[2:19:39] to withdraw this and for us to make a separate motion.
[2:19:43] But I would like to see, I would like
[2:19:45] to see my motion on these items to go
[2:19:48] before the contract approval.
[2:19:51] So you're willing to withdraw your motion.
[2:19:56] It would come back then to the primary motion maker in terms
[2:20:01] of would you be willing to withdraw your motion so
[2:20:05] that this amendment could go first?
[2:20:09] Sure. Okay. So let's go ahead and go through that
[2:20:11] Process.
[2:20:12] I withdraw the motion.
[2:20:13] Thank you Councillor Hansen.
[2:20:15] And go ahead and formally withdraw your amendment.
[2:20:17] And I formally withdraw my amendment. Okay.
[2:20:19] The floor is open for a motion. Councillor boom.
[2:20:22] I move to direct staff to do the following
[2:20:26] before the building becomes operational that no shower
[2:20:30] or laundry trailer will be allowed
[2:20:32] unless in the event of a citywide emergency
[2:20:35] that there will be no camping or outdoor lodging
[2:20:38] unless with the express permission of the city council
[2:20:42] that the selection of service providers
[2:20:44] for the building must be approved by council.
[2:20:47] That all access to services will be by appointment only.
[2:20:50] That property should be fenced
[2:20:52] and well-maintained with additional trees.
[2:20:54] Fire safe landscaping, continuous weed abatement
[2:20:57] and routine maintenance to keep the site visually in line
[2:21:00] with other city facilities.
[2:21:02] And that before the building is operational,
[2:21:04] there is a clear operational budget
[2:21:07] for the expenses the city would be responsible for.
[2:21:10] Second. Okay. Councilor,
[2:21:13] Boom. I've already spoken to this
[2:21:14] Councilor, Duane, I already spoken.
[2:21:16] Is there any further discussion on the motion? Can I get a
[2:21:19] Point of clarification on the motion?
[2:21:20] Sure. So appointment only
[2:21:21] and operational budget that is not pertaining
[2:21:24] to the severe weather shelter,
[2:21:25] but the other side of the building, is that correct?
[2:21:27] That is correct, yeah.
[2:21:29] Access to services will be by appoint appointment only.
[2:21:32] I don't see the weather shelter as a service.
[2:21:34] Service provided. It's part of what we do.
[2:21:38] Councillor Hanson
[2:21:40] And thank you for reading that again.
[2:21:42] And the, the pace helped me,
[2:21:46] but I caught something in there that still concerns me.
[2:21:48] That's camping again.
[2:21:50] State of emergency, I think, you know, city manager
[2:21:53] and city council, what are we talking camping?
[2:21:57] Are firefighters camping? They might be camping.
[2:21:59] I just don't want, I I don't hate
[2:22:01] to get stuck in the weeds here, but I just, I don't think
[2:22:03] that city council needs to have that ultimate control.
[2:22:06] I think city managers should share
[2:22:08] That and they do under an emergency declaration.
[2:22:12] Council Kaplan? Yeah, I, I guess I, I'm cur I'm,
[2:22:17] I'm not sure why this is necessary given that we, the,
[2:22:20] this council already approved
[2:22:22] and I did follow along now in the prohibited uses and,
[2:22:25] and they do track fairly closely with the prohibited uses.
[2:22:28] The wording is not exact. In fact the ED
[2:22:31] use is drop in services.
[2:22:32] It's not a, an affirmative requirement for an appointment.
[2:22:35] It's a prohibition prohibition against drop in services.
[2:22:38] But in any case, the ad hoc committee,
[2:22:40] ma the master plan was approved by this council.
[2:22:43] It is in force. I'm not sure why we need an additional
[2:22:46] direction to staff along the,
[2:22:47] to repeating the very much the same things.
[2:22:50] Can I, would you like me to answer that?
[2:22:52] Sure. I think that it's important that we ensure
[2:22:55] that we hold everybody accountable to what was agreed on.
[2:22:57] And formal line as an motion as we've all discussed
[2:23:00] before, is seems to be the path forward that works best.
[2:23:04] Okay, we're going to continue to move this forward.
[2:23:07] It's 8 23 and we have other business to carry on.
[2:23:09] Is there any other discussion about this motion?
[2:23:15] Roll call please. Alyssa
[2:23:18] Sherell.
[2:23:19] Yes. Dale? Yes.
[2:23:22] Bloom? Yes. Kaplan? No. Duque?
[2:23:25] Yes. Hansen,
[2:23:27] No Pass.
[2:23:30] So the floor is open for a motion regarding the contract.
[2:23:32] Councillor Hansen.
[2:23:35] I move to approve the contract amendment
[2:23:36] with Outlier Construction Company
[2:23:38] for the emergency shelter upgrade project,
[2:23:40] including alternates one
[2:23:41] and two in an amount not
[2:23:42] to exceed $947,936.
[2:23:47] There a second. Second.
[2:23:49] Councillor Hansen.
[2:23:51] Again, thank you Staff.
[2:23:53] I want this to be the most flexible as possible
[2:23:56] and just I agree with Councilor Kaplan on the amendment.
[2:24:01] We've already agreed to this,
[2:24:03] so I I appreciate what's trying to be done here,
[2:24:05] but that's why I voted no on that
[2:24:07] and I support this amendment
[2:24:10] or this motion with both of the alternates and thank you
[2:24:16] Councillor Sherell.
[2:24:18] Is there any further discussion? Yes. Councillor Bloom.
[2:24:22] Yes. I put in the time to review the plans.
[2:24:26] I've read the master plan recommendations
[2:24:28] and considered this design,
[2:24:30] but I've also asked myself whether the fundamental questions
[2:24:32] have really been answered.
[2:24:33] And for me the answer is no.
[2:24:36] I don't believe we should invest nearly a million dollars in
[2:24:39] renovations without knowing what it will cost
[2:24:41] to run this facility or
[2:24:43] who will be responsible for doing so.
[2:24:45] I don't believe we should continue building out a site
[2:24:47] that still raises neighborhood concerns,
[2:24:49] still suffers from basic infrastructure limitations
[2:24:52] and still risk being pushed into a direction
[2:24:54] this council didn't intend.
[2:24:56] At some point we have to stop
[2:24:58] and ask whether the best way to fulfill our obligations is
[2:25:01] by doubling down or stepping back.
[2:25:04] This is nearly a million dollars
[2:25:06] that could be spent in a lot wiser ways.
[2:25:08] We could spend a lot of money that we have budgeted
[2:25:11] for homelessness services that could be stretched throughout
[2:25:13] this community and serve maximum purpose.
[2:25:17] Or we could go forward with this
[2:25:19] and ask ourselves if it fits into Ashland's long term
[2:25:22] strategy or if we are simply just trying
[2:25:24] to repair mistakes of the past.
[2:25:26] And it is simply a vanity project.
[2:25:33] So I have been on the council for,
[2:25:36] this is my seventh year now.
[2:25:39] And even from the very beginning we had some serious
[2:25:42] conversations about the needs of our unhoused people.
[2:25:46] And one of the immediate needs was
[2:25:47] that we needed a severe weather shelter
[2:25:50] because at that point they were bouncing from church
[2:25:54] basement to church basement.
[2:25:55] And our,
[2:25:57] our community partners in the churches were having more
[2:25:59] and more difficulty being able
[2:26:01] to maintain their part in that partnership.
[2:26:04] And we were at very serious risk of people dying
[2:26:08] during these severe weather events.
[2:26:10] And every time they came about,
[2:26:12] our community had to scramble.
[2:26:14] We also know that we are facing a crisis
[2:26:17] that is very much a housing crisis.
[2:26:19] It's a mental health crisis, it's an addiction crisis.
[2:26:23] All of those things call on us to provide a certain type
[2:26:27] of service to our unhoused people.
[2:26:30] And that involves wraparound services.
[2:26:32] That's why we have been partnering
[2:26:33] with other service providers.
[2:26:35] The city is not necessarily a service provider in this way.
[2:26:40] We need to get this work done through partnerships.
[2:26:43] One of the things that i I I notice in the work
[2:26:47] of local government is
[2:26:48] that it is very often an imperfect process.
