[0:09] All right, follow this meeting to order. Today we have a special call meeting of

[0:13] city council followed by uh uh several committee meetings.

[0:19] So, we're going to start out with this. Before I I start, I want to recognize

[0:22] two new two new members of our leader team uh who have come on board today. Uh

[0:27] city administrator David Pollson. >> Thank you, M. finance director Britney

[0:31] Martin. >> And yesterday was their first day and we

[0:34] just look forward to working with both of you. Thank you.

[0:37] » Thank you. >> All right, start with a moment of

[0:40] silence.

[1:11] All right.

[1:18] To the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation

[1:25] under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all

[1:31] » has been able to

[1:38] now. >> Good.

[1:41] Good. And I also want to start that uh Mr. also will be leaving at 6:00. He is

[1:46] going to be recognized for his service with the city of Pamilton. Yes, sir.

[1:51] » And sir, thank you. >> Great honor that they're giving you. We

[1:54] speak to all of you. >> Thank you very much. I appreciate you

[1:56] letting me do that. >> Uh we have next the approval of the

[2:01] agenda. Uh is there a motion that we approve the agenda

[2:07] » for disposal or everyone? >> This is just for the special meeting and

[2:12] I need Well, I'm going to make an amendment that

[2:16] Let me make the amend. I'm making motion we amend this agenda and add select old

[2:22] JRSA uh representative.

[2:27] » I make a recommendation to amend also >> on this agenda.

[2:35] » Okay. Whichever one that's a motion. Is there a second

[2:39] motion and a second? >> Is there any discussion on the

[2:42] amendment? All those in favor signify by saying I.

[2:46] » No hand raising. Okay. I >> All those in favor of Lendez.

[2:52] All those in favor of approving the agenda as amended signify by saying I.

[2:56] » I. >> All right.

[2:59] » So that will be the uh the first thing we're going to go into is last year

[3:05] council recognized city of Wajala employees

[3:09] [snorts] uh throughout the month of September.

[3:13] We've dedicated this to uh a commitment to continue each year recognizing the

[3:20] hard work of our city employees uh every September because without our city

[3:25] employees we would not succeed their dedication their teamwork and I can site

[3:30] 100 examples of it over the past year uh our streets and our water crews who

[3:38] [snorts] looked at a lot lately to our public safety officials to throw out all

[3:43] of it. We we just owe you a debt of appreciation. And I'm going to read a

[3:48] quick uh resit ourselves to having September and it's employee appreciation

[3:53] month. Uh in August of 2025, the city of Wallala passed resolution 2025-05

[4:00] to recognize the month of September as Wallala City employee appreciation

[4:04] month. Again this year, we as city council recognize and honor your hard

[4:08] work and dedication to making our city the very best it can be. We know you

[4:13] take pride in your work and we want to extend thanks to each of you for your

[4:16] loyalty. During September, our local businesses and your council will offer

[4:21] small gestures of appreciation. We want you to know that your efforts do not go

[4:25] unnoticed. Your service is the cornerstone of

[4:29] making Walla a great place for families, business visitors, and the community at

[4:34] large. And on behalf of all council, I thank you.

[4:38] Uh, we all need to sign this. So, we need a motion that we accept this as a

[4:42] resolution. >> Motion second. All those in favor

[4:47] signify. I >> I'm not even asking for.

[4:53] [applause] >> Next issue is uh the approval of a bid

[4:58] for the CARET restoration project. Will you take us through that? Uh, Mr. F. I'd

[5:05] be glad to do that. I actually have Mr. Rich here. He can give you some maybe

[5:08] just a uh a background of where we're at and where we're moving forward on that

[5:12] if you'd like to hear from him. >> Absolutely. Absolutely.

[5:18] » Stand forward, please. >> Okay.

[5:22] » You're welcome to use this if you want. >> Very good.

[5:27] » Appreciate being here, Mr. Mayor. Council, thank you. Um to give you some

[5:32] background on this project, uh the city applied for a grant to the NRCS

[5:37] um after Helen to go in and clean up Cane Creek and to restore some of the

[5:47] stream bank issues. And so we worked through plans permitting. Um and then we

[5:54] took bids on the 20th. We received four bids. We have the project broke up three

[6:00] divisions. Uh the three divisions are as follows. Division one uh was cleaning

[6:07] approximately a two-mile portion of the creek, basically snagging the the fallen

[6:13] trees and debris, cleaning the creek out and

[6:19] mulching that that debris. Uh division two

[6:25] same same issue just a different two miles of the stream and division three

[6:32] was going in and basically restoring the stream bank in problem areas. So we we

[6:40] found approximately 25 problem areas that the stream needed to be um

[6:47] refurbished. So uh we took bids on the 20th. We received four bids for each of

[6:53] each division. Contractor by the name of JL Construction Construction

[7:00] um >> LJ

[7:01] » LJ I'm sorry LJ Construction

[7:07] LJ Contracting apologize. Uh they were the low bid on division one and division

[7:12] 2. So you should have received letters of recommendation for awarding the bid

[7:19] to LJ Contracting Incorporated. We have not worked with LJ in the past. So we

[7:26] requested them to provide contractor qualifications for our specifications.

[7:31] Uh they provided that along with um uh references that we could call and and

[7:39] check and we did. We talked to their reference and of course they're going to

[7:44] give good references but the references that we talked to were dependable for um

[7:49] LJ contracting. So we feel that they can give you a a

[7:54] good um product good project for cleaning out

[8:01] approximately miles of the creek if you award division one and two to them. the

[8:07] low bid for um division three uh contractor

[8:13] that I understand does for the town for the city. Um this

[8:19] would be Jatar Incorporated. Um division three is going in and repairing the

[8:25] stream banks and um I don't see any reason that they would

[8:31] not give you a good project as well. Um so alto together these projects are just

[8:37] over the three divisions are just a million

[8:41] dollars. Um the grant is for approximately $3 million. So we're

[8:46] actually under budget um on the grant. Um the caveat to it is that we've got a

[8:53] short time frame on it. Everything is supposed to be finished by um November.

[9:01] We are requesting additional time. Um the state engineer and project manager

[9:09] on this project have given us indication that we may be able to get extra time.

[9:17] They just have not been able to award extra time yet. So that'll be the topic

[9:21] of discussion as we move forward the November 1 time frame. Um but with that

[9:29] um it's my recommendation that that council um accept these low bids and

[9:37] contingent on NRCS

[9:42] that we have bid for division one to LJ contracting division 2 to LJ contracting

[9:51] division three to >> okay thank Couple questions. Um,

[9:59] when you say November 1, does that mean for project completion?

[10:02] » Yes, sir. >> And any of our contractors indicate they

[10:07] would be able to meet specific timelines that would enable us to

[10:12] » they did not. They they feel that time is of the essence. If they can get

[10:16] started, they can they can complete. >> Okay. And then the next question I have

[10:21] is okay. Can you believe that they can be extended? That seems like a very

[10:25] short I'm optimistic. >> Next question I have is that's way under

[10:30] bed. Is it possible to continue ask for uh more time

[10:35] as well in order to project? >> That'll be question number two, sir. We

[10:39] will um we will definitely try to expand the project and there's already been

[10:44] other ideas come up that we could improve parts of this this project. So

[10:50] So yes, that will that will be in the in the

[10:56] right now. >> Yes, sir.

[10:59] » Is there any other questions? Does anyone have any

[11:05] motion to acceptation that award phase one and two LJ contracting phase three

[11:10] to Jor?

[11:16] Any more discussion? >> All in favor signify by raising your we

[11:23] » I [laughter] And we I can see you raise your hand.

[11:26] Any all oppose? >> That's unanimous. All right. Thank you

[11:31] very much. >> Thank you.

[11:33] » Uh the third item is the amendment. Uh we currently have as a representative on

[11:39] the regional sewer authority. Uh our former administrator

[11:44] Myers was gracious enough to really remain on as a representative. She has a

[11:50] lot of background on this, a lot of knowledge of what's been going on and uh

[11:54] she remain through the end of uh of August and we are now there. So uh we

[12:01] need another appointee to represent the city and uh I would I would uh

[12:07] traditionally has been city administrator. So uh I would put forward

[12:13] uh our new city administrator Davidson.

[12:20] [cough] >> Any discussion?

[12:24] So this will involve replacing Mers with Mr.

[12:33] All in favor, please signify by saying

[12:38] » Mr. Paul, will you please not change

[12:43] » and see?

[12:48] All right, that took us exactly 14 minutes.

[12:56] » Motion second.

[12:58] » Motion and a second. All those in favor say I.

[13:03] » There you go. Meeting a journ. We're going to go into

[13:08] council meetings. Um, first one's going to be public the public utilities

[13:14] committee. David Underwood is the Sorry.

[13:20] » Okay. Jesse, hold on. Jesse Bunning is on that committee and I will remind

[13:25] everyone those of us who are on exit, those who are on committee, please

[13:30] request permission of the chair to comment.

[13:35] I'll make motion that we move the agenda to

[13:40] we're going to talk about the report of the Wala water advisory ad hoc committee

[13:45] water utility reorganization soon.

[14:01] All right.

[14:07] Um, could you hold up?

[14:21] This is a this is a screenshot of a um u of a test that was u taken from a home

[14:30] in our water system. I have a picture of a filter.

[14:37] These are it. It was uh installed on 5426.

[14:43] I personally was contacted by these two families. The one that took the uh the

[14:48] sample and the one for the filter. Um this is what we hear here. Bad water or

[14:56] the filters are extremely dirty and cloth. These two issues are what I hear

[15:01] and a lot of These families reached these families

[15:05] reached out to me personally both worried about the health effects of

[15:08] their family. I would like to give the administrator both families

[15:13] uh contact numbers

[15:17] and so he can contact them directly and facilitate a sample to be taken any any

[15:24] and all resources so the f using any and all resources so that the families in

[15:28] the city have answers so that we can work together and get this corrected and

[15:33] maybe it might answer a lot of questions that are on the mind of others within

[15:37] the Mahala water district. I do not I do or we as council know what is causing

[15:44] this, but we're here to ask questions and try to get answers so we we can all

[15:49] be informed and make corrections whether it's on the city or it's on the

[15:54] individual customer and see if we can work to get this resolved. I've uh

[15:58] invited Mr. Tommy Krooks here today. He's the chief operator for the uh for

[16:03] the water plant. >> Mr. Mr. Chair, can I ask a question?

