[0:31] Good afternoon, everyone. This Tuesday, September 15th, 2020, 16th meeting of the Lake of San Diego City Council is now called the order.

[0:37] Ms. Hawkins, would you please call the roll? Mayor Buck.

[0:39] Here. Councillors, one, Lynn.

[0:41] Here. verdict.

[0:42] Here.

[0:42] Corrigan.

[0:43] Here. Edmund's man.

[0:45] Ackon.

[0:46] Here.

[0:46] Emma Boop. Thank you.

[0:48] Thank you. And now everyone, would you please stand remove your hats and join us in the pledge?

[0:54] I pledge allegiance to the plague of the United States of America, and to the Republic

[1:00] for which this stands, one nation, under God, individual,

[1:05] with liberty and justice for all.

[1:14] First, we have a proclamation,

[1:16] Hispanic Heritage Month, which has celebrated September 15th

[1:19] through October 15th, is an opportunity

[1:21] to recognize the rich histories, cultures,

[1:23] and contributions of Hispanic and Latin communities.

[1:26] This year's theme is UNIDOS,

[1:28] Somosmos, or together, we are more.

[1:30] It celebrates the strength of our diversity

[1:32] and the ways it brings us together.

[1:34] Here in Lake US, we celebrate our Hispanic

[1:36] and Latino neighbors and invite everyone to learn, celebrate, and uplift their voices and contributions.

[1:42] You'll find these proclamations as well as all other city council proclamations on the city website.

[1:47] Next I'd like to invite for public services to please come forward.

[1:52] You'll be hearing from Cindy Rogers and John Oliveris about their return to excellence plan

[1:57] and the steps they're taking to improve service reliability for our residents.

[2:02] We're looking forward to hearing at this update and we appreciate you all taking the time to be here.

[2:05] Good afternoon.

[2:12] My name is Cindy Rogers and I'm your municipal relationship manager for Republic Services

[2:16] and then I'll let John and Steve introduce themselves.

[2:20] Good afternoon.

[2:21] My name is Steve Baker.

[2:22] I'm the operations manager for the hauling divisions and the coverage company that services

[2:27] like us.

[2:28] We go.

[2:29] Good afternoon.

[2:30] Mayor and council members.

[2:31] John Oliver, General Manager for Republic Services.

[2:33] Been with Republic Services since 2018.

[2:36] I mean, first four years, I was Steve's position.

[2:39] Then I got promoted to General Manager, up in Seattle, in 2022, and then in 2026, five months

[2:46] ago, today I came back here, and I'm a resident of Lake Oswego, living in the Ups

[2:52] and Stablerhood, and my step-daughter, starter freshman year, I Lake Oswego.

[2:56] So glad to be back.

[2:57] Good to have you here.

[2:59] Yeah.

[3:00] Our presentation in this afternoon, we will provide a brief overview of the services that we

[3:06] deliver for our Lake Usbie Go residents and businesses.

[3:10] We'll also address some staffing challenges

[3:11] that we've recently experienced, the actions

[3:14] that we have taken to address those challenges,

[3:16] and then ongoing efforts to continue to improve

[3:20] on service reliability.

[3:23] Before we move on to the next slide,

[3:25] I want to draw your attention to the two trucks

[3:27] that we intentionally chose for this slide.

[3:29] The larger of the trucks is our electric truck,

[3:32] and the smaller truck is our tight access truck.

[3:36] I think it's kind of a stark difference between the two different styles of trucks.

[3:40] We use that the small truck in areas where a normal size garbage truck will not fit because

[3:47] the roads are narrow, narrow, so think about Lake Front Road as an example.

[3:58] In 2025 we serviced 11,400, 11,846 residential customers.

[4:04] Each one of these customers is service by three separate tracks every week, totaling 35,000 stops every week.

[4:14] There's, of course, a trash truck, a yard debris truck, and you can also put your food waste in your yard debris as a reminder.

[4:21] A truck for your co-mingle recycling, which includes your glass bin.

[4:25] And then your glass bin, you can place your batteries in a Ziploc bag.

[4:30] and then motor oil in a labeled milk jug.

[4:35] We also offer additional services for residents

[4:37] including bulky waste pickup,

[4:39] for items that will not fit in your world cart

[4:41] and drop boxes for larger projects.

[4:45] We serviced 412 commercial customers in 2025

[4:49] and then commercial customers with dumpsters

[4:51] can receive trash service six days a week,

[4:55] 40s a week for recycle and 40s a week for food waste.

[4:59] And the service level is based on the needs of the business.

[5:04] In 2025, we did 1,769 industrial halls, and the industrial halls are big drop boxes or compactors.

[5:18] We also do two bulky waste events every year, one in the spring and one in the fall,

[5:23] and these events are very, very popular.

[5:26] We had 186 vehicles at our spring event last year and we had over 500 vehicles in our fall event.

[5:35] Something new that we started last year was partnering with the mattress recycling council.

[5:40] So now the mattresses at those bulky waste events are collected separately and recycled instead of landfill.

[5:48] So as a reminder, like us we goes next bulky waste event is October 3rd at our transfer station in Wilsonville.

[6:00] Community involvement and support is important, important to our partnership with Lake

[6:05] Oswego.

[6:07] Most of our events are ones that we've done year over year.

[6:10] We do touch-a-trucks, birthday drive-by's, and Earth Day E-waste event, and the sustainability

[6:18] resource fair.

[6:19] We also provide in-kind donations for the Lake Run, the Rotary Lobster Feed, Lakewood Festival,

[6:27] the Inter Festival of Arts, Girl Scouts, Christmas Tree Recycling, Oswego Heritage Council,

[6:35] Car and Boat Show, and then the upcoming annual Pumpkin Toss, just to name a few.

[6:42] So, please feel free to reach out to me about any other opportunities where we can work with

[6:47] the city or any non-profits, especially if there are opportunities for us to volunteer our time.

[6:53] And I will hand it off to John and he'll talk about our return to excellence plan.

[7:01] Thank you.

[7:02] I wish that just said operational excellence and not a return to excellence.

[7:05] So why a return to excellence?

[7:08] Going back to 2018, when I started here, again, Steve has continued that trend,

[7:12] except for a slight hiccup here recently.

[7:15] Lake Oswego has always been ranked as one of the organizational leaders when it comes to our

[7:20] customer's zeal metrics, customers' zeal metrics,

[7:23] include service reliability, customer satisfaction,

[7:26] and on-time pickups.

[7:28] Unfortunately.

[7:30] And starting in March, continuing into April and May, we had some unforeseen staffing issues. So we were

[7:37] short-handed drivers and we struggled to meet our customer-seal standards that the lake

[7:42] us, we go residents, have been accustomed to and deserve. So giving, I started, gave Steve

[7:49] and the supervisors, the autonomy to staff appropriately, they decided that we needed to staff

[7:55] up to 26 drivers, twice a week we peak at 21 routes within Lake Oswiga, and that's just

[8:03] residential and commercial 21 routes. A couple of days we run 19, but we peak at 21.

[8:08] So they told me they want 26 drivers, and as of the middle of August we got to 26. So

[8:14] we're staffed appropriately where we need to be. This will allow us to easily cover scheduled

[8:19] vacation time, unforeseen sick days, bereavement days, FMLA days, and so forth, right? We got

[8:25] over staff by five on on those two big days so staffing is fixed which led to the big problem

[8:31] of some service issues. Other than staffing have been working with city staff and corporate

[8:37] communications department on how we can better enhance our communication with the residents.

[8:43] This primarily hinges on us having an accurate phone number for our customers.

[8:49] Any time that we are going to have a service delay due to staffing issues which that should be a

[8:53] the past, whether delays, holiday changes, because of the holidays, we'll send out a call

[8:59] last.

[9:00] And everyone should get a voice mail, automated message that tells them of the schedule

[9:03] change or the delay.

[9:05] So if we have the correct number, you all are getting that communication, but if we don't

[9:10] have a right number, everyone's out left in the dark.

[9:13] So we're still contemplating what we're going to do, whether send out postcards, put a flyer

[9:18] inside an insert inside your bill on how we're going to do that, but that will help us better

[9:22] communicate with the residents when we do that.

[9:27] Also, the last couple of months, we have increased the supervisors, managers, my self-presents,

[9:33] out in the community, doing audits.

[9:37] I've been out there lifting lids on the afternoons.

[9:40] I've been approached by a couple of residents, thinking that I was dumpster diving, but

[9:43] had to quickly show on my shirt with a republic on it, or my business card.

[9:47] Steve, as you can see, he's in a safety vest right now.

[9:50] I know he was visiting drivers before he came here and knowing Steve, he's probably going to go

[9:54] visit one or two on his way home this afternoon.

[9:59] Finally, we are not perfect. We have not

[10:03] performed specifically March through July to the standards that we think we should perform at.

[10:09] We are a very metrics and score card driven company referencing back to that earlier slide, right?

[10:17] We do a little bit less than 12,000 single-family homes a week, which, again, that's three

[10:22] times.

[10:23] They see three diverse garbage, recycle yard waste.

[10:25] So we have 36,000 attempts with just residents to impress how good we are at service.

[10:32] 77 multi-family dwellings that get picked up multiple times a week, 412 commercial customers

[10:37] picked up multiple times a week, 101,700 industrial halls.

[10:42] So lots of opportunities to show you what we could do.

[10:45] I believe in the 2025 Annual Report, we disclose that we had 90 complaints, 45 of which were mispick up related.

[10:57] So that was for 2025.

[10:59] So that breaks down to around eight complaints a month for those being mispick up related.

[11:06] March through July, because of our staffing issues, that almost doubled in both categories.

[11:12] where we 25, we have 8 complaints a month,

[11:15] March through July, that was 11 per month,

[11:18] and then miss pickups were around 8.

[11:21] So miss pickups doubled.

[11:23] But return to excellence has was very evident

[11:26] and clear on the logists,

[11:28] where we only had three total complaints

[11:30] to of them being miss pickups.

[11:33] So back on track with staffing,

[11:36] have a lot of new drivers,

[11:37] they'll be a little bit of learning curve,

[11:38] but if August is an indication

[11:40] of the direction we're going forward.

[11:42] You guys will get back to having great service

[11:44] from Republic Services.

[11:46] That's all I had to share.

[11:48] I think as a team, that's all we had.

[11:50] I hope in any questions.

[11:52] Well, I want to thank you all for being here at John Steve, Cindy.

[11:57] Like I said, you guys enjoyed a long relationship

[11:58] with Republic, over the years we've had the opportunity

[12:00] to look at other providers, but we've always maintained

[12:03] a relationship with the Republic in large part

[12:06] because of the service that you provide.

[12:07] And I think we all understand that it's things always aren't going to flow perfectly, but it's always in the response that we, you know, measure the service of a company and we appreciate your responsiveness here to the concerns that we heard from residents about these miss pickups, and I think they were even more acutely felt because it is so unusual, many residents who've been here a long time, or used to this, you know, never happening, perhaps even in decades.

[12:35] So then when it starts happening and people start wondering what is, you know, what is going on because you've set the bar

[12:40] So hi, now as we appreciate your community here, but my colleagues all have a lot of questions. So we'll start with the council.

[12:48] Oh, did you have a question account?

[12:49] Well, you'll take it.

[12:52] Thank you.

[12:58] And what's going on and I think that is absolutely helpful to all of us.

[13:04] I have not experienced problems that some folks have had.

[13:09] I don't know why.

[13:10] Laurel Street must be the happy street, but I have heard from other citizens.

[13:19] So it is so lovely to be able to go back and report to them.

[13:23] And for them to hear you say that we're seeking excellence.

[13:29] So thank you.

[13:34] Thank you so much.

[13:40] I think I heard once that a good relationship has accountability, vulnerability and empathy.

[13:49] And what I heard you today exhibited all those three things.

[13:54] Similar to any other industry you've gone through your challenges now.

[13:59] and we've seen this from COVID forward that every industry has done this.

[14:06] I asked that you sit down and go, what's our lessons learned?

[14:12] And make sure that doesn't happen again.

[14:13] You don't have to share it with us here, but as an industry, I think you need to sit down and do that.

[14:20] If not already, so these 12 new drivers, what happened?

[14:25] Where could you have seen that happening and then pull the trigger on it?

[14:34] I think in the past when your team was here presenting, I've always said,

[14:39] your drivers are most professional kind and caring service that I've seen in my neighborhood.

[14:49] I try to run out there so I can away that.

[14:53] that professional and the services you provide.

[15:02] It's highly needed and people count on them. You like this Swiss clock that everybody expect to be on time and they count on it.

[15:15] So you have said they're very high standard and I'm glad to hear that you're trying to return back to excellence. Thank you.

[15:23] Thank you for those kind of words and I know Steve knows this. I would, in operations going back to my days at UPS, I am out in other companies.

[15:29] I've had three models, be properly staffed,

[15:34] always have good coffee in the morning for the drivers,

[15:36] and never screw up their pay.

[15:39] Yeah, you've come to the court again.

[15:47] Excuse me, Republican industries invited us out to visit

[15:49] in August, which I really appreciate.

[15:52] And I went, and I was glad that I went.

[15:56] What I learned was, they have pretty strong

[16:01] sustainability ethic, they operate trucks with natural gas and EVs. Now I can go by a truck

[16:09] and I can tell you what kind of truck it is. And so they are moving, they are moving to modern

[16:14] sustainability standards. It's a big business, but they are definitely heading that direction.

[16:20] They have company values that support opportunities for all. And I saw that when I was out there

[16:26] walking around, talking with the staff.

[16:30] They have people from everywhere, and they're working hard.

[16:33] They have high, they have a very high retention rate

[16:35] for employees, it's 91%.

[16:37] I think that's pretty good.

[16:39] I think one of the things they didn't say,

[16:41] but I think that I understood what FLA

[16:43] may has had an impact on their business as well.

[16:46] I know anybody who operates a business

[16:47] is experiencing that, and they are certainly certainly the same.

[16:52] So I had a great experience.

[16:53] I appreciate it, I appreciate it, and all the information

[16:55] share with me. And one of the things that we talked about, they asked me if I would bring it up,

[17:00] is tell us about what the cameras on your trucks do. Thank you.

[17:06] So, safety, they make sure that our drivers are doing what they're supposed to be doing. They have

[17:13] harsh breaking, or maybe they don't have their seatbelt on, or going too fast. All these different

[17:19] things, there's all kinds of alarms, systems that tell them, you know, they're too close

[17:25] to another vehicle in front of them, so a lot of it has to do a safety and is making sure

[17:30] that they're doing what they're supposed to do with the trucks, you know, and it's a $500,000

[17:35] truck out there.

[17:36] I want to make sure that they're driving it correctly and taking care of the community.

[17:44] Concern always with communities like ours is master balance.

[17:49] So, how much of your footage is shared, what can you tell us about that?

[17:54] So, we meet as far as with the driver or with others.

[18:01] The trash trucks might pick up just because they're everywhere.

[18:05] That could be conveyed to another, another party, aside from just from John perhaps.

[18:11] So, most of the cameras are in-capped facing, so picking up with the driver does.

[18:17] So we can share that information with the driver,

[18:22] knock-on wood.

[18:22] We haven't had any serious accidents or anything like that.

[18:24] But I'm sure the police could ask for in-cat footage for seat belt

[18:31] uses or distracted driving.

[18:34] The camera can pick up side view coming out of the side of their mirrors

[18:37] and stuff like that and so forth.

[18:41] But I'm not.

[18:43] I don't know.

[18:43] We switch companies who run the cameras for us

[18:46] like three years ago, and the main reason was,

[18:49] because the prior company we used,

[18:52] did not give us 100% authority to just have it be our own information.

[18:57] They were able to share it with others.

[18:59] So now this new company that we started using three years ago,

[19:01] it's our information, it can't be shared with anybody else,

[19:04] unless we okay it, which we don't.

[19:06] It's just really used for safety purposes.

[19:09] It has dramatically increased the safety of our drivers

[19:13] across the nation, specifically on it alerts them very loud if they're not wearing their

[19:20] seatbelt, alerts them very loud if they're not using their cell phone, and then again,

[19:25] it pings them if they're going over the speed limit or things them if they're doing harsh

[19:29] breaking.

[19:30] And then we get alerted and then we can look at the video and share that with them for training

[19:36] purposes.

[19:39] That's only in the cab.

[19:40] There's a couple of outward facing cameras as well, but that is more to where if there's a harsh break alert, or a

[19:47] It senses an accident, those cameras will turn on turn off a courier license plates. No, no, okay

[19:55] I think that's what it calms them. It's good question. It calms their window. Yeah, they're getting the numbers off of each little bin. That's what they're getting now

[20:04] I just want to thank you

[20:07] I expressed the same comments as my colleagues.

[20:10] One other thing that is not part of your presentation,

[20:13] but was part of the packet, who was the financial part.

[20:16] And I think something that I want to stress,

[20:20] Republic has been an exceptional partner

[20:24] with keeping costs in line

[20:26] and our rates very effective and efficient.

[20:29] And they've worked very hard at ensuring

[20:32] that we have the right staffing

[20:34] with balancing the right financials, and as many business owners that are on the council

[20:42] know, the extra costs with some of the legislative policies that we've had in Oregon.

[20:50] We even added it to the city where we have to hire two additional people to fire people

[20:57] to cover all the lead backs and everything else.

[21:02] And I'm not seeing good or bad.

[21:04] I'm just seeing it's a cost of any business.

[21:07] But when you look at the financials that we're in your packet,

[21:12] I think you've met your targets of getting the profitability

[21:15] that you need, as well as the money for capital expenditures

[21:18] and you continue to buy new or equipment like the propane

[21:24] in the electric, which is fabulous and so I've been on council for a long time and I've had

[21:31] the pleasure of having you with us many times and I just value the partnership and your attention

[21:40] to making sure that we're getting the biggest bang for our buck and I recognize my driver

[21:47] in the picture that I say in order to every Tuesday morning and we wave. So I want to tell you

[21:54] which one it is, but he's the second one from the left. But anyway, and just great staff,

[22:05] anytime, and they're very accommodating when cars get in the way and park, they get out,

[22:10] and they move cans, they do everything.

[22:13] So, exceptional service.

[22:14] Everyone gets a little burped every once in a while.

[22:19] So, I would say, don't worry about it.

[22:23] You've learned, you've done, you've reacted,

[22:26] and you continue to great,

[22:27] give us great service, so thank you for everything you do.

[22:30] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Boot.

[22:36] Thank you. But I thank you City Manager Protem because when the question was in front of us, you went your way, meet with them and talk. That's wonderful. I really appreciate it. But you know, I'm a businessperson. I have racial problems sometimes when teachers are sick,

[23:02] or stuff I'm obliged to be there and I don't know that you folks can go drive a track when

[23:08] someone is not here but the question I will ask in this is it because of labor-related problems

[23:18] because from March to July it's a long time for a problem to linger around and I don't feel okay

[23:27] is it because five months to serve a community like each community or whatever.

[23:34] Like I can't like me personally if I tell my parents I'm having stuff problem.

[23:39] It will be solved in five months, they I want to accept that and I did not have the

[23:47] I have a business account, I have a residential account, I never experienced and I also

[23:55] really appreciate the fact that you always send messages. I was in Europe and I was

[24:02] receiving the message on. I say, what is that? So that's good, but I think five

[24:08] month is a long time and my question is why it took that long to fit stuff. Is it a

[24:16] labor-related question like the union and I would love to know about that?

[24:23] So we kind of got surprised in early March with two retirements out of the blue.

[24:31] Then I think that was quickly followed up by two employees in March April,

[24:36] surprised in us that they were moving to the Midwest or East Coast.

[24:42] We had to terminate a couple of employees for some safety issues.

[24:46] And then we had two employees relocated here within Oregon, but two other companies.

[24:53] So I think that accounts for like eight people right there.

[24:55] It all happened right there in March or April.

[24:59] That's also no fault to Steve.

[25:01] But that's right when we had the transition

[25:03] of the other GM retiring and me starting.

[25:07] So there was really no eyes on it for like probably

[25:11] March to the middle of April.

[25:14] And then I started and Steve came to me

[25:17] and we were able to jump on staffing.

[25:19] So now when we hire somebody,

[25:22] to have them go through a background check.