[2:26:52] We would have loved to have had a master plan in place,
[2:26:57] but our county refused the money that would've allowed us
[2:27:00] to build that master plan.
[2:27:02] So when the state came through with one time only money,
[2:27:05] and it was clearly signaled that they were paying
[2:27:07] for infrastructure this year
[2:27:09] and then they were moving on to to housing services next,
[2:27:14] we understood that there was a single opportunity
[2:27:18] to move even though we didn't have the exact plan
[2:27:20] laid out that we wanted.
[2:27:22] And we took what I think,
[2:27:24] and I still think was a very important step.
[2:27:28] We got funding from the state,
[2:27:30] we've got funding from grants, we've put some
[2:27:33] of our own into this process so
[2:27:35] that we could buy a property.
[2:27:38] Was it, did it move faster than we wanted? Absolutely.
[2:27:41] Were we pressed by grant deadlines to do things in a way
[2:27:44] that wouldn't be the way we would love to do them?
[2:27:46] Absolutely. Those things are all true.
[2:27:48] But we now have possession of a piece of property
[2:27:51] that we have continued to move forward with
[2:27:54] and now with the design I see up here
[2:27:57] is really well positioned to do what we have known as needed
[2:28:00] to be done for a good long time.
[2:28:02] It also gives us the potential to have
[2:28:06] additional emergency services provision in the event
[2:28:10] of a major disaster earthquake fire.
[2:28:13] And it also allows us to have some land
[2:28:17] to work on transitional and workforce housing.
[2:28:20] So yes, the pro the, the pathway here has not been perfect.
[2:28:24] It has had its bumps,
[2:28:25] but I think staff has done a tremendous job
[2:28:27] of bringing us back
[2:28:28] what our first ad hoc committee said they wanted us to,
[2:28:32] to do and what this council agreed to do.
[2:28:34] So it's my hope this evening
[2:28:35] that this council will approve this contract
[2:28:38] and allow this work to get started so
[2:28:40] that we can have our shelter in place
[2:28:43] and have that process moving with our local partners by the,
[2:28:47] by the late fall here by November.
[2:28:49] Is there any further discussion? Councillor du King.
[2:28:54] Thank you. I would, I appreciate
[2:28:58] what Councilor Bloom brought forward
[2:29:00] and This is my second
[2:29:05] term on council.
[2:29:06] And I remember when I got here, one
[2:29:10] of my hopes was that we could have a weather shelter
[2:29:15] because I too witnessed
[2:29:19] everyone scrambling in the community to find some place
[2:29:22] to house people when it was freezing outside.
[2:29:27] And winter comes every year just like Christmas.
[2:29:30] But you would act as it was as if we didn't know that.
[2:29:34] So did we get here on a rocky road?
[2:29:38] Yes we did. Are we ever gonna do this again? No.
[2:29:44] However we're here
[2:29:46] and what we have in front of us,
[2:29:49] I wanna make the most of it.
[2:29:50] And it was mentioned
[2:29:53] that this council might not be here forever.
[2:29:55] However, while I'm here, I'm gonna hold people accountable
[2:29:59] to make sure that this is operated in the best possible way
[2:30:03] for the citizens of Ashlyn.
[2:30:08] Any further discussion? Roll call please. Alyssa
[2:30:14] Hanson?
[2:30:15] Yes. Duquesne?
[2:30:17] Yes. Kaplan? Yes. Bloom? No.
[2:30:22] Dale, no re Yes. Motion passed.
[2:30:27] Thank you. Thank you. Staff.
[2:30:29] We have been here for a solid two
[2:30:31] and a half hours, so we're gonna take a short break.
[2:30:33] Counselors, please be back in your seats at 8 37
[2:30:38] by the clock to my right
[2:38:35] reconvening.
[2:38:37] I call this meeting back to order
[2:38:45] Counselors.
[2:38:46] We are back in session. We are now.
[2:38:53] We are now to new business.
[2:38:55] The 2025 Ashland Community Wildfire Protection Plan. So
[2:38:59] Mayor and council, Chris Chambers is here tonight
[2:39:02] to answer any additional questions.
[2:39:03] You may remember. We went over this
[2:39:05] during a study session in July.
[2:39:07] So this is the year long process that resulted Okay.
[2:39:11] Two year long process.
[2:39:12] Sorry, I rounded down inappropriately
[2:39:15] that resulted in this updated
[2:39:17] community wildfire protection plan.
[2:39:20] So if you have any questions, Chris is here to answer those.
[2:39:23] But we are here for the adoption of this plan tonight.
[2:39:26] Councillor Bloom. Thank you. Thank you for being here.
[2:39:30] I know we went over this at length
[2:39:32] and so I appreciated not having
[2:39:35] to spend too much time this weekend on it since
[2:39:37] we didn't previously.
[2:39:39] And really just looking at some of those changes,
[2:39:40] which I appreciate you incorporating.
[2:39:43] It's kind of a two part question.
[2:39:45] I'm gonna try not to laugh asking it,
[2:39:46] but this plan doesn't include logging 10,000 acres
[2:39:49] of pristine, rare old growth forest. Does it?
[2:39:51] It does Not. I didn't think so.
[2:39:53] Would you care to take the opportunity to respond to some
[2:39:56] of these just kind of blatant falsehoods
[2:39:58] that are being put out in the community By some,
[2:40:00] I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on it.
[2:40:03] Given our history of very responsible forward thinking
[2:40:06] and ecologically informed fuels reduction in the watershed,
[2:40:10] I think our track record speaks for itself.
[2:40:13] This plan does not change any of that direction
[2:40:16] that's been approved by council and the previous CWPP nor
[2:40:19] and the Ashland Forest Plan that was approved in 2016
[2:40:23] and will be updated in the coming year.
[2:40:25] The city remains definitely committed
[2:40:28] to the ecological integrity of our watershed.
[2:40:32] We've learned a lot over the last 20 years in forest
[2:40:35] management and
[2:40:37] that it would not include clear cutting in our watershed
[2:40:40] nor would it even be legal in the federal lands
[2:40:44] above us in the Ashland Creek watershed,
[2:40:46] which is designated a late successional reserve.
[2:40:48] So it's not even a possibility that's on the table
[2:40:52] and as part of this plan or any other plan.
[2:40:56] Thank you so much. You're Welcome.
[2:40:58] Council captain. Yeah, thanks.
[2:41:02] I I wanna take up this, this same point in just a second,
[2:41:05] but before we do that, I wanna thank you
[2:41:06] for the memo that you prepared.
[2:41:08] 'cause when you presented this to us
[2:41:09] before in, as in the study session,
[2:41:12] I asked very specifically for what is it
[2:41:14] that only the city can do?
[2:41:16] Yes. And, and I
[2:41:17] and you came up back with a, you know, a three page memo,
[2:41:19] very explicit, very explicit description of
[2:41:22] what things the only the city can do.
[2:41:25] I also had asked at that point for those things
[2:41:27] that the city should do in order to ensure
[2:41:30] that community partners can be successful.
[2:41:32] And it's a little less clear in there,
[2:41:34] but there's a little bit of that in there.
[2:41:36] And I think you've, you,
[2:41:37] you've, you've hit on some of those things.
[2:41:39] So, but I'll, I'll be pressing on that more as we go along.
[2:41:42] 'cause I know that this is just the overall plan.
[2:41:44] There's gonna be individual initiatives
[2:41:46] and we're gonna see some of those again.
[2:41:47] And I'm gonna continue to, to try to work with you to see
[2:41:51] what is it that the city can really do
[2:41:53] to make others effective in doing the things
[2:41:54] that the city really wants them to do as well.
[2:41:56] Because I think that we're all, that was one of the lessons
[2:41:58] that I took away from this, from this new approach
[2:42:01] to the community Wildfire protection plan on this question
[2:42:05] that you just, you just answered.
[2:42:07] Yes. Thank you for confirming that there's not going
[2:42:10] to be clear cutting of 10,000 acres.
[2:42:12] There is however, some discussion of thinning
[2:42:15] of forest canopy in the upper watershed in order to increase
[2:42:19] snow pack and, and things like that.