[16:08] That water test that you brought forward, was that a test by the city or

[16:12] was >> No, sir. That was a test taken by an

[16:13] individual. So that's the reason why I'm going.

[16:16] » So he purchased that test commercially. The individual he or she

[16:19] » Yes. >> purchased that test commercially and

[16:22] took it on his own. >> Yes.

[16:24] » And posted the result or sent you the results. I'm not sure.

[16:27] » He sent. >> Okay.

[16:31] » And the same with those filters. >> Yes. But they reached out to me

[16:35] personally. They're concerned about the their issues with their health. So, we

[16:40] I'm not just going to put that to the side. We need to get not blaming

[16:44] anybody. We need to find out what's causing this. So, or even if there is,

[16:49] you know, calling the subject, the expert on it, which is Tommy. So, I'm

[16:54] going to let uh talk about it. Tom, if you would come up here, please.

[17:01] » Yeah. He's just going to I'd like for him to explain the process of the

[17:06] testing and you know whatever else. If anything come anybody got a question

[17:10] please ask

[17:14] this is what our bad sample looks like. I made this stuck my finger in it so it

[17:21] turned immediately you know to 24 hours and it turned bad. If it had a collide,

[17:27] it would flues.

[17:37] This is a sample that's got sodium sulfate in it.

[17:41] » What does that do, Tom? >> It kills the instantly. So that if we

[17:45] have any bacteria in the water, it will grow.

[17:52] This is our finished water. That's the water that's coming out of the plant.

[17:56] And >> last, this is last night sample. It's

[18:00] been incubated 24 hours. And you can see it's not

[18:03] » What does it mean to be incubated? So I just kind of explain that a little bit.

[18:06] » We put it in an incubator that's the same temperature as the human body. And

[18:12] so if something can grow, it'll grow. We

[18:25] We add a packet of color to it which is growth media that allows any germs in

[18:32] there to grow. >> So you do that on this this you samples

[18:37] you would add that one sample. >> Yes. 100 mil samples. We do it all the

[18:42] samples. How many samples do you take a day on

[18:48] just that or everything? >> Sampling process.

[18:52] » What's your sampling? How many times a day do you do it? How many times a month

[18:55] do you do? Where do you do it? >> All right. We calibrate lab equipment

[18:59] twice daily. >> What does that mean?

[19:03] » That's just to check our machines to make their right before we run a sample

[19:07] on. We take our total organic compounds on

[19:13] finish. We check for trihalomemethanes on the finish and halosinic acid on the

[19:22] finish. Uh THMs are caused when um particles in the water sit in high

[19:31] chlorine for a long time. That's carcenic and unconscious.

[19:39] Uh could you explain that just we go back to some of you some of the acron I

[19:44] didn't know this you test them so what what would that be test for kind of

[19:50] explain that a little bit [clears throat]

[19:52] » what you just talked about >> yes what is that

[19:57] phalamethan >> okay what's that do I don't

[20:02] » they're carcenic if you've ever looked at your water and you seen those little

[20:06] look like hair maybe floating there little particles.

[20:10] » Well, if those particles sit in high chlorinated water for an extended period

[20:15] of time, they become thor.

[20:20] So, we're good on that. And halic acid, it's also a carcinogenic. It could cause

[20:28] cancer. It's u when oak leaves and and stuff like that

[20:35] rot in the water. Yes. And we get the

[20:42] whatever they give off comes into the plant. And it

[20:46] » So you take that? >> Yes. No. No. We check those two once you

[20:50] once we we check them randomly for like one time and then we're good for two or

[20:56] three years. >> Okay.

[20:59] We check the chlorine at least times daily and it's also online on the

[21:04] computer and we're pretty much watching it at all times so we don't you know run

[21:09] out. We check the finished water turidity

[21:13] which is in this

[21:18] that's when I left just just way put this in the little machine and it would

[21:23] read it and tell us this is about a 00700

[21:29] so >> turbidity is that correct

[21:32] » sir >> turbidity is cloudiness particulate

[21:37] » [clears throat]

[21:40] » All right. We check our coine 12 times daily. It's on the benchtop online.

[21:46] We finish our check our finished turbidity

[21:51] um about 12 times daily. We check the phosphate in the water one

[21:56] time. Iron one time. Alkalinity we check daily. Hardness we check daily. Hardness

[22:03] is like if you were at the beat and you had your soap and it don't lather up, it

[22:08] don't foam up. Well, it doesn't have any. It's too hard. So, we don't have a

[22:14] problem. We check the maganese daily. The um conical daily. This is the

[22:22] cornicle. This is the water out of the lake as it

[22:27] comes into the plant. check check it to get a basis of what bacteria is in it.

[22:34] Uh this is today's we had 138 colonies of feal civor in one of these.

[22:42] We had two of ecoli in one of these. That's pretty clean water.

[22:49] » That's when it comes in. You can clean that.

[22:52] » That's the regular lake water right there.

[22:54] » Right. Okay. That's in the water before you clean Then we'll turn around at the

[22:58] same time and we'll test the water going out of the plant to make sure all that

[23:02] is. And they call it log. We have to have a

[23:07] 99.99 kill rate. So if we don't do that, we

[23:13] » and all this is logged every day. >> Y'all log this every day. Okay.

[23:20] We check manganesees daily, the clinical daily, the presence of

[23:26] absent bacteria is what this is called. We check it daily.

[23:31] Um the raw turbidity which is the turbidity

[23:38] the basically the dirt in our lake water.

[23:44] Speaking of that, what you know you see under the picture people in their houses

[23:49] got you know you see stuff coming out looks like dirty water. Uh what could

[23:53] cause that? >> You mean

[23:57] dingy water or whatever. >> Yes. It looks like blood sometimes. So

[24:03] » that probably more likely be from the construction.

[24:06] And u >> what can they do? They need to contact

[24:12] the city to get that. There's a way to clean that out.

[24:15] » Zane, we pull their meter and let them flush it.

[24:19] » We would they call us, we we come up there, pull their meter out where it

[24:23] don't cost them money and let run till it clears up.

[24:27] » That's about the only thing you can do. U

[24:32] lead copper. I think we check the pH on the raw and the finish constantly.

[24:38] We check for sodium every 3 years. We check gross alpha every 3 years. That's

[24:44] radiation. We check for radiation in the water is from uranium and radium. And

[24:52] they're naturally in the ground and they'll bleed off into the water. Um

[25:01] we check for Garia and cryptosperidium. Garia is a cyst that can grow in the

[25:08] water. Most of it is always filtered through a filter and gi that gets in. We

[25:15] check for cryptosperidium. It's a parasite.

[25:18] » Our filters mostly take it out. >> So we filter for that.

[25:23] » Sir, >> they filter that out at the water.

[25:25] » Yes sir. It's bigger than five microns. We can take anything out that's bigger

[25:31] than that. And so that that gets through um the distribution

[25:39] we've got 40 samples sample size and we do 20 a month.

[25:46] » So distribution now y'all go around to the system this fall.

[25:49] » Yes sir. Yes sir. And we do five a week and they're always in a section and then

[25:55] the next month we switch over to a whole new list and

[26:00] back and forth back and forth. How far out do you go to test those during those

[26:04] 20 tests a month? Do you go to the end of the line or halfway or

[26:08] » they're broken up? Uh we try to go around the perimeter of our system

[26:14] because that's where we going to have the biggest change to the lowest floor

[26:17] where we would but we also check it up town like parties or the library and

[26:22] different places up town.

[26:27] If we do pull a bad sample, we test upstream from the like if your house is

[26:33] here, we'll test the house below you and the house above you and we'll test you

[26:37] to see see if it's in the section.

[26:43] » [snorts] >> We have very few of those and

[26:47] most of the time we have one somebody accidentally got their finger on the

[26:51] bowl or something like that and or set the lid down upside down and

[26:57] something fell in it but just any little speck it'll cause it'll cause to have a

[27:03] bad sign. >> So it's not necessarily more

[27:06] contamination from your fingers, from the faucet, whatever. Right.

[27:09] » Yes.

[27:12] Usually we try to take alcohol and alcohol the stick where we draw in the

[27:19] sample to make sure that it's we don't get it from the outside of the spor

[27:36] everything I can assure you is coming out of that water That is a good part.

[27:41] We That's my reputation actually. And I'm not going to

[27:46] » Well, EPA says it is. EPA testing says it is too. So,

[27:50] » yes. And JK and everything's logged and recorded, they can come and look at it

[27:56] at any time. And um

[28:01] if they catch you falsifying or something like down to the jail, that's

[28:08] [laughter] >> and you lose your operator's license.

[28:11] And it took about four years to get your operator's license. Plus, you have to

[28:15] apprentice for four years. So, you don't want to lose that.

[28:20] It's a pretty good job. And so, any questions? Anybody

[28:28] on council got a question? >> They'd like to I feel like the the brown

[28:36] water or whatever is all summer long we've been tearing out

[28:41] pipes and putting in pipes and and then we had some breaks. Well, that

[28:46] sediment's always in your line. So, when we have a break and it goes to running

[28:51] down that pipe, well, it stirs it every bit up.

[28:54] » Well, that's talking about when the tanks so we we we had the line

[28:59] break out at the hospital and the tanks went down. So the board advisories

[29:06] could you explain that a little bit more?

[29:09] Well, we we feel like that when we have a break until we can take these samples

[29:15] and make sure that everything's okay, we have people boil their water to make

[29:20] sure that they're not getting, you know, bacteria or germs or whatever. U

[29:26] and then as soon as we get a good sample, we take the B bowl advisory

[29:32] over. So [snorts] >> we we had it explained to us earlier as

[29:36] precautionary. >> We had it explained to us earlier as

[29:40] precautionary. That doesn't mean the water's contaminated.