[25:24] Interview with Steve Supervisors, Steve HR, me,

[25:29] we try to get through that four or five interviews as fast

[25:33] as we can.

[25:34] We demand them that the candidate

[25:36] come and ride with one of our drivers for at least a couple hours,

[25:40] so they see what they're getting into.

[25:42] Then we make them the offer

[25:43] and then it could take five to 10 days

[25:45] for a background check to come back to say the employees cleared,

[25:49] that we afford them, the opportunity to give their current employer a two-week notice.

[25:55] So the timing of it all starts to add up.

[25:58] So we were able to start hiring employees.

[26:00] If we hired an employee April 15th, it's probably May 15th until we see their first day on the job.

[26:08] And then there's a 25 business day training period that they will be out with what we call

[26:16] behind the wheel instructor driving.

[26:18] I think when Lynn, when we visited in front of your house, right?

[26:22] Patty was out there with Jess as she was training towards the end of her day.

[26:25] So, the whole onboarding period will be higher and new driver from the first interview

[26:29] until they can go do a route by themselves can be like 70 to 90 days.

[26:35] That's close to three months.

[26:40] I really understand, I do this and I'm not going to get people, but like for me five

[26:47] month is around. Yeah, so I think where we dropped the ball was there was really no no

[26:53] fall to Steve but there was no eyes on it, there was no general manager here for that month

[26:57] and a half time frame and we fell behind. Yeah and so should have been a lot. And you know that's

[27:03] what I want also be here that it's you know the fault is not our customers they need to be saved by

[27:10] reliable. You've always been to us until now, like we have that problem. Is there any remedy

[27:18] perhaps, you know, on farms, picking plants? Any remedy, you know, because that thing happened,

[27:24] what did we tell our customers who had missed pick up, who had some problems struggling?

[27:30] Because if you have trash in your home for some houses, having it one more day is a challenge, it's

[27:38] So what was the remedy to that?

[27:43] To the staffing?

[27:45] To the people who are impacted.

[27:50] Yeah.

[27:51] So we would get the customer call and say they had a mistake up.

[27:55] We would try to get to them within the next morning.

[27:58] We'd have what they call it.

[27:59] Go back and go back in the morning.

[28:01] Sleeve your card out and we'll get it in the morning.

[28:04] Instead of putting it out of six,

[28:05] just leave it there and we'll take care of it the very next morning and some people, you

[28:11] know, got credits, you know, but the thing we were running up against also being short

[28:18] staff, but the DOT hours. So we can only run 57 hours per DOT, so they would get right

[28:26] up on those hours and then we can't run anymore. So that was part of the issues with FMLA, DOT

[28:32] hours, not making excuses, but that's just the reality, but we would take care of the customers

[28:37] of us.

[28:39] Thank you very much.

[28:41] Councillor Minnes, that was a quick follow-up here.

[28:46] Yes.

[28:47] Thank you.

[28:49] At one point in time, it was discussed that we would be able to co-mingle our glass with our

[28:55] recycling.

[28:56] I'm assuming that we'll not be happening for whatever reason the logistics of it or the

[29:05] practicality of it. Is that true? Because that seems to take a lot of time.

[29:11] So, yeah, we have the glass fans. We want to keep those commodities separate.

[29:16] Okay. Yeah, it's a it's a single stream. We're trying to keep those separate as better

[29:20] or for us. And I can jump in just to add a little bit more. The reason that glass and here

[29:26] cannot be co-mingled in with your other plastics and paper is because the facilities, the

[29:32] or the material goes, they can't have the glass be comengled.

[29:37] So it's not really because of the recycling

[29:42] modernization act that just recently went into effect

[29:44] live last year.

[29:45] So what can be put in your comengle is

[29:48] through that piece of legislation is

[29:51] stated by that piece of legislation.

[29:54] I just wanted to clarify that.

[29:56] And could you explain to the cameras?

[29:59] Help.

[30:00] People who would arrange for a drive by birthday? Yes, yes, coming. Yeah, we can reach out to us, either through staff or to our customer service or, yeah, just if they have a little one that it's their birthday and they love the garbage truck, which they all do, they all seem to do. Our drivers love to go live there and they'll do a little garbage recycling, yard debris parade for them.

[30:28] we would usually reach out and chat with them for a while and give them a little bit

[30:32] if they get, yeah, so there's gotten more little question.

[30:36] So we can do quite a few of gives you a signal. Yes.

[30:38] Yes. Their fun for all of us.

[30:41] Yes. Thank you. Thank you.

[30:43] Thank you. Thanks, Santa.

[30:47] I just wanted to say thank you to the Republican for their professionals and

[30:57] I'm as Councillor Afgan noted just being a front letting us know what the problem is solving it

[31:04] and moving on. So thank you. That's that's true leadership. I really appreciate that.

[31:09] And I also just want to note Sarah Scyth, or Scythian really program manager in the back,

[31:15] manages this contract and has been doing a bang-up job. And so thank you Sarah for making this all happen

[31:20] as well as the tour. Thank you for that. Thank you, Linda. And if there's anything that we can do to help

[31:25] get the word out around people updating their contact information, the phone numbers, emails,

[31:31] I get a lot of email, thanks. I mean, we could definitely, I would think we could do that.

[31:37] Yeah, we could have that to do that. Yeah, it's key. We saw that everything with emergency alerts.

[31:42] I mean, it's great. We have all the tools to get the alerts out, but they do have to be,

[31:45] you do have to sign up for all these things. So, it's a good reminder. But again, thank you all very

[31:50] much for taking the time to be here. I appreciate it. I know we're going to be seeing you again soon.

[31:55] Thank you.

[31:56] Thank you.

[31:57] Thank you.

[32:03] Okay, next on the agenda, we have our 2026 Council goals update.

[32:09] We have Assistant City Manager, Megan Fallen.

[32:11] Joining us to give the update.

[32:15] Hi, Megan.

[32:15] Good afternoon.

[32:19] Good afternoon, Council.

[32:21] And Mayor, thank you for having me today to give you our third quarter of Council goals.

[32:26] It's hard to believe we're at that time in the year.

[32:29] Just seem like yesterday we were doing all of our council goals that

[32:32] And you'll see in the report in the packet that there's been progress made.

[32:36] Some of the goals and yet some of the goals will still continue as we head into the fall.

[32:41] I am here with members of the exact team and other staff that represent some of these initiatives.

[32:46] And so we're here to answer any questions that you may have.

[32:51] colleagues.

[33:02] I just open right up and here it is the table top exercise using AM modeling to determine how quickly wildfire.

[33:09] is likely to spread in natural areas, so if someone else would like to speak to that, I think

[33:15] it's important.

[33:17] But the three of us went yesterday to clock up a fire training and had quite an experience

[33:22] and discovered that the AI representation is the stuff that Nightmares is made up.

[33:30] I don't quite know how to say it, how impactful it is to realize what would happen if someone

[33:35] through a cigarette butt out in the wrong place in our city.

[33:38] And the other piece of that is the interaction between

[33:42] the how you have to fight a wildfire

[33:44] and how you fight a structure fire.

[33:46] So I would like to bring everybody's attention to that.

[33:48] And I think that I would encourage all of us to go out there

[33:52] and understand that.

[33:53] And then I'm hoping that will be something

[33:55] that will continue to work on in terms

[33:56] of raising public awareness.

[33:59] I'm sorry.

[34:00] I needed to get that pitch in.

[34:01] It was quite an experience for us all.

[34:02] Thank you.

[34:03] I'm glad you all had the opportunity.

[34:03] Thank you.

[34:04] Thanks.

[34:05] Thank you.

[34:06] Questions?

[34:07] Okay.

[34:08] Thank you.

[34:08] Thank you very much.

[34:13] Folks, now it's the time on the agenda for public comments.

[34:15] And if you are here to provide public comment and not already done so, there's

[34:18] White slips like this on the back table.

[34:21] If you please fill one out.

[34:24] But I have one person signed up.

[34:26] Steve Dull, Steve.

[34:27] Come on forward.

[34:28] You have three minutes to give your comments.

[34:41] Good afternoon, Mayor Buck and members of the City Council.

[34:44] My name is Steve Dole.

[34:47] I am a lifelong Oregonian, and I've lived here in Lake Oswego for 53 years.

[34:53] As part of my testimony today, I'm submitting a packet of correspondence with the mayor city manager in council,

[34:59] regarding the anti-Semitic trope displayed on the Lake Oswego mark.

[35:04] be earlier this summer. I've also supplied you with newspaper stories about these issues.

[35:11] Let's be completely honest, if a local business used its marquee to explicitly single out

[35:17] and prod any other minority community in Lake Oswego, this council wouldn't be hiding

[35:22] behind boilerplate emails about the first amendment. You would be racing to a podium to

[35:28] The fact is the manager explicitly admitted he was targeting Jewish residents and you are choosing silence, a double standard the community sees right through and is unacceptable.

[35:41] This isn't a one-off mistake. It's part of a documented pattern. In 2016 it was an offensive concentration camp poster in our high school cafeteria. In 2021 it was an anti-Semitic flyers in our community.

[35:57] In our county, excuse me, and recently a community member's car was vandalized with swastikas.

[36:04] He'd hate does not happen in a vacuum.

[36:08] Merbuck, you wrote to me saying that issuing a council statement is too challenging

[36:12] because you might get trapped by competing demands from other groups.

[36:17] Let me clear up two things.

[36:18] First I am not asking for government censorship.

[36:22] The first amendment protects private speech,

[36:24] But it absolutely does not restrict this government body from using its own voice to condemn

[36:31] bigotry.

[36:33] Second, standing up against anti-Semitism on our main street is an a matter of political

[36:39] scheduling.

[36:40] It is about setting a basic standard for civic respect, hesitating to speak out, sets an

[36:46] administrative precedent, and is an abdication of elected responsibility.

[36:51] History shows the staying silent to avoid political complications caused way too much in the long run.

[36:59] To solve your problem of getting trapped by competing statements, I'm asking you to take three concrete actions.

[37:06] First, adopt a baseline condemnation policy.

[37:10] Establish a permanent standing rule that this city will officially condemn any public targeted rhetoric against any religious racial,

[37:21] or minority group, removing the need for a council debate every single time and incident occurs.

[37:29] Second, you'd like...

[37:30] Public media channels use the city's official newsletter and press releases to explicitly state that anti-Semitic

[37:38] tropes have no home on the streets of Lake Oswigel. Third, engage local community support. Partner with regional

[37:47] organizations like the Jewish Federation Greater Portland and other organizations that represent minorities

[37:55] in our community to provide actual resources for local businesses on keeping messaging respectful.

[38:03] Please schedule a public hearing on this. If you are not going to do this, please advise. In the

[38:10] movie, do the right thing, the mayor says, always do the right thing. I ask this council to stop

[38:19] reflecting and act these measures and simply do the right thing for the city of like us

[38:25] we go. It's citizens and it's minority citizens. Thank you. Thank you. I'm happy to take any questions

[38:32] and encourage you to do so about me and my background or my motivation. Thank you Steve. We appreciate

[38:38] you being here. Thank you. There's no questions. Thank you very much. Next is Andrew Edwards.

[38:57] Hello,

[38:58] it's citizen today in support of our Lake Hustwig-O Public Library and I have been a volunteer

[39:07] with the friends of Lake Hustwig-O Public Library for nine years and I am the current president

[39:12] and have been for two years. The friends of the Lake Hustwig-O Public Library assist the library

[39:19] as many of you know in fulfilling its mission through advocacy, funding, promotion, and volunteer

[39:26] support. The friends support more than 100 special programs every year at the library, which

[39:34] is beyond their regular budget, and we're proud to be a primary supporter of, like as we

[39:40] will read, a multicultural events and other activities throughout the year. Through our work,

[39:46] the friends with the library we've seen firsthand, how much these opportunities mean to the people

[39:52] like us we get. We are currently engaged in our fall membership drive and I invite you to become

[40:01] members as well as our community. The community support allows the friends to continue funding programs,

[40:07] events and opportunities they expand access and enrich the library experience.

[40:13] One example is the summer library challenge for which the friends provided a free book for every

[40:19] child who participated. This, I think, is amazing. 1,731 youth participated this summer.

[40:32] All 11 school districts participated and even 565 adults participated. Collectively logging

[40:41] more than 1 million minutes of reading. I know you're calculating right now 60 into 1 million.

[40:47] We'll leave it at that.

[40:50] Stand presentations and they built a lifelong love of reading.

[40:54] We invite the community members as well as council to come and become members of the

[40:59] friends so we continue making these experiences possible.

[41:04] The Summer Library Challenge, however, also highlighted limitations of the current space.

[41:09] I know you are all too familiar with the limitations of the current library you've had

[41:14] regular studies, you know that more than $10 million in renovations in 2024 were estimated

[41:22] to make the library acceptable in all its uses.

[41:29] The library staff holds weekly programs in the park because space inside the library is too

[41:35] limited, especially this past summer.

[41:38] At the end of this summer poor air quality and a high heat index meant the end of the

[41:45] summer party featuring Red Yarn, one of the region's most popular children's entertainers.

[41:51] So that was a little bit disappointing.

[41:53] They had to be moved inside the library where the staff move shelves, set up chairs, put

[41:58] down blankets for more than 171 people to see this program.

[42:02] So, imagine what the library could do if we could have more space and more access and parking.

[42:10] Thank you, Andrew.

[42:11] Thank you.

[42:12] Thank you.

[42:12] We appreciate you being here.

[42:14] And what is the baseline cost of membership to join the friends?

[42:19] Why I thought you'd never ask.

[42:23] It's $25 up to $10,000.

[42:26] So what should I put it down for?

[42:28] I'm already a member.

[42:30] Congratulations.

[42:31] I should call my colleagues.

[42:33] Yeah, I'm sure.

[42:33] Remember, we'll start calling it right now.

[42:36] Just do me that.

[42:37] That's not a library card thing.

[42:39] Library cards also provides you with free movies

[42:43] and free music and everything.

[42:45] But sir, you cannot be a leader of this community

[42:50] and come and say, I am just a citizen.

[42:53] So, well, I'd like to thank you for very much to that.

[42:56] Thank you for being here.

[42:57] Thank you, counselors, for your support.

[43:00] Appreciate it.

[43:00] Thank you.

[43:04] All right. Is there anyone else who would like to provide public comment? No. Okay. Now we are going to move on to the consent agenda.

[43:13] The consent agenda. Let's say we have a few things. A few things on the consent agenda. Three items. We have our meeting minutes from May 15th, May 28th.

[43:22] Resolution 26-34 is adopting a tree retention deficit fee and a resolution 26-48. It proves Megan Failing is our city manager, a proton for the remainder of this month into the first of October there.

[43:33] Is there a motion to adopt the consent agenda?

[43:36] I move to adopt the consent agenda.

[43:39] That can.

[43:39] All right.

[43:39] The motion is made by Councilor Corgan and seconded by Councilor Man, so although it's in

[43:42] favor say aye, aye, any opposed?

[43:45] Okay.

[43:45] That motion passes at seven zero.

[43:49] On to Council Business, the first item on Council Business is consideration of Resolution 26-38.

[43:55] This is the approval of municipal grant awards that like to invite our Management and Program

[44:01] T.O. Romeras, to talk to us about the Unigrant Awards.

[44:07] Good afternoon.

[44:08] Good afternoon, Council.

[44:08] It's good to be here with you all.

[44:12] My name is T.O. Romeras.

[44:13] As we mentioned, I'm in management analyst in the city manager's office.

[44:19] So to give you a quick overview of the 2026-2027

[44:23] great applications that are subcommittee reviewed,

[44:25] thank you Councillor Afghan and Councillor Corgon for serving on that committee.

[44:29] And reviewing 19 applications.

[44:31] We had 62,000 total funding requests and council goals grants applications and 46,000

[44:37] and social services grant applications.

[44:40] The recommendation from our municipal grant subcommittee is to award eight initiatives

[44:45] in the council goals category, totaling 43,000, roughly in total awards and four initiatives

[44:52] and social services, totaling roughly 27,000, with some remaining funds being available.

[45:00] For this council to allocate in the future to different initiatives in remain flexible.

[45:08] These are the eight initiatives that were recommended to be funded. All these applications were recommended to be fully funded before there were requests amounts.

[45:18] So this includes the Lake Forest Neighborhood Association for Emergency Preparedness, Evergreen Neighborhood Association, also for Emergency Preparedness, an emergency cash.

[45:27] The Asfigo Lake Watershed Council for doing emerald ash fort outreach that expands on the city's initiatives to also do EAB outreach.

[45:37] This kind of doubles down on those initiatives and goes a wider to reach out to more homeowners associations, businesses, to make sure that they know the effects on private property.

[45:47] The Asian-American Student Union to expand their cultural education to additional holidays.

[45:55] Gifting gears, which expands safety gear and volunteer support at annual biking event.

[46:03] Lake US Fego Sustainability Network for feasibility of affordable clean energy district,

[46:09] and thermal energy network technology in the foot hills district.

[46:14] Sorry, some of these are mouthfuls.

[46:15] They're going to do really great work.

[46:18] Old Town Neighborhood Association for first aid in CPR and some more emergency preparedness related activities and the SVGO Heritage Council for some different design and weather resistant outdoor exhibits to transform their rose garden and make it more accessible for their history walk.

[46:34] So this total is 43,450 initiatives and that is dollar amount and then moving on to the four initiatives that were not recommended to be funded.

[46:45] For funding, some of the conversation that came out of the subcommittee was there are remaining funds left over, but

[46:53] To be good stewards of those funds if an application came in that did not meet a certain threshold

[46:58] Which was determined by the committee to be about a 75% score on the application

[47:03] Those applications should not be awarded and

[47:06] Those applicants should come back in the next round for funding

[47:09] ideally with a stronger application so that's the community knows where and how those

[47:14] dollars will be used and that there is a great impact for Lagos we go with those

[47:18] initiatives. We give feedback to the applicants in different ways that are denied in

[47:26] the last two cycles. Applicants have reached out often they reach out on their own

[47:29] just saying hey can we meet and get feedback to understand how to strengthen our

[47:33] application where we provide the scores for the different categories to them and

[47:37] expressed the comments that were made by the subcommittee on why they were not selected to be awarded.

[47:42] In addition, there's this note section on the far right that just breaks down what their score was.

[47:48] Why they were not funded in the case of council goals because they were below that 75% threshold.

[47:54] And then what categories were the strongest on their applications and then the categories that need improvement in the future.

[48:05] Moving on to the funding recommendations for social services.

[48:07] There were four organizations that the subcommittee recommended for funding.

[48:12] One is the Twalton Food Pantry, which supports about 3,000 Lake US Legal Residence annually through shopping style Food Pantry.

[48:20] The Children's Center, which is trauma-informed medical assessments, follow-up care and therapy for Lake US Legal Children who have experienced maltreatment.

[48:27] Clackmas Women's Services for Advocacy Safety, Shelter Counseling and Prevention Services for

[48:31] Lake Las Vegas Survivors, and Children Effective by Violence, and Lake Las Figo, Monsters

[48:36] Robotic, which just stem outreach, events, camps, and school programs for Lake Las

[48:40] Rico Elementary, and junior high school students.

[48:43] There's total $27,000 in awards and funds for initiatives.

[48:48] And again, there were three organizations that were not recommended for funding by the subcommittee.

[48:52] They were below a 70% threshold, so this is about a 5% difference from council goals.

[48:58] One of the comments from the subcommittee was that one of the scoring criteria is how

[49:03] this directly relates to a specific council goal, which doesn't necessarily fit.

[49:08] So that was the threshold it was lower, and that would be taken to account as we make recommendations

[49:14] to the scoring criteria in the future for different grant categories.

[49:18] And

[49:21] then as you may remember from March we talked about pursuing a sponsorship pathway and we're continuing to work on that.

[49:29] Some of the organizations have evolved from occurring, you know, into recurring funding relationships.

[49:38] And that not only is applicable on the council goal side, which has a rule that was established with the pivot of the council for the grant program.

[49:46] of three years of the same initiative being funded is no longer eligible to receive those grants.

[49:52] But one of the recommendations from the subcommittee was also exploring bringing some of the social

[49:59] services grant content like recurring grant applications into a sponsorship pathway as well.