[2:42:21] And in reference, it's a, it's a kind
[2:42:23] of a passing reference in section 12
[2:42:25] with not super well explained,
[2:42:28] although there's some reference to
[2:42:29] some academic literature on it.
[2:42:31] But then in terms of the actual initiative,
[2:42:34] there's initiative to facilitate creation
[2:42:37] of a climate smart plan for the entire Ashland watershed.
[2:42:40] So I wonder if you could just explain a little bit more
[2:42:43] what is a climate smart plan, how long does it take?
[2:42:47] Who's involved in all of that?
[2:42:50] Yeah, and when are we gonna, when is that,
[2:42:53] when are we gonna start doing that?
[2:42:56] It seems like it's gonna be able
[2:42:57] to pretty long term project.
[2:43:00] I believe that will be a long term project.
[2:43:02] First I want to introduce our extraordinary volunteer
[2:43:05] Cherise ak and in part
[2:43:07] because Cherise brought this idea of climate smart planning
[2:43:12] to the Forest Lands Management advisory committee
[2:43:15] actually a number of years ago
[2:43:16] before we even started this,
[2:43:18] as we were looking at a climate change adaptation addendum
[2:43:21] to the Ashland Forest Plan,
[2:43:23] climate Smart forestry is actually a process
[2:43:26] that was created by, I hope I don't get this wrong,
[2:43:29] the National Wildlife Federation.
[2:43:31] It was an interagency team
[2:43:32] that was led by the National Wildlife. Your
[2:43:34] Mic. Oh yeah, there you
[2:43:36] Go.
[2:43:37] Do I keep it down? No,
[2:43:38] You you're fine.
[2:43:39] It'll, it's fine. Now you've hit it. You're
[2:43:41] Fine.
[2:43:42] Okay. The Climate Smart approach was developed
[2:43:45] by a collaboration of federal
[2:43:47] and nonprofit entities
[2:43:49] to take a hard look at the planning process.
[2:43:55] Someday we could give you a full on presentation on it,
[2:43:58] but there's a publication in 2014
[2:44:01] that describes the process.
[2:44:03] It means looking at the future with a, a lens on
[2:44:08] that's different from the past, dealing with uncertainty.
[2:44:15] But I don't think that's what we're here for tonight.
[2:44:17] So I'm not gonna talk
[2:44:18] About it.
[2:44:19] And, and I, I will add to that, that we don't expect
[2:44:21] that we will be to able to engage in that process
[2:44:24] during the current administration
[2:44:25] because we're talking about the Ashland Watershed, which is,
[2:44:29] you know, over 90% federal land.
[2:44:30] So I don't think we're gonna get traction on
[2:44:33] that particular issue, at least not for the next few years.
[2:44:36] But it's good that we have it in our plan as a placeholder
[2:44:39] and when we have a more climate friendly
[2:44:43] administration, I think that's something that we can take up
[2:44:46] and hope to make some headway on.
[2:44:48] Thanks Chris. Thanks Therese.
[2:44:51] And I would just add to that, that
[2:44:53] that particular framework is specifically
[2:44:56] for natural landscapes, the climate smart framework.
[2:45:00] And so it's, it's been, it, you'll hear frameworks
[2:45:03] that are specifically for community communities
[2:45:06] and community assets and then there are other frameworks
[2:45:08] that are for, for natural landscapes.
[2:45:12] And in fact, one of our Ashland residents was one
[2:45:14] of the authors of one of the chapters for that.
[2:45:16] So there has been a, a lot of work in the conservation world
[2:45:19] around that with National Wildlife Federation
[2:45:22] being the lead organization.
[2:45:25] Other questions? Councillor Duque.
[2:45:30] Thank you. One of my questions is,
[2:45:34] I remember when this was brought in front
[2:45:37] of us the first time.
[2:45:42] So it says that a conservative estimate
[2:45:46] of 80 to $100 million,
[2:45:51] so that's in a 10 year timeframe, so
[2:45:56] that's $10 million per year.
[2:46:01] How are we gonna get there?
[2:46:03] How, where's this money gonna come from?
[2:46:06] We have a $372.5 million budget
[2:46:10] and that is not in the budget.
[2:46:12] Where's this money gonna come from?
[2:46:15] In part it is in the budget, the community
[2:46:17] or the wildfire risk reduction fee that was passed
[2:46:20] by council, very forward looking move on the council's part
[2:46:24] does create a fund that is dedicated
[2:46:27] to wildfire risk reduction that is part of the calculation
[2:46:32] and more, not that that fund is enough to, you know,
[2:46:35] get us to $10 million.
[2:46:36] It's nowhere near that. But what
[2:46:38] that fund creates is a down payment so that we can go out to
[2:46:42] state, federal foundations, you name it,
[2:46:46] and we have a, a match fund that we can then extend out
[2:46:51] and say, hey, we have put our money where our mouth is
[2:46:54] as a local community.
[2:46:55] We have skin in the game. We've been doing this actually
[2:46:57] for a long time back to the 1315 biennium
[2:47:01] and having a fee dedicated to wildfire mitigation.
[2:47:04] So we have a good track record we've performed on that.
[2:47:08] We have, you know, we doubled down on it in the LA in this
[2:47:11] current biennium and you know, we are looking
[2:47:14] to be an example community for the entire country
[2:47:17] and we have this money.
[2:47:20] And so we hope that what that will do is allow us
[2:47:23] to access the millions of dollars that are listed in the,
[2:47:27] the plan as a potential budget.
[2:47:29] And a very similar thing, when we happened 21 years ago
[2:47:34] when we approved the original community wildfire protection
[2:47:37] plan in 2004, we didn't know
[2:47:40] where the money was gonna come from at
[2:47:42] that time we thought the budget was 10
[2:47:43] to $12 million to do the project.
[2:47:46] We ended up with 33 million
[2:47:48] and counting as we had success in the project,
[2:47:51] we attracted funding, we found other funding sources,
[2:47:54] we lobbied for dollars.
[2:47:57] So we more than doubled what we thought the budget would be
[2:48:01] and we made a very successful forward thinking project.
[2:48:05] I'm hopeful that we'll have an experience
[2:48:07] that is similar this time around
[2:48:10] as we look at protecting our community
[2:48:12] and doing the necessary work that we need to do.
[2:48:14] But I can't honestly sit here
[2:48:16] and say there's money in the bank.
[2:48:19] We're gonna have to figure that out.
[2:48:21] May I Mayor? Yes, thank you Chris.
[2:48:23] I appreciate that explanation.
[2:48:26] And that was years ago when that happened.
[2:48:29] And looking at the federal government
[2:48:31] where we are right now, there are no grants,
[2:48:33] there are no federal dollars.
[2:48:36] Yes, the citizens were taxed with the wildfire fee
[2:48:40] and that is not gonna get us to the 10 million.
[2:48:43] So I just don't see how we can get there.
[2:48:48] Is there some sense of urgency?
[2:48:50] You mentioned before how Ashland is the leader
[2:48:54] and the nation and doing,
[2:48:56] and it's wonderful to be the leader.
[2:48:58] However, I don't see where the funds are going
[2:49:02] to come from to get us there.
[2:49:05] So that is my question.
[2:49:06] When I saw this, the wildfire fee, the $6
[2:49:11] that's implemented, but that's not gonna get us there.
[2:49:14] No grants or no federal funding is in place.
[2:49:18] So I just, it's not clear to me.
[2:49:21] There's still a federal grant that's in its last year
[2:49:23] and it's actually the same funding that we got
[2:49:25] to fund the creation of the CWPP.
[2:49:28] It's called the Community Wildfire Defense Grant.
[2:49:31] It's still in existence. It'll be in its last year.
[2:49:34] We can apply coming up this fall
[2:49:36] or winter when they release the, the notice for that grant.
[2:49:40] So it'll be the fourth year of that grant.
[2:49:42] It allows communities to apply for up to $10 million
[2:49:45] for implementing a plan that we've, you know, just finished.
[2:49:49] So we'll be in pretty good position to do that.
[2:49:51] That is one of the only federal remaining funds that I know
[2:49:55] of for this kind of work.
