So yeah.
So it's nice.
Yeah so.
Thank you for sharing.
Yeah oh.
OK thank you.
So, how are you.
Please excuse us, because.
I'll get your headset.
Yeah this is your last meeting.
You get to do this.
Are you going to bring out the hammer.
Yes OK OK.
OK good evening and welcome to the August 26, 25, 2026 city of
Charlotte city council meeting.
You would please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.
I pledge allegiance of the United States of America
to the Republic for which it stands.
One nation under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.
Roll call.
Mayor McCardle.
Here council member.
Collins here.
Council Member.
Hollingsworth that's me.
We'll be arriving soon.
Council Member.
Rivera Vargas council member.
Higgins mayor, council member.
Mayor, council member Venegas and council Member Sanders.
Here we have one agenda change.
This evening we will be removing item
8 the 2027 legislative priorities
from the agenda tonight.
And we will find another upcoming council
meeting to discuss that.
And now we will move into citizen comments.
And this time to hear from our community.
Your comments are very important to us,
and we appreciate you taking the time to attend tonight's
meeting to share your thoughts.
There is a three minute time limit
to public comments for both items on the agenda,
or not on the agenda.
Speakers may not transfer their time to another speaker
during a council meeting.
Public comment periods are not an opportunity for dialogue
with council members.
However, if you would like to have a lengthier conversation,
I encourage you to take a contact card at the back table
before you leave briefly.
If you would like to provide public comments on an item
on the agenda, please raise your hand and we
will move into public comments for items not on the agenda.
And we will start with Amy Sheridan from historic downtown
association.
Hello mayor and council members.
I am Amy German.
I am a resident and the director for historic downtown
association.
Whether we like it or not, tourism
is downtown bread and butter.
The last few weeks have proven it
when tourism dropped because of downtown, businesses
dropped right along with it.
Many of them are seeing down 40% to 60%
from last year at the same time.
I know there are people in the community who would rather
see fewer tourists, not more.
I understand that.
I enjoy it too when the crowds thin out a little
but just because I like it doesn't mean it's
necessarily good for the community.
A few years ago, Washington Main Street
started using MasterCard data found that only 14%
of downtown retail sales come from locals.
The other 86% most of the revenue,
and most of the sales tax generated downtown comes
from people outside the Valley.
Hdca is actively working to build local, year round loyalty
to downtown businesses, but that takes time,
and local shopping can fill the gap of what tourists spend
or the taxes they pay.
In our place, tourist tax dollars
generate revenue for the city services
that residents want can't keep going to shop local and tourism
aren't in competition.
There's absolutely a place for them
to work together for businesses to stay open and succeed.
We're asking the city to invest more
next year in tourism marketing with the Lakeshore chamber
of Commerce.
Hdca is concerned that the chamber's contract hasn't seen
an increase over the last few years,
and we all know that costs are rising on everything.
That means they can't do today what
they can do with that same money two years ago.
We count on the chamber, our destination marketing
organization, to bring in the tourists and HTC,
and the business community welcomes them downtown,
gives them a great experience.
So they want to come back.
I want to leave you with one comparison Coca-Cola is the most
recognized brand on the planet.
Every person in this room could draw that logo from memory.
If brand loyalty and market share
were something you could just arrive at,
then Coca-Cola wouldn't need to spend billions of dollars
they spend every year.
In fact, since 2022, they've doubled their advertising
and marketing budget because that's
what it takes to keep people choosing you
when they have other options.
I'm not suggesting it's not $5 billion.
HTC is advocating for this council
to treat the chamber's contract the way
Coca-Cola treats its marketing budget
as a critical cost of staying visible and competitive
to our Valley's economy and our local quality of life
can thrive.
We have a number of downtown businesses and board members
here tonight, some who are going to speak right now.
And so I thank you for your time.
Thank you.
All right.
Eric Campbell, you're up next.
Eric Campbell Campbell resort.
This year, we celebrate our 120 years of Family Business.
We employ between 145 and 225 people annually.
And tourism remains foundational to Thailand's economy.
We're asking the city and the chamber
to establish a multi-year funding agreement that increases
the chamber's marketing spend compared to some of our strong,
but it's very fragile economy depends heavily on a relatively
short peak season.
Less than 80 days.
This summer has demonstrated great vulnerability
with August wildfire smoke.
This has led to a significant impact on visitation revenues.
No business is getting that revenue back.
There's no business interruption insurance for air quality.
This affects every business their future reinvestment,
deployment, planning.
But the smoke isn't why we're making this case.
Leavenworth is our biggest regional competitor.
We need to increase our spending to get to the levels
we hope to remain.
The canary in the coal mine has always been the offseason.
We pay close attention to every month of the year.
We don't overreact to one bad month or even one down here.
But what we are seeing is declining shoulder season demand
over the past three years.
Kimball spring business from 2023 to 2026 post-covid
has been declining 10% annually.
This is mainly meeting business and our groups
are also facing rising costs, tighter budgets,
greater scrutiny of travel and may have choices.
The most you might know that our business has a full time,
dedicated sales team, and their sole mission is to drive
business in groups to our offseason business
is incredibly competitive, and these families and groups
have a lot of options to choose from.
I think we can all agree that running a business
is challenging.
Running one in a seasonal market is even harder.
All businesses in our region have
to get rising labor costs, increased
insurance and operating costs.
Wildfire smoke risk a very limited peak season window
in November through March have always been difficult.
These local businesses employ people, maintain properties
and hopefully have enough to reinvest
during the summer months.
We need to continue to drive demand year
round with an aggressive marketing campaign
and tours of these economic development.
We must support the tourism economy of an economic engine.
Tourism and agriculture are built on.
Agriculture's economic footprint has changed recently.
There is no obvious.
There's no obvious industry that will replace visitor spending.
The chamber is a major driver in that the chamber is
tasked with generating demand for our entire destination
economy.
Well worth invests more than twice what she invested
in destination promotion.
We cannot expect to promote at the same level while
investing at half that level.
So I'm here advocating for the lodging tax
as a visitor generated reinvestment tool.
Significant 3% lodging tax resources are made available.
We ask that the city put those resources to work doing
what they're intended to do.
So tonight, I'm asking the council
to substantially increase the investment in the chamber
and establish a clear path toward funding that is
competitive with Leavenworth.
We need your help to get these funds allocated
at a more appropriate level.
Our last paragraph.
Sorry we always want to maintain a good dialogue with the council
and the administration.
Please feel free to reach out to us anytime.
We are stronger than we keep communicating and work together.
This is our home.
We love this place.
We care deeply about the community.
We want to be successful for generations to come.
We believe a strong, well-funded chamber
strengthens our businesses, our economy, and ultimately
our entire community.
Investing in the chamber is best in show.
Thank you.
Madam you're up next.
Good evening, Mayor and council members.
It's tax day, so I'm in a bit of a mood, so I prepared comments.
Big deal.
Our tax Bills.
Lots of money.
My name is Adam, and I'm the owner and designated broker
of Coldwell Banker cascade real estate
and a local business owner.
My wife.
Several retail stores businesses.
I'm here tonight to encourage your continued support.
Expanded support for marketing funding for the Chamber
of Commerce 2026 has been a challenging year
for many local businesses, as many of our stores
are down about 20% year to date.
That started in the winter and continued in the spring
with construction that lasted too long,
and it's continued in the summer.
It's been a very challenging year.
Real estate market has also slowed significantly
in recent years, with higher inventory levels, longer market
times, and fewer transactions than we've
seen anytime since COVID really devastated challenge.
While property values have held up well,
transaction volume has declined precipitously,
and that affects far more than just real estate,
because every home sale creates more work and jobs
for landscapers, contractors, Lenders,
title companies, retailers, restaurants,
and everyone in hospitality.
There's a ripple effect there.
Investing in better tourism also helps
drive more real estate values and more real estate
transaction activity.
Many retailers are also facing difficult conditions.
I know across our own retail businesses,
sales are down about 20% to 30% compared to prior years,
and tourism marketing is critical to that.
Eric noted the competitive threats from Lebanon.
Do you want to know how much Leavenworth tourism
traffic is down this year.
50% you have to spend to compete and Leavenworth
is going to continue investing.
It will out compete for those valuable tourism dollars.
But local spending slows.
Visitor spending helps fill the gap.
Visitors stay in our hotel, shop in our stores,
dine in our restaurants, visit our wineries,
and support many, many local towns.
Tourism generates more than $400 million in annual spending
in our region, and is one of the primary drivers
of our local economy.
The chamber does an outstanding job
promoting Lake Chelan to potential visitors
and generating positive exposure for our community
across Washington.
This funding is not just a tourism investment,
it's an investment in local businesses, local jobs
and local tax revenues, which are damaging during a time
when many sectors of our economy are facing real challenges.
I respectfully encourage the council
to continue and expand supporting the Chamber
of Commerce working.
Thank you.
We appreciate your support.
All right.
Molly, you're up next.
Hi, everyone.
I'm Molly Hill.
I am an owner for Lila's bar and kitchen have been for about
the past 3 and 1/2 years, as well as a member
of the board and a resident of Sharon
for about 3 and 1/2 years now.
One of the things that surprised us most, my husband, Derek
and about being new business owners here in Chelan
was the community of businesses helping and complementing,
not competing for business, but truly
invested in this community.