[50:05] This would ideally provide less hoops for them to jump through on an annual basis, potentially

[50:11] on a buy annual basis. They can apply to receive grant funds. It's one application over

[50:16] tiers versus two applications of one each year. The hub more certainty for funding. Those

[50:22] are just some things that we're looking into exploring and we'll come back with a recommendation

[50:26] for this council in winter to be adopted and approval to continue to move forward. One of the recommendations

[50:33] is also to reserve $10,000 for LO for love. This is the first initiative that is maturing out

[50:40] that three-year initiative from being funded under council goals, so our recommendation is to

[50:46] continue to fund them through this year as we figure out the sponsorship pathway and come

[50:51] back with you for a plan. That is the route that they'll go into, but just that this money is

[50:55] kind of set aside for them. And there is that plan for that. And then the consideration, as I mentioned

[51:01] on the social services side, is to bring the children's center and the children's center and

[51:11] and provides them a more sustainable pathway forward, a strengthened partnership with the city to fund those partners that continuously score very high on the applications and less administrative work on their teams to continue to receive funding.

[51:27] So that is about the sponsorship pathway. The recommendation is to adopt the resolution before you and I'm happy to answer any questions that you'll have.

[51:34] Thank you very much, Theo, a great presentation.

[51:39] Can you give us a little reminder here, so we had,

[51:41] give me a little reminder.

[51:44] So we had this two-step process.

[51:47] Okay, we had like one set of grants,

[51:49] and then there was a second set of grant.

[51:51] And some of these, I think we,

[51:54] I mean, some of them have happened, right?

[51:55] Like, I think we gave somebody to L.S.

[51:57] and they had an event around the thermal.

[52:00] Was that the event funded by this?

[52:02] These are new applications and new initiatives, so it's not the same, yeah, but it was that event

[52:12] Okay, so I

[52:15] Oh, I see oh, so it's a different event. I see so these are different than ones we even know some of them might be similar different. We have not approved any of these.

[52:24] Yes, that's correct. Okay, is the process going forward this kind of like one stop

[52:30] A process, allocation process for these community grants, or is it this two step? We give out some, and then we wait, and then there's another round of applications.

[52:40] Yeah, the feedback that we received from this council back in March was to only do one cycle per year, so that's the plan that we have moving forward unless this body decides to do otherwise, and then we can go do that.

[52:51] But we only plan to come before you one time this year to do the allocations, and then the remaining funds will ideally be flexible.

[52:58] like last year in a number when we saw federal cuts to snap programs in this

[53:03] you wanted to allocate funding to local food pantries. I believe these funds would

[53:08] be flexible in those situations to respond to community needs.

[53:11] Right. Okay, so the cadence of this we can expect that next fall we will not be

[53:17] hearing about these until then every year once a year in the fall.

[53:22] Like a report back on the progress?

[53:24] No, no, no, no, on the next board. Yes.

[53:26] Okay, and then reporting on the progress.

[53:29] Yes.

[53:30] What do we hear on, do we?

[53:31] Yes.

[53:32] We will come back to you two for on the progress.

[53:34] We're still getting the cadence worked out.

[53:37] Ideally, we're coming to you at the beginning of each fiscal year to go through

[53:42] sponsorships and to go through the newest grant applications that were scored and

[53:46] recommended for approval for that fiscal year.

[53:49] I remember one of the comments that we took into consideration was we need to get the

[53:53] out the door as soon as possible at the beginning of the fiscal year and give them the entire fiscal year and

[53:58] flexibility into the next fiscal year, which we've worked out with the finance department.

[54:03] It's a lot easier if it's within the same biennium, but there's also those extensions that they're able to request on the front and other applications that they need,

[54:12] you know, 30 to 90 days after a fiscal year ends to continue to complete their initiative.

[54:18] Okay, it's great. Thank you, and thank you and to you enter the committee who served on this committee.

[54:24] That's a court. Thank you both. Oh, and councilman.

[54:28] Oh, you served on the committee?

[54:34] Well, we haven't gone to you yet.

[54:39] Okay, go ahead, councilman.

[54:41] Thank you so much.

[54:44] All right.

[54:44] Go ahead, Councilman.

[54:46] Four years.

[54:49] Thank you.

[54:50] For all of the work that you did.

[54:52] Also, thank you to Councillors.

[54:55] Afghan and Corrigan.

[54:57] It is a lot of work.

[55:00] And your deep consideration for doing the right thing and going through it.

[55:06] I know you spent far more time than you thought you were probably going to spend on it. Also,

[55:13] I want to thank the council who is here in 2025 who changed the program. It is so much

[55:23] better than it was before the way it set up. So thank you. I know our community greatly

[55:30] values, these grants, and I cannot thank you enough for all that you did. Thanks. Thanks,

[55:38] Councillor Mance. Councillor Willard.

[55:43] Did I owe to what Councillor Mance said? I know it's a lot of work,

[55:46] because we've all served on the committee, and it's like choosing which child you want to support.

[55:54] We have a lot of wonderful requests. I guess I've got two questions.

[56:00] I don't get the, do we have a three-year policy, so how do we, like, allow for love, which

[56:10] I'm not saying to sport or not support, but if we have a three-year policy, so we're just

[56:17] going to let Ella look just kind of, go around that, is that kind of the idea?

[56:22] This is a policy that I inherited when I came over to.

[56:25] It's a wonderful city, but yeah, the currently there is a three-year limit on the

[56:33] same initiative being funded for three years. So the initiative changes, but it's the same

[56:37] organization, or it's a different initiative, but the organization is supported by the city in

[56:42] other ways, and that's fine. But the intention for my understanding of why that role was put into place

[56:49] was because as an initiative's mature and grow, there would be a sponsorship pathway that would

[56:55] city-wide for these initiatives to go into so that the city can continue to

[57:00] partner with them, but then it pulls them out of the pool of new applicants that

[57:04] are applying each year. Okay, so then LL for love will get 10,000

[57:10] blood from a different source. Yeah, and that's going to be the sponsorship

[57:15] program that we're going to pathway that we're going to develop is where is this

[57:18] money coming from? Some of the comments from the subcommittee members was that we

[57:22] should not be asking for the council for additional money. It should be coming

[57:25] from the same pot of grants that is already allocated each year.

[57:29] So at what level does that need to, what pot of money does that need to be from the resources

[57:32] that we already have allocated.

[57:35] And as well, what is the review and application process look like for that sponsorship pathway?

[57:40] Obviously, we're not going to fund these initiatives in perpetuity, but what does that review process

[57:43] look like to where it's not a huge administrative lift on the organizations, but the city

[57:50] can remain confident that the initiatives that they're funding are true to the initiatives

[57:55] at the you know five years ago versus now that the initiative hasn't moved away from what how this if you want to be involved.

[58:03] Okay, I'm still confused.

[58:07] So we're taking the money out of the same funds.

[58:12] Well, you have the money in the funds, but if we're going to get to policy, that's where I'm.

[58:16] I just, it has more to do with future.

[58:20] So future groups could go four or five, six years, is that correct?

[58:27] Well, I think what we talked about, and I leave you one away, is we do need this policy

[58:32] to be into play, we do need this policy to be put into place, right?

[58:38] But there are funds remaining in this cycle, I believe, if we could do that, correct me?

[58:47] So, the idea from the three years came out of discussions about two years ago was that this money should be treated as an incubation.

[58:54] So, when community groups are saying, I have this idea, how do I start it?

[58:58] It's they're able to apply for the money, and once they have three years of successful track record, then they are then allowed to apply for a long-term sponsorship.

[59:08] At the idea is not long-term and indefinitely that will get money every year, but we get them in a cycle that it's probably a two to three year contract.

[59:16] That says, this is the money, here's the expectations, as opposed to them applying year after year.

[59:22] But the goal is that we're not necessarily finding every organization that's on the current grants for perpetuity for the rest of the time.

[59:31] So that's how that carve out would happen.

[59:33] Okay.

[59:34] Madison, can you introduce yourself?

[59:36] I'm Madison Thesing.

[59:37] I'm the deputy city manager.

[59:39] I've been working perfectly on the grants since the city manager's office took them over in now

[59:45] 20, 24.

[59:48] Okay.

[59:48] Yes.

[59:49] Thank you.

[59:50] Okay.

[59:53] Okay.

[59:55] The other thing.

[59:57] And I think you guys are a great job of picking.

[1:00:00] I have a concern with the workshop on feasibility of a clean energy district and thermal energy network for the foothills district.

[1:00:12] I think that's government and not really community. I think that's going for one of our projects that we should be funding that if we want to do that with

[1:00:25] money. I really think this is sacred ground when we have community grants that are really towards

[1:00:36] giving people the resources to do a project or an event or so on that everybody gets into.

[1:00:43] I just have a problem with, especially $15,500, which is a substantial amount of the total.

[1:00:51] And it's not that I don't think the work should be done.

[1:00:55] I think this is in the wrong place for it to be paid for,

[1:00:58] because I really feel that like anybody could take on an initiative of something

[1:01:04] that they, you know, the library group could come in and say we want to do a study on libraries

[1:01:09] and get a community grant.

[1:01:11] Does that make sense?

[1:01:12] I would like to have community service separate from what I would call a specific initiative

[1:01:24] for a like us week of city government approved.

[1:01:29] So thinking about that?

[1:01:31] Yeah.

[1:01:31] What's your thoughts?

[1:01:32] Your council coordinator.

[1:01:33] It is the largest one.

[1:01:36] Right.

[1:01:37] But yeah, I think the concept behind that is much like the, um, us, we owe like watershed

[1:01:46] council and educating people about the animal ash borer.

[1:01:50] I think what these, what the, uh, like us, we go sustainability network would like to do is educate

[1:01:57] people who are interested in the potential that exists in the foothills, um, development.

[1:02:04] that. And what this is about is setting up, be like a giant heat pump, like the heat pump

[1:02:12] in your, the heat pump that you use at home using the temperature that's in the ground

[1:02:18] to do this in a more sustainable, modern, low-cost way. And it's not really, I don't know

[1:02:25] what this is going to look like as we go forward. Whether the city has the opportunity

[1:02:31] you go off track that far to help people understand what's possible. So I think that's what they are

[1:02:36] attempting to do here. There are some of us who went and listened to this a few months ago.

[1:02:42] They had a lot of really experienced, educated people there who worked in funding these things.

[1:02:49] So it could be a real thing, but I'm not sure that the city on its own can go off track that

[1:02:54] far to figure that out, but it matters to people in our community. They put their time in their effort

[1:02:59] and on it, which is why we felt it was worth funding.

[1:03:01] I don't know, Councilor Afghan.

[1:03:03] Thank you, Councilor Corrigan.

[1:03:06] It was also the way they did their application

[1:03:10] that supports the Council goal

[1:03:13] with combating the climate change.

[1:03:18] And what they wanted to do is bring people, consultants,

[1:03:22] local residences together and see

[1:03:24] what are the opportunities that we can explore.

[1:03:27] I don't think the city does those kinds of things as opposed to the community wanting to do it, so it's a pole versus push.

[1:03:38] So it is a lot of money. We did have a lot of conversation about it, but that's why we're here to have those kind of conversations.

[1:03:46] If it's supported the council goals and they got a high score, we went that direction.

[1:03:56] Okay, yeah, no, we, I, that sounds, I, I'm gonna do three workshops for, on your 10.

[1:04:04] I'm just saying that that, we're, we're doing a lot of education and I just look at traditionally, I, I would say that,

[1:04:10] if you look back 20 years on all these grants, primarily it's to help,

[1:04:14] neighborhood associations. It's to help community groups. It's, you know, especially

[1:04:21] like earthquake supplies and whatever. I don't want these funds to necessarily be in

[1:04:26] this advocacy role of education per se for our, I think it's in the wrong column. That's

[1:04:37] what, I think these are educational funds versus community impact funds. So, you know, because

[1:04:44] I could pick 10 different subjects that we're working on as a city council to use this grant

[1:04:52] money to put a group together and hire a consultant and talk about things.

[1:04:57] That's all I'm saying is, and I just think that's my viewpoint of what these funds have

[1:05:06] traditionally been used for, to support culture, activities, events, and so on in the community

[1:05:15] for the betterment of everyone versus educational.

[1:05:19] I think what you're referring to is the social, the other categories we have.

[1:05:24] These are supporting the city council goals.

[1:05:28] And our goals, one of them is Black and White, combat climate change.

[1:05:33] So if we don't want to do that, then we should start from the beginning of the year and say we're not going to do this because this group have come forward supporting what we have said before.

[1:05:50] Now you can you can say if this is so serious and the group want to do this and they're following our.

[1:06:00] Council goal, I'm scringing at the dollar amount and reduced the dollar amount, but this is black and white supporting this council goal.

[1:06:10] Right, but I think we also have a sustainability advisory committee that could probably do this for free.

[1:06:15] So anyway, that's just.

[1:06:17] We'll put you on the committee next year.

[1:06:20] I'm just.

[1:06:21] Thank you.

[1:06:21] It's good.

[1:06:21] I get a voice.

[1:06:22] Comments are well taken.

[1:06:24] I will be supporting this, but I'm just I just think we have to be aware of that.

[1:06:29] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[1:06:35] I really talk, I think maybe the context, John, I talked to the lady who explained what is thermal energy.

[1:06:44] I really never heard it. I heard of it, but I never thought that there was that concept.

[1:06:51] And she was saying that he could even give all, like, electricity to a new thing that we build there.

[1:06:59] But it's in the making. So I think it's the right place for the sustainability network if they could do it for us.

[1:07:07] It's great because probably if you were doing it as a city, it would cost more.

[1:07:12] And I was happy on your questions on funding some organization and like not following the three years I was when I first saw it I say why I mean because I'm glad you explained that it's organic and I

[1:07:30] It would be like all those three organisations, you know, for love, I love, clerk, Muslim and services, they

[1:07:37] are doing wonderful work. And honestly, them, for example, they should always be part of what

[1:07:43] we they are serving, I know what they do every time. And killed on center, I mean, the only

[1:07:51] problem I have, why we didn't fund the Lake of Cigua Film Festival because we should have

[1:07:58] feel festively. And I know you have, you know, I really appreciate the work I've been

[1:08:06] in there with the mayor. It was the hard time when it was hard to give money because we didn't,

[1:08:15] there were a lot of politics or something behind. So thank you. And the only reason I'm talking

[1:08:22] is for Teo, I'm very giving you a cure app. It's the first time you come here. You're very proud

[1:08:30] of the work you're doing in the city. So people should not Teo and thank you very much for

[1:08:37] you. Thank you, Councillor. Yeah, the second. Thank you. I may have been here a time or two before.

[1:08:44] Yeah.

[1:08:46] By the way, three.

[1:08:47] Thank you.

[1:08:48] I also wanted to add that one of the conversations we had in the team was fiscal responsibility.

[1:08:55] So if we have long-term support for any organization, we cannot come back to the City Council

[1:09:03] and ask for money.

[1:09:05] So we said we need to set good role models and stay within our budget, even though we'll

[1:09:12] coming forward with new recommendations.

[1:09:15] So staying within the budget.

[1:09:17] And second thing is, special thanks to Mr. Ramirez

[1:09:21] and Ms. Thasing because they had to do a lot of going back

[1:09:26] and forward to the applicants making sure

[1:09:30] that if the intent is good, but they're missing information

[1:09:35] and they're, we go back to them and not black and white

[1:09:42] reject them because their application wasn't perfect.

[1:09:46] So credit to you too.

[1:09:47] Thank you so much, especially Mr. Ramirez.

[1:09:50] Thank you so much for making those calls

[1:09:53] and making sure that we honor the intent of the process

[1:09:58] as opposed to managing the process.

[1:10:01] Thank you.

[1:10:03] And thank you all.

[1:10:04] The, it's, it's, it's looking at these groups,

[1:10:07] you know, whether it's neighborhood associations,

[1:10:08] the ASU, LMSN, Heritage Council, I mean it's a great use of public money, leveraging just in the

[1:10:16] immense amount of community knowledge and volunteer time on the part of all these groups, and I think

[1:10:23] these are important dollar amounts that can help leverage the good work that they're doing,

[1:10:27] like you said, Councillor Afghanistan supporting the council goals that are broadly shared amongst

[1:10:32] many people in the community as well. So we appreciate these groups helping to continue moving

[1:10:37] And thank you all for your work to do the hard work of deciphering through all these applications.

[1:10:43] Have some of them like to make a motion to adopt resolution 26-38.

[1:10:46] Move to adopt resolution 26-38.

[1:10:50] Okay.

[1:10:51] Motion made by Councilveric and seconded by Councilwoman.

[1:10:54] Any further discussion?

[1:10:56] Okay. All those in favor say aye.

[1:10:57] Aye.

[1:10:58] Any opposed?

[1:10:59] Okay. Motion passed the 7-0.

[1:11:01] Make a deal.

[1:11:02] Don't you go?

[1:11:03] Don't?

[1:11:03] Thank you very much.

[1:11:04] Good evening.

[1:11:05] Oh, nice to see you.

[1:11:06] It's going to last.

[1:11:07] Awesome.

[1:11:07] I thought my card behind me.

[1:11:09] Right.

[1:11:10] I should.

[1:11:12] And next on the agenda, item 8.2, we are going Madison is going to talk to us about the League

[1:11:18] of Oregon Cities 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20 legislative priorities.

[1:11:23] Yes.

[1:11:23] Thank you.

[1:11:24] I'm Madison Dasing, the Deputy City Manager, and I am here before you for the League

[1:11:28] of Oregon Cities legislative priorities.

[1:11:31] And so as we are gearing up for the long session in 2027, the League of Oregon City sends out a survey to every single city council to ask their feedback on the set priorities that they have as a running list.

[1:11:47] They form policy committees throughout the year through them summer and they begin by a starting list and then all cities have a vote to narrow that down.

[1:11:57] And then that is what the lead focuses.

[1:11:59] That's not to say that we can't focus on other areas or that we can expand on what they currently

[1:12:03] have listed, but that is at least the guiding force for the lead as they carry into the

[1:12:08] long session.

[1:12:09] These priorities also carry into the short session, so that's another thing to be mindful of.

[1:12:15] It does carry for those two years.

[1:12:18] What I provided in the Council report are top eight policies that I have narrowed down,

[1:12:23] but you are allowed and have the privilege and right to add

[1:12:28] or any that were not listed on that eight,

[1:12:32] and the goal is to narrow down to top five,

[1:12:34] and then I will submit our survey on more behalf.

[1:12:37] And so what I have listed down

[1:12:40] as what I identified as the top eight,

[1:12:42] which again, if you saw any that you would prefer to discuss

[1:12:46] or want to expand on, these were the top eight

[1:12:49] to at least get us started to then again,

[1:12:51] narrow down to the top five.

[1:12:53] The top eight identified based off of what I have seen not only as council priorities

[1:12:57] with the community and our organizations priorities are one right away authority continuing

[1:13:02] to preserve that including revenue sources to public meeting law clarity as you know in the

[1:13:08] last session that did not move forward all the way after a governor vetoed at the end.

[1:13:13] Number three is full funding and streamlining for housing production.

[1:13:17] As you know, we've had an extreme amount of volume of housing policies, but preparing with additional resources to do that.

[1:13:25] As we have found, we can have housing goals.

[1:13:29] And some of those goals are for affordable housing, but that's not necessarily what we're able to fund out of our general fund dollars.

[1:13:37] So they're the amount that they need.

[1:13:38] So that's identifying more capital funding from the state.

[1:13:42] And then streamlining some of the policies and processes that have been adopted in the last few years with all the mandate.

[1:13:49] So that's not only the ones from the governor's bill, but it's also the climate energy, some of those things from previous years, parking mandates, things like that.

[1:13:59] Number four is the energy grid hardening and marginalization.

[1:14:03] As we know, after the many storms we've been having, we have PGE as our largest provider, and his hit the hardest or natural disasters.