[29:44] » It's just precautionary because the pressure went

[29:46] » Yes, sir. Yes, sir. When we lose pressure on a line, say there's a mud

[29:50] hole here beside our line and a little bitty small hole in it we don't know

[29:55] about. When we lose that pressure, that mud hole is going to go into our pipe.

[29:59] So, we just do this to make sure nothing like that's happened. And then once we

[30:04] get the chlorine back, nothing's living in there. So we use a

[30:12] free chlorine which when the clean the water say

[30:18] this will turn red. That red is an indicator that everything

[30:24] in here has been sterilized and that's the leftover chlorine. That's the

[30:28] amazing thing about So we're we're riding this down the pipe with leftover

[30:33] chlorine. So if something did happen, we still got extra chlorine in here to take

[30:38] care of it. >> You hear a lot of times people say,

[30:41] "Well, I smell pouring in my house." Is there way is or I smell it in the water?

[30:46] So what what causes that? And uh >> evaporation

[30:53] most of the time when you smell chlorine, it's slow.

[30:57] » That's I don't know why. That's what that taught us. Can I say [snorts]

[31:00] something? >> I agree with Tommy on that because when

[31:04] I walk up to the swimming pool when I'm doing the chemicals on it, if you smell

[31:08] chlorine, you go check it. It's low. Okay.

[31:13] » Is it going to hurt you though? I mean, >> if you have low chlorine,

[31:17] » I mean, >> well, it could if like if you had no

[31:22] chlorine, you could get bacteria. That's what makes me think about these filters.

[31:26] If we're filtering out chlorine at your house, then the water in your house can

[31:33] technically have bacteria in it because there's no chlorine. You took it out. It

[31:38] should be clean coming in. But if you worked on your plumbing or something

[31:41] like that, a main thing is a hose pipe. Your hose

[31:46] pipes laid out sunk. So, if you've left the tap on the spigot, the hose pipe,

[31:54] well, you've always had the tap off and you see your hose pipe and it's got

[31:58] pressure. >> Well, that's because the heat [snorts]

[32:02] expanded the swelled up in your hose pipe. Well, the minute you turn your

[32:07] faucet on in the house, goes right in your house. That could be contamination

[32:13] from your hose pipe.

[32:17] So, I'm not really sure about the filters.

[32:22] » I don't think we could check a house. We check it, but if you're taking the

[32:28] chlorine out that we're putting in, I don't know how how that would stack

[32:33] up. >> I just think we need to maybe go a

[32:36] little bit further and maybe ask, you know, maybe, you know, you know, we need

[32:42] to if there's an answer out there, we need to find a defense. So,

[32:49] main thing is them touching base with us and letting us know and we can take care

[32:53] of it. >> But and these bottles, not that green

[32:58] bottle

[33:01] that right there, you got bad sump. Bad sump.

[33:07] Something floating around falls in here. Bad sump. And you can have a bad sump in

[33:12] many ways. So

[33:17] if we get a bad sample, we go back and we test your faucet. We test your house

[33:23] and we test the 11 and above to make double sure that it's not in our water.

[33:30] » Could Could we ask Mr. Chairman?

[33:34] » Yes, sir. >> Could we ask our You've got two

[33:37] individuals who reached out to you. I'm going to let the administrator

[33:41] facilitate that test. He's going to talk to them. He's got their I'm going to

[33:44] give them their contact numbers. He can contact them and set that up.

[33:49] » Well, we'll be able to report back the results of that.

[33:52] » That's I want it on record. That way, whatever we learners, we can share that

[33:58] with the public, we learn something, too. And we're all working together. So,

[34:02] » okay. I'll put up the agenda for the 15th council meeting and have that

[34:06] reported

[34:10] something bottles. That's all they got. One time use bottle.

[34:17] » Yeah, we spend uh between the bottles, that little packet

[34:22] there, we spend about $3500,

[34:27] at least $3,500 over three months just for the bottles and the little packet.

[34:33] And when the bottles come in, we check the lot number to make sure that all the

[34:37] bottles are it's a good lot. We check we check the growth media, make sure that

[34:42] it's doing this stuff. We we double check, triple check, and

[34:48] I mean we don't want bad water running out of

[34:53] our water plant. We kind of stand on that.

[34:56] » Who's responsible for the fling program? kind of I'm doing that sometimes.

[35:05] » Is that >> Yes.

[35:09] » We flush we flush when we have like line breaks samples. I

[35:16] ate through Tommy bottle. I pulled probably over 30 samples.

[35:22] Do we have a flushing program? Like if there's a like a

[35:27] like a trouble area cuz I know I've got a blow off on our cold site we had for

[35:32] 10 years now. >> I'd like to locate some of the problem

[35:37] areas and look at that and maybe uh put some uh automatic flushing systems on

[35:43] there to alleviate that. So [snorts] all right if I could have actually 15.

[35:50] Anybody got any?

[35:55] » Thank you, Mr. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[35:59] » Thank you so much. >> Thank you.

[36:10] » That could be part of your committee report.

[36:14] » Any action that we took to remediate a problem if they find

[36:23] I've got I want to introduce everybody to Miss Kathy West. She's a code

[36:28] enforcement for the city. She's a willing super and uh Tommy

[36:35] Crooks has just left and Zane Thompson. So what I would like to talk about is a

[36:40] report from the uh from the ad hoc committee.

[36:45] So at the end of 2025 was done by the wala advisory ad hoc committee. This was

[36:50] a very important and neat study that was done by the members of our community and

[36:55] employees is not that does not need to be taken lightly and with the incoming

[36:59] of a new city city administrator take a hard look at this report and implement

[37:04] the things they have recommended if possible or not we need to explain. So

[37:09] let's get started during this. If y'all if we say anything, you want to add

[37:13] anything, please do so. So, but I'm going to go to court uh and and and talk

[37:18] about it. So, um interesting. The wilder water advisory ad hoc committee

[37:24] conducted a detailed study of communication practices within the city

[37:28] of Walla's water department. This interviews with a with a water director,

[37:33] discussing with city administrative staff and water department employees,

[37:38] conversations with customers inside and outside the city, review of public

[37:43] concerns, communications and service related challenges. The purpose of this

[37:49] report is to provide recommendations that improve communication, reduce

[37:53] confusion, and support the wala support water department staff and

[37:59] customer service across the entire system.

[38:03] So recommendation first one improve phone contact options and enhance

[38:09] customer access of the water department. The most consistent raised during

[38:15] interviews and discussions was a was the difficulty

[38:20] customers experienced when trying to reach the water department by phone.

[38:24] Many reported long hold time voicemail only options are difficulty reaching a

[38:30] live representative. It must be emphasized that the two boys currently

[38:34] tasked with answering the phones are doing an excellent job. They are

[38:38] knowledgeable, courteous, and committed to helping others. However, the call

[38:42] volume with constant walk-in traffic has overwhelmed their capacity resulting in

[38:48] unavoidable delays and stress. So, I think we've done a changes to our

[38:54] phone system. >> So, we addition of the online form. I

[39:00] don't answer the phone up there tell you what the call volume is like.

[39:05] » Um, but >> is it

[39:07] » we added the the online form the phone systems because the system

[39:14] will not allow them to pick up out of a queue. it will just put the call in onto

[39:20] their phone which if they have someone at the counter you're going to upset the

[39:24] person who's standing there because they've got a call on them or the person

[39:27] on the phone is going to be pulled dumped out of a queue just to be put on

[39:31] hold while they wait on the person. So there are interviews in process of

[39:36] looking for a system that will alleviate that so that they could put it in a

[39:39] queue and then pull out of the queue. >> Okay.

[39:43] » And correct me if I'm wrong but this says we have two And we now have

[39:54] » committee believes winning a professional call service would provide

[39:58] substantial relief to these employees and improve customer experience. A call

[40:04] service would provide 247 coverage. Never require vacation sit time pits.

[40:10] Sort calls efficiently so customers reach direct options. Allow routine

[40:17] information to be handled automatically and reduce the number of repeated calls

[40:22] related to outages and limes. Email outage of emergency notifications

[40:29] to all necessary staff. Free the water department employees to

[40:34] focus on building walk-ins and field coordination rather than acting as

[40:40] intermediaries between customers and repair crews. because of the inability

[40:46] to reach the water department was the number one complaint heard during the

[40:50] committee study. The creation is a better way to contact me as a top

[40:54] recommendation of this report. I want to go back to that just a minute. So there

[41:00] again, we got people on the phone that are talking. The girls could be talking

[41:05] to them or the ladies could be talking to them and you got people up there.

[41:09] It's hard to answer. It's hard to answer the phone. So we council need to uh to

[41:17] look at that and uh look at this new phone system and and make it easier for

[41:22] them and the uh and the citizens. Uh two, create and distribute a how-to

[41:30] guide for phone prompts and reporting issues. Uh to support improvements to

[41:35] the phone system, the committee recommends that the city prepare a

[41:39] simple, clearly written explaining to navigate the phone prompts, how to

[41:44] report outages and leaks, how to reach billing services and departments. So,

[41:50] have we worked on anything for that so that y'all know of? So, please [snorts]

[41:55] explain a little bit. So, >> so I did get um access to be able to

[42:00] build the phone trees. What's a phone tree?

[42:03] » So when you call in somewhere, the tree is press one, press two, press three. So

[42:08] that takes you to the different levels. Um, so with Mr. Pollson coming in, that

[42:13] is a top priority to determine how our phone tree needs to have the act to

[42:18] react as well [snorts] as the number of layers put in there.

[42:22] » Does that help any up front or you Okay. um

[42:31] how to report outages and leaks. So I seen our website and there was we had

[42:37] something uh there was something added to make it real easy right there at the

[42:41] front. So for right now >> there is a popup box on every page of

[42:45] the city of Laala's website so you cannot miss how board an issue.

[42:51] » The only way that we can fix something is if it's been reported. Um, a lot of

[42:57] times you see or hear stuff out there, there's no way to fix it because we

[43:00] don't know who it is or don't know where it's at. So they put anus or something

[43:05] on there, you can't fix it. So >> Mr. Chair, can I ask?