[2:49:56] Whether or not we engage in that, I know we're having,
[2:50:00] you know, issues with language in federal grant agreements.
[2:50:04] Maybe this one works out for us. I hope it does.
[2:50:07] I'm also encouraged that the state legislature passed
[2:50:10] $43 million in wildfire mitigation and prevention funding.
[2:50:15] You know, apart from the money that they are paying
[2:50:17] to put fires out right now, this is separate dollars
[2:50:21] that were carved out by the legislature
[2:50:24] and that that is something that we're gonna have to
[2:50:28] write a really good grant application for.
[2:50:30] And I think we can do that
[2:50:31] and be very convincing at the state
[2:50:33] level to get funding as well.
[2:50:36] So this is a follow up. Yes. So question about that.
[2:50:40] Thanks Chris. Is that if this is going to move forward
[2:50:45] and it is, if it is gonna pass,
[2:50:49] my question in here when I was reading
[2:50:51] and looking through this is
[2:50:56] some people are not able to, it said
[2:51:00] that every, every individual's responsible
[2:51:03] and it mentioned institutions and individuals
[2:51:07] and property owners, if you are a property owner,
[2:51:11] it doesn't necessarily mean you have X amount of dollars
[2:51:14] to do this to your home.
[2:51:16] My concern is that this is NN not mandatory.
[2:51:24] Can you explain that question?
[2:51:25] You're concerned that it is not mandatory
[2:51:27] Because of the not mandatory for someone
[2:51:29] to harden their home.
[2:51:30] So many communities have already looked at landscaping
[2:51:34] and done things in their community around their house
[2:51:39] to for fire while for fire mitigation.
[2:51:42] Right. And so my concern in looking at these goals
[2:51:47] and where the city wants to go, if I'm a property owner
[2:51:51] and I don't have the money to harden my home,
[2:51:56] am I gonna get penalized is gonna be mandatory.
[2:51:59] What is that gonna look like?
[2:52:01] Thank you. The intent in the plan is to help those
[2:52:06] who need the help to get there.
[2:52:08] So lower income landowners,
[2:52:10] just like we have utility bill assistance program
[2:52:13] for home heating and air conditioning in the city,
[2:52:16] we can come up with a threshold for income
[2:52:18] that people would qualify to have
[2:52:21] some significant proportion of the work done for them out
[2:52:25] of funding that we have either from the fee and or fee of,
[2:52:29] and a combination of some grants that we're able to get
[2:52:32] to make that happen for people.
[2:52:34] We, we have some
[2:52:36] of the contracting capacity in place in the community.
[2:52:39] We need to train a lot more contractors on how
[2:52:42] to do the work that we want them to do.
[2:52:44] And I think we can get there pretty quickly
[2:52:46] that we can offer the services
[2:52:48] and help people get to the point that they need to be
[2:52:51] for wildfire protection without a lot
[2:52:55] of out of pocket expense.
[2:52:57] I appreciate that
[2:52:58] and it's been my experience at some people will fall through
[2:53:02] that threshold and that's where my concern lies. Thank you.
[2:53:07] Thank you. So a couple of things just
[2:53:11] to make sure we have the clarifications.
[2:53:14] That $10 million a year that includes the estimates for
[2:53:18] what individual homeowners would also need to do.
[2:53:22] Correct. So that's not, we're not looking at the city having
[2:53:25] to have a $10 million a year budget
[2:53:27] to do this work. Is that correct?
[2:53:28] That would include contributions from the homeowners
[2:53:31] themselves that looks at our experience in the current FEMA
[2:53:36] grant and what we've offered the money to help people.
[2:53:39] Homeowners will often spend over
[2:53:42] and above the amount that's required for their match.
[2:53:45] So, you know, if we're a requiring 25% that they kick in,
[2:53:48] they often do more and end up paying 50 to sometimes 75%
[2:53:51] because they wanted to just
[2:53:53] go ahead and do the whole package.
[2:53:55] I used those numbers that we got
[2:53:57] so real world numbers from our own city out
[2:54:00] of the FEMA grant experience to run those calculations.
[2:54:04] So we completely expect that for those
[2:54:07] who can do the work and pay for it.
[2:54:10] Great. We're gonna, that is included in the $10 million.
[2:54:13] Great. And I had, I know when we had the,
[2:54:17] the study session here at council, there was a,
[2:54:20] a conversation that was kind of linked, I believe to
[2:54:23] this question that Councillor Kaplan had asked, which is,
[2:54:26] where are we at in terms of our staffing,
[2:54:29] our existing staffing in terms of moving forward,
[2:54:33] those elements that are uniquely the cities to move forward.
[2:54:36] And I asked that question by email and I believe Mr.
[2:54:40] Shea sent a a a good answer out.
[2:54:43] But I think the, the community might do well
[2:54:46] to hear it in terms of where, how, how,
[2:54:50] how well are we suited at this moment
[2:54:52] with the staffing we have to get started on this plan
[2:54:56] and is there a significant gap in staffing immediately known
[2:55:01] that we should be looking to address.
[2:55:04] So we had a, a long discussion in our division about this.
[2:55:07] We feel like in the, the two years of kicking off the plan,
[2:55:11] we have staffing right now at a level
[2:55:13] that we can make the heavy lift
[2:55:15] and get this plan off the ground into implementation,
[2:55:19] including writing grants, developing codes
[2:55:23] that would be necessary to move this forward.
[2:55:26] We will have to have this discussion at some point about
[2:55:29] maybe another FTE to add to the division so
[2:55:33] that we can eventually enforce the codes,
[2:55:36] but we're not gonna get there within the first two years.
[2:55:40] So in the current biennium, we're not saying
[2:55:42] that we want any more staff, we also have to realize
[2:55:45] that this is a community effort.
[2:55:47] We already have partners who are at the table
[2:55:50] with funding in hand, including the chamber of commerce
[2:55:53] for the business community portion of what is in the plan,
[2:55:56] and also applications that are being submitted
[2:55:59] by the Ashland Climate Collaborative that were,
[2:56:02] and mayor submitted a support
[2:56:04] letter for Thank you very much.
[2:56:06] So we're expecting that, you know,
[2:56:08] this isn't just all falling on the city's shoulders
[2:56:11] and in fact that's the way the plan was put together.
[2:56:13] It's a community plan
[2:56:15] and in fact we left the city logo off it
[2:56:17] and I'll just apologize to the city for that.
[2:56:20] But, but that was purposeful in order to make this,
[2:56:23] you know, not something that every time something question
[2:56:26] comes up, we gotta go to the city council
[2:56:28] and ask for an answer or
[2:56:29] we have to go to the fire department.
[2:56:30] This is a collaborative effort in our entire community
[2:56:34] because we all stand to benefit from it
[2:56:37] and we all stand to lose if there is a major wildfire.
[2:56:40] So we need all of the institutions, nonprofits,
[2:56:43] everybody at the table to step up and do some of it.
[2:56:46] This is meant to be a commun,
[2:56:48] truly community wildfire protection plan.
[2:56:52] Great. Councilor Duque.
[2:56:55] Thank you. Okay, last question.
[2:56:58] I just wanted to,
[2:57:00] you mentioned it's not on the city's shoulders,
[2:57:04] I don't want it to be on the people's shoulders either when
[2:57:08] it comes to dollars and cents.
[2:57:09] So in developing code
[2:57:12] that you mentioned will will happen eventually while doing
[2:57:17] that, can you assure the community
[2:57:21] that it's not gonna be anything mandatory
[2:57:25] that they will have to do to their property
[2:57:28] or be penalized if they don't?
[2:57:33] So I don't think we can assure that
[2:57:35] because any code would come to council
[2:57:37] for review before it's adopted.
[2:57:40] So that would really be a, a discussion
[2:57:42] with the code. Under consideration.
[2:57:45] Under consideration. But I think it's fair to say
[2:57:47] that there won't, those,
[2:57:48] those code changes will not be made
[2:57:50] without council approval.
[2:57:52] So any, any concern that you might have,
[2:57:54] there'll be a discussion in a vote at the council
[2:57:57] around those code changes, is that correct?