We're a community of businesses and it's
important to market and present as a collective experience, not
individual businesses.
The chamber does this for us as a small business.
We rely on the chamber's collective marketing
during the offseason especially, and we're asking
for that additional support.
In addition, given the slowdown in tourism,
which Adam just talked a bit about this month,
we're also seeing 20% decrease, but an even higher decrease
in things like tips for.
We're seeing about 30% to 35% of a decrease in the summer months.
The business generation we're hoping for
allows us to maintain year round staffing.
The alternative to that which we've been discussing right now
is that it really turns into my husband
and which is completely possible,
but takes away from our year round
staffing opportunities that we have within small businesses
and as the others have as well.
I'm asking for increased funding and support
in the chamber to ensure Chelan select success
as a collective business.
Thanks, mom.
All right.
Thank you everyone.
For businesses downtown.
It's nice to hear your perspectives
on what I think we all know is happening right now.
And coming off of a slow spring and a slow winter.
Thanks for being here tonight.
Thank you for your comments.
So we are going to move into our consent agenda.
And I would accept a motion to approve the consent agenda.
I reviewed vouchers and everything looks good.
I move to approve the consent agenda.
All right.
We a motion by Council Member Higgins
and a second by Council Member Sanders.
Any discussion.
All those in favor.
Aye Opposed.
Motion passes.
All right, we have a special presentation tonight.
And we have Rachel here from over there.
She is to give an update on this year's our future effort.
OK hello, everyone.
Thank you, Mayor and council members, for having our Valley,
our future.
Back to present to you this evening.
This evening, I am joined by board Member Kim Hatfield.
So I want to recognize her support of the organization
and for driving us up here this evening.
So I'm pleased to give you all an update on our activities
this spring for our community outreach
to develop the 2027 to 2031 action plan.
You have a copy of our full community outreach report
in front of you, and I'll be going over our main findings
during my presentation, I've also included in the handout
an invitation to our industrial symbiosis summit,
which will be held next month down in Wenatchee,
to talk about economic opportunity
when it comes to circular economy model.
And also included in your handout
is our mid-year report on the progress of EOF
has made this year.
Aside from the development of that action plan.
So I know it's been a little while
since I was in front of you.
So a quick reminder of who we are of EOF
is a nonpartisan, independent, nonprofit organization
that focuses on regional collaboration.
Our mission is to empower people and organizations
to co-create and achieve our region's shared vision.
We do this through four different pillars.
The first is to lead community visioning every five years,
ensuring all voices are heard.
We are in that five year period right now.
The last time we developed an action plan was in 2021,
and the time before that was in 2016.
2016 was the first time we did that community
visioning process in our first five-year action plan.
Our second pillar is to create that action plan shaped
by thousands of residents.
As you heard me a few months ago,
we don't just pull these action items
and objectives out of a hat.
It is directly from the residents across Chelan
and Douglas counties.
The things that they want to see improve the quality
of life in our region.
Our third pillar is to support partners with coordination,
data and communication.
We are cognizant that our community
visioning process every five years
is not the end all, be all.
We knew.
We know that sometimes we need to take a deep dive
into that data, and we always want
to be relevant and flexible with what comes out.
And lastly, we keep our region focused
on both today and the future.
Of-of is very lucky to be aspirational,
enduring what the future can look like if based
off what our residents tell us.
But we are not bound necessarily by the here and now
or regulations, we look far into the future
and take baby steps to get there.
A little bit about our successes over the last 10 years.
Once again, that shared vision defined by our residents.
You've seen some of these before.
As a reminder, is a convener and facilitator.
So while we're not out there constructing a new plans,
we do have our regional housing solutions group
where multiple cities, private companies
and non-profit agencies are talking
about how to improve housing.
So these are some examples of what
was in our last action plan.
The Pathways Project design sustainable NCAA
was born out of our very first action plan, pre-approved ADU
plans, which have been adopted by the cities of wenatchee-east,
Wenatchee, and Leavenworth.
And the Leavenworth recreation ambassador
program has been replicated by Visit Chelan County as well.
We just heard a lot about tourism.
We want to make sure our tourists love this place as much
as residents do, and residents know how to love
this place well that way.
Our natural environment continues
to be a place we can all enjoy.
Some other successes.
The Leadership Institute of NCAA, which is a program
at the Community Foundation.
The traits district developed by the port tread, which
is our regional trails and outdoor recreation organization,
tread, was born out of our very first action plan in Douglas
County, pud green hydrogen. So this is not
a comprehensive example of the successes we've
had over the last 10 years.
We've had over 200 action plan objectives completed.
I know some of you got a physical copy
of our last action plan.
I have some more with me.
If a council member would like one of those.
We've also participated as a kind of cheerleader
for our partner organizations with over 80
partner organizations, including the city of Chelan.
You can imagine that there's a lot of development and activity
going on over the last eight ish years,
we've written 68 letters of support
that has resulted in over $100 million
in funding to local projects.
So we advocate for our residents, for our partner
organizations to make sure funders, including legislators,
know that our residents want to see this happen.
So what are we up to right now.
You heard me talk a little bit about our action plan
developments when I was here in spring.
We are actively developing our 2027 to 2031 action plan.
We've started this process way back in October with planning,
and we did our community visioning process this spring.
So we engaged the community through a variety
of different means.
Now, we are turning all of that data collected from residents
into concrete objectives through volunteers
formed in six different working groups,
six different action teams.
We will release the final plan in early 2027.
So you'll be seeing me again.
I will bring you a copy.
And I'm very eager to see what turns out with that.
So during phase 2, engaging the community,
we collected data through three different methods.
We had a Community Survey, we did stakeholder interviews,
and we also did listening sessions.
I want to recognize the Lake Chelan chamber of Commerce.
They hosted us here in Chelan and up the lake in Manson,
and CW libraries hosted us at that location.
So we did have upper Valley, upper Valley, excuse me,
we had Chelan Valley participation.
All of that information is reflected
in our community outreach report for participation
across all of our methods.
So our survey, our listening sessions, our interviews,
and then our outreach events.
We had over 2000 residents engaged
with us, letting us know what they
want the future to look like.
As a reminder, we do qualitative data.
There are plenty of other organizations
that do quantitative data.
So what we were asking residents what do
you love about living here.
What do you think our biggest challenge is.
What do you think is changing.
What is an idea.
You have to improve the quality of life in our region.
So really open ended things.
It's not a multiple choice.
It's not a checkbox.
So that's why the collection takes such a long time.
And the analysis.
So aside from folks under the age of 30,
the age of our survey respondents
closely aligns with the population of the two counties.
Similarly, the race and ethnicity of our survey
respondents closely aligns, and the majority of our survey
respondents did reside in Ashland County
compared to the general population.
There are pretty charts and graphs.
In the physical version of the report
I gave you that are on these slides.
When it comes specifically to the city of Ashland,
the city of Chelan residents had greater participation
in all visioning areas compared to the portion
of their general population in the two counties.
So the general population for the two
counties, Lake City of Chelan has about 3.5% of that.
And as you can see for our survey listening sessions
and stakeholder interviews, we had
really strong participation and representation from the city.
Our main findings through our spraying
of community visioning process.
Number one, our core values have remained the same compared
to the last two times of-of did the community visioning process.
Some of those values include our natural environment.
We love looking at the lake.
We love looking at the hills.
We want that environment to be healthy so we can all enjoy it.
Outdoor recreation.
Neighborliness, opportunities for our youth.
Those that remain consistent.
Our second main finding is that the region
is continuing to change, although it feels
different than five years ago.
So when we did this five years ago, it was 2021.
We were in the throes of the pandemic
and there was a lot of change happening then
there's a lot of change happening now.
It's definitely a different flavor.
An overwhelming majority of survey respondents
think there should be more collaboration in the region,
especially around community development and land use.
Ultimately, our residents don't want us working in silos.
They want to see collaboration and communication
between the cities and counties, private businesses, non-profits,
basically that sense that you heard
earlier during the public comments, we're all in this
together.
How can we work together to improve our quality of life
here.
Another finding was managing.
Continuing growth is the top challenge for the region.
So there's this sense of self-determination
that we heard from our residents when they responded
to our outreach, that they don't want
the future to happen to them.
They want to be a part of guiding the future and what that
looks like, especially when it comes to growth in the region,
whether that is housing, whether that is industry,
whether that is tourism, whether it's outdoor recreation
development, residents want to have a voice
and residents want to make sure that we're strategically
thinking about that future rather
than letting it happen to us.
There are some tensions in the community.
There is more detail in the written report
that I gave you, reflected by residents
giving feedback in direct contradiction with each other.
One that specifically relates to Chilean.
The Chilean Butte came up quite a few times.
We had some folks tell us no one should touch,
it should be preserved.
And we also had some folks say, hey, we should develop it.
It's a great resource.
So planning for the future is not always black and white.
It's not always cut and dry.
Our residents, being the diverse variety of people that they are,
have different perspectives on what
that future should look like.
But ultimately, as OVO, we're here
to communicate that and hope that there
is a shared collaborative future that we can all be part of.
Another finding was due to the cost of living
the majority of residents have thought about
or are planning to relocate.
About 40% of residents said they thought about it
but won't be relocating, and about 20%
said that they are planning to relocate.
So that is a really big concern when
it looks at our school enrolments, participation in
the local economy, businesses.