[1:14:11] and so that's not only hardening and modernizing, meaning maybe potentially that's

[1:14:15] undergrounding, but it's not bearing the full weight to our utility rate payers as well to do

[1:14:22] that work. Number five is a pretty long list of economic development in workforce development

[1:14:28] opportunities as a priority area. There has been a work group, workforce, workforce,

[1:14:35] workforce has been developing an economic plan that has been guided through the

[1:14:41] governor represented when has been on that as well and so we know there's

[1:14:45] going to be quite a bit of bills that are coming out of that work. Number six is the

[1:14:50] 2027 transportation package as you know from the last few sessions it has not

[1:14:54] report and so I'm trying again for that. Number seven is the infrastructure fund.

[1:15:00] So again, as we talk about housing, the backbone of housing is having adequate funding for infrastructure. So being able to connect to water, sewer, streets and all that.

[1:15:09] Some of the most untapped areas of the state right now need significant infrastructure dollars and meaning billions of dollars.

[1:15:17] And so again, tying those two things together.

[1:15:20] And then lastly, number eight is the rate period assistant. So as we all have experienced the rate of doing business is getting more and more expensive.

[1:15:28] and so how do we provide programs at the state level that provide so really for some of our

[1:15:34] more low income families? So that is the starting place for eight. The goal would be to

[1:15:42] narrow down to top five. That's what the survey is asking for and then again if there's anything

[1:15:47] that I did not include in that list right now but you want to talk about you are more than welcome to

[1:15:52] add or subtract from that list too. This is just a way into the thank you message. This is just a way

[1:15:57] So that the League of Cities, collecting this information from all of the member cities to kind of further own their legislative agenda.

[1:16:06] Yep.

[1:16:07] All right.

[1:16:08] We'll call these.

[1:16:09] What do you think?

[1:16:09] We have the last chair.

[1:16:10] Councillor Manns.

[1:16:11] Did you chime in there?

[1:16:14] Question.

[1:16:15] I'm in reading through all of the other recommendations of the LLC.

[1:16:21] one stood out to me and that was the cybersecurity combined with, like I guess it's a hardening

[1:16:32] or cybersecurity. And I know that's not included. I do not know how relevant that is

[1:16:40] to our community. We do, however, have the infrastructure projects and I had talked to

[1:16:48] director of IT about that off the record off the cup. But in building the water treatment

[1:16:59] plant, that seems to me that that might be something that might be more interesting to us.

[1:17:07] I don't know if my colleagues agree on that. If that's something that we should elevate,

[1:17:14] I don't know what to swap out on this list because they're all vitally important,

[1:17:26] it's a difficult thing.

[1:17:27] But I was wondering what your thoughts were around that and what you brought back from L.O.C. meetings and your understanding.

[1:17:36] I don't have anything specific as from the L.O.C. at the end of the day, I think this is the reality of the,

[1:17:46] more of a threat or excuse me, we as an entity. We know organizations throughout the state have been

[1:17:53] target for ransomware. So I think that's just where we might want to be mindful of moving forward.

[1:18:01] And not only in the large-scale projects but even our data data data that we have including our

[1:18:06] our hate call out but utility billing and things like that and making sure that we as an organization

[1:18:11] in our protecting confidential private information as well.

[1:18:15] And we know that those data breaches are happening more and more.

[1:18:18] So I don't have anything specific from the league.

[1:18:21] That's that this is what the bill would look like.

[1:18:23] But I think as more of this is happening,

[1:18:26] and especially when you think about the league representing

[1:18:28] small cities who are not necessarily equipped to handle

[1:18:30] that themselves either.

[1:18:32] And my second direct concern to that is what we've been learning recently

[1:18:38] about AI.

[1:18:42] I don't want to be an alarmist. I'm kind of neutral, like Switzerland. It's

[1:18:48] this point in time because I don't have enough information.

[1:18:52] But again, I see that as a rising

[1:18:58] challenge particularly for our city and all

[1:19:02] municipalities across Oregon. Thank you. Thank you.

[1:19:08] Thank you. Councilor Corgan.

[1:19:12] The one that jumped out at me was public meetings

[1:19:16] law clarity. So yeah, I've discovered when you're working with

[1:19:22] boards and commissions. Boy, those this applies to those

[1:19:26] people who are kind enough and generous enough to donate their time to help us be a better city

[1:19:31] and they are confused and worried about how they speak at these meetings and the things

[1:19:37] that they do otherwise even tabling and all the other things that they're required to do and I think

[1:19:41] that's uniquely unfair and the fact that this made it all the way to the governor's office makes

[1:19:46] me think there's probably some pretty good agreement maybe they just need to put some more

[1:19:50] time in on that and clarify but we need clarity. So I would I would escalate that one for that

[1:19:55] Okay, so we have one I saw a lot of head nodding for that one. Okay, Mark that one down

[1:20:02] Okay, public meetings. Lock clarity. Count some boot. Thank you, Councillor Gorgon.

[1:20:08] You have all five and has to include that one. What are the other four?

[1:20:13] Eliminating like the rate payer assistance. No

[1:20:16] No, yeah, that's it's important, but

[1:20:20] if we are taking five we need to take it out

[1:20:25] And honestly, I'm not worried about public meeting law because the governor himself is

[1:20:31] subjected to it, and I'm pretty sure he'll kill him, he'll kill him, he'll view on that.

[1:20:38] So, it's important, but we should not put on it.

[1:20:43] I think I'll take it out of the list, I'll take it out of the list.

[1:20:48] and the

[1:20:52] move the energy to your hardening and modernization.

[1:20:57] So the rest is right, right of way,

[1:21:01] that thing we shouldn't give it to the state.

[1:21:04] It's not, it's a matter of,

[1:21:06] our independence, our cities,

[1:21:08] and our survival, even.

[1:21:10] So, you got it.

[1:21:13] I got you my fire.

[1:21:15] Did you, what were your five?

[1:21:21] Okay, did you get the vibe?

[1:21:23] Did you?

[1:21:24] Yeah, hence, full funding, housing, economic development, transportation patches and infrastructure funding.

[1:21:29] Okay.

[1:21:29] You have four technically.

[1:21:30] That was more complicated.

[1:21:32] No, that's fine.

[1:21:33] You could be public meeting laws.

[1:21:34] Okay, then public meeting laws.

[1:21:36] Yeah.

[1:21:38] Okay.

[1:21:38] Thank you.

[1:21:43] I'm with Councillor Corgon.

[1:21:45] I think number one for me is public meetings law clarity.

[1:21:50] I think full funding and streamlined for housing production is number two.

[1:21:54] for me, and basically maybe just pause for three years until we can get caught up, four

[1:22:04] as the energy grid,

[1:22:08] six as a transportation package, and seven as infrastructure funding.

[1:22:15] I have those five two.

[1:22:18] Okay, that's the key.

[1:22:20] The rest you can do.

[1:22:21] No, I'm just kidding.

[1:22:26] Okay.

[1:22:26] I think a little different, but almost consistent.

[1:22:31] Really? Yes. When I look at what are we doing at this city council and minutesality, I look at

[1:22:41] 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. So those are the type of things that we either must do or we're faced against it. And so

[1:22:54] has in production, grid hardening, economic, and workforce development, transportation, and infrastructure funding.

[1:23:03] So those are the ones that come priority in my head.

[1:23:07] But I know what Councillor Corrigan and Councillor Wooden says.

[1:23:13] If we don't clarify what how we're going to conduct business, all of this may fall apart,

[1:23:19] because we don't have the ground rules clarified.

[1:23:23] So I'm struggling, which one I'm going to drop

[1:23:26] in order to pick that one?

[1:23:28] Or how do I look at the residences

[1:23:32] who cannot afford paying their utilities?

[1:23:35] How do I look at them?

[1:23:37] And it's a struggle for me right now.

[1:23:39] I'm on the struggle bus going back and forth.

[1:23:43] So I can see your points, but I'm struggling.

[1:23:49] So I want two through eight.

[1:23:55] That's seven.

[1:23:59] Are you a leader?

[1:24:02] Five.

[1:24:05] If it's, you know, this legislative session can be very difficult

[1:24:08] because the state is a hard press with the budget.

[1:24:11] So this is not going to be kind of a spend.

[1:24:13] I mean, they have got to figure out the transportation package

[1:24:18] in a way that's going to be meaningful and something

[1:24:20] that the residents are going or going to support.

[1:24:24] And they're dealing with a lot of these cuts

[1:24:26] to healthcare social services that impact residents.

[1:24:32] So, you know, just thinking about what we're kind of always

[1:24:34] left picking up the pieces in a way at the local level

[1:24:37] and how we support residents on the margins

[1:24:39] given those cuts that the state is facing.

[1:24:44] I didn't see, I mean, there's also these preemption things

[1:24:47] that keep getting into, again, like right out of the gate,

[1:24:50] they're talking about, I think this is not the same thing

[1:24:52] that we'd want to do here, but why is the state

[1:24:54] wanting to just blanket print like the license plate

[1:24:57] reader cameras and data centers?

[1:25:00] It's like, leave that to the local communities.

[1:25:02] You have the local communities in Oregon

[1:25:03] who love having data centers now.

[1:25:06] We don't even have a Costco here, right?

[1:25:07] So let me ask you for us, but I just don't see why the state

[1:25:14] continues to like, poke its nose into things.

[1:25:16] It has enough to worry about.

[1:25:18] It can't pass the transportation package

[1:25:19] that it comes and gets it's nose into local government and tries to make local decisions for everyone.

[1:25:26] So I really think as much as we can with the league, we're always pushing back on that,

[1:25:30] but we definitely get just right out of the gate. I mean, here they are poking their nose into things.

[1:25:34] They just just for political, because they know they're big topics and everyone's interested in them.

[1:25:38] So like, well, we'll do something about that. So we don't need you to do something about that.

[1:25:41] You know, let your county commission and let your city council go talk to those folks about it.

[1:25:45] So, I mean, these are, I think, for me, these are

[1:25:48] a fine topics I agree with Councillor Woodland on the, you know,

[1:25:52] the ones he picked, I think there's the broader challenges

[1:25:55] we're seeing at the state.

[1:25:56] I think we're going to have to continue watching for more housing,

[1:25:59] you know, legislation coming through that will end up having to

[1:26:04] implement while we are still implementing all these other pieces

[1:26:08] of housing legislation.

[1:26:10] I think encouraging the state of the money they do have, you know,

[1:26:13] to start taking a more of a care approach and helping to fund infrastructure in communities

[1:26:19] that are doing good work around housing that are streamlining their codes that are encouraging

[1:26:24] production. I think would be good.

[1:26:29] But I think they're just going to have to focus on some

[1:26:33] of these big, we saw what happened in the last session. They just did not focus on the big

[1:26:37] importance of the transportation package and then brought it up at the last minute.

[1:26:40] They left it to the last week.

[1:26:42] I'm crazy.

[1:26:42] I mean, who is the number one issue?

[1:26:44] There's number one issue.

[1:26:45] And the public median saw clarity, you know,

[1:26:48] as important, just for all of us volunteers,

[1:26:51] we have to do our job, you know.

[1:26:53] Oh, okay, yes, please.

[1:26:54] Councilman's then Council burdening, get your shot.

[1:26:59] How do they line up?

[1:27:00] No, no, no.

[1:27:05] Faster, that will be clarified.

[1:27:12] Energy grid,

[1:27:13] gardening and modernization,

[1:27:18] infrastructure funding.

[1:27:19] That's kind of a pie in the sky.

[1:27:21] I know how that works.

[1:27:26] My suggestion, my off-the-book suggestion on cybersecurity

[1:27:32] and AI guard rails with hidden estate

[1:27:35] if we're not getting them from the federal government.

[1:27:40] Was that four?

[1:27:41] Okay. And probably, finally,

[1:27:57] it's really tough. It's really tough. And again, it's kind of

[1:28:04] behind the sky, full funding and streamline for housing production. I just don't see the

[1:28:10] funding art, but the housing production.

[1:28:16] It's really lining, yes.

[1:28:19] Those match for accounts of women, put it in.

[1:28:22] They set for my.

[1:28:25] Yes, my offbook.

[1:28:26] You're offbook.

[1:28:28] Okay.

[1:28:28] Thank you.

[1:28:29] Good luck.

[1:28:30] Can we do the off-books next?

[1:28:33] So I've been complete agreement with Councillor Corgon.

[1:28:37] I think the public meetings law clarity.

[1:28:39] It needs to happen and it needs to happen quickly.

[1:28:44] I'm right along with the mayor and Councillor Wenland as well in terms of my top five.

[1:28:52] And I just want to say I concur with Councillor Wenland that I think we just need a pause on any more changes for housing.

[1:29:01] Let's see how things are going to play out and give our staff a break.

[1:29:06] I also concur with the mayor in terms of get out of the weeds.

[1:29:11] So I'd ask the state to get out of the weeds.

[1:29:14] I think they're getting a little too deep into what I think cities can manage.

[1:29:20] And I'm good with overall goals and objectives,

[1:29:23] but let us figure out how to do it.

[1:29:25] So anything that's kind of getting to in the weeds,

[1:29:27] I definitely would like us to step up.

[1:29:30] And finally, though it's not in top five,

[1:29:32] I have to say I do concur with Councillor Mayans in terms of the cyber.

[1:29:36] I think that is a bit grisk.

[1:29:38] I think it's not discussed enough and the more we can do around that, but I'll stick with

[1:29:43] my top five in alignment with Councillor Winland and the mayor, but that one is right up there

[1:29:51] as well.

[1:29:52] Thank you.

[1:29:53] and vice versa, yeah, Councilor Corbyn.

[1:29:55] Big surprise, I concur with Councilor Wind.

[1:29:58] Okay, okay.

[1:29:59] Okay.

[1:30:00] I really think that's the way to go.

[1:30:01] Yeah, okay, it's good.

[1:30:03] Was that just the week?

[1:30:05] Yeah, this is right.

[1:30:05] Yeah, no, I, anything works.

[1:30:08] But what's the difference between three and seven?

[1:30:11] I mean, four and seven because

[1:30:15] hadning and modernizing the greed is,

[1:30:18] That's a big, that's a different,

[1:30:20] I mean, no, this infrastructure funding is,

[1:30:24] but it's a water system.

[1:30:27] Yeah, but that's infrastructure too.

[1:30:29] in terms of it is yeah so that no I agree with you on and yeah okay but so

[1:30:35] do we have we have the thank you cousin we do we have the five

[1:30:38] yes yes transportation infrastructure energy grid housing production public meeting

[1:30:43] yes okay everyone's great input yeah everyone's on board yes about that

[1:30:49] and I've made note of the additional topics and we will incorporate that in our

[1:30:54] legislative agenda. Okay, yes, again, this is just the league we can have our own

[1:30:59] agenda. Okay, so, yes, and thank you very much. Appreciate you bringing this forward.

[1:31:03] Thank you.

[1:31:07] Okay. Next item of business is Arts Council of Lake Oswego annual public

[1:31:13] art plan to call Nathan so glad to have so pleased to have you here. Thank you for taking

[1:31:17] the time.

[1:31:27] Thank you, Mayor and counselors. It's a pleasure to be with you today. As you

[1:31:34] So in your packet, we have a annual work plan before you, which is a new thing.

[1:31:41] It is something that we have not done before, but in regard to our master plan, which was

[1:31:48] passed in 2024, that was one of the recommendations that we implemented.

[1:31:54] So that is the what?

[1:31:56] under section two of that new of the new public art guidelines, which went along with the public art master plan.

[1:32:05] The mayor and city council are to review and approve by annual artwork plan.

[1:32:10] So how this work plan is proposed this year as an annual one year plan, just to keep the alignment as to our budget,

[1:32:23] the city's biennial budget as well as the contract between the city and ACLL.

[1:32:31] And as we know, this is the first time that you've been asked to approve a work plan,

[1:32:37] and it was intended to be developed after the approval of the contractual agreement

[1:32:43] between the city and ACLL and that was just passed in June of 26.

[1:32:47] So in your packet you have the work plan document and so what I'm going to do is just help illustrate some of those things that are in the work plan so you can see how that happens.

[1:33:06] So, it will show our contractual commitments in service to Lake Oswego as well as other programs

[1:33:14] that we do, which also serve the city, and help us to be thinking about identifying

[1:33:21] prioritizing funding and implementing new public art projects to further enrich our life here

[1:33:27] in Lake Oswego.

[1:33:29] So one of those things is maintenance and conservation of the city's public art collection.

[1:33:33] As you'll see here, we are currently, like, right this minute, working on the elephant on

[1:33:41] BOOM's very road.

[1:33:43] So we're mitigating some of the rust that has become prevalent on there, as well as taking

[1:33:51] care of some biological growth and corrosion.

[1:33:55] So that is happening as we speak, that will take place this week.

[1:33:59] In addition, one of the pieces over at Glenmorey Park in the flow that plaque needs to be replaced which ends up being on the shorter basalt piece there, so that has weathered really needs to be replaced in whole, so we are doing that.

[1:34:21] Also, acquisition of art on behalf of the city, also happening right now over at the library.

[1:34:28] Echoes of Belonging by Sahara Diffries is being installed.

[1:34:33] The panels went up today, and the rocks are already done.

[1:34:38] And we look forward to the dedication of this on Saturday, which I know a couple of you will be joining us at.

[1:34:46] D-ccessioning of art. We talked about this a little bit when we came to you with the contract.

[1:34:52] Ferry Tree has a lot of different problems and so it has, it has gone through both a public art committee

[1:35:01] as well as to you to recommend D-accession. And what you see there on the right is actually the first step in

[1:35:11] documenting the piece, so that actually was the piece has been 3D scanned. So in a different kind of presentation you could see a super cool video, but now you just get to see a picture.

[1:35:25] But a few weeks ago, early in the morning, before dawn, which we hear is the good time to do a 3D scan.

[1:35:33] We, one of our staff members, met a contractor over there and they took a 3D scan of

[1:35:41] very trees.

[1:35:42] So we will be able to have that as a digital file to be able to put in the record, we

[1:35:49] know what it looks like, we know how big it was, all of those things.

[1:35:53] We could reproduce it in some way, shape, or form, but then that provides a historical

[1:35:58] context for that piece.

[1:36:01] Look forward to Christmas tree ornaments, that'll many Christmas tree ornaments, that's a very

[1:36:08] tale.

[1:36:09] So, I'm going to raise a huge, it's going to be huge.

[1:36:17] So, also one of the things, as part of our contractual agreement, is an annual exhibition

[1:36:23] about life in Lake Oswego.

[1:36:25] So that is on view right now, it's called what we behold, and that's up through the 30th of

[1:36:30] October.

[1:36:31] It was curated by Kendra Roberts, who is the Director at Blackfish Gallery down in the Pearl.

[1:36:37] So she, and she also is on the Public Art Committee.

[1:36:40] So she did that for ACLL, which is a beautiful show.

[1:36:45] You should come see it.

[1:36:46] I don't know that I've seen any of you down there.

[1:36:49] Just saying.

[1:36:51] We're also working on our percent-for-art projects, including South Shore.

[1:36:56] This is just some inspirational images that we have that we've shared with the fire department and so we are in the midst of putting together our selection committee for that so that's moving right along very exciting.

[1:37:14] Also one of our percent for our projects that we're managing is over at receipt, so phase two.

[1:37:20] We are at the point now where we are being, we are going to be soliciting submissions for artwork.

[1:37:30] And that will happen here in the coming months, a selection committee decision we anticipate that in the fall, and the artwork would be installed in spring.

[1:37:43] The area that we're looking at putting the, putting a potential mural is on the restroom building and a portion of the maintenance building.

[1:37:54] We know that there's going to be some fencing and some other aspects where you won't be able to see a lot of that, but there is

[1:38:02] We think a good combination of areas that will be visible to the general folks who are visiting the park.

[1:38:12] Galler without walls. Of course, we have the eight new pieces that are installed and part of this year's cohorts.

[1:38:22] So those are what you see here. And we will also be celebrating those at the cultural exchange on September 27th with dosent tours as well as the presentation for people's choice.

[1:38:36] The next cohort that call opens shortly here, October 1st, and we start that process all over again.

[1:38:44] So that will happen between the fall and then into spring and summer of next year.

[1:38:53] The cultural exchange, as I mentioned, will be part of that.

[1:38:58] On the 27th, these are some of our attendees from last year.

[1:39:02] They were very excited about making paper bag puppets.

[1:39:06] Grow grew, figured heavily in the characters.

[1:39:11] So that was amazing.