[43:09] » Yes, sir. >> Um, when someone reports an outage or a

[43:13] problem using the the city link, what happens to it from there? What's the

[43:18] process? So it goes to a spreadsheet. If it's a leak that's not a like so

[43:23] somebody calling in because there's a leak on Main Street, then that's going

[43:27] to go out to a leak crew to go look at it. If it's a problem with somebody's

[43:31] water being dirty, then issuing a work order in the billing office and then

[43:38] it's going out to the crews. Then it's needs to be reported back what the

[43:43] problem was found and then that's logged on a work order.

[43:47] » How does that get to Who's who's the traffic cop on that?

[43:50] » Um, so Christina, um, Coral and Lindsay all can have all have access and are

[43:56] monitoring that daily. >> Can you explain the process of that,

[43:59] Christina? How y'all do that and what you do?

[44:02] » So, just like what Kathy had explained, a customer puts in a an issue that they

[44:08] are having, it comes up on our spreadsheet detailed with the customer's

[44:13] name, their address, giving us as many details they can what they are

[44:18] experiencing so that we can get someone out there to exactly what is going on

[44:24] quickly. >> What's the turn around time on the

[44:28] response? >> Um it it just depends on what their

[44:31] issue is but I mean within a few hours if that

[44:37] » Christina started a log sheet up there too so explain that a little bit more to

[44:41] about brown water and stuff like that.

[44:45] » Correct. So we have a separate log of like brown water. That way we can relay

[44:50] that onto the water and they are aware of different areas within our system

[44:55] that we are having issues. >> How many of those you had? Do you see

[44:59] that? >> Not not very many.

[45:02] » Okay. Okay. All right. We'll move on.

[45:08] How to reach Billing and customer ser? What information customers should have

[45:15] on how to call the should be posted on the city's website, sent through the

[45:20] city's text alert system, printed and handed out to customers paying bills in

[45:25] person, and kept at the water uh department service counter. Clear,

[45:30] accessible instructions will help reduce confusion and improve communication

[45:37] consistently. Anybody got any questions or anything to add on that?

[45:41] May >> So, we put together the mayor's request

[45:44] PDF. You guys should seen it on um Facebook that sends you it's [snorts] an

[45:50] interactive PDF that you can click and dial the phone. It'll dial the phone

[45:54] number for you if you're having a problem. It takes you to the water kit

[45:59] takes you to pretty much every page that has information that you could ask about

[46:05] how to report the problem, how to look up what type of issues we've had, boil

[46:11] water advisories. It takes you to the water. Um, so there is an interactive

[46:16] PDF. Um, I could email it to anybody that would like to see it. I believe I

[46:21] sent it to y'all. >> It has a list of all the boil water

[46:25] outages, the reasons for that. >> Correct.

[46:28] » It is on the city of Wallala.com water and sewer. 3/4 of the way down the

[46:35] page, every wellwater advisory that has been issued in 2026 is listed. and also

[46:42] all the we've done [clears throat] all the work we've been doing which lists

[46:45] where the work's being done how much the grants were for just goes into detail of

[46:49] all the work that we've done based on those grants back 2024 we put out a lot

[46:54] of information on it frequently asked questions on the water plant frequently

[46:58] asked questions on the water system and a link to the strategy our water system

[47:03] that we put out correct >> correct

[47:08] increase communication through social media in the city of life. The committee

[47:12] recommends improving the frequency and context of a communication through

[47:17] social media and the city's website. Monthly or bimonthly

[47:22] update should include information such as water line projects, pump station

[47:28] upgrades, status and use of grants, year-to- date expenses and remaining

[47:34] balances of grant related projects, plan improvement or construction that may

[47:39] [snorts] affect service and general updates of the water department

[47:43] operations. When citizens understand what is happening, trust increases and

[47:48] misinformation decreases. The only Go ahead.

[47:55] » Is Is there going to be a

[48:00] like a piece put into the water bill that says all of this or is there I mean

[48:06] I had suggested that a long time ago that we just put you know down the

[48:11] bottom of the water bill you can put there's probably about space about like

[48:16] this that you could put this kind of So that everybody gets a water bill.

[48:21] Everybody sees it. >> Could you put that in a note? We need to

[48:25] recommend that. >> I mean, it could be just

[48:30] » as far as increased uh social media. I think one person needs to be involved in

[48:36] that. And if we need to if we need to if we need to discuss that, then we uh we

[48:43] give that person a time to add that. So as far as the city's uh We have city

[48:49] social media right now. Don't you Kathy >> right now?

[48:54] » And that that dashboard that we put is that accessible through the city

[48:58] website. >> So not yet. It's it does need to be on

[49:01] there, but I wanted to verify a couple things on it to make sure

[49:06] » people to find stuff as possible. [snorts]

[49:09] » All the information is on the website. The interactive PDF is not on yet. It is

[49:14] on social. You can access it >> link it in the water. someone there,

[49:18] they can just give them the address where they can go get it.

[49:23] » All right. Number four, expand information signage in city offices and

[49:27] along local streets. The committee recommends expanding physical signage

[49:33] both indoors and outdoors to better distribute important information to

[49:37] customers who may not use a digital platforms. This may include bulletin

[49:42] boards of city hall and water department offices, printed notices in hight

[49:47] traffic areas, reader boards or message signs where permitted, digital displays

[49:54] inside of buildings. These tools provide simple effective ways to publish

[50:00] outage alerts, updates, announcements, and change in policies. So any questions

[50:05] or comments?

[50:09] We'll move on to number five. Improve public trans public transparency on

[50:15] grant funding and require matching dollars. Residents frequently express

[50:21] confusion about how grants work. The committee recommends that the city

[50:26] clearly explain the total number total amount of each grant, the required max

[50:31] from the city, what portion is fully funded and funds are being spent.

[50:37] project timelines remaining grant balances transparent financial

[50:41] communication promote promotes confidence and reduces speculation or

[50:47] misunderstanding. We have any questions or com number six

[50:50] or number five. Okay.

[50:55] Number six provide limited access to GIS water system map. A simplified GIS

[51:02] viewer showing only nonsensitive water routes would provide customers with a

[51:08] better understanding of the source connections. Sensitive or detailed

[51:12] operational information can remain internal. Providing even limited access

[51:17] promotes transparency and reduces area confusion among residents, developers

[51:22] and real estate. Any comments or questions on number six?

[51:31] I was just saying our GIS map now is not particularly accurate. I'm thinking we

[51:38] need to I know we're seeking out funding to update our GIS and

[51:43] plan. So I think we wait till after that then see how that

[51:48] » I have problem with that is not don't want to be public information because it

[51:54] can be hacked and they can't come and somebody can mess with our water lines

[51:58] and stuff that's just my personal opinion on letting that out a homeland

[52:02] directive also about >> yeah they're on me I have to constantly

[52:08] have to update getting

[52:13] the routers and stuff updated on all our stuff for home and everybody.

[52:19] » Weren't there some attacks also

[52:25] on water systems specifically? >> They can hack in

[52:30] they can hack into they can pump off drain. They can do whatever.

[52:37] basically at the end of this report. I want to go over all this. I'd like for

[52:41] you know the staff to get back and look at all this again and come up with what

[52:45] we've done and uh to fix it or what we need to fix it or if it's going to work

[52:51] or if it's not going to work. So uh seven uh improving public understanding

[52:58] of why city policy fees are implemented. Many recommends the city proactively

[53:03] explain the reason behind important decision fee structures and policy

[53:07] changes. There are currently significant public confusion about the cost such as

[53:12] water tap fees and credit card process fees. Customers are often unaware that

[53:18] that some of these fees such a credit such as credit card search charges were

[53:23] previously suspended during the co area emergency measure and have been

[53:28] reinstated following federal and banking guidelines. Communicating why these

[53:33] costs exist and eliminating speculation and misunderstanding while showing

[53:38] residents the decisions are based on regulations, cost recovery, and

[53:44] financial responsibility. The type of explanation should be included. Official

[53:49] announcements, city website updates, social media posts, signage, signage and

[53:55] office and press release with new policies are implemented. Clear

[53:59] proactive communication will significantly reduce negative feedback

[54:04] and confusion to the comm community.

[54:10] Any question? How's it going? People come in when they their bills and

[54:15] stuff. Are they asking questions about that?

[54:18] » Not as much as now, I think. Um, you know, we just did a software conversion

[54:23] a little over a year ago, new system, different ways. There was a lot of

[54:29] confusion then, not so much anymore. >> Okay.

[54:33] So, if I could Yes, sir. >> Your water tap fees.

[54:38] » Yes, sir. >> I know everything has went up

[54:40] tremendously. >> Something we need to look has

[54:45] increasing. What is it costing you for us to go out a new bill here in town?

[54:50] Put a water tap >> in the city

[54:52] $4,000 20 $4,500 outside the city's $2,500 or

[54:59] one in $3,000. >> You I mean you just barely get involved

[55:05] that that amount of money. I think >> I had figured it in a while, but it cost

[55:09] me more money in the city to do a water tap than it does outside. That's why the

[55:12] city is higher. Why is that? >> Because you've got asphalt, you've got

[55:18] concrete, you've got all that has to be put back in when we do taps inside city.

[55:27] You need to go. >> It wouldn't hurt.

[55:31] [laughter] >> I didn't It was bucking. I didn't know

[55:34] you still back. Thank you for coming in, Tom.

[55:37] » Thank y'all. Learned a lot.

[55:39] » Thank you so much. Thank you. Bye. All right. Conclusion. The Wala Water

[55:45] Advisory Adoc Committee respectfully submits this report to improve

[55:50] communications, reduce confusion, and support both staff and water customers.