So that's something I know is top of mind for everyone.
And of course, the city of Chelan,
Chelan County, North Central Washington.
It is not unique to us.
This is a national trend.
The cost of living really making people apprehensive.
And lastly, to end on a not so happy note,
residents are less optimistic about the future compared
to five to 10 years ago.
And I think that really comes through
with those feelings of tension and the cost of living.
People really want to take ownership
of the future that way, that they can have
more faith and hope in that.
I'm going to pause to see if there's
any questions after going over the results
before I jump into what's next.
I have a question for you, Rachel.
Yes I think it was number two.
The question what's changing.
Yeah can you give me specifics on what
the responses are to what people perceive and what is changing.
So in 2021 that we heard that things were changing,
and that was largely due to an influx of either tourists
or new residents due to the pandemic.
Now, the change that we're hearing
is that basically change isn't a one off thing,
but it's more of a consistent pattern of growth of population
coming in and densification when it comes to residents that it
wasn't just like a flash in the pan,
but this is something that people have recognized
is going to be the new normal.
And so how to instead of responding to the growth,
how to manage the growth.
I would say is the kind of simplest way
to put it with that question.
Was that's specific to the city of Chelan
or was that Chelan County.
I know that was.
Yeah good question.
Good question.
So Douglas is obviously a large region,
would you say, if you were divided by the feedback received
on communities like Chelan, Wenatchee, those areas, are we
all facing the same concerns.
If you were to break it out by City.
Yes those top community challenges.
Managing the growth, affordability,
housing, economic stability, those kind of all came across.
Obviously, the economics of the city
are very different from the city of Wenatchee,
especially when you look at the portion of revenue
that relates to tourism.
But that is still the same sentiment.
So it's when you drill down into it,
it's definitely a different flavor
based on those individual communities.
But overall, we were hearing the same general themes,
that information available.
We want to look at this land.
I could definitely pull that and send it over.
Yeah showing specific data set.
Any other questions before we move on OK.
So what's next now that we have all those main findings
and our heads are spinning.
And we want to go into solution mode, right now we have 6x.
Excuse me 6 Action teams that are taking all of the data
from residents, pairing it with quantitative data,
because obviously we want to base our actions in reality
about what's feasible.
We have about 20 to 15 volunteers
on each of these action teams that are
based on our six focus areas.
These areas are very similar to the vital conditions
or Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
This is just our version, our flavor of it.
City of Chelan does have representation
on these action teams.
I will mention that Mayor McCardle has been involved
in our shared prosperity action team, which is focused
on business and economics.
So I'm really appreciative of the residents of leaders
in Chelan that have been involved
in the decision making process to ultimately
produce the new action plan.
We will be releasing a second Community Survey in October
for residents to get their feedback on whether the action
plan is accurate and what we should be prioritizing
for our work going forward.
I want to thank the city of Chelan
for supporting this process from visiting
and speaking with you all.
Having you as a guest and of course,
a few years ago, the Lake Chelan vision project
was really important for the representation
from your residents and that participation.
And we would not be able to have this
regional, comprehensive look if it was not
for the support of the city.
So from the Board of Trustees and from myself,
trustee, the board of directors, from myself,
thank you so much for the support,
and we look forward to continuing to partner as we go
into the future to make sure that we're improving
that quality of life, both here in the city
and across the region.
Thank you again, and I'm happy to answer any other questions.
Otherwise how to reach me.
Anyone else have questions.
All right.
Thank you.
Thanks for making the trip.
Of course.
Do I turn this off.
Yeah all right.
Let's move into motion considerations,
and we'll start up with resolution number
2026 1480 affordable housing grant funding policy.
And this will be handled by our finance director Evans.
Thank you mayor.
So council is the Affordable housing policy
and application that has been discussed at numerous council
meetings now.
This has been crafted with some feedback from the community
as well as our internal feedback from council internal
as well as from our attorney as well.
So we do feel confident in terms of what has been produced.
So I know there's still some reservations because of course
funding for this initiative comes from multiple sources,
so it does make it a complex process.
Staff's goal, of course, at the end of the day
is to break down barriers for the public.
And so we'll be just checking back in, of course,
after if this is to be passed by council, once we do
this first flush of course, of the Affordable housing, policy
and application process, we'll check back in,
just see where everyone's temperature in terms
of how that first initial process went
after we revised this policy.
So of course with that, what I proposed for council too is just
of course, adoption of this resolution as well as we
are proposing that we open up the Affordable
housing application period.
And we will find that information
just in your packets on the recommended council action.
So please let me know if you have any additional questions
I can answer for you before putting it to vote,
but thank you.
I would accept a motion to open discussion.
I move to adopt resolution number 2026
dash 1488, a special affordable housing
grant application process for 2026 for the September one
of 2026.
October 15, 2026, with a total cost not to exceed $50,000.
Second Motion by Council Sanders and second by Council Venegas
will open up for discussion.
Any questions.
Yeah How does the timeline compare
to a previous timeline for a similar grant application.
Yeah great question councilman.
So usually we do have several months.
Of course, just since now we're pushing towards the tail end
of the year for this year.
We are looking at an expedited process,
but generally that's a three month review process.
Thank you.
Obviously thank you.
OK thank you.
So this is a three year and it will be this amount.
Correct so councilman we will designate
how much funding through the budget process each year.
As we previously discussed council for this year
did not have any council directed funds earmarked
for affordable housing.
Of course, we'll discuss that again
through the budget process.
At this time we just have the 15,000
approximately a year coming in through
the state share tax revenue.
And so with that proposed $50,000 a year,
at the end of three years, we will effectively exhausted
our affordable housing fund.
But at that time, we may be looking
at developer contributions, of course,
and perhaps the economy will be in a better position
to allow for additional funding here.
But to answer your question, the 50,000
that is being proposed for this meeting is just for this year.
And my recommendation, of course, would be
no more than 50,000 each year.
And then knowing at the end of three
years that this will be exhausted,
we'll be at $30,000 a year.
The state share tax revenue, which is the most
restrictive set of company.
So I just I think it's important that we look forward and get
the process open and running.
We have some funds available and we put those to work.
And we'll see how the process goes and they learn from it.
But I do appreciate all that went into this.
Thank you.
Yeah I have two questions.
First question.
This doesn't limit our ability.
If we so chose or these groups wanted to reach out
to us during the community benefit grant application,
would they be not allowed to apply for those community
benefit grants as well.
No and in that respect, there's nothing prohibiting council
from designating community benefit
funds towards housing initiatives
to just take it one step back.
Of course, earlier this year, we had such a tremendous outflow
of requests on that community benefit grant, which then took
a pause and step back to reevaluate
the affordable housing, kind of knowing
that quite a few of those would be eligible for this pot
of funding.
And that's kind of brought us to where we are today.
But now they're still eligible if we.
Yes OK.
Yes second question.
How did the account balance get so high.
Was it from developer funds primarily or many years
of state contributions.
Yeah, great question.
So it has been a combination of developer contributions
and state share tax revenue.
Back in the day to when things were a little bit better
economically to as well, there were
some more dedicated funding sources to as well from council.
And so that's just something we'll need to explore to during
the upcoming budget process is the number 50/50 or I mean,
how many years is that $15,000.
72 million.
Oh, gosh.
I want to speak just off the top of my head.
The 13 to 15,000 has been very consistent
over the past like five years.
And then I'd really have to dig in because council did have
some different policies and contractual agreements
that also flow through 10555.
Excuse me, the 105 affordable housing fund.
And so that would need to be looked at separately.
And so at this time though looking forward,
the only expected developer contribution
we have in the foreseeable future is the Widener.
And that's best to my knowledge.
But please direct rejection.
Yeah I can speak to this a little bit.
Sorry do you think Charlie Jackson would prefer
so the fund originally received some of those ballots
from the lookout.
So each home sale, they're contributing
$1,000 for this fund.
Each time they help with those.
That would have been the bulk of the balance
of that fund initially.
And then the state.
The state shared revenue is a credit
against the state sales tax.
So every time you buy something, the state
will give us back a little bit of their portion of the taxes
they collect.
So that's why it's a very small amount of one of $50,000.
And that's accurate.
It's been going on for about five years.
We applied for that and we're going to do that.
Thank you.
All right.
We have a motion by Council Member Sanders and a second
by Council Member Venegas.
All those in favor.
Aye Opposed.
Motion passes.
All right, let's move into item B,
our group additional services.
Addendum number 3 for construction management
agreement for CC1 lift station.
And this will be handled by public works director youngren.
Yes thank you.
Mayor, city council.
So before you this evening is an addendum
that falls under an existing professional services contract
that the city has with our group.
Professional engineering company that this addendum provides
for construction administration support for our upcoming sewer
lift station project.
I think you all probably know at this point
that we've worked to vertically integrate these services
in our department through internalizing
on site inspection, observation and project management.
We did have a little bit of a hiccup this last year
where there was a vacancy in the PM position
that has been filled.
That employee started Monday and we come tomorrow.
We're starting likely in early September.
And so we felt the need for a partial limited scope for CCM
services for this contract, which
isn't consistent with the assumptions
that we originally had.
And we work to internalize, I will
say like it's a project by project basis,
but specifically with projects that
have mechanical and electrical components.
We do typically carry a construction management service
contract for those to be able to bring along subject matter
experts in those trades to help us out
as we build and commission new infrastructure.