[1:39:14] We're going to have some other stuff for them to do this year.

[1:39:16] And then, as I said, pup by Ben Die

[1:39:19] is the 26 people's choice winner.

[1:39:22] So that will be awarded to him at that time.

[1:39:27] Here are some of the other things

[1:39:28] that we do that are not specifically part of our contractual agreement

[1:39:33] with the city, but still provide a lot of great things to the city.

[1:39:39] So our 2026-27 exhibitions, again, what we behold, will be followed by our annual holiday

[1:39:46] marketplace, which everyone loves and enjoys.

[1:39:49] Art Mart will be happening over at Marylandhurst in January.

[1:39:57] We did a AP student art show this year, and we will be repeating that in mid-February

[1:40:03] And then our winter spring exhibition will be late February through April and then spring summer will be made June and July.

[1:40:14] Some of the wonderful programs that go along with what we do as part of the APR show.

[1:40:21] We had some great student work. It was really amazing to be able to see work from high school students that you just wouldn't believe that they were in high school.

[1:40:32] it was pretty fun. We also do, of course, all kinds of dosa tours for both students as well as adults,

[1:40:40] so this is a group from the International Learning Academy that came by and we got to take them

[1:40:47] around to sculptures as well as see the exhibition inside. Also, we have programs that align with

[1:40:56] exhibitions, so that includes things like Nikibana Demo, which happened in March, in conjunction

[1:41:04] with our exhibition, Thinking Through Mud.

[1:41:10] Public art and private developments, so we are working

[1:41:13] both with Haseanda as well as habitat for humanity to place some sort of artwork or piece

[1:41:21] at both of these locations.

[1:41:24] So at Hasienda, it is located on the corner of Bune's very

[1:41:31] and the cross street.

[1:41:34] So that's mostly a public corner for the building.

[1:41:40] That's where the community room is and other such things.

[1:41:44] And so we're working with them on that as well

[1:41:47] as helping them to formulate a process,

[1:41:50] how that goes. In regard to habitat for humanity, we are looking at a some sort of artwork

[1:41:58] that would be in the shared green space, which is both public and publicly accessible as well

[1:42:04] as part of the development. So those are both really exciting things that are happening on

[1:42:10] booths very.

[1:42:13] Please pardon the spelling error, building connection between and with our community.

[1:42:18] we have been working informally with the cities of Westland as well as Oregon City to be able to

[1:42:28] highlight Highway 43 as an art corridor. So the PCC there on the left, Lotus Tower that is located on the

[1:42:36] Marlhurst campus. So that is one of the pieces. There are some that have been identified in Oregon City at the end of

[1:42:48] been some staffing changes in their parks and recreation department.

[1:42:53] And that's who we were working with.

[1:42:55] So that's we're on a temporary hold at this point.

[1:42:58] But we expect that to pick back up.

[1:43:01] Once that position has been filled.

[1:43:05] In the mystery is the next piece you see there with the rainbow.

[1:43:10] That is at the yellow middle school.

[1:43:13] It's very fun.

[1:43:14] It's right on the, it's right on country club.

[1:43:17] and so it's really visible, it was a great way to work with the school district to be able to

[1:43:23] cite pieces at the new, at the new schools. So we've been working on doing that for a long

[1:43:29] time and it was great to see this come to fruition. Sponsorships of gallery thought was sculptures

[1:43:35] so everyone from individuals to businesses sponsored the sculptures that come to town so we have

[1:43:43] everyone from individual families to Edward Jones and Farmers Insurance.

[1:43:51] Lastly, you'll see that we work pretty extensively with the Chamber.

[1:43:56] Winewalk 2025 is just one of the items and ways that we work with them.

[1:44:01] We hosted networking this past Friday and there were 90 some odd people who were able to

[1:44:07] to come in and see what we do, see City Hall, and really know what art does in their community.

[1:44:16] And volunteers, we've heard a lot about volunteers today. They are the, they're really the

[1:44:22] engine that helps keep us going. We have guided tours that happen only because we have volunteer

[1:44:29] dosence. We have conservation volunteers who assist with a number of different items and aspects

[1:44:37] of taking care of the collection and then we had a terrific summer intern this year so she

[1:44:43] helped us do quite a number of different things and was able to do anything and everything which

[1:44:50] was terrific and then of course fundraising what we have to what we do throughout the year.

[1:45:00] Is funded partially by the city, but then also we raise money to support our programs and our staff.

[1:45:08] And that includes fun things like holiday marketplace, again, coming up, are elevated our

[1:45:13] action, which happens in the spring. And of course, art, which happens every January. Love art.

[1:45:23] That is all that I have for you. So if you have any questions, I'd be happy to take them.

[1:45:29] Thanks, Nicole. Great presentation. You guys are doing a lot of really good work. It's exciting to see all the different mediums, all the different programs we're running, all the outreach.

[1:45:38] It's very cool getting the art installed at the New Housing in the Longwoods Ferry. It's very cool really help integrate those spaces into, you know, the rest of the community here. Yeah.

[1:45:52] Colleagues Council verdict, please.

[1:45:57] Oh, the other verdict.

[1:45:59] I heard verdict.

[1:46:05] I just wanted to thank the Arts Council for all the work that you do, because one

[1:46:10] of the things that does stand out, flower baskets, and the artwork within our city.

[1:46:15] And you do so much.

[1:46:16] And I really appreciate the, um, since like you're doing a little more partnerships

[1:46:20] with other members of the community, you've always done some, but especially with the school

[1:46:25] and then all the way down 43. I think that's really exciting to see and I really appreciate that and I love the events

[1:46:32] So I'm looking forward to the holiday market again, and you know gallery without walls is dear to my heart after serving on that committee for many years and it's just

[1:46:43] Being able to go out and see the rotation of the art, so it keeps it exciting. It's always kind of moving is just fantastic

[1:46:49] So thank you for all the work. Thank you

[1:46:53] Councilor Man.

[1:46:59] I echo what my colleague said and the growth of the Arts Council and our arts programs

[1:47:06] and like us we go has been phenomenal and the fact that we're able to get art into

[1:47:13] buildings that often in other municipalities don't have art is stunning to me.

[1:47:19] just love that. The amount of volunteerism that happens in the art council, I don't think

[1:47:28] people fully understand. I mean some of our colleagues who've worked in this understand,

[1:47:35] but it's amazing.

[1:47:39] They don't expect any grand gesture. They just want to see the art out there.

[1:47:48] And on a personal note, I would like to, on air,

[1:47:53] give a shout out to a student artist who you mentioned,

[1:47:58] V.V. Pollock, who is a fabulous artist.

[1:48:02] I have a couple of purposes.

[1:48:03] In my house is a matter of fact.

[1:48:06] She is now off to college studying fine art.

[1:48:12] So our own lake as we go up and coming artists,

[1:48:16] Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Her work was pretty incredible. Her work is amazing. So, and her

[1:48:23] family came to the opening, and it was really fun to say. I know. They are very supportive

[1:48:29] of her art, which is a fabulous thing to see. Thank you for all you do. Thank you.

[1:48:37] Thanks, Councilor Manson. Councillor Cork.

[1:48:41] Yeah. Thank you for everything. You do. I think you

[1:48:44] You help us express to the rest of the world who we are.

[1:48:47] And I think the only thing that I would add to what

[1:48:50] my colleagues have said is, you guys delivered

[1:48:51] an amazing bang for the buck.

[1:48:53] Thank you very much, and thank you for all of all,

[1:48:55] and all of all, and to your interest that you get.

[1:48:59] Do a great job.

[1:49:01] Thank you.

[1:49:02] Thank you.

[1:49:03] Councilor Boot?

[1:49:03] Yeah.

[1:49:04] I've been very proud of you.

[1:49:07] I've been introduced to galleries out

[1:49:10] all by the vessels who are my dear friends and ever since our school every year, every

[1:49:18] single year, our school tour, the colors are all like elementary school because we know

[1:49:24] that art is an untidestiny. It's what gives forms and shapes their styles and you are giving

[1:49:33] because you go, it's style by putting all this art everywhere.

[1:49:38] It's really amazing.

[1:49:40] If there is any program I want to fund, it's that one,

[1:49:44] because it's what make us human and, you know,

[1:49:48] it's a, and Saturday,

[1:49:50] we'll see great things happening also,

[1:49:52] and I'm glad,

[1:49:54] Councillor Corrigan and I will there,

[1:49:56] and we will make the decision on that,

[1:49:59] and thank you for your work.

[1:50:01] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[1:50:02] Yeah, that's right. Thank you, thank you.

[1:50:05] Peter, what the other chancellor said, but I want to especially thank the council or council

[1:50:13] for including art pieces at Haseyenda and the habitat for humanity.

[1:50:22] This is an act of inclusiveness and welcoming those who are going to come to our city.

[1:50:31] so job well done whoever came up with that strategy they need to be thanked. Thank you.

[1:50:40] That's a really good.

[1:50:42] Dido, but I think we need to highlight one thing that you forgot.

[1:50:46] And this is extensive and we are at it's everywhere, but this group does an exceptional job

[1:50:52] of maintaining our art collection, which I think they don't get enough credit for that because

[1:50:58] gallery without walls is exposed to the environment 12 months out of the year and there's a group

[1:51:05] of volunteers and we have expertise on the Arts Council and making sure that we're taking care

[1:51:13] of everything that we have out there and so kudos to you guys. I mean you should really have that

[1:51:19] as part of your presentation because that's a huge effort to manage an art collection as big of

[1:51:26] as ours. And Nicole, you do a fabulous job on making sure everything is, you know, every

[1:51:32] piece by name, you know, when it was done, you know, I mean, it's like the encyclopedia

[1:51:37] of art for like us, we go, it's sitting right there. So you do need to do a download someday.

[1:51:43] So, but very appreciated all the efforts and, and again, our community volunteers are just

[1:51:50] exceptional at stepping up to the plate. So, just want to give a shout out to you. Thank

[1:51:55] Thank you.

[1:51:57] Councillor Woodland, Councillor Mance.

[1:52:04] Begin, all right, promise.

[1:52:06] I'd be remiss and I think my colleagues hopefully will agree that I would like to thank

[1:52:12] all of the sponsors over the year who have sponsored our large art pieces in order that

[1:52:20] we have those throughout the city, so that is my thank you to all of them.

[1:52:28] Thanks, Councilor Manz.

[1:52:30] Thank you very much, Michael. We really do appreciate you bringing this forward. Our in Lake Australia is one of the things that makes the community very special.

[1:52:37] Then unique draws lots of visitors is enjoyed by all of the residents and in live ends. Every kind of corner of the city provides a lot of culture.

[1:52:47] If we were ever, I will say, we are bringing one new piece of property on board and that's the cemetery.

[1:52:52] And I'll tell you what would fit really well in the cemetery as those armless and headless.

[1:52:57] Take the subway up down.

[1:52:58] What do you think?

[1:53:00] And then?

[1:53:01] You know what that is something that the Public Art Committee can consider?

[1:53:04] Okay.

[1:53:05] Put that on the agenda.

[1:53:06] Can I make a motion?

[1:53:08] Yeah.

[1:53:08] I'd like to approve the Arts Council of like a Swigo Annual Public Art Plan.

[1:53:12] Okay.

[1:53:13] I'll get a move to the park.

[1:53:16] Yeah.

[1:53:17] That's up to the Arts Council.

[1:53:18] All right, motion was made by Councilwoman that is seconded by Councilver. Any discussion? All right, all those in favor say aye.

[1:53:27] Aye. Any opposed? Okay, motion passes seven zero. Thank you to call.

[1:53:32] Thank you very much. It's always a pleasure to come see you.

[1:53:35] Thank you very much.

[1:53:36] Folks, we're going to take a brief five minute recess.

[1:53:53] Okay, we are back in order.

[1:53:55] Thanks everyone for waiting.

[1:53:55] Next up on the agenda we have consideration of ordinance 2980, this is the E micro mobility device usage.

[1:54:04] I'll invite police chief George Burke and captain Clayton Simon to come forward.

[1:54:09] And while they're getting set up we'll ask Erica to please read this.

[1:54:14] The hearing procedures for this public hearing.

[1:54:19] We will now open the legislative public hearing on ordinance 2980,

[1:54:22] amending chapter 32 of like us, we go city code.

[1:54:26] We'll start with a presentation by staff and then public testimony.

[1:54:29] Thanks, Hurgout.

[1:54:31] All right.

[1:54:31] Chief, Kevin.

[1:54:33] Good evening.

[1:54:33] Good evening, Mayor.

[1:54:34] Members Council on George Burke.

[1:54:35] Chief of Police.

[1:54:36] I'm company by Captain Clayton Simon.

[1:54:39] Back in July of this year that we came before you during a study session, presented some

[1:54:44] information regarding some e-micromability and an ordinance proposed ordinance for

[1:54:48] to draft. We took feedback during that study session and went back to the drawing board, incorporated

[1:54:54] the changes that were directed by council, and I'm going to kind of get ahead a little bit

[1:55:00] and tell you that ultimately what we're going to be doing is asking for you to adopt the

[1:55:05] resolution as proposed. I would also like to say that I owe a lot to Captain Simon because he did

[1:55:11] the heavy lift on this, did the research, and really did a lot of the work to put this ordinance

[1:55:15] together for all of you. So I'm going to turn it over to him to give you the details of the

[1:55:19] changes that we put in place. He's pretty well bullet pointed. There's not a big presentation

[1:55:23] for you to look at and admire and go through. Pretty much seen it and we just want to make sure

[1:55:29] we're here to answer any questions. Good evening everyone. We are the presentation. Sorry,

[1:55:36] no visuals. Just what you see up here. But just really quickly, I appreciate Chief's words

[1:55:44] and support there, but it was also our city attorney's office.

[1:55:48] It was our city manager's office.

[1:55:49] There were a lot of folks that helped contribute to this,

[1:55:51] including yourself.

[1:55:53] So there was a lot of folks that helped out.

[1:55:54] And I really appreciate that.

[1:55:56] We, to kind of quickly get into it,

[1:55:58] we simplified a certain device terminology.

[1:56:00] When we look through it, it's a complicated subject.

[1:56:03] We wanted to make it simple, so we tried.

[1:56:05] We updated the antiquated provisions related to bicycles,

[1:56:09] and where they could park, and how they could be written,

[1:56:11] to make sure that they align with state statute.

[1:56:14] Now, we added clarifying information regarding device types,

[1:56:17] their law-flopperation and locations,

[1:56:20] and where those devices can be operated.

[1:56:22] We also added some more descriptive language identifying

[1:56:25] what both unsafe operation and what unreasonable speeds are.

[1:56:30] So it's not an all-inclusive list,

[1:56:32] but it gives a good framework for people.

[1:56:34] Anyone reading it to understand,

[1:56:36] hey, this is kind of what they mean by those two things.

[1:56:39] We added an escalation of penalties.

[1:56:41] So, if you get subsequent violations within 12 months, it escalates the fine and we work with our municipal court on some of that.

[1:56:50] Let's see, we developed public information materials.

[1:56:52] It isn't necessarily within the ordinance, but we sent out, you know, those things on our social media sites.

[1:56:57] We work through the city's website.

[1:56:59] I appreciate parks and the library and the ACC for letting us put up our literature there for folks to see.

[1:57:06] And we distribute those materials all throughout the community.

[1:57:08] And again, the revisions, everything that we've kind of put forth is intended to improve

[1:57:13] clarity for writers, parents, community members, and law enforcement while obviously maintaining

[1:57:19] the approach that supports education, safe use, and reasonable enforcement.

[1:57:23] And that's what we've done.

[1:57:25] And really just to reinforce what we're talking about is really, we're looking at safe

[1:57:28] behaviors.

[1:57:29] And it's not, it's nothing against e-mug mobility devices, certainly encourage, especially

[1:57:35] creating a accessibility for a lot of folks who may not otherwise have that accessibility or

[1:57:39] that ability to be mobile. It's just about how people behave while they're using the devices.

[1:57:46] I also want to comment on the fact that we've had conversations with the school district

[1:57:51] and future plans roll out. We'll do some education pieces with the school district and I look forward

[1:57:56] to some agreements between us and the school district and how we can work together on school properties.

[1:58:02] Great, okay. Any questions for Chief Captain?

[1:58:07] The question? So, Councilor Good question?

[1:58:13] I agree like, we thank you very much, Clayton and Chief.

[1:58:19] I mean, these are, we have a lot of folks reaching out to us.

[1:58:23] Sometimes they agree that the city has to do something, but the problem I have,

[1:58:30] So there's some of this device that we should tell people

[1:58:34] they're outright unlawful to do.

[1:58:40] Some of the e-bags that they remove the stuff.

[1:58:43] Is it right or?

[1:58:47] Yeah.

[1:58:47] Councillor.

[1:58:47] So the only device really that is completely on public roads

[1:58:51] and public property that we say, hey, you can't ride regardless of age

[1:58:55] are the non-compliant mobility devices.

[1:58:58] And those are those kind of e-motos that you see.

[1:59:00] They look like dirt bikes.

[1:59:01] Yeah, they don't have any pedals on them and you're riding those.

[1:59:05] If they can fall within the classification of a moped, in other words, the person that's

[1:59:09] riding as a driver's license, you don't need an endorsement for it, and you can get it registered

[1:59:15] with the state, and it doesn't go above 30 miles per hour, and it doesn't essentially

[1:59:19] produce more than 50ccs, those can still be written in compliance with the moped laws here

[1:59:24] in this uniform organ.

[1:59:26] But those are really the only devices that we're saying you can't.

[1:59:29] everything else you can it just depends on where we're and by

[1:59:33] yeah so we're the goal really is we know how important these are for folks to get around

[1:59:37] I was talking just at the break you know my mother I think I mentioned before she's got one

[1:59:43] you know to write around at the coast big that tire you bike you know just so she can get around

[1:59:47] and so certainly we do not want people that are able to lawfully ride these things and do it in a safe way

[1:59:52] we do not want to prohibit that at all and I don't believe that our ordinance amendments do that okay

[1:59:58] No, that's because I...

[2:00:00] Yes, one, people know I'm real not against progress. These are new stuff that happens.

[2:00:06] I was discussing with the mayor, you know, which I always do that I'm against this.

[2:00:12] But the idea even of not writing for a child, like a real bike, is even not healthy,

[2:00:19] like kids should pedal, you know. No, that's it. No, it's your issue. We have to be a

[2:00:26] I mean, we have sometimes the same way we are saying no cell phone at school, I think we should even go to tell, if you are like between 12 and 18, you should pedal your bike to school, not like go, it's like, and it's the parents also that have to take their responsibility that it's not good to give your 12 year kid an electric bike, they should go.

[2:00:56] you know, move, do something and get healthy.

[2:01:00] So for that reason, I really, you know,

[2:01:03] 100% for these things,

[2:01:06] the enforcement of the tools for our city.

[2:01:09] Thank you.

[2:01:10] Thank you.

[2:01:11] And I appreciate the educational component of it as well.

[2:01:16] That seems to be the biggest problem.

[2:01:18] It's, you know, people are confused about the difference

[2:01:21] between e-bikes and these other types of e-micromability

[2:01:25] devices, the e-motos, people probably think that they're buying their kid and he bike.

[2:01:30] You hear things like, oh, age has been even reduced on a class one.

[2:01:32] He bikes, most people probably don't even know what a class one, e-bike, class two, of the

[2:01:37] e-bike classification.

[2:01:38] So we see these non, things that aren't really e-bikes, they are more like electric, more

[2:01:44] recyclists of some kind, which you can't, it could be written with a little license plate

[2:01:49] and then driver's license and with the endorsement and all that kind of stuff.

[2:01:54] So they can be operated safely, but by the right people with the right license or insurance and what not.

[2:02:02] So I think that education will help.

[2:02:03] I mean, that's the nationwide problem.

[2:02:05] The confusion that's been injected into this market, the proliferation devices and the ease,

[2:02:11] which which people can get them.

[2:02:12] It's not like you go to a local bike shop and they say, oh, well, we understand the rules.

[2:02:15] I mean, you're just buying it online and it's kind of confusing.