[2:57:59] Absolutely. I think that's an important point
[2:58:01] about anything in the community.
[2:58:02] Wildfire protection plan, just
[2:58:04] by adopting the plan doesn't make it so the very next day
[2:58:08] it sets into motion processes that will come back
[2:58:12] to council, such as code adoption, you know, any planning
[2:58:15] that happens for work in our forests, it's gonna either have
[2:58:18] to come back to council
[2:58:19] or combination of council and the forest service.
[2:58:22] So there's a long road ahead in process
[2:58:26] and this is an important step, but it in
[2:58:30] and of itself does not pass any codes
[2:58:32] or doesn't make any significant changes
[2:58:35] without further review,
[2:58:36] further citizen participation and further budget.
[2:58:41] Great. So I have one last question
[2:58:44] and that's around the, the reference
[2:58:47] to thinning forest for water.
[2:58:50] It's that practice is a, is a practice that is,
[2:58:54] it's a very complex process.
[2:58:56] And so what would that, what would it look like?
[2:59:00] What is a process before the city would engage in that
[2:59:04] because it's potentially severely maladaptive.
[2:59:07] And so what, by having it mentioned in here,
[2:59:13] would it still need to come to the council
[2:59:15] before we undertook anything even in the areas
[2:59:18] where we can control our, even in our own forest lands,
[2:59:24] One, the city doesn't own forest lands.
[2:59:27] In the significant forest lands,
[2:59:29] we do have the wind burn parcel that does get snow.
[2:59:33] The lower watershed one is below the drainage area
[2:59:36] of Rita Reservoir.
[2:59:37] So that's, it doesn't have any significance in terms
[2:59:39] of capturing water that we are gonna be drinking.
[2:59:43] And also the, the windberg parcel is so small,
[2:59:47] it doesn't have enough area to really have any hydrological
[2:59:50] benefit to the availability of water by doing thinning.
[2:59:54] And the rest is forest service land, the
[2:59:56] Rest is forest service land, which would have to go
[2:59:58] through federal NEPA and land management and,
[3:00:01] and ostensibly just like we did back in 2004,
[3:00:04] a council process to approve a plan in conjunction
[3:00:08] with the forest service just like we did in
[3:00:11] the original CWPP.
[3:00:12] Great. Thank you. If Councillor shell Yeah,
[3:00:16] Excuse me.
[3:00:17] Thank you Mayor, thank you again for coming back
[3:00:19] and thank you for all the work
[3:00:20] that you did to put this together.
[3:00:22] This is a, a really major piece of text
[3:00:25] that's gonna help our community, I believe for a long time.
[3:00:28] My only kind of concern and,
[3:00:30] and I plan to support this is just like
[3:00:32] the unintended consequences.
[3:00:33] You know, it's the elephant in the room.
[3:00:35] We have all this amazing state legislation that's passing,
[3:00:38] I mean, multiple infill housing bills have passed since this
[3:00:41] was since we were even here last time a couple
[3:00:44] months ago looking at that.
[3:00:46] And I, I just would hope that we would kind
[3:00:48] of be looking far down the road
[3:00:50] to avoid unintended consequences of pairing fire safety
[3:00:54] with density and with infill housing.
[3:00:56] There was some, some good testimony earlier.
[3:00:59] And as it pertains
[3:01:00] to community development in the section you were talking
[3:01:03] about in your memo that you sent out, I believe on the 13th,
[3:01:06] can you speak maybe to your kind of education
[3:01:10] and your point of view down the road
[3:01:11] as this competes with infill housing?
[3:01:15] This is a sticky issue and there's no silver bullet.
[3:01:21] Clearly putting more structures
[3:01:23] and more people in a confined space,
[3:01:26] AKA the city limits is going
[3:01:28] to make things more challenging for wildfire.
[3:01:32] The piece that we do have in our back pocket is having
[3:01:34] already adopted the state building code
[3:01:37] for wildfire prevention, which is
[3:01:39] R three sec section R 3 27.
[3:01:43] That requires
[3:01:45] that all new construction in Ashland residential
[3:01:48] construction is built
[3:01:49] to the highest protection for wildfire.
[3:01:51] And that really is like the golden egg
[3:01:54] that we have right now.
[3:01:56] Without that, we would be in a lot more trouble in digging
[3:01:59] ourselves in a lot deeper hole than we are right now.
[3:02:02] We've implemented that since 2021.
[3:02:05] So that was like really visionary.
[3:02:08] I'm actually invited to give a presentation to the League
[3:02:10] of Oregon cities about that coming up next week
[3:02:13] for other communities in Oregon who are considering
[3:02:15] that approach.
[3:02:17] So Ashland has, was a leader on that front
[3:02:20] and continues to be,
[3:02:21] and that's something that we should hold onto as tightly
[3:02:24] as possible because it is the best bet in allowing
[3:02:28] infill at the same time as providing the kind
[3:02:31] of fire protection that we absolutely need for the future.
[3:02:36] The big challenge is our existing construction
[3:02:40] and what do we do about that?
[3:02:42] That's a really, you know, the, the main emphasis
[3:02:44] of this plan,
[3:02:46] but I don't think we're gonna see ourselves getting out
[3:02:49] of the infill with all of the state land use planning
[3:02:53] and energy going into it and,
[3:02:55] and you know, wanting to maintain a compact city
[3:02:58] and not sprawl out all over this end of the valley.
[3:03:01] So I I, yeah, I don't have an easy, easy answer,
[3:03:06] but that what we have done
[3:03:09] to date in requiring defensible space and home hardening
[3:03:12] and new construction is really important
[3:03:15] and that's, I think that's as good as it gets for us.
[3:03:18] Yeah, I would, I would agree.
[3:03:19] Just a quick follow up on that, I mean R 3 27 is,
[3:03:22] is really powerful and it's is the industry standard here we
[3:03:24] opted into that we should be proud that we have it,
[3:03:27] it is expensive, but what's the price of life safety?
[3:03:30] Right? The the follow up question to that was also relating
[3:03:33] to your memo that you sent out talking about
[3:03:36] maintain overall vision and values,
[3:03:38] including a focus on equitable risk reduction.
[3:03:41] And right now it seems like it's only a certain small part
[3:03:45] of the market that's being put into that hardening standard.
[3:03:48] And I really like how the city has got a system
[3:03:51] where they're gonna lead by example
[3:03:52] and they're gonna harden their buildings first apparently.
[3:03:54] So I really like that.
[3:03:57] I just maybe would ask what is, what's your definition
[3:04:00] of applying this new standard as we apply new codes,
[3:04:04] as we enforce new codes equitably?
[3:04:07] Right. Well, SRIs, do you wanna talk about that?
[3:04:10] You did, most of all, SRIs did hundreds of in-person surveys
[3:04:14] with so socially vulnerable populations as part of the plan
[3:04:19] and that that is what we're talking about
[3:04:21] and we talk about equitable risk reduction is, you know,
[3:04:24] how do we communicate to socially vulnerable populations,
[3:04:28] how do we find out what it is they need?
[3:04:30] And that was a large part
[3:04:32] of the planning process at the end.
[3:04:38] The issue of equitability is really core,
[3:04:43] and I can't say that we have the answers,
[3:04:47] but one of the things that we're working on right now,
[3:04:49] and one of the reasons that I've really been a proponent
[3:04:52] for a dedicated staff person to implementation is that
[3:04:57] to find the solutions we need to develop partnerships,
[3:05:00] we need to talk to the community and listen to people.
[3:05:04] And that's what we did for this plan.
[3:05:06] And that was just a small sampling
[3:05:08] of the people, but we learned a lot.
[3:05:11] The next step is to develop a community driven partnership.
[3:05:16] Community led
[3:05:18] and that just happened
[3:05:20] to land in our lap a week and a half ago.
[3:05:24] I found out that there's an opportunity to propose a for
[3:05:28] or to apply for a grant from the Oregon Health Authority
[3:05:32] and the Ashton Climate Collaborative agreed
[3:05:35] to be the parent organization
[3:05:37] for creating a new Ashland wildfire
[3:05:39] partnership resilience partnership.