So there's no perfect science to this.
We have a general service agreement
that establishes the ability to use
this provider at certain billing rates for physicians.
And so really, this exercise was OK.
What level of support do we need across all
the facets of a project that we typically utilize CCM for.
And so those are listed in your overview
like overview project coordination pre-con
coordination, submittal review RFP response, change order
assistance, site visit, construction
observation, construction meeting,
closeout record drawings.
Like all the things pretty standard
across the board for almost every project we execute.
And we just went through each of those, excuse me.
And we're like, OK, what level of effort
do we think we'll need from you.
So all of our professional service contracts
are built on a time material basis.
So it's really just a matter of estimating
the number of man hours was associated with each task.
It's just the best guess.
And so we did that.
And that's really what's before you this evening.
I will say, for sake of perspective,
the first contract that was submitted
to the city was over $500,000.
I think we're sitting around 266.
It's hard to know where this ends up,
but I feel confident in the team we've hired
and the ability to take on the majority
of the scope of this project.
So that's the intent.
I will say, like, you'll notice, the real scope from ardura,
the work that they'll actually perform is
about $125,000 this contract.
And then you look at cultural resource monitoring.
So for most of our projects now, we're
required to have an archaeologist on site
during ground disturbing activities.
And that has become extremely costly.
And that's also just an assumption
on how many days are we going to need this person on site.
So we do cultural resource surveys that are required.
They're submitted to a Department
of archaeological historic preservation.
They submit their requirements and say
like, hey, you need to have this person on site during.
So we really don't have much of an option.
It absent of an exact schedule and knowing exactly what
ground disturbing activities are going to happen, on what day,
we're just estimating the number of days.
So it's about $1,650 a day.
And it went from, hundreds and I think 160 days I'm
like, yeah, let's start at 60.
I don't really know.
It's very likely we'll need an Amendment.
But I felt more comfortable like estimating on the low end
and labs would need.
I did want to mention we are looking
at more creative solutions on this archaeological monitoring
that is becoming like a pretty large
component of our scope of work.
We did talk to Cascadia cascade Conservation District.
They recently came and gave a presentation to city council.
They do have archaeologists.
Unfortunately, they're not much less expensive.
And it seems like at this point and at this point
in the process, like their availability wasn't able to be
committed to our project.
So we did stick with plateau, who utilized in the past
have been consistent, reliable, also expensive.
But as are all.
So I guess that's just some context.
So we assumed 6060 days of monitoring.
In addition to the archaeological monitoring,
we have standard kind of construction material testing.
So we need to certain requirements in the contract
to test density of soils and concrete compression strength
and those kind of things.
And so that scope makes up 26,000 of this total contract,
with a total not to exceed of 266, 678,030 cents.
We have adequate funds budgeted.
There's more details in the agenda,
but be interested in looking, but that's all I have to share.
There a motion to open up for discussion.
I move to authorize the mayor to finalize and execute
additional services.
Addendum 3 with our group incorporated for construction
support services for the CC one lift station upgrade project.
There's a motion by Council Member Collins and a second
by Council Member Chitty.
We'll open it up for questions.
Any questions.
Yeah Jake, in the future.
With the new hire, public works is the cultural resource
is something we will be able to do in-house
or this will always be outsourced to a specialist.
Yeah so we've looked at this.
You pretty much have to have a bachelor's degree in archaeology
and have certain qualifications.
We've there's things are still in motion like we've reached out
to actually Central Washington University
to see if we can leverage some of their resources
to do the survey.
But the survey is a very small cost of the project.
It's the monitoring and on site inspection
that's super expensive.
And so.
We'll likely always have to do it
unless we hire a full time archaeologist, which I don't
see anytime in the near future.
Yeah OK.
Yeah kind of similar line of questions thinking about,
smaller cities and municipalities.
How are they navigating those types of costs.
There's a ton of money.
Yeah it is.
I don't have first hand experience with our neighbors,
but I know that a lot of their cultural resource surveys
are requiring on site observation.
They're paying and it's expensive.
And it's.
Yeah, I think there's opportunity for potentially like
hiring lobbyists to help us maybe look at the requirements
potentially and seeing if there's some middle ground
to have there.
I think those conversations happen at the state level.
We're not able to make any strong cases with that directly
and if things change.
So yeah.
And I have ideas on this and we're talking internally
about how we respect the need to be sensitive in areas
that we should be, but also, maybe there's
areas for some leniency where you're
replacing a pipe in the exact same location
that previously existed.
Maybe that's a scenario, for example,
that we could loosen some of on site monitoring or things
like that.
Thanks just a real quick not to exceed the 266 in the event
that it does.
What would be the option for an Amendment.
Yeah, I mean and likely there's a decent chance
we'll need an Amendment for archaeological services,
but hopefully but likely there is additional funds,
if we were correct.
There is.
Yes thank you.
Peter all right.
We have a motion by Council Combs and a second by Council.
All those in favor.
Aye Opposed.
Passes item C, luxury garages, LLC of easement.
And this will be my first surgery ever.
Yes thank you.
Mayor Council.
So for the next three items are housekeeping items
for development of a parcel that neighbors
the City Public works parcel.
Three garages.
The first item here is a relinquishment of an easement.
The next is a dedication of right of way.
And then the third is a utility easement.
So I guess I'll go over the first here.
All right so there's a plat that for instance, the city of Chelan
we owe a lot one of the Brownfield short plat.
And under the original terms, there's
an easement that runs on our parcels
Western and Northern border.
And this easement, there's provisions in the original terms
of the plat that the easement terminates upon sales to a party
unrelated to the Brownfield.
So this land sold to a property unrelated by deed
recorded in May 25, 2006, which triggered
the termination this evening.
He's been by his own terms.
So the relinquishment of this formally vacates, cancels
and annuls the easement of record
to clear title for mutual benefit of both parties.
So us in the neighboring parcel.
The documents been signed by the authorized agent
for the neighboring parcel and then
upon signature by the mayor, it would be executed.
And relinquished once recorded at the County.
I will say, with the help of our city attorney
that there are a few, like minor,
insignificant modifications that will be made prior to signature.
But this the motion still stands and is appropriate
given the nature of the changes.
Is there a motion for discussion.
I'll move to.
So I'll move to.
I want to thank you.
Thank you.
Would you say that.
I don't see anyone else has that.
You can read it.
I move to authorize the mayor to finalize and execute
the land luxury garages LLC.
Relinquish of the event, sir.
All right.
We have a motion by Council Combs and a second
by Council Higgins.
And for questions.
Any questions.
Nope Terry.
Nope Greg.
Yeah, I guess I was just curious when they put
their plan in with something that wasn't
addressed that was there.
Yeah the owner of the neighboring parcel
was aware of these provisions, as were we.
And it was just a matter of executing that.
All right.
Stephen Tim.
Good all right.
We have a motion by Council Combs and a second
by Council Barnes.
All those in favor.
Aye opposed.
Motion passes.
All right, moving on to item D, Shenandoah river garages, LLC.
Dedication of right of way.
And the budget.
Yes so this is a dedication of right of way submitted
to the city of the westerly third, feet of a lot too,
of Granville sharp at number 28.
60 there's an exhibit that provides
a little bit better context.
So it's on the Be like the westernmost border
and it's a half right of way dedication.
So this is identified as Jessie street
and it's shown in the attached exhibit.
The underlying corridor was originally
reserved as a private access and utility
easement along with the Western border lot two.
So as a condition of development, which is common.
The developers required to dedicate this private easement
as a public roadway.
So that's what this dedication does.
Or as yeah, I guess that's kind of all I had.
There's a question about that, but is
there a motion for discussion.
I move to accept the dedication of right of way for luxury
garages, LLC, for Jessie street, and to authorize the mayor
execute the dedication of right of way
on behalf of the city of Shoreham.
So we have a motion by Council Hanson,
a second by Council Sanders to open up for any questions.
John yeah.
No shame.
No very good.
Honesty good.
Good all right.
Have a motion and a second.
All those in favor.
Aye opposed.
Motion passes.
Item B Sean luxury garages, LLC.
Sewer and water utility easements and have budget.
Oh, sorry.
No worries.
All right.
OK, so this is an easement granted to the city of perpetual
60 foot easement for water and sewer
across their property on the southernmost portion
of their property.
It's essentially like the extension of shop Avenue.
If you've ever been to our office.
And so.
Yeah that's really all we need.
We have utilities on that roadway.
We need to be able to access them.
It's likely going to be a future right of way, but at this point,
it's a perpetual easement for our easement for our utilities.
And yeah, I would authorize the mayor to finalize and execute
a sewer and water utility easement and garages, LLC,
and authorize recording of easement
with sign and other second.
All right.
We have a motion by Council and a second by Council Sanders.
We'll open up for questions.
No I'm good.
Very good.
We have a motion.
And second, all those in favor.
Aye Opposed.
Motion passes.
All right, one more shake.
Watching crci, l.l.c. change order number 2
to the Lakeside trail project.
Also have Jake.
OK Lakeside trail I know it seems maybe
like the distant past, but these projects administratively can
drag on for quite some time.
So we have before you this evening
a change order we've been working on for a while now.
It's kind a lot of times we'll try
to consolidate a lot of smaller items into a single action.
So we're not back to council a lot
asking for direction on onesies and twosies here and there.