[55:55] The committee strongly emphasizes that the water department employees are

[55:59] dedicated and doing excellent work under challenging conditions. The

[56:04] recommendations outlined here, especially improved phone contact

[56:08] options and clear publications, will directly support them and improve

[56:13] overall customer experience. We appreciate the opportunity to serve and

[56:18] stand ready to assist the city in implementing these recommendations. So,

[56:24] um this was uh these were members of our community

[56:30] that that took this and took a lot of time to do it and uh we appreciate what

[56:34] they what the time that they uh put into this. So, I'll make a recommendation

[56:40] like I said for staff to look at this uh go through one answer the question

[56:46] whether we've already doing it or what we need to do to fix that. So, and if

[56:50] any of if any of the council members if y'all got anything on so along with this

[56:57] » I don't I just you know this report came to us nine months ago and it does look

[57:02] like some of we've made some improvements since then. turnover going

[57:09] on inside the city at the time and it was virtually impossible to get this

[57:14] done because I didn't want this or nobody wanted this to fall by the

[57:17] wayside. So, >> I was just going to say so I appreciate

[57:21] the time to come back and revisit I just wanted to make clear that this is not a

[57:25] report that was just brought to us recently. This is a report brought to us

[57:28] several months ago and that improvements have, you know, some improvements have

[57:32] been made in some of these areas. >> Some of them have actually been

[57:34] implemented.

[57:40] That's all we got on that. So

[57:49] right now I want to look at this wall reorgation utilities reorganization.

[57:54] So this was

[57:58] this is the background. The Wala utilities department department serves

[58:03] over 7,000 customers. I think it's a little bit

[58:06] by now are providing water treatment, water distribution and sewer collection.

[58:11] Approximately 75% of these customers reside outside the city limits of Wala.

[58:17] Wala owns and operates its own water facility which has commenced operations

[58:24] in the fall of 2020. The facility was funded by 20 million dollar revenue bond

[58:30] issued in 2018. The utility staff manages all as of the

[58:35] system uh including treatment, maintenance like trucking, rightway

[58:41] [snorts] maintenance, meter reading, billing, collection and waste off water.

[58:46] Uh the department is currently led by a director who reports to the city

[58:51] administrator. Is that still correct? >> Yes.

[58:54] » Okay. Proposal [clears throat] uh administration hand is proposed that

[58:59] the utility director be reassigned to to report directly to the city council.

[59:04] Council would then be responsible for providing direction, hiring, firing, and

[59:09] receiving reports from the director. This change would likely necess necessit

[59:15] nec necessitate >> necessitate.

[59:19] » That's a hard one. >> It is minor ordinance amendments. The

[59:23] primary objective of this modification is not to diminish the role of the city

[59:27] administrator, but rather alleviate their workload. [snorts] Given the

[59:31] substantial size of the utility system and added complex financial management

[59:36] related to the 2018 revenue bond, it is proposed to offer the utilities director

[59:44] an employment contract. The measure will provide security for the director offer

[59:48] incentives and aid in recruiting and retaining high quality measures. So I'm

[59:54] just what I'm saying this is just these are just ideas and we can talk about it.

[59:59] » I have one comment. I think that um doing that

[1:00:06] having us responsible as though we were managers of the water system instead of

[1:00:11] a professional city manager is a recipe for disaster. I think we already have

[1:00:16] the hiring and firing authority, but >> I agree with you on that. I just want to

[1:00:19] do that and then let them run the day that I operate. So I don't do that. But

[1:00:24] » we have hiring and firing authority now department heads and I think we let the

[1:00:29] administrator take care administrator though.

[1:00:32] » I'm still I still

[1:00:38] [snorts] >> we do they still report the

[1:00:40] administrator on dayto-day operations. Otherwise, we'd have to rotate days with

[1:00:44] each one. >> But the hiring needs hiring and refining

[1:00:48] doesn't need to go a department head >> that changed July 1st.

[1:00:54] » Yes. Okay. >> Yeah. So that that's

[1:00:58] out there. Um

[1:01:02] » currently the utility budget is consolidated with the city's overall

[1:01:07] budget. Given that the utility budget operates as an enterprise fund, it is

[1:01:12] proposed that it be separated into its own distinct budget and managed

[1:01:18] independently from the city's overall budget. Fund accounts would no longer be

[1:01:23] co-mingled, which will enhance financial transparency and allow the independent

[1:01:28] accounting of funds. This change would not prohibit movement of funds between

[1:01:33] different accounts. Furthermore, separation is expected to provide

[1:01:37] comfort to the bond rating agencies and bond holders. So,

[1:01:43] » already separated. [snorts] >> I'm just in there. I just want people's

[1:01:47] got questions and stuff, so we can answer this.

[1:01:53] [clears throat] >> You're reporting on reading what we

[1:01:55] already >> know, but everybody's still got

[1:01:57] questions and stuff. Nobody's, you know, putting it out there. That way when we

[1:02:01] take it to council then we can we can say what we've already done. These are

[1:02:05] stuff I hear already now about the you know about the water fund and stuff like

[1:02:10] » I guess I mean you just described the structure.

[1:02:14] » Appreciate you bringing it up. >> I do appreciate you bringing it up.

[1:02:17] Absolutely. That gives us a chance to actually explain that

[1:02:21] » yeah that's just a lot of questions out there right now and um we we may have

[1:02:26] already done this but I just wanted to bring it up again. We take it to council

[1:02:31] this fight to counc make a recommendation take this vote then then

[1:02:35] we can go through it again and put out there what we've already done and and

[1:02:40] looking at it right there

[1:02:45] in conjunction with the aforementioned changes it is recommended to establish a

[1:02:49] wala utilities advisory board this board will be tasked advising the utility

[1:02:55] directors the city council with revenue customers in the respective

[1:03:00] The board would comp comprise a utility committee chair and a representative

[1:03:05] from each of the following areas inside the city limits of Coney County Council

[1:03:10] District 1, Okone County County District Two and Oak County Council District 5.

[1:03:17] Specific prospective representatives will be required to apply for the seat

[1:03:22] similar to the process for the planning commission and board of zoning appeal.

[1:03:27] Additionally, representative must be a WA utilities customer and reside within

[1:03:32] district they represent. The advisory board would operate within a leg without

[1:03:37] legislative or executive powers. This initiative aims to provide for customers

[1:03:42] residing outside the city limits to voice their concerns and have direct

[1:03:47] representation of the city. So the recogn reorganization of the

[1:03:54] proposal for wildlife to improve administrative efficiency, financial

[1:04:00] transparency, and public engagement. Key recommendations include the utility u

[1:04:07] uh they've already changed all that report directly to the uh city council.

[1:04:12] I don't agree with that anymore. They need they need that's something I want I

[1:04:17] don't want to hide nothing here. I want to put it out here so everybody knows

[1:04:20] it. Then we can discuss it at the council meeting if this if we vote to

[1:04:24] move this on um directly to the city council and reduce the city

[1:04:28] administrator's workload and enhance oversight separating the utility budget

[1:04:33] into independent uh enterprise fund and better financially clarity and bond

[1:04:39] assurance and establishing a wall utilities board to provide direct

[1:04:44] customer representation especially those outside the city limits without any

[1:04:49] legislative organized power. So there's nobody bringing in

[1:05:00] a very good idea. >> You got one from each council

[1:05:04] represented outside. I think it's a very good idea that I do think is a good

[1:05:08] idea. The other >> one already

[1:05:13] » I put that out there to bring it more.

[1:05:18] I don't know if a lot of people understand that right now or know that

[1:05:21] we've done that. So, can I'm going to ask that we move this to a full council

[1:05:27] meeting and uh I make a motion and then at that time then we can discuss this uh

[1:05:35] we can [clears throat] discuss what we you know we've already made these or we

[1:05:38] don't want this or we don't want or we want that and then move on.

[1:05:42] » So, I think we are discussing that now. And so I believe with the administration

[1:05:47] change proposal here, there is no change to be proposed. We're already doing it

[1:05:52] the same. Okay. >> And with the budget, there is no change

[1:05:55] to be proposed. We're already doing it this way. So I mean, I think that

[1:06:00] everybody on council has a copy of this and we've now discussed it publicly. But

[1:06:05] what I would but what I would love to move to full

[1:06:10] counsel and definitely support is public engagement piece of this. um which is

[1:06:15] the utilities advisory board. So um

[1:06:21] I would I would love to support moving that to full council.

[1:06:27] » Okay. >> So I'll make a motion to propose the

[1:06:30] public engagement piece of this reorganization to full counsel.

[1:06:36] I'll say

[1:06:45] that

[1:06:54] to talk about work orders and how we how we're doing that right

[1:06:58] now. Uh work orders. I would like for a work order to be to the council every

[1:07:04] month. It us it will help us as council to see what the problems were during the

[1:07:09] month doing this. Keep us in the know and if we need to take any actions as

[1:07:13] far as council we can do that. Is that a possibility of doing that or do you see

[1:07:18] a problem with that or >> there's to my knowledge a work order is

[1:07:22] being issued on every complaint. So >> okay

[1:07:25] » that'll be easy to pull and print. >> Okay, sounds good. Um see

[1:07:33] I would also flushing I'd like to see a report of of our problem areas uh areas

[1:07:39] where flushing is constantly needed so that we can uh look at the system that

[1:07:45] and keep it flush. We may be able to look at automatic systems.

[1:07:49] Do we have somebody that's dedicated to this

[1:07:53] » water does that? Okay. Um let's see. documentation or record of a

[1:08:01] line or hyd.

[1:08:24] I'm saying like if somebody's got a problem with say their water's dirty or

[1:08:28] they called in I'd like to see where that's documented that way we can back

[1:08:33] and say hey we did this at this time on this day.

[1:08:37] would be included in the work order

[1:08:42] and it is included. We go out. We have a lot of bus. We have

[1:08:47] to places, >> okay,

[1:08:49] » and pull samples. That's part of the boil water. When I water come back on, I

[1:08:53] have to flush the water and we have to pull samples. We have to check on site,

[1:08:58] make sure we got it. We pull samples. We take them out, do the test.

[1:09:07] » And so, if I understand it right, the the logging or the keeping track of that

[1:09:14] Turn in the sample it's attached to it. It knows

[1:09:17] » we have to put where we

[1:09:21] » in a log book. >> But if somebody just called in and it's

[1:09:25] like why you just going around doing stuff on that too,

[1:09:33] not additional log. Correct. It be harder to pull monthly report.

[1:09:38] » I was just going to add that it's great to have this information so we can

[1:09:43] identify So when we get we know what areas need

[1:09:46] to work first >> and having this information together

[1:09:49] helps >> I can get that information.

[1:10:08] [clears throat] And the last thing I've got is a flag pole right here city hall.