[2:02:19] So that this approach to keeping everyone safe, I mean these bikes in our infrastructure, I mean we do

[2:02:25] want everyone to be able to get around the community using different modes of transportation,

[2:02:28] but they've got to be able to do it safely and not in conflict, not in conflict with other

[2:02:35] modes, you know people walking with cars and I think there is something because these

[2:02:41] are particularly vulnerable road users because they are oftentimes kids or anyone who's

[2:02:46] walking around a bike, whether it's a dollar kit, is, you know, of course, a more vulnerable

[2:02:51] road user.

[2:02:52] And we're sensitive to the fact that already those road users are, I mean, they're vulnerable

[2:02:56] because they're up against large cars, you know.

[2:02:59] And so we want to make sure we're cultivating an environment here where it's safe for everyone,

[2:03:04] we're not just saying, well, cars will do what they're going to do and everyone else has

[2:03:06] to kind of adapt, but we're creating like a safe environment for all the different types

[2:03:12] and that's complicated.

[2:03:13] because I mean, we have created a car centric thing.

[2:03:16] I mean, it's hard to unwind that, obviously.

[2:03:19] But other safety initiatives of the department

[2:03:22] and the city are undertaking with infrastructure

[2:03:24] and investments all play a role in that.

[2:03:26] So this is just, I think, a nice piece

[2:03:27] of the overall kind of safety puzzle

[2:03:30] and investments and policies

[2:03:33] that we've crafted to keep everyone safe.

[2:03:35] So I appreciate your good work.

[2:03:37] Councilwoman, two questions on, love the policy.

[2:03:41] I think it's for policy. It's pretty straightforward for us, but we look at policy a lot.

[2:03:50] I guess my question is when I'm assuming this is going to pass, what's your plan on figuring

[2:03:57] out how to get the message more clearly without somebody having to read through a 14-page document?

[2:04:06] Are we going to have like a postcard or something that gives you basically the three main elements

[2:04:14] that we're after?

[2:04:15] Yeah, I'll deal with the first part of that, which I think the first outreach for us

[2:04:19] is to work directly with the school districts.

[2:04:21] We take a look at the population that's really utilizing the e-microability devices, especially

[2:04:26] in ways that are more unsafe.

[2:04:29] So that education piece will happen directly with the schools.

[2:04:32] We already have some meetings set up where we get to where we'll invite parents and students in and we can have the presentation and kind of go over the details of that.

[2:04:40] I'll turn over to Captain Simon over any other outreach that we're doing or materials.

[2:04:45] So it's like you read my mind.

[2:04:48] And so we actually have a postcard with all that information on it that actually directs folks right to our website via QR code.

[2:04:54] We have other additional flyouts. This is what's out in some of the other city locations for people to see and what we've posted on our own website.

[2:05:02] We're actually meeting, we work with Madison and the City Manager's office to connect with the schools.

[2:05:07] And so we actually have a presentation set for, I think it's the fifth or sixth of October.

[2:05:10] Don't quote me. It's one of those two days over at the new Lake US Legal Middle School.

[2:05:14] And we're going to invite folks in so we can answer questions.

[2:05:17] But what is clearly a large group of folks that are probably wondering, hey, how does all this really apply and what is it we can do.

[2:05:23] So we're going to, we have that, that coming on and we'll obviously be reaching out in many, many other ways that we've already done.

[2:05:29] So when the passing, hey, if this is successful, hey, this is live,

[2:05:32] this is what to be expected, so people know.

[2:05:35] And then we've actually given a lot of these postcards out,

[2:05:38] appreciate Lauren quickly putting these things together,

[2:05:41] because we've been given them to our officers who are given

[2:05:44] out to folks, whether it's through an enforcement contact

[2:05:46] or just a community contact saying, hey,

[2:05:48] you guys need to know about this stuff.

[2:05:50] So well, you can get on the district, email blasts,

[2:05:54] which would be very helpful to go out to all the parents

[2:05:56] with your information, so make sure you do that because you can last out to all the kids parents who

[2:06:04] should know. The other part, enforcement,

[2:06:11] will we see kind of a gradual change or are we going to be

[2:06:15] like make a statement so that people wake up and go, okay, we're serious. I think we've been making

[2:06:23] we've been doing a lot in education over the last couple years. I'm not going to say that

[2:06:27] we're going to go from education to immediate enforcement. I think there's a happy medium

[2:06:32] in there and I think our officers have the ability to figure out what's appropriate at the time

[2:06:37] where they're making those contacts. There are a lot of people we've had repeat contacts with.

[2:06:42] So I would say there's probably less leniency with them and more leniency with folks who are

[2:06:47] we're just now having contact with the first time.

[2:06:50] One of the benefits of folks that if they end up being cited under this particular ordinance

[2:06:55] is working with our municipal court, is there's kind of a first-time diversion or safety

[2:06:59] class.

[2:07:00] So there is the ability even with enforcement to have education on the front end and nothing

[2:07:04] count against you.

[2:07:07] Thank you.

[2:07:08] Councilor Afghan.

[2:07:11] This is going to be a cultural shock for our city and I for one will volunteer to hand out

[2:07:21] as many cards as you give me.

[2:07:24] So I'm your ambassador to reduce that culture or shock.

[2:07:29] And if you wish...

[2:07:30] The next couple three farmers market, I'll be standing there with a volunteer badge and handing things to people, so they understand. These are the grown-ups who buy the devices for their kids, so they also understand that this is coming and this is Syria.

[2:07:49] So I think you should use us as your ambassadors to make it happen.

[2:07:54] Thank you.

[2:07:57] Okay, we will go ahead and open the public hearing and I'll ask it there, but I don't know if there's is there anyone here wants to testify the ordinance.

[2:08:06] I'll see anyone. So we're going to.

[2:08:08] Oh, I didn't close the public hearing and then we'll entertain a motion to an act ordinance, twenty-nine eighty.

[2:08:13] Move to enact ordinance, twenty-nine eighty.

[2:08:16] Okay, motion made by Council and Boop and seconded by Council verdict.

[2:08:19] Any discussion? Thank you.

[2:08:22] Okay, all those in favor say aye.

[2:08:23] any opposed? Okay, motion passes 7-0. All right. Thank you, Chief. Thank you, Captain.

[2:08:31] Can I just add a thank you to them as well? Thank you to both Captain and Archief.

[2:08:37] For moving this pretty fast, I mean it's been a growing concern

[2:08:41] but really kind of reach just peak this spring. And they did a great job thinking about how to

[2:08:46] move this through and make sure that the cultural shift happens. So thank you to both of them.

[2:08:51] Yeah, it's good work.

[2:08:52] Good cross, jurisdiction, or C.

[2:08:57] OK.

[2:08:59] OK.

[2:09:00] Moving on, we now have a study session, this evening,

[2:09:04] on the code audit, kind of a two-and-one here.

[2:09:07] We're going to talk about the code audit project,

[2:09:08] all in a associate planner, Evan, for instance,

[2:09:10] to add to please come forward.

[2:09:12] We're going to talk about the formation

[2:09:13] of a technical advisory committee related to the code

[2:09:15] audit project work as well.

[2:09:24] Good evening.

[2:09:35] Good evening.

[2:09:38] good evening, evening mayor and council.

[2:09:43] Okay, so as Mayor Bucks, we are here to talk about the Code Audit project and our project team is myself.

[2:09:52] I'm Evan Franston, I'm a senior planner with Steve Lickus, we have been here for a little bit over 12 years.

[2:09:58] Asmartine is just convoluted, we are community development director and Eric Olsen along

[2:10:03] range point and manager.

[2:10:05] To my left, our consultants is 3-day, 3-day consulting, Lee Aligud, she's a project manager

[2:10:11] and Karen Tolstatt.

[2:10:13] She's our community engagement coordinator with various collaborations.

[2:10:19] And for the, I guess, to give you an overview of what we're going to talk about today.

[2:10:24] Today is a work session for nearly a check point with the council on the Code Audit Project

[2:10:28] to receive feedback on the background report

[2:10:31] and a draft public involvement strategy

[2:10:34] before we begin the full audit project.

[2:10:37] I'll briefly provide the project's background and purpose,

[2:10:41] summary and overall process, current work and timeline.

[2:10:44] Now, I'll turn it over to three J. Consulting

[2:10:46] who will provide an overview of their work to date

[2:10:48] and include key findings from the background report

[2:10:51] and an overview of the public involvement strategy.

[2:10:56] So the request to council is to provide feedback

[2:10:59] on the consultant's findings and areas have focused on the initial review of the CDC.

[2:11:05] Provide feedback on the draft public involvement strategy and improve resolution 26-52 to

[2:11:11] form a technical advisory committee to provide technical input throughout the project.

[2:11:19] As background, the subject of the code audit is LOC chapter 50's community development code.

[2:11:26] And this regulates land use and development within the city.

[2:11:31] The CDC is a framework that guides how development occurs in Lake Aspago.

[2:11:36] Over time the code has become increasingly complex due to many factors, including multiple

[2:11:40] code amendments, adoption of detailed overlay districts, and infant design standards to

[2:11:45] ethnicity, and new state requirements.

[2:11:49] The need for an in-depth comprehensive analysis of the development code was identified in both

[2:11:53] the 2022 economic development strategy and resource plan as well as the city's housing production

[2:11:59] strategy and is supported by city council initiative to begin comprehensive review with

[2:12:05] the development code to identify barriers to housing production and economic development and

[2:12:10] implement code amendments to address those barriers.

[2:12:18] So the community development department

[2:12:19] currently has two projects that are working tandem. We have the rezoning for housing project

[2:12:25] and we have the Code Auto Project.

[2:12:30] The, the reason for housing project will evaluate cities mixed use, mixed use and commercial

[2:12:35] zones in order to increase housing capacity to address the city's deficit of land needed

[2:12:40] for housing in the next 20 years.

[2:12:42] The Code Auto Project, as I discussed already, addresses city regulations and development review

[2:12:47] processes in the CDC to make housing construction and business development more predictable

[2:12:52] and efficient.

[2:12:53] The audit will look at code rules, procedures, and requirements to make it harder to build housing

[2:12:58] or support local businesses and economic development.

[2:13:01] The project will also provide recommendations for how to ensure compliance with new state housing

[2:13:07] mandates while maintaining community standards.

[2:13:10] The rezoning for housing project evaluates commercial mix to use other non-residential areas

[2:13:15] while where zoning map changes may allow for more housing, especially multi-family housing.

[2:13:20] It will identify focused areas and analyze them to determine appropriate upsowning scenarios.

[2:13:32] And here are the main focus areas for the code out of project.

[2:13:37] We look at usability efficiency, housing, economic development and compliance.

[2:13:42] It's organized basically in five areas.

[2:13:44] We're looking for how to make an easier to use the code and streamline the development process,

[2:13:48] better as for housing economic development, and ensure the code complies with state requirements.

[2:13:54] Here's now a view of process, basically there's two phases.

[2:13:58] So the first phase is currently underway, we're in the research analysis phase right now.

[2:14:02] The next phase, which we'll begin in October, is the code audit itself, where we review

[2:14:06] the CDC and identify regulatory barriers and process, and consistencies and opportunities

[2:14:13] to poor improvement.

[2:14:15] That would be followed by the final audit report, which incorporates staff, stakeholder, and

[2:14:21] public input and provide recommendation for addressing identified issues.

[2:14:26] The next phase is implementation.

[2:14:28] This is where we get into the code of amendments.

[2:14:30] We'll develop proposed code of amendments based on the out of report and obtain public

[2:14:36] and advisory body feedback at that time.

[2:14:40] And then after that, we will apply additional review recommendations and file by city council

[2:14:45] consideration for final adoption of the code of amendments.

[2:14:50] And here's an overview of where we are currently.

[2:14:54] The first task was to conduct research analysis that is providing the background and

[2:14:58] pork that was attached to the...

[2:15:00] The Board's, the study session materials, attachment 1. This was completed in July.

[2:15:08] It's a three-day consulting

[2:15:09] will provide more details after I finish up here. The first step was to do interviews with staff,

[2:15:15] that includes the city staff with planning, building, redevelopment, economic development, and engineering

[2:15:19] department, as well as the riffs from the Lake Aspiego Chamber of Commerce to identify key issues that need

[2:15:26] to be addressed. We're in the process of conducting focus groups with different

[2:15:29] stakeholders and in the local housing and business communities and the neighborhood chairs group

[2:15:36] we'll talk to them at the end of the month. And this is to gather input regarding

[2:15:41] bearish to housing and economic development, city review processes, and other issues that

[2:15:46] impact timely efficient and predictable permitting. 3J will is currently in the process of

[2:15:52] drafting a public involvement strategy, which Karen will discuss. The final strategy will be

[2:16:00] A city council study session is scheduled for November where we will we can discuss the final public involvement strategy and whatever else you would like to discuss

[2:16:10] You couldn't talk about tonight and we can cover it in November.

[2:16:15] And here's the project schedule.

[2:16:18] So project will be completed in approximately 18 months.

[2:16:21] So it's in the winner of 2027-2028.

[2:16:25] Thought of vehicle started in October and ended in April with a final audit report.

[2:16:29] Then we begin the cutout at phase, which we're going to main through January of 2020-27.

[2:16:36] Both the PC and the Council will be consulted throughout the project to ask for a

[2:16:42] provide direction on the key policy issues and priorities.

[2:16:45] Review and refine the findings and recommendations of the other report itself.

[2:16:49] Provide feedback on the proposed code of amendments, consider and adopt final code of amendments at public hearing.

[2:16:55] Next, 3J consulting, we'll give an overview of the background report and public involvement

[2:16:59] strategy.

[2:17:00] We can answer any questions in their presentation.

[2:17:04] So here is Lee with their presentation.

[2:17:08] All right.

[2:17:09] Thank you, Evan.

[2:17:10] Good afternoon, Mayor and Council members.

[2:17:12] I will provide a pretty brief and high level update.

[2:17:15] But I'm also happy to answer any questions you might have when we're through.

[2:17:19] So, as Evan mentioned, my name is Lee, I'm a planner with 3J Consulting, where based in

[2:17:25] Beaverton and our team, though we have just two of us here tonight, includes a number

[2:17:30] of people with specialties in Urban Design and Planning and Public Invade involvement in

[2:17:36] all different areas of this project.

[2:17:38] So it's not just us, we have a team behind us.

[2:17:41] This is the first time we're with you here tonight, although you've heard about the projects,

[2:17:45] I believe a number of times, this is our first meeting with you all, so we're excited to talk to you and let you know what we've been up to.

[2:17:53] Next slide.

[2:17:55] So the objectives of the project, as Evan mentioned, is to remove regulatory barriers to housing and economic development to retain standards for her quality development, which is like us because known for.

[2:18:06] To comply with recent housing related state legislation, as you all are aware, there's been quite a bit of activity on that front in the last few years.

[2:18:13] and also to streamline the community development code

[2:18:16] and make it more user-friendly and easy to apply.

[2:18:19] Next slide.

[2:18:23] So the background report is review of existing plans

[2:18:26] and previous efforts so that includes your comprehensive plan,

[2:18:29] your economic development strategy, your housing,

[2:18:31] capacity analysis, housing, production strategy,

[2:18:34] neighborhood plans, all the documents

[2:18:36] that the city has adopted over the years

[2:18:38] that then feed into the CDC.

[2:18:40] We also did kind of a preliminary review

[2:18:42] of the community development code high level

[2:18:44] just to see where we need to focus our effort

[2:18:46] on the next part.

[2:18:48] And we had interviews and focus groups with a number of people,

[2:18:51] city staff is Evan mentioned.

[2:18:52] We also talked with developers and builders

[2:18:54] who are active or have been active and like us,

[2:18:57] we go architects and consultants, planning consultants

[2:18:59] that represent applicants and like us,

[2:19:02] we go and employers to hear from them.

[2:19:05] What their thoughts are about how the code functions

[2:19:08] and where it might be able to be improved.

[2:19:12] So the issues that came out of those conversations, and I don't know that any of these are surprising.

[2:19:18] But the code is difficult to use for applicants and staff.

[2:19:21] Over the years it's become kind of unwieldy.

[2:19:24] It's been updated in a number of times to respond to specific issues.

[2:19:28] But there haven't hasn't been a wholesale evaluation of the code and the structure of the code and how you can find information that you're looking for.

[2:19:36] And I think universally, the users of the code recognize that it has opportunities for improvement.

[2:19:43] And like us, we also have a number of overlays that apply in addition to base zoning throughout the city.

[2:19:49] And sometimes those overlays conflict with the base zones, they have different standards for the same things.

[2:19:56] And they can be very confusing and difficult to navigate.

[2:20:00] And finally, there are some building code thresholds that can prevent people from building some of the

[2:20:06] are permitted but perhaps not as desirable

[2:20:10] because they're subject to commercial building code

[2:20:12] rather than residential building code.

[2:20:18] And so it goes through just the areas that have been lined out.

[2:20:22] So the code structure we are recommending

[2:20:24] reorganization of the code based on the conversations

[2:20:27] we had with city staff as people who apply the code

[2:20:31] and as applicants who are trying to find information

[2:20:33] in the code.

[2:20:35] There's also an opportunity to combine a number

[2:20:37] of design standards to create a simplified menu

[2:20:39] of design requirements, not necessarily to change them,

[2:20:42] but they exist in a lot of different locations,

[2:20:45] and it would be easier for people to find them

[2:20:47] if they were in one place.

[2:20:49] And then our team also did an analysis

[2:20:51] of the overlaze design district space outing

[2:20:54] and found that there are at least 52 combination zones in the city

[2:20:57] when you apply all of these different regulations together

[2:21:00] and then sub areas within each area.

[2:21:03] So there's certainly an opportunity

[2:21:04] can consolidate some of those overlays and design districts and make them more streamlined to

[2:21:10] to find and to apply. For housing, this is another variation of the theme. There are

[2:21:17] neighborhood overlays that have been adopted by various neighborhood associations and that are

[2:21:21] applied on top of underlying zoning and, again, can have some complex and be difficult to interpret

[2:21:27] and to apply. And some development and design standards in our conversations with developers

[2:21:33] I had a regulation in complexity, but don't necessarily improve the outcome, so it doesn't necessarily

[2:21:39] result in a different or better product, it just creates another layer of difficulty.

[2:21:46] And I will say it's, I think, important to note that no one said we should just throw everything out,

[2:21:50] no one said we shouldn't have designed standard to demolish standards.

[2:21:53] They appreciate the role of those standards and creating a unique, like us, we go,

[2:21:58] feel and community, but they did have some really constructive thoughts about ways that it could be

[2:22:04] streamlined and result in high quality development while removing some of these complications.

[2:22:10] And finally, I'm noted that development standards for mental housing are the same as first

[2:22:14] single detached dwellings. And among the developers we spoke with, they mentioned that that does make it

[2:22:19] difficult to develop mental housing, because of those standards being the same.

[2:22:25] But, economic development, the sign code came up over and over again.

[2:22:30] As a challenge for businesses, particularly and for staff. Also, the use categories in the code are for the most part current, but they don't necessarily accommodate hybrid or evolving business concepts that are just being developed and staff spends a lot of trying to figure out where things should be categorized.

[2:22:49] There's also tenant improvements and this isn't a fault of the CDC but there are also a lot of

[2:22:55] unanticipated code requirements, as someone's changing the use of a business or if they want to

[2:23:01] expand a business and maybe now it has to meet updated fire code requirements, things like that,

[2:23:07] things that come as a surprise to people when they're doing tenant improvements and few cards and

[2:23:12] the cart pods for mention a couple of times as a potential opportunity to increase

[2:23:17] foot traffic downtown and bring in a different type of client or, you know, families and

[2:23:25] group people that might not currently be coming down as much, but they're currently permitted

[2:23:30] only as part of temporary events, so that's something that came up in those conversations.

[2:23:36] Legislative compliance, you all know, again, there's done a lot of this happening and

[2:23:41] It's generally around review procedures of standards and then housing types, so there are a number of slightly distinct but not the same review procedures for housing applications and then limited land use decisions which basically don't allow any discretion have been expanded to include subdivision plots.

[2:24:00] protection plots and expansion of non-conforming uses.

[2:24:03] City staff is aware of this.

[2:24:04] They've been applying these new standards while we're updating the code,

[2:24:10] but those are things that only need to be codified.

[2:24:12] There's also been some rule making around metal housing.