So this is change order number two for Lakeside trail project.
It includes five items in it, four of with of which
have monetary costs.
And then one is just a contractual time extension.
So item 118 working days.
We're out of the contract.
Item two driving for 1210 parcel item 3
there was a gap in our contract that didn't include provision
for paying for the removal of temporary pavement markings,
so that was incorporated via this change order.
We had to relocate rapid flashing beacon
pursuant to DOT's request and standard specifications.
And then that road, I think you all probably driven
it on 97 in that stretch.
It's not in the best condition.
The dot has they had plans on paving it.
But I don't think there are any plans in the near term
unfortunately so.
But there were some additional repairs that we
needed to do with that project.
So between the state, the city, and our engineering team,
it's very minimal, but did fix a few problem
areas along that corridor.
So the sum total of that change adds $57,007.80
to the project contract.
There I moved to.
I moved to authorize the mayor to finalize and execute
for the crci, l.l.c.
Change order number two for the Lakeside trail project.
Senator, I have a motion by Rivera Vargas
and a second by Venegas for questions and clarifying
questions.
Nope OK.
Will this be it.
No it won't.
Good question.
Actually, I meant to elaborate a little bit more on that.
So we're like, we have a few outstanding items still.
We have adequate funds budgeted for this.
We have projected projected ending project expenses
that we're working through.
And I can't really share the details of that
necessarily right now, but it's likely the city
it will probably be around.
I'm speculating, based on a projection for 100
to $150,000 at the end of the day, beyond
what we originally contributed.
So around 3% ish is what we're probably looking at.
But we have a few.
Things to resolve.
Yes will those be resolved in 2026?
Well, hopefully.
Great yeah.
It depends on how many attorneys get involved.
Yes Yeah OK.
OK not good enough.
OK OK.
All right, so we have a motion and a second.
All those in favor.
Aye Opposed.
Motion passes.
All right item g.
USDA Forest Service.
Emergency facilities and land use agreement,
and this will be handled by City administrator.
Thank you mayor.
So council you have before you a proposed emergency facilities
and land use agreement.
This is to allow the fire response teams through,
under the oversight of USDA Forest Service,
to utilize Lake Chelan airport right now for a single Black
Hawk helicopter.
I know we've all seen it fine along with others,
but this is to allow them to utilize
airport field for layovers.
Spending the night.
We've got a fuel truck out there.
They will perform dust abatement for us
as a result of their use of the undeveloped field.
We also have other Forest Service planes utilizing
our fuel station, and they are paying US retail prices
for that, which is helpful to the airport's economy or budget.
This proposal is or this request is, that we authorize $300 a day
fee to be paid by the Forest Service to us,
because it's for only one helicopter.
So should the use increase and the need increase.
I think I know we all hope it decreases, but if it does,
we can renegotiate a higher rental rate from Forest
Service for increased use.
But right now it's just one helicopter out there
that's based out there.
So the request is that council authorize the mayor
to finalize and execute the USDA Forest
Service emergency facilities and the land use agreement.
I move to authorize the mayor to finalize and execute
the USDA Forest Service emergency facilities
and land use agreement.
Second OK.
All right.
So we have a motion by Council Member Combs and a second
by Council Member Higgins.
Any questions.
Yeah do we set the rates or are they tell us what the price is.
So actually, they look at what other airports
are paying in terms of market.
Previously in 2024, what we received was $450 a day
based on complete total use of that field.
Multiple aircraft based at the airport.
So the prices generally run.
Our research firm does from $200 to $500 a day.
So airports are receiving this type of use.
I didn't ask that question to council.
I understand.
Yes just so we're clear.
Very good.
I see.
And John.
See no.
All right, good.
All right, we have a motion and a second.
All those in favor.
Opposed motion passes.
All right item 8.
Noble strategies LLC, doing business as Tower consulting.
Additional services.
Addendum number 4 and additional services.
Addendum number 5 to the client services
agreement for assistance with grants and funding applications.
Also notify city administrator McCullough.
Thank you.
Mayor so council tower consulting
is the company that we use to assist us in grant funding.
It's not, frankly, not just assist us.
They do the bulk of the work and guide us through the process
and make sure that we are doing everything
we need to do in order to be successful grant recipients.
I want to make sure that you understand
that when we apply for a grant.
It is to fund an existing known project.
We are not chasing grants in order to build
projects or create projects.
We know you have an adopted capital improvement program,
and we are utilizing that to go out and seek potential funding
opportunities that will reduce the local cost, thereby keeping
taxes down as much as possible by bringing in free money
largely.
There is obviously a cost to obtaining that free money.
So when our consultant approached us for an increase
in the contract, because the contract amount is not to exceed
$60,000 for calendar year 26, we have always already
hit that amount that cost.
So what she has recommended is an increase.
This is a number for an increase to the total year contract
for grant writing of $20,000.
I asked her to provide me with the return
on investment analysis for the work that she has done.
Done so included in your happen is that analysis.
You can see on page 147 of your packet,
we have invested over since 2023, $190,000
in grant consulting services.
And in exchange for that investment,
we've received $14.1 million in grant funding.
That's a 74 to 1 return on investment.
So I personally think that's a very good investment
that the city has made.
We have an excellent grant writer who's very successful.
And that leads me to Asa number five.
So with the great success that we have had in obtaining grant
funding for public works infrastructure projects,
we've also encountered an administrative burden
in terms of the capacity of our current staff
to submit all of the required reporting forms
and submit the reimbursements in a manner
so that we're seeing those reimbursements come back
into primarily the transportation fund as soon
as possible with the loss of our project manager, construction
project manager, and with a family leave
by our city engineer.
What we discovered is we needed help
in achieving those deadlines through the balance
of this year.
So staff consulting provides those services already.
They provide ventilation and sewer district
and we help administer those services for them.
So we Asa number 5 is a fee of 24,000.
I'm not sure I have to go to that page.
That's right.
24,000 not to exceed amount of 24,000 at a monthly rate
to provide us with those administrative
services for the grants we currently have.
Parks department budget will be used to pay for that cost.
Because the fact that public works grants are
currently under administration.
So the request is that you authorize the mayor to finalize
and execute those strategies.
Addendum number 4 and number 5 to the master plan services
agreement for assistance with grants and funding applications.
I move to authorize the mayor to finalize
next week, mobile strategies, LLC, DBA tower consulting,
addendum number 4 and number 5 to the master services
agreement for assistance with grants and funding applications.
Second We have a motion by Council Member Sanders
and a second by Council Member Hollingsworth,
and we'll open it up for any questions.
Terry, just one, do we anticipate when
staffing comes back from you.
We expect those additional services to drop off.
Great question.
So actually, we're proposing that this
be a contract through the end of this calendar year
to get us caught up.
But yes, part of what we need to do
is assign duties and find capacity
within our existing team to provide those services
on an ongoing basis.
So this is an interim fix through the end
of this budget year.
And then we will have a plan for starting in fiscal year 27.
Thank you.
Obviously just so it creates 20,000 and then
the additional cost of 24.
Can I make sure I have it right.
34 34 I apologize.
That's why I wanted to scroll up on my screen is not keeping up.
34,800 and that's a not to exceed amount.
And that actually it's a monthly fee.
And so that has a one month buffer for built into it.
And going into contract.
Additionally, there is an annual contract per year per year.
That is an annual contract that the council appropriates
funds for each year.
So we're looking for 50, 40, 60, correct Yes OK.
All right.
Thank you John.
All right.
Cesar no.
Jim did tower also for the first time.
So they do that not just public workshops.
Yeah it just so happens that the administrative support
for the contracts that we have was only needed in public works.
That's the Department to have the two
employees out at the same time.
Who would be responsible for this.
Well thank you.
All right, we have a motion and a second.
All those in favor.
Aye Opposed.
That motion passes.
We'll move into item I. Chelan County
Regional Justice center interlocal agreement
for inmate housing.
And I don't see Director sharp.
So this will be by City administrator Maclin.
So Director sharp came and presented to you.
Previously on their changes to the interlocal agreement
for jail, housing and staff previously reported on you
that our recommendation is that we
go ahead and proceed with this.
What we were waiting for over the past few weeks
since was just simply opportunity for legal counsel
to take a look and address any concerns
they had with the county's office, county's legal counsel,
and we're now ready to request your approval
to move forward with renewing this contract
under the new financial terms.
So if you look at the financial implications,
just to refresh your recollection.
Currently we pay $12,846.78 a month for inmate housing.
And that's based on an annual fee
that's broken down going forward under the new agreement.
Our estimate, based on what we have experienced over the past
three years, in terms of actual number of days of housing that
an arrestees spend at the jail, we're estimating
that the cost will be roughly the same, about 159,000.
Broken out.
We've got 2023, 2024 and 2025.
And we're happy to compare how it compared.
We think that conservatively budgeting in fiscal year 27
for 8:09 to 213 and 9, which is where
we will be charged at annual budgeted cost, would be 170,000.
So we're simply going to transition
from paying a flat fee regardless of the number
of city guests of the County.
And we would go to an actual per day rate based on actual usage.
And we do think it will either stay the same
or reduce for the first time.
The number of arrests made in the number of State Medical
costs are still 100% the responsibility
of the agency that in which the arrest occurred.
So that is separate above grade.