[3:05:43] And its purpose is to figure out how to
[3:05:48] do that equitable approach.
[3:05:52] And what I propose is that using this grant funding,
[3:05:58] we, we, we don't contract,
[3:06:01] but we essentially find community connectors who can,
[3:06:06] who are already embedded
[3:06:07] or integrated within certain populations
[3:06:11] and facilitate them talking to these folks
[3:06:15] and finding out where they're at.
[3:06:18] But what really the plan is,
[3:06:20] and this whole approach is about, is the one goal, which is
[3:06:24] to save homes from wildfire to reduce the homes
[3:06:28] as a fuel source for those
[3:06:31] who can't afford to do it on their own.
[3:06:33] That's where the big money comes in.
[3:06:36] And under the current administration, it's gonna be tough
[3:06:38] to raise the funds to serve socially vulnerable
[3:06:42] populations, harden their homes.
[3:06:47] One of the areas that we collectively need
[3:06:49] to take a hard look at is how the city looks
[3:06:51] because of its vegetation.
[3:06:53] We have a tradition of planting in a certain way
[3:06:56] and promoting certain kinds of vegetation.
[3:06:59] Making that transition means informing the community
[3:07:03] and educating them so that they can understand
[3:07:05] that their anxiety over climate change
[3:07:08] and wildfire might greatly be reduced.
[3:07:12] If we collectively look at becoming a community
[3:07:16] that won't burn, it would become a safe harbor.
[3:07:20] That's the word I'm beginning to use.
[3:07:22] These are big dreams, big ideas,
[3:07:25] and people who are working daily
[3:07:27] or having a hard time earning money
[3:07:29] or taking care of their families don't have the the breadth
[3:07:34] necessarily to really engage in these conversations.
[3:07:40] We don't have all the answers,
[3:07:41] but the important thing about this grant proposal is in 18
[3:07:44] months, if we can form partnerships with various people
[3:07:49] who serve the community, kind of like the,
[3:07:52] the issue you were just talking about with the unhoused,
[3:07:55] you invite partners in to participate in this conversation
[3:07:58] and develop the structure
[3:07:59] and framework of the systems, the tools
[3:08:01] that will more equitably serve people.
[3:08:04] That's the vision of the CWPP.
[3:08:07] And the great thing about this grant proposal is
[3:08:11] that it would be community led
[3:08:14] and we would partner with the city of Ashland on many
[3:08:17] of the important things, but there are some
[3:08:19] things that we can't do.
[3:08:21] And one of those things is codes
[3:08:24] and enforcement of codes
[3:08:27] that happens to be the stick.
[3:08:29] I'm hoping to find something sweeter
[3:08:32] and that sweetness has to do with vision compelling people
[3:08:37] because it's the right thing to do.
[3:08:39] I'm saying saying too much, I'm sorry.
[3:08:42] No, I think this, it is an important question.
[3:08:44] Thank you Councillor shell and,
[3:08:46] and the, the work that's gone into making sure that we deal
[3:08:49] with this element that we don't leave our community members
[3:08:53] behind who are struggling
[3:08:55] and are not able to afford the changes
[3:08:56] that need to be made to their homes.
[3:08:58] I think that's a, a key element of all of this.
[3:09:00] So it's an important discussion to have.
[3:09:02] We do have some folks who have signed up
[3:09:04] to offer public testimony though,
[3:09:05] so did you have anything else to add to that, Cherise?
[3:09:09] No, I just hope that you can help us realize this dream
[3:09:13] 'cause we're all in it together
[3:09:15] and we have to be or this won't happen.
[3:09:18] Thank you. There's a lot of benefits from being together.
[3:09:20] Better together.
[3:09:22] Indeed. So we have three people
[3:09:25] who have signed up to speak this evening.
[3:09:27] What you'll do is you'll come up to the microphone.
[3:09:29] There's a light sensor or light display next to you.
[3:09:33] It'll start on green when your time,
[3:09:35] when you have 20 seconds left, it'll move to yellow.
[3:09:37] You'll hear a little buzzer
[3:09:39] and then when your time is up, it will move to red
[3:09:41] and you'll hear the final buzzer.
[3:09:43] The three people are David Lane,
[3:09:45] Daniel Duro, and Aaron Muck.
[3:09:48] Please tell us your name
[3:09:49] and where you, the city in which you reside when you start,
[3:09:53] and then we'll give the each of them three minutes.
[3:09:58] You called my name first. So yes, I'm David Lane.
[3:10:02] I've lived, lived in Ashland for 14 years.
[3:10:06] I've lived just on the other side
[3:10:08] of the city limits for more than 30.
[3:10:11] So I'm sort of a, a fixture around here.
[3:10:15] I really wanna build on what Sheree said.
[3:10:19] I think we have to fix in our minds
[3:10:22] that failure is not an option.
[3:10:25] Failure would mean coming home from an evacuation
[3:10:29] and finding a pile of ashes
[3:10:32] and we can't let that be a possibility.
[3:10:37] We have to do what we have to do.
[3:10:40] That's gotta be sort of a mantra for the next 10 years.
[3:10:44] And what that that means is
[3:10:48] we can't let our our thinking be
[3:10:53] in the normal style.
[3:10:54] Oh, we can't do that because of such and such a regulation.
[3:10:58] Instead we have to say, how can we do it?
[3:11:01] How can we accomplish this?
[3:11:04] That's got to be what we, we think it's got to be
[3:11:09] what we get the rest of our residents to think.
[3:11:14] It's got to be a collaborative kind of situation.
[3:11:19] It's not just education, it's motivation.
[3:11:24] We don't know how to do that very well.
[3:11:27] We know how to do the opposite.
[3:11:29] We know how to use the stick, not the carrot.
[3:11:34] We need to work with,
[3:11:35] say the psych department at the call at the university.
[3:11:40] We, we need to put together a whole program of
[3:11:46] recreating some of the enthusiasm that we had
[3:11:50] during World War II when we had people having used tires
[3:11:56] drives and paper drives and that kind thing
[3:11:59] because they were so committed through the outcome.
[3:12:04] And that's what we've got to do here.
[3:12:07] And that's what I really, really want to
[3:12:10] encourage the council to turn thinking
[3:12:15] around from the normal usual run of the mill business.
[3:12:22] You, you, you brought up the thing about the idea about
[3:12:26] how are we gonna fund this.
[3:12:27] We don't really know how we're gonna fund it.
[3:12:30] We need to just jump in and start
[3:12:34] and get the rest of the population enthused
[3:12:37] and we've got lots of wealthy people here inland.
[3:12:42] We need to tap into them
[3:12:44] and get them enthused about supporting this
[3:12:48] because if we end up with even 15%
[3:12:53] of the structures in Ashland destroyed by a fire,
[3:12:57] it's going to change everything about this town.
[3:13:02] We can't let that happen. Thank you.
[3:13:05] Thank you. Daniel Duro.
[3:13:11] My name is Dan Deru and I live in Ashland.
[3:13:14] Been here 11 years
[3:13:16] and I want to thank you
[3:13:17] for your efforts on producing the comprehensive
[3:13:19] Wildfire Protection plan.
[3:13:21] And thank you for this opportunity to comment on it.
[3:13:24] My concern is the warning
[3:13:26] that is stated in there about high density infilling
[3:13:30] and evacuations, re restrictions on being able to get out
[3:13:35] bottlenecks and like that planning can reduce risk
[3:13:39] by reducing density.
[3:13:42] The there is a conflict between the, the demand
[3:13:44] for infilling and the demand for fire safety.
[3:13:48] And it seems to me that instead of infilling to the maximum
[3:13:54] number of units allowed that we cont tend towards
[3:13:58] a more moderate amount of, of units going in
[3:14:07] under what used to be normal conditions,
[3:14:09] there would be no problem going forward.
[3:14:11] But now we've all agreed
[3:14:12] that the playing field has dramatically changed.
[3:14:14] The brisk percentages stated in the study are nationally
[3:14:18] Ashland is ranked in the top 97% of communities most likely
[3:14:21] to suffer a catastrophic wildfire event.