[1:10:12] So, we need >> I know that this has also been you got

[1:10:17] to have a ladder to get up there. I wonder if we can fit that where it's

[1:10:21] easier for somebody to go out there and and to make it easier to do that. So, if

[1:10:27] we can get that

[1:10:33] second.

[1:10:36] » All right. Next up, parks, recreation, and tourism

[1:10:39] committee. Miss Bunning, chair, Miss Melind, Sarah E, are you still with us?

[1:10:44] » I don't Sarah E.

[1:10:51] » We may have lost her. I got I got Siri on here instead.

[1:10:56] [laughter] >> Oh, no.

[1:10:59] » And Mr. Grant. So, Miss Money, take it away.

[1:11:01] » All right. I like to call this meeting to order and welcome. Um, I'll go ahead

[1:11:06] and call Mr. forward um for a piece of this. Um but first on the action

[1:11:12] discussion items is our park tours and events director search. Just a reminder

[1:11:16] that that posting is live. It closes um September 11th. Um we do have some um

[1:11:23] applicants um sitting there. Um so I would like to request that our next

[1:11:29] school council that um have that on the agenda to go through those applicants.

[1:11:36] parks tourism parks tourism and events director

[1:11:42] » and it is posted on the website and as well as the municipal associating Mr.

[1:11:48] Is that the MC website? [snorts] >> Um,

[1:11:53] that's it for that. Fallation has

[1:11:58] » Yes, I printed out uh each schedule. This is all my games that are being

[1:12:05] played on the second page. >> And you went live in the new center last

[1:12:11] night. >> Oh, yeah.

[1:12:12] » Yeah, we're going to talk about that, too.

[1:12:14] » Cool. >> So, this is kind of master schedule,

[1:12:18] right? Everything. I love this. >> So, you'll see that uh it's colorcoded.

[1:12:24] That's from soccer to 15 soccer to all baseball and softball for this year.

[1:12:32] It might change, but that's what I have going on right now.

[1:12:42] » Thursday. >> Any questions on the schedule? The first

[1:12:46] time that we've been given a master schedule. So, this is this is Yeah, this

[1:12:50] is awesome. So, now when you don't have anything to do, you know where you can

[1:12:54] go and and and support our young athletes.

[1:12:57] » Um and then tournaments. Can you fill us in on the tournament schedule?

[1:13:01] » Uh yes. Uh so, right now they're are trying to do a Oak County Tur volleyball

[1:13:10] and softball. No, sorry. Uh, volleyball and soccer. That will be

[1:13:26] they're trying to do it the week of um October 12th through the 16th. Um,

[1:13:33] obviously I've notified each department that obviously we will have October

[1:13:37] Fest. I did tell them that I could host eight and 10 soccer because that is at

[1:13:41] Memorial Field. and also volleyball. So, I'm trying to push that so I Waller can

[1:13:46] actually host something uh with that. And then the next

[1:13:53] after that, that's when baseball and softball will be played. That's just

[1:13:57] county tournament. So, >> and then are we going to host a Super

[1:14:03] Saturday? >> Uh yes. So, right now, uh my plan is a

[1:14:08] Super Saturday. Uh obviously changed it. Um

[1:14:13] I'm trying to shoot for September 26th. Um, the reason I did that Saturday,

[1:14:20] uh, just because a lot of people know that goes to football games that Friday

[1:14:24] night they're playing or it's either Thursday or Friday. So that frees up a

[1:14:28] Saturday. Um, so that's that's where I'm looking at.

[1:14:33] I'm going to try to do basically all the sports that are going on. Obviously,

[1:14:38] it's not fair to, you know, leave one out. We'll try to do it across the

[1:14:44] board, which I've kind of did a rough draft. Um, I think I can do it all in

[1:14:49] one day. >> And we're going to pull in the BRT

[1:14:52] Foundation to help us with gate. >> Yes. Yes.

[1:15:08] » Um, okay. So, we'll move on to the community center. um modification and

[1:15:13] and grand opening. So, we'll start with the modification piece. So, kind of two

[1:15:17] things that we want to discuss tonight. We had a first volleyball game there

[1:15:24] last night. There was excitement in the air. I know that mayor went I know Mr.

[1:15:28] Pson was [clears throat] also there. Um and we noticed right off the bat that

[1:15:33] parking is at a pre down there. We did have some folks not have a parking

[1:15:37] space. Um and so we need to start looking at what we can parking overflow.

[1:15:42] U Mr. and I did talk today about some of the the the bank like the bank parking

[1:15:48] there when they're um not open. There is some parking available there with the

[1:15:54] sidewalk that goes to the front. Um but we may need to look at doing some type

[1:15:58] of

[1:16:01] » parking area overflow parking. >> One one thing too is I was looking at

[1:16:06] today um which I've about too is uh there's a sidewalk that

[1:16:13] goes supposed to go all the way to Open Door.

[1:16:17] I guess that's behind there, >> but it does not. It stops apparently.

[1:16:22] » I guess I know I think John is here, but apparently we we don't own that land

[1:16:28] that's to open doors. So, they stop. There's a sidewalk that's just

[1:16:33] um I know last night when I came there was people parked everywhere. Um and

[1:16:41] even on the side and you and Mr. Mayor, we talked that night too. But my biggest

[1:16:47] concern is if I have an emergency, how's fire? How's EMS? How are they going to

[1:16:52] get um >> and obviously a volleyball night is not

[1:16:56] as busy as a basketball game per se. So, we need to jump on this. So,

[1:17:03] » especially too like last night when y'all saw that's just one game when

[1:17:08] basketball's going on. I mean, I'll have six games a night there. So, that's

[1:17:13] going to be >> obviously not all at the same time.

[1:17:16] » Um, so I think at this point we're just going to ask staff to kind of come up

[1:17:20] with some ideas for a solution on this. >> Make you aware. The other modification

[1:17:27] that we wanted to discuss was um and I'll just let you

[1:17:32] » So my idea was um I proposed to tent the windows there obviously to make it

[1:17:40] cooler. Um also in our office area I have my office

[1:17:47] which is just one door but I have contacted three companies. I've

[1:17:53] got quotes for that. Um, but you can see out, but you can't see in. But reason I

[1:18:01] would like for it to be tinted is I'm going to have documents in there, birth

[1:18:05] certificates, meetings, you know, all this kind of

[1:18:10] stuff. >> May I ask what are the quotes?

[1:18:12] » Uh, the quotes, um, there's three quotes.

[1:18:17] Uh, the smallest one was $4,500. Uh that was um the police officer, Mr.

[1:18:24] Mario. Um and then the other ones were 48 and $100.

[1:18:31] » I think this would be something, Madam Chair, if I make that could be brought

[1:18:34] up with the administrator. Um it's under $10,000. He can find money.

[1:18:40] » Well, I believe there's still money sitting in the construction account.

[1:18:46] » Yeah. And that's what I was gonna The only thing with Mr. Mario, uh,

[1:18:52] obviously he's the smallest bid, but the only thing he asked is if we do go with

[1:18:57] him. He did ask if check 500 that pays for the tent and everything for stuff to

[1:19:02] get going. And then he said that he would do it on a Saturday or Sunday, did

[1:19:07] knock it out. Other ones, uh, they're probably,

[1:19:12] um, about two months. And like me, Miss Jesse's talked about, I'd love to get

[1:19:17] that done. So whenever we do a grand opening and everything like that. So he

[1:19:23] is the smallest amount and he's the fastest is what he's told me. So

[1:19:29] » we will leave that up to you and you can work with Mr. P to get that done.

[1:19:35] » Um any other questions [cough] [clears throat] grand opening?

[1:19:40] » What I have down is um September 18th, that's on a Friday night. um 6 to 8

[1:19:48] maybe. Uh I did check with Wala High School. Uh they are at Liberty that

[1:19:54] night. So there is not a home game in that day.

[1:19:57] » September 18th is on a Friday. >> We scoured the calendar.

[1:20:02] » September is tough and busy. >> Yeah. Yeah. Please make sure that

[1:20:07] Senator Alexander represent >> Yeah. I've been in contact with Hogan,

[1:20:11] got in contact with him. Um, and I kind of gave them two dates or whatever. I

[1:20:18] was either leaning on the 18th or the 19th, but I know we have a big event,

[1:20:22] uh, the 19th. Uh, so the 18th I kind of base it off of, you know, I know a lot

[1:20:27] of people, you know, hometown here, they want to go to Friday night football

[1:20:30] games. U with that um I kind of wrote some

[1:20:35] ideas uh kind of do like hot dogs and hamburgers, shaved ice, cold peanuts,

[1:20:40] have water and then I've reached out to a company well going to about blowups

[1:20:46] and just you know having stuff out there and you know just give to the community

[1:20:52] everything would be free. Um also I've talked going to talk with the foundation

[1:20:59] see if they can help with all that kind of stuff.

[1:21:02] » And this will be an open house type. >> Yes. So people can walk through, see

[1:21:06] what it's all about. Um, you know, just have a good two hours. I

[1:21:12] mean, I just put 16 and I could be longer, but I mean, I think two hours is

[1:21:18] good just to have kids around. >> That's plenty

[1:21:21] » just to count just to just to see how things

[1:21:25] » sounds good. [snorts]

[1:21:30] Oh, yep. We're back. Yes. M

[1:21:34] » ran out, so I had to pull in another correctly. It was going to be on the

[1:21:41] 19th, I mean 18. So, it's going to be back to back events when it comes to

[1:21:46] Super Saturday on a Saturday. And then Friday, [snorts] we're going to have the

[1:21:50] grand opening. >> No.

[1:21:52] » Uh the grand opening I'm looking at is September 18th. That's a Friday. Um, and

[1:21:58] then the super Saturday is September 26, which is on Saturday.

[1:22:05] » Okay. So, Super Saturday got changed. >> Yes, ma'am. I think you missed that when

[1:22:09] you were on the off the line, offline. >> Okay. Okay, that's good to know. I

[1:22:15] didn't realize it got changed. I think it was September 19 was the the last

[1:22:20] time I >> Yeah, that's what we're going to push

[1:22:23] for, but obviously some things change and I've been told that Saturday's plan.