So our recommendation is that you move forward
with authorizing the mayor to finalize and execute the center
local agreement for the housing of inmates and the Shelby
County Regional Justice center.
Authorized the mayor to finalize and execute the Shawnee County
Washington city shoreline, Washington for the housing
of the Regional Justice center, subject to final approval of the
agreement by the city attorney.
Second, a motion by Council Jennings
and a second by Council Hollingsworth,
and we'll open up for questions.
Augustine this is $2 depending on population.
Depends on our.
If you reiterate that part.
So medical.
So if an inmate incurs medical expenses while in custody,
the arresting agency which here would
contract with Shelby County Sheriff's
Office to law enforcement agency.
The federal arresting on behalf of the city of Salina.
The city is responsible for those medical expenses.
Well, that is over and above that.
It's not covered in this course.
We do budget for it based on experience.
Excuse me.
Well, what do we expect it to hit a spike in housing
for the incarcerated.
Well, I can tell you, for the number of.
I didn't look specifically at the months with increased
housing, but I can tell you for in terms of citations issued so
far this year, July has been the largest month that simply
correlates to when we have an influx
of visitors to the community.
Sometimes that comes with misbehaving.
Elizabeth thank you.
Jane are these costs are recouped through other.
Civil law enforcement costs of enforcing laws.
The governmental costs for enforcing
the laws so the prosecution are going to have cases.
So he pays separately for prosecution.
We pay separately for the public defender's.
And we pay separately for law enforcement services.
It is absolutely law enforcement in total.
It's absolutely one of the largest expenses.
Very good.
All right.
We have a motion and a second.
All those in favor.
Aye Opposed.
Motion passes.
All right.
Let's move into administrative reports.
And we'll start with the athletic field
use and fees policy.
And this will be handled by parks and rec director Cooper.
Thank you.
Mayor Council, before you tonight, we
have a policy for your review.
And I want to get your feedback on.
I wanted to give some context to this facility for athletic field
use and youth policy because it came about as part of our budget
process last year, and not everyone was on council
when we went through it.
So I wanted to give you some full context.
So in the 2020 budget process, through the rates and fees
discussion, staff proposed adjusting the rates for use
at the ball fields, at children park or fields as many
know them as and the feedback from council through that
process was a request to have a framework that would
allow the city to reduce fees.
Fees were charged for the ball fields have a mechanism
to reduce fees for qualified groups,
and I will also caveat it.
When the fees were proposed in 2025,
those hadn't been updated for over 20 years
in the city rate resolution.
So in the effort in 2025 by staff
to modernize and have rates and fees
that reflect modern structure.
Similar structures from other cities and our County.
Other similar sized communities or similar types of facilities.
The feedback from council was if.
If fees are charged out at the location,
that there should be a framework to be
able to discount to appropriate groups
and have a request process in place.
So that requires a policy that is established and approved
by City council, so that we are not having
a gifting of public funds.
If there are fees associated with use of a public space,
that we are giving that away.
So that is what has we've been working on this year is a draft
policy that establishes a consistent process
for reserving facilities.
And then if there are groups that would like a reduction
in fees associated with use of those facilities, a process
in which that can be requested, and then
a review of that request.
This has I've gone with parks board for the last two months,
we've reviewed it and they've been
able to provide their really helpful
feedback on the criteria.
The process.
So we reviewed it last week in our meeting.
And they bring this policy to you with a recommendation
as well.
I will say that this policy itself does not
have direct fiscal impacts, in the sense that any fees for use
of the ball fields is still established through the rate
fee resolution process.
So this policy is a process that if fees are assessed,
that there is a way to evaluate it and perhaps reduce
those for certain groups.
So it creates a fair and transparent process.
It clearly defines priorities and ball fields
and has that process for reviewing those requests
for any waivers or discounts.
It also gives our staff a mechanism
in which to work through it, because there isn't any policy,
any formal structure in place on how to process the use
requests for those fields.
What else you need to know in context.
Policy kind of concurrently with the development of this policy,
myself and several of our board members
have been in communication with the different user groups that
are out at the ball fields to get their feedback
on potential future fees that might be assessed
for use of the ball fields.
And this is I guess I'll put this definition
on use of the ball fields.
This is when a league or a team wants to come in and have
dedicated practice in game times,
or potentially even tournaments at ball fields.
So this isn't first come, first serve use.
It's dedicated, reserved scheduled use.
Similar to if someone wanted to use our picnic shelters
and dog park, they are generally first come, first serve.
But if someone wants to use a picnic shelter and say,
this is our picnic shelter for the day,
they have to pay for the use of that shelter.
So that's what I mean by use of the ball fields
as a group who wants to have dedicated use of it
for a specific practice or specific games.
So staff and Park Board members have
been in communication with the different groups
that are using the ball fields.
Currently, we have multiple youth organizations.
We have a senior softball group just to get their feedback
on conditions of the field.
What kind of short term improvements
could be made to have the fields be in a quality
enough condition that's worth charging for.
I think that was some of the feedback we heard
from the groups is that the city is going to charge
for use of the fields.
They should be in perhaps better condition
than they are right now.
And obviously that does come with costs.
So those will be coming to you through our capital improvement
program budget process.
So you'll get an idea of what those costs for short term
improvements might be associated with,
which is obviously outside of any major improvements
to the ball fields, like the planning grant that we applied
for, which would be a larger capital project versus kind
of smaller scale, something that could be done in-house
with staff or volunteers.
That would be a kind of a short term
improvement to the playing facility, improving
safety and things like that.
I think that's the gist of it, but happy to answer
any questions on the details of the policy itself
that's included in your packet also included
a draft waiver request form.
This is not any this was kind of my kind
of first thought or first take on what
a user might be able to fill out in.
This could be streamlined through our Laserfiche form
submissions, which we have for many other forms
throughout the city.
So it doesn't necessarily have to take that form,
but at least gives you an idea of what
that could look like in the end.
So I'm happy to field any questions
and would welcome your feedback on the policy
any questions for Audrey.
Questions comment that you reached out to us
and use it so that they can have the feedback versus just coming
down and saying, hey, this is what
we're going to do without asking them to protect and save
the environment, but also that.
This discussion didn't include anything about the schedule
at this time with park.
What do you mean.
Certainly I mean, at our Park Board meeting last week,
we actually I had a draft scheduled for next year
that I wanted their feedback on, and the ball field
fees that were presented to city council last year were in there.
So that was presented to Park Board for feedback.
They're one of the feedback points
they said specifically on rates was the charge for tournaments.
What is it.
What was presented to them.
I think the sentiment I got from them is that it could be higher
based on what other facility managers like the school
district, charges for tournaments
so that it's kind of similar, perhaps.
Yeah any other questions.
I think the policies had done before.
And go to these meetings.
I'm very familiar with what the policy is in place.
And we start charging fees.
Will those fees be adequate to actually cover the money that's
going to be needed to get those fields into the shape,
they're going to expect them to be.
Or is that a different discussion when we're actually
discussing the rate setting.
No, it is a good question.
I don't know if I could give you a confident answer,
but I would say it probably isn't
going to cover all the costs of at least
the short term improvements.
But you have to think about the cost for even
maintaining our fields is estimated somewhere
around $35,000 a year.
And based on how the fields are currently used,
if we want to try to recoup all of those maintenance costs
alone on the users of it, we have
to charge a price that would be prohibited for everybody.
So I think any fees that are assessed
is to recoup a portion of the cost,
but it's not going to be able to prove everything.
Is your sense that the public is aware that these parks are made
for the general fund, and there is no parks district money,
like a lot of other regions have,
that they comment on why do they have pools and parks, that they
have dedicated funds, or whether it's just general fund system.
Certainly that's and that's been part of the education
with the user groups or other people in the community
is that general fund tax dollars are not currently
going towards the Parks Department,
so the funds available to maintain these fields
are coming from other revenue sources within Parks Department.
So I think, certainly an impression
that it is funded the same as other communities, but it's not.
Yeah any other questions.
And to put a point on Audrey's response,
the funding of our Parks Department
is through predominantly tourism generated revenue.
The RV park, parking, et cetera.
All right I would like to ask a question of council,
just since I haven't heard any feedback to the form
of the policy itself.
If there's no major change to the request,
I'd like to put it on the consent
agenda at our next meeting.
Unless there was any specific feedback or changes
you'd like to see to the policy.
That's good.
I'm glad you put some time into it and talk to the user groups.
Appreciate the Lord's work on it as well.
Yeah, like any policy, we'll just
have to see how it goes and.
Yeah thank you.
All right.
Let's move on to city administrator
and department reports.
And we'll start with city administrator Maclin.
Thank you.
Mayor so, counsel, I wanted to let you know.
Last week, I attended the iCMA economic mobility
and opportunity conference, which was in the iCMA
is the International City County Management Association.
So it was a great opportunity to hear from
and learn from economic development events
and economic opportunity.
Organizations throughout the country
have the opportunity for free consultations with some National
Economic development entities, and
brainstorming and picking their brains about things
that we can do.
So received a lot of great information,
and I'm really excited about bringing back to the city
and working with our community to implement them,
especially through the process that we're going
through with our application for the development
of an economic diversification strategy.
I can tell you that it was interesting as you listened
to the challenges and the different presentations
from cities around the country, from Mexico
to Ohio to suburbs of Washington, DC,
that many of them struggle with getting
partnership and input and feedback from the local business
community.