[3:14:25] This new information is being integrated through community
[3:14:28] and city, city efforts.
[3:14:29] However, the current plan
[3:14:31] for high density infilling adds more people
[3:14:34] and structures, which the wildfire
[3:14:36] and evacuation studies advise against the Keal Park.
[3:14:40] Phase three is a prime example of where it is possible
[3:14:43] to act in Ashland.
[3:14:46] The top wildfire concerned concern identified in the 2024
[3:14:50] citizen survey was
[3:14:51] that traffic bottlenecks blocked evacuation routes
[3:14:54] and lack of alternatives to evacuation were most concerned.
[3:14:58] The third highest was,
[3:15:00] third highest concern was over narrow streets
[3:15:02] and overdevelopment impeding evacuation.
[3:15:07] As the Wildfire protection Plan states these
[3:15:09] findings make one thing clear.
[3:15:11] The greatest threat we face is not simply wildfire itself,
[3:15:14] but unchecked development in high risk areas.
[3:15:17] Unless we align our planning with reality,
[3:15:20] lives will be at risk.
[3:15:22] It is imperative that we reimagine both our community
[3:15:24] and our behavior or we will face more frequent
[3:15:27] and more severe losses as the climate continues to change.
[3:15:30] Right now we have an enormous opportunity
[3:15:32] with careful planning and decisive action.
[3:15:35] We can prevent a catastrophic fire considering
[3:15:39] that the Mountain Meadows Retirement
[3:15:40] and Memory Care complex will be in jeopardy.
[3:15:43] The proposed 38 unit development at Kestrel
[3:15:46] and the 90 units planned at Main
[3:15:49] and Mountain right across the street here
[3:15:52] are gonna further impact safe evacuation.
[3:15:55] Now's the time to act
[3:15:57] and I hope that the city can, can lower its hopes
[3:16:01] for maximum population infilling and, and,
[3:16:05] and moderate the, the amount of of units
[3:16:10] that are, are, are being proposed
[3:16:12] for these developments. Thank you.
[3:16:14] Thank you Aaron Muck.
[3:16:23] Good
[3:16:23] Evening mayor and council.
[3:16:25] It's wonderful to see you all. My
[3:16:28] Name is Erin, you can lift that microphone if you'd like.
[3:16:30] That's helpful. You can lift it.
[3:16:32] Thank you. Very helpful. My name is Erin O'Kelly Muck.
[3:16:36] I've lived in Ashland since 2001
[3:16:39] and I'm the executive director
[3:16:41] of the Ashland Climate Collaborative.
[3:16:44] The Ashland Climate Collaborative is a solutions focused
[3:16:48] 5 0 1 C3, founded in 2002 to serve as a hub
[3:16:54] for community-based action to reduce our climate pollution
[3:16:58] and to build a resilient community.
[3:17:01] Today, our community is a growing number
[3:17:05] of Ashland residents who want to take climate action
[3:17:09] by switching from natural gas
[3:17:11] to a hundred percent electric homes, walking, biking,
[3:17:15] and rolling around town, sending our food scraps
[3:17:19] for composting, conserving water,
[3:17:22] and collaborating with our neighbors
[3:17:24] to reduce wildfire risk.
[3:17:28] All of these choices when taken
[3:17:30] collectively make a difference.
[3:17:34] Wildfire is Ashland's top public health and safety threat.
[3:17:38] Ashland Climate was pleased to be a community partner
[3:17:41] with the city of Ashland in the 2025 Better,
[3:17:46] better prepared for wildfire series.
[3:17:50] We believe that this program series was a great example
[3:17:54] of community collaboration.
[3:17:57] We applaud the thoughtful work
[3:17:59] that went into crafting the 2025 Community Wildfire
[3:18:03] Protection Plan and urge you to adopt the plan in full.
[3:18:08] It is extremely comprehensive
[3:18:11] and we believe that it offers an excellent blueprint
[3:18:14] for reducing our risk of a catastrophic wildfire.
[3:18:20] Ashland climate especially would like
[3:18:21] to recognize the significant effort
[3:18:23] that went into identifying
[3:18:25] and presenting strategies to address the needs
[3:18:28] of those in our community who are renters, as well
[3:18:31] as our socially vulnerable households.
[3:18:35] We would like to inform the mayor
[3:18:37] and the council that the Ashland Climate Collaborative is in
[3:18:41] the process of applying
[3:18:43] for a grant from the Oregon Health Authority
[3:18:46] to help coordinate
[3:18:47] and accelerate the implementation of the CWPP.
[3:18:52] If awarded, this grant would enable Ashland Climate
[3:18:55] to establish the Ashland Wildfire Resilience Partnership
[3:19:00] or A WRP as a hub
[3:19:03] for community led wildfire risk reduction.
[3:19:07] In addition, the project will shape whole community wildfire
[3:19:11] risk reduction initiatives.
[3:19:13] Oh my gosh, that was fast.
[3:19:16] Our grant application has been largely authored by Cherise
[3:19:20] AK and who served as lead community engagement liaison
[3:19:24] for the CWPP.
[3:19:26] She has worked closely with the leadership
[3:19:28] of the Ashland Fire and Rescue,
[3:19:32] and we are so excited to be a part of this.
[3:19:36] Thank you.
[3:19:37] Thank you. Any further questions of staff?
[3:19:42] Okay. The floor is open for a motion.
[3:19:45] Good. Okay. Councillor
[3:19:46] Blum.
[3:19:47] Thank you, mayor. I move to approve adoption
[3:19:49] of the 2025 Ashland Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
[3:19:53] Councillor Blum. Yeah.
[3:19:55] Nice to make a positive motion here.
[3:19:57] I'm proud to support this plan.
[3:19:59] It's comprehensive community driven, gives us clear path to,
[3:20:03] to reduce wildfire risk, thank you to everybody
[3:20:08] involved and, and the community
[3:20:09] getting involved and doing more.
[3:20:12] Re said, well, it really, it takes all of us, you know, kind
[3:20:15] of deciding psychologically that this is something
[3:20:18] that we need to do and I think that it's evident
[3:20:20] that we do need to do it.
[3:20:23] I really look forward to all of us kind of getting
[3:20:25] to work on this, so thank you so much.
[3:20:28] Councilor, captain? Yes, I'd like
[3:20:31] to echo Councillor Blum
[3:20:32] and really appreciating
[3:20:34] all the work that's been done in this.
[3:20:36] It's been a long time coming.
[3:20:38] I remember, I think one
[3:20:39] of the first meetings at the OOSF rehearsal hall getting
[3:20:42] everybody, I dunno what that was called, maybe
[3:20:45] that was the MAC or something.
[3:20:46] It was a big meeting with 60 or so people breaking
[3:20:49] after that into working groups and trying, going out
[3:20:53] and coming back and some of the researchers coming into
[3:20:56] to a meeting that, that I participated in at,
[3:20:59] I think it was at SOU somewhere.
[3:21:02] It's just an enormous amount of work,
[3:21:04] and I think it shows in this, in this document that you
[3:21:08] produced, I think you've said pretty eloquently
[3:21:11] that this is a real frame.
[3:21:13] There's a lot of initiatives, you know, to, to take forward.
[3:21:16] So it's really a jumping off point. It's a starting point.
[3:21:19] We have to all build, build it together.
[3:21:23] I appreciate what David Lane said is that, you know,
[3:21:26] we don't know all the answers,
[3:21:28] but we have to, we, we, failure is not an option
[3:21:31] and we absolutely have to put our shoulders to the wheel
[3:21:34] and work together and, and,
[3:21:36] and figure it out and, and move along.
[3:21:38] So thank you very much for giving us the,
[3:21:40] the first push on this more than just a push
[3:21:43] as a, or a shove I guess.
[3:21:45] And, and I appreciate all that you've done
[3:21:48] and be happy to support this
[3:21:50] Councillor Duque.
[3:21:52] Thank you. Yeah,
[3:21:57] I think David Lane kind of cheered me
[3:22:01] over onto the other side.
[3:22:04] However, something that was brought up earlier
[3:22:09] about density
[3:22:12] and that's real evacuation that's real.