[2:24:16] And so one that just was adopted at the end of August

[2:24:19] is around cottage clusters.

[2:24:20] They've increased the average square footage that used to be 900 square feet.

[2:24:25] Footprint notes 1400 square feet in area.

[2:24:27] and also adopted rule making that minimum law size and dimensions for middle housing types

[2:24:33] have to be the same as single detached. Under the previous regulations there was some leeway

[2:24:38] to have large or minimum law sizes to have slightly different standards that's no longer the case.

[2:24:44] And then housing types, middle housing can be attached or detached so it duplex could be to detach units or one or two

[2:24:57] housing developments, and then a new housing type that's come out of the recent legislation

[2:25:01] in a single room occupancies.

[2:25:03] So those are things we'll be looking for as we're going through the code audit.

[2:25:07] And the timeline for this project is great because it allows us to reflect the rule making

[2:25:13] that's going on, and that won't be completed in some cases until January 20, 28.

[2:25:19] So we'll be able to incorporate those into these amendments to make sure that we're covering

[2:25:23] all of our bases.

[2:25:25] So there were a number of items that came up in conversations that we feel are important

[2:25:30] for you all to be aware of, there are outside of the scope of this project.

[2:25:34] But the sign code, as I mentioned, came up a lot.

[2:25:37] The permitting and post-land use tracking process, people have a lot of really positive

[2:25:42] things to say about the planning staff and the land use process, but things could be improved

[2:25:47] on the back end as they're going through the development permitting process.

[2:25:51] People mentioned reviewing the system development charges, we understand that that will be happening when you do the transportation system plan update in a few years and also as I mentioned food carts and food cart pods which is kind of a different conversation than just an economic development.

[2:26:08] So I'm going to hand this over to Karen to talk about the draft public involvement strategy.

[2:26:13] She gave me this one.

[2:26:17] Before you is a at a glance chart of the different audiences and some plans, but I wanted to take a minute to talk about the strategy first.

[2:26:26] Obviously, code audit isn't a very sexy topic when it comes to public engagement.

[2:26:32] Oh, that's an exciting one. It's not really a magnet for public engagement.

[2:26:37] And particularly at the outset, like right now, where there aren't specific proposals, there's

[2:26:43] just an evaluation of the code.

[2:26:47] So the team has recommended doing the public engagement later after the code audit is underway

[2:26:53] and there are very specific proposals and changes and then go out to the public for that.

[2:27:03] There are different categories of public, of course there's stakeholders and we know that the stakeholders have a very vested interest and we won't have trouble getting input from them and many of those interviews have already taken place.

[2:27:18] Neighborhood associations are both public and stakeholders as property owners and it's critical to have them involved.

[2:27:28] Normally, there really isn't much public interest in code audits, but because of the cottage clusters and the Flood Hills redevelopment project, clearly you've already seen some public interest from specific sets of folks.

[2:27:42] What is going to be absolutely critical is that we have a clear and easy to access tools for those folks to weigh in and to get up to date information.

[2:27:52] And prior to actually having that information, we're going before the Neighborhood Association

[2:27:58] Chair's Committee this month, again, there's really no information to share, but to really

[2:28:04] let them know how transparent we're going to be going forward and to have them in the loop

[2:28:08] now on what that plan is going to be.

[2:28:12] So the first three categories there are the stakeholder groups and the Neighborhood Association

[2:28:18] that presentation is happening, and then later when we actually have some potential decision points for you to make,

[2:28:26] we will be going back to the neighborhood associations and giving them content, getting them to be able to invite their members,

[2:28:34] directly to each of the neighborhood associations so that those folks can weigh in.

[2:28:40] There will be a large set of what I would consider more traditional tools.

[2:28:46] So for all of those people who are dying to aid now, there's a lot of them, we're going to have, you know, a robust website web pages with detailed information that they are going to want to just really get in and see the nitty-gritty and have some tool that allows them to weigh in when there is an opportunity.

[2:29:04] We know that there's a lot of things that are going to need to happen in code that there isn't much opportunity because of the state mandates.

[2:29:12] So we also want to be careful that we're not setting up expectation that people can weigh in on things that they really can't influence.

[2:29:19] For that reason, we're suggesting taking a very educational approach for people to really understand what some of these mandates are and what the city can influence and cannot.

[2:29:31] that those more traditional online robust to owe with lots of information and to public meetings

[2:29:40] for those folks who are really eager to come and in person will be promoted through media

[2:29:46] releases, social media, newsletter copy, flyers and public places, you know, a lot of the traditional

[2:29:53] things, also work sessions with the City Commission, with the City Council, with planning.

[2:30:00] Commission, and with the technical advisory committee. However, code changes influence the character of the city, and effect everybody, not just those people who are dying to give input today, but the rest of the community, and they aren't going to be very interested in going through a multi page website of details to understand.

[2:30:23] And so basically, anybody who is not coming to city council meetings now and is not going through detailed web pages,

[2:30:34] those are underrepresented audience, as you're not hearing from them.

[2:30:38] You'll hear loud and clear what a lot of folks think and want and need.

[2:30:43] What we need to reach out to those that aren't being heard now in a way that they can, that is relatable to them.

[2:30:50] We're not going to promote code on it, come get them much.

[2:30:54] So I have some examples of how that might look.

[2:30:57] But one of the things the project team is recommending is more of a,

[2:31:01] but I call it quick and dirty survey tool that's particularly

[2:31:07] for mobile devices.

[2:31:08] And that's more of a visual and a caption that are relatable to people.

[2:31:14] You're not bureaucratic talk, not technicalities,

[2:31:17] but really where people can weigh in.

[2:31:21] But the tool itself is only as good as how we promote that tool.

[2:31:26] And there's only so many people who hang on the words

[2:31:28] of all the city, newsletters, no matter how fabulous they are,

[2:31:32] and all of that.

[2:31:33] And a lot of those in, like us, we go in and many, many cities.

[2:31:37] Our busy families of child-bearing age,

[2:31:40] you're not seeing those in public hearings very often

[2:31:42] and in public meetings.

[2:31:45] Lower income residents,

[2:31:47] renters, people from ethnically diverse communities.

[2:31:53] We don't really hear from them, and we need to reach out in different ways.

[2:31:58] And that's one of the things that our task collaboration specializes in.

[2:32:02] And to put it in a technical term, we'll call it intercept conversations.

[2:32:06] But what it really is is people talking to people.

[2:32:10] So while we want to have, while there's a need to have two public meetings for those folks who want to come to that.

[2:32:15] And we're recommending that we use budget that would be for a third one to actually have face-to-face conversations with people.

[2:32:24] That we bump into in casual settings and we have a program that we initiate that I would kind of call it following the breadcrumbs.

[2:32:34] And that's reaching out to regular folks in the community right now when we've already started doing that in communities in neighborhoods all around the city.

[2:32:41] Just saying, hey, there's this code audit thing going on.

[2:32:43] And I know it doesn't sound very interesting, but let me tell you.

[2:32:46] Here's a couple of the things that it's going to do.

[2:32:48] Like, you know, the ADU that was just built behind your house.

[2:32:52] And they're like, so we've had people saying, oh, wow, that, but it is interesting.

[2:32:55] I want to weigh in on that.

[2:32:57] And so, babe, we already have a handful of people throughout the community.

[2:33:01] They're saying, when it's time, reach out to us and we'll help you.

[2:33:04] And oftentimes, we get invited to, oh, church coffee hours,

[2:33:10] PTA meetings. Just casual things that's happening in the community. So on the next slide, I believe.

[2:33:19] Oops. Well, you go to key messages. So also with that public talking in terms that they understand and care about.

[2:33:28] One is that there is the need for about a different data out there, but at least 2000 new housing units over the 20 years.

[2:33:37] So for folks who really aren't in favor of middle housing or even more increased density,

[2:33:43] the data shows, there is housing that is needed.

[2:33:47] And thoughtful and strategic planning now can help ensure that we maintain the unique

[2:33:52] qualities of the neighborhoods while expanding opportunities.

[2:33:56] So that is where people can weigh in.

[2:33:58] The code of amendment decisions that you may can have some influence on those things that

[2:34:03] are already mandated, so to help people understand that and have them weigh in in order

[2:34:07] to protect the character of the community that they values so much will be important.

[2:34:13] Also, on the educational component, you know, middle housing is here to stay.

[2:34:18] I don't think this is the opportunity to let people say that we don't want to do that.

[2:34:22] It's going to happen.

[2:34:24] But we can shape it.

[2:34:26] City can shape it to some extent.

[2:34:29] So on the next slide, I think we just have, it's awfully small.

[2:34:32] but this is kind of an example of specific changes that might come your way and hesitate to even put

[2:34:42] examples. These are just kind of made up of a little bit of an example and there's been a

[2:34:47] lot of discussion about the courtyard in the cottage clusters. This example doesn't talk about

[2:34:52] whether we're talking about easements or tracks, but having just be as simple as a courtyard and

[2:35:00] cottage clusters can improve the appeal of this, and then once you have a proposal,

[2:35:07] like should we mandate tracks or should we let it be an easement or whatever,

[2:35:11] putting that in every day terms and saying, we are thinking this, what do you think?

[2:35:16] And it's just a very simple, hate it, love it, think about it. Also, we are wanting to

[2:35:25] incorporate some of the rezoning for housing, even though it's not part of the code audit project,

[2:35:30] to not overtax the community engagement activities.

[2:35:34] So in ours, when there are very specific proposals,

[2:35:37] like perhaps, changing the zoning in certain underused

[2:35:44] commercial areas for mixed use can provide these benefits.

[2:35:48] What do you think?

[2:35:48] Just very, very casual.

[2:35:50] So they're not reading pages and pages about it.

[2:35:52] They're doing that.

[2:35:53] This isn't gonna give you qualitative facts and figures

[2:35:57] about how many people think this and that,

[2:35:59] but it gives you a sense of what the community members think and feel that aren't weighing in in

[2:36:06] in other ways. And also, whether that input will be different than the input of the folks that

[2:36:13] are giving input in the traditional ways, what it does do is show the residents of your community

[2:36:20] that you care about their opinion. You're going above and beyond not just having a public hearing

[2:36:25] their public meeting, but really want their input, it will expand that outreach, and hopefully

[2:36:32] introduce a whole new group of people to the beginnings of civic engagement.

[2:36:39] So, I don't think you can see, but the proposing a little card, it's funny, we're just

[2:36:44] talking in the last session about a postcard.

[2:36:47] So we also, in this intercept conversations, would it just approach, I'm gonna say, hey, you

[2:36:52] know what this is going on?

[2:36:53] And here's a QR code, and in the past we've had good luck with having people right there

[2:36:58] go, oh, let me scan it and see, kind of walk through it.

[2:37:01] If they're not really interested, we'll just give them the card and go.

[2:37:04] But the terms, the expressions would be casual, colloquial, and friendly in order to engage

[2:37:09] a whole new group of folks.

[2:37:15] That's my update.

[2:37:17] And well, as I mentioned, I have time for questions if you want to get more into that.

[2:37:20] In terms of next steps, as Karen mentioned, we're meeting with the neighborhood chairs coalition,

[2:37:25] next Saturday. I will be presenting to the Planning Commission on the

[2:37:30] Twenty-eight, and then taking the inputs from those conversations into the final public involvement strategy.

[2:37:36] And so September kind of wraps up our initial task, this background reviewed, initial review, and then as Evan mentioned, we'd get into the nitty-gritty of the code audit.

[2:37:44] And we will be coming back to you with some questions about how you'd like us to approach the action plan that we're putting together as we go through that process.

[2:37:54] And questions for you all, really generally, do you have any questions about the initial

[2:37:59] findings of the background report and the review and any comments your suggestions about

[2:38:04] what current described in terms of the public involvement strategy?

[2:38:09] Okay, right, thank you all very much for the presentation so nice to get to meet the two of

[2:38:14] you.

[2:38:14] Thank you for bringing them in and this is a, you know, you did a nice job outlining because we have kind of several things going on here all in one and see how you can make it a little confusing and add a break it up between, you know, our

[2:38:29] the reason project is code on it, project these economic development, type of, and then different

[2:38:34] plans they're interfacing with, and production strategy is kind of our economic development,

[2:38:39] we have our new economic development, kind of strategy.

[2:38:42] Then we're going to hear about here more and we're adopting October, and then learning about how we will

[2:38:47] engage with the community on that, really appreciate what the philosophy of your firm,

[2:38:52] caring and what you guys are great at, because that is the big challenge.

[2:38:55] you know, is getting for especially on a topic like this, you know, so my colleagues have questions come it says Councillor and Boop we will start with you.

[2:39:08] The only I know this is a big job, but and we are working if I like.

[2:39:15] I look at this a little bit late, we are working on a grant, right, and the grant, and the problem I have is, I don't know if I can, there's someone who is who disagree on our zoning and there's something going on and people will most likely challenge this thing like when we finish, they're going to challenge it, there will be

[2:39:43] a pill and stuff. So do you think that the timeline on February 28th like when it ends

[2:39:51] the grant and the submission like there is that time because people will challenge when they

[2:39:57] challenge it what we are going to do? That was one of my questions and if you come this one and

[2:40:05] my second question. I can do it. I don't think you have to be concerned about

[2:40:12] This is in a land use issue that can be appealed to Luba.

[2:40:16] This is going to change the law, the code.

[2:40:19] And that's not going to be affected by what's currently underway in Luba.

[2:40:24] Thank you.

[2:40:25] I'm just, I was worried about that.

[2:40:28] And just like today, we had a legislative public hearing for the micro mobility devices.

[2:40:33] We would have the same thing when these code amendments are proposed in 2020.

[2:40:39] So people who are dissatisfied, we'll have an opportunity to come and testify.

[2:40:43] That's the fight, okay, and it's good.

[2:40:46] So the other thing is just like, people like me, like when we talk the language of overlay of,

[2:40:52] which is even like, for me, when like, oh, this neighborhood have this overlay, this

[2:41:00] as a one has, and I'm trying to have lost because I'm not in construction, I don't know,

[2:41:06] And that's why I would like, if you were asking us what to do to have like,

[2:41:12] Concrete questions, like say, do you want the overlay to be removed in, like,

[2:41:19] those of question, those would be very helpful for a person like me because I'm a

[2:41:25] layperson on this.

[2:41:27] Mm-hmm.

[2:41:27] Absolutely.

[2:41:28] When we come back to you, we'll have some concepts that will have developed and

[2:41:33] want to get your input basically how far do we go you know because there are a number of different

[2:41:39] ways that the city can pursue removing barriers and some of them are mandates but a lot of them

[2:41:46] aren't so there are a lot of decision points that will be coming up that will be wanting to talk to you

[2:41:51] and to your point asking pretty specific questions about how we should proceed.

[2:41:56] Other than that, thank you, it was, I was, they happy to read all of these, and yeah, thank you.

[2:42:04] Well, similar to a council group I was saying there might be other categories, but it really would be helpful to understand what is kind of legally required.

[2:42:12] And what is administrative, you know, kind of more like policy neutral, and then what is discretionary policy change.

[2:42:22] other category but that would be because I mean some of this I know is it cleaned up and

[2:42:26] then some of it is we have no choice and then we're to really identify for the council

[2:42:31] with the actual decision points I would be.

[2:42:33] And if must may, should I say, yeah, absolutely.

[2:42:38] Yes.

[2:42:38] Councilor Afghan.

[2:42:39] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[2:42:41] These are comments.

[2:42:43] We don't have to debate them.

[2:42:47] I read a lot of overlays, and I also saw in your presentation about hybrid.

[2:42:58] Let's be kind to the overlay.

[2:43:01] They were there for a reason, and they are going to be issues coming up that we don't

[2:43:08] have a choice, because of the new legislative, we have to cross those out, black and white.

[2:43:13] But they were there for a reason, and if I look at some of the conversations I've had,

[2:43:22] they were there, so the neighborhood character is preserved.

[2:43:28] And we know that there hasn't been a lot of new construction to every neighborhood that

[2:43:33] has had overlays, and nobody came here and said, this overlay caused me to do X, Y, and Z.

[2:43:40] I know Councillor Wetland can bring up some examples, but my thinking is that let's be kind

[2:43:49] to the overlays because of a specific reason.

[2:43:52] On the hybrid, I don't know where we're going with that conversation, I support businesses

[2:44:01] in homes, but I don't know if I want to see a storefront all of a sudden in a neighborhood showing

[2:44:08] up.

[2:44:09] And I think those are the conversations that I'm sure you will have with general public.

[2:44:16] On their stakeholders, I'm thinking at school district we need to talk with them

[2:44:22] because there is school district and there are the large property owners also. And maybe also

[2:44:28] Chamber of Commerce. We're talking to the brokers who are in the real estate business,

[2:44:34] but Chamber of Commerce from a business point of view may have some ideas also.

[2:44:41] Thank you.

[2:44:42] Councillor F. Can't count some answers for you.

[2:44:49] Thank you for the presentation.

[2:44:51] If I'm not mistaken, we've gone through some iteration of this in the past.

[2:44:57] Obviously not to this degree.

[2:45:00] And not with these issues. But what is the number one issue that you see inputting this together, as far as our stakeholders are concerned?

[2:45:20] I think the common theme is not that we should get rid of all the overlays or any of those

[2:45:26] things, but it's just really really really hard to find the information you're looking

[2:45:32] for, and it's really hard to figure out all of these different layers interact, and it's

[2:45:38] really easy to get things wrong, and so I think both on the city's staff side and on the

[2:45:43] development community side, they want to do the right thing, it's just hard for them

[2:45:47] find what that is. So I think that's the biggest one. Okay, and the neighborhood overlates

[2:45:52] are not disappearing per se or is that legislated? We're not suggesting certainly not at this point

[2:46:00] and probably not ever that they go away entirely, but you have situations where for instance,

[2:46:05] a number of different overlays regulate the same thing like the amount of hard scape on a property,

[2:46:12] But it's worded slightly differently and the numbers are slightly different.

[2:46:17] Like there are opportunities I think to retain the intent behind these neighborhood overlays,

[2:46:22] but to simplify it rather than having the same requirement stated multiple different times,

[2:46:28] just to have it in one place.

[2:46:30] So that's what we're looking for.

[2:46:32] Looking for opportunities to kind of clean them up without,

[2:46:37] while continuing to acknowledge the purpose of the overlay in the first place,

[2:46:41] which is to protect neighborhood character.

[2:46:45] And in neighborhoods that have no overlay,

[2:46:50] our eclectic have no sidewalks or sporadic sidewalks.

[2:46:57] How will that be impacted by any of the work that you're doing

[2:47:05] is that a part of it, or not necessarily?

[2:47:09] It could be some of what we're looking at our development standards that apply to all residential zones,

[2:47:15] for instance, step-back, floor area ratios, things of that nature.

[2:47:18] So it could affect neighborhoods even without overlays.

[2:47:22] Things like sidewalks tend to be part of public works,

[2:47:26] or standards things like that.

[2:47:27] We probably won't get to that too much.

[2:47:29] Okay, good.

[2:47:30] But I think, you know, the code updates will affect the entire city.

[2:47:35] so that's a really important reason for Karen's approach to make sure that people who wouldn't

[2:47:41] normally care are aware that, you know, this is going to touch their lives in some way.

[2:47:47] Perfect. Thank you so much. And thank you for all the good work.

[2:47:51] Awesome. Just a follow on one thing that fall upon some of the councilman's mentioned.

[2:47:57] I noted in the report, you know, one of the barriers listed was, you know, right away

[2:48:02] and infrastructure requirements, but we find those are very important to be able to develop safe infrastructure.

[2:48:11] So I just did not like that it was even listed as, and I didn't know if that was.

[2:48:15] I think that the issue wasn't so much to bake this as that there are some areas of the community development code that address the same requirements as public work standards or infrastructure codes.

[2:48:26] And there's some confusion that comes from that,

[2:48:29] like the CDC includes stormwater requirements,

[2:48:32] which are also in other documents and regulations.

[2:48:36] So it's less about the fact that people

[2:48:38] have to provide infrastructure,

[2:48:40] I agree that's critical.

[2:48:42] But more about it can be difficult to understand

[2:48:44] what rules apply when they are located

[2:48:47] in several different places.