I think it's wonderful the way that
has a very active and involved business community that
is offering to partner with the city
on how we can grow the economy, which lifts all boats.
It helps us reduce housing costs.
It helps us increase income.
So these are all opportunities that we're working on.
And I think it's a really great point
to be able to start working with the community
to really grow with the prior work has been done.
So that's just an update.
John yeah, I would say that we're getting close.
I'd say we're in our seventh inning.
We have the comprehensive plan process.
We had a discussion last week with the planning commission
on climate resiliency and our economic elements.
And there's a really robust matrix
of all of the public comments that we've received to date.
Those are located in the planning commission agenda
right now.
You can pull that up from smug save
up moving up to our top page.
And generally, there's a broad overview of what the comment is.
There's a summary of what it is.
There's a staff response.
And then there are a number of questions that
are asked of the planning commission on how
they want to stop some of this.
And the reason I'm telling you all of this
is that it's just probably a good background
to give to speak for our joint meeting that's
coming up on September 8.
Do you have any questions on the process up to this point.
Feel free to reach out to us.
Other than that takes care of Audrey.
Yes So I wanted to share just some revenue and performance
numbers on some of our commercial operations
with the smoke impacts that we've seen in August.
So looking at roughly the first three weeks of August
up to the golf course.
Comparing this year to last year for the same time frame
around the golf course, about 40% down.
So it's not far off I think, the numbers I shared
earlier in the month of August.
So we're kind of seeing that trend continue.
The first three weeks and then within the RV
park for occupancy.
Comparing the first three weeks of August,
the sitting at about 48% occupancy
this year versus last year at the same time was 96% occupancy.
So last week was a little better.
We started seeing an uptick in occupancy to about 55%
but still obviously nothing compared
to the 97% that we typically see this time of year.
So I think as our local businesses
feel the impact of smoke on our departments as well.
On a more positive note, I did receive notice
that the public request for assistance that the city made
to FEMA for debris cleanup has had funds obligated towards it,
so that has now moved from FEMA over to the state.
Who is the one who is the agency that provides the funds.
That contract that was brought to us a month
or two ago to authorize the state to pass those funds
through to the city.
So I will now be working with another organization.
But we do have funds obligated for the debris
cleanup associated with all the flooding of the city
last winter.
So good news on that front.
Wanted to give you all a quick update on the golf course.
So the last six I mean, since our joint meeting
in June, counsel, you provided some very good
feedback and directives for staff work
to do to bring back to you.
So we have been internally working on a business plan
for the golf course, Laura and myself
and staff at the golf course have been working on
that so that should be ready soon
to bring back to city council for you
to take a look at review.
Last week we did get an RFP issued for those third party
management costs so that city council can have
a full comparison of apples to apples
of the costs associated with management of the golf course.
So those are the issue that takes typically
on the streets for about a month so that we
can get sufficient responses.
So once those are submitted and reviewed,
it probably won't be until October that will be
ready to take back to council.
But that's in process as well.
And I spoke earlier about our parks
and recreation advisory board.
They've been really active this year, very engaged group, which
has been truly a delight for me because they are
a voice of the community on specifically parks
and recreation matters, and they're engaged, and dialed in
and keeping me busy at a very good way.
But Tom, one of our chair, Vice President of the Park Board,
announced last week that he has to step down from his role.
So we do have a vacancy on the parks
and recreation advisory board that has been
posted online for applications.
So please help spread the word.
If you know someone in the community who you think
might be a good fit to serve in that role,
to advise the parks matters.
So thank you.
OK, great.
So we've been super busy, of course, working on all things
budget and looking forward to our first budget workshop,
or I should say our second budget workshop,
taking that during our next workshop session.
I've also been doing quite a bit of work
with our grant writer, Emily street,
our consultant to as well working on the airport Porter
line and coming up to speed on all of the public works grants
that are outstanding there.
We've also been working on onboarding our new front desk
receptionist.
So it's been going really well.
But it's just a process, of course, too.
And that's just one of the council's attention.
To piggyback on Laura's US Forest Service agreement
to as well.
So I'll put you guys on notice that they sent
us an additional agreement to as well for their dumpster rentals.
It's essentially on a federal form,
but it's confirming our dumpster rental rates.
And so, if there's no concerns from council,
we'd love to just keep ushering that forward
as there's no separation from what's
listed in our rates schedule.
It's just kind of solidifying on their side for the feds.
So if there's any way to get just a quick head nod,
if there's any concerns about that,
I'd be happy to bring that contract back
in front of council.
But just to confirm, it's like a confirmation
of our dumpster rental rates and what they're using out there.
The firefighter station.
So any concerns that.
You guys all know about that.
Great OK.
Great thank you.
And that's all for now.
So thank you.
All right.
The biggest thing with the Sheriff's Office coming up
is school starting tomorrow.
School starts next week.
So in.
And just want to give everybody a heads up.
Shoreline school district will have a new old school
resource officer in.
Nigel Hunter will be coming back to cascade
and coming back to the boats.
So excellent.
OK I mentioned our new project manager position was filled,
and the individual we hired was named Chris Perry.
Started on Monday.
We'll find the time to do a formal introduction,
but we're super, super happy and excited about having him
on board.
So it's a steep and fast curve for him.
Tomorrow we'll know more on schedule.
That'll give us more of our ability to finalize some dates
that we can push out to the public,
which has been kind of loose and tentative at this point.
So that's going to be full steam tentatively looking
likely around September 8, but more
information to come on that.
Unfortunately, I think any hopes and dreams we had
of getting Farnam street improvements
done this all are dwindling.
And not to deflect or point blame, but the dot.
It's their right of way and they review
it and they're fairly busy.
And we anyway submitted it in July.
And your comments have been trickling in,
but I think we're going to shift our priorities on that
and hopefully look at maybe like a spring break kind of timeline
is what we're tentatively thinking, unfortunately.
So that project is also coupled with another one on my side.
So I just want to give an update on that.
We're pushing hard on Anderson road water.
Main design will be through tomorrow.
Those things are coming together nicely.
Our crews put some sweat equity in that project
as well, from potholing and existing utilities
and working around the food industry's trucking schedule.
So airport water lines starting to come together.
Washington Street booster pump station opened bids
this morning, so things are starting
to fall into place for construction season at least.
OK, so in our effort to modernize a lot of our resources
and make them more accessible to residents,
we've added a new functionality to the website, which
makes all of our PDFs accessible for screen
readers, which is really important for accessibility.
This is actually like a Department of Justice
requirement that's coming down on jurisdictions
like ours starting early next year.
So we're going to get ahead of it.
The really cool part of that feature,
though, is that in addition to accessibility,
it allows for translation of all the documents on our website.
So residents who might speak a language other than English
can easily find access and read all of the PDFs
on our website, which is a pretty
great opportunity to offer those things to our community.
So really excited about that.
Additionally, we've been in the middle of our safe streets
for all feedback effort for community engagement.
Residents can still visit city of Ashland safe streets
to participate in that.
But we're kind of taking that survey to the streets.
So this Thursday will be tabling at the farmer's market.
And we'll have a big old map.
And people can point two places in the city
and make notes about where improvements can be made,
and those will get translated into the survey.
And then we'll be tabling at the community center on Friday
afternoon, hopefully capture some of our families
in order demographics as well.
So I encourage residents to show up for that.
And then additionally, I just wanted
to share some anniversaries that we're celebrating this month.
So our director, Heidi Evans, is celebrating her one year
as our finance director, Evan Smith, who's our wastewater
treatment plant technician.
He's celebrating three years.
Aaron McCabe, our superintendent, is 8 years.
And Casey Churchland, our building official,
is celebrating nine years of service.
So just want to thank him for his service
and thank council Member Sanders for his as well.
All right.
Haley doesn't need to know what our great.
Let's move into Mayor and council comments.
I'm going to say carry to the end and we'll start with Shane.
Thank you mayor.
As always, thank you to staff.
I'd like to give a shout out to all the local firefighters who
took care of those starts that happened
today with the lightning.
That was an exciting morning.
The sirens going off all day.
I also want to just give a lot of kudos
to the planning commission and the parks and rec.
I sit-in on those two boards and attend their meetings,
and I know they put in a lot of work, so thank you for that.
Thank you to Amy, Eric, Adam and we
spoke tonight and gave us a perspective
of downtown businesses.
It's great to hear and know your concerns and your needs.
So thank you for coming.
As well as thank you to Rachel with oh God.
And then bless you.
A farewell, Jill Perry down there.
Thank you.
I know you're going to end up going down there.
And that's where our family away.
And for people out there.
Congrats Thank you.
OK yeah I was.
I appreciate the turnout to from the council and.
I think we maybe take the value of our visitors and tourists
to be able to bring them sometimes.
I know it's a delicate balance, but it's an important part
of the community.
And there's a lot of people that are tied into that economy.
So it's good to get their perspective.
I know we're all enjoying the fresh air
and looking forward to more of it.
And hopefully we have good Labor Day weekends.
Yeah I'd like to start off by.
Saying something that I heard at the planning commission.
Commissioner Vicki, she emphasized being
proactive and being proactive.
You don't have to wait for the government
to tell you to do something.
That she was saying that she got a fire
wise assessment from the fire department for her condo.
And that's how she was being proactive.
And I just want to reiterate that.
And then thank you, by the way.