[1:22:41] » Oh, yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. That's

[1:22:46] That's why >> do we have a budget for the community

[1:22:49] events? Is that what we're going to discuss as well, Jesse? But the opening

[1:22:53] » for the grand opening. >> Um, right now we're working with sponsor

[1:22:57] » working with sponsorships and uh he's going to reach out to the PRT

[1:23:01] Foundation.

[1:23:05] » Okay. As far as sponsorships, have them already like in tears or is that just

[1:23:10] talking individually? Every company gets how much? I don't know that it's going

[1:23:14] to be monetary sponsorships. I think he's looking at donation type

[1:23:17] sponsorships. >> Yeah, I've uh I've reached out to uh

[1:23:22] I've actually talked about the shaved ice

[1:23:26] couple months ago. Um but I think it's Tikis or something like that. And uh

[1:23:32] I've already I've already talked to a guy for Bold Peanuts. When I went to

[1:23:35] watch all the teams played at Synica's opening day, he told me that date would

[1:23:39] be good. obviously have to have space with him, but hamburgers and hot dogs. I

[1:23:43] mean, maybe you can ask the foundation or

[1:23:46] even pay out of my pocket just just for, you know, just to get back.

[1:23:52] » Anything else?

[1:23:58] » Okay. Upcoming events. Um, just wanted to touch base with uh Hispanic Heritage

[1:24:03] Festival. I know that the cultural has been hard at work. Um, Miss Kathy is

[1:24:08] here too as the um, staff liaison. Um, and I know that there's a meeting set up

[1:24:13] with department heads to make sure everything's in place. Miss Melendez, I

[1:24:17] didn't know if you wanted to add anything um, as far as that festival

[1:24:20] goes. Will be happening on September 19th.

[1:24:27] » Um, no, just the fact that I don't know if the numbers are all in yet, but I

[1:24:31] know Kathy has been doing a great job in her role. So, I think we're up to 4,000

[1:24:37] or maybe 5,000 that were fundraised. Um, so we'll have clear numbers.

[1:24:43] » 4,08. >> How much?

[1:24:45] » 4,080 and sponsorships, 8,000 for the funded from the city. Um, so good job.

[1:24:54] Yes. And they are way under budget right now. Good to hear. Good job.

[1:25:01] Anything else on that? >> I only have John for our meeting this

[1:25:08] Sunday. I don't know if you had any quick update

[1:25:12] who else going to be in attendance. >> Um I have received a a accepted from all

[1:25:18] department heads from all departments just to go over to make sure that we are

[1:25:22] all on the same page. Yes, ma'am. >> And this is organizational meeting for

[1:25:28] Hispanic Heritage. >> That's correct.

[1:25:31] » Yes. It's a typical special type meeting that is that that

[1:25:37] typically has for all events. >> Yes.

[1:25:42] » All right. Moving on to um signage at Sertoma. So, this is kind of two

[1:25:47] conversation. There's um some signs have been here for all of our parks, but

[1:25:51] specifically Tacoma um that will be going up soon. Um some of them are just

[1:25:56] like the field numbers so that folks that haven't been to Saroma um for the

[1:26:01] first time will know where to find uh their age group playing um and those are

[1:26:07] in the works of being um put up. Correct.

[1:26:12] » I think so. You have you have the signs, don't you? The signs

[1:26:18] may be messed up. I believe I had >> I'll check.

[1:26:22] » Okay. Um, and the other piece is the sign that's at the road at Soma, if

[1:26:29] you've driven by it lately, has kind of it's seen its better days. Um, the

[1:26:34] Wallala October Fest committee has um offered to replace that sign at no

[1:26:40] [snorts] cost to the city. Um, and has actually already gotten materials

[1:26:44] donated. We um allow them to do that. Um, it would go back with being the same

[1:26:50] size 4T by 8 foot. wooden frame. Um, I did a rough draft. This is just a rough

[1:26:56] draft. So, I I welcome feedback. Um, but looking at something like this. Um, and

[1:27:05] so, of course, this will have to go make sure that it fits our signed ordinance.

[1:27:11] Um, but just wanted to bring that. Um I don't know that that necessarily

[1:27:18] requires any action other than you know that um I can take back the October Fest

[1:27:24] committee that that we're good with placing that sign

[1:27:31] » in for committee members but has my blessing

[1:27:36] » I think it looks wonderful >> appar

[1:27:43] the business that has offered to donate materials.

[1:27:50] » All I have recalled

[1:27:59] on there that are anxious to start building

[1:28:04] » one. Can I ask one bonus question? Uh the RFQ for the new we've got money now

[1:28:09] for the new bridge. We know when >> I do not know the answer to that.

[1:28:16] » We have a motion. >> Yes.

[1:28:18] » Oh, favor. Motion carries. >> Anyone want to take a break?

[1:28:24] » Absolutely.

[1:28:28] » Okay. >> All right.

[1:28:31] All those safety committee meet

[1:28:37] » and Mr. So, first on the agenda,

[1:28:43] careless driving ordinance, judge,

[1:28:50] bring that out. >> I'm sorry.

[1:28:59] » I'm fine right here. Honestly, um I wanted to uh bring this up to council

[1:29:06] for a good while. Um You may or may not know this, but a Wal Municipal Court is

[1:29:13] a summary level court where uh the police officers are actually the

[1:29:20] prosecuting officers. And so they have the discretion, you

[1:29:25] know, there's not an assigned solicitor. It's their discretion in how they act or

[1:29:31] proceed in a plea agreement or anything else. and um they do engage in the

[1:29:37] agreements. Um I do want to there are some things that I may not be able to

[1:29:42] speak about as a judge and I just hope y'all just give me some grace on that.

[1:29:46] Uh but I'm going to speak on what I can or I believe I'm able to. But I'm asking

[1:29:52] for the driving ordinance to be amended to match what uh statutoily allowed for

[1:30:00] my court. Um and the basis of that is that there's been uh different times

[1:30:06] where the officers have made proposals and um they would want to use that

[1:30:13] ordinance and I would have I I've had to deny and it's just for several reasons

[1:30:20] and I'm not going into exact reasons or anything major but I do know that

[1:30:27] um that is one of the officers preferred go to But I also try to make sure

[1:30:35] however I make my decision it follows the sense of justice and that's probably

[1:30:40] about as far as I can say on that. Um currently it is allowed for $50 to $100

[1:30:48] and when you you know u fine for when you add fees and assessments

[1:30:55] that is between $1586 to 25750.

[1:31:01] So if you match it to the actual uh statuto allowance, then if someone for

[1:31:07] whatever reason has a let's say a stating less than 10 miles over and

[1:31:13] they're asking for some sort of alternative, the officer is agreement,

[1:31:18] they bring it to me, you know, I have to go, well, I hear what you're saying, but

[1:31:22] we're going to have to double it, double the fine just so that they can address

[1:31:27] that or have that possibility. So I'm asking for just some grace to uh give

[1:31:34] the court some discretion and allow the office to have a wild wider discretion

[1:31:39] in making proposals. I'm also asking that the statement where

[1:31:46] um it is for first time offenders is removed.

[1:31:50] Uh these officers know the citizens of Wala and even just those that travel

[1:31:55] through other bases, you know. Um I remember one of the officers had asked

[1:32:01] for um had asked or was doing up on one issue

[1:32:06] and you know the officer said on the record and that's you know why I'm

[1:32:09] saying that was on the record but um he said hey this this gentleman you know

[1:32:14] has had some problems in the past he he's not a first time offender he's had

[1:32:18] some problems in the last couple years he's been really good about trying to

[1:32:23] stick to the law do what he has to do he doesn't want to get caught up in a

[1:32:26] snowball event with you know, certain things like if you get too many points,

[1:32:32] you get your uh license suspended. Also get an additional $100 fine at the DMV

[1:32:38] and then if you have another charge and it just kind of snowballs if you are,

[1:32:42] you know, living hand on this event, you know, or monthly. It

[1:32:49] just allows people and the officers have additional options. So, I don't know if

[1:32:54] y'all have any other questions for me.

[1:33:07] No, I don't.

[1:33:11] » Well, if y'all don't mind, I'm actually a bond.

[1:33:20] » There is one I think. >> Yes, that I had just suggested. It's

[1:33:24] just like match What's in section one-1 for the city ordinances penalties

[1:33:33] ordinance >> appear

[1:33:37] in 1998? >> Yes. So

[1:33:43] I have personally written this citation. It was not on first time offenders

[1:33:50] as a police officer. I had no idea that that was in here. So I think she has

[1:33:56] brought something to our attention that needs to be addressed.

[1:34:04] Most of the time my experience David yours too

[1:34:10] help me here. If this was written most of the time it

[1:34:15] was written to help the person out so to speak because

[1:34:19] there's no point with violation.

[1:34:24] I guess is just

[1:34:29] something that we can approve.

[1:34:33] » Yeah. So, let's uh move

[1:34:38] that motion. All in favor of accept this motion.

[1:34:52] » Along the chief come on and give us a update on the

[1:34:59] police department. [clears throat]

[1:35:04] We got you guys

[1:35:17] not extravagant, but it's kind of a quick update on it. I won't keep you

[1:35:23] guys too long on that portion. U [clears throat] look look through it.

[1:35:30] Uh some of you have visited the building recently and it looks completely

[1:35:34] different than it did not too long ago. So things are moving pretty pretty

[1:35:39] rapidly there. Uh I've been in contact with M. He's our superintendent on site.

[1:35:45] He's been uh wonderful and gracious, very helpful with that stuff.

[1:35:49] always excited to to walk us through what's going on next. So, if any of you

[1:35:53] guys want to take a tour, there's hard hats and vest in there. You want them to

[1:35:58] come at any time. They're they're very accommodating with that. Uh right now on

[1:36:02] site, [clears throat] there's there's a lot of people moving. Uh when you go in

[1:36:08] there, you you'll understand the hard hat and the vest because there's just

[1:36:11] people everywhere and teams working on this and another team working on that.