[2:48:49] OK, that makes good sense.

[2:48:50] Thank you for clarifying that.

[2:48:52] I've been waiting for this project for a long time, I think, almost forever and I guess my overarching part is to keep like us we go character while really simplifying the complexity.

[2:49:12] And I like, I love your reporting and your slides because I think you're exactly right that we have so many things that have been developed over so many decades that they're good for the time.

[2:49:27] And then somebody else had somewhat of the same idea and added it ten years later and then somewhat the same idea.

[2:49:33] And so there's three or four things in there that say the same thing, but they're all different.

[2:49:38] And so, cleaning it all up is, I think, a huge challenge.

[2:49:44] And I think it's going to make life for the person that is interacting with project,

[2:49:53] so much more efficient, and so much better.

[2:49:55] So I'm super excited about that.

[2:49:59] I agree that our chapter 50 is very clunky and confusing.

[2:50:08] Now to the experts in city hall, it makes total sense.

[2:50:14] But the question is how long have

[2:50:16] ended it take you to master chapter 50?

[2:50:18] It took probably a while, right?

[2:50:20] I'm not sure if I have.

[2:50:21] Oh yeah, right, right.

[2:50:24] Yeah, it's, you learn things new about it all the time.

[2:50:27] Right, yeah.

[2:50:28] And I'm hoping my hope for this whole project,

[2:50:31] is that while you still have to be a professional

[2:50:35] probably to read it, because I don't think

[2:50:38] the normal person can ever read city code,

[2:50:40] regardless of what chapter we're reading.

[2:50:43] But the big picture is that it helps our planners

[2:50:47] to become more efficient, and it helps our community members

[2:50:52] who are working with planning to be clear and objective.

[2:50:58] So that's my big thing.

[2:51:01] I think on the communication part, we've been dealing with this

[2:51:05] as a council for a long time.

[2:51:08] And I think we've been, I think the overarching message

[2:51:14] which you've probably been told is that we don't want this,

[2:51:18] we don't want that, and we say, well, unfortunately,

[2:51:21] we have a state mandate that says we have to. Well, you're the city council fix it. So in gathering

[2:51:28] your information it's the what our mayor said what we what can we control versus the state law

[2:51:35] and to have that super clear so that we are giving you good input instead of just complaining which

[2:51:45] we don't complain in like us we just give advice so that's kind of what we do.

[2:51:51] And then, the big, I guess question is, is there going to be like one author to start at the beginning and write a new chapter of 50?

[2:52:03] Or is it, who's going to actually writing the code?

[2:52:06] Because I look at it sort of as in biblical terms where there's 42 chapters, whatever, all different authors and whatever.

[2:52:13] I mean, I just want to make sure that it's a well-written device so will you be writing

[2:52:23] the code and we prove it is it's all on poor Evan Shoulders, I mean I hope not.

[2:52:30] How's that going to work? So, there is a team of us, and so we will be working on the code updates.

[2:52:37] But the ultimate code provisions will be in one voice and consistent internally. We do have team members

[2:52:45] who are specifically focused on urban design, so they'll be looking at design standards and things

[2:52:51] of that nature and writing that part. But we're all going to be working very closely together, and the ultimate

[2:52:56] product will be internally consistent and thoroughly reviewed. But it would be a big job

[2:53:02] I have to say for one person to. Yeah. And then I don't know really how you're going to

[2:53:07] approve this as you go through in chunks. I mean it's it's going to be an interesting process

[2:53:13] and I just give my future colleagues just all kinds of accolades for getting to deal with this next

[2:53:23] But the big picture, I guess,

[2:53:27] is I mean, if I could write the rulebook on this, is that, I mean, getting the input from community members is always kind of our secret sauce and like us, we go, I mean, there's a lot of engaged people and whatever.

[2:53:39] But when it gets down to really defining what we want, it's the fine art of writing that we're going to have the need to keep this character.

[2:53:52] And I can't speak for the castle, I'll speak for me.

[2:53:55] I mean, it's like to the state.

[2:53:58] I mean, I'm like, they've shunned a lot of stuff down our throats.

[2:54:03] We actually took the deliberate process for three years to go through to do our own plan which a lot of cities didn't because we care so much about like us

[2:54:12] We go and all the work before us of people really making the character of like us

[2:54:19] We go the character of like us we go and we've got a great thing going here and so we're trying to maintain that and so

[2:54:26] Having the the grace this councilor afghan said maybe for overlays, but maybe instead of 52 we have five

[2:54:32] I don't know, whatever, I'm not saying, but simplifying it, but get it so that we do have the

[2:54:37] ability to be like us, we go, and I don't want the cookie cutter approach.

[2:54:44] We've spent way too much time to not be the cookie cutter and just take the downstream force

[2:54:53] of Salem to us.

[2:54:56] We spent the time to fight back, and we're still willing to fight back, and I think

[2:55:01] Councils are willing to split the time we effort into making sure that we have as much

[2:55:06] as we can and then maybe some to maintain like us we go so anyway.

[2:55:13] I think your outline of exactly what you're doing is spot on from somebody who knows nothing

[2:55:19] about planning so anyway.

[2:55:22] Thanks Councillor Woodland.

[2:55:24] I mean it's a good point here thinking about some of the objectives and goals of this work

[2:55:31] And we've just been talking about the overlay.

[2:55:34] So I use that as an example.

[2:55:35] So once upon a time, the community

[2:55:36] thought it's a great idea to do these overlays.

[2:55:40] But some of the feedback, as unique as the community is,

[2:55:43] that we have heard from people, we just have a few people

[2:55:46] building all the same houses.

[2:55:48] So it's like, well, is that what we intended with the overlay,

[2:55:51] probably not?

[2:55:54] And because of the complications of the code,

[2:55:57] it blocks out people who could come build in the community

[2:56:00] because they just just too complicated.

[2:56:02] So you have folks who specialize,

[2:56:03] and this is not unique to L.O.,

[2:56:04] they specialize, they're working L.O.,

[2:56:06] they work in Westland, they work into one.

[2:56:07] They just know that code really well,

[2:56:09] and then they build what they build,

[2:56:10] which is kind of like the same thing.

[2:56:14] So, and there are good people, you know,

[2:56:15] and all that is not in the shade on them,

[2:56:18] but it is worthwhile to maybe,

[2:56:20] like at the time to say what are our goals

[2:56:22] with these overlays, and then at some point in time,

[2:56:24] maybe now to look at, are we meeting those goals

[2:56:26] with the overlay?

[2:56:27] Or are they actually maybe working against us

[2:56:29] a little bit like if we want unique housing types,

[2:56:31] is that are we getting unique designs,

[2:56:34] are we kind of channeled this into kind of the one-size-fits-all

[2:56:40] because that's kind of what we end up getting

[2:56:41] because it's so complicated like,

[2:56:43] well, I'm not going to mess with it.

[2:56:44] I'm just going to build this thing.

[2:56:45] I know it works.

[2:56:46] It's a LOCO compliant and a chunk to chunk to chunk.

[2:56:50] So when we do this work, I think similarly,

[2:56:53] it is worth looking at what are goals and objectives

[2:56:57] and how can we measure that?

[2:56:59] So they down the road, like we'll go through the work of engaging with the community and making

[2:57:04] these revisions.

[2:57:05] But then down the road, a future council can look at this and say, okay, are these things

[2:57:08] working as intended?

[2:57:10] And some of this, again, because we have these different goals that we are trying to meet

[2:57:13] here.

[2:57:14] So we have our housing production strategy.

[2:57:16] Very quantifiable is in rezoning, we can rezone to provide X number.

[2:57:21] We could say this rezoned would allow this X number of housing units great.

[2:57:26] Okay, and then we have a production strategy that sets some targets and whatnot, and that's just a piece of that overall strategy.

[2:57:32] And then when we look at these code, the code audit, are we trying to, you know, do we have like time metrics?

[2:57:38] I mean, we heard feedback by least on the staff level that actually, they feel like the permitting process is pretty smooth, you know,

[2:57:45] and that they are turning permits around the biggest problem is just incomplete applications.

[2:57:49] So are we trying to reduce the number of incomplete applications by making the code simpler as that reason for the incomplete?

[2:57:55] I don't know, it would just be good to set some of these metrics, so then down the road we can say,

[2:57:59] hey, we spent Metro's great money, which is, you know, our money, our tax money, and it was a

[2:58:06] good exercise, because we streamlined the code, but it did, it also met these metrics that we were

[2:58:12] trying, you know, to, to, to gauge the work against. So that would be a helpful thing, I think, to

[2:58:18] kind of set that from the outlet, what are our goals in regards to these different parts of this

[2:58:24] overall audit. And when are we going to, how can we measure them? And some of it not

[2:58:29] all everything is quantifiable, but to the best of our ability, I think that would be helpful

[2:58:34] in general, because we all like accountability in this work, so we're not just doing it,

[2:58:37] because it was a thing to do. And we see this like in housing production, right? Nationwide housing

[2:58:42] shortage, what's everyone doing? Oh, well, we're going to streamline the code. That's great,

[2:58:46] because it's like a thing that everyone can do, but is it actually producing more housing? I mean,

[2:58:52] It's not bad, it's true.

[2:58:54] And code is a great thing.

[2:58:54] We all agree with that, but then what is actually going to produce, and a lot of that's

[2:58:58] outside of our control, which is actually such a big question, that's why everyone just

[2:59:01] goes to these little things, oh well, let's do away with this, so let's do away with public

[2:59:06] input.

[2:59:07] But those are not really the things that are standing in the way of housing, and then especially

[2:59:13] with regards to public input, it's just undercutting people's faith in government, and I think

[2:59:18] going to have, it has the opposite, the fact that people find other ways to stand against

[2:59:23] these, such a bringing people along and understand how these can be really positive changes

[2:59:27] for the community.

[2:59:29] So, a lot of challenges, but I think that we can, I mean, we always try to always try to

[2:59:38] validate that faith people have in the local government process by, and demonstrating that

[2:59:45] trust by being accountable to the things that we're doing.

[2:59:49] So this is a great, great project, complicated.

[2:59:52] I think that we can set those goals and desire it outcomes.

[2:59:56] And then a timeline at which to kind of look and review them, it would be.

[3:00:00] And even looking back on some things we've done before. I can have these been effective.

[3:00:07] And then involving, I guess I'm am curious how this work on economic development. How will that, this kind of, this is kind of code related stuff, and it tying it into like then our upcoming economic development work plan a little bit. Is it kind of fit in there?

[3:00:26] That's our understanding. So we're focused on the code piece. There's a lot of other components, like the sign code, like permitting building permits that are going to be outside the scope, but we're going to do what we can to make sure for instance the desired business types of people would like to see that those are uses that are permitted and the commercial sounds, things of that nature.

[3:00:46] And if there is a certain kind of tenant improvement that's triggering land use review frequently, maybe we want to look at

[3:00:53] you know changing the thresholds or something of that nature. We haven't gotten too deep into that yet, but that will be part of our next.

[3:01:01] But you mentioned this like hype. So there's just types of businesses that aren't found in the use table.

[3:01:08] There are, and there's some flexibility for, after interpret or the director to interpret, but there are also just emerging business models or businesses that include two types of pieces that are struggle to define.

[3:01:22] And that goes from the use all the way through SDC charges, what are we classifying this for

[3:01:27] it's a development charges, things like that.

[3:01:29] I think we have some zones too that really restrict the type of business and it's not really

[3:01:35] logical because it's supposed to like for instance a zone that's supposed to be less intense,

[3:01:39] but it allows them more tense, it doesn't allow, but less intense.

[3:01:43] I don't know who came up with the list, but there's some of that.

[3:01:46] Isn't that?

[3:01:47] Well, we've found that even though we could downtown.

[3:01:49] It was an idea.

[3:01:51] Well, we found that downtown at Lake New Village.

[3:01:53] I mean, we as a well, it's going to be this retail center.

[3:01:55] Then, of course, they kept coming over the years and saying,

[3:01:58] well, we can't find these kind of tenants, but we just kept,

[3:02:00] I think at one point, we just said, yeah,

[3:02:02] just, I mean, whoever you can put in there, just like put it in there.

[3:02:05] Well, so do you have future modeling that you're working

[3:02:08] off of commercial development?

[3:02:12] I mean, in the sense of, I mean, used to be a kind of model of saying,

[3:02:16] okay, you have to have this much retail,

[3:02:19] I think we need guidance as a city to say, hey, we need flexible code to take us into the future,

[3:02:29] because there's just not one was the last time that a retail store started.

[3:02:34] I mean, it's we're hoping that we have the retail stores and we're going to stay in business.

[3:02:38] I mean, I'm survived.

[3:02:40] But I don't know, I guess from your expertise in suggesting the types of flexibility, I guess

[3:02:48] in our zoning to make sure that we attract as many businesses we can that would fit the

[3:02:55] right formula of what's to come.

[3:02:58] So if that makes sense.

[3:03:01] We do have a marketing specialist on the team who's been doing a lot of work in like a

[3:03:09] kind of the sweet spot for making sure that you're activating the public realm and all the things that

[3:03:14] the code is trying to do, but also allowing some flexibility for perhaps new types of businesses.

[3:03:21] I think the brick and mortar business world has changed a bit in the rest several years.

[3:03:26] I mean, I know we need a ton more hairstyles, face, faux talks, we need all the, all the, I mean,

[3:03:36] But I'm saying, we've almost become over-inundated with exercise studios, I mean, they're great because the parking lots are full, but it's just trying to figure that part out for us.

[3:03:51] So yeah, we did, and I didn't mention that, but we do have a marketing specialist on the team who's very familiar with the like us we go market.

[3:03:57] That's fine.

[3:03:58] I'm also to guide this work, we're going to put together this ad hoc technical advisory

[3:04:04] stack resolution.

[3:04:07] That's the next thing on the last thing to last request, I must say anybody else wants to

[3:04:12] speak about the project, but yes, we're requesting that you're approved resolution 2652 to

[3:04:19] form an ad hoc, code audit, technical advisory committee, and at the next council, probably

[3:04:27] will be on the consent agenda to assign the members.

[3:04:32] So we're going to work on that.

[3:04:33] We're going to work on that.

[3:04:35] I got ideas.

[3:04:36] Evan, I did want to ask, because as I was mentioning before, it's great we have, I think one of

[3:04:44] the billets on the tack is, you know, for a builder with experience in all of which, of

[3:04:49] sense that it might be good to get someone who doesn't who has been kind of, you know,

[3:04:55] code-coded out of L-O because of, you know, the gospel according to Evan. And, um,

[3:05:02] he has something to do with my fight. Maybe someone familiar. Just to get that perspective

[3:05:07] for some of the works in a different, you know, because we're just going to get, you know,

[3:05:11] there's an element of this that's a little protectionist too, so I think we got to be careful.

[3:05:16] I don't know.

[3:05:19] Yes, we should get together and discuss, maybe there's enough flexibility on there for us.

[3:05:24] Yeah, we can add other members, right now the list is kind of small, but yes, we can

[3:05:29] do that.

[3:05:31] Just don't make it too big that it's a good emotion, yes, that's what we're trying to

[3:05:34] approve it.

[3:05:36] Prove resolution 2652 to form an ad hoc code of it, technical advisory committee.

[3:05:44] That's okay.

[3:05:46] Okay, well, motion made by, okay, councilman's in second with my councilor afghan.

[3:05:51] Is there any further discussion on the tack?

[3:05:54] No, no. Okay, I'll vote some fair to say aye.

[3:05:56] Aye. Aye.

[3:05:56] The opposed.

[3:05:57] Emotion passes seven zero.

[3:05:59] All right.

[3:06:00] Evan Lee, Karen, thank you all very much.

[3:06:02] We really appreciate it.

[3:06:02] Thank you so much. Thank you.

[3:06:04] Thank you.

[3:06:04] Good luck.

[3:06:07] May the force be with you.

[3:06:12] Well, tonight is a notable night.

[3:06:15] because it's a sad night in a way, but a night of gratitude because this is lens

[3:06:20] last meeting with the council. It is not an easy job to come in and serve in a

[3:06:26] temporary position in the city. There's limitations on it. But it's a very important job

[3:06:33] and Lin came into L.O. of course, Lin has been in L.O. It's been very special to have a long

[3:06:40] time, neighbor, like land, someone who's been so engaged at a statewide level at a regional

[3:06:45] level, and a local level for so many years serve in this really critical role and get

[3:06:51] back to the community in this way. And coming out of challenging time, it is never easy

[3:06:56] to come into any organization that's in the middle of a transition at a time where many people

[3:07:02] are learning of that transition right at that moment and come in as the leader. When people

[3:07:09] know that it's time limited to, you know, we all know that those dynamics can be very challenging,

[3:07:14] but Lynn definitely, you did not operate like someone who's only going to be here for six

[3:07:20] months. You really shepherded the organization through this time of change. You brought in so many new

[3:07:29] ideas.

[3:07:30] New energy. New, you did so much community engagement out, meeting with neighbors, meeting with folks in, I mean, of all types, in the business community, dealing with the kind of day-to-day issues of people, I mean, really want you to be at a long time. We heard so much good feedback from folks on you being, yeah, you're so solutions oriented to the problem, so proactive.

[3:07:56] you provided me just individually so much support on the regional things that I do that I

[3:08:02] want to say I never had my time as mayor. So it was so great. I felt like I had the biggest

[3:08:07] expert right in my year and all times. And so I'm really going to miss working with you, but

[3:08:12] just wanted to extend on behalf of the community, our most sincere gratitude to all the

[3:08:20] energy, all the care, and passion you brought with you to this job.

[3:08:25] You've touched this organization in a special way and really prepared us for this

[3:08:30] next transition with Denzel coming in, you set everyone up here for success and I just

[3:08:36] can't thank you enough.

[3:08:42] Honored to come back, but it is also humbling when you are looking at a code audit on things

[3:08:47] that I passed 20 years ago.

[3:08:50] You made these all the ways.

[3:08:52] Apologies for all the overlays.

[3:08:55] That is you.

[3:08:56] We know.

[3:08:58] Everybody's special.

[3:08:59] Everybody's unique.

[3:09:02] It has been an honor.

[3:09:04] I couldn't have done it without your leadership.

[3:09:07] You guys were open and always there and available.

[3:09:12] And I really appreciate that.

[3:09:14] And the staff were just amazing.

[3:09:17] Thank you to all of you who are still here.

[3:09:23] And it has been refreshing to see the level of dedication inside the agency to make the city the amazingness that it is and why we all want to stay here for so long.

[3:09:37] So, thank you, keep doing the good work. I will be cheering from the sidelines. We'll serve on any committee.

[3:09:43] in the future and really look forward to this next phase of like us we go and the

[3:09:53] shepherding that's you're all whether you're here for three four months or whether

[3:09:58] you're back out in the community or you're on council I know that there will be

[3:10:01] shepherding going on to make sure that the big things that y'all started get done.

[3:10:07] So thank you. Thank you for your.

[3:10:10] Thank you.

[3:10:11] You're a leadership.

[3:10:13] I do.

[3:10:25] colleagues?

[3:10:27] Bad?

[3:10:28] I don't know.

[3:10:29] I know we're all eager to go and celebrate when

[3:10:31] after name.

[3:10:32] But first we have an executive session.

[3:10:34] Yeah.

[3:10:34] I'm sure there's people just going out of her.

[3:10:36] So, Erica, would you like to

[3:10:39] read a sense of executive session please?

[3:10:42] I'd like us to go City Council,

[3:10:43] not meet an executive session under or

[3:10:45] S192.660 sub 2 sub D to conduct deliberations with

[3:10:50] person's designated to carry on labor negotiations and subsection F to consider information

[3:10:55] or records that are exempt by law from public inspection for to pursuant to or S192.660

[3:11:02] subpoor representatives of the news media are excluded from this executive session.

[3:11:06] No final decisions will be made at the end of this session.

[3:11:09] We will adjourn the meeting.

[3:11:10] Thank you very much.

[3:11:12] We are going to conduct the executive session in the side room.

[3:11:16] We will, as Eric mentioned, this will conclude the broadcast portion of the meeting, but

[3:11:20] are going to recess and then what we can be in the side room.

September 15, 2026 Lake Oswego City Council Meeting

Transcript