And then another thing is.
Just a reminder, on August 29, on the lake car show.
And it's going to be it's one of my favorite events
here in town to see you all there.
And special thanks to Terry Oh, really.
So yeah.
Thank you for four inches.
So again, thank you for everybody that
came in for citizen comments.
And Rachel, for our future.
Looking outside and blue skies for us today.
Fresh air is good for a lot of us.
A lot of smoke makes people really depressed.
Yesterday was really cool to actually see a sunset
and it was nice.
And of course, Terry.
We're going to miss you.
It's been a pleasure working with you
and I'll see you around.
Excuse me.
And then, it's great to see everybody come out
and get their comments.
Thank you.
With less than a handful of years to get
down and get them all done.
So that's what we want.
Transparency and hearing your opinions as we gather.
I know staff wanted a budget season.
Everybody's focused on that and we embrace the journey,
but we're on the conservative side of that.
So you can.
Be as well.
And we appreciate your service and your honesty.
Terry, can I sit next to you for nine months.
And go to the world, right.
A lot of really good information.
I really appreciate it.
Just gets my brain going.
In the marketing world, growth in for a long time,
I think obviously you talked about connecting
with the consumer or parts.
I don't are we asking our visitors
or what they think ideas that they think might benefit from,
because we get a lot of people that come there
aside from throwing more money into marketing than we can spend
a lot of money in, I totally understand that saying yes or no
to more of that budget, but really looking internally
of what are we doing.
Well, what are we missing before we start throwing
dollars here and there.
I've always been super conservative and the things
that I do, and I'm not really getting feedback from that
are because I'm concerned.
Memorial Day used to be the kickoff,
and somehow it's gotten quieter and quieter
and becomes a normal weekend.
And now 4th of July is like the one day and maybe Labor Day.
We'll see what this is like.
It's really looking at what is driving people away
or where are they going.
When you ask them have and this could be your own business,
that they provide the same experience survey to the people
that visit the restaurant and stay
at a hotel that visit a park if there's
a QR code in the leading town.
Tell us questions.
I just want to put it out there that because we survive
on tourism, obviously we go through every day or every time
we need or wherever it comes from
and parks, we need to make those even better because we
need more support for that.
So, Chad, would you have the logo up there, the city
where is that.
And I know that you guys are working on it a few months back.
Yeah, we put it on the back burner
just because there was some more pressing
things that needed attention.
But that's certainly the hopes either quarter
for quarter 1 kind of re-engage in that process.
So thanks for getting on.
Thank you.
Congratulations to Heidi.
It's been a whole year for you in the House of God.
Thanks to Amy, Eric and Adam for their comments tonight.
As mentioned, I think our business
community is certainly hurting.
Of all the wildfire smoke and impacts,
and Council Venegas pointed out, I
think it's really important that we are creative with how
those dollars are spent.
I've had conversations around where some of those dollars
can be spent strategically.
I know a couple years ago were really impacted with winterfest,
with some really severe winter weather,
and it could be worthwhile looking
at as spend in Spokane and areas that
are not necessarily pass band.
So thinking about how we can engage perhaps marketing
and other communities that people want to come here,
but we spend a ton of those dollars
on the West Side, which makes sense.
But sometimes the past can really be impactful there.
So just looking creatively to have them probably work a lot.
As my final council meeting since moving
to the metropolis of Madison.
Just a few remarks I'd like to make.
Just really grateful for the opportunity
to serve our incredible community.
Past two years.
Very, very proud of the work that we
will accomplish together.
Specifically, really proud of the work
it took to bring the Girls Club here.
And that has been a fantastic thing for a lot of kids
and families, and continues to be proud
that we're able to support our housing trust,
support many of our community groups
with things like the benefit grants and now
our housing grant funds.
So just really proud of that work.
Also really proud of the way that we've tried to partner
with members of our community to improve outcomes,
such as all the collaboration with our friends of Lakeside
group is trying to make that a reality for that part of town
and continue dialogue.
Really thankful for our fantastic staff,
for keeping us informed and giving in this context on items
that we may not be as familiar with this fall.
So thank you for the time and energy on that.
To all the current council members, thank you
for the many, many hours we spent together
trying to make the best decisions
for the most amount of people.
It's not always easy.
Lots of complex things on my way.
Thanks to previous council member Gary Harris and Detrick
appreciate serving with them their stewardship.
Grateful for local journalism that helps keep our public
informed.
I think that's very important.
Not all towns have that.
Thanks to my wife for allowing me to spend more time away
from home and always understanding how important
public services, but most grateful for living
in a community that cares.
Not a single time.
In my term I've.
I looked out at an empty council chambers, which
is really, really important.
It means that our citizens show up and take interest
in what's going on and communicate to us when
they have ideas or concerns.
And our job is to listen and learn
and take appropriate action.
As illustrated by some of the public comment
tonight and many times previously,
there's a lot of uncertainty ahead with rising costs.
I think it's important that we remember
that we can do anything, but we can't do everything.
So we may have to say, no, we're not yet to things that we've
historically said yes to.
And that's not easy.
But that's our charge.
But looking forward to the great work
that we'll continue to do in the city,
and looking forward to helping in any way I
can for my role across town.
As Sergeant Paulsen mentioned, school starts on Tuesday.
So we'll add in your commutes.
Sure deputy Hunter and Sergeant Paulsen
will be all over all the e-scooters, e-bikes around town.
So thank you.
And I appreciate it are just a few things I want to echo.
What everyone has already said up here about.
It was great to have local businesses in here
providing some testimony.
We don't often see them in council until things are really
starting to move in a really wrong direction,
or they need help because our local business community is so
self-sufficient and just put their heads down
and get things done.
And so, Amy, thank you for bringing the group in here,
and thank you for your comments.
That really raising the flag on this
isn't just a August smoke fire incident.
This is something that's been building,
or I should say declining really from 2023 on.
And the red flag has been raised.
And I think we all need to recognize
and listen to their concerns because it's been building.
So I appreciate hearing from a portion of our business
community tonight.
Second on of-of Rachel left.
But this is such this.
The work is so near and dear to my heart.
And because they've done, they do such an amazing job
of making sure that every voice in the community
is heard or represented.
But I also wanted to call out that community
development director.
Ajax is also part of the well-planned community team,
so we've got a couple different representation
on some of those committees that are going on.
And honestly, the level of conversations,
at least in the shared prosperity group,
the brainpower in there is staggering.
It's really fun having these economic development
conversations with farmers from the port,
from Northwest Tech Alliance, and there's
just some really great brainpower
that's working on these things.
Fire camp.
I wanted to give some facts.
There was a comment or an article or something on
social media that had a lot of.
Misinformation into it.
So I wanted to just provide a few data points.
I spoke to our Forest Service district
Ranger on how locations for fire camps are selected.
And prior to even coming here, the district
or the incident command leader reviews
locations all around the city.
Previously, delmar's park and Lakeside
have been used in the past, but for much, much smaller groups
or during non-peak times because they're
really looking to reduce the impacts to our local economy.
You never know when the smoke might shift
or what that fire is going to do when we might be
able to pick up the tail end of our economy, our tourism
economy.
The fire camp is not just tents, it's showers, porta potties,
large mobile Kitchens and more.
And they want to find locations where they can limit driving
noise and increase safety, lowering
impacts in high traffic areas.
If anyone drove through downtown on Saturday,
it kind of felt like a normal August day.
Knock on wood.
And the city has provided potable water, gray water,
and they have that the day after camp was set up.
So they're fully functioning with the help of the city
in their location right now, despite the two new bathrooms
and on Morse park, I don't think that the six bathrooms that we
have in danversport would be able to support the 250 civilian
and 250 military personnel that's
currently based in Sheehan.
So I just wanted to provide a couple facts on why.
Fire camp was chosen to be in a location that they're at.
And then yesterday I went to present just a little tiny piece
at a winery listening session.
So we had all three of our County commissioners
up in the winery barrel room.
It was standing room only, and just
about almost every winery was there providing some testimony.
And just again, another request from our County commissioners
to help support wineries, viticulture and preserve
a small, small, local small businesses and agriculture
and help create a more friendly business environment
for wineries in the County.
So that was a really great session.
It was about two hours long, but the message was the same.
Our local business economy needs help, and since 2023 2022,
there's been just a decline in the support
needed to make our small business
community continue to thrive.
So it's another kind of red flag that's going up.
And then last but not least, I want to thank Terry
for his service on council.
And I want to go back to the first copy
that I asked Harry to go to so that I could try and convince
him to run for city council, and it was very high level meeting.
And then Terry went away and thought about it,
and he came back with 15 questions for me that were very
strategic, very hard hitting.
And I would say that commitment to thoughtful.
Analysis of the decisions that you're making, and the comments
has continued as your time on council.
And I just want to thank you for the commitment
that you put into your time on council, and for always
challenging and pushing us to think
of things in different ways.
You'll be missed.
But I saw pictures of your house and it's beautiful
and I'm jealous that you have.
So thank you for your time on council.
I really appreciate the time commitment from your wife
and that you put giving your brain
power to the city of Charlotte.
We are all better for it.
Thank you.
All right.
With that, I would accept a motion for adjournment.
OK move to adjourn.
Thank you.
All right motion by Council Member Sanders and council
member city a second.
All those in favor.
Thank you.
We must be.