[1:36:14] So, the electrical is going up. You go in, you'll notice the the metal stud

[1:36:19] walls are all up. The majority of the drywall, I think it's at 100% completion

[1:36:24] on the the upper portions of that we above the ceiling. Next, they're going

[1:36:28] to come in and start doing the insulation and drywall on the lower

[1:36:33] portion. So, it's it's moving rapidly. Um

[1:36:38] there is some things we're looking at with changes and stuff as they come,

[1:36:41] whether it be uh the water tanks, water heaters, and things, things like that

[1:36:46] discussion. We have another meeting tomorrow morning. I got to bring Mr.

[1:36:50] Pollson up to speed on where we're at with that stuff.

[1:36:54] We're just kind of taking it go. It's little things that come up. Concrete.

[1:36:59] Supposed to start the curb in here soon for the front of it. The uh the windows

[1:37:03] are in. I think they're at 95%. I think they're at 95% completion on

[1:37:10] those. I think that last the the bay window toward the the side of the back

[1:37:15] is the I think we on that. So, it's starting to you can kind of see the

[1:37:22] vision now if you start walking through it. It's coming together. We're hoping

[1:37:27] Christmas in there. That's no guarantee, but we are hoping that

[1:37:32] spend Christmas in there. So, it's moving along moving along quickly.

[1:37:38] » Mr. Chair, I will add to that. I went into the structure yesterday with uh our

[1:37:43] new city administrator and we took a look at it and that place is a lot

[1:37:48] bigger on the out on the inside than it is on the outside. There's a visual play

[1:37:52] there. You look at the outside, it doesn't look as big as it does when you

[1:37:55] go inside. >> It it does. It's a world difference when

[1:37:59] you get in there. And I imagine when you came and visited us yesterday that it

[1:38:03] really looked big after coming to where we're at now. Uh yeah,

[1:38:07] » it's there's a lot there's a lot going on there and you're trying to to get

[1:38:11] every nut and bolt and everything aligned and you're trying to look months

[1:38:15] down the road to make sure you're you're choosing everything wisely in the setup

[1:38:19] with that stuff. But then you you slow down and take a moment and captain I

[1:38:23] actually did that looked around with us yesterday. Was that your

[1:38:27] impression as well?

[1:38:32] » Yeah, we're uh we're excited about it. There's There's a lot in the works with

[1:38:37] that. So, we're still leaving anything to think of. We

[1:38:42] » It's moving along and uh it's looking good. We're excited.

[1:38:48] » I don't think I've worn a hard hat as much in my life as I have [laughter]

[1:38:52] over the past few days. >> And while I may look like I know what

[1:38:56] I'm doing out there, don't. >> I got a quick quick question.

[1:39:02] » Yes, sir. >> I had a a citizen call the other day.

[1:39:05] used to back in the day when I was in the city with the the uh

[1:39:10] street lights. Is there maybe one I used to I it was hard for me to look at them

[1:39:16] every night cuz I was looking for other stuff. But is there one that is there a

[1:39:20] way that y'all can pick out maybe one night through the month or so we can

[1:39:24] identify street lights that are out? >> Yeah, absolutely.

[1:39:28] » Okay. Yeah, we put that down. >> Write the number down and so

[1:39:33] I didn't It's kind of hard to do that every night. You're looking for

[1:39:36] something and but it's maybe on a Sunday night and whatever night y'all want to

[1:39:39] pick or that's up to y'all. But >> yeah, I'll get one of the night chef

[1:39:42] crew. >> We used to take a like a yellow caution

[1:39:47] tape and put it around the telephone pole and get the number off and that way

[1:39:51] they does that or the street lights. Who does

[1:39:56] the street lights? Could you could you is that a good way to do that or

[1:40:01] » Yeah, I mean either bring it to me or let me know about it or they can actual

[1:40:06] citiz can go on the website Duke Power website and it has a place on there you

[1:40:12] can >> Okay, I want I will I'll let the

[1:40:17] gentleman that call me know that also. So, thank you.

[1:40:24] » All right. Y'all have any questions on the building?

[1:40:28] I guess next thing we're going to show you.

[1:40:33] Uh, next thing we got is our Axon bodywn cameras. And these are our body cams

[1:40:38] that everybody's familiar with. [laughter]

[1:40:43] » So, man, you got a [laughter]

[1:40:47] tas

[1:40:51] stop. [laughter]

[1:40:54] I do want to point out if anybody heard a loud roboting voice in the lobby a

[1:40:58] little bit ago, I apologize. This was a lot louder than I thought it was.

[1:41:01] [laughter] >> So, uh, again, that's our body cameras.

[1:41:04] I've worn them for years when all that kind of changed years ago. What we found

[1:41:10] in meeting with Axon trying to work through some things with them.

[1:41:13] [clears throat] Uh, they offer a translator app which has proven we were

[1:41:17] able to move shift some things around that we weren't utilizing as much as I

[1:41:21] guess previously that we thought we would. and we're able to uh talk them

[1:41:25] into giving us this translator app for no more additional money or anything

[1:41:29] like that. And it has proven to be very beneficial to our our team. We were

[1:41:34] going to demonstrate that with you guys real quick. So that's all right.

[1:41:39] » Real quick, I got to ask does anybody speak any other languages?

[1:41:43] That's fine. I'm going to use >> a few.

[1:41:47] » We got We got Miss Melendez if she wants to try it also. But do you have it

[1:41:51] turned on now? >> Not right now. We can try it on there

[1:41:53] and see if it recognizes that list. All right, that list,

[1:41:58] can you hear me?

[1:42:19] Um, so real quick, so the nifty thing about this is we can

[1:42:24] if I walk up and I'm speak and I know what they're speaking. I just I don't

[1:42:28] speak that language. I can tell the axon, hey, this is the language I'm

[1:42:32] trying to speak with. If someone starts talking to me and I have no idea what

[1:42:36] language they're speaking, I say auto detect. and the camera will hear them

[1:42:40] talking. You figure out, okay, they're speaking this. I will automatically

[1:42:43] switch this and it'll start translating. So, I'm gonna try it with you.

[1:42:49] Give it a shot. >> Yes, sir.

[1:42:51] » Dealing with people on calls and things like that.

[1:42:55] » So, we hit the side button and connects to the assistant. Once it's fully

[1:42:59] connected, it'll tell you >> translation. Hold button, say translate

[1:43:04] to X or detect, then release button.

[1:43:10] translate to Spanish. >> Language set to Spanish.

[1:43:15] » So, give me one second.

[1:43:19] » Hello, I'm Captain Car with the Waldo Police Department. I'm going to be using

[1:43:22] my Axon body camera to translate this. Once it is done speaking, I will press

[1:43:26] the button again. I will have you speak into the camera that I can understand

[1:43:29] what you're saying.

[1:43:51] Go ahead.

[1:44:02] » Very well. Thank you, police. I need help. I'm lost.

[1:44:08] » You need to spice that up a little bit. Sarah [laughter]

[1:44:11] » translation. >> Button.

[1:44:14] » Say translate to X or auto detect >> then release button.

[1:44:18] » You want >> So for us,

[1:44:22] » that's you. >> I we when I was there, we had I called

[1:44:26] it was our Spanish book. It was a little book and we'd have to stand there and I

[1:44:32] would you'd have to read you'd have to show them and they have to read or we'd

[1:44:38] have to have an interpreter and a lot of law enforcement Spanish things it's more

[1:44:43] enforcement or you know this or that where if we have a victim of a crime

[1:44:49] this thing's going to help us tremendously help them feel more

[1:44:52] comfortable and able to you know to understand what's going on. It's already

[1:44:55] proven to be very useful for us and our team. So, we're we're excited about it.

[1:45:00] We want to get that out there to the citizens so they know we do have those

[1:45:04] capabilities and every officer in the body cam has that capability. Now,

[1:45:08] » you use an investigation also. So, you're in an investigation. We used to

[1:45:12] have an interpreter. So, >> yes. And all that's recorded. So, no

[1:45:15] matter what they say, everything's recorded. So once yeah once the you

[1:45:20] start that's late and you start discussing with someone the axon

[1:45:22] automatically starts recording that that way it's not something you forget and

[1:45:26] it's not just Spanish there's a multitude of language it's Russian

[1:45:30] German Mandarin it's multiple so a lot of people interact with that could

[1:45:36] possibly speak another language we can understand now and it's much quicker

[1:45:40] than having someone respond or trying to call a translator or do something online

[1:45:45] » and all the officers carried

[1:45:50] I really [snorts]

[1:45:54] » I was going to say what I really appreciated was the prompt that it did

[1:45:57] quickly whenever you were speaking an English language

[1:46:01] and it was it was explaining to me in Spanish and

[1:46:05] just listening to it it sounded very accurate like I understood everything

[1:46:09] that it was saying because on the tech side over here it

[1:46:13] didn't work as effectively but Yeah, once I'm in town in person, I would love

[1:46:18] to get with uh you guys to look at it. >> Yeah, anytime.

[1:46:24] » Well, thank you. >> Any questions?

[1:46:26] » Awesome. >> That is really cool.

[1:46:28] » Appreciate you utilizing what you already have to make it more efficient

[1:46:33] what what y'all are faced with every day. There's no additional cost to the

[1:46:36] city of juggling the program, >> moving some things around that we felt

[1:46:40] like this would be more beneficial to our officers and our citizens than

[1:46:44] another contract we had. So >> the new ones we

[1:46:51] we know that they're not quite as as good as they used to be, but but they're

[1:46:56] they hold up.

[1:47:00] So there are charges that you can plug in, but unless you were recording

[1:47:04] constantly, these will last you the shift. Um, it's just obviously there's a

[1:47:08] lot more going. >> Yeah. If you're on a pretty serious call

[1:47:11] where you're out there for hours,

[1:47:17] they're mandated to have that on. >> Yeah. our they deal with with a member

[1:47:22] of the public in a law enforcement capacity then they're required to have

[1:47:26] it on. >> So if you all want to just say hi to

[1:47:29] them doesn't mean they're going to record you.

[1:47:31] » Yeah. It's a law enforcement capacity. >> Thank you.

[1:47:38] » All right.

[1:47:48] » And I believe we're all

[1:47:53] S you in favor of the motion to adjurnn? >> Yes.

[1:47:58] » Yes, sir.

2026 Walhalla September 1 Called Meeting

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