[3:22:18] And we already have in place
[3:22:22] that all new buildings will be built a certain way and,
[3:22:26] and electrified and this and that, and I think that's great.
[3:22:31] I am just hoping
[3:22:33] that I'm still here when we develop the code so
[3:22:37] I can give my 5 cents
[3:22:40] because you know, we talk about equity,
[3:22:44] so many people in Ashland are renters, 47%,
[3:22:48] and just because you own a home doesn't
[3:22:51] mean you're living large.
[3:22:53] So my hope in seeing this through is
[3:22:56] that it truly is equitable.
[3:22:59] I still don't know where we're gonna get
[3:23:00] that $10 million a year from,
[3:23:04] and I just don't want that to be on the rate payers
[3:23:10] and the people who really are struggling here in Ashland.
[3:23:14] That is my reluctancy, that is my resistance.
[3:23:20] So yeah, I'm done.
[3:23:22] Councilor Dale, or excuse me, Councillor Sherell.
[3:23:26] Just wanna say thanks again
[3:23:27] for all the work that's went into this.
[3:23:29] I I think if this vote goes well, you,
[3:23:31] you'll probably both sleep really well tonight.
[3:23:32] I know it's been a long journey
[3:23:34] and just we're lucky to have you both.
[3:23:37] I know growing up here and,
[3:23:38] and seeing your career bloom, there was like regional awards
[3:23:41] and regional training, then national, then international,
[3:23:44] and then having you come into the community
[3:23:45] and put in tens of thousands of hours probably on this.
[3:23:49] We're just like really lucky to have a couple
[3:23:51] of the smartest minds around doing this work
[3:23:54] and I plan to support it. Thanks
[3:23:56] Councillor Dale.
[3:23:57] Thank you, mayor. Yes. I wasn't gonna speak to this just
[3:24:00] because I don't think I could say it any,
[3:24:01] any better than my colleagues here,
[3:24:03] just a full support of this.
[3:24:04] But, but Councillor DEA brought something up
[3:24:07] and it, it made me think, I I just wanted to, to state that
[3:24:14] I, I refuse to accept that intelligent density
[3:24:19] of housing design cannot coexist with intelligent,
[3:24:23] responsible community wildfire protection.
[3:24:27] I, I don't think that you, I I just, I I find
[3:24:32] refusal to provide adequate and well-intentioned
[3:24:36] and designed housing to be the enemy of,
[3:24:40] of wildfire protection.
[3:24:42] We can do both. We have, there will always be a little bit
[3:24:46] of risk in a forested community.
[3:24:48] I live in a community that the area of town I live in,
[3:24:50] it's just, I mean, for those that know,
[3:24:53] I fly over this town all the time and look down
[3:24:55] and there are a ton of trees and it is very dense
[3:24:59] and that's just an somewhat of inherent risk.
[3:25:03] And I appreciate all of our partnerships
[3:25:04] that are working very hard to mitigate that
[3:25:07] as best as possible.
[3:25:08] But you can't bring risk to zero.
[3:25:11] And I do not want any kind of, of, you know, the, the,
[3:25:15] the proverbial perfection to be the enemy
[3:25:17] of good when it comes because to housing.
[3:25:19] Because housing
[3:25:21] and infill density options are something
[3:25:24] that this council looks at that we take very seriously.
[3:25:26] And I, I really trust staff
[3:25:28] and partnerships to get this right.
[3:25:29] I, we don't have an option not to,
[3:25:31] but I just, I refuse to accept
[3:25:33] that they can't coexist in an elegant way.
[3:25:35] Thank you. Councillor
[3:25:37] Hansen.
[3:25:39] Thank you Mayor Chris Cherise,
[3:25:41] thank you both for coming back.
[3:25:43] I really appreciated the first presentation
[3:25:45] and I learned a lot
[3:25:47] and going back over the plan I still think is fabulous.
[3:25:50] I appreciated the memo too,
[3:25:52] and that the city will lead by example
[3:25:54] among other things in that memo.
[3:25:56] And I most appreciate that this is a partnership
[3:26:01] between so many different organizations
[3:26:04] and I'm, I'm grateful
[3:26:05] that the Climate collaborative is interested
[3:26:08] to come on board to help.
[3:26:10] We can't make people do things.
[3:26:14] We want people, myself included, to be engaged
[3:26:18] and to help the community out.
[3:26:21] I know that there's gonna be some hard, I, I don't know.
[3:26:24] I think that there's going to be some hard code decisions
[3:26:28] for the state of Oregon collectively,
[3:26:30] and I hope that it doesn't fall
[3:26:33] with a heavy price tag on businesses and, and people.
[3:26:37] But we're, we're, we're gonna figure it out.
[3:26:39] We're gonna figure it out. And I
[3:26:41] don't know, I don't know what that means.
[3:26:42] I mean, five, 10 years from now, I'd love
[3:26:45] to look back on this, but I'm in, I'm in a hundred percent.
[3:26:50] So hold me accountable to that.
[3:26:53] And, and I thank you for all your hard work
[3:26:56] And I just want to thank all of the community members
[3:27:00] and the staff who were involved in putting this together.
[3:27:02] When the city passed the Climate Energy Action plan in 2017,
[3:27:06] we understood that it was adaptation light,
[3:27:08] but it did identify wildfires, our biggest climate threat.
[3:27:13] And that threat has only
[3:27:14] escalated in the last several years.
[3:27:16] And so this is, this is a climate adaptation plan
[3:27:19] and it avoids so many of the pitfalls that many communities
[3:27:24] find when they're doing adaptation planning
[3:27:26] because it, it, it imagines the reality that we are trying
[3:27:30] to address it, it, it understands the,
[3:27:33] the existential threat that wildfire poses to us.
[3:27:36] And it lays out the full breadth of what we need to do.
[3:27:39] Even though we don't know exactly yet
[3:27:41] how we're going to get there.
[3:27:43] And that those elements
[3:27:45] and including the entire community are really the hallmarks
[3:27:48] of an adaptation plan that will work.
[3:27:51] So I also am all in, I believe this council is all in.
[3:27:55] And thank you again so much.
[3:27:56] We look forward to what those next steps might be.
[3:27:59] There's no further discussion. Roll call please. Alyssa
[3:28:03] Hanson.
[3:28:04] Yes. Duquesne?
[3:28:14] Yes. Kaplan? Yes. Bloom? Yes.
[3:28:20] Dale? Yes. Sherell? Yes. Motion
[3:28:22] Passed.
[3:28:23] Thank you. And we're going to go by this clock, the 9 27.
[3:28:26] So city manager, what do you have to report
[3:28:30] to us from your report?
[3:28:32] Speaking of wildfire, on August 21st,
[3:28:34] we do have a free webinar called the Wildfire Prepared Home.
[3:28:38] So you can find information on how
[3:28:41] to sign up on our website.
[3:28:42] It is over Zoom, so accessible to everyone.
[3:28:45] Hopefully culvert work is happening.
[3:28:47] There is a temporary bridge in place.
[3:28:50] So the Wonder Trail on Wasabi Trails
[3:28:52] and 2060 Forest Service Road are accessible.
[3:28:56] So there is signage up there
[3:28:57] that's hopefully steering people in the correct direction.
[3:29:01] We have switched to a e-newsletter format
[3:29:04] that you can subscribe to over email.
[3:29:07] As of this week, we have over 900 subscribers, which is
[3:29:11] pretty significant over three weeks.
[3:29:14] And there is planner work going on downtown.
[3:29:16] The sidewalks are open,
[3:29:17] but you will see some construction with that
[3:29:20] going on. Thank you.
[3:29:22] Great, thank you.
[3:29:24] And I know we generally would go to liaison assignments,
[3:29:26] but we don't really have time for that tonight.
[3:29:28] Thank you both so much for your presentation.
[3:29:30] Just a reminder, the first meeting,
[3:29:32] we will not have the first meeting in September
[3:29:35] because of the Labor Day holiday.
[3:29:38] So we'll see everyone in mid-September.
[3:29:40] The floor is open for a motion to adjourn.
[3:29:42] So moved. Second.
[3:29:44] All in favor? Aye. Meeting is adjourned.